Renewed signs of hope for a unity agreement between Fateh and Hamas emerged on July 10 when Hamas officials hinted that a deal was near. "The signs are there," said Mahmoud Zahhar, senior Hamas official on July 10. "We are on the verge of a unity deal."
Zahhar's statement came during talks with a visiting Egyptian delegation to Palestine here to negotiate with the parties over the issues still in dispute between the two sides. But Zahhar was careful not to be too optimistic during his Friday sermon in Gaza, saying Hamas would not continue talks with Fateh until "unresolved issues" were resolved, namely politically-motivated arrests in the West Bank.
The July 25 meeting between Palestinian parties in Cairo is still on schedule. However, it is unsure whether it will be the final meeting that marks the clinching of a unity deal.
The Egyptian delegation, which is here on a three day visit, was in Damascus on July 8, primarily to talk to Hamas leaders.
On July 7, President Mahmoud Abbas indicated to a more conciliatory tone during an interview with Al Arabiyeh Satellite Channel, during which he called on Hamas to accept elections under Arab and international supervision and abide by its results. In this regard, President Abbas expressed commitment to relinquish legislative and presidential authority to Hamas if it wins in the next elections, which he said would be set for January 24, 2010.
During the interview, Abbas also addressed the issue of a future Palestinian state. "We will not accept a state with temporary borders as an option," he maintained. "We do not accept it and I will not sign on such an agreement." Abbas however, said the Palestinians were more than willing to sit down at the negotiating table, but on one condition. "We are ready to resume negotiations on the basis of international law whether with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu or [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman," he said.
At this point, the biggest point of contention is Israel's West Bank settlements. On July 4, Roy Dickinson, the European Commission's Chargé d'affaires in Jerusalem criticized the settlement enterprise, saying, "The European Union certainly takes the view that all Israeli settlements in the occupied territory are illegal and that it seriously undermines progress towards a two-state solution… the expropriation of fertile land; the settler-only roads which carve up the occupied Palestinian territory, and the checkpoints and roadblocks which exist solely to protect settlements: these all contribute to strangling the Palestinian economy," he said.
Israel was up in arms over the statement, even calling in the European Commission representative for clarification. On July 9, European officials apologized to Israel's Ambassador to the EU Ron Kuriel for the statements made about the settlements. "The press release unfortunately uses wording which does not reflect statements by the EU Commission," European Union spokesman David Kriss said.
Still, the statement apparently reflects the overall opinion of Europe on the settlements. On July 8, Robert Rydberg, head of the Middle East desk in the Swedish Foreign Ministry whose country currently holds the EU presidency, said to Haaretz that the EU, “rules out any compromise with Israel over the issue of settlements, unless reached in the framework of a final-status agreement with the Palestinians.”
Rydberg continued, “It is inconceivable for the international community to legitimize natural growth of the settler population, since all settlements beyond the Green Line are illegal.”
Apparently, Israel does not find it "inconceivable" in the least bit.
On July 7, reports circulated in the press about Washington's agreement to grant Israel permission to complete the construction of 2,500 housing units in already existing settlements. The reports claimed that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak convinced US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell during their meeting in London to agree to the "compromise."
The United States later denied the report, saying there had been no agreement on the settlements with Israel and that the US maintains its demand for a total freeze.
What's more, on July 5, the west Jerusalem municipality approved a plan to build 20 housing units in the Shepherds' Hotel, which is owned by the Husseini family in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. According to the plan, the 20 houses are part of a large plan to build 200 units on the lands of Karam al Mufti, which were confiscated in 1968 from the Arab Hotels Association. According to head of the mapping department at the Arab Studies Society Director, Khalil Tufakji, the aim of this plan is to make it impossible for Jerusalem to be divided and thus prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The settlement enterprise is coupled with Israel's policy of house demolitions, especially in Jerusalem. On July 9, Israeli authorities handed eight residents of Al Bustan quarter in Silwan house demolition orders. They all said the orders stated that they had built their homes without the proper licenses.
Also in Jerusalem on July 7, Fayez Ibrahim Tutunji, 54, from Bet Hanina, demolished his own home instead of being faced with heavy fines by the Jerusalem municipality. He said he tried several times to obtain the proper licensing for the additional rooms he added, but was always rejected. If Tutunji had not demolished his home, the municipality would have fined him tens of thousands of shekels to pay for the demolition.
On July 6 a disturbing report was published in the Israeli daily Maariv which outlined a plan by the Israel Land Fund to settle Jews in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Bet Hanina. According to the report, tenants would only be paying a monthly rent of NIS1,600 for a spacious apartment, while the Arnona tax would be covered by the Fund, which says it wants to encourage Israelis to settle in areas of east Jerusalem.
In the West Bank, two Palestinians were taken by Israeli soldiers to an unknown destination and several others suffered from tear gas inhalation during the weekly demonstration against the separation wall there on July 10.
On July 8 Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the government would approach the World Bank and demand that it stop funding studies for the Red Sea-Dead Sea water project if Israel did not renege on its plan to confiscate 139,000 dunums of land between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, which is slated for annexation to the Maale Adumim Settlement.
"If Israel does not halt this plan, the Palestinian Authority will ask the World Bank to stop the two-seas project, linking the Red Sea with the Dead Sea," read a statement issued by Fayyad's office.
Finally, on July 9, OCHA, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs called on Israel to implement the International Court of Justice ruling of 2004, which deemed the separation wall in the West Bank illegal. The statement said, given the wall's route, it has had serious humanitarian impacts on the everyday life of Palestinians. Israel has so far ignored the ICJ ruling on the grounds that it is non-binding and does not take into account Israel's security considerations.
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.
