Abir Dandis, the mother of the two girls who were murdered in the Negev town of Al-Fura’a last week, couldn't find a police officer to listen to her warnings, neither in Arad nor in Ma’ale Adumim. Both police stations operate in areas where Israel wants to gather the Bedouin into permanent communities, against their will, in order to clear more land for Jewish communities. The dismissive treatment Dandis received shows how the Bedouin are considered simply to be lawbreakers by their very nature. But as a resident of the West Bank asking for help for her daughters, whose father was Israeli, Dandis faced the legal-bureaucratic maze created by the Oslo Accords.

The Palestinian police is not allowed to arrest Israeli civilians. It must hand suspects over to the Israel Police. The Palestinian police complain that in cases of Israelis suspected of committing crimes against Palestinian residents, the Israel Police tend not to investigate or prosecute them.

In addition, the town of Al-Azaria, where Dandis lives, is in Area B, under Palestinian civilian authority and Israeli security authority. According to the testimony of Palestinian residents, neither the IDF nor the Israel Police has any interest in internal Palestinian crime even though they have both the authority and the obligation to act in Area B.

The Palestinian police are limited in what it can do in Area B. Bringing in reinforcements or carrying weapons in emergency situations requires coordination with, and obtaining permission from, the IDF. If Dandis fears that the man who murdered her daughters is going to attack her as well, she has plenty of reason to fear that she will not receive appropriate, immediate police protection from either the Israelis or the Palestinians.

Dandis told Jack Khoury of Haaretz that the Ma’ale Adumim police referred her to the Palestinian Civil Affairs Coordination and Liaison Committee. Theoretically, this committee (which is subordinate to the Civil Affairs Ministry) is the logical place to go for such matters. Its parallel agency in Israel is the Civilian Liaison Committee (which is part of the Coordination and Liaison Administration - a part of the Civil Administration under the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories).

In their meetings, they are supposed to discuss matters such as settlers’ complaints about the high volume of the loudspeakers at mosques or Palestinians’ complaints about attacks by settlers. But the Palestinians see the Liaison Committee as a place to submit requests for permission to travel to Israel, and get the impression that its clerks do not have much power when faced with their Israeli counterparts. In any case, the coordination process is cumbersome and long.

The Palestinian police has a family welfare unit, and activists in Palestinian women’s organizations say that in recent years, its performance has improved. But, as stated, it has no authority over Israeli civilians and residents. Several non-governmental women’s groups also operate in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, and women in similar situations approach them for help. The manager of one such organization told Haaretz that Dandis also fell victim to this confusing duplication of procedures and laws. Had Dandis approached her, she said, she would have referred her to Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which has expertise in navigating Israel’s laws and authorities.

John Kerry revealed his long-awaited plan for peace in the Middle East on Sunday, hinging on a $4bn (£2.6bn) investment in the Palestinian private sector.

The US secretary of state, speaking at the World Economic Forum on the Jordanian shores of the Dead Sea, told an audience including Israeli president Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that an independent Palestinian economy is essential to achieving a sustainable peace.

Speaking under the conference banner "Breaking the Impasse", Kerry announced a plan that he promised would be "bigger, bolder and more ambitious" than anything since the Oslo accords, more than 20 years ago.

Tony Blair is to lead a group of private sector leaders in devising a plan to release the Palestinian economy from its dependence on international donors. The initial findings of Blair's taskforce, Kerry boasted, were "stunning", predicting a 50% increase in Palestinian GDP over three years, a cut of two-thirds in unemployment rates and almost double the Palestinian median wage. Currently, 40% of the Palestinian economy is supplied by donor aid.

Kerry assured Abbas that the economic plan was not a substitute for a political solution, which remains the US's "top priority".

Peres, who had taken the stage just minutes before, also issued a personal plea to his Palestinian counterpart to return to the negotiations.

"Let me say to my dear friend President Abbas," Peres said, "Should we really dance around the table? Lets sit together. You'll be surprised how much can be achieved in open, direct and organised meetings."

