The election of Barack Obama has undoubtedly been the highlight of this week’s news, both in Palestine and throughout the world. The United States’ 44th president will be the first African-American president to grace the corridors of the White House. Needless to say, Obama’s victory over Republican rival John McCain was history in the making. It is now time to see if Obama, who promised his people “change”, will be able to deliver.
Despite Obama’s declaration of loyalty to Israel throughout his campaign, most Palestinians were still rooting for him and were very happy to see him win. Even Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal said on November 8 from his Damascus headquarters that his movement was willing to sit down with the new US President as long as it was on sound bases. Meshaal said Obama would have to deal with Hamas if he is going to make any real progress in the region.
"The American administration, if they want to deal with the region and the Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, has no other option than to deal with Hamas because we are a real force on the ground," Meshaal told Sky News.
Even Hamas hardliner Mahmoud Zahhar is cautiously hopeful. Also on the 7th, Zahha said he hoped that Obama's victory would open a new page in relations between the US and the Muslim world.
Hamas, however, has more pressing concerns now. On November 8 the movement announced it would not be travelling to Cairo for the much awaited inter-factional talks. Egypt, which is sponsoring the mediation talks, announced it would postpone the conference, apparently because of the Hamas pullout.
The latest development comes after weeks of bickering and finger pointing, mainly between Hamas and Fateh, the two rival factions for which the reconciliation talks are being held. Hamas has maintained a hard line position on the Cairo talks from day one, recently saying it would not attend if the Palestinian Authority continued to hold Hamas political prisoners in the West Bank. Its latest claim is that it feared the talks would not be “serious” enough.
On November 7, deposed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said there were “real obstacles” to the Cairo talks, mainly the PA’s political arrests of Hamas operatives. Haniyeh claims there are over 200 detainees in PA prisons.
On the same day, in a press conference with outgoing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, President Abbas denied the PA was holding any Hamas prisoners. He also reiterated that the upcoming Cairo talks were aimed at forming a national government committed to the obligations of the PLO. He also said the government would have the duty of responsibly running the affairs of the homeland.
Now, with the talks postponed, any real conciliation is looking more and more like a pipe dream than a near reality. This setback will surely cause tensions to rise between the two factions, which already have plenty of bad blood between them.
On the Israel-Hamas truce, things are not looking so good either. On November 5, Israel killed six Hamas activists in Gaza in the worst airstrikes since the two agreed to a truce back in June. The six – Mazen Saada, Omar Alami, Mahmoud Balousha, Mohammed Awad, Wajed Muhareb and Ammar Salhiya - were killed in the eastern and southern areas of the Strip. Israel claims Hamas was in the process of digging a tunnel between the Strip and Israel with the aim of abducting Israeli soldiers from across the border, and was forced to act. Hamas denies the allegation, calling the attack a blatant violation of the truce and part of the ongoing attacks on its people.
Hamas and Jihad have since fired dozens of rockets from Gaza into Israel, none of which have caused any injuries or serious damage. Israel immediately closed off the border crossings with Gaza as punishment following the strikes.
On November 7, Islamic Jihad operatives fired another nine rockets into Ashkelon and the Negev, also with no damages. Islamic Jihad operative, “Abu Ahmad” told Palestinian press that his group would consider halting the rockets if Israel halted its aggression. "It depends on Israel, if they stop their aggression and abide by the truce, we are ready to consider stopping firing."
On November 5, one Islamic Jihad member was killed by Israeli fire, reportedly while firing a rocket. On November 4, 23 year old Ghassan Taramsi was killed and three injured in an Israeli raid in Jabaliya.
The clashes have continued in the Strip, with armed clashes between Hamas and the Israelis in Khan Younis on November 8.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rice made a visit to Jenin on November 8 before leaving the area after days of talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders. Rice still insists the Annapolis conference was not a failure despite the fact that the Palestinians and Israelis were not able to reach an agreement and probably will not reach one by the end of the year. “We knew ... that if that agreement was not reached by the end of the year, there would be those that would say that the Annapolis process, the negotiations, had failed. In fact, it is quite the opposite," Rice said in a press conference in Ramallah. Rather, she said, it laid the groundwork for an eventual deal, maintaining that the distance between the Palestinians and Israelis and peace was “very short”.
On November 9, both Palestinians and Israelis are set to announce their commitment to continue talks after Barak Obama takes office in January. According to PLO Executive Committee Secretary Yasser Abed Rabbo, Rice has reportedly put together a package for Obama to review on the Palestinian-Israeli negotiating track, highlighting all the agreements and differences between the two parties.
One good piece of news is that today, November 8, the third Free Gaza the SS Dignity ship arrived safely to the Gaza harbor after leaving Cyprus yesterday. European parliamentarians, Arab and foreign political and human rights activists, and journalists were on board. This is the fourth ship in three months to break the siege on Gaza. The ship reportedly brought one metric ton of much needed medicines with them for the people of Gaza.
On November 5, Jerusalemite Palestinians marched in the eastern sector of the city in protest of an Israeli plan to build a “tolerance museum” atop the Ma’man Allah Muslim cemetery in the city. The Mufti of Palestine, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, called on Palestinians to stand by Jerusalem saying, “Harming the cemeteries means harming our religion and the dignity of the dead not only for Muslims but in the wider sense of respecting the human race and its religions.”
President Abbas also condemned the Israeli high court decision to allow the museum to be built. “This is very dangerous. I don’t think the Israelis would accept the same if it were over their cemeteries.”
Israel has also started construction on a synagogue in the demolished Al Sharaf Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, now known as the Jewish quarter. The synagogue will be built adjacent to the Aqsa Mosque compound and next to the Abdullah Bin Omar Mosque and is said to be a mini replica of the ancient temple.
On the same day, Israeli authorities demolished three homes and one hall in the east Jerusalem areas of Silwan, Shufat and Beit Hanina. All were demolished under the pretext of not having the proper building licenses. Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police and border guards ensued at the sites of the demolition in which 17 Palestinians were injured and 34 arrested.
Meanwhile, a report issued by OCHA (The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) on November 3 said settler violence against Palestinians is on the rise this year, especially in Hebron. According to the report, since the start of 2008, 19 children were injured and one died as a result of settler violence, with 70 percent of these attacks taking place in Hebron. In the first five months of the year, the report said there have been 42 attacks on Palestinians and two deaths caused by Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
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.
