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Nov. 27, 2013
Daily summary - Wednesday, November 27, 2013
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Main News
ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES ASSASSINATE THREE CITIZENS NEAR YATTA; ONE MARTYR AFTER MIDNIGHT
A special unit of the Israeli police called “Yamam” assassinated last night three citizens near the city of Yatta south of Hebron, under the pretext that they were planning to carry out a military operation against Israeli targets. Israeli army sources also accused the three martyrs of opening fire at Israeli forces. The three martyrs are: Mousa Mohammed Makharmra; Mahmoud Khaled Al Najjar, and Fouad Jamil Nayroukh. Israeli troops imposed a tight security closure on Yatta, preventing anyone from getting near the place of the assassination. According to local sources, Israeli troops stormed the city, dynamiting a door to a home and arresting the homeowner and his son. Israeli sources claim that during the Shabak’s inspection of the car in which the three men were riding, they found a gun and explosive devices. According to the Shabak statement, the three men belonged to a “terrorist” Salafist group which works in the Hebron district and had been planning a military operation within the next few days. The sources said the special forces tried to arrest the three men and had fired at their feet but that the situation escalated into an armed confrontation, leading to their deaths. The men had apparently been under observation by the Shabak for the past week. (Al Ayyam)
Furthermore, local reports said a fourth Palestinian was killed in an armed confrontation with Israeli soldiers after midnight yesterday although he was still unidentified. Sources also said that the Israeli army handed over the bodies of the three martyrs to the Palestinian liaison office last night. (al Quds)
PALESTINIAN MINISTRY OF INFORMATION:THE OCCUPATION IS CAUSING CONFUSION TO COVER UP ITS ACTIONS
A statement issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Information said the assassination of the three men and the Shabak’s statement [about their affiliation and plans] was an attempt to cover up the growing violence of the occupation against the Palestinians. The ministry also said that their claims that the men were planning, not only to attack Israeli targets but also PA ones was completely false and a ‘sick way of trying to cause internal strife and to poison the fabric of relationships between our people.” It said that trying to drag the PA and its security services into the crime was not credible whatsoever and had already been exposed as a lie. (Al Quds)
VILLAGE OF ZALOUTA, THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION, TO HEAR ITS FATE TODAY
27 families from the hamlet of Zalouta in the southern West Bank have been faced with demolition orders for the past six years and will today hear their fate after an Israeli high court hearing on their case. The demolition order was handed out in 2007 on charges of not having a license and that the hamlet was built on an archeological site. The residents previously lived in caves before Israel’s occupation in 1967 but were forced to move into simple shacks after some of the caves collapsed. Human Rights Watch has said that as the occupying power, Israel is obligated to provide the residents of Zalouta with sufficient food, water and shelter. It also said that the forced displacement of residents of occupied territory was a ‘punishable war crime”.(Al Hayat Al Jadida)
2014 DECLARED THE YEAR FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE
The UN General Assembly adopted yesterday with an overwhelming majority, a resolution stipulating the declaration of 2014 as the year for international solidarity with the Palestinian people. The resolution calls for the organization of activities in this regard throughout the year in cooperation with governments and UN organizations along with other international organizations and civil society institutions. 110 countries voted for the resolution while 7 voted against and 56 abstained. The resolution comes on the eve of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which falls on November 29. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon stressed in his message to the UNGA on the need not to lose this opportunity to settle the Middle East issue. President of the General Assembly John Ashe called on the international community to exert all possible efforts for peace to reign between Israelis and Palestinians in the year to come, also calling on Israel and Palestine to avoid any steps that might undermine peace efforts. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=651561\)
UN ADOPTS FIVE RESOLUTIONS ON PALESTINE BY MAJORITY VOTE
The UNGA also adopted five draft laws on Palestine yesterday. The five are: 1) Settling the Palestinian cause through peaceful means; 2) Jerusalem; 3) Special media program on the issue of Palestine for the perusal of the media affairs administration at the secretary general’s office; 4) committee on the Palestinian people’s exercise of their inalienable rights 5) the section of Palestinian rights in the secretary general’s office. (Al Quds)
SHAATH: THE NEGOTIATIONS ARE A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE DEAF; WE ARE WAITING FOR THE ORDER TO ‘PULL OUT THE BIG GUNS’
Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Shaath said the Palestinian leadership was fully prepared to join international organizations because negotiations with the Israelis had not made any progress five months after they began. Shaath told Maan: “The negotiations are basically a dialogue between the deaf; there is no negotiating engagement between the two. The distance between them and us is huge – evidence of this is the statements from their leaders about Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.” Shaath said however, that the Palestinians had the weapons of joining international organizations in their hand, should Israel go too far in its obstacles. He said the first agency the Palestinians would join was the ICC, adding that there are 35 charters that do not need approval to join, only an application. “We will join the Rome Statue first,” Shaath said.
Shaath also said that Saeb Erekat would continue in his capacity as head of the negotiating team until the Central Committee and PLO Executive Committee convenes to decide on whether the team should continue or be replaced, adding that their resignations had not yet been accepted.
