The atrocities in Gaza dominated the news this week, as Israel’s ‘Operation Cast Lead’ entered its eighth day on January 3. The Israeli assault, which began around noon on December 27, killed 292 Palestinians and injured more than 1,000 in just 24 hours. Many Palestinians now refer to the first 24 hours as the Black Saturday Massacre, the bloodiest one-day death toll in 60 years of conflict. By December 29, 350 were reported killed. As of this morning, that number had risen to at least 430, with well over 2,200 injured. Using F-16s and AH-64 Apache helicopters, Israel has bombed hundreds of targets, destroying government buildings, security apparatus, mosques, schools, university buildings, tunnels used to smuggle in food and weapons, and homes, as well as the Gaza City Port. On December 28, Israel announced it had called up some 6,500 reservists in preparation for a possible ground invasion of Gaza. Thousands of reservists, infantry and armored corps soldiers now surround the Gaza Strip border.
While devastation has been the order of the day every day since the 27th, some of the most horrific incidents of the week took place on December 29 and January 1.
On December 29, five young sisters were killed while sleeping in their home in the Jabalya neighborhood of Gaza. From the Ba’lousha family, the girls were killed when a missile was fired into the residential district where they lived. As bombs began falling near the family home shortly before midnight, Samira, the mother of eight, began removing her children from the home. She was only able to safely remove three of her children from the house before a missile hit the home, reducing it to rubble almost instantaneously. The daughters were four-year old Jawaher Ba'lousha, her eight-year old and two-year old sisters Dina and Samar, as well as 1-year old Ikram and 17-year old Tahrir. Samira herself was injured in the blast and remains in critical condition at Gaza City Hospital.
On January 1, an Israeli airstrike targeting senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan also killed most of his family. Three Israeli missiles struck his home, killing 13 family members, including several children, along with his six-year old son Abed. The home was located in a four-storey building in the densely populated neighborhood of Jabalya.
On January 2, about 250 foreign passport holders left the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing near Beit Hanoun Friday morning, after being granted permission by Israel. Most of the internationals departing the Gaza Strip hold passports from the former Soviet Union and some European countries. Many, however, refused to leave because they would not leave children and close family behind. Sadly, that same day, another three children from Al-Astal family lost their lives in another Israeli airstrikes. They were Mohamad (10), Abed Rabu (11) and Abed As-Satar (11).
Since the start of the Israeli bombardment, Palestinian armed factions have stepped up their projectile attacks into Israel, and it was reported that attacks are now being coordinated between factions. Hundreds of rockets have been fired so far, and four Israelis have died since December 28, while many have been treated for ‘shock’. Three Hamas-launched rockets managed to reach 40 kilometers inside Israeli territory, hitting the city of Beersheba on December 30 and 31.
On December 31, UN humanitarian coordinator Maxwell Gaylard announced that Gaza’s hospitals were facing severe strain dealing with "their largest ever trauma caseloads under some of the most adverse conditions imaginable." The UK’s International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander also said: “The human cost of this conflict is unacceptable and the humanitarian situation is getting worse by the hour... Medical items are in short supply. Fuel shortages have led to power cuts which in turn are affecting hospitals and other essential services. ”
That same day, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner proposed a 48-hour ceasefire plan to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. However, the idea was rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who said conditions were not ‘right’ yet for a ceasefire. Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha told AFP that Hamas is open to any ceasefire proposition that will end the Israeli airstrikes and stop the Gaza blockade.
As the bombing continued, it was discovered on January 2 that Israeli jets have been dropping flyers asking Gazans to inform Israeli military of the whereabouts of projectile launchers in return for aid and assistance. The papers were found all over Gaza and bear the signature of the Israeli military.
Around the world, protests and vigils have taken place in major cities including London, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Kabul, Toronto, Istanbul, Bern, and New York, as well as in Arab cities. On December 29, it was reported that Syria had ended its indirect peace negotiations with Israel in light of the latter’s ongoing assaults on the Gaza Strip. An anonymous Syrian official said that “Israel’s aggression closes all the doors” to a peace settlement in the Middle East. That same day, Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia also announced a freeze of negotiations with Israel while the attacks continue.
In Israel’s own parliament, tempers were lost when rightist Israeli members of the Knesset made provocative statements against Palestinians in Gaza. One Palestinian member, Muhammad Baraka, was expelled when he got into a heated argument with other members.
The SS Dignity departed from Cyprus on December 29, carrying three tons of medical supplies as well as a number of volunteer doctors and human rights workers. Unfortunately, according to the ship’s crew, Israeli warships surrounded and rammed into it three times. Captain Denis Healy said the Israeli attack came, ""without any warning, or any provocation." The ship then headed for the port of Tyre in Lebanon, where it arrived on December 31. The Lebanese government announced it would conduct a forensic analysis of the ship to determine what happened.
Moving to the West Bank, demonstrations and clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli soldiers have taken place on a daily basis since December 27. On December 28, the West Bank village of Ni’lin witnessed clashes leaving one Palestinian dead and six others injured by rubber bullets. At the Shufat Refugee Camp in east Jerusalem, hundreds of youths rallied and threw stones at Israeli soldiers and traffic, and one child was lightly injured. In Hebron, youths hurled Molotov cocktails at an Israeli military post near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old City. In Ramallah, the Palestinian National Initiative organized a sit-in at the center of the city, carrying signs denouncing the Israeli attacks and expressing solidarity with Gaza. In Bethlehem, officials announced that Manger Square's Christmas lights would be turned off as the West Bank mourns the loss of hundreds of Palestinians.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli troops detained 22 Palestinians, two of whom were children, from villages near Ramallah and Bethlehem late on December 30. Three brothers were also seized that day in Hebron.
Friday, January 2 and a Muslim day of prayer, was also proclaimed to be a day of wrath for Gaza. Israel deployed thousands of additional forces and border guards inside Jerusalem’s main entrances in anticipation of demonstrations following Friday prayers. As usual, men under the age of 45 were not allowed to worship and a closure was placed on the West Bank for 48 hours, effective as of midnight, January 1. However, despite the high Israeli army presence, clashes still occurred throughout Jerusalem as well as in most West Bank towns and villages.
Finally, the media blackout from Gaza continues, despite an Israeli High Court announcement that Israel would allow foreign journalists into the Strip. The blackout has been in effect since November 11.
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.
