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Dec. 16, 2014
Daily summary- Thursday, February 06, 2014
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Main News
550 new settlement units in occupied Jerusalem
The Israeli Government responded to moves of US Envoy for the Middle East peace process, Martin Indyk, who began a new round of talks with Palestinian and Israeli officials, in approving construction of 550 new housing units in Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem. The local regulation committee for construction of the Israeli Jerusalem municipality approved to build 550 housing units in settlements in east Jerusalem, including 386 new units in the Jewish settlement of Har Homa in Jabel Abu Ghneim, and 136 units in the settlement of Nivi Ya’cov, and 36 units in the settlement of Pisgat Ze'ev.Chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat,said that the Israeli decision expresses "a determination to undermine the peace process and sabotage American efforts to achieve peace."Erekat said, in a statement to Xinhua News Agency, that the continuation of the settlement "does not create an obligation and does not create a right, and east Jerusalem will stay the capital of the Palestinian State in accordance with the principle of two-State solution, no matter how settlement escalates.” (Al-Ayyam)
Maariv revealed Netanyahu send an Envoy to Dubai to meet with Mohammed Dahlan
Israeli newspaper Maariv revealed today that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's sent Attorney Yitzhak Molcho as his envoy to Dubai to meet with the Palestinian leader, Mohammed Dahlan.The paper said that Israel seems to be interested in maintaining contact with Dahlan for potential retirement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.The paper noted that some Israeli diplomats believe that Dahlan could be a partner for the peace process, unlike Abbas, who probably will not be able to sign a permanent settlement with Israel.(http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=671210)
Fatah leader, Dr. Sufian Abu Zaydeh, said that Hebrew daily Maariv ran a story we all know is false, that Netanyahu's Envoy lawyer Yitzhak Molcho met Dahlan in Dubai in search of an alternative to President Abbas. Abu Zaydeh said: “It is clear that Israel is trying to pressure the President (Abbas) by all means,including playing the tunes of internal Palestinian differences, either the division or the disagreement with Dahlan, to force the President to accept a compromise rejected by the President, rejected by Dahlan and rejected by the youngest Palestinian.” (http://www.amad.ps/ar/?Action=Details&ID=13965)
Palestinian study discusses scenarios for potential collapse of the PA
A study, published Wednesday by an independent Palestinian Research Center, showed that Palestinians have "growing concerns" about the possible collapse of PA, whether because of "internal pressures" or "pressures and sanctions imposed by Israel", calling for a series of measures in anticipation for this scenario.According to the study, entitled: “the next day initiative”,prepared by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, "most Palestinians believe that Israel views the Palestinian Authority as playing two important roles: exempts the occupation from responsibility for those living under occupation, and protects Israel which wants to protect its Jewish identity for the demographic threat embodied in a one-State reality."The study, which was prepared in cooperation with the Middle East Project of the United States, and the Norwegian Centre for Peace building, involving some 115 experts,politicians and academics, added that nevertheless "Israel may resort to sanctions, intentionally or unintentionally, that might lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority."(http://www.alquds.com/news/article/view/id/487397)
Rami Al-Hamdallah: negotiations did not achieve anything on ground
Prime Minister of the Palestinian Government Rami AL-Hamdallah said that the political process under way between the Palestinian Authority and Israeli "has not achieved anything on the ground, and that the negotiations did not exceed the framework of talks, and no final agreement has been reached yet." AL-Hamdallah said in a press statementyesterdaythat "risks" will surround the economic and political realities if the deadline for negotiations is reached without reaching a final agreement with the occupation, adding: "we must unite and work together for confronting challenges and difficulties that will appear in the event of failure of the negotiations." Al-Hamdallah confirmed that the occupation is "mainly responsible for the critical economic situation" faced by Palestinians, demanding "integration of efforts and roles between the public and private sector to meet the challenges and potential in the event of failure of the negotiations.” (http://www.qudsn.ps/article/37571)
Abu Rudeina: leadership will approach United Nations organizations end of negotiations
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina, condemned decision bythe Israeli planning and construction committee in Jerusalem,to build 558 housing units in east Jerusalem, Abu Rudeina considered,in a statement yesterday, that “the continuation of Israel's insistence on building Jewish settlements aims to thwart the political efforts being made to reach a solution.” Abu Rudeina said that "the Palestinian leadership will turn to international institutions of the United Nations at the end of the period of negotiations with Israel,” which ends in April. Abu Rudeina denied that US Secretary of State has presented a written document on the final status issues through negotiations with Israelso far.(http://qudsnet.com/news/View/265044/%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%88-%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%87-%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%B3%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%AA/)
Occupation displaces 35 families from the Jordan Valley for the purpose of military exercises
Occupation armydisplacedyesterday 35 families from the areas of Al-Burj, Al-Meta, and Al-Hamamat in the Jordan Valley. Head of Al-Maleh village Council Aref Daraghmeh, said that occupation machines reached the mentioned areas yesterday morning, and began evacuating its residents and displacing them. The occupation authorities handed over notices for residents in these areas, demanding them toleave their houses from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., for the purpose of conducting military exercises. (http://www.alquds.com/news/article/view/id/487319)
Young Jerusalemites face trial on charges of planning an operation in a wedding Hall
