This week Palestinians enjoyed the rare occurrence of snow, especially on March 2. The snowfall was preceded by days of rainfall, which according to Palestinian officials, has cause substantial damage due to poor infrastructure. According to agricultural and civil defense officials, the damage incurred to the Palestinian areas amounted to NIS6 million including ruined harvests, closed roads and collapsed infrastructure.
In warmer weather, in the Qatari capital of Doha, however, 13 prisoners freed in the Shalit swap and deported to Qatar were married in a mass wedding also on February 2. The prisoners, all Hamas affiliates, were married in a ceremony overseen by Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal.
Meshaal has been busy lately, with reconciliation efforts over and above his own movement’s internal bickering. Last week, during talks in Cairo, Hamas officially asked for the postponement of the formation of a national unity government, which would be responsible for parliamentary and presidential elections. And while Hamas is saying that there are no “disputes” among its ranks, Fatah says it was Hamas who asked for the postponement and President Mahmoud Abbas had no choice but to accept given the divisions among Hamas members. Hamas denies allegations that it demanded key ministerial posts in the government, saying the agreement was to form a government of independent technocrats.
Observers say the best indication that Hamas is holding up the deal is the fact that it has yet to allow the CEC to operate freely in the Gaza Strip and carry out voter registration. This has pushed back elections as well, which were supposed to be conducted at the beginning of May.
Still, efforts at reconciliation are still being made between the two parties. Fatah leader Nabil Shaath said on February 2 that the invitation sent out by Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh to leaders to meet in the Gaza Strip was a “positive step,” saying he appreciates the move.
"We will be happy if this invitation resolves our dispute and corresponds to the agreement of a new Palestinian government," Shaath said. Haniyeh has called on Palestinian leaders to visit the Gaza Strip, which he said was part of an undivided Palestine.
On February 2, the Hamas de facto government in Gaza also blamed Egypt for the power crisis in Gaza, which has resulted in the main power generator shutting down completely. Haniyeh said that Egypt controlled the flow of fuel into Gaza, suggesting that authorities in Cairo should have done more to help.
"Is it reasonable that Gaza remains without electricity a year after the revolution in Egypt?" Haniyeh said in a weekly address. The power crisis had resulted in Gazans surviving days on end with a maximum of six hours of electricity a day, taken from emergency coffers.
In the West Bank, Israeli army forces raided two television stations in the early morning hours of February 29. Watan and the Quds Educational Television stations were both broken into, ransacked and their broadcasting equipment, computers and files confiscated. Palestinians have blamed Israel of trying to steal frequencies, something which is in contradiction to signed agreements, while Israel maintains the television stations interrupted air traffic. The raids have raised international concern including from the US. On March 1, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that US agencies have funded both Watan TV and Al-Quds Educational TV and that the Americans were, "trying to discuss the circumstances with the Israelis and figure out what the basis for this was."
France came out with a statement urging Israeli authorities to “return equipment confiscated immediately and allow the resumption of the activity of these two TV stations". The harshest international condemnation, however, came from Reporters Without Borders, which said it was "deeply shocked" by the raids.
“These arbitrary and illegal operations served yet again to intimidate Palestinian media and journalists, the victims of repeated attacks by the Israel Defense Forces,” the group said in a statement.
In other news, prisoner Hana’ Shalabi entered her 17th day of hunger strike in protest of the six month administrative detention order against her. Shalabi has been joined by her father in her strike in solidarity with his daughter.
In a statement through her lawyer on March 2, Shalabi said she would “not compromise her freedom and rights at any price.” Saying she would continue until victory, not only for her dignity, but for the Palestinian people’s dignity and all struggling women in the world.”
The Israeli government, she said, has "gone too far in humiliating and enslaving Palestinians in addition to practicing various types of insults and torture."
Prisoner Society attorney Jawad Boulos, said Israeli military court officials claimed the reason Shalabi was being held under administrative detention was because she is considered a threat to Israel’s security and safety of its people, also claiming that she planned military operations against Israel right after she was released in the Shalit prisoner swap. Shalabi and her lawyers completely deny the allegations, saying the arrest was arbitrary.
On February 28, the Palestinian leadership called on United Nations Security Council members to visit the Palestinian territories in order to see firsthand Israel’s violations against the Palestinians. Israel's United Nations Ambassador Ron Prosor said the invitation was "an attempt to try and divert attention, and again try and internationalize the conflict, and not really try and stick to what is important on both sides — and that is direct negotiations."
Other UN officials disagree, noting the grave situation in Palestine. "The situation on the ground in both Gaza and the West Bank remains dangerous and ultimately unsustainable," said U.N. political chief B. Lynn Pascoe, calling on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas to reach an agreement before the end of the year.
The Palestinian call comes just days after President Abbas attended the International Conference on Jerusalem in Doha, Qatar on February 26, during his impassioned speech before representatives of 70 some countries he said Israel was trying to erase the Arab, Muslim and Christian character of Jerusalem, including threats against the Aqsa Mosque by extremist Jews who want to build the Temple in its place. On the same day, Netanyahu lashed out at Abbas, saying his speech was “severe incitement.” He also claimed there was no foundation to his claims about Al Aqsa. Never mind that extremist groups have repeatedly called for the establishment of the Temple on the ruins of the Aqsa over the past month.
In his speech, Abbas also called on Arab and Muslim leaders to visit Jerusalem even though it is under Israeli occupation in order to support it economically and the steadfastness of its people.
This call was met with a counter call from Chairman of the International Union for Muslim Scholars Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi who said any such visit would be normalization with the enemy. He said “the Palestinians are entitled to enter the holy city as they please, but the Arab and Muslim people are not”, adding that the liberation of Jerusalem was not just the responsibility of the Palestinians but all Arabs and Muslims.
The PA sent out counter arguments to Qardawi saying visits from Arab leaders would boost the morale of the people of Jerusalem and break the isolation Israel is trying to impose around the holy city. On February 28, PA minister of religious affairs Mahmoud Al Habbash urged Qardawi to cancel his fatwa, calling it “bizarre”.
"When Muslims and Christians visit Jerusalem, they are actually challenging the Israeli policies aimed at isolating the holy city. Such visits represent material and moral support to the Jerusalemites who insist on remaining in Jerusalem so that they will not feel they were left alone to defend the Arab and Islamic identity of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy places.” Habbash said.
Finally, on February 27, Israel's national rail company confirmed a plan for the first railway system to operate in the occupied West Bank. According to Haaretz, the plan includes 475 kilometers of rail on 11 lines that would serve mainly the Jewish settler community in the West Bank although Israel says the Palestinians can use the train system as well.
Palestinians, such as anti-settlement and wall activist Jamal Jumaa’ believe the project is a way for Israel to achieve complete annexation of the West Bank.
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.
