1_March 2019, Ramallah – On the occasion of the International Women’s Day (8 March), a week-long joint campaign “My Rights, Our Power” was launched today in Palestine to raise awareness on women’s fundamental human rights. The joint effort, with participation from over 30 national and international partners from civil society organizations, media outlets, and international development agencies, targets youth, women, and men in various geographic areas in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza to promote women’s human rights in Palestine.

The campaign comes at a crucial moment when the anticipated adoption of the Family Protection Bill is at a standstill, raising concerns among national and international stakeholders about the consequences of such delay on safeguarding women’s fundamental human rights in Palestine. According to the Palestine report of the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), nearly one in five Palestinian men (17 percent) surveyed said they had perpetrated act of physical intimate partner violence against female partners, while 21 per cent of women surveyed reported having experienced such violence.

“Family violence, usually committed by a family member who has social or economic power over others in the family, causes enormous pain and suffering to all members of the family, especially the women and children,” said a spokesperson from civil society, which has vigorously initiated the development of the Family Protection Bill (FPB), and has strongly pushed its adoption since 2004.

“The violation of women’s human rights manifests in various levels and should be also understood from economic, cultural, and social aspects,” the spokesperson added, highlighting the lack of opportunities and freedom of choice, as well as limited access to justice and services that women in Palestine still experience.

The joint campaign aims to raise awareness of the general public, especially youth, women, and men on women’s fundamental rights in line with international standards and embedded in the Family Protection Bill draft endorsed by the previous Cabinet at the end of December 2018. Five key messages, addressing women’s right to a life free of violence, right to achieve justice and seek help in case of violation of such life, as well as the right to equal opportunities and right to make one’s own choices, will be distributed through various channels such as radio, social media, helpline (121), outreach activities, and on-site events. The closing event of the joint campaign will take place on 8 March in Jerusalem and will celebrate women’s achievements using TED-style talks, followed by art performances.

“My Rights, Our Power” joint campaign is part of the global International Women’s Day 2019 campaign under the theme of “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change”. The theme focuses on innovative ways in which we can advance gender equality and the empowerment of women, particularly in the areas of social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure, echoing the theme of the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 63) taking place in New York on 11-22 March 2019.

The participating organizations of the “My Rights, Our Power” are (in alphabetical order): 17 Palestinian women’s organizations represented by Al-Muntada (coalition), British Consulate-General, Business Women Forum, CARE International, Consulate General of Sweden, Consulate General of Belgium, EUPOL COPPS, EU Representative Office, FAO, General Union of Palestinian Women, Government of Japan, CowaterSogema/GROW Project, International Labour Organization, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Ma’an TV, MIFTAH, Netherlands Representative Office, Nisaa FM, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development, Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association, Representative Office of Canada, Representative Office of Denmark, SAWA, Sawasya II, Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, Sports for Life, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Representative Office of Norway, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNOPS, UN Women, Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling, Women’s Studies Center.

For more information, please contact Eunjin Jeong at UN Women via eunjin.jeong@unwomen.org or 059 2321 308, Majd Beltaji at UNESCO via m.beltaji@unesco.org or 059 4501 506.

Mr. President,

We thank France for organizing this important meeting and extend our appreciation to the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General, the Executive Director of UN Women, the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security and the Secretary-General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie for their efforts and important briefings.

The issue before us is of relevance not only for half the planet, but to all, given the role and contribution of women in the fields of peace and security and the untapped potential that could be unleashed by mainstreaming their participation. Since the adoption by consensus of resolution 1325 by this Council, a lot has happened, and yet we are still far from the goal of full and equal participation, including in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building, and from ensuring the protection and empowerment of women. Gender equality and non-discrimination remain prerequisites for the fulfilment of the purposes and principles of this organization and all of our lofty, collective commitments, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The State of Palestine welcomes the Secretary General’s report and his commitment to implementing the women and peace and security agenda, including by placing gender at the centre of his prevention platform and surge in diplomacy. We appreciate all efforts by the UN in this regard, including by UN Women, OHCHR and UNDP, notably in the field of human rights, capacity building, employment and rule of law. We urge UN bodies, notably those operating in Palestine, including the Special Representative, to intensify their engagement and collaboration with women organizations.