occupation forces represented by the Attorney General in the occupied city of Jerusalem, Charged yesterday four Palestinian residents of Jerusalem in planning to implement a shooting in a wedding hall in Bayet Va Gan” neighborhood in west Jerusalem. The occupation Attorney General accused youth Anas Issawi, Basil Obiedat, Ahmed Srour and Omar Abdo, all residents of Jabal Mokaber with conspiracy and providing services "for the enemy" during the war, in addition to planning the implementation process in the hall, where one of the young Palestinians work.(Al-Ayyam)
The Israeli Government will discuss on Sunday annexation of settlements of the West Bank
Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the Ministerial Committee on legislation will discuss on Sunday a proposal to annex all the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, if the Palestinians manage to formally establish their own State.The draft law proposed by Miri Regev from Likud Beitenu, also calls prevent the Government from restricting building in settlements for diplomatic reasons.Regev said yesterday on her Facebook page, the draft law aims to keep Jewish settlements under Israeli sovereignty as part of any future peace agreement, or in case of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian State. (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)
Ashrawi: it is time to file a complaint at the United Nations against Israel
Member of the PLO Executive Committee, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, said that it is time to file a complaint against Israel and its unilateral and contrary to the international rules violations against the Palestinian people, their land and resources, and that the United Nations and the international community should to take a clear decision on these violations, and bear their responsibilities towards this dangerous escalation, and hold Israel accountable.Ashrawi said: "Israel is demolishing the homes of the native residents of in historic Palestine, while constructing its illegal settlements aiming at ethnic cleansing and the Judaization of Jerusalem, the imposition of illegal settlers and occupation", referring to the deportation of 35 Palestinian families from the Valley and their forced displacement.(http://pnn.ps/index.php/policy/80520-%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%8A-%D8%A2%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A2%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%B4%D9%83%D9%88%D9%89-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84)
A new plan to expand Jewish settlement of Ma'ale Zitim in the Ras Al-Amud
Researcher in settlement affairs, specialist Ahmed Sub Laban, said that a new project to expand the settlement Ma'ale zitim, east of the old town in the heart of the Ras Al-Amud neighborhood was recently revealed. Sub Laban said that the occupation municipality in Jerusalem issued a license for a new building will be added to the settlement Ma'ale zitim in Ras al-Amud neighborhood last month, this building is scheduled to be allocated for public use, but only for the settlers who will be using the “Mekvy” in the building, a term given to a pool used by the religious Jews for worship and purity.(http://paltoday.ps/ar/post/189601/%D9%85%D8%AE%D8%B7%D8%B7-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B9-%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%87-%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%85-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B1%D8%A3%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AF)
Settlers raid sites in Hebron
A group of settlers raided yesterday morning a number of archaeological sites in the West Bank city of Hebron.According to eyewitnesses a group of Israeli rabbis broke into archeological zones and water wells in Aras Al-Jora and Be’er Herm Al-Ramah areas. The eyewitnesses said settlers held Talmudic rituals in the place, before withdrawing from the area under military tight protection. (Al-Quds)
Nablus: two young Palestinians arrested; and raids to houses in the towns of Hawara and Beta
Israeli occupation forces arrested today at dawn two young Palestinians during raids in the towns of Hawara and beta south of Nablus.Local sources said that the Israeli occupation forces arrested Suleiman Khalaf and Khader Odeh, from Hawara and took them to a military camp, in addition to raiding and searching a number of houses, two of these houses belong to Naim Dmaidi and Faiz Mustafa. In the neighboring town of Beta, 30 military jeeps moved into the town’s neighborhoods, the soldiers searched the houses of Mustafa Hamayel, Raed Al-Shunnar, without any clashes being reported. (http://www.wattan.tv/ar/news/85681.html)
After the intervention of President Abbas; imminent agreement between UNRWA and the workers to end the strike
Private sources confirmed yesterday that an agreement between the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees - UNRWA and the federation for Arab workers in the Agency will be signed within days, which means ending the strike.The Federation of Arab workers in UNRWA announced an open-ended strike 65 days ago, which led to the disruption of schools, colleges, health clinics and waste collection in refugee camps.According to the sources President Mahmoud Abbas met with the Commissioner-General of the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA Filippo Grandi, the two sides discussed how to meet the demands of the Arab workers end the strike because of its effects on the lives of the inhabitants of the camps.The sources stressed that President Abbas persuaded the Commissioner to approve most of the demands of the Arab workers in the Agency, with the exception of an increase of JD 100, which will be postponed to later discussion. (Al-Ayyam)
Three Jewish settlers accused of committing hate crimes against Palestinians
Israeli prosecution condemned three settlers yesterday in implementing “Price Tag” attacks against Palestinians, including setting fire to two cars and writing words of hatred on walls in the village of Fara’ta in the West Bank.According to the indictment, Yehuda Nedsbeg, Judea Safir and Benjamin Richer living in settlements of Havat Gilad in the West Bank, were part of a "secret cell" plotting to carry terror attacks against the Palestinians.(Al-Ayyam)
Occupation cut the water line to Ein Hijlah; solidarity delegations visit the village
Occupation cut the water line to Ein Hijlah" several times yesterday,making villagers to get out to a water well to fix the new line, this was repeated three times, while confrontation and clash with Israeli soldiers stationed permanently near the water well.The occupation continues to besiege the village for the sixth consecutive day, through barriers on entrances to the village, preventing the entry and exit of residents and visitors, and preventing the entry of food in order to put pressure on villagers to force them to leave. Popular and official delegations visited the village yesterday; among the visitors were Bishop Atallah Hanna, Mayor and members of the Municipal Council of Jericho and head of local Council Zbiedat, and a delegation representing the national and Islamic forces in the city of Jericho.(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)
