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Nov. 29, 2013
Daily summary - Friday, November 29, 2013
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Main News
MARTYR FROM QALANDIYA, FROM WOUNDS SUSTAINED EIGHT MONTHS AGO; INJURIES REPORTED DURING CLASHES
24-year old Mahmoud Awwad from the Qalandia refugee camp north of Jerusalem, died last night from wounds sustained at the beginning of last March during confrontations with Israeli troops in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. According to Awwad’s relative, Ayed Al Shu’a, Awwad has been in a coma ever since he was injured and was being treated at Hadasseh Ein Karem in Jerusalem. Apparently, Awwad, who had been part of the solidarity protests with prisoners that broke out last March, had been hit directly in the head. Since then, his health condition to deteriorate. Clashes broke out almost immediately after news of Awwad’s death broke. (http://safa.ps/details/news/117121/شهيد-من-قلنديا-متأثرا-بجراحه-قبل-8-شهور.html)
During the confrontations, local media sources said one man was shot and dozens suffered teargas inhalation near the Qalandiya checkpoint. The man was shot in a very sensitive area of his body while two others were shot with rubber-coated metal bullets. Youths broke into the checkpoint, set tires on fire and pelted Israeli troops with stones. Israeli troops responded with live fire, rubber-coated metal bullets and teargas. (http://safa.ps/details/news/117127/عشرات-الإصابات-بمواجهات-على-حاجز-قلنديا.html)
GIRL DIES AFTER AMBULANCE HELD UP AT THE ‘CONTAINER’ CHECKPOINT
13-year old Nur Affana died after Israeli occupation troops held up the ambulance she was being transported in late last night the ‘container’ Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank. According to media reports, Affana, from the town of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem was in critical condition and later passed away after her ambulance was not allowed to cross the checkpoint into Bethlehem. (http://qudsnet.com/news/View/258855/استشهاد-فتاة-بعد-احتجاز-اسعاف-على-حاجز-الكونتينر/)
According to the girl’s father, Nur, who is physically disabled, suffered from an acute lung infection and was told he had to be hospitalized. The ambulance was to take her to the Beit Jala government hospital through the container checkpoint. He says that when they arrived, cars were backed up and they could not cross. They finally decided to take the girl to the Ramallah government hospital but said she died before arriving. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=652315)
FOUR PALESTINIANS WOUNDED IN AYDEH CAMP BY ISRAELI BULLETS
Four Palestinian youths were wounded last night by bullets shot by Israeli occupation troops. According to local sources, the army fired bullets from a new weapon that works like a silencer and rips apart the flesh upon impact. The sources said the youths were taken to hospital for treatment as confrontations continued between the army and Aydeh residents. (Al Ayyam)
PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER: QATAR TO GIVE PALESTINIANS $150 MILLION
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said yesterday that Qatar promised the Palestinian Authority $150 million in assistance to help revive the economy as peace talk with Israel falter. Hamdallah said on Wednesday that he ‘expected’ $150 million from the Gulf state but that until now this was just a promise, but added that he hoped the money would arrive soon because “actually, we really need the support.” Hamdallah also said that Qatar had promised to ease restrictions on employing Palestinians in the country. (http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=108166). Hamdallah then travelled to Lebanon and held talks with his Lebanese counterpart Najib Miqati, focusing mainly on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (Al Ayyam)
WOLRD BANK TRANSFERS $24 MILLION IN SUPPORT FOR PA BUDGET
Yesterday, the World Bank transferred $24 million to the PA from its multi-donor investment fund towards the Palestinian reform and development plan. The money is to support the urgent needs in the PA’s budget including support for educational, health, social and other vital services and for economic reforms. (Al Quds)
THREE PALESTINIAN PRISONERS WAGING OPEN HUNGER STRIKE FOR PAST 15 DAYS
Head of the legal unit at the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club Jawad Bulous said yesterday that thee administrative detainees had been on an open hunger strike since November 16 and had informed him that they would not stop their strike until they are given the exact duration of their detention. Bulous said the three detainees were: brothers Islam Bader, 20 and Mohammed Bader, 25 from the village of Beit Liqya and Thaer Abdo 28, from the village of Kufr Nimeh. The three are being held at the Ofer detention center west of Ramallah. They told Bulous that they were under pressure from Israeli prison services to end their protests measures but said they would continue until their demands are met. The three were given six-month administrative detention sentences, but said they feared Israeli authorities would extend their detention. Bulous said the three were showing signs of fatigue and hunger, adding that they refuse to take nutritional supplements. (http://alhayat.com/Details/576798)
PRISONER CLUB LAWYER SAYS HUWARA PRISONERS MADE TO CLEAN WHILE THEIR LEGS ARE SHACKLED
