Less than a week after the Middle East peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland came to a close, indications on the ground are hardly reflective of the positive words spoken on the Rose Garden lawn at its close. While the key leaders at the summit, US President George Bush, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert all praised the summit as a “good start” and an “opportunity that cannot be passed by”, it seems little efforts have been made to put those words into action.
On December 1, five Palestinians were killed in the dawn hours in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis. The five, all members of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades, were killed by six Israeli missiles shot over three stages. Unconfirmed media reports say some of the men were killed while administering first aid to the wounded.
These killings are preceded by a long string of others over the week, mainly in the Gaza Strip. On November 29, four men were killed, also in Khan Younis during an Israeli air raid and shelling in the area. One day earlier, two Palestinians died in another shelling to the same location, also members of the Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades.
Israel claims the raids were carried out in response to the continuous rocket firing by Palestinian groups into Israeli territory and has vowed not to end its attacks until the rockets stop.
On November 27, three other Palestinians died in the Gaza Strip, this time not by an Israeli missile raid but because they were denied exit from the Strip to seek medical treatment abroad. Israeli authorities have maintained a tight clamp down on the Strip for over five months, since Hamas forcefully overtook Gaza back in June.
On November 26, Israel killed another three Izzedin Al Qassam members in Gaza while a fourth member died of wounds sustained the previous day. A day earlier, on the 25th, two other Palestinians died in a gun battle with Israeli soldiers in the Strip while another Palestinian was killed in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. And on November 24, two brothers were killed in Beit Hanoun during Israeli shelling to the town. Another man from the West Bank village of Birzeit died of a massive heart attack during an Israeli invasion into the village.
In all, 22 Palestinians were killed this week as a result of Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Palestinians so far have not felt any positive results from last week’s summit despite the pledges that were made there.
Israel has also seemed to take a step back from the commitments made in Annapolis. Even though Olmert agreed that bilateral talks would resume on December 12 between the Palestinians and Israelis, as per the joint statement resulting from the summit, on November 30, Israel apparently pressured the United States into reneging on a UN resolution binding the parties to just that. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the US withdrew a draft resolution endorsing the Israeli/Palestinian agreement to reach a final settlement by the end of 2008, which it initiated itself. Less than 24 hours after introducing the proposed resolution, the United States told the Security Council it was withdrawing it, apparently after Israel’s objection. Israeli officials said their government opposed the resolution because they deemed many of the UN Security Council’s member states “not friendly towards Israel.”
Palestinians, of course, see this move as Israel’s way of evading any binding obligations towards the agreement it made in Annapolis. Proof of this is a report, also released on November 30 and posted in Haaretz by Israeli lawyer Tali Sasson, who warned the government against approving an Israeli justice ministry proposal to allow state funds for settlement outposts. Sasson said the move would be clear violation of Olmert’s commitments to Bush on dismantling illegal outposts and halting settlement expansion.
Apparently, the ministry’s proposal, which is to be discussed in 10-days time, is aimed at cementing Jewish ownership of Palestinian land and offering legitimacy to these random and highly illegal outposts.
Furthermore, a batch of Palestinian prisoners, scheduled to be released on December 2, has been pushed back a day, for no apparent reason. The release of the 445 prisoners, mostly Fateh-affiliated, has suffered its second postponement, the first prior to the summit when Israel announced it was holding off on the release until after the parties returned from Annapolis.
These recent developments on the ground have put a damper on the already guarded optimism surrounding the conference. The United States dubbed the summit as a “success” given that the two parties were able to release a joint statement, but stressed that follow-up is key and that much effort is needed for its continued success.
President Abbas also expressed optimism about the prospects of the summit, voicing his positive attitude from the moment he touched down on US soil. “I am going to Annapolis to fulfill the goals and dreams of my people in establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Later on, on November 28, Abbas maintained his upbeat outlook, saying “Annapolis put the train back on the track towards establishing a Palestinian state.”
And while Olmert also followed suit, saying negotiations towards the establishment of a Palestinian state would start soon after the conference albeit amid major obstacles, he soon took his optimism down a notch a few days later when he stated on November 28 that the 2008 deadline “may not be possible.” Still, he conceded, “we have to start somewhere.”
Given their past experiences with Israel, the Palestinians also secured a guarantee to set up a trilateral Palestinian/Israeli/American committee to guarantee the implementation of the roadmap, which was included in the joint agreement.
Negotiations will ostensibly be carried out through six joint committees, which will deal with the core issues of refugees, Jerusalem, borders, settlements, water and security. Member of the negotiating committee Nabil Shaa’th also stressed that for these committees to actually make headway, Israel must accurately implement the roadmap along the way, namely halting settlement expansion, reopening Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, removing checkpoints, lifting the siege and releasing prisoners.
Still, any high hopes for concrete results in Annapolis were dashed when the Palestinians and Israelis failed even to come out with a joint declaration. In its stead was the joint statement read by President Bush and which emphasized that the conference was not aimed at negotiations but at “starting” negotiations.
The core issues in question seem to be the “obstacles” Olmert was referring to, namely the refugee right of return and Jerusalem, which Israel insists will not be divided. However, an unnamed Palestinian negotiator was quoted in Haaretz as saying that Olmert agrees on principle to allow the Palestinians to administrate the Aqsa Mosque Compound jointly with Jordan and Egypt but has not yet found the right moment to inform his public. Olmert however, is seemingly breaking his people into the idea of a Palestinian state, telling them on November 30 that Israel would “be finished” if a two-state solution was not realized.
“If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished," he said.
What kind of “solution” Olmert has in mind for the Palestinians remains to be seen, but the Israeli leader is sure that any lack of solution may prove worse for his country in the long run.
In the end, the results of the three day long summit in which 44 countries participated, are still in their fledgling stage. The fact that 16 Arab countries, including Syria and Saudi Arabia attended, was seen as a positive step, both by the Palestinians who took it as a show of support for their cause, and by Israel who understood it as a willingness to accept them.
Syria, which only supposedly went to the conference after guarantees from the United States that the Golan Heights would be on the agenda, made it clear that it would only offer normal relations with Israel after all of the lands occupied in 1967 are returned to their owners. The Saudis also said that although the summit was positive, a timetable of no longer than one year should be set for negotiations to reap a solution.
So far, more meetings have been set up, namely a donor country meeting in Paris on December 27 and another meeting in Moscow at the start of the new year. Apparently donors are ready to dole out billions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians, at least according to Quartet Committee Envoy Tony Blair on November 28. The aid, he said, would go to funding economic and infrastructure projects in the Palestinian territories, which would create thousands of new job opportunities.
Still, one international personality put everything back in perspective. Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Karen Abu Zayd said on November 28 that any peace process excluding Hamas could never be implemented on the ground.
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.
