On Friday November 23, after much deliberation, members of the Arab League decided to send their foreign ministers to the peace summit in Annapolis after gathering together for a meeting in Cairo.
Since President Bush announced on July 16 that the US would host a Middle East peace conference in the fall, the international community, namely the Arab states have been debating and wondering what format the summit would take with regard to content.
After much anticipation, intrigue and questions on whether or not the summit was in fact going to take place, the invitations for the Annapolis summit in Maryland were sent late on November 19. By Tuesday morning, the invitations had arrived by diplomatic cable to US embassies in the countries concerned and were forwarded by the US ambassadors to the foreign office of each respective country, recommending that the highest ranking official within that department attend Annapolis.
The US invited 49 countries, groups of nations, financial institutions and individuals to attend the summit on November 26 and 27.
All 13 nations that make up the Arab League’s “follow up committee” were invited but nevertheless they met in Cairo on November 22 and 23 to discuss whether they should attend Annapolis, and if so, who should they send to represent them.
The US had stressed how it was of the utmost importance for foreign ministers of each nation to attend, if Annapolis was to be successful. However, this idea was opposed by a few of the Arab League members who questioned the value of Annapolis and had reservations concerning its agenda. These were most notably Syria and Saudi Arabia, two hugely influential players in the Middle East.
Egypt and Jordan are the only members of the Arab League who have signed peace deals with Israel in the past. Saudi Arabia was apprehensive about sending their Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal because they didn’t want Annapolis to be used as an expedient for Israel to seek normative relations with Arab states. In addition, Saudi Arabia was wary that there was thus far no joint document between President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert, decreasing the chance of “core” issues being discussed or resolved within a set timeline. In a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on November 20, Prime Minister Olmert assured Arab states that he wants “the Arab nations to know that the negotiations will tackle all the main issues”. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reinforced Olmert’s words on November 22 commenting that “the parties have said they are going to make efforts to conclude it in (Bush’s) term” and stated that Annapolis would act “in the launch of negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians for the establishment of a Palestinian state and therefore a two-state solution”.
While Saudi Arabia was being pressured and courted with phone calls from US President Bush and at a meeting with EU Middle Eastern envoy, Tony Blair, on November 21 in the hope of allaying their fears regarding the summit, Syria expressed their hesitation about attending Annapolis after being told that the controversial issue of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel after the 1967 war and subsequently annexed in 1981, would not appear on the agenda. Despite Syria being a staunch supporter of Iran, there was a lot of diplomatic attention this week focused on Damascus in order to arrive at an agreement whereby President Bashar Assad would allow Foreign Minister Walid Moallem to attend. Secretary Rice even declared on November 22 that if Syria wishes to raise its issues with Israel over the return of the Golan Heights, “nobody will rule it out of order”.
In any case, after the Arab League meeting on November 22 and 23, Secretary General Amr Moussa announced that each member of the Arab League would send their foreign ministers once they had consulted the summit’s format.
Amr Moussa explained that it was important for them to attend to support President Abbas and ensure that he is not forced to comply with concessions that could prove damaging to the Palestinians or offer anything less than the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. On the subject the Secretary General claimed, “I repeat again and again that we are governed by the Arab initiative in all behaviors and ... and in our agreement to end the Arab-Israeli conflict."
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal confirmed his attendance but warned that "we are not prepared to take part in a theatrical show, in handshakes and meetings that don't express political positions. We are going with seriousness and we work on the same seriousness and credibility."
Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem insisted that “we haven't made a decision to participate until we receive the agenda of the conference and read it to find an item addressing the Syrian-Israeli track, meaning the occupied Golan Heights."
A State Department statement affirmed that all attendees could raise their “national interests” and Walid Moallem verified later on November 23 that this did apply to the Golan Heights, as the US had ostensibly agreed to discuss this topic at Annapolis having refused its mention earlier.
The debate over what will be discussed during Annapolis was not clarified this week and remains a highly problematic and pressing matter.
During the peace meetings between Olmert and Abbas since July, the US have guaranteed that invitations would not be sent unless a joint document had been released by the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams. However, while the Palestinians demand a joint document including the “core” issues of borders, Jerusalem, settlements, security, water and refugee return, and require a timetable for their implementation, Israel and the US support a vague document on principles before “core” issues can be raised. After the session on November 19, a senior Israeli official stated that “both sides have made some progress on certain issues of the joint statement, but other issues still remain open” while Palestinian negotiating team member Saeb Erekat, declared that “there are differences, the meeting was difficult, the differences remain”. The teams met again on November 23 but have so far this week failed to produce any conclusive or agreed upon joint document between the two parties. They plan to meet on November 26 before the summit in the hope of forging something tangible but Secretary Rice downplayed the importance of the document on November 23 claiming that “they should just go for the negotiations, not try to get some interim document, not try and get some kind of statement of principles”.
