Hours after the bombing, police forces belonging to the deposed Hamas government began making blanket arrests throughout the Strip, picking up scores of Fateh members or supporters. They also closed down approximately 150 institutions, clubs and offices affiliated with Fateh, ransacking many of them and confiscating equipment, computers and documents in the process.
In response, police and security forces belonging to the Fateh-run West Bank government began making similar arrests of Hamas activists.
Tensions and accusations ran so high, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on July 31 while visiting Tunisia for all political prisoners arrested after July 25 to be released from both sides. He also said the leadership encouraged a restart of conciliation talks between Palestinian parties and demanded that an independent investigation be opened into the bombing.
In line with this call, the Palestinian Authority released seven Hamas members it had arrested over the course of the week including prominent Hamas leader Mohammed Ghazzal. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, however, said the move was “not enough” claiming over 200 of their people had been arrested in the West Bank.
Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, arrests and clashes between the two parties continued even though Hamas announced on August 1 it would reopen the institutions and clubs they closed down after the bombing. On that same day, Hamas police forces arrested 17 leading Fateh members in the Strip, including PLO Executive Committee member Zakariya Al Agha and Fateh Revolutionary Council member Ibrahim Abul Naja. On the morning of August 2, at least 20 people were reportedly injured in clashes in Gaza following the arrest campaign, which Hamas said was against people strongly suspected of being involved in the July 25 bombing. Heavy artillery was said to be used in the Shujaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, primarily between police forces and members of the Hillis family.
Presidential Secretary Tayyeb Abdel Rahim said Hamas’ continued arrest campaign even after President Abbas called for the release of prisoners showed Hamas’ lack of interest in conciliation efforts. “Fateh is committed to dialogue,” he said. “But Hamas’ arrest of Fateh members shows they are not interested in dialogue.”
The accusations were plentiful from both sides, with Hamas charging Fateh with trying to disrupt what it called the “calm and security” of the Gaza Strip ever since Hamas took control over a year ago. In reference to the July 25 bombing and in clear finger pointing towards Fateh, Hamas officials said the movement supported “the freedom of political action but not criminal action” vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The unrest between the wo factions was not the only unsettling development in the Gaza Strip this week. On August 1, the Popular Committee to Confront the Siege confirmed that five residents of the Strip died after being denied permission to leave the Strip to receive medical attention. Three-month old Ahmad Abu Amra was the latest and youngest victim. With these five deaths, the number of Gazans who have died after being prohibited from leaving the Strip reached 225 according to the Committee.
Also on August 1, five people were killed while several others suffered from suffocation when an underground tunnel between the Gaza Strip and Egypt collapsed in the Barazil border area. The tunnels are sometimes used as a means of circumventing the Israeli-imposed closure to travel outside Gaza. Arms are also smuggled through these tunnels from Egypt.
On July 30, Palestinians and Israelis watched as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced in a press conference that he would not be running in the upcoming Kadia leadership primary, slated to take place on September 17. Furthermore, the Israeli premier, currently facing corruption charges, said he would step down as prime minister once a new Kadima leader is elected so that a new government could be formed quickly. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who welcomed Olmert’s announcement, is the primary candidate for the Kadima leadership.
In response to Olmert’s announcement, President Abbas said he would carry on with peace negotiations with any Israeli leader, adding that he would continue talks with Olmert until his office ends.
Peace talks have hit yet another bump in the road with Israel announcing earlier in the week that 20 new housing units would be built in the Jordan Valley settlement of Maskiot. The announcement was strongly criticized by the Palestinians, who said the move was a complete violation of Israel’s commitment to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank under the US-brokered roadmap. Even the United States was uneasy with the decision. On July 29, US Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice called the decision to build additional housing units a “problem”, later saying that the situation in the Middle East would not improve without the establishment of a Palestinian state peacefully living alongside Israel.
Two days later, Livni downplayed the settlement expansion, saying Palestinians should not use settlements as an excuse for not pushing forward in peace talks. She insisted that Israel still seeks to reach an agreement by the end of 2008.
The situation on the ground continues to be tumultuous. On July 29, Israeli forces killed 10-year old Ahmad Mousa from the town of Nilin after shooting him in the forehead during a peaceful protest against the separation barrier being built there. According to eyewitnesses, Mousa, along with several other village youths, were trying to dismantle a section of the separation fence when an Israeli soldier took aim at the boy and shot him point blank in the head.
On the same day, 17-year old Yousef Amira was also shot in Nilin and was declared clinically dead a day later in a Ramallah hospital.
On July 27 in Hebron, Shihab Eddin Natsheh, a 25-year old Izzedin Al Qassam Brigades activist was killed after Israeli forces surrounded and then shelled the house in which he was holed up.
In Jerusalem on July 28, Israeli occupation forces dynamited and demolished the five-storey apartment building of Majed Abu Aisha. The operation, one of the largest of its kind in Jerusalem, involved several dozen members of the Israel police and border guards, police dogs and Israeli engineers who led the demolition. Israeli forces arrived at the apartment building in the early dawn hours and forced the residents out of the house while beating them with nightsticks. A day earlier dozens of civil society and human rights representatives spent the day in solidarity with the Abu Aisha family in a bid to halt the demolition but to no avail. Israel claims it is tearing down the house because it does not have the proper building license.
Meanwhile, Israel says it plans to build an additional 6,000 homes in the Maaleh Adumim settlement bloc in east Jerusalem, further consolidating the plan to create a greater metropolitan Jerusalem. According to ARIJ, the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem, there are currently 16 settlement blocs outside of Jerusalem’s Israeli municipality borders and 18 within them, all illegal under international law.
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.
