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March 21, 2014
Daily summary - Friday, March 21, 2014
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Main News
ABU MAZEN: COMPROMISE IS OUT OF THE QUESTION; WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS
President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that compromising Palestinian rights and fixed positions is out of the question, in a clear reference that the leadership has rejected all of the pressures on it to concede some of its positions. In a short speech after returning from the United States to thousands of people who came to greet him at his headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas said: “We travelled and we returned and we have remained loyal to our vow; be confident, victory is ours. We will never relinquish this pact; compromise is out of the question.” Fatah central committee member Mahmoud Al Aloul said the Palestinian people had come out to ‘greet their leader” and show their support for him just as in a few day the people would greet the ‘heroes of freedom, the long-serving prisoners.” He warned: “We will welcome them here; we will welcome them, or else.” (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=683205)
THE PRESIDENT CALLS ON WASHINGTON TO EXERT PRESSURE TO RELEASE BARGHOUTHI
President Mahmoud Abbas called on Washington to mediate with Israel for the release of Fatah central committee member Marwan Barghouti, who has been in Israeli jail for 10 years. While Israel last year agreed to the release of 104 prisoners as a ‘good will gesture” when negotiations were restarted, Bagrhouti was excluded from the list. Any release of such a high-profile prisoner such as Baghouti may create a political storm in Israel and also strengthen Abbas’ position on the inside. According to a Palestinian official, Abbas wrote to the United States asking it to help with the release of sick and female prisoners and also the release of Baghouti along with Ahmad Saadat and Fouad Shobaki. Head of the prisoners’ club Qaddura Fares confirmed this, saying that during the president’s visit to Washington he did renew this request to President Obama.
There has not been an immediate comment from Israel on the Palestinian request, especially since PM Netanyahu is facing political opposition to any prisoner release. (Al Ayyam)
ISRAEL APPROVES THE CONSTRUCTION OF 2,269 NEW UNITS IN SIX WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS
An official in the Israeli defense ministry announced yesterday that Israel has passed a plan to build more than 2,000 housing units in six settlements across the West Bank. According to Guy Enbar, spokesperson for the Israeli civil administration in the occupied Palestinian territories, the ministerial committee ratified the plan last month to build 2269 units. The settlements where the units are slated for construction include: Lishim, Beit El, Almog, Ariel, Shivot Rahel and Shavi Shimron. The final ratification only awaits the approval by the defense minister Moshe Yaalon. Peace Now said that ‘each step in presenting the plans for construction in the West Bank is a political plan and Moshe Yaalon has issued a decision to move forward with these plans. The approval of the settlement units comes in tandem with the demand made by President Arafat for Israel to freeze all settlement construction should the US ask for an extension on the current negotiations. Peace Now spokesperson Leor Amihai said the new units would “create facts on the ground that will push us further away from the two state solution” adding that this was yet another sign that Israel does not intend to reach a peace deal and is doing everything it can to push President Abbas out of the peace process.”
Meanwhile, presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdeineh considered Israel’s new announcement for settlement construction as a ‘dangerous Israeli escalation and an attempt to push matters into a dead end,” saying this was in order to foil American efforts in the peace process. He added that the escalation was ‘denounced and rejected” holding the Israeli government fully responsible (Al Ayyam)
ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES BREAK INTO CIVIL DEFENSE HEADQUARTERS IN SALFIT, ARREST THREE MEMBERS
Israeli occupation forces broke into the headquarters of the Palestinian civil defense service this morning in Salfit, arresting three members of the service. According to an official from the public relations department of the civil defense, a large Israeli force of about 40 soldiers broke into the headquarters, arresting the following members: Rida Madi, Nabil Bani Nimra and Ahmad Bani Nimra, all from Salfit. According to the public relations statement, the Israeli troops also smashed phones and walkie-talkies in the office in addition to breaking furniture and equipment. The raid continued for almost an hour. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=683413)
RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED ON THE ENTRY OF WORSHIPPERS TO AL AQSA IN TANDEM WITH THE ISRAELI MARATHON IN JERUSALEM
Israeli police imposed strict restrictions for the third Friday in a row on the entry of Muslim worshippers to Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, allowing only men over 40 and all women entry. According to the Israeli police spokesperson for the Arabic press, Luba Sumari, the police decided to impose a closure on the city and beef up Israeli military presence around the Aqsa and the Old City, saying they had ‘intelligence information that clashes would break out after the noon prayers.” The closure comes after the announcement of an Israeli marathon in the city. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have been informed to take alternative and side roads since the main roads will be closed off for the marathon, which will begin at 8 in the morning and last until the afternoon hours. There will be an estimated 25,000 participants running from 53 countries. The marathon will begin at the Knesset and the Israeli museum in Jerusalem with several tracks, the longest one 42 kilometers which will wind throughout the city. The marathon will include several “Judaized” lectures on the city from a Torah perspective, with the Jerusalem municipality setting up a special program for these tours with several Jewish religious institutions.