Thick locks hug the front gates of shuttered shops, now covered in graffiti and dust from lack of use. Only a handful of customers pass along the dimly lit road, sometimes stopping to check the ripeness of fruits and vegetables, or ordering meat in near-empty butcher shops.

“All the shops are closed. I’m the only one open. This used to be the best place,” said 64-year-old Mustafa Sunocret, selling vegetables out of a small storefront in the marketplace near his family’s home in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Amidst the brightly coloured scarves, clothes and carpets, ceramic pottery and religious souvenirs filling the shops of Jerusalem’s historic Old City, Palestinian merchants are struggling to keep their businesses alive.

Faced with worsening health problems, Sunocret told IPS that he cannot work outside of the Old City, even as the cost of maintaining his shop, with high electricity, water and municipal tax bills to pay, weighs on him.

“I only have this shop,” he said. “There is no other work. I’m tired.”

Abed Ajloni, the owner of an antiques shop in the Old City, owes the Jerusalem municipality 250,000 Israeli shekels (68,300 U.S. dollars) in taxes. He told IPS that almost every day, the city’s tax collectors come into the Old City, accompanied by Israeli police and soldiers, to pressure people there to pay.

“It feels like they’re coming again to occupy the city, with the soldiers and police,” Ajloni, who has owned the same shop for 35 years, told IPS. “But where can I go? What can I do? All my life I was in this place.”

He added, “Does Jerusalem belong to us, or to someone else? Who’s responsible for Jerusalem? Who?”

Illegal annexation

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in 1967. In July 1980, it passed a law stating that “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel”. But Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem and subsequent application of Israeli laws over the entire city remain unrecognised by the international community.

Under international law, East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory – along with the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syrian Golan Heights – and Palestinian residents of the city are protected under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Jerusalem has historically been the economic, political and cultural centre of life for the entire Palestinian population. But after decades languishing under destructive Israeli policies meant to isolate the city from the rest of the Occupied Territories and a lack of municipal services and investment, East Jerusalem has slipped into a state of poverty and neglect.

“After some 45 years of occupation, Arab Jerusalemites suffer from political and cultural schizophrenia, simultaneously connected with and isolated from their two hinterlands: Ramallah and the West Bank to their east, West Jerusalem and Israel to the west,” the International Crisis Group recently wrote.

Israeli restrictions on planning and building, home demolitions, lack of investment in education and jobs, construction of an eight-foot-high separation barrier between and around Palestinian neighbourhoods and the creation of a permit system to enter Jerusalem have all contributed to the city’s isolation.

Formal Palestinian political groups have also been banned from the city, and between 2001-2009, Israel closed an estimated 26 organisations, including the former Palestinian Liberation Organisation headquarters in Jerusalem, the Orient House and the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce.

Extreme poverty

Israel’s policies have also led to higher prices for basic goods and services and forced many Palestinian business owners to close shop and move to Ramallah or other Palestinian neighbourhoods on the other side of the wall. Many Palestinian Jerusalemites also prefer to do their shopping in the West Bank, or in West Jerusalem, where prices are lower.

While Palestinians constitute 39 percent of the city’s population today, almost 80 percent of East Jerusalem residents, including 85 percent of children, live below the poverty line.

“How could you develop [an] economy if you don’t control your resources? How could you develop [an] economy if you don’t have any control of your borders?” said Zakaria Odeh, director of the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, of “this kind of fragmentation, checkpoints, closure”.

“Without freedom of movement of goods and human beings, how could you develop an economy?” he asked.

“You can’t talk about independent economy in Jerusalem or the West Bank or in all of Palestine without a political solution. We don’t have a Palestinian economy; we have economic activities. That’s all we have,” Odeh told IPS.

Israel’s separation barrier alone, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD), has caused a direct loss of over one billion dollars to Palestinians in Jerusalem, and continues to incur 200 million dollars per year in lost opportunities.

Israel’s severing and control over the Jerusalem-Jericho road – the historical trade route that connected Jerusalem to the rest of the West Bank and Middle East – has also contributed to the city’s economic downturn.