Prisoner club attorney Anan Khader said yesterday that the Huwwara detention center prison services forced three prisoners to clean the courtyards while their legs were shackled. He said the Israeli soldiers forced Ala’ Shillo, Asad Meshaal and Adham Saleem to clean the courtyards for several hours in this state. Khader also said prison services tied the hands of two prisoners – Dia’ Hashash and Omar Hashash – for 10 hours straight with plastic cuffs, causing them pain and damage. (http://alhayat.com/Details/576798)
THE PRESIDENT: WE WILL CONTINUE WORKING UNTIL OUR STATE IS ESTABLISHED WITH JERUSALEM AS IT’S CAPITAL
On the occasion of the first anniversary of Palestine becoming an observer state at the UN and on the eve of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, President Mahmoud Abbas renewed his promise to the Palestinians and the Arab nation to continue working until the aspirations of the Palestinians are achieved, which are a dignified life and the Palestinian flag waving over the capital of our state, Jerusalem. Abbas reassured the people that he would “never concede one ‘atom’ of Palestinian demands” and that he would never sign a peace deal that did not meet the aspirations of our people. (Al Quds)
CONFRONATIONS AT AL AQSA BETWEEN WORSHIPPERS AND EXTREMIST JEWS; POLICE ATTACK AQSA GUARD
Fistfights broke out between Muslim worshippers and Israeli settlers and police yesterday when a group of 30 settlers carried out prayers inside the Aqsa compound. According to the worshippers, Jews prayed on the occasion of Hanukkah under tight police protection, which led to confrontations between them.
In related news, an Israeli policeman attacked last night a guard at the Aqsa Mosque, 60-year old Omar Za’aneen, resulting in him passing out. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli police tried to close Chain Gate at around 7:15 p.m. before the last worshippers had come out. When Za’aneen refused, the police began beating him until he fell to the ground and passed out. Za’aneen, who has a heart condition, and has a pacemaker installed, was taken to Sha’ar Zsedek hospital for treatment (Al Quds)
HAMAS SENTENCES A FATAH LEADER TO 35 YEARS IN PRISON
A Hamas military court handed down a sentence yesterday to Fatah leader, Zaki Sakani, to 35 years in prison. Sakani is one of Fatah’s leaders in the Zayton neighborhood southeast of Gaza and has been in one of Hamas’ security prisons for the past five years. His brother is serving a life sentence in an Israeli jail. (Al Quds)
UN WARNS OF GROWING CRISES IN GAZA; URGES ADHERENCE TO CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT
UN Middle East peace process envoy Robert Serry warned yesterday of growing concern for the escalating humanitarian crises in the Gaza Strip, calling for speedy solutions for them. Serry told reporters while at a sewage plant that the UN had brought in its international partners to ensure the provision of fuel to operate the sewage plant after it had been stopped over the past few days. He said Turkey had donated the fuel to re-operate it for the next three months. He said turnkey also pledged $850,000 for the operation of emergency equipment for four months, saying the PA had transferred $200,000 of this money to UNRWA. Serry says the agency pinpointed ‘hundreds of problems in services in Gaza such as hospitals, water pumps, waste water facilities, etc.” He called on Israel to resume the provision of construction materials to Gaza and to left the ban on these materials, especially those used for international organizations. He also called for a continuation of commitment to the ceasefire. (Al Ayyam)
GAZA: ARREST OF ALLEGED INFORMANT WITH ISRAEL
A security sources in the deposed government’s interior ministry announced yesterday that a Palestinian was arrested after being charged with being an informant for Israel. It said that the man was sending soil samples from various regions of Gaza adjacent to the border with Israel to the Israeli intelligence so that they could identify the depth of the tunnels dug between the Strip and Israel. The source told France Presse that after interrogating the man, he confessed to sending small amounts of soil taken from the tunnels to an Israeli intelligence officer for lab testing to see how deep the tunnel was from the surface. (Al Ayyam)
RISE IN SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION BY 130%; ARIEL VOWS TO CONTINUE
The Israeli Bureau of Statistics released a report yesterday saying that the rate of construction in settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank had risen by 130% since the beginning of the year in comparison with last year. According to the report, 7% of the overall the number of housing units built in Israel this year has been in settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Israeli housing minister Uri Ariel said that “many ministers in the government support the continuation of settlement construction,” adding that several new homes will be built in settlements. “When that happens, we can tell ourselves and the whole world that the people of Israel are alive.” (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
MAARIV: RISE IN ATTEMPTS TO LURE AND KIDNAP ISRAELIS IN THE WEST BANK
