This week, Palestinians made headlines in local and international news, first for the events on May 15 marking the 63rd anniversary of Al Nakba and later at the diplomatic level after US President Barack Obama’s policy speech on the region on May 19.
While Palestinians were not highly impressed with President Obama’s speech on developments in the Arab region, there were certain points that could be taken as positive. For one, Obama specifically mentioned a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, something Israel is clearly opposed to. “The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states,” the President said. “The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.”
Unfortunately, Obama did not deviate much from the traditional US position on Palestinian-Israeli peace, first and foremost pledging yet again the United States’ unwavering support for Israel and its safeguarding of Israeli security. This includes a demilitarized Palestinian state, he said, with issues such as refugees and settlements to be left for final status negotiations. He did, however, admit that the “status quo was unsustainable” and that “Israel must act boldly to advance a lasting peace.”
While he did say that peace could not be achieved with “permanent occupation” Obama was clear to reiterate the “dream of a Jewish and democratic state.” In the same vein, he shot down Palestinian plans to call on the UN to recognize Palestine. “Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won't create an independent state.”
Reactions were immediate. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Obama on May 20, a day after the president’s speech, made it clear that Israel would not withdraw to the 1967 borders, which he called “indefensible.” While the two continued to reiterate the close bond between their countries and their “unshakeable friendship” tensions were clear between them. Netanyahu also said the right of return of Palestinian refugees would never be realized. In a line he has used before, the Israeli premier also told Obama that President Mahmoud Abbas would have to choose between reconciliation with Hamas and peace with Israel.
While Netanyahu claimed that he “wants peace,” he said it would have to be one that is “genuine, that will hold, that will endure", saying the only peace that will be durable is one that is based on reality as it stands, a clear reference to West Bank settlements.
The Israeli premier continued that the Palestinians “need to accept this,” and take into account demographic changes that have taken place in the past decades.
On May 21, presidential advisor said the Palestinians would continue to pursue their bid for statehood at the UN in September in spite of Obama’s clear lack of support for the move. Furthermore, PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat slammed Netanyahu’s notion of peace. “I don’t think we can talk about a peace process with a man who says the 1967 lines are an illusion, that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel, undivided, and who does not want a single (Palestinian) refugee to go back,” he said. “What is left to negotiate over?”
On the same day of the speech, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said Netanyahu’s statements proved that “negotiations with Israel were useless and it would be a mistake to continue to count on reaching a compromise."
President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Netanyahu’s comments as well. "Netanyahu's position is an official rejection of Mr. Obama's initiative, of international legitimacy and of international law," he said, also on May 20.
On the same day as Obama’s speech, Israel ratified the construction of 1,500 new settlement units in Jerusalem. The new houses will be built in Har Homa and Pisgat Ze’ev, both build on occupied Palestinian land. On May 18, also in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities closed the Ibn Qudaameh mosque in the Wadi Joz neighborhood, claiming it was being used as a Hamas headquarters. Police forces broke into the mosque, confiscating several items such as banners and microphones before arresting two men who were at the mosque.
On May 15, Palestinians everywhere commemorated Al Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948 during which 800,000 Palestinians were made refugees. This year, thousands of people marched on the borders with Israel, with dozens crossing the border into the occupied Golan Heights of Syria. Marches and protests also took place in the Lebanese border town of Maron Al Ras where 10 protesters were killed by the Israeli army and dozens more injured. In Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, two people were killed while crossing the border. Israel later entered Majdal Shams and arrested and deported the “infiltrators”, mostly Palestinian refugees. Protests and clashes also took place at the Erez Crossing into Gaza and Qalandiya checkpoint into Jerusalem. Furthermore, thousands of Palestinians participated in marches to commemorate the catastrophe in Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem and throughout the West Bank.
President Abbas called for three days of mourning over the deaths of those killed during the Nakba protests with official agencies flying the Palestinian flag at half-mast.
In local news, on May 17, the cabinet decided to postpone local elections scheduled for July 9 until October 11. The postponement, the cabinet said, was in order to allow the participation of Gaza following the recent reconciliation between Hamas and Fateh. The two sides are still in the process of forming a transitional government, which is supposed to be formed within the coming week. So far names have been nominated for the post of prime minister but no final decision has been made.
Finally, after a two week delay, Israel released the Palestinian tax revenues it withheld after the reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fateh on claims that it did not want to transfer money to Hamas. However, after international pressure, the $105 million funds were transferred on May 16, which are largely spent on civil servant salaries.
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.
