MIFTAH
Thursday, 28 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 

Jewish settlers continued to protest this week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement to declare a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank. While this freeze does not include east Jerusalem, construction already underway or public buildings such as schools, synagogues and hospitals, settlers were up in arms over the decision, taking their aggression out, unsurprisingly, mostly on Palestinians.

On November 30, dozens of settlers attacked residents of Burin south of Nablus, surrounding their homes and farm lands. The settlers, from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar, are often belligerent towards Palestinians in the area, especially during the olive picking season.

On December 1, settlers broke into the sealed Al Kurd family home in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah after an Israeli court order gave the green light for their access to the home. Clashes ensued between the settlers and Palestinians who came to the house to protect it from the invasion. Several Palestinians were injured in the melee.

On December 2, settlers attacked Palestinian cars with stones near the town of Huwwara in the northern West Bank, damaging several cars. However, the worst incident by far took place on December 1 when in Hebron, a settler ran over a Palestinian twice with his car, critically injuring him. The disturbing footage, which was first aired on Israeli television and later picked up by other news stations, shows the car driving over the Palestinian man, who had already been shot, and then backing up over his unconscious body again. According to Israeli sources, the man had allegedly stabbed two settlers from Kiryat Arba and was run over by the stabbed woman's husband who is now in custody.

On December 4, Netanyahu, in coordination with his defense minister Ehud Barak, agreed to set up a task force to monitor the implementation of the settlement freeze in the West Bank, apparently after inspectors had been met with violence and lack of cooperation by the settlers.

Unfortunately, Netanyahu's temporary freeze on settlements is not even that. On December 2, he ratified the construction of 84 buildings in settlements throughout the West Bank. According to Peace Now, there has been a considerable rise in the number of private settlement construction projects in the West Bank, construction which is not included in the freeze.

Also on the 2nd, Barak met with four West Bank settlement council heads, apparently to allay their fears concerning the freeze. He reassured them that the major settlement blocs in the West Bank would remain untouched. "The settlement blocs are an inseparable part of Israel in all future negotiations with the Palestinians. The Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea are regions that are dear to my heart," he maintained.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem took center stage following the Swedish proposal set forth on November 30 to recognize east Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state. Sweden currently holds the EU Presidency until its term ends in January. EU ambassadors are scheduled to meet in Brussels on December 8 to discuss the draft resolution, which has been met by some with strong criticism. Israel, of course, lashed out at Sweden for the suggestion, saying such a proposal would deeply compromise any peace talks with the Palestinians, not to mention its lack of mention of Israel's security and national considerations. Israel is especially irked by the fact that the document mentions the word "Palestine."

France also had "several strong reservations" it said on December 2 about a draft resolution, according to French Ambassador to Israel Christophe Bigot.

"Let us be clear the text is not an EU text; it is a Swedish proposal looking for agreement by the 27 EU members of the Council of Foreign Affairs next Tuesday," Bigot said.

"We consider that we want to promote the re-launching of the peace process. These should be the two issues [along with Netanyahu's settlement freeze] that should mainly be dealt within the statement."

Palestinians, on the other hand welcomed the Swedish proposal. PLO member and negotiator Ahmad Qurei’ backed the move, saying "Jerusalem is either the key to peace or the continuation of the conflict."

While the Americans have stayed relatively quiet on the subject, US President Barak Obama did delay moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for six more months. The delay has become customary for consecutive US presidents since 1995 when Congress ratified a law stating that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel. The act also states that the US should move its embassy to Jerusalem on this basis no later than May, 1999. However, due to the sensitivity of the situation and the fact that east Jerusalem is deemed occupied territory according to international law, US presidents since then have delayed the move every six months.

On the ground, Palestinians in east Jerusalem faced the harshest year ever in terms of ID confiscation. According to Palestinian and Israeli rights organizations, Israeli authorities in Jerusalem confiscated a total number of 4,577 ID cards from permanent residents of the city in 2008 alone, an unprecedented number so far.

As Israel's Operation Cast Lead into Gaza approaches its first anniversary, the grip on Gaza does not seem to be loosening, even for foreign dignitaries. On December 4, the Israeli government refused a request by Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin to visit the Strip according to The Irish Times. Others, part of a European Committee planning to visit Gaza to assess the humanitarian situation there, were also denied access. Committee chairman Bernard Durkan called the ban "intolerable."

"That an Irish foreign minister is not permitted to visit a region to assess a humanitarian situation is almost without precedent and is tantamount to censorship," Durkan said.

"Denying access only serves to give the impression that Israel is unwilling to let the outside world see the suffering which is going on."

In the West Bank, Israeli forces shot and wounded 19-year old Hasan Nafa during the weekly protests against the wall in Bilin and Nilin. Nafa' was reportedly struck by a "tutu" bullet in the groin, ammunition that was outlawed by an Israeli court in 2001.

While many believed a prisoner swap with captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was at the threshold, the deal has yet to be finalized. On December 3, a spokesperson for the Popular Resistance Committees responsible for Shalit's captivity, calling himself Abu Mujahed, denied reports that Shalit had been transferred to Egypt as the first step in the exchange. "The ball is in Israel's court now," he said.

 
 
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