Mr. President,

I wish to highlight some of Palestine’s own important efforts in this regard. The Palestinian women’s movement is one of the oldest and strongest in the region and beyond, with institutional and representative structures established as early as the 19th century. Within the PLO, the General Union of Palestinian Women was among the first unions to be established. A coordination of women frameworks within PLO political parties and other organizations has also been established as the “Women’s Affairs Technical Committee” in the aftermath of the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference.

There have been many achievements thereafter. Among them: In 2012, Palestine inaugurated a High-Level National Committee for the implementation of resolution 1325, led by the Ministry of Women Affairs in partnership with relevant Ministries and NGOs. In 2016, the State of Palestine was among the 68 countries and areas that adopted a National Action Plan on women, peace and security.

This Action Plan (2017-2019), adopted by both the Government and civil society organizations, identifies three primary objectives: 1. ensuring protection for women and girls both domestically and in the face of the Israeli occupation; 2. ensuring accountability through national and international mechanisms, with a particular focus on crimes and violations committed by the occupation; and 3. furthering women’s political participation in decision making at the national and international level. The State of Palestine also joined core IHL and human rights instruments, including CEDAW, without reservations. Women’s participation and empowerment are also important and cross-cutting objectives in the context of the National Policy Agenda (2017-2022).

We are, however, conscious that, despite all these efforts, much more work remains to be done. Only in 2009 was a women elected to the highest executive body of the PLO. Quotas are still decisive in allowing women’s election to Parliament and local councils. And while women organizations were among the strongest advocates of national reconciliation, they have been unfairly absent from reconciliation talks. The relevant legislative framework applicable in Palestine is also outdated and must be revised to ensure consistency with Palestine’s international commitments and obligations and avail women the protection and rights they are entitled to and the opportunities they deserve.

Mr. President,

The Palestinian women’s movement since its establishment over a century ago pursued the struggle on two fronts – the struggle for the independence of Palestine and the struggle for women’s rights and empowerment – a dual struggle the movement continues to pursue to this day. The Israeli occupation remains the main source of the violations of our women’s rights and their vulnerability and violence against their person. We have repeatedly called for protection of the Palestinian people, especially women and children. We have also called for accountability, a key element of resolution 1325, the first resolution to address the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women, as the only way to put an end to violations and crimes.

While Palestine stands ready to do its part to advance women rights and the role of women in the fields of peace and security, it is clear that the enjoyment of these rights in our country necessitates ending the Israeli occupation. We will thus continue to work for an end of the occupation and true progress on the path to independence, justice and peace, with the equal and full involvement of women, leading to an independent State of Palestine ensuring human rights for all its citizens without discrimination.

On the occasion of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office to Palestine, the Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325, which consists of twelve different Palestinian women’s organisations, is urging the Prosecutor’s Office to take concrete actions towards investigating war crimes committed against Palestinians. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom remains deeply concerned with the complete impunity of Israeli war crimes and firmly supports the Coalition’s call for a just accountability mechanism for Palestinian victims. WILPF also calls on the international community to recognise and fully support Palestinian women’s organisations substantial role in paving the paths to justice, accountability and peace. Read the statement of the Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325 below.

We, the Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325,welcome the visit of the delegation of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office as a step in the right direction. But we are deeply disappointed that the purpose of this visit was restricted to preliminary examination, while Palestinian victims of Israeli war crimes, including women, continue to suffer and urgently await justice and an end to Israel impunity.

We do not understand the decision to exclude the Gaza Strip from this visit, when Gaza has been the site of the most war crimes and where women have been most systematically impacted by Israeli collective punishment policies; a prolonged imposed siege and a severe humanitarian deterioration resulting from Israeli military aggressions .

