Following the rocket attack from Gaza which hospitalized two young brothers from Sderot, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed on February 10 that he would target those behind the rocket attacks but claimed that there would be no invasion of Gaza as “anger is not an operational plan” and “there is no solution of one operation or one bomb…it takes time”.
The prime minister, who spoke as he was on his way to Germany to conduct talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was responding amidst strong words from ministers and the public demanding action in Gaza to ensure Israeli security. Nearly 200 Sderot residents rallied in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem at the Ministry of Defense and the prime minister’s local residence in demonstration of their anger regarding rocket attacks on their town. In addition, Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit stated that Israel should “demolish everything” without asking questions while Israeli President Shimon Peres advised that “if fired upon we must hit back without hesitation and without compromise”.
Chief of staff for the Israeli Army, Gabi Ashkenazi, stressed that his forces are ready to launch an operation into Gaza while Defense Minister Barak replied by saying that the army would take “any necessary step to return peace and security to the residents of Sderot” but “it will happen at the right moment”.
Surrounding this disagreement over what the future modus operandi should be in terms of Gaza, Israeli ministers seemed to reach a conclusion on February 11. Instead of a risky and potentially costly full scale invasion of Gaza, Olmert announced that Israel would act more precisely and “continue to reach all the terror bodies – those responsible for them, those who send them and those who operate them. We will not exclude anyone”. These specific attacks have killed 200 Palestinians in recent months but the difference would be, according to Tzahi Hanegbi of Israel’s foreign affairs and defense committee, that they would defeat the Hamas regime and “liquidate its leaders”.
Hamas seemed unfazed by Israel’s threats with spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri stating on February 11 that Ismail Haniyeh [the deposed prime minister] would not go into hiding and that “the launching of rockets is directly tied to the Israeli escalation. The continuation of this escalation means the continuation of the rockets and the resistance to protect our people”. Israel assassinated Hamas founders, Sheik Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004 but their deaths did nothing to quell the movement.
A possible invasion into Gaza is a very contentious topic within Israel. Therefore, in order to alert the international community of the dangers posed to Israel by Gaza as well as evoke sympathy and even push for legitimacy to strike Gaza if the eventuality arose, Israel took nearly 70 ambassadors to the border with the Gaza Strip on February 13 with Tzipi Livni stating that “Israel must act in order to reduce these threats”. While condemning the rocket attacks on Israel, EU Ambassador, Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal epitomized foreign sentiments by saying that “The European Union does not consider a large military operation in Gaza to be a good idea and we do not believe it will bring a permanent solution to the problems Israel is confronted with”.
Chief Palestinian negotiator, Ahmed Quriea, warned on February 11 that a military escalation in Gaza would greatly hinder the peace process. His reservations have been proven correct this week.
On February 12, the ultra-Orthodox party Shas once again threatened to leave Olmert’s coalition. Minister of Trade and Industry and Shas Chairman, Eli Yishai, had already told Olmert that he would follow in the steps of Avigdor Lieberman [Yisrael Beitenu] and take his 12 seats from the coalition if Olmert compromised with Palestinians over Jerusalem, has reiterated his threat that his party would leave if peace negotiations continued with Palestinians while Israeli security is in jeopardy. Without Shas’ support, Olmert would only control 55 seats within the Knesset and therefore lose his majority. In contradiction of the Chairman’s proclamations, spiritual leader of Shas, Rabbi Ovadia Yossef mentioned on February 13 that he does not want to abandon the coalition presently, possibly because Shas has access to funds which finance their social programmes and provide it with most of its support. Leaving the coalition would freeze these funds.
In a further blow to the peace process, Israeli deputy premier Haim Ramon admitted that it would be delayed due to the sensitivity of the issues discussed. “Nobody is really expecting a very detailed [agreement] until the last detail between Israel and the Palestinians. It has to be detailed enough in order to be implemented in the years after 2008, two or three years after”.
Further setbacks were made this week with respect to one of these sensitive issues – settlements. On February 12, Israel announced that it plans to build more than 1,000 homes in the disputed area of east Jerusalem, the area Palestinians wish to be the capital of their future state. As the most sensitive issue, Olmert declared in Germany that a solution to the holy city would be suspended until all the other areas had been resolved.
Israeli housing minister, Zeev Boim, stated that plans were underway to build 370 homes in Har Homa with a further 350 to be constructed once the first set has been contracted out. In addition, Israel plans on building a further 750 apartments in Pisgat Zeev. Furthermore, on February 15, nine families funded by a private American group established homesteads at Maskiot in the northern part of the West Bank promising that more would follow. There are almost 200,000 Israelis living in east Jerusalem settlements and approximately 250,000 Israeli settlers living illegally in the West Bank. Under the stipulations of the 2003 roadmap, Israel has a commitment to “freeze all settlement activity”. Whereas Israel has publicly recognized this duty in the West Bank, they believe that Jerusalem is a separate issue and not included in the roadmap agreement. Israel hopes to retain their Jewish settlements under a peace deal while the Palestinians see their growth as hindering any final agreement.