Shaath also said that there were international organizations sending the leadership letters asking when they would put in an application for membership. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=651277)
ISRAELI ARMY CLOSES OFF ‘KABSA’ AREA BETWEEN EZARRIYEH AND ABU DIS AFTER YOUTHS PUT A HOLE IN THE SEPARATION WALL THERE
The Israeli army announced late last night that the area of Kabsa between Ezarriyeh and Abu Dis had been declared a closed military zone after youths were able to put a hole in the separation wall separating Jerusalem from the towns. The army has been closing up the hole since yesterday.
Settlers from Kedar and Maaleh Adumim, meanwhile, demonstrated yesterday at the entrance to Ezzariyeh in protest of the changes made to traffic signs in favor of the Palestinians. Israeli authorities were forced, after the demonstration of dozens of Palestinians, to take down two stop signs that were at a junction for Palestinians, placing them at the junction to Kedar and Maaleh Adumim. Authorities will also divide the road into two lanes. (Al Quds)
SETTLERS CLOSE THE ROAD BETWEEN HEBRON AND ITS SOUTH WHILE OTHERS THROW A FIREBOMB AT A CITIZEN IN BURIN
Settlers from Maon, Mitzpe Yair and Avigal settlements, all built on Palestinian land east of Yatta closed yesterday the road – bypass road 60 –linking Hebron to its villages and hamlets to the south including Tawani, Susiya and Um Arish. According to coordinator for the anti-wall and settlement committees south of Hebron Rateb Jbour, heavily armed settlers closed the road and organized a march chanting anti-Arab slogans including “Death to the Arabs”, under the protection of the Israeli army. Jbour said the Mitzpe Yair settlers began expanding the settlement at the expense of land belonging to residents, setting up cow sheds and mobile homes in the area.
In related news, a group of settlers threw a firebomb at a resident of Burin, south of Nablus yesterday named Ghassan Omran.
Also in related news, prisoner affairs activist Myasar Atyani said freed female prisoner Falasteen Nijem and two minors were arrested yesterday in Yatta. Two girls were also arrested after being attacked by settlers on their way to their family’s land and were being detained in the Kiryat Arba settlement. (Al Quds)
AMIR OF QATAR PROMISES HAMDALLAH AN INCREASE OF SUPPORT TO THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE AND TO BRING IN SKILLED LABORERS
Qatari Amir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani reaffirmed his country’s commitment to supporting the Palestinian people, saying his government would take the necessary arrangements for this. During his reception of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, Sheikh Tamim promised to continue to support the struggle of the Palestinian people in facing the Judaization of Jerusalem and the settlement assault and also to help the Palestinians in remaining steadfast on their land.
In response to Hamdallah’s request regarding opening the Qatari market to skilled Palestinian laborers, the Prince gave directives to his government to make the necessary arrangements for this to happen and to double the number of Palestinians working in Qatar. (Al Ayyam)
HEAD OF THE EUBAM: WE ARE PREPARED TO RESUME WORK AT THE RAFAH CROSSING AS SOON AS THE PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS REQUEST IT
Head of EUBAM Gerhard Schlaudraff confirmed yesterday that his mission would return to work at the Rafah border crossing if the parties involved gave their approval, saying their job at the crossing was linked to a request from the Israeli government and the PA. (Al Quds)
ASHKELON PRISON SERVICES IMPOSE SANCTION ON PRISONERS INCLUDING ISOLATION, FINES AND DEPRIVATION FROM SUPPLIES
Several cities organized sit-ins for families of prisoners in Israeli jails yesterday demanding that their ill sons’ lives be saved, saying they were subjected to medical negligence and mistreatment by Israeli prison services. The Ramallah sit-in was focused on prisoner Mansour Muqadi from Salfeet who was paralyzed after being shot by Israeli troops in 2002 and is now in very grave physical condition. Sick prisoners have threatened to go on hunger strike next month if their demands are not met.
Administrative detainees are also protesting their detention. In the Ofer detention center, 40 administrative detainees went on a one-day hunger strike and were punished by being put in isolation, not let out for their daily exercise and were banned from family visits.
At the Ashkelon prison following a prison service crackdown on the prisoners’ protests, arbitrary trials inside the prison were set up for a number of prisoners. One prisoner Tamer Al Rimawi, who is sick, was made to sit one of these trials and ‘sentenced’ to 21 days in isolation and fined NIS450 in addition to NIS200 for damages. The collective punishments such as being deprived of the canteen and family visits also applied to him. Prisoner Imad Al Roum was also isolated or 21 days and fined NIS650. His lawyer from the Prisoners’ Club said the cell he was being held in was very small and had no window. He is allowed to shower once a week.