According to the Israeli daily Maariv yesterday, the Israeli army command in the West bank has noticed lately a “tangible rise” in plans to lure Israeli soldiers and kidnap them, similar to the operation in Qalqilya two months ago when an Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Palestinians and then killed. According to the newspaper, in past few weeks, the army has arrested a number of cells planning to lure Israelis into coming into PA territories with the goal of kidnapping them or bargaining with them for the release of Palestinian prisoners. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
GAS RESERVES IN GAZA FIELD, 33 BILLION CUBIC METERS
The Israeli electricity company revealed yesterday that the amount of natural gas in the Gaza field off of the Mediterranean shoreline exceeds 33 billion cubic meters. According to the Turkish news agency Anadol, the amount in the field is enough to over the needs of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza for the next 25 years. It could also cover Israel’s needs for the next five years if negotiations succeed for Israel to buy some of it. The field is located 36 kilometers west of the Gaza Strip in the Mediterranean; PM Hamdallah said this month that the PA would be a producer and importer natural gas by 2017 because of this field. (Al Quds)
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Headlines
*Two men from Shefa Amro sentenced to prison for killing soldier; residents scuffle with police (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Analysts: Israeli strategy must be changed to avoid a dangerous diplomatic setback (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Public transportation drivers’ strike cancelled in the West Bank (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Two brothers killed in motorcycle accident in Yabad (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Presidency honors historical leaders of our people (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Hamdallah stresses on position of the leadership not to bring refugee camps into conflict (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Egypt re-closes the Rafah crossing (Al Ayyam)
*Kerry returns to Israel at peak of argument over Iranian nuclear deal (Al Ayyam)
*Excavations and confiscation at entrance to Essawiyeh for the sake of Hadasseh hospital (Al Ayyam)
*Peres believes that peace with the Palestinians is ‘urgent and possible.’ (Al Ayyam)
*Abu Marzouq: there are no Egyptian relations with Hamas for them to be severed (Al Quds)
*UN adopts 2014 as year of solidarity with Palestine (Al Quds)
*Jordanian industry and trade minister: Jerusalem will remain on King Abdullah II’s agenda (Al Quds)
*Higher Fatwa council: Judaization is threatening the existence of the Aqsa (Al Quds)
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Front Page Photos
Al- Quds: Jerusalem: Israeli diggings on land at the entrance to Essawiyeh for the sake of Hadasseh hospital
Al-Ayyam:1) Sewage water flowing into the sea from Wadi Gaza without being purified; 2) Hamdallah and Miqati with honor guard
Al Hayat Al Jadida:1) Hundreds demonstrate in front of Haifa court during trail of youths; 2) Sewage water destroys cultivated land in Wadi Gaza amid collapse of services in Gaza because of fuel crisis
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More Headlines
Israeli court hands jail sentences to two Arab citizens convicted of killing Israeli soldier
The Israeli court in Haifa issued sentences ranging from 20 months to two years against four Arab citizens of Israel on charges of killing an Israeli soldier who carried out a massacre on a bus in 2005. Two other men were also sentenced to jail for 11 and 18 months for committing acts of violence when the soldier “Edan Zadeh” was killed in Shefa Amr north of Israel. The Arab men were convicted of beating Zadeh until death after the soldier opened fire at the passengers in the Arab village, which resulted in the deaths of four Arabs and the injury of 11. At the time, the soldier said he was protesting the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Clashes ensued after the sentences were handed down and nine protesters were arrested. (Al Ayyam)
Diggings and land confiscation at the entrance to Essawiyeh for the sake of Hadasseh hospital
Jerusalem municipality bulldozers began yesterday to dig at the entrance to the town of Essawiyeh in order to expand the parking lot of the Hadasseh hospital in occupied Jerusalem. According to the follow-up committee in the town, Israeli bulldozers had lately begun to truncate part of the main road leading to Essawiyeh in order to expand the parking lot. The digging is being down in land that was confiscated from the residents of Essawiyeh in the 1980s; building on this land was then banned. (Al Ayyam)
Settlers conduct Talmudic prayers west of Nablus
This morning, groups of extremist settlers deployed at the Beit Lid intersection west of Nablus in the West Bank and conducted Talmudic prayers at the site. An eyewitness said groups of settlers flocked to the location from the early morning hours, on the road connecting Nablus with Tulkarm and prayed under the protection of the Israeli army, which set up a military barrier in the area. The site has become a memorial site for a settler killed two years ago at the hands of a Palestinian. (http://safa.ps/details/news/117140/مستوطنون-يؤدون-طقوسا-تلمودية-غرب-نابلس.html)
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Arab Press
On Israel's collective amnesia: 'Could we kill an Arab?'
