The five committees in Cairo for talks on national conciliation have finished their first round of discussions, according to Egyptian sources on March 14. The members of the committees will head back home, leaving only the heads of the groups in Cairo who make up the Higher Committee for further discussions. Egyptian sources noted that the break in talks was planned and did not signify a failure or breakdown of them.
Nonetheless, progress in the five committees was not making as much headway as initially anticipated. According to a statement released by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine on March 13, the dialogue "has not made any progress or taken any steps forward."
Others involved have disagreed, saying there has been tangible progress in three of the five committees, namely the PLO, security and reconciliation groups. The other two more significant committees – elections and the formation of the government – are still hanging in limbo, with Hamas and Fateh continuing to disagree on how and by whom the government should be formed. One sign that the prisoner committee is making progress is the release of 45 prisoners affiliated with Hamas from Palestinian Authority prisons on March 11. One of the most contentious issues between Hamas and Fateh has been that of political prisoners, each accusing the other of imprisoning their members on political grounds.
Rumor has it that a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel is also in the offing. The drawn out negotiations for the release of captured Israeli prisoner Gilad Shalit may be coming to an end with a report on March 12 that Israel has agreed to release the 450 Hamas prisoners demanded by the movement in any prisoner exchange deal. According to Haaretz, while the number has been initially agreed upon, disputes remain over Israel's insistence that some of the prisoners be deported to Gaza rather than released to their homes in the West Bank.
Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar has denied that any negotiations much less agreements have been made over the prisoner swap. On March 11, Zahhar told the Nazareth-based newspaper Kul Al Arab by phone from Cairo that, "Hamas isn't talking to anyone about a prisoner exchange for Shalit," adding that, "If anyone's holding negotiations, it isn't us."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad insisted that there was no going back on last week's resignation, saying his government's duties would be officially over on March 31. On March 13, Fayyad said he “will not review his decision to resign by the end of March regardless of the outcomes of Cairo talks,” during a press conference in Ramallah. Fayyad also brushed aside inquires about a "constitutional void" following the end of the month.
“There will be no constitutional void,” he said, adding that he was sure President Abbas would “take the right decision” and appoint an appropriate representative in his place after April 1.
In Jerusalem, Israeli authorities continue to deliver notifications for the demolition of homes to residents there. On March 10, Israeli authorities informed members of the Arab Kanaani Bedouin tribe in Jerusalem that their tents and stables would soon be torn down. Two families, Al Hanoun and Al Ghawi, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem were also told they have until March 15 to evacuate their homes. There are 52 members in all who are threatened with losing their houses by this order.
In the West Bank on March 9, Israeli authorities posted confiscation notices near the separation wall in Bilin, notifying them that 142 dunams of land from Bilin, Kharbatha Bani Harith and Deir Qadees were to be expropriated.
The recent spate of home demolitions and notifications in Jerusalem has set off warning bells, not only among the Palestinians but in Europe as well. On March 10, the EU warned Israel of the ramifications of demolishing 90 homes in Jerusalem, primarily in the Silwan neighborhood, saying such actions would deny 1,000 Palestinians their homes. The statement also said Israel should be reminded of its commitments in the Roadmap and in international law, adding that they are threatening any opportunity to reach a final settlement.
This week, the Gazans received some relief and moral support with the visit of two prominent international personalities, both bringing with them aid to the people. On March 9, former British MP George Galloway entered Gaza through the Rafah Crossing from Egypt along with Lauren Booth, Tony' Blair's sister-in-law and 50 other British volunteers. In the dozens of trucks that made their way into the Strip were a reported $1.1 million in aid. Galloway, who also met secretly with deposed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, left Gaza on March 11.
Earlier in the week, Alice Walker also visited Gaza as part of the anti-war group Code Pink. Walker, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "The Color Purple", said she hoped to take what she saw in Gaza back to her new president. "Our job is to help him [President Barack Obama] see what we see, and then he can decide how he will behave and it's on his soul, it's not on my soul."
At the diplomatic level, nine countries announced on March 13 that they would band together to try and stop the flow of weapons into Gaza. The countries include the United States, Canada Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway agreed that they would contribute to methods such as interception at sea, information sharing and diplomatic pressure to put a halt to arms entry into the Strip.
Since Israel's 22-day invasion of the Gaza Strip on December 28, tons of food and basic necessities have not been allowed in at the borders, including food, soap and even toilet paper. Building materials for the reconstruction of homes demolished by Israeli forces are also largely prohibited with Israel claiming that some materials could be used for the manufacturing of explosives. Furthermore, since the official end of the invasion, Israel has continued to bomb underground tunnels in the Rafah area in particular, damaging scores of homes and shops in the process.
In the West Bank, all was not quiet either. On March 13, an American peace activist protesting the wall in Bilin, was critically wounded when Israeli forces shot a tear gas canister at his head. Four Palestinians were also injured in the protest, which takes place weekly in the villages of Bilin and Nilin where Israel's separation wall has devoured huge areas of Palestinian land.
According to Palestinian sources, Tristan Anderson from Oakland, California is now in critical "life threatening" condition in an Israeli hospital. Eyewitnesses at the scene say Anderson was not even near the crowd of protesters when he was shot and could have in no way been deemed a threat to the soldiers there.
On March 11, 17-year-old Fayez Ata was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in the Ramallah-area village of Deir Abu Meshaal. One other Palestinian was wounded during the Israeli army invasion. On the same day, 35 people were arrested in Beit Ummar near Hebron during an Israeli raid on the village.
On March 8, Palestinians celebrated International Women's Day. On the occasion, President Abbas said the new personal status law would be issued soon, which would prohibit all forms of discrimination against women.
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.