In related news ,Prisoner Club attorney Jawad Bulous was denied visitation to hunger striker Ala’ Hammad who has been on hunger strike since May 2 and who is being held at the Barzalai Hospital. (Al Quds)
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Headlines
*The president receives Jordanian minister of trade and industry (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Prisoner Salam Zaghal sentenced to life plus 20 years (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Teachers hold sit-in, hint at escalation (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Israeli army begins military drills in Ashkelon simulating the reoccupation of Gaza (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*British parliamentarian Ward: The Israeli lobby is very influential in British politics (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*ALESCO grants Yehya Yakhluf highest gold medal (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Five suspects remanded on charges of involvement in customs fraud (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Egyptian security apprehends arms dealer who works as a broker for Palestinian land (Al Quds)
*Christian clergy subjected to harassment by hilltop youth Israelis in Jerusalem (Al Quds)
*Israeli authorities take advantage of organization and construction committees to expand settlements in the West Bank and prevent Palestinian construction (Al Quds)
*”Five Broken Cameras” wins an Emmy award (Al Ayyam)
*An Israeli ‘suicide’ unmanned plane revealed (Al Ayyam)
*For first time in history…Assaf sings for Palestine and the resistance at the UN; Israel is angered (Al Ayyam)
*Egypt: Jihadist charged with involvement in Sinai attacks, killed (Al Ayyam)
*Young man injured by Israeli army bullets east of Khan Younis (Al Ayyam)
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Front Page Photos
Al- Quds:Gaza: Palestinians and international solidarity activists demonstrate at the Erez crossing against the siege on Gaza
Al-Ayyam:1) Hebron: Palestinian boy stands at the entrance to his shack in which he and his family lives in the hamlet of Zalouta, threatened with demolition; 2) Palestinian director Burnat and the producer of his film Christine Camdisose
Al Hayat Al Jadida:1) Family inside their home in Zalouta; 2) Qatar’s Amir in meeting with Hamdallah; 3) Yakhluf, during the award ceremony
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Voice of Palestine News
Jerusalem: Tariq Al-Hashlamoun, and employee at Al-Aqsa was arrested with his mother when trying to enter the mosque yesterday, the occupation police has a list of names of some female worshippers and are arresting those and preventing them from entering Al-Aqsa.
With regards to Al-Ezareyah and Abu Dis, the occupation authorities announced Kabsa area as a closed military zone, after Palestinian youth managed to create a hole in the separation wall, at the same time, settlers form Mali Adumim and Kidar escalated their protest against the police response to the popular resistance by Palestinian citizens in the area. Activists in the area confirmed to us that they will continue with their protest against settlers and the occupation police measures.
Nablus: settlers threw stones at citizens’ cars near Yitzhar, three Palestinians were arrested form Tell Village, in addition all 7 seats taxis were held on their way to Nablus by the occupation, and on the pretext that one car attacked settlers with stones earlier yesterday. All cars were searched and detained for 2 hours.
Q: yesterday we heard that the Palestinian police arrested Israeli drug dealers in the area of Beta village; can you provide us with more details?
With regards to this issue, according to security sources, two Israeli citizens were arrested at Beta dealing with drugs, this is not the first time that such an arrest takes place.
Gaza:
With regards to the crossing, today the Rafah crossing is open for the second consecutive day, but with the same mechanism and the same groups allowed to travel, President Abu Mazen is making a lot of efforts to ease citizens’ suffering through permanently opening the crossing.
With regards to the electricity crisis, nothing new with this regards, unless the fact that more connections are being made this time including the UNRWA in order to solve the crisis. But for now, the situation is becoming very serious. Robert Serry will visit the Gaza Strip today and tomorrow and he will be visiting some facilities, and the Jabalya School, and he will see the damage done by the electricity crisis and the crossing closure.
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Voice of Palestine Interviews
** Ratib Jbour, coordinator of the popular committees in Yatta, on occupation killing three Palestinians yesterday in Yatta.
Q: what is the situation in Yatta?
Yesterday night was a very sad night, following up on the occupation measures in the area of east Yatta, where the three citizens were killed by the occupation army; occupation forces were present with big numbers at the northern entrance of Yatta. The occupation army is still present in Yatta.
Q: Will funerals take place today?
Yes, we are preparing to hold the funeral of two of the martyrs from Yatta; a general strike was announced in Yatta including schools in order for all citizens to be able to take part in eth funerals today.
** Salah Khawaja, coordinator of the popular committees in Jerusalem, on the situation near Mali Adumim, and a demolition order for a mosque.
Q: First tell us more about the demolition order.
This is a mosque in Kherbet Al-Twayel near Aqraba, this is an area from Aqraba until Shouna in Jordan, and settlers try to attack Palestinian there in a planned ethnic cleansing process. This village has houses from before 1976 but one month ago two houses were demolished and two weeks ago another house was destroyed; now the only mosque in the village is threated with demolition. This village is considered suffering the most from settlers’ attacks. On Friday we will re-construct the mosque if the occupation if it destroys it.
Q: are there any groups of citizens inside the mosque to prevent destroying it?
Of course there are, and they are there since three days ago with foreign friends, they will install a tent tomorrow in order for more support of foreigners and Palestinians.
Q: are demonstrations towards Ma’li Adumim still continuing?
Yes, despite the withdrawal of the Ma’li Adumim municipality from its plan, we will not stop and continue our protest against settlements, and say that E1 continues in different ways.
** Yaser Abed Rabbo, Secretary of PLO.
Q: three martyrs in Yatta, demolition order for a mosque in Nablus, continuation of Al-Aqsa storming, Israel insists on escalating, what is your position regarding this escalation?
Israel wants to turn the situation into a very tense one, and turn the area into a burning area, because they are being under pressure, Israel thinks that the world being busy with more than one file , the Syrian , Iranian and others will make the world not deal with its daily crimes. The settlement crime, the daily actions, its planned execution actions that only governments with criminal attitude implement. In addition to demolition and annexation of lands, these are all crimes that we don’t see anywhere else in the world today. For all of these, Israel is doing everything to fail any conditions that might lead to progress in the political process, Israel only wants escalation and to fail the political progress.
