Hamas, which heads the de facto government in Gaza celebrated its 25th anniversary today, 8 December in Gaza City, in an event that brought together Hamas supporters and Palestinian political factions from home and abroad. Gaza City was decorated with Palestinian and Hamas flags for the event as the enclave celebrated the occasion while still recovering from the last Israeli assault in November which destroyed homes and public infrastructure. The eight-day war which claimed the lives of 170 Palestinians and six Israelis has set Palestinian unity in motion as Hamas – Fatah reconciliation efforts are now underway. The 25th anniversary was attended by iconic Palestinian resistance figures and leaders such as PFLP member Leila Khaled and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal who made their way to Gaza following the recent Hamas-Israel ceasefire.
Mashaal made his first, historic visit to the Gaza Strip on Friday 7 December which he said marked his “third rebirth” after surviving an Israeli assassination in 1997 and his physical birth in 1956. This is his second visit to the Palestinian territories and his first visit to Gaza after he left his home in the West Bank in 1967 as an 11-year old child. He congratulated Hamas for what he called was a Hamas victory over Israel on the recent eight-day war, and commended the people of Gaza for their resistance, adding that his “fourth birth will be Palestine’s liberation day”. He later added, in a speech to Hamas supporters “Today it’s Gaza, tomorrow it will be Ramallah and then Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa”. Mashaal is expected to give a speech at the celebration of the anniversary on Saturday 8, where he is expected to reveal the next steps of the movement and a plan for Palestinian unity. The event will also be attended by Fatah officials from the West Bank in the revitalization of reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah after the recent Israeli war on the coastal enclave.
Senior PFLP leader and iconic Palestinian figure Leila Khaled was among those in exile to visit Gaza for the same event where she congratulated the people of Gaza on their resistance to Israel where she said “Palestinians in the Diaspora heard the sound of the rockets, and we wished we could have been with you during the latest Israeli assault”. Khaled called for Palestinian national unity but criticized the recent Palestinian observer status upgrade in the UN that recognized Israel saying “no one is allowed to bargain the right of return”. The PFLP seeks to establish one state in historic Palestine based on democracy and does not recognize Israel. On the note of visits to Gaza for the 25th anniversary of Hamas, Islamic Jihad leaders Ramadan Shallah and Ziad Nakhla reconsidered their plan and abandoned their visit to the enclave after receiving an assassination threat from Israel.
Attendance by different Palestinian factions at the Hamas’ anniversary is indicative of a step towards political reconciliation and national unity between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank. Palestinian national unity is set as a priority by all factions after Palestine gained a non-member state status upgrade in the UN General Assembly at the end of November. Nasser al-Shaer former PA official and a Hamas member said on Wednesday 5 December that PLO members, Fatah’s Central Committee and prominent national figures have discussed ways of implementing national reconciliation. Several committees will be set up in order to facilitate the process and the reconciliation effort will commence in two weeks.
In the West Bank, Palestine celebrated its first official visit from an Arab leader after its UN upgrade on Thursday 6 December as King Abdullah II of Jordan and his premier made their way to Ramallah. Upon their arrival in Ramallah, the king and his premier were welcomed by President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad. In a news conference the same day, the two states recalled their long historical ties and reiterated their support for each other. The municipality of Ramallah is said to have named a street after the king in honor of his “historic” visit to the Palestine after the UN upgrade.
Another reason for celebration in Palestine this week was positive results in efforts to register the ancient village of Battir, near Bethlehem as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Palestinian officials said on Friday 7 that following Palestine’s full membership at UNESCO last year and the registration of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Battir would be the second Palestinian area registered by the World Heritage Site. The village has an ancient irrigation agriculture system that has provided for the village and beyond for centuries but is now threatened by the construction of the Israeli separation wall which would have passed through the village. The registration of Battir with UNESCO will afford the village protection from such action and is expected to be completed by the end of January. A UNESCO delegation is expected to pays a visit to the area before the end of December as part of the registration process.
On another note, Israel revealed its plan to go ahead with the expansion of 3000 settlement units in ‘E1’ a West Bank corridor near Jerusalem, despite international pressure against it. The plan was initially introduced less than 24-hours after the overwhelming support for a Palestinian non-member observer state status at the UN General Assembly on 29 November. Countries across the glob including Germany which abstained in the UN vote and the United States which voted against the Palestinian upgrade have called on Netanyahu to reconsider his settlement expansion plans and commence negotiations with Palestine. The Israeli Prime Minister said on 3 December that Israel would uphold its “vital interests even in the face of international pressure”. If Israel proceeds with the plan to build settlements in the corridor between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement Maaleh Adumim, it will cut off Palestinians in the north from Jerusalem and dissect the West Bank into two (North and South). The PA has condemned the plan and said it’s a blow to the two-state solution and yet another one of Israel’s “flagrant defiance of the international community’s will”, referring to the recent international support for the Palestinian status upgrade. The governments of Spain, Denmark, Britain, France, Sweden, Italy and South Africa have all summoned their ambassadors to Israel in expression of their opposition to Israel’s unilateral stance.
Israel also announced that it will withhold Palestinian tax money worth of about $120 million for the month of November as what it hopes to serve as a punishment for the Palestinian UN bid. Israel announced that it would use the money to pay the PA’s debts to an Israeli power company that provides electricity to Palestinians. PA officials decried the stance and have called it an “Israeli policy of piracy” and have urged the international community to pressure Israel to transfer the funds to the PA which has yet to recover from its recent financial crisis.
Israeli forces ransacked several homes in al-Saff, Hundaza and Beit Fajjar villages around Bethlehem on Saturday 8 December where they detained three Palestinian men ages 19, 20 and 21. They barged into homes and apartments, searched and arrested the three individuals while ransacking homes in the process. A similar incident had happened to Barqa village in Nablus on Thursday 6, where Israeli army raided the village near Nablus and ransacked about 36 homes. The raid in the village of Barqa involved hundreds of soldiers where they stormed into houses without a warning, and left after ransacking and destroying furniture, witnesses said. The Israeli army spokesperson said that some weapons were found in some homes during the raid.
Twenty Palestinians were injured in a clash between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian police as well as youth on Thursday 6 December as the soldiers made their way into Hebron city, to Bab al-Zawiye to arrest a Palestinian policeman. The clash started as the man resisted and other policemen came to his assistance and youth started throwing stones at the soldiers. The soldiers are reported to have used live fire, rubber bullets and teargas.
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.