We are further disappointed that women who have been systematically impacted, and their women’s organisations, have been excluded from the delegation’s agenda.

We call upon all future delegations of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office to include on their agenda meetings with women’s organisations and women who have experienced direct and indirect impacts of Israeli crimes.

We, the Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325, have seen in UNSCR 1325, 2242, and other UN Resolutions a commitment to hold the Israeli perpetrators accountable for their war crimes.

We look to the ICC as the most important mechanism to end impunity for all war crimes committed, finally bringing justice for the Palestinian people. Yet, we are very concerned that the preliminary examinations will be an endless process.

Therefore, we urge, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor of the ICC, to conclude the preliminary examination and move to investigations into Israeli war crimes, bringing justice to Palestinians.

We have paid the price of non-accountability and impunity of Israeli war crimes for too long. “Delaying justice is justice denied.”

Palestinian Women Coalition of UNSCR 1325: The General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW), the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC), Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD), MIFTAH, Filastinyat, Women Media and Development (TAM), Women Stu Dies Center, Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WACLAC), the National, YWCA of Palestine, Center for Women’s Legal Research and Consulting (CWLRC), the Culture and Free thought Association(CWLRC) and Women’s Affairs Center (GWAC).

Occupied Palestine

October 11, 2016

Salam Fayyad: We Are in Desperate Need of Arab Aid

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to donate $5 million (€4.1 million) to rehabilitate the Beit Hanoon (Erez) industrial zone in the northern Gaza Strip, amid a financial crisis that took President Mahmoud Abbas to GCC countries seeking “desperate Arab aid.”

“While supporting Palestinian efforts to establish their independent state, we also place great importance on them being able to stand on their own feet economically,” Gül told a press conference with his Palestinian counterpart, Nassir al-Qidwa, on the first day of a two-day visit to Israel and the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

Gül was scheduled to sign a similar understanding with Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Thursday.

The donation was first announced during a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah between Gul and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei.

The mostly Turkish companies that are expected to invest in the industrial zone in the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun will create 10,000 jobs, Palestinian officials said.

“This project aims to... enable the Palestinian economy to export goods worth millions of dollars,” Gul said after the meeting.

Turkish business officials, who paid for the reopening of the zone through their Chamber of Commerce, hope the zone will attract investors not only from Turkey but also Israel, Japan and other countries, Gul said.

Under the MoU, the Erez industrial zone will be guarded by armed Turkish security men who are employed by the Turkish Defense Ministry. Israel will issue the guards special permits to enter the Gaza Strip, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Wednesday.

Qurei said the economic cooperation with Turkey was “greatly needed.”

A UN report released last month showed unemployment in Gaza standing at 35 percent.

About a third of Gazans subsist on less than US$2.20 (€1.84) a day, the sum set as the poverty line, according to the report.

Donors Plunge PNA in Financial Crisis

International donors are refusing to provide funds to the PNA.

The refusal, which is based on violations of the PNA.’s commitments not to increase salaries in the public sector and the resignation of the PNA.’s finance minister, Salam Fayyad, will lead to a $950 million deficit for the Palestinians in 2006, the Israeli newspaper Globes reported.

The PNA’s deficit for 2005 is expected to be less than $480 million, Globes said.

The PNA has turned to Arab countries for help in ending what the former Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayyadh calls a suffocating financial crisis after European donors froze their funding.

After a conference in London last month, Western donors decided to withhold millions of dollars in aid until after the Palestinian legislative elections on January 25, citing as a reason failure by the PNA to carry out previously promised economic reforms.

Since then, about $60 million in money reserved for Palestinian salaries has been frozen, said Nigel Roberts, the World Bank's director for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“The Palestinian Authority's commitment to maintain a salary containment plan was breached in a major way in the second half of the year,” he said.

The spending levels are “completely unsustainable over time,” Roberts added.

“Basically, the Palestinian Authority has put itself in a position where every month it will face the same crisis,” Roberts said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has just returned from a tour in the GCC Arab countries to enlist their aid.