Separation of Jerusalem from West Bank

Before the First Intifada (Arabic for “uprising”) began in the late 1980s, East Jerusalem contributed approximately 14 to 15 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the Occupied Palestinian territories (OPT). By 2000, that number had dropped to less than eight percent; in 2010, the East Jerusalem economy, compared to the rest of the OPT, was estimated at only seven percent.

“Economic separation resulted in the contraction in the relative size of the East Jerusalem economy, its detachment from the remaining OPT and the gradual redirection of East Jerusalem employment towards the Israeli labour market,” the U.N. report found.

Decades ago, Israel adopted a policy to maintain a so-called “demographic balance” in Jerusalem and attempt to limit Palestinian residents of the city to 26.5 percent or less of the total population.

To maintain this composition, Israel built numerous Jewish-Israeli settlements inside and in a ring around Jerusalem and changed the municipal boundaries to encompass Jewish neighbourhoods while excluding Palestinian ones.

It is now estimated that 90,000 Palestinians holding Jerusalem residency rights live on the other side of the separation barrier and must cross through Israeli checkpoints in order to reach Jerusalem for school, medical treatment, work, and other services.

“Israel is using all kinds of tools to push the Palestinians to leave; sometimes they are visible, and sometimes invisible tools,” explained Ziad al-Hammouri, director of the Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights (JCSER).

Al-Hammouri told IPS that at least 25 percent of the 1,000 Palestinian shops in the Old City were closed in recent years as a result of high municipal taxes and a lack of customers. “Taxation is an invisible tool…as dangerous as revoking ID cards and demolishing houses,” he said. “Israel will use this as pressure and as a tool in the future to confiscate these shops and properties.”

On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall - which truly epitomized the Cold War in Europe and, therefore, became the symbol of shame of the politics of division of the 20th century - was torn down.

Now, a new wall must fall!

Let's make the coming 9th of November a worldwide Protest Day against the new 'Berlin' Wall currently being erected by Israel across the West Bank. Such construction, now commonly known as Separation Wall or Apartheid Wall has become Israel's new stranglehold of Palestine and the latest assault by the Occupation: land confiscation, water confiscation, destruction of lives and livelihoods of Palestinians, all in a new drive to expand truly colonialist measures under the usual pretenses in order to achieve long-standing goals in a frightening fashion similar of 1948's events.

Join those who share a belief that the absurdity of this medieval concept must soon succumb. The Palestine Monitor and the GIPP - Grass Roots International protection for Palestinian People movement - urge you to participate in this effort by organizing pickets, demonstrations, lectures, and related activities to raise awareness in your community about the impact and meaning of this new wall.

We are urging people to come up with anything they think they can do in their own communities.

It could be: pickets, demonstrations, vigils, lectures/conferences/debates, artistic events/fairs/festivals/theatric performances, convoys or marches, and/or any related activities to raise awareness in your community about the impact and meaning of this new wall.

Some people who live in administrative capitals are choosing to demonstrate in front of Israeli Embassies, other are choosing to stage demos on public squares, others in community centers, churches, etc. It all depends on the expertise of those who are sponsoring the events (some events will be very loosely organized, some more formally thought through). Some are thinking about media advanced work. Some plan to erect a paper or plastic walls across roads or parks and then make the wall fall. Some are printing leaflets. Some are organizing boots and stands with info about the humanitarian impact of the wall (which can be easily downloaded from many websites). So, whatever you might propose must come out of your perceived capabilities.

The ones who know better a community are the ones who live in it, so what works for a place may not be as productive for other setting or environment. So people at various places can come up with the best solution about what could mobilize their peers, their communities, their media outlets, etc. Any good idea or effort are welcomed, so we invite you to invite others to debate, share ideas and think of what would work for your community.

After you had sorted out what you want to carry on, we would appreciate if you could let us know about more specific details: description of planned activities, meeting points, schedules, people to contact and their contact details, etc. This is because we want to post a list of everything that will be going on everywhere at our website, so people can look for what will be going on in their own places and then join the activities!!!