Shukri: staff salaries paid for the first time without external aid
Finance Minister Shukri Bishara said the salaries for January were paid by the Authority for the first time without any outside assistance for this purpose. The Finance Ministry paid salaries from last month through the ATM yesterday evening, and through banks today morning. Bishara called on the media to be precise and careful in publishing news, getting such news from their official source.(Al-Quds)
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Headlines
** A series of transfers and promotions in the police (Al-Ayyam)
** Jenin: funeral of Martyr Jalal Mahamid (Al-Ayyam)
** Occupation arrested a Jerusalemite lawyer allegedly attempting to smuggle a telephone to prisoners (Al-Ayyam)
** British lawmakers: the Gaza Strip is worse than a big prison and no hope without ending the occupation and a two-State solution (Al-Ayyam)
** Shaath: a delegation from Fateh Central Committee to Gaza tomorrow (Al-Ayyam)
** Friedman: the third Intifada began with the European Union boycott (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)
** Qaraqe’: adoption of the freed prisoners system in April and its retroactive application (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)
** A Government plan to cut income and property taxes (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)
** Saudi Arabia confirm paying its part to Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem funds (Al-Quds)
** 4 Palestinian martyrs in Yarmouk (al-Quds)
** Higher Islamic Council object an Israeli plan to construct a huge building that links with the Al-Boraq yard (Al-Quds)
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Front Page Photos
Al- Quds:1) Jerusalem – Israeli bulldozers demolish the house of Muhammad Bashir in Jabal Mokaber, 2) Jenin – Funeral of martyr Jalal Mahamid.
Al-Ayyam: 1) Jerusalem- a family setting on the ruins of their house demolished by the occupation forces in Jabal Mokaber, 2) Jericho – activists walk near the high way in Ein Hijlah.
Al Hayat Al Jadida:. 1) A member of Bashir family crying over the ruins of his house in Jabal Mokaber yesterday, 2) accumulated waste in Jalazoune.
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Voice of Palestine News
Jerusalem: In the Aqsa Mosque, guards said Israeli police are imposing strict conditions on those who want to enter the compound. ID cards are being held by the police; dozens of worshippers spent the night inside the grounds. Extremist settlers are expected to try and break into the Aqsa today and raise Israeli flags. There is a heavy police presence at the gates of the Aqsa.
Yesterday, four homes were demolished in Jerusalem in addition to attacks on the families; 15 people were injured in these attacks. One home was demolished by the owner himself instead of paying the municipality fines for the demolition. Demolition orders were also handed out in Silwan and Shufat. Israeli forces raided a cave in which Khaled Al Zeer resides, attacking him and his family before arresting him. He is a father of 5 children.
Meanwhile, the Israeli municipality approved over 550 settlement units, mostly adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem in Ras Al Amoud.
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Voice of Palestine Interviews
**Settlement researcher Ahmad Sub Laban, on the newly approved settlement units in Ras Al Amoud
Q: Has construction begun in these new units?
Not yet. The municipality approved 550 new licenses for building in settlements of Pisgat Zeev, Neve Yacoub and Har Homa. But a new plan was uncovered as well for construction of the “Ma’leh Zetim” settlement east of the Old City. This plan stipulates the construction of “mikvas” or prayer pools used by religious Jews for ablutions. A large building will be built to be added to the settlement of Ma’leh Zetim where 116 settlement units have already been built and around 500 settlers live. There are more plans to expand this settlement enclave in the future to connect with the Ma’aleh David settlement and total around 270 settlement units in the heart of Ras Al Amoud. A third enclave is also built about 50 meters away from these.
If this plan goes ahead, Ras Al Amoud will have the biggest settlement enclave in the city; right now the biggest is in the Old City, with around 1,500 settlers living in the Muslim and Christian quarters.
**Hanna Amira, PLO Executive Committee member, on the settlement expansion in Jerusalem
Q: What is the leadership’s position on the announcement of more settlement construction in Jerusalem, especially in light of the current negotiations?
The settlement plans are clearly going to continue and intensify even more than before in order to impose facts on the ground and impose more conditions on the Palestinians and hinder any solution that could be reached. They are political messages that the settlements are ‘business as usual” and that it is impossible for these negotiations to result in anything substantial.
The leadership has taken several decisions including resorting to the UN general assembly on the issue of settlements; also to address world countries to take the same step as the EU and boycott settlements. If the international campaign to boycott settlements escalates, this will force the Israeli government to reconsider these plans. 11,000 settlements units have been announced in various stages since the start of the negotiations. So, remaining silent over this is impossible. We must confront this.
Q: Is there a date for going to the UNGA on settlements?
No specific date has been set, but the political committee has put scenarios for the coming stages and has recommended that we go to the UN and also join a number of UN agencies.
**What about the continuous Israeli violations, settler attacks, home demolitions, etc.?
Of course the leadership tries to help the families affected by these measures. At the political level, these occupation measures are on the agenda of all leadership circles. There are always efforts to try and halt these measures but the occupation is always making it clear that it doesn’t want any results that would give the Palestinians their self-determination and independence and without settlers and military presence.
Q: In terms of Jerusalem, the budget allocated for the city is 1.5% of the PA budget. Is this enough to support the steadfastness of its people?