Tours inside the Aqsa Mosque have also been organized by the municipality for marathon goers. (http://www.qudsnet.com/news/View/269301/)
ISRAELI ARMY UNCOVERS TUNNEL FOR THE RESISTANCE AT GAZA BORDER
According to Hebrew-language news websites last night, the Israel army found a tunnel for the Palestinian resistance near an Israeli kibbutz south of the Gaza Strip. The sites quoted military sources saying that the tunnel was near the Ain kibbutz east of Khan Younis similar to the tunnel uncovered last October. (http://www.qudsnet.com/news/View/269274/)
Meanwhile, Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedin Qassam Brigades, said that the tunnel which was uncovered by the army was because of natural causes and not because of their intelligence information. The Brigades said the tunnel was exposed after a cold and rain front hit Gaza two months ago, promising “the Palestinians and Islamic nation that the resistance would remain a nightmare for the enemy.” (http://www.qudsnet.com/news/View/269293/)
SAUDI ARABIA PAYS $80 MILLION IN AID TO THE PA
Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that is has paid $80 million in aid to the PA, which is facing huge financial difficulties. According to the official Saudi news agency, the total amount of money paid by the Saudi development fund to the Palestinian finance ministry equals Riyadh’s share of aid promised by Arab states to the PA. The amount covers four months of expenses as of December 2013, according to KSA permanent representative to the Arab League Ahmad Qattan (Al Quds)
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES SETTLER VIOLENCE
The European parliament discussed in a meeting in Brussels yesterday, violence exercised by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem. This is the first meeting of its type in the parliament. At the end of the meeting, which included EU members of parliament, heads of international organizations in Palestine and human rights organizations including an Israeli one, the participants agreed to work on implementing the recommendations discussed. A number of reports and videos corroborating claims of settler violence were presented at the meeting. The participants agreed to put forth a draft resolution to the parliament condemning the increasing settler violence against Palestinian civilians and to send a fact-finding mission to document the growing number of attacks. The resolutions included that the EU take the necessary measures against settler convicted of acts of violence and putting them on a list of terror organizations and preventing them from entering EU countries. They also recommended looking into the possibility of revoking European passports from settlers who have dual citizenship. (Al Quds)
SETTLER STOPS EIGHT PA SECURITY CARS FULL OF WEAPONS
Israel’s Channel Seven reported this morning that a settler leader named Itimar Bin Jabir stopped a convoy of PA security vehicles yesterday on Road 60 between Hebron and Jerusalem, saying the Palestinian forces heeded the orders and stopped until the Israeli army arrived at the scene. The channel said the convoy included eight security service vehicles with security members who were all armed when they were stopped by the settler. The cars halted and pulled over to the side of the road until the Israeli army arrived. They were not allowed to proceed until the army received orders from the southern area army commander to release them. When Bin Jabir was asked by the channel why he stopped the eight cars of Palestinian security men fully armed, he answered that ‘he had no other choice because the settlers were fighting for their lives.” He said that he would not ‘remain with his hands tied behind his back while this dangerous phenomenon took place.” Bin Jabir said he thought it was ‘wrong to submit to this dangerous reality” though allowing so-called armed ‘terrorist’ to walk the main streets, saying that in the future they could carry out military operations on these roads. Bin Jabir also expressed surprise that the Palestinians had not been arrested, filing a complaint to the southern army command for allowing them to go on their way. (http://safa.ps/details/news/125015.html)
COMPENSATION FOR FARMERS EXCEEDS $16 MILLION
Agriculture minister Waleed Assaf said yesterday that compensation for farmers has reached $16.17 million, marking the first time in the history of the government that farmers are compensating with such large sums. Assaf told WAFA that the compensations were from the coffers of the government, international agencies, the Islamic development bank, FAO, UNDP and OCHA along with many local companies. He also said the compensation would be delivered quickly and accurately, saying by the end of month, the ministry would have almost completed the compensation and reconstruction process, which includes building animal sheds and greenhouses. (Al Quds)
FOREIGN MINISTRY: WE ARE READY TO MAKE OUR INTERNATIONAL MOVE IF ISRAEL VIOLATES PRISONER DEAL
The foreign ministry said yesterday that the government was prepared to disengage itself from its commitment not to seek membership for Palestine in international organizations and agencies if Israel does not abide by its part of the deal to release the fourth batch of prisoners. The ministry added that it had already informed President Abbas that it was ready to move. The ministry held the Israeli government fully responsible for any delay or glitches in releasing the fourth group prisoners in full, calling on the international community, namely the United States, to help guarantee that Israel abide by the agreement. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
