Just as representatives of Hamas and Fateh were meeting today in Cairo to try yet again to reach an agreement on unresolved issues between the two rival parties, Fateh is still reeling from the latest outburst among its ranks that has left serious repercussions. While the Cairo meeting is mainly to discuss politically-motivated arrests, which both sides accuse the other of carrying out in the West Bank and Gaza, neither side is very optimistic about reaching an agreement that would lead to national unity.
Add to this Fateh's own problems and the situation grows even bleaker. On July 13, Fateh veteran and top PLO leader Faruq Qaddumi dropped a media bombshell in Amman, where he resides, when he revealed alleged minutes of a 2004 meeting between now-President Mahmoud Abbas, security chief Mohammed Dahlan and then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. According to Qaddumi's allegations, the three were involved in a plot to assassinate late President Yasser Arafat along with other top Palestinian leaders.
The PLO quickly denied the allegations, calling Qaddumi "deranged" and claiming he was making such statements in order to sabotage the upcoming Fateh Conference. A statement released by the organization also said its Executive Committee would hold an emergency meeting to decide on future punitive steps against Qaddumi.
On his part, Qaddumi is holding to his guns, saying he has proof of the plot and going on the Arab's most popular satellite channel to voice his opinion. On July 14, Qaddumi participated in a talk show on Al Jazeera, outlining what he said was an intricate plot to poison and assassinate Arafat, who died later that year.
A day later, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, called for the suspension of Al Jazeera's work in the West Bank on claims of "false information and incitement." Fayyad also said the PA would file a lawsuit against the satellite channel for spreading erroneous information.
The closing of the station enraged many Palestinians and internationals alike, who saw the move as an impingement on the freedom of expression and a free press. On July 14, Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling on the PA to reverse its decision to suspend Al Jazeera's work in the Palestinian territories. "The suspension of Al-Jazeera sends a clear message that the Palestinian Authority has red lines when it comes to free speech," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Are they going to silence the media every time someone reports something they don't like? Prime Minister Fayyad should reverse this punitive step."
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has also called on the PA to rescind its decision in a statement on July 17. "The ban should be lifted immediately," it said.
Meanwhile Fateh officials are waging their own war of words against Qaddumi, calling his accusations "false, hysterical and deranged." On July 14, the PLO issued a statement condemning Qaddumi's statements and discrediting their validity. "If Qaddumi’s accusations were correct, he should have revealed this five years ago when he claimed he obtained the minutes of that alleged meeting" it read. The PLO executive committee demanded that Qaddumi withdraw his statement and apologize publicly, something which the latter has so far refused to do.
Still, President Abbas is carrying on with his plans to hold Fateh's Sixth Conference on August 4 in Bethlehem, despite the controversy swirling around that decision. Many Fateh members are unhappy with the venue given that several hundred exiled Fateh cadres will not be able to attend, not to mention those who need permission to leave Gaza.
The coastal strip has had its share of visitors lately, coming in solidarity with its 1.5 million. On July 15, the Viva Palestina convoy entered Gaza through the Rafah Crossing, carrying 200 American activists and former British MP George Galloway along with tons of supplies for Gazans.
Then on July 16, representatives of the anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta sect made a one-day visit to the Strip as part of the convoy and met with Hamas leaders there.
The four representatives of the Neturei Karta traveled from the United States and met with deposed Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. "We feel your suffering, we cry your cry," said Rabbi Yisroel WeissI. "It is your land, it is occupied, illegitimately and unjustly by people who stole it, kidnapped the name of Judaism and our identity," he said.
For his part, Haniyeh welcomed the group, saying he held no grudge against Jews, but against the state of Israel."
On July 14, the Israeli media published testimonies from Israeli soldiers to "Breaking the Silence" about the conduct of the Israeli army during Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. The testimonies included chilling recounts of Israeli soldiers using Palestinians or "Johnny" as human shields during their operations. The report also said soldiers from the Golani Brigades, one of the Israeli army's most elite branches, said the war on Gaza lacked discipline.
As if a reminder of the atrocities that took place during the 22 days of the invasion, Palestinian paramedics found on July 11 the body of Abdullah Naim, under the rubble of a house in the Tal Al Hawa area of Gaza. The house was destroyed by Israeli airplanes sometime during the invasion.
In Jerusalem, the Israelis continue with their home demolitions and eviction orders even as the world looks on in condemnation. On July 17, the west Jerusalem Municipality ordered Ali Ibrahim Salah out of his home and off his land upon a court decision saying the land belonged to the Jewish Agency. The land and buildings are home to 70 members of the Salah family, who have been involved in a 20-year court battle with Israeli settlers claiming they owned the land.
On July 13, Israeli forces bulldozed the home of Ala’ Abed Shweiki in the Ashqaria Quarter of Bet Hanina, claiming the house was built without a license. Two people were injured during scuffles between the citizens and the Israeli police and personnel at the scene and Shweiki's brother was arrested. On the same day, Israeli authorities also demolished a residential building in Silwan.
Israeli police and border guards also paid a visit on July 15 to the Nidal Center for Community Development in the Old City of Jerusalem, slapping a closure order on its doors. The police claimed the closure comes under the pretext that the center threatens the "security of Israel." According to the order, the center will be closed until August 11, 2009, adding that an extension of the order is valid for one year.
In Hebron, settlers from the Bet Ayn Settlement set fire to 150 dunums of land belonging to Bet Ummar. According to the mayor, the fire destroyed hundreds of olive trees and agricultural lands.
On the same day, the Israeli Transport Ministry announced it would replace all names of Arab towns in Israel on roads signs to only their "Jewish" names. According to the decision, the term Al Quds (Jerusalem in Arabic) will be replaced with the Arabic transcribed “Yerushalaim” (the Hebrew word for the city).
Finally, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert opined in a Washington Post article on July 17 that the US should stop focusing on freezing Jewish settlements, which he said was in "impediment tot the Middle East peace process."
"This is a mistake that serves neither the process with the Palestinians nor relations between Israel and the Arab world. Moreover, it has the potential to greatly shake U.S.-Israeli relations."
EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana has another take on the peace process. On July 12, Solana called on the UN Security Council to recognize the state of Palestine even if Israelis and the Palestinians have not reached an agreement among themselves. “After a fixed deadline, a UN Security Council resolution should proclaim the adoption of the two-state solution," he said, adding that this decision should include border parameters, refugees, control over the city of Jerusalem and security arrangements. Should the parties not commit to the timeline allotted for agreement on these issues, he said, the solution that is supported by the international community must be presented on the table.
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.
