As of August 15, 20 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of the fleeting but deadly clashes between the ruling Hamas leadership and an ultra-Islamic group calling themselves Jund Ansar Allah (Warriors of God). The splinter group has in the past, been linked to internet café bombings in the Strip and one more recent bombing of a Khan Younis wedding party, dubbing them "un-Islamic". However, the attempted "coup" came after Friday prayers on August 14 when Jund Ansar Allah took over a Rafah mosque, declaring the city of Rafah an Islamic Emirate. Clashes between the group and Hamas police ensued, with resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people and over 150 injuries. One is said to be a top-ranking Hamas military wing commander. An eight-year old girl was reported among the casualties of the fighting.
The group's leader, Sheikh Abdul Latif Mousa and his assistant Abu Abdullah Suri were killed in the clashes with Hamas operatives and Mousa's house was bombed by Hamas executive forces yesterday. A statement from the deposed government's interior ministry called the leader "deranged."
Jund Ansar, who follow the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam say rule under Hamas is "too liberal" and claim they would impose authentic Islamic rule in Rafah, which would eventually spread throughout all of Palestine.
With the death of Sheikh Mousa, Hamas is now saying the immediate threat has been "neutralized."
Meanwhile, Fateh says it is tallying votes for its 80-seat Revolutionary Council, which will most likely be announced later on today, August 15. The voting process in the movement's Sixth Conference has been marred by controversy after the voting results came in for Fateh's highest decision-making body, the Central Committee. The 18 elected members were announced on August 12 and caused an uproar when longtime Fateh members were ousted from the Committee, including leading negotiator Ahmad Qurei. The head negotiator says he will contest and charged some in the movement with tampering with the election results. A group of Fateh members consequently sent a memorandum in this regard to President Abbas, saying the results were questionable. In an interview with the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi, Qurei said, "There are many big question marks about the election, the way it was conducted and the way the votes were counted. There were behind-the-scenes arrangements that removed some names and added others to the [winning] list."
In particular, controversy swirled around the last-minute election of presidential advisor Tayyeb Abdel Rahim, bringing the number of elected members to the Committee to 19. In addition to Qurei, Intisar Al Wazir was also voted out while four new members were voted in. Imprisoned Fateh West Bank Secretary Marwan Barghouti was voted in along with Mohammed Dahlan, Jibril Rjoub and Tawfiq Tirawi. New returnee and Fateh veteran Abu Maher Gheim scored the highest votes among the candidates.
It was not only Qurei who was unhappy with the results. On August 12, members of Fateh's Higher Committee in the Gaza Strip all submitted their resignations in protest of what one described as a "massive fraud" in the elections.
"The Fatah leaders in the Gaza Strip reject the results of the vote," said senior Fateh leader Ahmed Abu Nasr. "These elections have damaged Fateh's reputation."
President Mahmoud Abbas immediately downplayed the disputes in a press conference that day, saying there was no room for a split in Fateh. He added that Ahmad Qurei has a right to voice his opinion and that those who did not win would still have a say in the movement.
On August 10, the Conference hammered out the movement's political program, which among other points, included 11 rules for negotiations with Israel and five options if the dialogue with Hamas failed. They also ratified four steps to confront the siege on Gaza and discussed seven forms of resistance.
The members also rejected an alternative homeland in Jordan and refused to sign any agreement with Israel that does not include a release of all prisoners. Furthermore, they rejected the principle of imposed resettlement on the Palestinians. "There won't be resettlement in Lebanon and there won't be an alternative homeland in Jordan," the members said.
On August 8, discussions revolved around the fall of Gaza to Hamas in July 2007. Qaddura Fares, a member of the conference said the fall of Gaza to Hamas was extremely significant, adding that someone must be held responsible. "I heard the discussions and it seems to me that no one is responsible; [Mohammed] Dahlan says he is not responsible and the Fateh Central Committee says it is not responsible. I believe that all of them are responsible."
However, in spite of all the protests and the complaints surrounding the new Central Committee, President Abbas, who was unanimously elected as the head of Fateh, has declared the election results final.
Meanwhile, international reports are finally coming in on Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip during its "Cast Lead" Operation late last year. On August 14, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay issued a report which stated the following. "There is significant evidence that Israeli forces violated international law and human rights in their invasion of Gaza between late December and mid-January," adding that Israel enjoyed "nearly total impunity" for its violations.
In her 34-page report Pillay said the operation was compounded by the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip population. Pillay said Israeli violations throughout the occupied Palestinian territories included arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, extrajudicial execution, forced eviction and home demolition, settlement expansion and related violence and restrictions on freedom of movement and expression.
"While these violations are of deep concern in their own right, the nearly total impunity that persists for such violations is of grave concern, and constitutes a root cause for their persistence," she said.
Human Rights Watch also issued a critical report of the Gaza invasion on August 12. The report documents seven incidents of Israeli soldiers firing on Palestinian civilians. These attacks, documents the report, resulted in the killing of 11 civilians—including five women and four children—and wounded another eight at least.
Human Rights Watch says in all the documented cases, "The victims were standing, walking, or in a slowly moving vehicle with other unarmed civilians who were trying to convey their non-combatant status by waving a white flag."
In Jerusalem, Israel handed out three additional home demolition orders on August 12. In Ramallah, two Israeli settlers were lightly injured when an unknown gunman opened fire at their car.
On August 9, around 30 settlers attacked the solidarity tent near the Hanoun and Ghawi homes taken over by Jewish settler last week. Several Palestinians were injured in the clashes.
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.
