Palestinians everywhere marked the fifth anniversary of President Yasser Arafat’s death on November 11, 2004. Tens of thousands of loyal followers flocked to the presidential headquarters in Ramallah to participate in the memorial service, which included a speech from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. During his speech, Abbas reiterated his decision not to run in upcoming presidential elections and his frustration with the current impasse in diplomatic efforts to restart negotiations. “No negotiations until there is a halt to settlements,” the president said again before the crowds.
Three days later, Palestinians also marked “Independence Day” of November 15, 1988 when President Arafat declared a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, thus setting in motion the years’ long struggle to negotiate this settlement on the ground.
Twenty-one years later, the Palestinians have yet to celebrate their real independence. Chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat admitted this on November 11 in an interview with France Presse in which he admitted that negotiations had failed. “President Abbas has realized that we cannot reach a two state solution through negotiations. After 18 years, we are still dealing with the same issues: settlements, house demolitions, land confiscation,” he said.
Abbas’ recent decision not to run in elections and to perhaps resign his post altogether came largely because of the US’s inability to force Israel’s hand in halting settlement activities. According to Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns on November 13, the US has not changed its stance on the settlements. Speaking to the Middle East Institute, Burns said the Obama administration “does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."
While he said the administration continued to “consider the Israeli offer to restrain settlement activity to be a potentially important step, it obviously falls short of the continuing Roadmap obligation for a full settlement freeze," saying that the US still looks to the realization of a “Jewish state of Israel…and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occuption that began in 1967, that ends the daily humiliations of Palestinians under occupation, and that realizes the full and remarkable potential of the Palestinian people."
The Palestinian leadership seems to share in this opinion but without depending on the US to deliver it. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said earlier this week that the leadership may resort to the UN to decide on the final borders of the Palestinian state, thus isolating Israel as the occupying power. Nabil Shaath, member of Fateh’s Central Committee said the plan, which Fayyad has reportedly gained secret approval for from European and American parties, would go to the Security Council for ratification.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also reportedly called on the US administration to veto any move by the Palestinians to declare their state in the corridors of the UN. Netanyahu met with President Obama on November 9, mostly in closed quarters during which they discussed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the obvious impasse it has reached. While both sides described the meeting in positive terms, Israeli analysts have warned of the fact that a photo of the meeting was not released until four days later could be a sign of the Obama administration’s discontent with Netanyahu.
If this is so, it is not apparent in Obama’s moves on the ground. No real pressure has been put on Israel to halt its settlement enterprise from the US, which reports have said would not pressure the PA or Israel to resume negotiations if “they are not ready.”
Israel is certainly not ready for peace at least in terms of its actions on the ground. On November 13, Israeli troops shot and killed 22-year old Mustapha Wadi, wounded two others and captured three more in what Israel said was the men’s attempt to plant explosives on Gaza’s border with Israel. Palestinian eyewitnesses say the men were out hunting dogs when they were shot.
On November 13, Israeli army chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi threatened to reinvade Gaza if the rockets did not stop. While he said that Hamas had shown “restraint” in firing rockets, Israel would not hesitate to “defend itself.”
"We are prepared to contend with the whole arc of threats," Ashkenazi said. "We must not fool ourselves. If necessary, we will operate again in the Gaza Strip to stop the rocket fire."
Just days earlier on November 8, former chief of staff Shaul Mofaz said Israel would be willing to speak to Hamas if it accepted the Quartet conditions of accepting Israel and renouncing violence. He also posed a “solution” which included a Palestinian state on 60 percent of the West Bank with temporary borders and no Jerusalem. Presidential advisor Nabil Abu Rdeineh shot down the offer immediately saying Mofaz’ plan would “never see the light of day” because it means forsaking Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem, meanwhile, Israel continues to issue demolition orders to Palestinian homes. On November 10, Hatem Abdel Qader, who is head of the Jerusalem file said a demolition order had been issued to a Beit Hanina apartment building with 25 apartment and home to 170 people. A day before, 10 orders were issued to families in Essawiyeh, an east Jerusalem neighborhood and on November 8, 17 orders were issued against homes in Silwan.
In the West Bank, Palestinians commemorated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall by tearing down a slab of concrete of separation wall at the Qalandiya checkpoint on November 9. Activists were able to cross over to Israeli controlled territory and raise the Palestinian flag.
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.