Also on November 19, Prime Minister Olmert pledged “we have committed ourselves under the roadmap not to build new settlements in the West Bank and we will not build any”. However, Olmert also asserted that under no condition was he going to “strangle the existing settlements” or halt their natural growth. In addition Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak added that 24 more roadblocks and one checkpoint would be removed this week.
Regarding the Palestinian objectives of the roadmap, Palestinian Interior Minister Abdur Razzaq Mahmoud al-Yahyu declared on November 18 that he was going to strive to disband the political military wings in the West Bank to improve security in the area. This week saw the first example of this crackdown with Palestinian security services laying siege to PFLP activists in Ein Beit El-Ma camp in Nablus.
In further movements in reforming the current climate in the West Bank, EU envoy Tony Blair announced on November 19 four economic projects that could create thousands of jobs for Palestinians. The projects include an emergency Gaza sewage treatment plant; a Turkish sponsored industrial park in the southern West Bank; an agroindustrial park in Jericho; and a venture to improve the tourism sector in Bethlehem. Tony Blair emphasized that these plans effects are not to be exaggerated but they are to compliment and work in tandem with the progress made in the diplomatic sphere for peace.
Israel has offered further “gestures of goodwill” to Palestinians ahead of the peace summit. Prime Minister Olmert has approved the delivery of 50 lightly armored vehicles to be allocated to the Palestinian president over the coming months in two separate installments.
On November 21, Israel also authorized the export of flowers and strawberries from Gaza to Europe. This is the first example where restrictions are to be lifted since Hamas seized control of the 360km2 coastal area in June. The move is dependent on the security situation in the impoverished Gaza, but if the export of these goods is permitted, it will reestablish a market which previously delivered nearly six million dollars a year to Gaza.
Lastly, Prime Minister Olmert has agreed to release 431 Palestinian prisoners before the peace summit in Annapolis. On November 20, Israeli prison services published a list of names for release but there could be a delay as the list only reached President Peres on November 22 and he, under Israeli law, must sign off on the list before anyone can be freed. The gesture falls far short of Palestinian expectations as they had demanded that 2000 of the 11000 Palestinians currently serving in Israeli jails be freed. Palestinian Information Minister, Riyad al Malki, welcomed the release but stated it was still “unacceptable”.
It was revealed this week on November 21 that police investigating corruption allegations against Prime Minister Olmert will announce whether they have amalgamated enough evidence for an indictment against the premier on November 25, the day before the summit in Annapolis. Any evidence found against Olmert will greatly weaken his position and greatly hamper the peace talks.
In the midst of the diplomatic activity and Israeli gestures to the West Bank government prior to the summit, Hamas, the chief authority in Gaza, still adamantly and vehemently demonstrate their disapproval for Annapolis.
Hamas admit that they are “shocked” by the Arab League’s endorsement of Annapolis while an aide to politburo leader Khalid Mashaal, Mussa Abu Marzuq, declared that following the summit, Hamas would increase the number of attacks “against the Zionist occupation”.
On November 23 Hamas led a rally in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya announced that “the US and Israel are attempting to take advantage of the dire conditions that the Palestinians are enduring, in order to gain concessions during the conference”. Hayya further went on to say that "we are determined to pray in the Al-Aqsa mosque with Ismail Haniyeh and Khalid Mashaal at the front. We have not authorized, nor shall we authorize, anyone to give up on a single particle of Palestinian soil. Israel is an aggressive state which we will not ever recognize, and Palestine is an Arab Islamic property which has no room for the Jews".
The deposed Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, also declared this week that the conference is “stillborn” and will achieve nothing. The Hamas leader mentioned that President Abbas has no mandate or legitimacy to make decisions on behalf of the Palestinians or concessions that could affect the Palestinian people. In the past Haniyeh has urged Abbas not to concede to compromises enforced by Israel, such as accepting it as a Jewish state. More extreme members of the Hamas party, such as co-founder Mahmoud Zahar, warn that the summit is simply to isolate Hamas and the people of Gaza, adding that “in autumn, leaves fall and so do yellow flags (the color of the Fatah flag)”.