No, it is not enough. This is a very small amount. But we can say there is also Arab and international shortcomings in supporting Jerusalem. the issue of Jerusalem is not just Palestinian, it is Arab and Muslim, so they too need to carry out their duties towards it.
**Popular resistance spokesperson Hani Halabiyeh, on Israeli authorities cutting water supply off of the Ein Hijleh village
Q: How is the situation inside the village now that Israel has cut off the water and is not allowing supplies in?
Israeli authorities keep cutting off the water supply to the village and now there is no water. Food is scarce because of the siege on us even though we have had institutions from Jericho and Jerusalem bringing us food when they can. We expect tonight that the army will crack down on the village, but we are going to remain steadfast here.
Q: Are any delegations scheduled to visit you?
Yes, yesterday a number of European and local delegations came to visit us and tomorrow we are planning to have Friday prayers in the village and prayers for Christians on Sunday. But we are always calling on the Palestinians, Arabs and foreigners to show as much solidarity as possible with the village.
** Head of the settlement file in the northern West Bank Ghassan Daghlas, on settlers cutting down 100 trees in Yanoun, near Nablus
Q: To whom do these trees belong?
They belong to a number of families from Yanoun. Some trees were cut down completely while the others were partially cut by a large group of settlers. Actually, around 320 olive trees were hacked. This criminal act was carried out by ‘price tag’ settlers.
Q: What can be done to confront this?
We need more and more popular resistance so that settlers do not think this land is theirs; they need to be afraid any time they approach any Palestinian village. We have made some progress – the settlers do not enter into the heart of the village, but to the surrounding fields. But this is not enough.
**Minister of Waqf Mahmoud Habbash, on an investment of Waqf lands in Jericho to build a tourist village
Q: What is the importance of this project with the private sector?
This is part of the overall policy of the ministry to invest in waqf lands in partnership with the private sector and all economic sectors. We have a lot of property in Jericho and other places and hope to partner up with Palestinian investors to develop these properties in a way that would benefit the Waqf, the private sector and the Palestinian society and economy in general. The agreements signed yesterday are not only for the Jericho area but also in the Ramallah area. I think these agreements will open up more opportunities for cooperation with the private sector to be able to invest more waqf lands and attract more investments. This opens up job opportunities, lowers unemployment, the GNP could increase, tourism will benefit, etc.
Q: When will construction in this tourist village begin?
Immediately; I think within four months, we will see the first phases of these projects on the ground.
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More Headlines
Occupation arrested a young man; clashes at the gates of Al-Aqsa
Special units of the Israeli police arrested young Hazim Siam from Jerusalem at Al-Aqsa Mosque yards, and took him to a police station in the city. Eyewitnesses said that “clashes erupted between a group of young men and Israeli troops Bab Hutta, one of Al-Aqsa mosque gates, after preventing occupation forces from entering the mosque, the forces used truncheons and pepper gas against the youths who chanted against the occupation, and detained one of them without having been arrested or released.” (http://www.wattan.tv/ar/news/85684.html)
Occupation changes Arabic names for streets in Jaffa to Hebrew names
Municipal crews of the Israeli occupation municipality in the city of Jaffa in 1948, removed signs with Arabic names for streets in many neighborhoods, and renamed them with Hebrew names. Imam of Jaffa Sheikh Suleiman said that "the municipality placed signs with Jewish Hebrew names on streets of several neighborhoods in the city, and removed the Arabic names recently placed by activists." (http://safa.ps/details/news/122126/.html)
Kerry reaffirms continuing peace efforts despite criticism of Israel
US Foreign Minister John Kerry said yesterday that criticism of members of the Israeli Government would not "frighten" him, adding that he would continue his efforts to bring peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Kerry said regarding criticism by members of the Israeli Government, that rarely comment on what others say. Kerry said to CNN: “"I was attacked in the past by people using real bullets not words, this will not scare me,” referring to his involvement in the Vietnam War. (http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=130909)
Ma’an: an agreement between UNRWA and the workers to end strike
Informed sources confirmed to “Ma’an” that Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Rami Al-Hamdallah managed to bridge the differences between UNRWA and the Arab workers in the agency, to end the strike continued for more than two months. The sources said the two sides agreed on the principle to end the strike after efforts made by Al-Hamdallah to bridge the gap between the two sides and reach an agreement leading to ending the strike and the return all employees to their work places, after more than two months of strike. The sources said that the agreement will be announced in details through the media in the coming hours. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=671253)
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Arab Press
The Third Intifada
By Thomas L. Friedman
RAMALLAH, West Bank — For a while now I’ve wondered why there’s been no Third Intifada. That is, no third Palestinian uprising in the West Bank, the first of which helped to spur the Oslo peace process and the second of which — with more live ammunition from the Israeli side and suicide bombings from the Palestinian side — led to the breakdown of Oslo. You get many explanations from Palestinians: they’re too poor, too divided, too tired or that they realize these uprisings, in the end, did them more harm than good, especially the second. But being here, it’s obvious that a Third Intifada is underway. It’s the one that Israel always feared most — not an intifada with stones or suicide bombers, but one propelled by nonviolent resistance and economic boycott.
But this Third Intifada isn’t really led by Palestinians in Ramallah. It’s led by the European Union in Brussels and other opponents of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank across the globe. Regardless of origin, though, it’s becoming a real source of leverage for the Palestinians in their negotiations with Israel.
Secretary of State John Kerry was recently denounced by Israeli leaders for warning publicly that the boycott and campaign to delegitimize Israel will only get stronger if current peace talks fail. But Kerry is right.
