On March 29, Arab leaders will gather in the Syrian capital of Damascus to begin the first of their two day discussions on the pressing issues currently facing the Middle East. However, the importance of this meeting, dubbed the “summit of joint Arab action” has been diminished with nine of the 22 Arab member states refusing to send their top officials in protest of the summit’s host - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
With President Assad’s close relationship with Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his continuous hard-line stances on peace in the Middle East, the more pro-American Arab states have opted to either boycott the summit or send low ranking officials. Egypt has sent their parliamentary affairs minister while Jordan and Saudi Arabia have sent their Arab League ambassadors.
Lebanon has decided to boycott the summit completely. By this action, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora is demonstrating his opposition to Syria’s involvement in his country – condemning Syria’s support of the Shiite resistance group Hizbollah and insinuating that Syria is to be charged with preventing a new Lebanese president from being elected since the pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down in November 2007.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has also chosen not to attend, preferring to send his vice-president instead. The President’s absence is possibly on account of his recent brokering of the Yemeni Initiative which calls for a resumption of dialogue between Hamas and Fateh. With this agreement recently signed, President Saleh does not want to attract any unnecessary or avoidable attention by either being perceived as undermining President Abbas, attending a summit hosted by a contributor of Hamas or by not following Saudi Arabia, his closest ally.
The absence of these Arab leaders is not likely to deter President Assad but will invariably have the adverse effect and lead to Syria forming an even closer bond with Iran. This will further widen the gulf between Iran, Syria, Hizbollah and Hamas on one side, and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon on the other.
Hamas’ politburo chief Khaled Me’shaal, in exile in Damascus, ostensibly addressed the Arab leaders on a Gaza based website, telling them to “shoulder your national and brotherly responsibility to foster a Palestinian/Palestinian dialogue”. According to the pro-Hamas website, Me’shaal also appealed to the summit’s attendees to support the Yemeni Initiative and understand the rocket attacks into Israel as an act of self defense against Israeli incursions and their blockade. The Hamas official did however state that he supports a “comprehensive” ceasefire with Israel in time.
Concerning recent calls for the Arab Peace Initiative to be amended following Israel’s reluctance to accept the proposal, the Palestinian representative to the Arab League Mohammed Sobeih stated that it would not be changed and the Arab League would adopt the stance they agreed upon in Cairo last month which stipulated the “continuation of the Arab side to offer the Arab Initiative for peace will be linked to Israel’s fulfillment of its obligations in the context of international texts for achieving peace in the region”. President Abbas also advised that the Initiative should not be changed, with his office highlighting that if the Initiative was drastically changed or even terminated, the international community may question the Arabs’ commitment to peace.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni Initiative, which was signed by representatives of Fateh and Hamas last week and aims to “return the Palestinian situation to what it was before the Gaza incidents” has been surrounded by confusion as to how it is going to be implemented. Whereas Hamas claims that discussions will start on April 5, President Abbas has emphasized that Hamas must first relinquish control before dialogue is opened.
On March 27, Hamas and Islamic Jihad officially rejected a truce proposal brokered by Egypt which attempted to reach an agreement between Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Israel. Hamas politburo member Jamal Abu Hashem and Islamic Jihad official Khaled Al Batsh insisted that any truce had to include all the Palestinian territories and asserted that any truce must also entail Israel lifting its blockade on Gaza and opening the border crossings. Later, Khaled Me’shaal stressed that “all Palestinian factions of resistance have expressed full readiness to deal with the issue of calm on condition that it be comprehensive, reciprocal and simultaneous”.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also addressed the subject of peace agreements on March 26. The Kadima leader announced that he was “absolutely determined” to reach an agreement with President Abbas, although admitting that he doubted a signed agreement would be reached by January 2009. Instead Olmert stated that by January 2009, the two parties would have agreed on the “outline and definition of all the best parameters of a two state solution”. Olmert also mentioned in his speech the importance of slow progression towards an agreement as one attack could “ruin the entire process”. On the topic of Hamas, Olmert said that Israel would deal with the governing body in Gaza in other ways which would be “very painful” but promised that they would be overcome. In addition, Olmert claimed that he intends to continue with settlement expansion on the blocs Israel plans to keep in a peace deal, including the disputed area in east Jerusalem but would not create new settlements or expropriate additional land. Regarding Russia’s offer to host a conference of the same ilk as Annapolis, Olmert expressed his reluctance to attend such a conference saying that he does not favor the idea of jumping from one conference to the other in quick succession.
