On July 29, the Arab League gave the Palestinians the green light to enter into direct negotiations with Israel, but said the final decision was President Mahmoud Abbas as to when the time was right to move forward. Qatari Foreign Affairs Minister Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Ath-Thani, who headed the meeting said that while "there is agreement, it is an agreement over the principles of what will be discussed and the manner of the direct negotiations," adding that he was "full of doubts" over Israel's seriousness.
Abbas, who was at the session held in Cairo, asked his fellow Arab leaders to continue to back the proximity talks until the original four-month period was over, saying the Palestinians would not return to direct talks until progress in proximity talks were made and Israel froze settlement construction. That is unlikely to happen, however, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 28, who told Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos in Jerusalem that continuing the construction freeze in settlements "would be impossible politically."
Nonetheless, the Palestinian President remains under immense pressure to return to talks. "Never in my life have I experienced such pressure," he said.
In this regard, PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi also described this pressure on the Palestinians in an interview with the Palestinian press on July 30. Ashrawi explained that the US has put such tremendous pressure on the Palestinian government to start up direct negotiations, it has come down to the message of "no one will stand by you or support you if you say 'no.'"
This pressure was not only from the United States. On July 25, the Palestinian press reported that President Abbas had received phone calls from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, all urging the President to start direct talks with Israel.
Meanwhile, Israel is stepping up measures in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. On July 30, 40-year-old Issa Batran from Hamas' military wing was killed in an Israeli bombing near the Nuseirat refugee camp. Eight others were injured. Israel bombed the Strip overnight in what Palestinians are calling the heaviest bombardment since the war on Gaza over a year ago. Israeli military sources say the bombings came after a Grad missile was fired into Israeli territory, falling in Asqalan. The National Resistance Committee claimed responsibility for the rocket, which caused no casualties.
Still, Israel wasted no time, lodging a complaint with the United Nations about Palestinian mortar and rocket fire from Gaza, claiming that they violate international law. "In response to the escalating threat of terrorism, Israel will exercise its right of self-defense and will continue to take all necessary measures to protect its citizens," Israel's UN ambassador Gabriela Shalev wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
In the West Bank, settlers have gone on rampages, particularly in the north near the city of Nablus. On July 30, dozens of settlers raided the village of Bourin, setting fire to the fields. The settlers, mostly from the illegal settlement of Bracha, broke into a new home still under construction in the village and tried to demolish it before being stopped by villagers and Israeli soldiers who intervened. In the ensuing clashes, the Israeli army tear gassed the villagers to disperse the crowds. The settlers, who started their rampage into the village three days earlier, were protesting the Israeli government decision to remove mobile homes in a settlement outpost near Bracha. On July 26, the first of the clashes broke out in Bourin during which three settlers and four Palestinians were injured.
In Jerusalem, nine families found themselves homeless on July 29 when Jewish settlers forced them from their apartment building in the Saadiyeh neighborhood of the Old City. The Qirresh family said Jewish settlers forced themselves into their homes after claiming ownership of the building. The family filed a petition with an Israeli court demanding an immediate evacuation of the settlers but must wait until July 31 for a hearing. Meanwhile the families spent the night outside their blocked off homes in the streets in hopes that the army, which stood by for the settlers' protection, blocked their entry into the houses.
UNRWA condemned the settler takeover, saying that two of the nine families are registered refugees and must be protected. UN Special Envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry also denounced the takeover, saying it was an "act of provocation at a critical time in the international community’s efforts to move the peace process forward.”
Inside Israel, the Bedouin village of Al Araqeeb was wiped off the map on July 27 when Israeli bulldozers with a backup of 1,300 policemen literally demolished the entire village. The government justified the move by saying the village never obtained official recognition and was therefore illegal. Thirty homes were torn down and trees uprooted.
Finally, a report by US government watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office revealed that Israel hinders even the training of the PA police. According to the report, released on July 25, the Israeli government has, over the years, delayed the transfer of weapons, vehicles and uniforms to Palestinian security forces, thus hampering U.S. efforts to train these forces in the West Bank.
"The implementation of the U.S. security assistance programs faces a number of logistical constraints that are largely outside of U.S. control, and these security assistance programs outpace efforts to develop the limited capacity of the PA police and justice sector," states the report. Furthermore, the report says, despite Israel's demand that the Palestinians fight "terrorist groups", Israel has shunned American efforts to train Palestinian forces in combating terror, saying the Americans wanted to set up Palestinian counterterrorist units, but were opposed by the Israeli government.
The report continues that Israel does not only hinder the transfer of weapons, but even innocuous shipments to the PA such as raincoats. According to the report while one shipment of raincoats was approved, says it cannot guarantee the approval of future shipments of "comparable types and quantities."
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.