Finance Minister Yair Lapid told Israel Army Radio on Monday that if no two-state solution is reached with the Palestinians, “it will hit the pocket of every Israeli.” Israel’s economy depends on technology and agricultural exports to Europe and on European investments in its high-tech industries. According to Lapid, even a limited boycott that curbed Israeli exports to Europe by 20 percent would cost Israel more than $5 billion a year and thousands of jobs. That’s why he added: “Israel won’t conduct its policy based on threats. But to pretend that the threats don’t exist, or that they’re not serious, or it’s not a process happening in front of us, is also not serious.”
Just recently, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the Netherlands’ largest pension fund management company, PGGM, “has decided to withdraw all its investments from Israel’s five largest banks because they have branches in the West Bank and/or are involved in financing construction in the settlements.” And The Jerusalem Post reported that Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest bank, has decided to boycott Israel’s Bank Hapoalim for “legal and ethical” reasons related to its operating in the settlements.
This Third Intifada, in my view, has much more potential to have a long-term impact because, unlike the first two, it is coinciding with the offer from the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as part of a two-state deal, to let Israeli troops stay for five years as they make a phased withdrawal from the West Bank to the 1967 lines and to then let U.S.-led NATO forces fill in any strategic void to reassure Israel.
To put it differently, the Third Intifada is based on a strategy of making Israelis feel strategically secure but morally insecure.
The first two intifadas failed in the end because they never included a map of a two-state solution and security arrangements. They were more raw outbursts of rage against the occupation. You cannot move the Israeli silent majority when you make them feel strategically insecure and morally secure, which is what Hamas did with its lunatic shelling of Israel after it withdrew from Gaza; few Israelis were bothered by pummeling them back. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, though, got all he wanted by making Israelis feel strategically secure but morally insecure about holding any of his land.
This Third Intifada is also gaining strength because of the passing from the scene of two key leaders: Nelson Mandela and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. For Israel, Ahmadinejad was the gift who kept on giving: an Iranian president who denied the Holocaust and rebuffed global efforts to get Iran to stop building a nuclear bomb. He was hard to love. The replacement of Ahmadinejad by the negotiation-friendly, Holocaust-recognizing Hassan Rouhani is much more problematic for Israel. But my gut also tells me that the death of Mandela has left many of his followers looking for ways to honor his legacy and carry on his work. On some college campuses, they’ve found it: boycotting Israel until it ends the West Bank occupation.
Israelis are right to suspect some boycotters of using this cause as a cover for anti-Semitism, given how Israel’s misdeeds are singled out. But that doesn’t mean that implanting 350,000 settlers in the West Bank and turning a blind eye to dozens of wildcat settlements — that even Israel deems “illegal” — is in Israel’s interest or smart.
If Israel really wanted to slow down the boycott campaign, it would declare that as long as Kerry is trying to forge a deal, and there is hope for success, Israel will freeze all settlement activity to give peace its best chance. Unlikely, I know. But one thing I know for sure: this incessant trashing of Kerry by Israeli ministers, and their demand that Palestinians halt all “incitement” — but that Israel be free to keep building settlements in their face — is not winning Israel friends in Europe or America. It is only energizing the boycotters.(http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/opinion/friedman-the-third-intifada.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0)
Cornering a Brave Palestinian Man of Peace
By: Nicola Nasser
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stands now at a crossroads of his people’s national struggle for liberation and independence as well as of his political life career, cornered between the rock of his own rejecting constituency and the hard place of his Israeli occupying power and the US sponsors of their bilateral negotiations, which were resumed last July 29, despite his minesweeping concessions and backtracking “on all his redlines.”
Unmercifully pressured by both Israeli negotiators and American mediators, the elusive cause of peace stands about to lose in Abbas a brave Palestinian man of peace-making of an historical stature whose demise would squander what could be the last opportunity for the so-called two-state solution.
To continue pressuring Abbas into yielding more concessions without any reciprocal rewards is turning a brave man into an adventurer committing historical and strategic mistakes in the eyes of his people, a trend that if continued would in no time disqualify him of a personal weight that is a prerequisite to make his people accept his “painful” concessions.
The emerging, heavily “pro-Israel” US-proposed framework agreement “appears to ask the Palestinians to accept peace terms that are worse than the Israeli ones they already rejected … that it would all but compel the Palestinians to reject it,” Larry Derfner wrote in The National Interest on this February 3.
Abbas “rejects all transitional, partial and temporary solutions,” his spokesman Nabil Abu Rdaineh said on last January 5, but that’s exactly what the leaks of the blueprint of the “framework agreement” reveal.
Reportedly, the international Quartet on the Middle East, comprising the US, EU, UN and Russia, meeting on the sidelines of the Munich security conference last week, supported US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to commit Palestinian and Israeli negotiators to his proposed “framework agreement.”
Europe is also tightening the rope around Abbas’ neck. If the current US-backed framework agreement talks with Israel fail, Europe will not automatically continue to support the Palestinian Authority, Israel’s Walla website reported on last January 29.
However, The US envoy Martyn Indyk said on last January 31 that Kerry will be proposing the “framework agreement” to the Palestinian and Israeli negotiators “within a few weeks,” but the State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on the same day “clarified” in a statement that the “contents of the framework” are not “final” because “this is an ongoing process and these decisions have not yet been made.”