Provisional list of activities on the initiative for a global demonstration on November 9th against the Israeli Apartheid Wall:

IN ITALY :

. Action for Peace Coalition in ITALY already started the campaign against the wall and are planning activities for the 9th of November. They are now trying to enlarge the group of organizers.

Contact: Alessandra Mecozzi
internazionale@fiom.cgil.it

. Youth organizations who are already active organizing meetings and having direct experience in Israel and Palestine are also planning activities to be held across the country.

Contact: Alda Radaelli
mixarazz@mixa-razzismo.it

IN THE UK:

. Middle East Children's Alliance along with Voices in the Wilderness, Al-Awda and Affiliates of ISM have launched a national bus tour calling for the end to the Occupation of Palestine and Iraq. Part of the travelling infomation will be a replica of the Wall that our office built, as well as facts and info from PENGON . Wherever the Bus is on November 9, it will have an action specifically oriented to the Wall and its implications.

Soon to follow more info on the Wheels of Justice Tour and the Wall actions.

Contact: Uda Walker
Education and Action Coordinator
Middle East Children's Alliance
901 Parker Street, Berkeley 94710
Tel:510-548-0542
Fax:510-548-0542
uda@mecaforpeace.org

. London: A possible action/demonstration in front of the Israeli Embassy Details to follow.

. Other activities also under consideration.

Contact: The Palestinian Solidarity campaign
info@palestinecampaign.org

IN THE USA:

Los Angeles - WOMEN IN BLACK , together with Palestine AID SOCIETY, are organizing a huge demonstration for November 9th. They are hoping to erect a large wall at Venice or Santa Monica Beach, with lots of publicity and many other groups and individuals joining.

Contact: Mary

Iowa City - Events are being planned for Iowa City , and they hope on a much broader basis across the country.

Contact: Margaret Kiekhaefer
gerernst@avalon.net

IN GERMANY:

Under discussion, an international conference to be held in Berlin. Also, organizations from neighboring countries started considering a trip towards Berlin, raising awareness along the way.

IN NORWAY:

The Nablus Society, an NGO from the city of Stavanger in Norway (which has twinned with the city of Nablus), is currently planning for activities on November 9th. They want to have a demonstration with music, theater and information.

Contact: Turid طygard
turid@hesbynett.no

IN the NETHERLANDS

Activities are in the process of being organized.

Contact: Hajo G. Meyer
til.mey@inter.nl.net

Following some requests from Jewish groups that another anniversary should also be brought to the fore (Kristallnatch, the "Night of Broken Glass" 09 Nov 1938), Mr. Hajo Meyer declared: "I speak as one of the few people still living and active, who, -as a fourteen year old lived through the 9th november pogrome in Germany, and who also -survived 10 months of Auschwitz and who also -survived for full 12 years the worst antisemitim ever, and I feel justified to comment : There cannot be a better day to demonstrate under the devise 'let the wall fall' than precisely the 9th of November.

Only this date and Jewish participation at the demonstrations can make clear to the world that we are matured, wise and ethically- sane enough to realise that we, the Jews are not the only and eternal victim. That also we have become perpetrators of terrible crimes against humanity. Only if we show this to the world, all those who did not survive, have not died in vain. Only then their death can be given a positive meaning.

That is what the German Jewish philosopher Theodor Lessing, who was already murdered by the Nazis in the early thirties, meant when he coined the phrase: 'Sinngebung des Sinnlosen' i.e. attributing sense and meaning to events which do not have any intrinsic sense."

IN SWITZERLAND:

An Association working for Palestinian Rights in the Lausanee area is discussing a series of activities.

Contact: Tatiana Honegger , near Lausanne, Switzerland
tatiana.honegger@hispeed.ch

. Zurich:

Contact: Shraga Elam
elams@dplanet.ch

ACROSS EUROPE:

European Jews for a Just Peace - EJJP, have manifested interest in organizing activities.