Late at night on November 23, two Palestinian farmers, Ra’fat Salameh Abu Shreineh and his brother Talal were killed in the north Gaza town of Beit Hanoun as they tried to prevent Israeli bulldozers from destroying their land.
On November 19, Israeli troops fired at three armed Palestinians attempting to cross into Israel from northern Gaza. Two were killed and one fled. In a similar incident in southern Gaza, two Palestinians who approached the border fence were shot and killed.
Furthermore, on November 21, a teenage Palestinian civilian was killed by Israeli forces in the southern Gaza town Khuza’a.
UN Resolution 1325
Date posted: February 03, 2021
By MIFTAH
Kerry talks peace while Israel bars UNESCO mission [May 19 - May 25]
Date posted: May 25, 2013
By MIFTAH
President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both met with US Secretary of State John Kerry this week in the latter’s fourth visit to the region since he assumed office.
After meeting with the two to ostensibly find ways to restart stalled negotiations between the two sides, Kerry urged on May 24 both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take "hard decisions" to revive the peace process.
"We're getting toward a time now when hard decisions need to be made," he said at the end of his visit.
Kerry admitted a day before after meeting with the two leaders that there was skepticism and cynicism about his efforts to revive talks.
"I know this region well enough to know there is skepticism, in some quarters there is cynicism, and there are reasons for it. There have been bitter years of disappointment," he said. Still, he maintained: "It is our hope that by being methodical, careful, patient, but detailed and tenacious, that we can lay on a path ahead that can conceivably surprise people and certainly exhaust the possibilities for peace."
British foreign secretary William Hague was also in the region visiting with leaders on both sides and even visited the Bedouin community of Khan Al Ahmar between Jerusalem and Jericho, whose residents are under the threat of displacement.
On May 23, Hague was poignantly clear on where his country stands on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. "Israel has lost some of its support in Britain and in other European countries over time - this is something I've often pointed out to Israeli leaders -because of settlement activity, which we condemn,” he said.
"We strongly disagree with settlements on occupied land. Israel is a country we work with in many ways but we do disapprove of settlements,” he maintained, adding that: "We want to see both Israelis and Palestinians really commit themselves to the peace process while there is still a chance of a two-state solution."
In Khan al Ahmar, Hague listened to the residents’ grievances from Israeli efforts to push them out to make way for more settlement expansion. "We (in Britain) strongly condemn the building of settlements and recognise they are a severe threat to a two-state solution,” he told the people there.
On March 21, Israeli forces demolished two residential buildings in the Jabal al-Mukabbir in East Jerusalem. Earlier, they demolished two Palestinian homes in al-Tur, all under the pretext of unlicensed construction. Dozens of people have been left homeless from the demolitions.
A UNESCO fact-finding mission was supposed to arrive this week to look into Israeli measures in the Old City of Jerusalem and their impact on the archeological, cultural and heritage significance of the place, but was denied entry by Israel on May 20. Israel justified its decision by saying Palestinians were trying to politicize the visit.
"The Palestinians were not respecting the understandings,” an Israeli foreign ministry official said. “The visit was supposed to be professional, (but) they were taking measures that showed they were politicizing the event and not letting the delegation focus on professional sides of it," the official said.
UNESCO maintained that the mission was not cancelled, but postponed, the agency’s spokeswoman Sue Williams said.
The Palestinians said they expected Israel to pull something like this. “We weren't surprised by this decision because we believed that Israel's agreement to (allow the mission) was not convincing," minister of foreign affairs Riyad Al Malki said.
The Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was reopened on May 22 after a five day closure. Egyptian soldiers and policemen closed the crossing following the kidnapping of seven Egyptian soldiers in Sinai, only reopening it after the soldiers were freed. Over 2,400 Palestinians had been stranded on both sides of the crossing during the days of the closure.
Extremist Israelis extended their attacks this week all the way to the Negev desert. On May 19, residents of the Retamim Kibbutz attacked the nearby Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj and set fire to a tent, according to head of the local village council, Salman Ibin Hamid
"The setters of Retamim are acting like they are in the West Bank," Ibn Hamid said. "These people have the mentality of the occupying settler to attack every Arab."
Finally, on May 23, the US appointed Gen. John Allen as special envoy on security issues in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. According to a US official, Allen will deal with the U.S. position on Israeli security needs and the security arrangements that would accompany the establishment of a future Palestinian state.
