On April 25, Israel officially snubbed the six-month ceasefire offered by the Hamas leadership, deeming the proposal as “not serious”. The offer, which was released late on April 24 following a day-long private meeting between Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar and Egypt’s head of intelligence Omar Suleiman, stated that Hamas would cease firing rockets into Israel if, in turn, Israel ended its blockade on Gaza and reopened the border crossings, including the southern crossing of Rafah which links the coastal strip with Egypt.
Mahmoud Zahar also stipulated that the truce would start in Gaza and would be gradually applied to the West Bank, warning that “the ball now is in the Israeli court” and if refused “then it will be our right to defend our people in all legitimate ways”. The proposal of peace came just a few days after the group admitted that it would contemplate a peace agreement with Israel. Hamas’ rhetoric changed following the visit of former US President Jimmy Carter, who controversially met with Hamas officials in the West Bank, Egypt and Syria, much to the dismay of Israel but in an attempt to breach the divide and work towards brokering some sort of peace between the two parties through the medium of dialogue rather than aggression.
After Hamas politburo chief Khaled Me’shaal met with Jimmy Carter, the exiled leader based in Damascus declared that Hamas would accept a deal with Israel if it was approved in a Palestinian referendum and would offer a 10 year hudna [truce] if Israel withdrew from the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Nevertheless, Me’shaal stated that he would not recognize Israel and would not cease rocket attacks on Israel. Whereas his words slightly contradict the points present in the April 24 proposal, Mahmoud Zahar announced that the offer had been fully endorsed by the Hamas leadership in Syria.
However, Israel, which questions Hamas’ ability to convince other politically-affiliated military groups to halt rocket attacks, immediately dismissed the offer. Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev expressed his analysis on the deal by saying that “the quiet they seem to be proposing is the quiet before the storm”. Israel fears that opening the crossings, especially at Rafah, would simply allow Hamas to strengthen militarily and financially within the six-month period.
Israel’s discarding of the Hamas proposal subsequently brought several thousand Palestinians to the streets in Gaza protesting the Israeli blockade. In the northern town of Jabaliya, 5,000 disgruntled Palestinians held signs with the message “no to the siege” sprawled on them. In the south, 1,000 gathered in Rafah to voice their discontent with the conditions and appeal to the Egyptians to come to their aid by opening the crossing. In response, Egypt deployed 300 soldiers to the border in order to deter any Palestinian plans that may have involved forcing open the crossing like on January 23. The stationing of Egyptian troops in the area also differed from statements issued by Hamas which ensured that Egypt would open the Rafah crossing even if Israel refused a peace deal.
The protests in Gaza occurred after it was revealed on April 24 that the UN would have to suspend aid distribution to Gaza because they had no fuel for their delivery trucks. Spokesperson for UNRWA [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency] Chris Gunnes said in reference to the conditions in Gaza that “hungry, angry people do not serve the interests of peace, neither do they serve Israel’s security interests”. With the general uncertainty surrounding who is to blame concerning the distribution of fuel following the immensely dire state of Gaza amidst statements from Israel that one million liters of fuel remain held on the Gaza side, special UN envoy Robert Serry simply implored that “Hamas…must ensure conditions to enable the distribution of supplies at Nahal Oz” while “Israel must restore adequate supplies of diesel and benzene for the civilian population of Gaza in accordance with international law”.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, after visiting Russia, Tunisia and Iceland, flew into Washington on April 22 for talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President G. W. Bush regarding the peace process. However, President Abbas concluded his discussions on April 25 by asserting that “so far nothing has been achieved”.
The aim of the trip was to push the US on implementing the first stage of the road map, an obligation both sides committed to at the Annapolis summit in November. Israel is currently not abiding by its responsibilities and continues to construct settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, refuses to dismantle any illegal outposts, release prisoners or stop incursions into the West Bank which undermine Abbas’ road map obligations and fails to remove roadblocks which greatly hinder Palestinian movement and access.