By Belen Fernandez
A few years ago, the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs unveiled an English-language website with the aim of repairing Israel's image, which was said to be under unfair attack abroad.
A Jerusalem Post article marking the debut of the (now defunct) site noted that it "provide[d] hasbara material related to current events, tips for the 'novice ambassador', myths and facts about Israel and the Arab world, and lists of Israel's most prominent achievements in science, medicine and agriculture".
Among alleged image-improving factoids listed by the ministry was that "[a]n Israeli invention for an electric hair removal device makes women happy all over the world." The catalogue of "myths" included that the West Bank settlements are an obstacle to peace - a notion debunked on the website as follows: "The Palestinian Authority sees the roots of the conflict as being the '1948 settlements', whereas the facts show that the settlements were founded after the 1967 war."
Via this attempted sleight of hand, the ministry endeavoured to dismiss the problematic issue of 1948 by triumphantly "proving" that the post-1967 settlements were indeed established after and not before 1967 - something that no one argues with anyway.
The real myth, of course, is the one propagated by Israel, whose refusal to atone for, or even acknowledge, the crimes upon which the nation is founded. This, in fact, constitutes the principal obstacle to peace.
Honig-Parnass articulates the dehumanisation of the 'primitive Arab', portrayed as a creature with no civilisation and no values, that facilitated efforts to purge the territory of its Palestinian inhabitants.
Erasing Palestine
Israeli mythmaking and the attendant forced disappearance of history is the subject of a new documentary by Israeli video journalist and former West Bank settler Lia Tarachansky, titled On the Side of the Road.
Set to premiere at the first International Film Festival on Nakba and Return in Tel Aviv-Jaffa on November 28, the movie explores Israel's "biggest taboo" - the events of 1948 - through the stories "of those who fought to erase Palestine and created an Israeli landscape of denial".
In recent years, the landscape has played host to expanding methods of denial such as Orwellian parliamentary efforts to criminalise mourning on Israel's Independence Day, a holiday that represents the destruction of over 530 Palestinian villages, the killing of approximately 10,000 Palestinians, and the expulsion from Palestine of some 750,000 more.
Other landscaping techniques have ranged from planting forests atop the remains of Palestinian towns to burning Palestinian olive trees to the rampant building of unsightly walls.
Tarachansky's film begins with footage from Independence Day 2011, when activists from the Israeli organisation Zochrot sought to raise public awareness about the facts of Palestinian dispossession, and the racist and absurdly totalitarian nature of proposed prohibitions on mourning.
The activists' peaceful demonstration was met with less-than-receptive shouts from passing revellers, such as: "You're whores! Go to Gaza! Go f*** Arabs!"
The demonstration attracted the police, who demanded to know why Tarachansky - who was filming the scene - didn't fulfil her "responsibility to report actions whose purpose is to disrupt the peace and order". By "actions", they of course mean not the verbal abuse and intimidation of peaceful pro-justice activists by rabid nationalists, but rather the activists' decision to hang up a picture of an elderly Palestinian man holding the key to his former house.
In her exploration of Israel's paranoid schizophrenic methods of protecting its founding myths, Tarachansky relies heavily on the testimony of two Israeli veterans of the 1948 war - Amnon Neumann and author Tikva Honig-Parnass - whom she accompanied to the sites of former Palestinian villages erased by Israel.
Honig-Parnass articulates the dehumanisation of the "primitive Arab", portrayed as a creature with no civilisation and no values, which facilitated efforts to purge the territory of its Palestinian inhabitants. Recounting her transition from university student to enlisted soldier, she describes giggling with a female friend over the following prospect: "Could we kill an Arab?"
In the end, it was decided that killing would be "no problem", as long as the said Arab sported a traditional keffiyeh rather than "dress[ing] like a European".
Honig-Parnass also discusses the institutionalisation of Israeli denial that enabled her to effectively forget the very existence of villages to which she herself had been.
Tarachansky, meanwhile, presses Neumann on the business of overriding observable facts with fabricated realities: "How could you be told from childhood that you're in an empty land when you could see you weren't?"
