The Palestinian leadership has deployed envoys to a number of European countries in a bid to convince undecided European leaders to vote in favor of Palestine’s push for non-membership statehood in the middle of this month. The Palestinians say they will continue their push in spite of international pressures to back down – namely from the United States and Israel.
On November 2, Fatah leader Nabil Shaath said the request for a vote on Palestine's status at the UN would be "clear and simple." He clarified again the step would not immediately lead to liberation or an end to Israel’s occupation, but would reap other benefits.
"The PA will not issue its own currency, but the political victory will enable us to join international organizations and sign the Fourth Geneva Convention," Shaath said. “Israel doesn’t want to be sued for its crimes," he added, in reference to the Palestinians’ intentions of trying Israel in international courts for war crimes.
The bid has been overshadowed, however, by criticism towards President Mahmoud Abbas from a wide sector of society for an interview he gave to Israel’s Channel Two on November 1. During the interview, he said he would prevent a new armed Intifada against the occupation.
"We don't want to use terror. We don't want to use force. We don't want to use weapons. We want to use diplomacy. We want to use politics. We want to use negotiations. We want to use peaceful resistance. That's it," he said. However, the sharpest criticism was against his statements about the Palestinian refugees’ right to return, which many construed as being forfeited by the President. When asked whether he wanted to go back to Safad, his birthplace which is now inside Israel, Abbas replied, "I visited Safed before once. But I want to see Safed. It's my right to see it, but not to live there". He went on to explain that "Palestine now for me is '67 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital… I believe that (the) West Bank and Gaza is Palestine and the other parts (are) Israel."
The statements did not sit well with many Palestinians, including Hamas in Gaza. "No Palestinian would accept ceding the right of our people to return to homes, villages and towns from which they were displaced," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri on November 1. "If Abu Mazen (Abbas) does not want Safed, Safed would be honored not to host people like him."
Even the Israelis did not welcome Abbas’ statements with open arms. Spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry Paul Hirschson, said the onus remained on Abbas to return to negotiations:
"If he (Abbas) wants to see Safed, or anywhere else in Israel, for that matter, we would happily show him anywhere. But there has to be a desire to move forward on the peace process, adding that since Abbas was not an Israeli citizen, "he doesn't have a right to live in Israel. We agree on that."
When the president was asked if his UN bid should be considered a unilateral step by the Palestinians, Abbas was adamant that it was not. “If you are talking about unilateralism, I think settlement activities are unilateral…This is occupied territory. You don't have the right to send your citizens (here)."
Meanwhile Palestinians commemorated the 95th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration on November 2. On this day in 1917 Arthur James Balfour, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, promised Palestine as a national homeland for the Jews. Palestinian groups inside of Palestine and abroad have called for an official apology from Britain for the injustice done to the Palestinians on the back of this promise, which was based on the false premise that Palestine was a “land without a people for a people without a land.”
Another development this week was that Israel finally admitted on November 1 it was responsible for the assassination of Khalil Al Wazeer, Fatah leader and late President Yasser Arafat’s second hand man. Al Wazeer, was assassinated in Tunis in 1988 by one Nahum Lev, an Israeli commando disguised as a woman with a gun hidden in a box of chocolates. Israeli media ran an interview with Lev, who died in 2000 in a car accident after 25 years of silence. According to the interview, Lev killed Al Wazeer “without hesitation”. Two bodyguards and the gardener were also killed in the operation.
Back on the ground, Israel continued to approve settlement expansion in east Jerusalem. On October 29, Peace Now said the Israeli Land Administration planned to build 180 new housings units in Sur Baher, a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city, saying that the new units would be built for the families of Israeli security forces.
"It is a shame that in a city where over one-third of the population is Palestinian, the authorities are planning only for Israelis, even near Palestinian areas in east Jerusalem, where such construction is desperately needed," the group said. "This policy is not only taking us away from the possibility to get to Two States, but is also discriminatory and adds to the instability in Jerusalem."
On November 1, Israeli authorities demolished a house in the Jerusalem-area village of Anata for the sixth time. The house belongs to Salim and Arabiya Shawamreh, and is used as a peace center by the International Committee Against House Demolitions.
On October 31, Israeli forces demolished two homes north of Jericho. According to Jericho governor Majed al-Fatyani, Israeli troops demolished the homes of Zaher al-Kalouti and Tayel Afaneh and damaged the electricity network in al-Stieh. Al Fityani said the demolitions were part of an Israeli policy to suppress Palestinian life in the Jordan Valley.
In Jerusalem on November 2, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III said he would shut the doors of the Holy Sepulcher within days, after Israeli authorities froze the Patriarchate’s bank account, according to the Hebrew daily Maariv. Apparently the church has racked up a water bill of nine million Israeli shekels. Apparently, the church had been in agreement with the Jerusalem municipality to exempt the Patriarchate from paying for water used by the Church. That agreement according to the municipality was no longer valid because the law did not permit such exemptions.
On October 30, 22 religious groups and charities called on the European Union to ban products made by Israeli settlers in the occupied territories, saying a boycott would undercut their economic reason for staying there.
"European consumers are unwittingly supporting the settlements and the attendant violations of human rights," the groups said in a report that called for a ban or at least, strict labeling rules. The 22 NGOs included Christian Aid, Ireland's Trocaire, the Methodist Church in Britain, the Church of Sweden, France's Terre Solidaire and Germany's medico international. Other religious NGOs in Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Switzerland also took part.
Finally, on October 29, Palestinian factions fired 18 rockets from Gaza into Israeli territory, just days after a truce was mediated by Egypt. The rockets were fired after Izzedin Qassam brigades operative Suleiman Al Qarra was killed in an Israeli raid a day earlier.
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.