The state of Israel also this week relieved 3,500 Israeli settlers in 140 settlements in the Jordan Valley, Golan Heights and West Bank of their $350 million debt to the state. Palestinians may believe that this money could have been used as an incentive or monetary compensation for them to leave their settlements and thus advance the peace process.
On February 11 and 12, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas both expressed their concerns over the peace process. The prime minister reported that Israel, since Annapolis, has not eased checkpoints in the West Bank and has killed 165 Palestinians. In reference to the freezing of settlement expansion, the prime minister highlighted that “what I see has not happened – not happened to the extent it should or it can – is progress on these issues, progress on the implementation of commitments under the roadmap…I do not see sufficient commitment on the part of Israel to the settlement freeze”.
Meanwhile, the next day, the president concurred with his premier over the lack of peace progress with Israel as well as saying that relations with Hamas were still stagnant. Abbas stated that the Rafah Crossing would remain shut and would only open “on the basis of the 2005 accord and with full European participation”. The president called the blockade of Gaza “deplorable” but once again stated that dialogue would only commence with Hamas if they gave up their seizure of the Gaza Strip.
The president’s words came amidst calls by Hamas for a ceasefire with Israel. Political advisor, Ahmed Yousef declared that “if the people of Sderot want to know why rockets continue to land around them, they should ask their own government why it has continually rejected our calls for a ceasefire and continued its policy of daily incursions and reckless targeting that put the whole population at risk”. As evidence of Hamas’ ability to uphold a ceasefire, Yousef referred to the nine month period before the January 2006 elections and the six months after which Hamas observed a unilateral cessation of attacks.
On February 13, 12 former Israeli commanders highlighted that the checkpoints in the West Bank, numbering over 550, are excessive and not the most effective means of preventing attacks on Israel and claiming that it is not in Israeli interests to have Palestinian people in such a demoralizing as well as humiliating state. They advised that such an environment simply increases discontent and the likelihood of violence. Instead they said mobile and temporary checkpoints would be far more efficient.
On February 15, while Hamas delegates visited Egypt to resume talks on arrangements at the border, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Gaza and Iran. There was no statement made after their meeting.
In other news, on February 10, a Hamas court banned the distribution of the Al-Ayyam newspaper which is considered to be closely affiliated with the PA, based on an earlier February 3 hearing. The ban is thought to have been imposed following a complaint by Hamas members that the paper published a cartoon portraying them in an unflattering light while Hamas spokesmen stated that the reason was in fact because the publication of the cartoon was in violation of publishing law. The PA also prohibited the distribution of Al Risala and Al Istiqlal following the events in Gaza last June claiming that the two papers, affiliated to Islamic movements, promoted incitement.
Commenting on the blockade in Gaza, John Holmes, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs emphasized on February 15 that the closure must stop as Palestinians are “not able to live with the basic dignity to which they are entitled”. Sharing the opinions of Holmes, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that the blockade was seriously affecting the economic situation in Gaza and that there should be “free movement of both people and goods”.
Thirteen Palestinians were killed in the Occupied Territories this week at the hands of Israelis.
On February 15, Ayman al-Fayed, a senior member of Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the al-Quds Brigades was killed in a blast which occurred in the Bureij refugee camp south of Gaza. Three other members of the faction were killed in what was viewed by witnesses and spokesmen as an Israeli air strike on the area. Israeli officials however deny involvement in the incident. Ayman al-Fayed’s wife and two of his children [6 and 5] also died in the attack.
Also on February 15, 67-year old Fawziya Qabb, who had suffered a stroke in her village near Tulkarm, was prevented from crossing the checkpoint at Jarushiya by Israeli soldiers who were concerned about the movement of activists across the West Bank. Prohibited from going to the hospital, she returned to her local village where the doctor was unable to save her.
On February 11, two Palestinians thought to have escaped from Gaza when the crossing was blown up last month were killed on the Sinai border by Israeli soldiers. On the same day, Rami Kereem, a member of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the PFLP, was killed in a clash with Israelis in the Gaza town of Zaytoun.
A day earlier, Muhamed Mtair of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades was killed as a result of an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.
Fifty-two-year old Tayseer Nazzal, who was shot by Israelis outside his house near Jenin on February 7, finally succumbed to his injuries and died on February 10. He was not affiliated to any armed faction.
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.