Historic versus Political Decisions
Israeli President Shimon Peres on last January 30, during a joint press conference with the envoy of the Middle East Quartet, Tony Blair, said that there is “an opportunity” now to make “historic decisions, not political ones” for the “two-state solution” of the Arab – Israeli conflict and that “we are facing the most crucial time since the establishment of the new Middle East in 1948,” i.e. since what the Israeli historian Ilan Pappé called the “ethnic cleaning” of the Arabs of Palestine and the creation of Israel on their ancestral land.
Peres on the same occasion said that he was “convinced” that Abbas wants “seriously” to make peace with Israel, but what Peres failed to note was that “historic decisions” are made by historic leaders and that such a leader is still missing in Israel since the assassination of late former premier Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, but already available in the person of President Abbas, whom Peres had more than once confirmed as the Palestinian peace “partner,” defying his country’s official denial of the existence of such a partner on the Palestinian side.
Abbas’ more than two – decade unwavering commitment to peace, negotiations, renunciation of violence and the two –state solution has earned him a semi-consensus rejection and opposition to his fruitless efforts among his own people. He is defying his own Fatah-led Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) constituency, let alone his Hamas-led non-PLO political rivals, who have opposed his decision to resume bilateral negotiations with Israel and are overwhelmingly rejecting the leaked components of Kerry’s “framework agreement.”
“Abbas is perhaps the last Palestinian leader today with some measure of faith in the diplomatic process,” Elhanan Miller, wrote in The Times of Israel this February 3. Palestinian “pressure” is mounting on him even from members of his own Fatah party and “his negotiating team crumbled” when negotiator Mohammed Shtayyeh resigned in November last year. In an interview recorded especially for the conference of Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies in the previous week, Abbas “indicated he may not be able to withstand the pressure much longer,” Miller wrote.
“Abbas is in an unenviable position these days. As negotiations with Israel enter the final third of their nine-month time frame,” the Palestinian president stands “cornered” between a Palestinian rejection “and an Israeli leadership bent on depicting him as an uncompromising extremist,” according to Miller, who quoted the Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz as describing Abbas in the previous week as “the foremost purveyor of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli venom.”
Similar Israeli “political” demonization of an historic figure like Abbas led Jamie Stern-Weiner, of the New Left Project, writing in GlobalResearch online on last January 11, to expect that, “It’s possible that Abbas will get a bullet in his head!” Jamie was not taking things too far in view of Kerry’s warning, reported by Palestinian Authority (PA) officials, that Abbas could face the fate of his predecessor Yasser Arafat.
Israel’s chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni, stated on last January 25 that Abbas’ positions are “unacceptable to us” and threatened the Palestinians “to pay the price” if he sticks to them.
“This is a clear threat to Abbas in person and it must be taken seriously," the PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told reporters soon after. “We will distribute Livni's statements to all foreign ministers and the international community. We can't remain silent towards these threats,” he added.
Israeli demonization was not confined to Abbas; it hit also at Kerry as “hurtful,” “unfair,” “intolerable,” “obsessive,” “messianic” and expects Israel “to negotiate with a gun to its head.” US National Security Adviser Susan Rice “tweeted” in response to convey, according to Haaretz on this February 5, that “Israeli insulters have crossed the red line of diplomatic etiquette!”
Minesweeping Concessions
Abbas’ demonization was the Israeli reward for the minesweeping concessions he had already made to make the resumed negotiations a success, risking a growing semi-consensus opposition at home:
* Abbas had backtracked on his own previously proclaimed precondition for the resumption of bilateral negotiations with Israel, namely freezing the accelerating expansion of the illegal Israeli Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, which Israel militarily occupied in 1967, at least temporarily during the resumed negotiations.
* Thereafter, according to Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu, writing in The Jewish Press on this February 3, Abbas “has essentially backtracked on all his redlines, except for” heeding Israel’s insistence on recognizing it as a “Jewish state,” which is a new Israeli unilaterally demanded precondition that even the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Nasser Judeh, considered “unacceptable” on this February 2 despite his country’s peace treaty with Israel.
* In his interview with The New York Times on this February 2, Abbas reiterated his repeated pledge not to allow a third Intifada, or uprising: “In my life, and if I have any more life in the future, I will never return to the armed struggle,” he said, thus voluntarily depriving himself from a successfully tested source of a negotiating power and a legitimate instrument of resisting foreign military occupation ordained by the international law and the UN charter.
* In the same interview he yielded to the Israeli precondition of “demilitarizing” any future state of Palestine, thus compromising the sovereignty of such a state beforehand. Ignoring the facts that Israel is a nuclear power, a state of weapons of mass destruction, the regional military superpower and the world’s forth military exporter, he asked: “Do you think we have any illusion that we can have any security if the Israelis do not feel they have security?”
* Further compromising the sovereignty of any future state of Palestine, Abbas, according to the Times interview, has proposed to US Secretary Kerry that an American-led NATO force, not a UN force, patrol a future Palestinian state “indefinitely, with troops positioned throughout the territory, at all crossings, and within Jerusalem;” he seemed insensitive to the fact that his people would see such a force with such a mandate as merely the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) operating under the NATO flag and in its uniforms.
* Abbas even agreed that the IOF “could remain in the West Bank for up to five years” -- and not three as he had recently stated – provided that “Jewish settlements” are “phased out of the new Palestinian state along a similar timetable.”