Arab donors sent the Palestinians only about one-third of the $650 million in promised assistance last year, officials say.

“We are in desperate need of Arab aid,” said Salam Fayyadh, who recently stepped down as finance minister in order to run for parliament.

Fayyadh said international aid has helped cover about one-third of a $1 billion US deficit in the 2005 budget, but Arab states have not fulfilled their pledges.

Fayyadh, who is expected to return to the finance post after the 25 January election, said international aid had helped to cover about one-third of a $1 billion deficit in the 2005 operating budget, and the Palestinians were searching for more help in covering the remainder.

Fayyadh said he expected the PNA government to withstand the latest crisis.

“But there is no doubt that the Palestinian Authority is going through a suffocating financial crisis,” he said.

“There is a lack of foreign aid, and it will be difficult to continue in this way, so we need to reorganize.”

He said the Palestinians would have to reduce their dependence on foreign aid, but he gave no details on the reorganization.

His efforts to impose donor-demanded “fiscal discipline” on the PNA were reportedly interrupted.

He resigned his post and ran for elections, forming a new list together with lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi, at first dubbed Freedom and later called simply the “Third Way.” The list is supported by the veteran reformer, peace activist, and member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Yasser Abed Rabbo.

‘PNA Should Codify in Law Renunciation of Violence, Recognition of Israel’

In a new blow to Palestinian national consensus as stipulated in the inter-Palestinian Cairo Declaration early this year, the Quartet of the US, UN, EU and Russia in a statement on Wednesday demanded the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) “take immediate steps” to ensure that “all participants” in the January 25 legislative elections “renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist, and disarm,” and to move “expeditiously to codify” these principles in a law.

The Quartet called on the PNA “to take immediate steps to ensure law and order, prevent terrorist attacks and dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.”

Furthermore, the PNA “should take additional steps to ensure the democratic process remains untainted by violence, by prohibiting political parties from pursuing their aims through violent means,” the statement added.

“In particular, the Quartet expressed its view that a future Palestinian Authority Cabinet should include no member who has not committed to the principles of Israel’s right to exist in peace and security and an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism,” the drafters of the UN-adopted “roadmap” peace plan said in their statement.

Awad Allah: No liberation Movement Can Drop Resistance

The Quartet statement would surely embarrass the PNA leadership ahead of an historic legislative election, scheduled for January 25, and would for sure add to the Israeli military escalation against the Palestinian people, internal Palestinian disputes, and other obstacles that threaten to disrupt the upcoming elections.

The statement, which “dictates” to the Palestinians pre-conditions that qualify their candidates to run in the elections, come on the backdrop of a refusal by donors to the PNA, in a conference in London earlier this month, to “pledge” aid to the Palestinians until after the January elections, a step that was described by some Palestinians as a “blackmail.”

“While the Quartet calls for a (Palestinian) legislation to recognize the state of Israel as a pre-condition for the legislative process, it keeps mum on Israel’s recognition of the Palestinian people’s right to liberation and the creation of their independent state,” said Haider Awad Allah, the Editor-in-Chief of Attareek, a bi-monthly published by the Palestinian Peace Coalition (PPC).

“No liberation movement can drop its resistance to occupation until this occupation has ended,” Awad Allah told PMC.

The Quartet statement “premeditatedly dropped the real reasons” that lead to the increase in the Palestinian – Israeli violence, he added.

Describing its statement as a “double-standards policy,” Awad Allah said the Quartet should not be blind to the fact that the Occupying Power, namely Israel, “is the source of violence and tension in the region.”

Abbas Rejects Israel’s ‘Operation Blue Skies’

Meanwhile the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Wednesday began “Operation Blue Skies” to enforce a new no-go zone in northern Gaza Strip, which was described by the Palestinians as tantamount to “reoccupation.”

The IOF have multiplied air raids and artillery bombardments against targets inside northern Gaza Strip, allegedly to counter Palestinian rocket attacks.

