The European Union announced it will double its aid to the PA to 100 million Euros which will be used mainly for water, sanitation and support of Palestinian refugees, an EU executive confirmed on 14 September. Some of the money amounting to 7million Euro will be used in support of Palestinians in Area C, which is 60% of the West Bank despite being under full Israeli control and is the area where most Israeli settlements are located. The EU commitment comes after a series of protests took place throughout the West Bank last week and on Monday, 10 September over the rising living expenses.
The Monday protest, where thousands of protesters across the West Bank voiced their frustration against the recent increment in gas prices and the general spike in living costs were accompanied by a public transportation strike that halted mobility and work in Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Jericho, Tulkarem and Jenin. The protestors, some of whom closed down main roads within the respective cities and the main roads connecting the cities in the West Bank, expressed their dissatisfaction with the economic policies of the PA while also attributing the economic crisis to the Paris Protocol of the Oslo Accords. Calling on the cancellation of the Paris Protocol, most of the protests also asked that Prime Minister Salam Fayaad, step down. The prime minister who had expressed his readiness to step down when the protests started at the end of last week, returned gas prices to what they were before the hike and brought the VAT down to 15% among other measures such as cutting expenditures of ministries including high salaries on the PA bankroll. At the same time the PA has asked Israel to review the Paris Protocol which is the root cause of the crumbling Palestinian economy, and meet its end of the agreement. The protests were largely peaceful even though some damage to public buildings and private cars was reported in some cities.
The anti-Islam film produced in the United States that has angered Muslims in Libya, Egypt and other countries Middle East for impersonating and depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a philanderer, homosexual and child abuser was also met with protests in east Jerusalem on Friday 14 September. The protestors, which started after the Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque, were heading to the US Consulate in east Jerusalem before they were stopped by Israeli police. The police used stun grenades and detained four people, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld confirmed. A similar protest was held in Gaza on the same day, Friday 14 September where Hamas minister of religious affairs called on the Islamic world to voice its protests in a peaceful manner, while Gaza de facto Prime Minister Haniyeh urged the United States to apologize to the Arab and Muslim world.
Back in the West Bank, both the Palestinian Authority, through its religious affairs minister and the archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem condemned the film while revoking any violent retaliation, through a statement they made on Wednesday 12 September. President Mahmoud Abbas also passed his condolences to the people and the government of the United States on Thursday 13, regarding the death of the U.S ambassador to Libya and the three embassy personnel following the attack on the U.S consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization has rejected Israel’s proposal for compensation of Jews who fled from Arab countries during or after the 1948 war, saying the proposal is another one of Israel’s attempt to obscure the issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees and distance itself from bearing responsibility. In a statement PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat gave on Thursday 13, he rejected Israel’s plan to use this as a precondition for the peace process, saying “We are not against any Jew who wants to return to Morocco, Iraq, Libya, Egypt and elsewhere. I believe no Arab state rejects the Jewish right of returning to their native lands," In an article she wrote a week ago, Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi and veteran of negotiations with Israel argued that Jews from Arab countries who fled to Israel in 1948 cannot be considered refugees while Israel is considered a homeland for the Jewish people and they came to Israel calling it their homeland.
Three Palestinian prisoners who have been detained for an extended time without charge or trial in Israeli prison are in a serious health conditions. The three prisoners – Samer al-Barq who has been on hunger strike for over 115 days, Hassan Safadi who was on a hunger strike previously for 71 days and is now entering his 84th day as well as Ayman Sharawna who hasn’t eaten in 74 days are suffering from extreme cases of muscle, kidney and liver failure, in addition to loss of vision and inability to walk or stand, a human rights group said on Wednesday 12 September. The International Committee of the Red Cross has expressed its concern over the lives of these prisoners, calling on Israeli authorities to address the problem immediately.
The PA has also asked the UN on Thursday 13, to intervene on the issue of pre-Oslo Accords prisoners in Israeli jails ahead of a planned hunger strike at the commemoration of the anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Agreement. On the same day, Thursday 13, demonstrations were held in Ramallah, on the 19th anniversary of the signing of the accords, calling on Israel to fulfill its duties under the Oslo Accords and release 111 pre-Oslo prisoners.
An Israeli court ruled on September 13 that a building in the center of Hebron, Beit Hameriva, was legally purchased by settlers and should be returned to them within 30 days. Built in 1995 by Palestinians, the building was taken over by settlers in 2007 who claimed they had purchased it from the owners. The house is in a neighborhood connecting the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba to the Ibrahimi Mosque. The Palestinian homeowner from the Rajabi family claims the sales deal was never completed.
On a similar note, Israel asked a High Court of Justice on September 13 for its permission to expand 40 settlements in the West Bank on private Palestinian land that was expropriated before 1979 for “military purposes”. While all settlements in the West Bank are illegal according to international law, Israeli law also only allows for the expropriation of private land for purely military purposes. The state is therefore asking the court for permission to expand illegal settlement on private Palestinian land in order to resettle the families evacuated from an outpost in Ulpana Hill in June, on the basis that the law preventing the civilian use of land expropriated for military purposes “does not prevent exploiting the potential of these communities”.
Also related to land, the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority opposed the continuation of the wall in the Palestinian village of Battir near Bethlehem. In a letter it sent to the Israeli army on 13 September, the Park’s Authority opposed the construction of the wall, saying it would cut people from their agricultural lands and water sources in addition to its effect on environmental, ecological aspects of the area. The PA had asked UNESCO to adopt the village as a World Heritage underlining Battir’s unique irrigation system and ancient agricultural techniques. The letter of opposition from the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority to the Israeli army regarding the village is the first of its kind where an Israeli state agency opposes the construction of the wall.
A woman-only block will be participating in the local elections in Hebron due to be conducted in October, after the block entered its list on 12 September. The block, lead by Maysoun Qawasmi, a journalist is one of the six lists competing next to Fatah, leftist factions, the Palestinian national Initiative and independents. The municipal elections are the first of their kind since 1967.
Still in Hebron, Jewish extremists sprayed graffiti reading “price tag Migron” on a mosque near Hebron on Tuesday where they also tried to set fire to cars around the mosque. The act, which is a sign of protest against the removal of the Migron outpost after a court decision early this mont, . is only a series of “price tag” graffiti and vandalism staged by Jewish settlers in churches and mosques in Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank in the last few weeks.
Israeli government has announced that it will forward in advance $65 million of tax money it will collect on behalf of the PA, in order to ease the current financial crisis of the PA. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who said the advance payment is in the “joint interest” of both Israel and the PA, has sent an envoy to President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad to convey this message and make the necessary arrangements. Further, Israel has urged the EU and USA to assist the PA in meeting its financial obligations an Israeli media reported on 11 Sept. in fear that the protests might escalate and weaken the PA with whom Israel has security. However, news on 12 September revealed Israel’s plan to deduct $9 million out of the advance payments to offset unpaid electricity bills the PA owes to the Israeli power company. The deduction, which Israeli authorities occasionally make when passing over the tax money they collect on behalf of the PA, was not coordinated or clearly communicated with the PA this time - PA Finance Ministry spokesman Rami Mehdawi said.
On 12 September an order was issued by Israeli authorities that would confiscate 675 dunams of land in Nablus where a similar order for the confiscation of 800 acres of land in the western area of the city had been issued earlier the same day. The land, most of which is planted with olive trees is being confiscated to build a bypass road, a PA official has said.
The Israeli army detained seven Palestinians in an overnight raid on Sunday 9 September in which youth activists in support of hunger strikes of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails were taken by the army. Villagers in Seida, near Tulkaram said two prominent activists were detained in the nightly raid.
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.