Q: With regards to the political process, can we say the negotiations team has resigned?
I don’t think this is the issue, the issue is much bigger, the peace process itself resigned, the Israeli policy made this process resign, they only want to earn time, and maybe make t eh Palestinian side to make more concessions and accepting the Israeli plan, meaning keeping the land. We can’t agree to such an approach no matter what, so the issue is not who is negotiations, but that there is no real process until now.
Q: maybe until now some sources say that the PLO Executive committee and Fateh Central Committee will meet soon to decide on the negotiations team, is this true?
This is not true, if there will be a meeting we will not be dealing with eth team, this can be dealt with without holding such meetings.
Q: Israel president said that he doesn’t think Arafat was poisoned.
I don’t want to get into this, and what Peres think, as if he can investigate and decide what killed President Arafat, despite all evidences, the only party who has an interest in such incident is Israel.
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More Headlines
Israeli army begins military drills in Askalan simulating the re-occupation of the Gaza Strip
According to the website of the Israeli newspaper Maariv, hundreds of Israeli soldiers yesterday began a military ground drill that simulates the occupation of the Gaza Strip. The site said that the Israeli army ‘considered the re-occupation of Gaza, a matter of time, not a decision.” The exercises included special units chosen from the marine troops, which “raided” neighborhoods in Askalan in the largest drill of the Gaza Strip brigades in the army. Tanks, jeeps and other armored vehicles are being used in the drills. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
MP Ward: Israeli lobby is very influential in British politics
British MP said yesterday that the Israeli lobby was very strong and had a huge influence on British politics at present. Ward, who is a liberal democrat, said in press statements yesterday that, “We need to organize ourselves better so we can strongly oppose what Israel is doing.” He pointed out that pro-Palestinian solidarity groups and activists may not be enough in light of the strong political pressure in favor of Israel in the British parliament, but said that incidents such as Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” and its attack on the Freedom Flotilla had to be better clarified so people know the truth. Ward admitted that Israel’s propaganda machine was very powerful and that the lack of pressure from the US, EU and UK helped the international community evade its responsibility in halting these transgressions. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
“Five Broken Cameras” wins an Emmy award
The Palestinian documentary film “Five Broken Cameras’ won the international Emmy Award yesterday for the category of documentary films. The award was given to the film’s director, Imad Burnat, during the ceremony held in New York. (Al Ayyam)
For the first time in history…Assaf sings for Palestine and for the resistance at the UN, angers Israel
Palestinian singer Mohammed Assaf caused controversy day before yesterday in the UN General Assembly hall when he sang before representatives of member states about Palestine, the resistance and the revolution, marking the first time in history at the UN for this. Assaf sang “Raise the Kuffiyeh” and people sang and danced debka in the middle of the hall. Assaf, an UNRWA ambassador gave a speech to the UNGA on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, explaining the suffering his people endure because of the Israeli occupation. He also spoke about UNRWA’s deficit, calling on support for the refugee agency.
The Israeli representative to the UN meanwhile, said the Palestinians were taking advantage of Assaf for incitement purposes, saying Assaf sang for the right of return and was inciting against Israel through singing about the resistance. He said the UN should not have allowed for him to sing in front of its members in this fashion, especially since he claims to be carrying a message of peace. (Al Ayyam)
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Arab Press
Hamas mixed on Iran nuclear deal
By Asmaa al-Ghoul
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Iranian nuclear agreement announced in Geneva on Nov. 24 has unsettled not only Israel, but also Hamas.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, wrote on his Facebook page on the evening of Nov. 23, “Talks between Iran and the P5+1 group will end with an agreement whereby Iran would promise to reduce uranium enrichment in return for the West ending its Iran sanctions, restoring ties with Iran and releasing its frozen funds.”
He added that the agreement would make “the Zionist entity safer, because now it is comfortable knowing that no Iranian nuclear threat is coming, nor are there any chemical weapons anymore. Only Israel has those now.”
Political analyst Mukhaimer Abu Saada told Al-Monitor over the phone that Abu Marzouk’s statements were another indication of the tense Iran-Hamas relationship. Hamas, he said, is exploiting the strained ties to score points against Iran by alluding that the latter made concessions to the United States.
But he said that it is difficult to judge the agreement now, saying, “Some say America won, and some say Iran won. But this is premature.”
Abu Saada added that the deal included provisions related to enrichment and releasing frozen Iranian funds. He suspected that the agreement also included undeclared items about how the United States and Iran would share influence and that Iran would stop supporting militant groups.
“The long-term impact of the agreement will appear on the resistance movements," he added. "I expect Iran to stop supporting Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah, but not soon.”
On the other hand, some in Hamas see a positive side to the agreement.
“It was smart of Iran to resolve its problems with the world after years of being characterized as a terrorist state and of provoking the Gulf states, only for it to come back and take its place among the nations by easing the wave of hostility that is hampering it economically,” moderate Hamas figure Ahmed Youssef told Al-Monitor in an interview in his Dar al-Hikma office. He added that it was a smart move by President Hassan Rouhani to resolve the crisis with the West and to open new horizons with Europe. He added that Rouhani would not have made that move had the United States upheld the ban on dealing with the Iranian economy and oil.