THREE PALESTNIANS DIE IN SYRIA
According to the working group for Palestinians in Syria, three Palestinian refugees died yesterday as a result of the siege and from continuous shelling in the camps. The group said that 70-year old Adnan Al Jabi and Mahmoud Lusus 83, both died of dehydration, malnutrition and lack of medical attention in the Yarmouk camp. Child Oday Al Shekih from Dara’ camp, meanwhile, died after being shot from an unknown source. (http://safa.ps/details/news/125010.html)
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Headlines
*PFLP discusses request from PLO executive committee to look into Abbas-Dahlan crisis (Al Quds)
*Today is 46th anniversary of the Karameh battle (Al Quds)
*Four tons of settlement products seized in Hebron (Al Quds)
*Camp organizations and activists call for investigation into lies about martyr Bashir Nafe’ (Al Quds)
*Mother’s Day in the homeland is distinctly filled with pain and sadness (Al Quds)
*President receives a call from his Austrian counterpart (Al Ayyam)
*Jerusalem: Israeli settlement society prepares to establish yeshiva in the post office building on Salah Eddin street (Al Ayyam)
*Ya’alon calls Hagel to offer clarifications for his statements, but not apology (Al Ayyam)
*Citizens kick Feiglin and his group out of the Aqsa; Al Khatib: we are facing very extraordinary circumstances (Al Ayyam)
*Israeli analysts rule out full-blown confrontation with Syria: nobody is interested in an escalation (Al Ayyam)
*Presidential decree soon to establish modern center for cancer treatment in Palestine (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Four people die in accidents in West Bank including three children (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Hamdalllah reaffirms Palestinian commitment to the two state solution (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Baraka: racism in the Knesset activated with the push of a button (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
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Front Page Photos
Al- Quds:Ramallah: Beit El settlement – Israel approved the construction of 2269 units in settlements including this one
Al-Ayyam: 1) Crowds greet the President at his headquarters in Ramallah; inset: the president speaking to the crowds; 2) the post office to be turned into a yeshiva by settlement groups
Al Hayat Al Jadida:..1) Crowds greet the President at his headquarters in Ramallah; 2) The post office in occupied Jerusalem bought by a settlement group
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More Headlines
Israeli occupation forces crack down on a Palestinian marathon in Jerusalem’s streets, arrest four
Israeli occupation forces cracked down this morning on a Palestinian marathon to counter the Israeli municipality marathon organized in both parts of the city. The organizers said that dozens of Jerusalemites started from Essawiyeh and took a bus to Highway 1. When they began the marathon, raising the Palestinian flag, in the presence of dozens of Israelis and foreigners participating in the Israeli marathon, Israeli forces moved in and barred them from completing the race. The organizers said Israeli forces arrested Jerusalem activist Mohammed Abul Hummos and Taj Muheisen. Jihad Aweideh and Kayed Rajabi were also arrested for raising the Palestinian flag. The participants’ shirts said: 3rd Jerusalem marathon for the Arab identity of Jerusalem…think twice before participating. This is a political and not sports marathon.” (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=683425)
Four tons of settlement products seized in Hebron
Yesterday, the Hebron customs office seized four tons of food produced in settlements, which are legally banned in Palestine. Apparently, the goods were stashed in a warehouse in the city. Once the customs officers were tipped off about their whereabouts, they went in to impound them. They said there was no stamp on the products that they were made in settlements. The goods have been confiscated until the legal measures can be taken. (Al Quds)
Izzedin Qassam Brigades operative dies in accidental explosion; man injured by rocket
22-year old Ibrahim Rafati died this morning in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza in an accidental explosion. The Izzedin Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, said Rafati “died while performing his jihadist duty in weapon’s engineering.” (http://safa.ps/details/news/125017.html)
In related news, last night an elderly man was critically wounded when a homemade rocket struck him in the northern Gaza Strip. According to media and medical sources, the rocket fell near the agricultural college in Beit Hanoun, wounding the man. (http://www.qudsnet.com/news/View/269300/)
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Arab Press
Palestine: From pillar to post
By Harry Hagopian
Gone are the days when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the sole political focus of attention for much of the world and its media. I do not remember the early days of this conflict: I was not born in 1917 when Lord Balfour initially floated the idea of a home for the Jewish people, nor was I around in 1948 when the State of Israel came into being.
