The vicious cycle that is Gaza reached yet another violent peak this week with nearly 30 people killed in the past seven days, 21 on a single day of Israeli bombing. The Israelis were not without loss, however, losing three Israeli soldiers of their own.
Thirteen Israeli soldiers were wounded on the morning of April 19 when Hamas’ Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades detonated three car bombs near the Karem Shalom Crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Three Palestinian operatives died in the operation. Ihab Abu Amro, a 21-year old Qassam activist was also killed in a raid in Gaza City.
The bloodiest day by far, however, was April 16 when Israeli air and ground strikes killed a total of 21 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip including five children. The bombing was concentrated in the Gaza City district, with the heaviest shelling in the Shujayieh quarter of the city and the adjacent Breij refugee camp. In Breij, two homes and a mosque were bombed as well as a TV marked van carrying Reuters photojournalist Fadel Shanaa’ who was killed instantly. Two other journalists were injured in the strike along with five Breij residents.
That morning, three Israeli soldiers were killed and five injured in a Palestinian ambush near the Nahal Oz crossing, which usually allows the entry of fuel trucks in the Strip and was closed earlier this week by Israeli authorities. The three armed Palestinians were also killed in the raid.
The April 16 killings were strongly condemned by the Hamas government in Gaza and also the West Bank government under President Mahmoud Abbas, who called on Israel to immediately halt the aggression against Palestinians. Abbas is currently on visits to several countries including Russia, Jordan and the United States. During talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Abbas reiterated the need to reach a period of quiet in Gaza in order to “end the suffering of the Gazan people.”
Israel, however, seemed to have no qualms over its actions in Gaza. On the same day, just as Israeli forces continued to bombard the Strip, Israeli Defense Minister and Labor Party leader Ehud Barak told his fellow party members that, “we see and are aware of the Gazans' suffering. The situation there is tough, but the suffering of [Israeli] civilians in Gaza-area communities in Sderot and Ashkelon and of Israel Defense Forces soldiers who are protecting that area is more important to us”.
That was obvious in Israeli actions the following days. One armed Palestinian was killed in Rafah on April 17 in an armed clash near the Karem Shalom crossing while the body of Mohammed Masri was found riddled with shrapnel, apparently from an Israeli missile fired two days earlier. The young man had been reportedly missing since then.
Also on April 17, Israeli forces raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya and assassinated Islamic Jihad’s Al Quds Brigades military commander Bilal Kamil along with fellow operative Izzedin Zakarneh.
On April 18, the killing continued, with Aqsa Martyrs Brigades activist Hani Al Qabi killed in the Nablus-area refugee camp of Balata in an Israeli raid. Several others were arrested before Israeli forces withdrew from the area.
Palestinian resistance groups are not letting up either, especially from Gaza. On April 18, Al Quds Brigades announced it had fired 14 rockets at Sderot while the Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades said they had shot 45 mortars at the Nahal Oz crossing and other Israeli targets. Israeli authorities declared that one Qassam rocket hit a main power line in Sderot, plunging the Israeli city temporarily into darkness.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government announced tenders for 100 new housing units to be built in various West Bank settlements on April 18. The announcement is the first of its kind since the Annapolis agreement last November in which Israel pledged not to expand or build any West Bank settlements. These houses, unlike the ongoing settlement expansion in east Jerusalem settlements, are clearly in West Bank territory, which is a clear violation of the agreements. Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev insisted Israel is not violating any agreements, saying the tenders do not constitute new settlements but only come within the context of natural growth. The Palestinians see the announcement otherwise, claiming Israel is in complete violation of its previous pledges.
Israeli security officials did, however, agree during a meeting with the PA Civil Affairs minister Hussein Al Sheikh to allow the Palestinian Authority to reopen 20 police stations across the West Bank including in the Nablus, Hebron and Bethlehem areas. The stations, which fall in Area B under Israeli military control, were closed by Israel in 2000 after the eruption of the Intifada. The move is ostensibly part of the plan to boost the PA’s security responsibilities in the West Bank.
At the diplomatic level, the buzz this week revolved around former US President Jimmy Carter and his meetings with Hamas leaders. Carter, who received a cold welcome in Israel on April 14, met with Hamas officials in Ramallah on April 15 and in Damascus on April 18. Carter, who also visited Sderot, was shunned by top Israeli officials and not even granted Israeli security coverage during his trip, which constituted the first ever snub of this sort of an American president in Israel.
Carter has angered Israel and the United States for his meetings with Hamas, which both countries deem as a terrorist organization. The former president, however, made no claims of being a negotiator but said he hoped he could be a mediator to jumpstart talks between Hamas and Fateh and Hamas and Israel.
During his visit to the presidential compound in Ramallah, Carter made history once again, becoming the first US President – former or present – to pay his respects to late President Yasser Arafat. Carter laid a wreath on this Palestinian president’s grave, acknowledging the latter’s contribution to the Palestinian cause.
Carter also expressed his desire to travel to Gaza, ostensibly to meet with Hamas officials there but was denied an entry permit by Israel. “I would like to [go to Gaza]. I asked for permission. But I was turned down,” Carter said during his visit to the Muquta.
Carter then traveled to Cairo, where he met with Hamas hardliner Mahmoud Al Zahhar and where he called the Israeli blockade on Gaza and “abomination.” He said the people of Gaza were being starved to death. He did, however, call on Hamas to halt its rocket attacks on Israeli territories.
On April 18, Carter then moved on to Damascus and met with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal along with other Hamas officials such as Mousa Abu Marzouq and Mohammed Nazzal. The talks focused on ways to achieve calm in Gaza, lift the siege off the Strip, open the lines of communication with Israel and a possible prisoner release, which would include Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, taken hostage by Hamas in June, 2006. Nazzal described the meeting with Carter as serious and frank”.
This morning, April 19, Carter is meeting with the delegation again to continue talks. Hamas, which interpreted Carter’s meeting with them as a confirmation of Hamas’ legitimacy as a liberation movement, said Hamas was opened to a ceasefire with Israel but that it would have to be mutual.
In the meantime, Gaza continues to struggle under the ongoing siege, especially after Israel severely cut fuel supplies earlier in the week following the shooting deaths of two Israeli truck drivers at the Nahal Oz crossing. On April 13, the Gaza power plant announced its intention to economize electricity by cutting down its power usage due to the lack of sufficient fuel. Since June of last year, Israel has intermittently blocked fuel supplies to Gaza as a form of collective punishment in response to Palestinian attacks, severely inhibiting daily life in the Strip.
In an eerie forewarning of events to follow, on April 12 Hamas spokesperson Taher Al Nunu said an “explosion” was imminent in the Gaza Strip to break the siege. While Hamas-Egyptian relations have been strained over the ongoing closure of the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, Al Nunu ensured that the explosion would only be directed at the occupation. He did not lose the opportunity, however to take a jab at Egypt, saying during the press conference that there were “certain parties” that were not concerned with ending the siege, falling short of actually naming any Egyptian officials.
Al Nunu maintained Hamas’ official line of accepting a ceasefire with Israel on condition that it is mutual and Israel halts its attacks on the Strip. “How could we sit and watch our people being slaughtered and then say we offer a free ceasefire with the occupation? No way.”
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.