Contact: Sveva Haertter
shaertter@yahoo.com

IN BAHRAIN:

A new Bahraini society called Women for Jerusalem is working to organize a lot of activities on Nov 9th in Bahrain.

Contact: Naela Al Waary
naelafayez2@msn.com

. So far, we also have received manifestations of interest (but no clear programs ) from Prague, Czech Republic , from Vienna, Austria, and from Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Please, let us know about any planned activity:

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi- +972 (0)59 254 218
The Palestine Monitor Team: or +972 (0)59 387 087
giullianna@hdip.org
www.palestinemonitor.org

This morning, having invaded and imposed a curfew on the Palestinian village of Al-Walaja, Israeli armed forces proceeded to the northern side of the village where they demolished six Palestinian homes they claimed had been built without permission.

Situated 6.5km north west of Bethlehem the village of Al-walaja comes under the municipality of Bethlehem. Infrastructure and all health and social services to the community are provided by the Palestinian Authority, - who in the last few months have built new roads in the village. Despite the fact that there are no services provided by Israel, Israeli opinion is that the area should be considered part of a "greater" Jerusalem.

Mustafa Abu al-Tin, the head of Al-Walaja's town council, said that the forces invaded and imposed a curfew before going directly to the area where they intended to demolish the houses. In his opinion the aim of such demolitions in this area is to free up more land that can be added to the "greater" Jerusalem district.

Journalists attempting to monitor and bear witness to the demolitions were prevented from doing so by threats from the Israeli forces to confiscate IDs and equipment.

Also today 50 Palestinian inmates of the Israeli Ber Sheva prison were found to have been poisoned as a result of eating rotten food given to them by prison officers. According to Issa Qaraqie, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, five of these 50 prisoners remain in a serious condition yet the Israeli Prison authorities have refused to transfer them to hospital. Issa Qaraqie also made clear that this is not the first time that Palestinian prisoners have become ill, in some cases fatally, due to carelessness in Israeli prisons.

Israel seems to be using a system of "creeping curfew" to escalate its control over Palestinians in the West Bank without drawing the attention of the international media and community, civil society organizations based in the West Bank and Gaza Strip said today.

Today marks the fifth day of 24-hour curfew in Hebron; the fourth day of curfew in Yabad, near Jenin; and the third day of curfew in Qalqilya. Fears are that the curfews will gradually expand to cover the entire West Bank, while international attention is diverted to the US war against Iraq.

Furthermore, repressive Israeli operations are continuing in Nablus, including Balata refugee camp, without much attention from the international media. According to sources, twenty Palestinians have been arbitrarily arrested in the area in the last few hours.

As part of the World Social Forum (WSF) in Palestine calendar of activities, three busloads of international non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives from all over the world yesterday attended a WSF morning session in Gaza City, hosted by 40 Palestinian NGOs operating in Gaza. One of the main speakers was Dr. Haidar Abdel-Shafi, a leader of the Palestinian National Initiative and head of the Red Crescent Society in Gaza. After the session the international delegates, along with local Palestinians, demonstrated peacefully in front of the venue before participating in a field trip around the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza visit was the closing event of the World Social Forum in Palestine. The Forum consisted of a meeting of NGOs and individuals from all around the world to discuss how they can respond to the needs of Palestinians in their current situation of poverty and occupation, and how support may be needed in different scenarios in the future. The underlying assumption for the discussion was that of a two-state solution, with self-determination for the Palestinian people as the framework for a just and lasting peace.

During their visit to Gaza, international delegates had the opportunity to witness:

·The unprecedented grabbing of land and resources in the Gaza Strip (42% of the total area has been seized for settlements, "buffer zones", "security" zones or border zones);
·The imposition of a specific Gazan curfew (the "sea curfew" by which fishermen are prevented from fishing, which began with the shrinkage of fishing rights from 20 miles [under Oslo Agreements] to 10 miles, and then down to 5 miles and now includes the bombing of Palestinian fishing boats by Israeli patrols);
·The plight of refugees in the camps (75% of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip live in 12 refugee camps);
·The overall destruction of the Strip (the remains of the Gaza International Sea Port, the remains of Gaza International Airport, the widespread remains of unremitting house demolitions);
·The rapidly increasing levels of poverty and dispossession;
·The daily impact of the illegal Israeli settlements on local Palestinians residents, including untreated raw sewage of the Netzarim settlement (where approximately 15 Jewish families live, served by numerous Chinese and Thai workers) running into the Gaza Sea with its related negative environmental and health impacts;
·The unrelenting arbitrary closures by Israeli soldiers of roads and intersections (in particular around the Abu Gholi Checkpoint) for hours, in order for settlers to have exclusive access and free passage.

