On February 26, the United Nations General Assembly passed a new resolution calling on the Palestinians and Israel to further investigate Israel's Cast Lead invasion of the Gaza Strip. The resolution gave the two sides an additional five months to produce independent investigations in response to charges made in the Goldstone Report which mostly blamed Israel for war crimes and possible crimes against humanity against the Palestinians. The vote was passed 98-7 with 31 abstentions. The resolution also said that, should the parties fail to produce credible investigations at the end of the five month period, "further action could be taken."
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stirred up the pot yet again when he declared two West Bank holy spots as new sites on Israel's heritage list on February 21. The Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, which is already a major point of contention between Palestinians and Israelis, along with Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, which Muslims refer to as the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque, were named by Netanyahu as one o the 150 other Israeli heritage sites, which the government will pour money into for renovation. Jerusalem's Old City walls were also included on the list.
The Palestinians were up in arms at the decision, taking to the streets in various West Bank cities. On February 26, in an act of solidarity with the sites, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad preformed Friday prayers at the Ibrahimi Mosque and said the Palestinians would not react violently to Israel's clear provocation.
"We will not be dragged into violence by the terrorism of the settlers, and the terrorism of the settlement project," Fayyad said.
On February 22, Dr Hamdan Taha, director of the PA Tourism Ministry's antiquities department said during a telephone interview that the decision was "an act of aggression against the cultural and religious rights of the Palestinian people."
"Instead of making use of heritage to promote peace, it is being used as a means to promote war," Taha said. "This is clearly intended to obstruct the peace process."
Even the United States has voiced its concern over Israel's decision. In a statement on February 25, a US State Department spokesperson called on both sides to "refrain from provocations" saying the decision was not helpful.
UNESCO, the United Nation's culture and education authority, put a word in as well on February 26, saying it was concerned about the Israeli plan to include the two sites on Israel's heritage list and "the resulting escalation of tension in the area."
Robert Serry, the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East was also uncomfortable with Israel's move. "I'm concerned over the proclamation made over the sites in Bethlehem and Hebron," said, adding that, "Those sites are in Palestinian territory and bear an importance no only in Judaism but in Islam as well."
The Netanyahu government is meanwhile digging its claws into more and more Palestinian territory this week, namely in Jerusalem. On February 26, Israel's district planning commission approved the construction of 600 new housing units near the Pisgat Ze'ev settlement in east Jerusalem. On February 21, Israeli authorities in the Jerusalem municipality announced their approval for a new settlement plan to build 549 housing units in the Bet Safafa Quarter south of Jerusalem.
On February 24, Israeli police and border guards along with municipality personnel raided several quarters in Silwan and handed 12 families demolition orders under the claim that their homes did not meet construction regulations and did not have the proper licensing. Two other families were handed demolition orders in Beit Hanina under the same pretext. On the same day, several residents of Sheikh Jarrah clashed with Israeli police and troops when they were protesting the takeover of the Ghawi home by Jewish settlers a few months ago.
In the West Bank, settlers from the Yitzhar settlement near Nablus cut down 40 olive trees on February 23, which belong to the villagers of Bourin. According to the villagers, the settlers took advantage of an army-imposed curfew on the village to enter and cut down the trees.
On February 21, 80 right-wing Jews raided Jericho and made their way to two ancient synagogues in what right wing activist Itimar Ben Gvir said was the first step in an Israeli campaign to reclaim Jewish sites in the West Bank. Gvir said there were eight locations that Jews "planned to enter" but did not give details of what or where the sites were located. After entering Jericho by force, the Israeli army entered and forcefully evacuated the group, arresting 35 of them. A day later, 34 of them were released.
On February 22, Palestinians responded to an article jointly penned by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos that ran in Le Monde a day before. The two leaders proposed that a Palestinian state be declared even before the issue of borders is resolved given the failure of the political process. The article, entitled, "When will the Palestinian state exist?" called for more European involvement to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, saying the EU could recognize a Palestinian state within 18 months.
The Palestinian leadership, while appreciating the European effort, rejected the offer because of the lack of designated borders. On February 22, President Abbas was quoted as saying that negotiations would have to be concluded before a state could be recognized. "Negotiations first, proclamation of a state later,” he said, adding that the idea of resorting to the UN Security Council was still an option for the Palestinians should peace talks continue to stall. Abbas, along with the rest o the Palestinian leadership have maintained their line that any future Palestinian state should be along the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Finally, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has imposed a complete closure on the West Bank from February 25 to March 1 on the occasion of the Jewish holiday Purim. During this time, Palestinians with permits into Israel will not be allowed entry.
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.