Al Nakba commemorated amid increasing settler attacks [May 12 - May 18]
Date posted: May 18, 2013
By MIFTAH
This week Palestinians commemorated the 65th anniversary of the Nakba, the catastrophe of 1948 on May 15, with a variety of activities, demonstrations and events throughout the Palestinian territories and outside of its borders. Festivals were held in Ramallah and Nablus in addition to several protests and confrontations with Israeli occupation forces. In Jerusalem, clashes broke out between protesters and Israeli police and border guards when Palestinians commemorating Al Nakba, raising Palestinian flags and facing off with Jewish settlers and soldiers. Thirty people were wounded or arrested during the clashes in addition to six Israelis.
The Jerusalem clashes come at a time when settler break-ins to Al Aqsa have been on the rise amid increasing calls by extremist Jewish groups to make a presence at the compound. The break-ins have become a near daily event. Muslim worshippers and Palestinian youths have kept constant vigil at the mosque to stave off the break-ins which included settler groups who used children as a cover to enter the compound on the occasion of Shavuot.
Settlers in the West Bank have wreaked havoc this week as well. On May 17, three Palestinians were injured in clashes in Urif south of Nablus when dozens of settlers set fire to lands in three area-villages: Urif, Einabus, and Asira al-Qibliya. The settlers also attacked citizens and threw burning tires at people’s homes.
Jewish extremists attacked inside the Green Line as well. On May 14, extremists set fire to three cars and sprayed racist graffiti on a mosque south of Haifa, according to Israeli media reports.
"Price-tag" and "Eviatar," which is thought to refer to the name of a settler stabbed to death last week, were found on the mosque’s walls in addition to the Star of David. In Safed, even farther north, racist graffiti with the words "Arabs out" was found on walls in the city.
On May 13, Israeli settlers exhumed a number of graves and sprayed racist graffiti in the Sawiya village in Nablus. Ghassan Daghlas, head of the PA settlement activity file, said settlers from the Alia settlement were responsible for the damage.
On the same day settlers from Tel Hatimar begin building a religious school for children on Al Khader lands in the Bethlehem area.
The Israeli army meanwhile, uprooted over 1,200 olive tree saplings on May 16 and razed land Palestinian farmer in the northern West Bank, according to Daghlas. He said the army dug up over 40 dunums of farm land and demolished a water tank and stone walls in Ras Karker, near Nablus.
On May 17, three Palestinian laborers were wounded in Beit Ula northwest of Hebron after Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets and unleashed police dogs at them according to Issa al-Amla, coordinator for the popular struggle committee. He said Omar Al-Amla, 31, and Abdulkadir Al-Amla, 28, suffered multiple dog bites to the neck and hands. A third laborer, Jihad Saleem, was shot in the leg.
In Jerusalem on May 17, Israeli forces raided the home of Iyad al-Awar and insisted on taking his two children 6-year-old Qassam and 5-year-old Nasrallah for “interrogation”. While their father prevented the forces from arresting his boys, Israeli soldiers handed him a warrant ordering him to bring his children to the Russian Compound for questioning.
"We arrived to the Russian Compound and the troops wanted to take my kids for investigation; I refused and they beat me in the ear and the leg. My kids started crying and were so scared from the troops. They took my kids by force," al-Awar said.
Israeli Intelligence officers apparently questioned the children about their detained cousin Shadad, and asked if they had seen him throwing stones or Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces, Al Awar said.
On the same day however, Palestinians scored a tiny victory in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis when they were able to tear a hole through part of the separation wall. Protesters marking the Nakba anniversary ripped a 4-meter hole in it, eyewitnesses said. Clashes ensued between the protesters and Israeli soldiers who fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Several injuries were reported.
Peace Now reported on May 16 that the Israeli government planned to grant retroactive approval to four West Bank settlement outposts it had previously pledged to at least partially demolish.
The Israeli state attorney's office said that settlers had purchased the private Palestinian land on which they built, thus paving the way for the government to give its blessing.
"In the response, the government declares its intention to legalize four outposts, in isolated areas," Peace Now said in a statement, adding that the strategy was an affront to US Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to revive dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. "The intention to legalize outposts as new settlements is no less than a slap in the face of Secretary Kerry's new peace process," Peace Now said.
On May 14, Hamas and Fatah agreed in Cairo to form a national unity government within three months during which they would finalize and approve the Palestine National Council elections law. The two sides, represented by Fatah leader Azzam Al Ahmad and Hamas politburo member Mousa Abu Marzouq, came to the agreement under Egyptian sponsorship and said President Abbas would immediately begin talks on the new government formation. Once the government is formed, general elections can be held.