Besides these more visible scars of the Israeli occupation, delegates were also briefed on facts and figures, including the fact that 45% of school-aged children have been diagnosed as suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorders), while their mothers are unable to provide proper care for them as 39% of mothers living in the Gaza Strip have also been diagnosed with PTSD symptoms.

After visiting the Khan Yunis refugee camp, home to more than 80,000 Palestinians, the delegates stopped at the Mawassi area, which is surrounded by the Gush Katif settlement complex (Naved Galin and Ganital settlements). Despite the fact that it used to produce the best agricultural produce in the Gaza Strip and holds the best aquifiers, the Mawassi area (both Mawassi Khan Yunis and Mawassi Rafah) now suffers greatly due to draconian Israeli military measures (a military check point has cut off the area from the rest of the world; international agencies are prevented from entering the area; agricultural goods cannot be transported).

The international delegates then staged a demonstration at the Mawassi checkpoint, where they attempted to intervene with the soldiers manning the barrier to allow women, children and the elderly to cross. Holding banners and singing, "All we are saying, please, give peace a chance," the internationals were joined by locals from Mawassi and the nearby camp. After some time, soldiers in an armored jeep approached to hear the requests of international delegates, who were holding white flags and asking for negotiations. After some unfruitful dialogue with a team of representatives from several different countries, the jeep suddenly careered at a high speed towards the crowd of internationals mingled with Palestinians. After further talks, the soldiers declared they would be willing to let one vehicle pass (not the women and children, as was first demanded by the demonstrators), under the condition that all demonstrators retreat to a spot behind the metal barrier of the checkpoint. After the delegates retreated, the soldiers still refused to allow the car to pass (later, they opened the crossing for few minutes only and closed it again after the delegates had left to visit other areas of the Strip).

The next stop was Block J of Rafah refugee camp, where delegates organized a demonstration near the Egyptian border, on the site of homes recently demolished by Israeli troops. Sewage runs freely around the borders of the camp, due to constant pipe breakage and leaking caused by Israeli tanks and APCs. Some minutes after the start of the demonstration, a tank started to roll into areas of the camp again.

On their way back to Gaza City, due to a new unexpected closure of the Abu Gholi checkpoint, the three buses transporting the delegations, along with scores of other vehicles were backed up for several kilometers and were delayed for hours.

The delegates then witnessed a house being demolished by two tanks and a giant Caterpillar bulldozer at a "buffer zone" around a settlement. More than 200 homes were destroyed in Gaza alone during 2002.

Delegates also met Mohammad, a 12-year-old who attends school in the mornings but who has also created a new job for himself: he distributes his mobile phone number to cars queuing to cross so that next time the customer will, in a bid to try avoid ending up delayed in traffic, call him in advance to ask whether the check point is open or closed. In exchange for the courtesy of the information, the customer will give one or two shekels to Mohammed when crossing the checkpoint. Mohammad is not the only child with a job -- international delegates realized the appalling extent of child labor in Gaza during the evening, when the sight of children selling all sorts of refreshments near the checkpoint is too common a feature.

A PRESS CONFERENCE will be held at 12.00 on January 2nd at the Palestine Media Center in Ramallah. Journalists will receive an update on international solidarity activities and will also have an opportunity to question international delegates and members of Palestinian civil society organizations.

For more information contact: The Palestine Monitor
+972 (0)2 298 5372 or +972 (0)59 254 218
www.palestinemonitor.org