Besides, I was a toddler in 1967 when the six-day war between Israel and the Arab countries resulted in another disaster - naksa - for the Arab forces with the loss of further territory. However, I have vivid and hands-on recollections of the finite period that started with the grudging Madrid conference and petered out with a failed Oslo chapter.
Around those two stations were a number of other initiatives and watering holes meant to forge the key that unlocked the door to this conflict.
But today, this existential conflict between the two competing narratives no longer commands the same measure of attention in the major capitals of the world or in the international media. We are far too engrossed with developments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen or Syria to devote much of our purist - and limited - attention to the pursuit of what was known until the final years of the last decade as "a just and comprehensive" solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, in the absence of a political solution that is cradled by the principles of international law and legitimacy, the facts on the ground remain dauntingly stubborn with Israeli illegal settlements that are expanding over occupied territories and gobbling up more Palestinian lands, let alone with a separation wall between two peoples that is a sad reminder of collective failure.
Add to that the sporadic skirmishes with a separatist Gaza and the latest insistence by the Israeli prime minister that Palestinians should recognise the Jewish nature of Israel and in so doing question not only the Right of Return for refugees but - more practically for me - the future of the Palestinian community in Israel itself. However, the political magi in Jerusalem now insist that we cannot have peace minus such recognition.
Yet, despite those drawbacks and manmade obstacles, the solution for me is not only reachable but has been available for many years. In a nutshell, it is a blend of the Clinton Parameters - Mitveh Clinton - 2000 and the Arab Initiative 2002 as air-brushed by the Abbas-Olmert talks of 2008. However, what is sorely lacking is the political will to see through the painful compromises that could usher in peace.
Today, and following the meeting last week of Presidents Obama and Abbas as well as the embittered verbal exchanges between Mahmoud Abbas and Mahmoud Dahlan who was ousted from Fatah, US Secretary of State John Kerry is still fine-tuning a framework agreement that incorporates some elements of American understanding for the way forward.
Mind you, I had always thought that the much-vaunted roadmap (alas a non-paper to nowhere) was meant to be this document. However, if such a new version re-incorporates some key facts about international law and legitimacy alongside good neighbourliness and security, it is perhaps worth another stab over the wording of a facilitating paper.
The weaker party
It is self-evident that Palestinians are the weaker party in this duality and the US Administration is once more leaning on them to be the more complacent party.
This is hard for Abbas and for the Palestinian people as a whole. But I would still opine that Palestinians today should go the extra mile and evince yet more good will by accepting the US request to extend negotiations until end-2014 in return to a freeze on all new tenders for illegal settlements as well as the release of Marwan Barghouti from jail since he is one of the very few charismatic hopes for Palestinian political aspirations today.
Moreover, the Palestinian leadership should make it clear that the end of 2014 is also the end of the road. This does not mean that the virtual State of Palestine will then rush to join the Treaty of Rome and take Israel to the ICC - more so since this is a long-term and quite uncertain move.
Rather, what it should do in case of another fiasco is to dismantle unilaterally the Palestinian Authority, revert back to the PLO as the sole legitimate body representing Palestinians and in so doing stop running the OPT as an agency for Israel.
