Israel’s assault on Gaza entered its third week today, January 17, as the death toll reached a staggering 1,200 dead. Amongst the dead, 410 were children, while some 5,300 Palestinians have been wounded. The Israeli death toll remains at 13, ten of whom were soldiers.
More fears were raised this week regarding Israel’s use of chemical weapons in Gaza. As of now, Israel has neither confirmed nor denied it is using phosphorus shells. However, on January 13, the Palestinian Network of Non Governmental Organizations (PNGO) demanded an urgent international investigation into allegations that Israel used internationally prohibited weapons against Palestinians in Gaza. Based on the reports of Palestinian and foreign doctors working in Gaza hospitals, PNGO has concluded that new Israeli weapons are causing burns that can reach to the bones of the victims. PNGO also said that another type of unidentified weapon fires smoke and noxious gases that cause breathing difficulties, particularly in children. Just days later, on January 15, Chris Gunness, an UNRWA official in Gaza, claimed that Israeli jets had fired unknown chemical weapons on an UNRWA compound in Gaza. Three Palestinians were injured. At the time, about 700 displaced Palestinians were inside the building when it was targeted by Israel's air force. Gunness explained, “[The chemical compound] looks like phosphorus, it smells like phosphorus and it burns like phosphorus.” The UN building continued to burn into the late afternoon. “I don’t know why they [Israel] would do this,” Gunness continued. “We had guarantees.”
As the UN compound was being attacked, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon was arriving in Jerusalem to push for a ceasefire. He said on January 15 that the death toll from the Israeli war on Gaza had become "unbearable." He also expressed outrage to top Israeli officials when he was informed that Israeli forces had shelled the main UN relief compound in Gaza City where stockpiles of food and medicines were destroyed. "I conveyed my strong protest and outrage to the defense minister and the foreign minister and demanded a full explanation," Ban said. Clearly, Israel paid no heed to Ban’s protests, when on January 17, Israeli forces shelled another UN school in Beit Lahiya where Palestinians had taken shelter. A mother and her young son were killed.
On January 13, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported “growing pockets” of the population in Gaza are trapped in their homes. Affected areas included Siyafa, Al Atatra, Al Isra, As Salateen, east and north of Beit Hanoun, east of Jabalia (North Gaza); southeast Al Zaitoun (southeast of Gaza Governorate); and At Tuffah (east of Gaza Governorate). “Aid organizations have been unable so far to access these communities,” OCHA said. “The bodies of those killed in the As-Samouni house in Az Zaitoun on 5 January have still not been recovered, despite appeals to the Israeli army for access to the home,” they added. In addition, some 35,520 people have taken shelter in UN-run schools across Gaza after fleeing their homes. Unfortunately, the UN cannot guarantee their safety, as past attacks have shown. Most Gazans live without electricity or clean running water, as Israeli attacks have destroyed the utilities infrastructure necessary to provide those basic services.
On January 14, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Jakob Kellenberger said he had witnessed “shocking” scenes of women and children wounded in Gaza during a tour in Gaza the previous day, adding that Israeli forces were denying medical teams access to many sections of the Strip. “When I think back to the situation in the [Shifa] hospital … yes, it is shocking – it hurts when you see these wounded people, the types of wounds they have.”
Members of a French medical team arrived on January 14 to help as much as possible in Gaza’s overflowing and underequipped hospitals. Unfortunately, that same day Israeli forces closed in on the busy neighborhood of Tel El-Hawa in Gaza City, hitting hospital structures as well as buildings housing media offices such as Abu Dhabi TV, Reuters, NBC, Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera. The Al-Quds Hospital went up in flames after it came under Israeli shelling, while the Palestine Red Crescent Hospital’s storehouses were hit. Thousands fled the area on foot. Twenty four hours later, the tanks withdrew, but not before they had seized many residents, according to witnesses.
On January 15, Hamas Interior Minister Sa’id Siyam was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike which also killed his son and brother, his brother’s wife and their son, as well as his assistant. A total of 10 were killed in the attack, which leveled the building Siyam was living in.
That same day, Venezuela announced it was freezing diplomatic relations with Israel, expelling the Israeli ambassador to the country. Bolivia also severed diplomatic relations with Israel while Mauritania and Qatar announced a freezing of political and economic relations in protest of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.
On a different note, it was reported on January 12 that at least 10 Israeli soldiers have refused to accept deployment in Gaza, opting instead to serve a 14-day prison term. They now await trial for violation of their military orders. No'em Levna, a first lieutenant in Israel's army, said, "We killed 900 Palestinians in 17 days, including hundreds of children. If violence must be used, it should be used minimally, and that isn't what’s happening. Killing innocent civilians cannot be justified. Nothing justifies this kind of killing. It’s devilish." As though to affirm that opinion, the next day a marginal, right-wing Israeli politician, Avigdor Lieberman, proposed a nuclear solution to the war on Gaza, saying, "We must continue to fight Hamas just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II."
On January 11, protests against Israeli aggression in Gaza continued here and around the world. In Jerusalem, Palestinians and some Israelis, including members of the Israeli Knesset pushing for a ceasefire, demonstrated outside Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s house. Other large demonstrations took place in locations such as London and San Francisco.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, on January 13, an Israeli settler shot a Palestinian teenager dead near the city of Qalqiliya. Israeli sources claim the boy was throwing stones at settlers’ car. On January 14, Israeli troops seized seven Hebron residents, all of whom were taken to undisclosed locations. Another 24 Palestinians were taken during overnight raids in other villages around the West Bank. They have not yet been indentified.
In Israel, Israeli radio reported on January 16 that a Cabinet meeting to take place the next day will vote on a proposed unilateral ceasefire, after 22 days of air and ground strikes on the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Hamas officials announced on January 15 that they would agree to the current Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire, but Israel rejected several of the ceasefire terms, and Israel’s actions suggest that they will not pursue negotiations with Hamas.
Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, announced on January 12 that an urgent meeting of Arab foreign ministers will take place on January 19 in Kuwait to discuss the ongoing assault on Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be in attendance. A summit has already taken place this week in Doha, Qatar, on January 16. It began without the attendance of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco. President Abbas also did not attend, though senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal did. At the summit, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Meshaal urged Arab states to cut ties with Israel, as Mauritania and Qatar have done.
Finally, on January 15, Israel’s Navy forced a ship carrying more than a ton of medical supplies to the Gaza Strip to turn back. The Spirit of Humanity was carrying 21 passengers, including doctors, journalists, and European members of parliament, as well as a shipment of bandages, IV bags, antibiotics and other medicines for Gaza hospitals.
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.