“We condemn this. Israel left the Gaza Strip and has no right to return under any pretext such as the firing of rockets, which I also condemn strongly,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a news conference in Gaza City on Wednesday.

However he added: “I ask all parties to assume their responsibilities and not give pretexts to Israel.”

Israel said the Operation Blue Skies is open-ended.

“The operations will take as long as is needed to ensure that the fire against us will be curbed,” Ehud Olmert, the Israeli vice prime minister told Army Radio.

The PNA said the Israeli “operation” will only “widen the cycle of violence.”

“The Israeli determination to implement this plan will widen the cycle of the conflict and will not achieve the goals which Israeli occupation forces seek to achieve,” the Palestinian Interior Ministry said in a statement late Wednesday.

Palestinian presidential spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said the IOF military escalation compromised the truce.

“The continued aggression and Israeli raids risk sabotaging efforts made by the Palestinian Authority to consolidate the truce,” he said.

The PNA urged the Quartet to stop the military escalation.

Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Rawhi Fattouh also rejected the Israeli “security zone plan” in the northern Gaza Strip and urged the Road Map Quartet, which includes Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, to put an end to Tel Aviv´s escalation of violence.

There is no plan for Israeli ground forces to re-enter Gaza. The aim is to step up air strikes and shelling from land and sea, the IOF said.

100,000 Palestinians Affected

Maps dropped over Gaza by Israeli jets showed the zone was roughly similar to the area of evacuated Jewish settlements along the border.

More than 100,000 Palestinians would be affected and the IOF threatened them to evacuate the area by nightfall Wednesday.

“The Israel Defense Forces intends to step up its activities against rocket-launching terror cells in the northern Gaza Strip,” the IOF said in an e-mailed statement. “The IDF will allow the Palestinian population a number of hours in order to get organized.”

The IOF said in the e-mail that after the deadline it will take “measures both from the air and from the ground” against the rocket-launching cells, without giving further details.

“Anyone who will not heed this warning is placing his or her life in immediate danger,” said notes accompanying the map.

The IOF claim that Palestinian anti-occupation groups have launched about 250 Qassams since the last Israeli troops left Gaza on September 12. Although they have caused little damage or injury, some of the rockets came close to the Israeli Mediterranean coastal city of Ashkelon. Some landed inside Gaza Strip.

US Gives Israel ‘Go-ahead’, Russia Urges Restraint

The US gave the go-ahead to Israeli military escalation in northern Gaza Strip, citing Palestinian rocket attacks as justification, but Russia called for restraint.

US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Israel's attacks were in response to attacks on its territory.

Speaking of Israel's air strikes, Ereli blamed the PNA: “We see it in the context of failure to address the security situation” by the Palestinians.

“What we would like to see is effective measures [taken by the Palestinians] against such acts so that the measures Israel is taking are not necessary,” Ereli added.

But Moscow urged restraint.

“Moscow is worried by the escalation of the situation around the Gaza Strip and in southern Lebanon,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We call on all parties that are engaged to demonstrate cool-headedness and restraint, to meet their responsibilities on not allowing terrorist acts and force, (and) not to allow the matter to become a more serious confrontation.”

More than 150 Palestinians and 30 Israelis have been killed since late January.

PNA: Truce Should Be Honored

Palestinian President Abbas urged the Palestinian factions to renew the truce with Israel, which expires on December 31.

However the Faction leaders in a meeting with Abbas in Gaza on Tuesday said it would be very difficult breathe a new life into the moribund truce as Israel has stepped up its aggressions recently.

Prominent Hamas leader Ismail Hanya revealed that Egypt was preparing to host another round of inter-Palestinian talks shortly after the legislative elections.

He denied that Cairo had asked the factions to extend the truce for six months.

The PNA urged factions to honor the truce.

“We demand everyone be committed to the truce,” chief Palestinian negotaitor Saeb Erekat told reporters after the late night meeting. “We consider the truce a matter of high national interest.”

