The Palestinians have not yet given up the idea of resorting to the UN to declare their state even though there has been tremendous pressure on them not to.
Several Israeli officials have already warned that Israel would take unilateral measures of its own if the Palestinians attempt to gain legitimacy for their state within the corridors of the UN including annexation of settlements in the West Bank and withholding PA tax revenues.
The United States is also not keen on the idea, saying it preferred a negotiated solution. "It is our strong belief and conviction that the best means to achieve the common goal of a contiguous and viable Palestine is through negotiations between the parties," the U.S. State Department said in a statement on November 16.
Should the Palestinians still go through with their plan, it would meet its demise almost immediately said one Senator visiting Israel. "It would be D.O.A. - dead on arrival," Ted Kaufman said. "It's a waste of time."
The EU is also not behind the idea. "Recognizing the state is premature and we will discuss other ways to show our support to the Palestinians," read an EU statement on November 16.
Also on November 16, PLO Executive Committee member Ahmad Qurei' used unusually harsh words in reference to Israel's intransigence. "All options are open to the PA," he said in an interview with the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahranoth. "…the possibility of heading to the UN and also considering the dissolving of the PA," he explained. "Negotiations were given top priority and the result was more settlements and more confiscation of land and this has forced us to consider other options; diplomacy remains an option and heading to the UN remains also an option and popular struggle is also an option."
In Cairo, on November 17, President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinians' decision whether to take their cause to the Security Council or not was an "Arab issue" as well. His statements came after a meeting with Egypt's President Husni Mubarak. Abbas also reiterated his stance of rejecting the idea of a state with temporary borders.
Meantime, Abbas says he is sticking to his word about not running in any upcoming elections but did tell Egyptian television on November 18 that he would reconsider staying in his post if Israel and the US gave him a leg to stand on. However, even Abbas does not see this happening in the near future. "They have not granted me anything. Not a single prisoner has been released and not a single checkpoint has been removed let alone the major issues," he said.
A day later, Abbas announced that presidential and legislative elections scheduled for January would be postponed. Abbas also said the leadership would take measures to avoid a constitutional vacuum when the term of the current legislature and his term as president expired on January 25. He did not outline what sort of measures would be taken.
What it all boils down to are the ever-growing settlements on occupied Palestinian territory. On November 18, after repeated US calls on Israel to halt settlement construction, US President Barack Obama had some particularly harsh words for Israel. "I think that additional settlement building does not contribute to Israel's security," he said to Fox News during a trip to China. His statements came after Israel approved on November 17, the construction of 900 new housing units in the east Jerusalem settlement of Gilo. "I think it makes it harder for them to make peace with their neighbors. I think it embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous." Washington demanded that Israel halt further construction, a demand Israel has refused to heed.
The EU also reminded the world of its official stance on east Jerusalem settlements in particular. "The Presidency recalls that settlement activities, house demolitions and evictions in East Jerusalem are illegal under international law," read a statement by the Swedish Presidency of the EU.
"Such activities also prejudge the outcome of final status negotiations and threaten the viability of a two-state solution."
French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner was not as principled. Also on November 18, Kouchner said during a press conference in Jaffa that Israel's decision to build hundreds of homes in east Jerusalem was not an obstacle to peace talks.
Regardless of who says what, Israel's settlements in east Jerusalem are continuing unabated. In response to the Gilo construction, Israeli Prime Minister Benajamin Netanyahu refused to even consider the request saying the "neighborhood" was an integral part of Jerusalem, "Israel's capital".
Construction is not only in Gilo, however. On November 18, Israeli authorities announced the addition of 105 housing units to the to Nof Tsion outpost in Jabal Mukabber. Israel is also working on the level of house demolitions in the eastern sector of the city to make way for more Jewish construction. According to an OCHA report released on November 16, 1,000 Palestinians in east Jerusalem are threatened with eviction.
On the ground, this is apparent in the number of homes being torn down. On November 18, Israeli bulldozers demolished a home and the Women's Society headquarters in the Old City of Silwan and Esawieh neighborhood in the city. A day earlier, two homes were demolished in Beit Hanina and Wadi Qaddum. According to Jerusalem Fateh representative Hatem Abdul Qader, there has been an unprecedented attack on Palestinian homes in the city since the start of 2009, including 2,300 demolition orders.
In Silwan, settler squatters in a seven story building in the heart of the town were allowed to stay in the Palestinian building despite a Supreme Court order ruling demanding their evacuation. Police failed to evacuate them at the last minute after pressure was put on them from Ateret Cohanim, the extreme right wing settler group that took over the building years ago.
On November 19, Israeli police arrested a 16-year old yeshiva student from Jerusalem who stabbed a Palestinian man in the stomach before trying to escape. Police said the teenager has been involved in a number of attacks against Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah and in Hebron.
Finally, on November 20, Israeli forces arrested five PA officers and one commander in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Salfit. According to Palestinian media sources, Palestinian and Israeli officials have been holding ongoing contacts to solve the crisis, with the US intervening as well, saying it was "concerned" over Israel's actions. Just before press time, three more PA officers were arrested in Qalqilya. While the first five were released, the most recent three officers are still in detention.
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.