“I have met with [former Iranian President] Mohammad Khatami three times. I noticed that he favored an agreement with the United States. So what’s happening now is a continuation of Khatami’s [vision],” Youssef noted. He explained that these talks come after years of both sides demonizing each other, especially after the United States sided with the Shah of Iran, which led to the conflict continuing for more than 30 years, during which Iranian leaders called the United States “the Great Satan.”
He said that what used to prevent an agreement was the power of the Israeli lobby during the administrations of former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, “but Obama is keen not to open new fronts with the world and to resolve the areas of tension. Iran under Rouhani is a strong state that is trying to dismantle its problems with the West. This trend in Iran comes after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard gave the diplomatic option a chance.”
Youssef said that achieving this kind of relationship and staying away from the circle of hostility serves Hamas and restores Iran’s influence in international politics, adding, “Not all solutions involve rockets. Politics always tries to make diplomacy win over wars. From that, defending the Palestinian cause takes its place as the core issue.”
He asserted that Hamas doesn’t interfere in Iran’s affairs, that the deal was an Iranian decision and affects Iranian interests. He said, “This kind of detente and disengagement with the West will be positively reflected on Hamas.”
In the same context, political writer Akram Atallah said during a meeting with Al-Monitor that the Iranian leadership played a smart game to strip Israel of its international pretext that Iran wishes it harm.
He said that Israel fears it will now have a hard time promoting its claims about Iran and terrorism, adding, “Hamas remains a trump card in Iran’s hands, and the new spirit of dialogue between Iran and the United States will have a clear impact on Gaza. The atmosphere of detente between Iran and the United States will be reflected in Gaza.”
But Youssef disagrees. “We don’t expect Iran to sell us to America. Iran supports Hamas as a matter of principle and it considers Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque Iranian priorities. Iran cannot compromise on Palestinians’ rights.”
Islamic Jihad, a strong Islamic faction supported by Iran, agrees. On Nov. 25, Nafez Azzam, a member of the Islamic Jihad political bureau, told Palestine Today, which has ties to Islamic Jihad, of the movement’s approval of the deal, saying, “We are happy with the announcement of this agreement because it spares the region many dangers, the most important of which is America waging a war on the region.”
Azzam noted, “The agreement enhances the people's chances to achieve their will and their right to say what they want, which reflects positively on the conflict imposed on us. … We wish that peace would prevail all over the world. We are a people who don’t like bloodshed or wars. We are defending our right and our nation.” Azzam said that Israel is the only party to announce its rejection of the agreement.
For his part, Islamic Jihad figure Ahmed al-Mudallal brushed off concerns in a phone interview with Al-Monitor that Palestinian resistance groups might lose in an Iran-US detente. “We consider the agreement a victory for Iran. It will not affect the resistance, which will not make concessions,” he said, adding, “The agreement will not affect the resistance or its capabilities. Islamic Jihad and the resistance are in no one’s pocket.”(http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/hamas-islamic-jihad-palestinian-resistance-iran-us-deal.html)
Netanyahu’s peace gesture is meant to extract concessions
By Jonathan Cook
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made what was presumably intended to sound like a historic peace gesture towards the Palestinians last week.
He invited Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to Jerusalem to address the Israeli parliament, echoing Menachem Begin’s invitation to Egypt’s president, Anwar Sadat, in 1977. That visit was the prelude to a peace agreement concluded the following year between Israel and Egypt.
Should Mr. Abbas accept, it would pose a dilemma for his host. According to Israeli law, the right of foreigners to address the parliament is reserved to visiting heads of state.
As one Israeli commentator pointedly observed, Mr. Netanyahu would have either to hurriedly change the law or to recognizeMr. Abbas as the head of a Palestinian state. We can assume he is about to do neither.
In reality, Mr. Netanyahu’s offer was as hollow as his previous utterances about Palestinian statehood.
Begin, a rightwing hawk too, welcomed Sadat to the parliament, where Israeli legislators listened intently to the Egyptian leader’s vision of peace.
More than 35 years later, Mr. Netanyahu and his cohorts are not in the least interested in Mr. Abbas’s terms for an end to the conflict, even in the midst of the current nine-month peace talks. They want him to come only if he is ready to concede terms of surrender – recognizing as a Jewish state whatever enlarged borders Israel demands.
Coincidentally, the Israeli prime minister made his insincere offer while French president Francois Hollande was in the parliament calling for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Mr. Hollande was wildly feted during his three-day visit to Israel, if less so during his half-day meeting with Mr. Abbas in Ramallah, but his public statements offered little more than platitudes.
Saying he favored “two states for two peoples”, Mr. Hollande warned each leader that they would have to make sacrifices: the Palestinians by abandoning the dream of the refugees’ return, and Israel by ending settlement-building.
The problem is that Mr. Netanyahu is not listening even to his friends. This month his housing minister, Uri Ariel, unveiled plans for 24,000 new homes in the occupied territories, the largest spike in construction in more than a decade.
The proposals include 1,200 homes in the so-called E1 area of the West Bank, a strategic strip of land next to Jerusalem that would further erode the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state. Washington views Israeli development there as a stake through the heart of the peace process.