Instead the Palestinian President was met with the same response from his US counterpart who promised progress before he leaves office and announced to reporters that "I assured the president that a Palestinian state's a high priority for me and my administration, a viable state, a state that doesn't look like Swiss cheese". G. W. Bush is contemplating adding to the $555 million the US has already pledged to Abbas and has recruited the third high ranking US individual to help boost Palestinian hopes for peace since Annapolis. Deputy assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs Robert Danin will lead Quartet envoy Tony Blair’s mission in improving the livelihood of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza. The US President did not mention how he intends to address the issue or compel Israel to abide by their road map obligations but merely informed the press that the Middle East is high on his agenda which is why he plans on going to the region. The incumbent US President will travel to Israel to celebrate in the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence and to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. The problem for Abbas is that there has been no meeting scheduled where all three leaders will be present. Abbas will not attend the anniversary celebrations in Israel and it is thought that Prime Minister Olmert will not attend the meeting at the Red Sea resort in Egypt.
While President Abbas was in Washington hoping to persuade the US to pressure Israel on their road map obligations, two Israeli guards were killed by a Palestinian gunman while screening Palestinian workers as they entered an Israeli factory in the Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone near the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem. Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, Fateh’s al-Aqsa Brigades and Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades all claimed they were responsible for the gunman, who escaped from scene only slightly injured. PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki replied by asserting that the attack plans to “undermine the efforts by the Palestinian government to undertake full responsibilities in the West Bank”. Under the stipulations of the road map, President Abbas is charged with dismantling “terrorist” infrastructure in the West Bank and improving the general security of the area.
In other news, in a move which attempts to resolve part of the settlement issue in the West Bank, an Israeli law advocated by Israeli vice premier Haim Ramon has reported that nearly 50% of the 70,000 settlers in the 74 settlements east of the Separation Wall would agree to monetary compensation at a total buyout cost of $2.5 billion.
Controversy continues to surround the trip of former US President Jimmy Carter. The 2002 Nobel Prize laureate has denied that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice advised him not to speak to Hamas officials prior to his visit. Carter’s trip continues to receive mixed reviews. While former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan praised the former US President’s efforts this week to achieve peace between Hamas and Israel, President Abbas and US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama criticized his dialogue with Hamas, stating that the venture had been a failure.
On April 23, deputy ambassadors from France, the US, Britain, Belgium and Costa Rica walked out of a UN Security Council meeting when Libya’s deputy UN ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi compared the Israeli blockade of Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust. South African ambassador Dumisani Lumalo, who holds the council’s presidency, subsequently closed the discussion.
Also this week, Director of the Palestine Investment Conference Hassan Abu Libdeh revealed that the Bethlehem conference, which will take place on the 21-23 May and host 1200 Foreign and Arab investors, aims to raise $1.5 billion. $900 million is to go to the West Bank whereas the remaining $600 million will be allocated to Gaza but not while Hamas controls the coastal strip.
Human Rights Watch released a report this week which documented that Fadel Shana, the 23 year old Reuters cameraman who was killed in Gaza on April 16, was fired on by an Israeli tank either “recklessly or deliberately”. As a result of the report the Israeli army stated on April 20 that they would investigate his death.
Mariam Marouf [14] was killed on April 26 when Israeli soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian activists while seizing her father and Hamas leader Hassan Marouf from his house in the town of Beit Lahiya in Gaza.
A Palestinian activist, whose identity has yet to have been released, was killed on April 23 when Israel launched an incursion into the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. A day earlier in northern Gaza, members of the Islamic Jihad military wing [al-Quds Brigades], Othman Abu Hajar [19], Fadi Salem [20] and Ibrahim Mahmud Shalash [19] were also killed during an Israeli incursion.
On April 20, eight Palestinians died in Gaza City during Israel’s continued reprisal following the explosion of two bomb laden vehicles disguised as Israeli military jeeps near the Kerem Shalom crossing on April 19.
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.
