Pope Benedict XIV is currently in Jordan, where he started his first official papal visit to the Middle East as a self-proclaimed "pilgrim of peace". On May 10, the Pope will travel to Palestine and Israel and visit the most significant Christian holy sites. Palestinians are preparing for the Pope's visit to Bethlehem, where he will not only visit Jesus Christ's birthplace inside the Church of the Nativity, but will make a stop at the Aida Refugee Camp to witness the ongoing hardships of the Palestinians.
Also, Jerusalem governor, Adnan Husseini said Palestinian officials in Jerusalem would brief the Pope on Israeli measures against Palestinians in the city when they meet him on May 12. The Pope's trip is of particular significance given the strained relations he has built with the Muslim world after making controversial statements about Islam construed as offensive by many Muslims. During this visit, the pontiff expressed his desire to build bridges between peoples and understanding among the faiths.
Although Palestinians and their supporters earlier called on Pope Benedict to travel to Gaza during his three-trip visit, the Vatican did not announce any changes in his itinerary, which excluded any stop in the war-torn Strip.
Palestinians and Israelis are gearing up for another visit – their own, to the White House later this month. US President Barack Obama, in a bid to jumpstart the peace processes, announced that he would invite leaders from Palestine, Israel and the Arab world to Washington to discuss ways of achieving peace.
Palestinians are looking forward to the Obama meeting, with President Mahmoud Abbas holding meetings with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts through the week to coordinate positions. On May 6, Abbas met with Egypt's Husni Mubarak to talk about the upcoming White House meeting, which was preceded by the president's trip to Jordan where he met King Abullah II.
On May 7, Arab Foreign Ministers met and affirmed at the end of their meeting in Cairo that they rejected any amendment to the Arab Peace Initiative. Furthermore, they said they would submit a file on Israeli violations in occupied Jerusalem to the International Court of Justice.
Arab League Secretary General Amro Musa also said that President Abbas had informed the US Administration that Palestinians would not resume peace negotiations with Israel until the latter halted settlement activity. Mousa added that the Arabs had also adopted the same position.
Israel, however, is not as keen on accommodating Obama's conciliatory stance. On May 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of Russian-language reporters that Israel would never withdraw from the Golan Heights, occupied in 1967 and illegally annexed by Israel in 1981. "Remaining on the Golan will ensure Israel has a strategic advantage in cases of military conflict with Syria," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu has given other indications that he is not quite ready to jump on the bandwagon of peaceful solutions. Netanyahu expressed to Israeli press on May 7 that he was ready to stand up to the US President if necessary on matters that he feels are "critical to Israel's security."
On May 6, the Israeli Prime Minister was quoted in Israel's Hebrew press as saying that he would tell Obama he did not accept an independent Palestinian state but would agree to their autonomy. Netanyahu is to meet Obama on May 18 and will travel to Egypt to meet with Mubarak on May 11. According to him the two-state solution is inapplicable at the time being.
Netanyhau has a point, if Jewish settlements, which prohibit any contiguity of Palestinian areas, are to be taken into consideration. According to Peace Now, an Israeli organization that tracks settlement construction and expansion in the West Bank, settlement activity in the West Bank has noticeably accelerated since Netanyahu took office early last month. In the past three years alone, 5,100 housing units have been built in West Bank settlements, said the organization.
President Abbas has said negotiations with Israel would not proceed if settlement expansion does not come to a screeching halt.
It is not only the Palestinians that are calling for this. Throughout the week both US Vice President Joe Biden and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner both called on Israel to halt its settlement activities. On May 5, Kouchner met with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman in Paris and pressed for an immediate renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians. In an attempt to speak Lieberman's language, Kouchner said a viable Palestinian state was the only way to ensure Israel's security. He also said settlement construction would have to stop, including what Israel calls "natural growth." The French minister also urged Israel to open Gaza's borders so that the humanitarian situation would improve.
On that same day, speaking to the annual AIPAC conference in the US, Joe Biden called on Israel to halt settlements, allow freedom of movement for Palestinians and endorse a Palestinian state. In exchange he also called on Arab states to offer tangible gestures to Israel. Still, he added, Israel's security was non-negotiable and the US would always stand beside it.
As for internal Palestinian news, President Abbas announced on May 6 in Egypt that the formerly resigned government under Salaam Fayyad would be reinstated given the failure to form a new national unity government. The government, which Abbas said would have "some additions", would not clash with the formation of any prospective unity government. According to the President, if talks between the factions – namely Hamas and Fateh –finally did bear fruit and the agreement on a transitional government, this caretaker government would not be in the way. Fayyad has expressed his desire to have all PLO factions join in the government although it is not yet clear which will agree and which will not. So far the PFLP has said it would not join, saying this will only compound the internal split.
In Jerusalem, Israel continues to hand out demolition orders even while Palestinian lawyers are able to grant temporary freezes on them. On May 4, 26 new demolition orders were handed to Jerusalemite homes in the Old City, Wadi Al Joz and Ras Al Amoud, thus bringing the total number of demolition orders handed out to Palestinians since the beginning of the year to 1080. A day earlier, on May 3, the Israeli foreign ministry approved the expansion of the Maaleh Adumim settlement, allowing the construction of an additional 6,000 housing units.
On May 5, Jerusalem governor Adnan Husseini lashed out at Israeli Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat's announcement that he would allow the building of 13,000 housing units in east Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Beit Hanina was merely a way to ease international criticism on Israel, adding that it was Israel's way of emptying the city center of Palestinians.
International criticism is mounting on Israel, with an independent investigation committee commissioned by the UN finding Israel responsible for six out of nine incidents during the Gaza invasion. The report, which was publicized on May 5, said Israel was mainly responsible for its air and ground attacks against UN facilities, namely UNRWA warehouses and schools and the subsequent deaths, injuries and losses incurred. In the report, the commission said Israel was "nonchalant in its attacks".
On May 7, an Israeli soldier was shot and killed in an Israeli military operation in Birzeit near Ramallah. According to media sources the soldier was killed by friendly fire during an army raid on the town.
Also on May 7, 23 year old Talat Afifi was killed by Israeli soldiers in Beit Hanoun. Afifi, who was a member of Hamas' Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades, was hailed by his movement as "dying in the line of duty."
Earlier in the week on May 2, two young men in the twenties, Hamdan Astal and Khalil Abu Jarad, died when Israel bombed underground tunnels in Rafah. The tunnel, in which the two were apparently in, collapsed on top of them.
Finally, weekly protesters continued their demonstrations in the West Bank villages of Bilin, Nilin and Masara to protest Israel's separation wall there. This week, 18 demonstrators were injured by Israeli teargas and fire.
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.