Once the Authority disinvests itself of the dubious privilege of running those territorial patches in some form or other, and its coterie of managers throw in the towel, the Geneva IV Conventions kick in.
Simply put, Israel would then be coerced to assume its responsibilities as an occupying power and bear the financial, administrative and demographic burdens of running those areas it keeps under its occupation.
So could this lead to a breakthrough, especially once the EU stops being the banker of this conflict? I do not know frankly, but surely it is better than perpetuating a situation where the majority of the Palestinian people toil for their daily bread while a select group wheel and deal within the status quo.
But such a step is hugely counterintuitive and requires the pluck to dispossess oneself of the political frills for the sake of a larger good. I am not too sure that the Palestinian leadership are willing to go for the jugular.
Yet this needs doing in order to nudge the process forward by separating the political chaff from the financial wheat and placing Israel and its satellites in front of their international responsibilities.
Far too many countries - sadly as many in the Arab World as elsewhere - are quite eager to shelve the Palestinian conflict and overlook the suffering of this people in return for some spurious deal. After all, this conflict is a political zone of discomfort that has been festering for decades and still gnaws at many consciences.
So it is perhaps high time for the gatekeepers themselves to sit up and ensure that the world community no longer trolls their cause from pillar to post!(http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/03/palestine-from-pillar-post-20143206920798324.html)
Tired efforts, no result
Jordan Times Editorial
Some hope was pinned on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ very recent visit to the White House for talks with President Barack Obama.
It was hoped that the talks would contribute to moving forward the stalled peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis, but the outcome was disappointing, at least for the Palestinian side.
In the US case, the easy justification for the lack of significant move on the peace front is that Obama must be preoccupied by the events in Ukraine.
But that would be deceptive. Truth is, the US, with the obvious exception of Secretary of State John Kerry’s involvement, has little political will to invest in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
All the US president could bring himself to do was to call on Abbas to take “risks” for peace, as if all the “risks” — read all the compromises and concessions — taken so far for the sake of reaching some understanding had been taken by Israel.
“It is very hard, it is very challenging. We’re going to have to take some tough decisions and risks,” said Obama during the White House exchange of views with the Palestinian leader.
Had Obama asked both sides, Israel foremost, to take risks for peace, he would have sounded fairer, but to ask the Palestinians to take more risks after all the concessions made in the hope that they would gain peace is ludicrous.
Abbas emerged from the Oval Office confirming that no substantive or consequential agreement was struck with Obama.
Even the so-called “framework” accord that Kerry has been busy working on for months seems far from a definitive shape.
Abbas made the release of the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners, as promised on
March 29, a priority.
To be sure, freeing the Palestinian prisoners who have been languishing in Israeli jails for decades is a very important issue for the Palestinian people, but the Palestinian leadership needs to be careful not to give the impression that their release is all it wants from Obama at this juncture.
Whatever reasoning guided Abbas and whatever message the US administration is trying to send out, one thing should be made clear: Palestinians have no more concessions to make even if their leaders want to make them.
The peace process industry has to stop some time, as there is nothing left to churn out. And people are tired of hoping that the impossible will happen.(http://jordantimes.com/tired-efforts--no-result)
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Opinions
Israel’s ingrained racism
By Amjad Arar
A friend once asked me the difference between how Israel treats the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza and the way it treats the Palestinians in the areas occupied in 1948. Just a few hours after my friend asked his question, news came about a demonstration in the town of Ara, in the center of the ‘48 areas. The residents were demonstrating in solidarity with one of their own, a schoolteacher named Rula Milhem, who was dragged by Israeli police right before her students. Clashes ensued between the students and Israeli police. Meanwhile, the Abu Ghosh school in Jerusalem where she taught and other Ara schools launched a protest campaign against this racist and criminal behavior.
The Palestinians who remained in their land after 1948 face hardships no less than the hardships of their brethren in areas occupied in 1967. Actually, in some areas, the suffering is worse, especially in terms of residency and housing. Palestinians in Jaffa, Haifa, Lod, Safad, Ramleh, and Jerusalem, both its 48 and 67 occupied parts, cannot build homes or expand existing ones or even renovate them unless they obtain licensing from the occupation authorities. Getting this license is much like Palestinians getting Israeli recognition of the right of return.