Facing pressure from the White House, Mr. Netanyahu put the plans on ice but has not cancelled them. On Sunday, a new batch of more than 800 settler homes was approved.
The serial humiliation has proved too much for Palestinian negotiators, who have proffered their resignations. Mr. Abbas, however, has promised the United States that he will participate to the bitter end of the talks, due in April.
Strangely, Mr. Netanyahu’s offer to Mr. Abbas to follow in Sadat’s footsteps came as the CIA declassified documents from the 1978 Camp David agreement between Israel and Egypt. They provide an illuminating window on the current negotiations.
The then-US national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, privately warned that Israel had less interest in reaching a deal than either Sadat or the US president of the time, Jimmy Carter. “The risk,” he wrote to Mr. Carter, “is that you could lose control of the talks and be diverted from the central issues either by Begin’s legalisms or Sadat’s imprecision.”
An almost-verbatim memo should have been sent to Barack Obama and his secretary of state, John Kerry, before these peace talks began last July. Instead the White House has kept its distance, leaving Israel to dictate both the agenda – Israel’s security – and the molluscular pace.
Aware that no progress has been made, the US is finally preparing to put forward a “framework proposal” in January in the hope of extracting a deal by the April deadline.
There has been speculation that, following the deal struck between the world’s main powers and Iran at the weekend over its nuclear program, Mr. Obama will finally be emboldened to stand strong against Israel and Mr. Netanyahu’s intransigence towards the Palestinians.
Any optimism is likely to prove misplaced. It emerged last week that Martin Indyk, US envoy to the talks, had quietly recruited to his team David Makovsky. His roots, like Mr. Indyk’s, lie in the hawkish pro-Israel political lobbies that have dominated Washington for decades.
In the summer, Mr. Makovsky used a column in the New York Times to berate the European Union for failing to “talk tough” to the Palestinians and dispel their hopes of return for the refugees.
Mr. Makovsky has probably been chosen because of his expected usefulness in the talks’ impending endgame. Specializing in the kind of detail valued by Mr. Brzezinski, he has drawn up precise maps designed to provide the basis for a final agreement, one premised on extensive land swaps.
Israeli leaders have shied away from setting down on paper their vision of a Palestinian state precisely because they know it would not look much like any kind of state. Mr. Makovsky is not so reticent.
His maps annex to Israel the vast majority of the illegal settlements in the West Bank, leaving a series of fingers of Israeli territory throttling a future Palestinian state and compensating the Palestinians with areas of desert, mostly near Gaza.
As the Israeli analyst Noam Sheizaf has observed, Mr. Makovsky’s guiding principle in drafting these maps has been “to satiate Israel’s growing appetite for land”.
Washington has learnt nothing from its past success with the Egyptians nor from its more recent failures with the Palestinians. Mr. Makovsky may add some necessary clarity, but it is exactly the kind of detail no credible Palestinian leader can ever be persuaded to accept.(http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/netanyahus-peace-gesture-is-meant-to-extract-concessions#full)
Palestinian graffiti: 'Tagging' resistance
By Rich Wiles
Palestinian graffiti is still a key means of communication and an integral voice against Israel's occupation.
Ramallah, Occupied West Bank - During the First Intifada, technologies and forms of communication were vastly different compared to today. Mobile phones and social media sites were still years away, but the Intifada could never have taken hold without grassroots strategies for public communication. With cities, villages and refugee camps often placed under brutally enforced curfews, Palestinians had to take risks in order to circulate messages across communities, Nidal al-Azzeh told Al Jazeera.
"We went out at night, these were secret actions. We made short, strong statements and painted them on walls around the camp. They were general statements calling for boycotts of working in Israel, joining public strikes, encouraging people to act as a form of national duty. We aimed to empower people and encourage them to resist," said Nidal.
Sneaking out of a house in the dead of night to paint messages on walls was an act of resistance that was fundamental in building and sustaining a collective uprising. These acts had to remain clandestine, being caught in the act led to severe beatings and prison sentences.
"If we were caught by the [Israeli] soldiers, or seen by collaborators, we were arrested and beaten. People confessed on me for writing statements. I was charged with this along with other things in 1989, and sentenced to 9 months in prison," he said.
Following the signing of the Oslo Accords and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, the dynamics of Palestinian graffiti changed. Palestinians were no longer faced with the same levels of urgency and danger. Particularly within refugee camps, the statement writing and line drawings of Palestinian flags continued but also began to evolve into more detailed pieces.
Eventually, large-scale murals emerged. Although still very nationalistic, aesthetics were now taking greater prominence and a deeper collaboration between activists and artists was significant in this development. Visual artists took on a more public role in the urban environment and this included producing collaborative pieces in which artists collaborated with institutions and community centers.
Palestinian artist Ayed Arafah, born a refugee in Bethlehem's Deheisheh camp, grew up during the First Intifada and later became involved in these institutional projects:
"We did this to send a political message to the next generation. But the landscape of Palestinians is changing now from time to time - according to the political situation internally and externally - so I think that graffiti is also taking different steps. Institutions both inside and outside of the camps are now pushing this formal work to keep their public profile. Graffiti has become a tradition, particularly within camps," he told Al Jazeera.