US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will arrive in the region on March 29 just days after US Vice-President Dick Cheney conducted talks with Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas in his three day visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah. Vice-President Cheney, an avid supporter of Israel, listened to Palestinian reservations concerning Israel refusing to abide by their roadmap obligations. The Vice-President, as Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat stated, did not bring anything new to the table but simply reiterated Bush’s vision, assuring the parties of America’s commitment to and support of the peace process, proclaiming that both sides should not pass up this opportunity, stressing that there is still a lot to do and that both sides will have to make “painful concessions” concluding that “this can be done, and if all concerned stay at the work, success will be achieved”.
Secretary Rice will attempt to push the process along in her meetings with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and again with chief negotiators Tzipi Livni and Ahmad Qureia. On March 27 it was revealed that President Abbas has been invited to the White House in May. Therefore, Secretary Rice probably wants to ensure that improvements have been made before Abbas meets with President Bush.
Examples of these improvements could be seen on the Israeli side this week when on March 26, Defense Minister Barak confirmed that Israel would allow 600 PA soldiers, having completed their training in Jordan, to be deployed in the northern West bank town of Jenin, a place deemed a hub of Palestinian military activity. In addition, Barak is to transfer vehicles and equipment, such as night vision instruments and rubber coated steel bullets to help boost the efficiency of President Abbas’ security forces. Earlier in the week, as well as talking about roadmap obligations and security, Barak and Fayyad also spoke about the economy. As a result, it has been revealed by EU ambassador Ramiro Cibrian Uzal that 1,500 permits have been extended to Palestinian business owners to help ease their travel restrictions in the West Bank. It is believed that these measures must be successful as the credibility of Annapolis is seriously being doubted with many beginning to lose hope and confidence in the prospect of peace.
On March 25, the EU released 300 million Euros from the 440 million Euros they pledged to Palestine for this year. 71 million will be allocated to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees [UNRWA] while the rest will go to PEGASE which will help build the foundations of a future Palestinian state with 176 million being used to support public services.
In other news, 1,000 Israeli Arabs marched through Jaffa on March 28 holding banners such as “we are here to stay”. They were commemorating Land Day when in 1976, six people were killed by Israeli forces in a demonstration against land confiscations. This time, they were also protesting alleged Israeli plans to move 500 Arab families from the area.
Israeli officials announced on March 27 that a new police headquarters, capable of holding hundreds of police officers, is to be established on the disputed and highly controversial 12 kilometer E-1 corridor which links east Jerusalem with the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement. Prime Minister Olmert stated that this new headquarters is not to be viewed in the same way settlement expansion into annexed land in east Jerusalem as it is a security necessity.
On March 24, al Qaeda’s second in command, Ayman al Zawahari, called on Muslims to launch attacks on American and Jewish territory. Zawahari was continuing on two messages from Osama Bin Laden who had urged Muslims to rally behind the Palestinian cause and to strike following the republication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed.
Meanwhile, three Palestinians were killed this week by Israeli forces, including an elderly man, Yussef Abu Daher from Qarara, Gaza. Also, On March 28, 23-year old Bilal Al Astal was killed during clashes near the Kissufim military base in southern Gaza. Also on March 28, 18-year old Tamer Dawwas from the Jabaliya Refugee Camp was killed by Israeli troops. Dawwas was a member of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Israeli forces also went into the West Bank town of Tulkarem on March 26 and seized Omar Jabar, a member of Hamas whom Israel holds responsible for organizing the suicide attack on the Park Hotel in Netanya which killed 30 people in March 2002.
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.