* Not all “Jewish settlements” however. Very well aware of international law, which prohibits the transfer of people by an occupying power like Israel from or to the occupied territories, Abbas nonetheless had early enough accepted the principle of proportional land swapping whereby the major colonial settlements, mainly within Greater Jerusalem borders, which are home to some eighty percent of more than half a million illegal Jewish settlers in the West Bank, would be annexed to Israel. This concession is tantamount to accepting the division of the West Bank between its Palestinian citizens and its illegal settlers.
* Yet, what Abbas had described as the “historic,” “very difficult,” “courageous” and “painful” concession Palestinians had already made dates back very much earlier, when the Palestine National Council adopted in 1988 the Declaration of Independence, which was based on the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution No. 181 (II) of 29 November 1947; then “we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine - on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967,” he told the UNGA in September 2011.
* Accordingly, Abbas repeatedly voices his commitment to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which stipules an “agreed upon” solution of the “problem” of the 1948 Palestinian refugees. Israel is on record that the return of these refugees to their homes according to the UNGA resolution No. 194 (III) of December 11, 1948 is a non-negotiable redline, thus rendering any such “agreed upon” solution a mission impossible. Abbas concession to such a solution is in fact compromising the inalienable rights of more than half of the Palestinian population.
On September 29, 2012, Abbas “once again” repeated “our warning” to the UNGA: “The window of opportunity is narrowing and time is quickly running out. The rope of patience is shortening and hope is withering.”
Out of Conviction, Not out of Options
Abbas is making concessions unacceptable to his people out of deep conviction in peace and unwavering commitment to peaceful negotiations and not because he is out of options.
One of his options was reported in an interview with The New York Times on this February 2, when Abbas said that he had been “resisting pressure” from the Palestinian street and leadership to join the United Nations agencies for which his staff “had presented 63 applications ready for his signature.”
In 2012 the UNGA recognized Palestine as an observer non-member state; reapplying for the recognition of Palestine as a member state is another option postponed by Abbas to give the resumed negotiations with Israel a chance.
Reconciliation with Hamas in the Gaza Strip is a third option that Abbas has been maneuvering not to make since 2005 in order not to alienate Israel and the US away from peace talks because they condemn it as a terrorist organization.
Suspension of the security coordination with Israel is also a possible option, which his predecessor Arafat used to test now and then.
Looking for other players to join the US in co-sponsoring the peace talks with Israel is an option that Abbas made clear in his latest visit to Moscow. “We would like other parties, such as Russia, the European Union, China and UN, to play an influential role in these talks,” the Voice of Russia quoted him as saying on last January 24.
Israel’s DEBKAfile in an exclusive report on last January 24 considered his Moscow visit an “exit from the Kerry peace initiative,” labeling it a “diplomatic Intifada” and a “defection” that caught Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “unprepared.”
Abbas’ representative Jibril al-Rjoub on January 27 was in the Iranian capital Tehran for the first time in many years. “Our openness to Iran is a Palestinian interest and part of our strategy to open to the whole world,” al-Rjoub said. Three days later the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi daily reported that Abbas will be invited to visit Iran soon with the aim of “rehabilitating” the bilateral ties. The Central committee of Fatah, which Abbas leads, on this February 3 said that al-Rjoub’s Tehran visit “comes in line with maintaining international relations in favor of the high interests of our people and the Palestinian cause.”
Opening up to erstwhile “hostile” nations like Iran and Syria is more likely a tactical maneuvering than a strategic shift by Abbas, meant to send the message that all Abbas’ options are open.
However his strategic option would undeniably be to honor his previous repeated threats of resignation, to leave the Israeli Occupation Forces to fend for themselves face to face with the Palestinian people whose status quo is no more sustainable.
Speaking in Munich, Germany, Kerry on this February 1 conveyed the message bluntly: “Today’s status quo, absolutely to a certainty, I promise you 100 percent, cannot be maintained,” Kerry said of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “It is not sustainable.” Last November, Kerry warned that Israel would face a Palestinian "third Intifada" if his sponsored talks see no breakthrough.
The loss of Abbas by resignation or by nature would for sure end Kerry’s peace mission and make his warning come true.(http://www.amin.org/articles.php?t=ENews&id=4366)
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Opinions
The lie named: Jewish refugees
By Rashid Hassan
The Zionist enemy is very good at twisting facts, marketing them and imposing them on the international community and making them impenetrable. Just as it forged history and is insisting on dragging the Palestinian leadership to accept this forgery and acknowledge that the Palestinians’ land is Jewish land, it has also recently been able to impose what it calls the “Jewish refugee issue” on the agenda of the negotiations. US envoy to the peace process Martin Indyk recently revealed that Netanyahu’s government has imposed thee issue of “Jewish refugees” on [US secretary of state John] Kerry’s plan, indicating that this would require compensation for these so-called refugee.
Indyk, an Australian Jew who was the US ambassador to Israel, added during his meeting his meeting with AIPAC representatives in the United States that the Israeli government was demanding compensations to the tune of $300 billion for over 800,000 Jews who emigrated from Arab countries to Israel during the period between 1947-1968. Most of those in question came from Egypt, Morocco and Iraq.
In this regard, we must clarify a few facts, the most important of which are: in no way should so-called Jewish refugees be compared with Palestinian refugees. These Jewish refugees were not expelled or exiled from the countries in which they lived; nor did the Arab governments and their security services commit massacres and mass killings against the Jews in order to force them out, like Zionist gangs did in Palestine. Over 100 massacres took place according to Palestinian researcher Salman Abu Sitta, in order to force the Palestinians to leave their homes in fear of the Zionist killing machine pursuing them.