Institutional backing
The public murals that are seen across Palestine today are often created with, and sometimes funded by, institutions. Other pieces are done at the behest of, or expressing affiliation to, Palestinian political factions. Remembrance or commemoration, whether for martyrs or depopulated villages, is a prominent theme in contemporary Palestinian work, and national symbolism, using keys, kufiyehs, tents, and crumbling walls in still often the central element.
"I won't touch the wall with colors, it's an act of normalization or beautification. People come here now as though they are visiting the pyramids in Egypt, like they are visiting a tourist attraction.
- Ayed Arafah, artist
The construction of the separation wall added a further dimension to the issue. International artists began to flock to Palestine to paint on the wall although many Palestinians rejected this idea, seeing it as an act of "beautification".
Possibly the best-known of these artists was Banksy, who stated in 2005, "The wall is illegal under international law and essentially turns Palestine into the world's largest open prison. It also makes it the ultimate activity holiday destination for graffiti writers."
Arafah does not paint on the wall. "I won't touch the wall with colors, it's an act of normalization or beautification. People come here now as though they are visiting the pyramids in Egypt, like they are visiting a tourist attraction. They see the beauty of graffiti now instead of the suffering."
Taxi drivers at Bethlehem checkpoint today offer tourists trips to the Nativity Church and Milk Grotto, or visits to "see the Banksy's". Sadly, many of the tourists busily snapping photographs on the "Banksy trail" do not turn away from the wall long enough to see the faces or hear the stories of those who have been imprisoned by it.
Meanwhile, the influence of international artists on Palestinian graffiti is clear. Even away from the wall large-scale murals are often collaborations between Palestinians and internationals, and the supportive role of institutions could be seen as one sign of the wider institutionalization of Palestine that has evolved so prominently in the post-Oslo period.
During the First Intifada, secrecy was essential while graffiti writing. Today large-scale murals are usually signed by artists and often also include reference to the institutions or collaborations involved.
In early 2012, new developments in public visual expression took shape. As the Palestinian street began to rise in support of hunger-striking political prisoners, activists used small, stenciled images of Khadr Adnan within strategies of public mobilization. These pieces were once more aimed at a distinctly Palestinian audience and their message took prominence over aesthetics. Arafah wonders if it is this work rather than the large scale murals that is more closely related to the practices of the First Intifada.
"This style of making stencils, the process itself, refers to the ways of 30 years ago. Who the message is aimed at is important. It repeats the style of making graffiti with a very clear message aimed at Palestinians themselves. The Adnan textiles are not signed, they are not by institutions; it's a political act."
Many of the large-scale murals include text that is written in European languages, a fact that hints at either the artists involved or its intended audience. With greater numbers of international visitors in the West Bank today, graffiti is often being used as a call for international solidarity rather than grassroots mobilization, but the re-internalization of the hunger-strike stencils is notable.
Muhannad al-Azzeh was amongst a group of activists who were active as Khadr Adnan began his hunger strike. He believes that the hunger strikes refocused elements of the Palestinian street into direct resistance against the occupation:
"Between 2005-2010, people felt stuck between the NGO's on one side, and the PA on the other. Palestinian graffiti somehow got lost in all this. When Khadr Adnan began his hunger strike it took Palestinians back to the checkpoints for demonstrations. He started the fight alone and others followed inside the prisons and the street also began to move," explained Muhannad.
As technology has changed life over the years, people want images rather than texts so we came back to drawing. It became a way of supporting the resistance again.
- Muhannad al-Azzeh, activist
Symbolism and frustration
The activists felt that they needed a visual symbol that could be used to mobilise people and build real solidarity with the hunger strikers. Graphic designers within the group originally created an image of Khadr Adnan alongside Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands that was posted on Facebook. The idea of a graphic image to be used as graffiti then developed, and soon images of Khadr Adnan with a padlock covering his mouth began to appear on the streets.
"As technology has changed life over the years, people want images rather than texts so we came back to drawing. It became a way of supporting the resistance again," said Muhannad.
During the same period, graffiti also began to appear that reflected societal frustrations about the role of the Palestinian Authority. These were again internal messages that expressed very real emotions within Palestinian society.
"The PA is now the first wall that is hit when people are working against the occupation. They say that they are working to 'protect people', but they stop demonstrations and have arrested people who are involved in resistance. Khadr Adnan was in a PA prison before the Israeli's took him," explained Muhannad
Studying the vast array of graffiti that adorns Palestinian streets, however, it may seem impossible to generalize about its collective uses or aims. Alongside these newer pieces of re-internalized Palestinian graffiti are many pieces that are still heavily influenced by international ideas, styles and slogans as well as more traditional pieces that are deeply loaded with national symbolism.
Ayed Arafah believes that this wide spectrum of work may in itself represent something deeper within contemporary Palestinian society.