This racist Israeli policy is not limited to individual dealing with Palestinians but also as a group, an occupied people. This racism touches all services and societal organizations and institutions inside the Green Line. One example is that the Arab local councils get less than 20% of the budget that Jewish local councils receive. As for the daily treatment of Palestinians, oppression, discrimination, land confiscation and overall harassment seems strange for a country that practices racial discrimination against their own society on the basis of race, dividing it into western ‘Ashknenazi” Jews, ‘Sephardic” Jews and the African “Falash”. There are clear class divisions between the three social levels.
The experiences during the seven decades since the rape of Palestine have proven that all of the justifications some ’48 Palestinians espoused in order to enter the Knesset, have not changed anything on the ground. Rather, this was merely a ride for some of their leaders, which worked at building bridges of normalization between Israel and the Arab world before this turned into tools in the hands of some parties to spread destruction in several Arab countries in the services of their masters in Israel.
The question of my Arab friend like many others, was not strange or reprehensible because many in the Arab world interested in the Palestinian cause sympathize with it as a thing of principle, without feeling the need to understand its details. This is in addition to the fact that the Arab media excluded – whether on purpose or not –this sector of the population which are close to 1.5 million Palestinians who have remained steadfast on their land since the Nakba of 1948. Similarly, some Arab media has completely melted out this sector, considering it a part of the entity that was so freely put on the map of historical Palestine. some of these people sacrificed their souls for Palestine even while some Palestinian and Arab scholars and journalists sold themselves to the enemy and turned into ‘friendly links’ on the black pages of Zionist media. (http://www.alkhaleej.ae/studiesandopinions/page/c7015bb1-4aa2-4dad-b3ce-1893e24ac28d)
National unity is our support for facing challenges
Al Quds Editorial
Palestine, and the Arab region in general, is going through a very critical stage at the moment, unprecedented in the sensitivities and ramifications of the times. In the countries of the so-called Arab Spring there are political struggles and sometimes military ones that are threatening their very national entities. Here in Palestine, the political split is growing deeper because of internal, regional and international factors and it is apparent that the two major Palestinian factions are not strong enough to face it or overcome its affects.
What is the most dangerous and provocative thing to the sentiments of Palestinians has been what surfaced in the past week – the insults and accusations in Fatah, the biggest Palestinian national faction. These are accusations that were decided on within the courts of the movement itself. And even though there could be other repercussions to it, this should remain the business of Fatah’s members and its own channels. As for ‘airing dirty laundry” on a private Egyptian satellite channel, is was an insult to the entire Palestinian people and to the purity of its cause and its path towards achieving its national aspirations.
No matter what has been said about this satellite channel interfering in the Palestinians’ internal affairs, Egypt, which has always had an honorable history in supporting the Palestinian cause and offering sacrifices in its name, is not the party making these insults. It will continue to deal civilly with the Palestinian cause, which has been the center of the national struggle over the past seven decades during which time Egypt has always had a leading and honorable role.
The public and hidden tensions are not limited only to the split between Fatah and Hamas, which is the practical reason why the Arabs and the world have retreated from their interest in our cause. Neither are they limited to those who have stepped out of the unity of Fatah. There are also those in the media who are making statements with the purpose of causing a rift between Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Perhaps these reports are exaggerated but what the communications that are said have happened after the latest Israeli air strikes in Gaza between Egyptian authorities and the Jihad rather than with Hamas, order to renew the truce with Israel, offered these reports a heightened level of interest and concerned among the people.
The split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip is a catastrophe on its own. The Palestinians do not want another disaster added to this one through another split in the Strip. So, instead of these tensions that are being perpetrated by those who wish no good for the Palestinian people and their cause, what is needed right now in the midst of the chaotic Arab world, is to maintain our national Palestinian structure. Everyone must work towards regaining national unity, which is the backbone and the shied for facing the political storms that are sweeping the region.
The way to this is through promoting a spirit of belonging among the people, their homeland and their aspirations for freedom and for ending the occupation and settlements. It is through encouraging the people to relinquish their personal, factional and party gains, which has brought us to this precipice and to this interference in our affairs; to the attempts to dominate our national decision, which is supposed to be – like late President Arafat wanted it—free, independent and sovereign. (Al Quds)
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