The Palestinian death toll of Israel’s onslaught into Gaza has risen to 810, with the military offensive marking the end of its second week on January 9. With the majority of those killed categorized as civilians, questions regarding Israel’s contravention of international humanitarian law are finally coming to the fore. On January 9, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for “credible, independent and transparent” investigations into what she said were possible violations of international law in Gaza, saying some of the Israeli army killings appear to have “all the elements of war crimes”.
Indeed, the stench of war crimes has only worsened in the Gaza Strip over the last week, with heinous atrocities being carried out by Israeli troops there on a daily basis. In the Zaytoun Quarter of Gaza City on January 4, 30 Palestinians were killed in one house by Israeli shelling. On January 6, at least 45 people were killed and hundreds others injured when the Israeli air force bombed an UNRWA school in Jabaliya where shell-shocked Gazans had taken refuge.
This last incident enraged not only Palestinians, but the UN agency as well. Contrary to Israel’s claims that Hamas fighters were hiding in the school and had launched projectiles from it, UNRWA's Chris Gunness begged to differ. "Hundreds of people were taking refuge in the school from the fighting. We have given all our GPS coordinates to the Israeli army - we have told them exactly where all our facilities are in the Gaza Strip and all of our facilities are clearly marked. So it should have been quite obvious where the UN facilities are,” he said. Three UNRWA schools were hit during Israeli military strikes in the course of 24 hours.
Furthermore, on January 8, an UNRWA driver was killed near Beit Hanoun when the truck he was driving was struck by an Israeli missile. UNRWA later halted its operations in Gaza in protest of the targeting of its employees and facilities. On January 10, UNRWA resumed operations after it said it received Israeli assurances that their employees would not be targeted.
The United Nations is now calling for an independent investigation into whether international humanitarian law has been broken. The UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories Maxwell Gaylard also had a warning to give. “These tragic incidents need to be investigated, and if international humanitarian law has been contravened, those responsible must be held accountable," he said.
The Zeitun incident has also enraged OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, according to its statement on January 9. “From 3 to 7 January, the IDF prevented medical teams from entering the area to evacuate the wounded. In of the one gravest incidents since the beginning of operations, according to several testimonies, on 4 January Israeli foot-soldiers evacuated approximately 110 Palestinians into a single-residence house in Zaytoun (half of whom were children), warning them to stay indoors. Twenty-four hours later, Israeli forces shelled the home repeatedly, killing approximately 30. Those who survived and were able to walked two kilometers to Salah Ed Din Road before being transported to the hospital in civilian vehicles.” One hundred Palestinians were killed on that day, January 6.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has also voiced growing concern for the situation in Gaza, saying on January 6 that injured Palestinians are dying while waiting for ambulances that can’t reach them because of Israel’s military strikes. Despite a three hour lull in attacks on January 7, purportedly to allow humanitarian aid into the Strip, the Israeli army has continued to pound Gaza and has not even allowed people to bury their dead. An estimated 50 corpses were found buried under the rubble on January 7, all of which had been there for days because rescue workers could not reach them.
In one particularly horrifying incident, four children were found barely alive near their dead mother in a Gaza City home razed to the ground by Israeli attacks. The children were taken to hospital, suffering from extreme dehydration and starvation, and absolutely terrified.
Dozens of homes were demolished in Rafah on January 8 after Israeli forces dropped leaflets calling on the citizens to evacuate their homes before strikes. Also on January 8, a Palestine TV photojournalist was killed along with his mother and wife in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City.
As such, the death toll continues to rise as Israel continues its air and ground strikes on Gaza, pounding everything from schools, universities, mosques, police centers, football stadiums and homes virtually around the clock. On January 9 an Israeli airstrike seriously damaged a building complex in Gaza City that housed the media and production studios of more than 20 media organizations. On the same day, Palestinian journalist Ala Mortijar was killed by an Israeli shell, which also completely destroyed his home. The first international, a Ukranian woman, Olivera Al Jarou, who was married to a Palestinian physician, was killed by a tank shell in Gaza City along with her infant son. Her daughter Yasmine, remains in critical condition.