"There are many Palestinians struggling to survive today and there are also capitalists and people around the PA who are living well, can travel and have nice cars, and there are so many NGOs, internationals and institutions. Maybe graffiti reflects this issue. As we have so many levels of Palestinian society today, we also have so many different types of graffiti and for so many different reasons," said Arafah.(http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/11/palestinian-graffiti-tagging-resistance-2013112015849368961.html)
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Opinions
Jordan's fixed positions to resolve the Palestinian issue
Al-Dustuor Editorial
Keenness of his Majesty King Abdullah II, on the day of solidarity with the brotherly Palestinian people, to reaffirm Jordan's fixed positions to resolve the Palestinian issue, so as to achieve a comprehensive and just peace and restore rights to their owners, and clearly reaffirming their right to self-determination and to establish their independent State with Jerusalem as its capital, on their national territory, stressing that the two-State solution,that enjoys Arab and international consensus, forms the basis for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and is the key to achieving comprehensive peace in the region and freeing it from occupation and Zionist terrorism. This imposes on the community responsibilities to urge all parties to adhere to this solution, and the success of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations facing significant challenges including continued settlements.
Hence, his Majesty warned of continuing this aggression which aims to change the identity of Jerusalem and threaten Muslim and Christian holy sites and explode the peace process, if the Government insisted on going forward with such arbitrary actions of racism that are contrary to international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
In this context it should be noted that the extreme Zionist Government headed by Netanyahu has refused to respond to international appeals and insists to continue settlement building in Arab Jerusalem to change its Arab-Muslim character, and convert it to a biblical city with a Jewish majority.
His Majesty the King who warns of continued settlements and demand from the international community to bear the heavy responsibilities, confirmed that Jordan, in coordination with the Palestinian national authority, will make every effort to take care of Islamic and Christian holy sites, preserve the Arab character of Jerusalem and support the steadfastness of our people in their Holy City, urging the international community to stop all arbitrary actions and abuses of Zionists,that target Al Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards, and show the intentions of temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa after allowing Jews to visit it whenever they wish to.
In this respect his Majesty reiterated that peace, security and stability in the region depends on finding a just solution to the Palestinian issue and end the suffering of our brotherly people, pointing out that the actions of the Israeli occupation, in particular the siege, increased the suffering of the Palestinian people, and doubled the size of injustice and oppression, which imposes on the international community to act immediately to force Israel to stop its rejected actions, and help our brotherly people in freeing them from the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, since it is the only people in the world who still suffer occupation.
In a nut shell: on the day of solidarity with the brotherly Palestinian people, his Majesty King Abdullah II affirmed the fixed national Jordanian positions of Jordan to resolve the Palestinian issue, through the establishment of a Palestinian State and the right of return, stop settlement activities and all Zionist violations of Islamic and Christian holy places, calling on international community to assume its responsibilities by putting an end to the suffering of Palestinians and liberate them from occupation and Zionist terrorism.(http://www.addustour.com/17047/%D8%AB%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AA+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D9%82%D9%81+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%86%D9%8A+%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%84+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B6%D9%8A%D8%A9+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9.html)
It's time to bring our case to the forefront of the international agenda
Al-Quds Edorial
Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in 2009, he kept on acting to sideline the peace process and the Palestinian national rights, it was clear from the beginningfor every analystthat highlight the exaggerating the Iranian nuclear file by Netanyahu was aimed at covering the Palestinian cause by exaggerating Iran's nuclear threat to Israel.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threats to wipe Israel off the map helped to strengthen the Israeli media plan; these threats were exploited by the Netanyahu Government to try to remove the Palestinian issue from the agenda of global concerns.
We are not in the process of evaluating the Iranian threat, its severity or seriousness; what we care for is that the issue of Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy, disappeared for the Israeli government’s agenda over the past five years, and form its deliberations with the international powers sponsoring the so-called peace process. And while US President Barack Obama addressed the settlement issue and called for its freeze at the beginning of his first term, he was confronted with strong resistance on the part of Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister was able to silence the sound of US demands for a settlement freeze for a limited period.
Now maybe there seems to be some movement by the administration of President Obama to bring attention to the Palestinian cause, by pulling the rug out from under the legs of Israeli politicians who talk about Iran's nuclear threat. The first agreement two days ago, which freezes the progress of Iran's nuclear program removes the artificial cover by Netanyahu before the international interest in the Palestinian issue and invalidate the argument that Israeli Prime Minister invoked for not dealing seriously with the issue a just peace and a final settlement of the Palestinian issue.
In essence, there is no conflict in the common sense between the Iranian nuclear file and the Palestinian cause.It could have been possible –unless the Israeli ambitions in the occupied Palestinian territories-to reach a fair settlement and, at the same time take care of the Iranian nuclear file, regardless of the method chosen to deal with this file.
The dramatic developments that have taken place over the past few days in the Iran file do not appeal to Israel, of course, they prefer to keep the threat, and so it can wave itwhenever occupation and settlements are raised. But the American diplomacy, in addition to releasing the Syrian chemical weapons card from Israel’s hands, left Netanyahu in the face of the fundamental and central issue, namely the Palestinian issue, forcing him to handle it, disclosing the right-wing and settlers view without a mask or disguise or any pretext such as Iran or Syrian chemical weapons.
The time has come for the United States and the international community, after all the obstacles set by Israel to the peace process have been removed, to move seriously and use all available mechanisms to enforce a just solution for the Palestinian cause, and end the unprecedented suffering of the Palestinian people under occupation for more that half a century, and the denial of human rights and sovereign rights. (http://www.alquds.com/news/article/view/id/475155)
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