Palestinian Outgoing Finance Minister Urges Greater Support for Private Sector

Outgoing Minister of Finance Salam Fayyadh called for an independent financial decision-making as the basis for the Palestinian political independence, a transparent financial policy, a reduction in “dependence on external grants,” greater support for the private sector, and cautioned against compromising the “national dignity” in accepting donor’s aid.

Fayyadh has resigned his post to run in the legislative elections, scheduled for January 25. He leads the “Third Way” list together with the member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Hanan Ashrawi. His list is supported by the member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and co-author of the unofficial Palestinian – Israeli Geneva Initiative, Yasser Abed Rabbo.

Highlighting the importance of an independent financial decision-making because “it is indispensable for the independence of the political decision-making,” Fayyadh noted that the donor countries were willing in the London conference earlier this month to assist the PNA with a maximum of $3 billion in 2006.

“The donors in the London Conference expressed willingness to support the PNA during 2006 by a ceiling of $3 billion,” he said in a working paper titled “Indicators of 2006 Budget after the Israeli Withdrawal from Gaza,” which he contributed to the Third Budget Conference in Gaza City at the weekend.

However, the donors’ promised assistance needs an official PNA “plan and a transparent financial policy,” Maan news agency quoted him as saying.

The next budget will be drawn “for the first time” to “reduce dependence on external grants,” he said while at the same time noting that, “the Palestinian people cannot afford to give up foreign assistance and therefore a balance should be made between what is required and what is available.”

“External relations are important to obtain financial and political support,” but the “national dignity” should not be compromised, he cautioned.

Paying the salaries of the PNA employees is the major obstacle facing the Palestinian administration, he said.

“The most important obstacle currently facing the PNA is paying the wages and salaries of its employees,” he told the Third Budget Conference.

“Payment for other requirements that are paid from the donors’ money,” is another obstacle, he added, “because it leads to the accumulation of the PNA commitments” and consequently to difficulties in approving the budget in a way that “harms the private sector and causes losses to the Palestinian economy.”

He urged greater support for the private sector.

In his paper Fayyadh said that, “it is necessary to develop the private sector so it can contribute to ending unemployment and poverty in the Palestinian society.”

“The public sector has 135,000 employees, in addition to 45,000 new employees every year. The PNA could not absorb all this,” he stated.

While calling for the enforcement of the civil and military pension and retirement laws, Fayyadh also called for confining new appointments in both civil and military public sectors to a ratio that does not exceed one appointee to every three pensioners during the 2006-2008 term.

He also demanded that a “strict definition” be made to the employees of the security forces, and called on the PNA not to make any pay rises in the salaries of the military before this definition is made.

He also recommended stricter internal auditing procedures in the financial management of the military.

The Third Budget Conference was organized by Al-Mizan Centre for Human Rights to review the plan of the PNA Ministry of Finance in the medium term covering 2006-2008, with special emphasis on the 2006 plan.

Fayyadh demanded that the development expenditure requirements should be detailed for the medium term.

He noted that the national economy since 2000 has been negatively affected by the Israeli siege of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

Straw Avoids Getting Embroiled in Israeli Politics, Solana Says Report ‘One-sided’

To the disappointment of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the European Union on Monday decided on Italy’s initiative against publishing a report on the Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem that is highly critical of Israeli settlement activity and the Apartheid Wall Israel is constructing on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who chaired an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday, said publishing the report now was inappropriate as Israel was heading for national elections and the EU does not want “to get embroiled in domestic (Israeli) politics in the run-up to elections.”

“The political landscape has altered within Israel ... there is a general election coming up in a few months time,” Straw, representing the bloc during Britain's EU rotating presidency, told a news conference.

“So we thought it was appropriate not to endorse or to publish the document, but instead to continue to make representations about our concerns in the normal way,” he said.

On Italy’s Initiative

Italy said the publishing of the report was aborted on Italian initiative.

Italian foreign minister Gianfranco Fini said on Monday: “On my initiative we discussed the political appropriateness of publishing the document on the situation in east Jerusalem.”

Fini said speaking on the sidelines of EU General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting in Brussels.

