Jerusalem was the scene of a number of Israeli measures this week. On April 7, Israeli soldiers shot and killed Azmi Uweisat from Sur Baher, claiming he rammed into a checkpoint set up near the town, lightly wounding three soldiers. The checkpoint had been set up while bulldozers were demolishing the home of Hussam Dweikat, who bulldozed and killed three Israelis last June in west Jerusalem. Eyewitnesses, however, refute the Israeli army’s claims, saying there was no justification for killing Uweisat. They said soldiers immediately opened fire at his car when they saw it coming quickly towards them.
Back in Washington, the White House released a statement saying home demolitions were “not constructive.”
Also on April 7, Israeli forces demolished the home of Abdul Rahman Fakhuri in the Bab Hutta area of the Old City, claiming it was not built with a construction license.
On April 5, the Israel High Court rejected the appeal of the Ghawi and Hanoun families from the Sheikh Jarrah quarter of Jerusalem, giving its authorities the green light to evict them from their homes. Israeli settlers have laid claim to the homes and will resettle in them once the families are evicted. Twenty-eight other families are also in danger of eviction in the same area.
This week, neither can Palestinians travel in or out of Israel and Jerusalem. For the week of Passover, Israeli authorities clamped down a tight closure on the West Bank, thus preventing Palestinians in the West Bank from traveling to Jerusalem or Israel. The closure, which began on the eve of April 6, is to last at least until April 15.
Meanwhile, authorities at the Aqsa Mosque compound have said religious Jews have broken into the compound for days on end to perform prayers during the Passover holiday. According to Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, Mufti of the Palestinian territories and the Holy Land, extremist Jews forced their way into the courtyards to perform prayers in a clear provocation of the Muslim worshippers inside. “At a time when Israel prevents Muslims from the West Bank and Gaza from reaching Al Aqsa to pray, it facilitates the break in of Israeli Jews,” he said.
On April 9, 40 Palestinians were injured, some seriously, when Israeli army troops and Jewish settlers raided the Hebron-area village of Beit Ummar and its Safa quarter. The settlers were apparently carrying out revenge attacks for a youth from the Beit Ayan settlement killed by a Palestinian last week.
On April 4, two Palestinians were killed in Jabalyia, near the border fence with Israel in an armed clash with Israeli forces. The two, members of the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees were identified as 23-year old Jamil Quffa and 22-year old Mohammed Hamaydeh.
On April 9, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams visited the Gaza Strip and called it an “open-air prison”. The north Ireland leader also met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, saying the latter “wants a peace agreement.” Fein, who spent two days in Gaza, openly criticized Israel’s recent military invasion of the Strip and the blockade. "This is a total denial of the rights of the people of Palestine,” he said. “People can't travel out of here, they can't travel in."
Egypt was also in the news this week, for several reasons. In a televised speech on April 10, Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah denied that his group had any plans to attack Egyptian targets, saying it had no branches outside Lebanon, but concurred that the Lebanese man arrested by Egyptian forces in November, Sami Shehab was a member of his organization and was helping the Palestinians. “If aiding the Palestinians is a crime, then I am proud of it," he said. Narsallah made his speech on the backdrop of Egypt’s recent arrest of 49 people charged with affiliation to Hizbullah.
Hamas however, has denied any knowledge of Hizbullah’s plans. Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said on April 10 that Hamas has no information about the group seized by Egyptian security except through the media. “Egyptian security is part of Palestine’s security,” he maintained.
Egypt is also said to have detained 15 people charged of helping to manufacture projectiles sent into Gaza, saying they seized the shells of 60 projectiles from a workshop in Sheikh Zuwayed near the Rafah crossing with Gaza.
According to Hamas, Egypt has also proposed the formation of a national committee to oversee coordination between the Gaza Strip and West Bank in a bid to forward the conciliation talks underway between the two sides. Salah Bardaweel said on April 10 that Egypt proposed the idea during the factions’ last round of talks, adding that Hamas would not object to a government in Ramallah with a clear political agenda.
The inter-faction talks, which were suspended earlier this month are said to be resumed on April 26. Meanwhile, representatives of Fateh and Hamas have been meeting in Gaza ahead of the Cairo talks in an attempt to smooth out differences between the two parties. During an April 8 meeting, the two sides said the meetings would continue until the delegations traveled to Cairo on the 26th.
President Mahmoud Abbas traveled to Cairo on April 8 and held talks with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak and Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman to discuss ways to further move the conciliation talks forward.
Palestinians will hopefully be able to smooth out their internal differences since the diplomatic future of peace talks is hardly promising. New Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on April 7 that he sees no point in continuing the current track of peace talks adopted by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying it is time to “find new ideas.” These ideas, unfortunately, do not include the Annapolis understandings, nor do they embrace the concept of a two-state solution.
US President Barack Obama, on the other hand, says his country is still committed to that notion of peace. During his recent trip to Turkey on April 7, Obama assured that “peace is still possible in Middle East”, concurring that all it needed was for Palestinians and Israelis to “offer concessions.” During a speech to students in Istanbul, Obama reiterated his support for the two-state solution.” On April 9, Obama requested that Congress approve $800m in support to the Palestinian Authority and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The Palestinian leadership also expressed its wariness of the new Israeli government. On April 10, President Abbas told the Quartet through chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat that Israel must accept the two-state solution and signed agreements for peace negotiations to proceed. You cannot have political negotiations without that,” Erekat said. He also said the Annapolis agreements, which Lieberman recently shunned, must be honored, including a freeze on settlement activities. “If Israel made such a commitment,” Erekat said, “President Abbas would agree to resume the negotiations immediately.”
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.