Documents have revealed that the Zionist leadership in Tel Aviv were behind the bombings at the time in Baghdad, Cairo and Alexandria to terrorize them and prompt them to leave. Actually, some of these criminals who planted the bombs and landmines were apprehended, a few who were even executed.
The criminal Zionist mind behind the massacres of Deir Yassin, Dawaymeh, Al Lod and Ramleh in order to terrorize the Palestinians and force them to leave, is the same mind that spread terror and death in places of Jewish residence in Baghdad and Cairo, to prompt them to immigrate to Palestine and set up the Zionist state.
Furthermore, the process of expelling and transferring Ethiopian Jews the “Falash” to Israel, known as “Operation Solomon”, confirms the aforementioned point and reaffirms that the enemy will employ all of its capabilities to expel Jews from around the world in order to build up its racist state and human resources. It is a known fact that Operation Solomon was carried out under the supervision of the terrorist Sharon and with the help of Ethiopian officials and Jaafar Nimeiri.
Hence, there can absolutely not be any comparison between the Jewish refugee file, who immigrated voluntarily to the Zionist entity out of greed for the “milk and honey” and Palestinian refugees who were forcefully expelled through massacres and killings that pursued them even in exile. The Zionists still refuse to allow them back to their homes in accordance with UN resolution 194, even while all Arab states, especially those from which Jews immigrated to Palestine, do not mind if the Jews returned. Actually, some Jews even return to visit some of these countries, especially Morocco.
In short, there is no such thing as Jewish refugees. The enemy’s attempts to market this lie and impose it on the negotiations’ agenda is nothing more than an attempt to abort all attempts to implement the right of return for Palestinian refugees according to 194, which stipulates both their return and compensation. (http://www.addustour.com/17118/.html)
Escaping into suicide
By Mustpaha Ibrahim
Will we soon wake up to the news of rockets raining down on Israel? Or will we wake up to the news of a bus bombing in Tel Aviv? And that Israeli planes are waging a harsh retaliatory attack? What if Israel chooses to reoccupy the West Bank and Gaza Strip? In this case, can the resistance factions continue their war and confront the cruelty and crimes of the occupation?
People are saying that Hamas is going through a crisis and its remaining allies are unable to support it. it is no longer a party in the ‘opposition front” which is fighting to defend itself. It is alone and its back is to the wall. In order to get out of its crisis it may just take steps to escape forward by clashing with Israel.
We are also hearing that people are demanding of Hamas and the resistance to respond to Israel’s continuous violations and breaches of the truce, which Israel has not abided by. A number of analysts say that Israel is not interested in any escalation, even as it continues its attacks in response to the rockets being fired from Gaza. Still, Israel is uninterested in getting into a war right now; its internal front is unprepared for this, but at the same time fears the continued rocket fire into the heart of its cities.
This may be true, but Israel and its extremist government may just go crazy. Anyway, sometimes wars impose themselves by way of a minor and uncalculated incident which sends the entire area into a surprising tailspin.
I also appreciate what many say about Hamas having perfected the rules of the game: that is, when to escalate and when to avoid crucial moments. It takes into consideration the bad circumstances in the Arab world and the fact that the situation as a whole does not allow it to confront Israel. It knows that the losses for Israel that its rockets may score will be must less than the damage that Israel’s planes can make on rocket bases, which constitute its major military strength along with other military sites and civilians. It will not gamble with a war in light of the difficult humanitarian and economic conditions of the Gaza Strip and amid the changes sweeping through its neighbors, Egypt, the exclusive sponsor of the truce agreement.
The question that is still confusing me and many others concerned with our tragic circumstances is whether Hamas is prepared to ‘destroy the temple’ and go to – or escape to – war in its belief that this will change the rules of the game, regardless of the high price it will pay. It will embarrass the new regime in Egypt and escape its growing internal crises and anger at the continued Israeli attacks, which have not been reciprocated with one single bullet.
I say this in light of all the setbacks that are taking place at all levels in the Gaza Strip over the past seven years; the tunnels have been shut and the arteries that pump life into the Strip have dried up; there is no connection with allies or with the outside world. Hamas is living amid a growing crisis; the siege is continuing and getting tighter and there is the threat of things getting worse and more sanctions imposed. Finally, the movement is not able to fulfill its commitments to the people or even its own employees.
This is all taking place while the political split continues and the PA and leadership are busy with negotiations, as they remain silent over the news of Kerry’s ‘plan for liquidation” of the national project. The same goes for the terrible silence heard by all Palestinian factions, both for and opposed; there is no real opposition anyway to what is being leaked about the plan, as if this is not about the fate of a people and its cause.
We are before a major battle. We are waiting to see the developments that will take place, which will affect our cause, our rights and our national dignity. Each side is defending whatever remains of their homeland, in the clear absence of any national interest or partnership. What is being proposed goes beyond the issue of Hamas’ future in Gaza or Fatah’s and the PA’s future in the West Bank. This is about the entire Palestinian national project. If it is not rejected and confronted, this means the project will definitely fall.
In light of all this, there is no time to wait or escape into suicide by summoning an enemy which is just waiting for the go-ahead from us in order to serve its own goals and marginalize whatever resistance remains, breaking people already broken. Something very dark could be up ahead, so saving the people and the homeland must be the most important thing to us in this world. (http://www.amin.org/articles.php?t=opinion&id=23261)
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