The Egyptian mediated agreement between Israel and Palestinian armed forces reached on March 13 is holding precariously in the Gaza Strip despite minor breaches from both sides. By the time the ceasefire went into effect, 25 Palestinians had been killed and approximately 200 rockets had been fired into Israel. A day later, on March 14, seven-year old Baraka Mughrabi died of his wounds sustained during the Israeli raids. Another child, 13-year old Ayyoub Asseili died when he was hit in an Israeli airstrike on his way to school on March 11. On March 12, seven people were killed in Gaza including a father and his daughter while they were planting mulokhiya, a green leafy vegetable near Jabalyia.
After the ceasefire was in place, two rockets were fired into Israel, causing “panic” among eight Israelis in Ashdod; Israel responded by launching two air attacks on Gaza. Still, the Islamic Jihad said on March 15 that it remained committed to the truce all while retaining the right to retaliate should Israel attack again. Jihad leader Ahmad Mudallal said his movement, which suffered the lion’s share of casualties in the attacks, agreed to the ceasefire after assurances by Egyptian mediators that Israel would stop assassinating its members. "We don’t trust the occupation but we trust our steadfastness and resistance. We cannot be quiet during any aggression on the Palestinian people," Mudallal said.
The Israeli government, which also said it would commit to calm denied however that it had promised to halt assassinations of so-called “terrorists” in a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on March 13.
Hamas, which is the de facto authority in Gaza, remained outside the circle of rocket fire throughout the Israeli raids, saying it was looking to restore ‘calm’, according to Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar on March 12.
But now that Gaza has quieted, it is the West Bank that made the most noise this week.
For one, a report issued by the International Monetary Fund on March 17 has pointed to a bleak future if the cash-strapped PA doesn’t get some funding soon. The report urged donors to meet their aid pledges to the PA, warning that unless it got funding soon it would be forced “to cut public wages and social benefits to address a deepening fiscal crisis.”The IMF described the economic situation as a "difficult phase".
This follows another report issued on March 15. A World Bank report warned that the financial crisis in the Palestinian Authority “severely undermines the state-building progress.”
The report entitled "Stagnation or Revival?" found that a decline in donor assistance and Israeli restrictions are "jeopardizing gains" made in building state institutions.
On March 16, Israeli occupation forces violently cracked down on demonstrators during Palestinians’ weekly demonstrations against the separation wall and land confiscation. In Nabi Saleh at least eight Palestinians and an Israeli activist were injured. Israeli peace activist Naomi Laet, 22, suffered head injuries after being hit by a rubber bullet according to a statement from the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.
Three people were also injured in a demonstration in the Nablus-area village of Kufr Qaddum in a demonstration dedicated to the memory of American protester Rachel Corrie, killed in Gaza nine years ago by an Israeli bulldozer. In the Kufr Qaddum demonstration, activists caught Israeli border police on tape setting a dog on protesters, which caught Ahmad Shtawi by the arm. The tape shows Shtawi’s clothes being ripped by the dog as it bites down on his lower arm. He was later arrested.
On March 15, Israeli forces uprooted olive trees in Beit Dajan near Nablus. Village council head Naser Abu Jesh said Israeli military jeeps accompanied by bulldozers razed 12 dunums of land in the eastern part of the village, saying it was a closed military zone. The land, which belongs to Jamal Abu Kanan is located near the illegal Israeli settlement of Hamra. Then on the evening of March 16, dozens of settlers from Yish Kudish broke into the village of Douma, also near Nablus, and destroyed 220 olive trees.
Meanwhile, on March 14, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said Israel has designated some 900,000 dunams of the West Bank as Israeli “state land”, thus violating Israeli and international laws.
"Large swaths of land have been classified state land and designated for use by settlements, despite the fact that they belong to Palestinian individuals or communities," said the new report.
The study says Palestinian land "was taken from their lawful owners by legal manipulation and in breach of local law and international law alike."
In other news, prisoner Hana’ Shalabi is continuing her hunger strike for the 32nd day in spite of her deteriorating health. A March 12 visit by a doctor from the Israeli-based Physicians without Borders confirmed that Shalabi’s condition was worsening in spite of prison authorities’ claims that she was still stable. The doctor said Shalabi was suffering from a loss of weight, diminishing muscle function, severe pains in her stomach and chest and a dangerous drop in her blood sugar levels. Shalabi is protesting her violent arrest at the hands of Israeli occupation forces from her home in Bourin and the administrative detention sentence she was handed down, saying she would not stop her strike until she is released.
Jafar Abu Salah, 45, another administrative detainee entered his sixth day of hunger strike in solidarity with Shalabi on March 15. Salah was taken by Israeli forces from his home in Arraba in the northern West Bank. Israeli courts have postponed his hearing 11 times.
Prisoners are waging another battle as well. According to Prisoner Affairs minister Issa Qaraqe on March 15, Israeli prison authorities have begun to collect DNA samples from Palestinian prisoners against their will, saying this was against international law. “We petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court yesterday against the humiliating treatment of our prisoners," Qaraqe’ said. Israel says it is a policy it will implement on all prisoners in Israel committed of ‘crimes’ even though the majority of Palestinians in Israeli jails are there as political prisoners.
Finally, reconciliation efforts continue to falter even though officials say Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Chief Khaled Meshaal will most likely meet next week in Cairo. Still, on March 15, PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo said the national unity agreement would "fade away" without public pressure on the parties to put it into action. Abed Rabbo told the Voice of Palestine, that Hamas was to blame for the failure to implement a reconciliation agreement signed last May. His statements came a day after Hamas sources were quoted as saying that the movement was not yet ready for reconciliation and that the unity agreement may be pushed back until next year.
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.
