No doubt, the Palestinian operation in Jerusalem on March 6 has been the talk of the hour. Following a bloody two week episode in Gaza where at least 127 people have been killed, an armed Palestinian broke into a right-wing Jewish seminary in west Jerusalem and gunned down eight of its students.
According to local media sources, 25-year old ‘Ala Abu Dheim entered the Mercaz Harav Talmudic school in west Jerusalem’s Kiryat Moshe from the library and opened fire with a Kalashnikov automatic and a hand gun. Eight students were killed and nine others injured before an Israeli security guard shot Abu Dheim twice in the head, killing him.
The operation, the first major Palestinian attack in Jerusalem since 2004, was obviously thought out extremely well given the venue. The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva is reportedly the most right-wing educational institution in Israel, established by staunch Zionists who are active supporters of the settlement movement. Several leaders of the infamous Gush Emmunim settlement movement graduated from the school to then become passionate advocates of West Bank settlements.
Besides the fact that eight Israelis are now dead, most of them teenagers, Israel is in panic mode over the fact that Abu Dheim did not infiltrate from Palestinian Authority territories but from the heart of east Jerusalem. From the neighborhood of Jabal Al Mukkaber, Abu Dheim was reportedly arrested by Israeli security forces four months ago and endured two months of grueling Israeli interrogation on suspicion that he had ties with Hizbullah. He was subsequently released after the interrogators failed to extract a confession from him.
This is not where the Hizbullah connection ends, however. Following the attack, a group calling itself Ahrar Al Jalil (The Galilee’s Liberated) claimed responsibility for the operation. Rumors circulated that the group carried out the attack in retaliation for the assassination of Hizbullah strongman Imad Mughniya last month in Damascus, which the Lebanese resistance group pinned on Israel.
However, nothing has been confirmed, with Hamas also initially taking responsibility for the operation but later pulling back, saying it would only be official when its military wing, the Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades issued a statement confirming their involvement.
Israel, meanwhile, sprung immediately into action, clamping down a closure on the Palestinian territories and tightening security in and around Jerusalem. Security was particularly tight on Friday, a day after the attack and the Muslim holy day. Hundreds of Israeli police and soldiers were deployed in Jerusalem, especially in its Old City at the entrances to the Aqsa Mosque Compound. Men under 45 years of age were banned entry into the mosque for prayer and several barricades were set up throughout the streets.
The closure, which effectively bans Palestinians with Israeli issued permits to enter Jerusalem has yet to be lifted, with Israel saying it would only be loosened upon “security considerations.”
Israeli police and border guards also immediately raided Abu Dheim’s home in Jabal Al Mukkaber and arrested several of his family members.
Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter proposed a more radical solution on March 7, saying Palestinian residents of Jerusalem “whose hearts were with Ramallah” should be expelled to the Palestinian territories.
Palestinian officials and citizens were mixed in their reactions to the operation, with President Abbas saying he condemned the killing of civilians from both sides. Hamas officials in Gaza, however, said the operation was a “natural response” to the Gaza massacre and that those killed were hardly civilians who served in the Israeli army and were advocates of the settlement movement. When news of the operation broke in Gaza on the evening of February 6, residents reportedly cheered, saying the Jerusalem attack was to avenge the killings in Gaza.
Israeli right wingers did not hold back either. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, Jewish seminarians gathered outside the yeshiva after the attack, yelling “Death to the Arabs.”
The United States, unsurprisingly, quickly condemned the attack, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calling it “an act of terror and depravity”. Rice, who met with both Palestinian and Israeli officials on March 5, said at the time that the US felt there was still an opportunity to reach an agreement by the end of 2008.
Following the Jerusalem attack, the United States drafted a statement in the UN Security Council to discuss the operation. “The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack that took place in Jerusalem March 6, 2008 which resulted in the death and injury of dozens of Israeli civilians," said the draft statement.
However, the statement was not passed unanimously when Libya objected to the wording and insisted Israeli acts be condemned as well. This did not sit well with Israel and a snide banter ensued between the two parties. “Unfortunately, this is what happens when the Security Council is infiltrated by terrorists,” Israeli ambassador to the UN said.
“We don’t need a certificate of good conduct from the Israeli terrorist regime,” responded deputy ambassador Ibrahim Al Dabbashi.
Unfortunately, the eight Israelis killed in Jerusalem have occupied ten times the media space as the 20 Palestinians killed over the past week in Gaza, supposedly after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from northern Gaza. On March 6, four people were killed in Khan Younis including three from the Islamic Jihad’s Al Quds Brigades. One Israeli soldier was also killed in a roadside bomb near the Kissofim Crossing, which the Brigades carried out.
On March 4, another four people were killed in the Khan Younis district when Israeli troops invaded Al Qarara. Twenty-day old Amira Abu Aser was among the victims when Israeli air missiles hit her home. Eight others were injured.
Two days earlier, on March 2, 11 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip and 30 injured in Jabaliya. Fourteen-year old Mahmoud Barham was killed in an air raid as were Thabet Daduna and Luay Abed Rabbo, who according to eyewitnesses managed to crawl into their houses after being injured but later bled to death when ambulances were not allowed to reach them. A brother and sister, Iyad and Jacqueline Abu Shbak also died during an air raid, which hit their home. The siblings were 14 and 17, respectively.
That day, 15-year old Mahmoud Musalema was also killed in Beit Awwa, a Hebron-area village during a protest against the Gaza invasion.
With a total of 127 killed in a two-week span, it seems hardly reasonable for anyone to claim a “victory.” Still, on March 3, Hamas officials said the Israeli withdrawal was a sign of its “failed war” in the Strip. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri also warned Israel of further invasions, saying more dead women and children would elicit a “harsh response.”
Meanwhile, on March 6, Palestinian medical sources in Gaza confirmed that the Israeli siege on the Strip had claimed its 106th victim. A Palestinian man on dialysis who was in need of medical attention abroad was denied a permit to leave the Strip and consequently died of kidney failure.
Egypt, for its part, has opened the Rafah Crossing to allow injured Palestinians into its territories and hospitals. Since the start of Israel’s military offensive “Hot Winter”, Egypt has taken in 200 wounded Palestinians.
Egyptian officials also convinced Israeli authorities to briefly open the Karem Shalom Crossing and have dispatched 23 trucks with medical and food supplies to the people of Gaza.
Egypt is also mediating with Palestinian factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials. Egyptian officials met with leaders from the two movements on March 6 in Al Areesh and Egyptian intelligence official Omar Suleiman is expected to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next week.
Hamas says it is still open to a ceasefire with Israel. On March 7, Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said that while Hamas may agree to halt its attacks, “any truce must be mutual and Israel must end its aggression and siege.”
On March 5, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert mirrored a similar sentiment. During an Israeli security cabinet meeting, Olmert said Israel would not invade the Gaza Strip if the rocket attacks stopped. As long as they continued, however, Israel would not hesitate to attack.
President Abbas, who suspended negotiations with the Israelis after their invasion of Gaza, expressed through his spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdeineh that the Palestinians intended to resume the peace process but that Israeli actions contradict negotiations.
Abbas also reiterated his opinion that negotiations are the only strategic option for the Palestinians, calling for an end to Israeli military operations and settlement expansion so that these negotiations could bear fruit.
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.