“At the end of the discussion we decided not to publish it because it was thought politically inopportune to make official a document which would appear at a time which is very different from when it was [originally] drafted,” he said.

Fini cited Palestinian and Israeli upcoming elections as a reason behind the EU decision.

“As everyone knows, Israel and the Palestinian territories are on the eve of election campaigns which in both cases will have an enormous impact on consolidating the peace process... For this reason it appeared to my [European Union] colleagues that the publishing of the document could be exploited by those.. who have different objectives from those defined by the Road Map [peace process],” Fini said.

However, the Italian foreign minister said that the decision “does not in anyway mean that the ministers of the European Union don't know what is going on in east Jerusalem and are not concerned.”

An Israeli report quoted the EU political chief Javier Solana as saying that the report was “one-sided.”

“This report was a little much,” the Jerusalem Post quoted diplomats as saying. "Javier Solana made clear he thought it was very one-sided and unhelpful.”

Germany and Italy were reported to have backed Solana's view of the report as being one-sided, while Nordic countries were reported to have argued in favor of transparency.

Palestinians Disappointed

The EU decision not to adopt and publish the report was a disappointment to the Palestinians.

Ahead of the EU meeting in Brussels Palestinian State Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Hind Khouri, called on the EU foreign ministers to take practical steps for peace in east Jerusalem.

In a statement issued Monday, Khoury said that east Jerusalem has become “a hostage as a result of the Israeli measures,” according to the Palestinian official news agency WAFA.

She appealed the EU foreign ministers to make practical decisions to translate the report and recommendations of the heads of the EU diplomatic missions to the PNA.

Khoury asserted that the “high human interests” needs EU intervention to save both Palestinian land and human interests, and to give the city new hope of peace.

She added that the shelved report revealed the reality of the status quo in Jerusalem.

Israeli Policies Abort Reaching Final Status Agreement

Shoe-horned into the slopes of Sheikh Jarah, a Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem, is the newer Jewish colonial enclave Shimon Hatzadik, or Simon the Righteous.

The 40 Jewish illegal settlers, guarded by a privately hired gunman, may soon have more compatriots just around the bend if the Shepherd's Hotel, a forlorn, century-old building, is demolished and replaced with 90 housing units for settlers, as planned.

“The more Jews who settle in East Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods such as these, the less likely it is that Palestinians will be able to build the capital of their hoped-for state here,” The Christian Science Monitor reported in its December 02, 2005 edition.

The EU shelved report, leaked to the press, sharply criticizes the growth of Israeli enclaves in east Jerusalem neighborhoods that surround the Old City, as well as Israeli plans to build up the “E1” settlement, a tract of land between eastern Jerusalem and the colonial settlement of Maale Adumim to the east.

“Several inter-linked Israeli policies are reducing the possibility of reaching a final status agreement on Jerusalem, and demonstrate a clear Israeli intention to turn the annexation of East Jerusalem into a concrete fact,” the shelved draft EU report states.

In a separate report issued recently, the prominent Israeli human rights group Btselem presented what the group said was evidence that the route of the Apartheid Wall Israel is building in eastern Jerusalem was making way for settlement expansion in the territories, rather than focusing exclusively on security.

That conclusion seemed to be supported by a key member of Ariel Sharon's government, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, whose spokesman said that the borders of a future Palestinian state would be similar to the line drawn by the Israeli so-called “security barrier.”

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a group of peace activists, argues that the current growth in east Jerusalem does just that.

“A viable Palestinian state has to include [east] Jerusalem,” says Jeff Halper, an anthropologist and ICAHD's coordinator. “Up to 40 percent of the Palestinian economy is dependent on it. If you cut Jerusalem out - and that's what plans like E1 are doing - you're cutting the economic heart out of any Palestinian state.”

"I would read this document (the EU shelved report) as a panic document,” Halper said, adding: “These [settlements] are ... ending any possibility of a two-state option, and unless we act very quickly, we will beyond the point of changing it.”