Throughout Friday January 9, people took to the streets around the world to protest Israel’s ongoing aggression against Gaza. In Palestine, thousands of people demonstrated in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Hebron, Bilin and Nablus, particularly after Friday prayers. The Aqsa Mosque was virtually closed to most worshippers, with Israel imposing a closure of the West Bank for 48 hours in anticipation of protests. Only Palestinians over 50 were allowed entry in the Aqsa Compound and only those from Jerusalem. Anyone under that age was barred entry. Only residents of the Old City were allowed inside it during the morning. Nonetheless, a women’s demonstration took place after prayers, calling for an end to the massacres in Gaza. The women proceeded to Damascus Gate, where they were surrounded by Israeli police and border guards. Demonstrations broke out in other Jerusalem areas as well, such as Ras Al Amoud. Rallies and protest demonstration also took place around the world, with large demonstrations in Tokyo, Amman, Ankara and other Arab and European countries.
In the meantime, amidst the carnage diplomatic wheels are turning ever so slowly. A UN Security Council Resolution was finally passed on January 8 after days of mulling, but it was rejected outright by Israel, which said it would continue its air and ground strikes in Gaza until its “objectives are reached.” Less than 12 hours after the resolution was passed, Israeli strikes killed an additional 29 Palestinians, with Israel declaring that its operations would be “widened”. Resolution 1860 was passed with 14 votes and an American abstention. While the Palestinian Authority praised the resolution, claiming optimistically that it would halt Israeli attacks on the people of Gaza, Hamas dismissed it completely, saying the “interests of the people were not taken into consideration.”
In a nutshell, the resolution “"stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire leading to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza." The Israeli diplomatic-security cabinet rejected the solution, saying, "The IDF will continue to act in order to attain the objectives of the operation - to bring about a change in the security situation in the south of the country - this in accordance with the plans that have been approved upon embarking on the operation."
The resolution comes on the heels of Egyptian and French efforts to bring an end to the bloodshed in Gaza. On January 9, Hamas officials traveled to Cairo to discuss a ceasefire proposed by Egyptian and French Presidents Husni Mubarak and Nicolas Sarkozy earlier in the week, which Hamas has neither rejected nor accepted. Hamas has maintained that any ceasefire agreement must entail an end to Israeli attacks on the Strip, a lifting of the siege, and the opening of borders including the Rafah crossing.
Egypt is also reportedly talking with Israel. Media reports, however, suggest that Egypt is refusing to deploy international troops at the Rafah Crossing as a means of facilitating a border agreement. President Mahmoud Abbas is also in Cairo in an attempt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza.
In the meantime, Israel is continuing its propaganda campaign, claiming the massacres in Gaza are on Hamas’ heads, and not theirs. So far 10 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting, according to Israeli army sources, while three Israeli civilians have died in rocket attacks by Palestinians. According to the Israeli military, 20 homemade projectiles landed in Israeli territory on January 9 and four Grad missiles were shot 40 kilometers into Israel near Beer Sheva.
Furthermore, on January 8, three Katyusha rockets were fired from Lebanese territory and struck the Israeli city of Nehariya, No injuries were reported and no Lebanese-based faction has yet to take responsibility. Hizbollah has denied any involvement in the incident.
January 9 also marked what Hamas says is the end of President Abbas’s term in office. While Hamas members in Gaza have said that it is no time to enter into arguments about the legitimacy of Abbas’s position as PA president, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesperson in Lebanon, said the movement would no longer consider Abbas as president. Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad has also said this is no time for such discussions, saying all efforts should be focused on ending the suffering of the people of Gaza. President Abbas has also called on Hamas and all Palestinian factions to return to the table for reconciliation talks, saying that “national unity is the most sacred weapon we possess.”
The US has, unsurprisingly, taken its position on the Gaza carnage, alongside is closest ally, Israel. In addition to its abstention on the Security Council resolution, US President George Bush said his county strongly backs Israel’s right to “self defense”. On January 5 he chimed that any ceasefire must also include a complete halt of Hamas rockets.
Apparently the US House of Representatives takes its cue from the president. On January 9, the House passed a resolution by an overwhelming majority of 390-5 "recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza". The senate passed the resolution a day before.
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.