Neumann explains that, despite regular afternoon swimming excursions with Arab children, "what we learned in school remained".
For some, of course, mental decolonisation remains a dim possibility.
Reparative landscaping
Figures like Honig-Parnass and Neumann are no doubt indispensable to establishing accountability and breaking through what Tarachansky refers to as the "collective amnesia of Israelis". Although the official Israeli narrative stipulates that empty Palestinian villages were "abandoned", for example, Neumann asserts his own role in the migration of former inhabitants: "I expelled them."
There are telling limitations to Neumann's introspection, however, of which he himself is notably aware. Speaking about the Nakba at a Zochrot gathering, he rails against questions posed to him about the slaughter that took place in the village of Burayr shortly before the Israeli declaration of independence: "[L]eave me alone… These are not things to get into… Why? Because I did these things."
Neumann observes that "[a] soldier sees only as far as he is told to shoot. And he doesn't want to see more because he knows what happens when he starts to wonder." Incidentally, this analysis is readily applicable to Israel's militaristic society, predicated as it is on an all-pervasive friend-versus-foe mentality and a universal military draft.
As Tarachansky noted in a recent radio interview with the Brussels-based Le mur a des oreilles, 1948 has become "an entire ideology" and any attempted deconstruction of this constitutes "an incredibly violent and terrifying process". Hence the state-directed "psychological violence against the idea of questioning" and the crackdown on Nakba commemorations.
Having grown up in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, Tarachansky attests to the difficulties of "[u]nlearning and decolonising your understanding". Not until attending university in Canada did she discover that, contrary to the Israeli narrative, the primary pastime of Palestinians is not "trying to kill Israelis and Jews".
On the Side of the Road ends with a scene from Independence Day 2012, in which Zochrot's attempt to honour the memory of destroyed Palestinian villages is interrupted by an announcement from an Israeli man who identifies himself as a member of the military's Golani Brigade: "[I]f we had the chance we'd shoot you one by one."
Ever helpful, the police informed the activists that the distribution of informative fliers and pictures amid the celebration will not be permitted "[o]n the basis of protecting the security of the public".
To be sure, a truthful reconfiguring of Israel's "landscape of denial" poses an acute threat to the security of national mythology - which is why it is indeed "revolutionary", as Tarachansky says, that the Zochrot-organised International Film Festival on Nakba and Return is being held at one of the country's most prestigious theatres.
After all, the only way to make the desert bloom is to reclaim the landscape.(http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/11/israel-collective-amnesia-could-kill-an-arab-2013112452923789268.html)
Islamic Jihad accuses Palestinian Authority of collusion with Israel
By Naela Khalil
JENIN — On Nov. 25, Israeli occupation forces arrested two senior Islamic Jihad members, Ghassan and Suhaib al-Saadi, in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. Following this incident, Islamic Jihad stepped up its accusations directed at the Palestinian security forces, claiming the latter was targeting the movement.
The arrest of the two men came just hours after Palestinian security forces had failed to detain them. During the same raid, the Israeli forces also failed to detain the most prominent wanted Islamic Jihad member, Sheikh Bassam al-Saadi, an influential Islamic Jihad leader who is currently being pursued by Israeli forces. Bassam, who is the brother of Ghassan and the father of Suhaib, was not present in any of the family's homes in the camp at dawn on Nov. 25.
The attempt by the Palestinian security forces to arrest Ghassan and Suhaib came within the framework of the crackdown that security forces announced in the Jenin camp on Oct. 2, 2013.
"On Monday evening, members of a special force from the Palestinian security apparatus raided the Saadi family's homes, searching for Ghassan and Suhaib, but they did not find them. After about six hours, a large force from the Israeli army stormed the family's homes and detained them," Rabie al-Saadi, Ghassan's brother, told Al-Monitor.
"Ghassan and Suhaib were wanted by the Palestinian security services because of legal abuses they carried out against the regime and the Palestinian security apparatus,” said Maj. Gen. Talal Dweikat, the governor of Jenin.
Yet Bassam al-Saadi told Al-Monitor, "Ghassan, Suhaib and another [Islamic Jihad] member — Mahmoud al-Saadi — are being pursued by the Palestinian security forces only because of their political affiliation to Islamic Jihad."
Islamic Jihad's media office in the Jenin governorate accused "Palestinian Authority [PA] security forces of coordinating with the Israeli authorities to arrest Bassam al-Saadi, one of the movement's leaders and a national symbol in the West Bank, during the same raid."
Al-Monitor had to coordinate with one of Bassam's brothers to arrange a meeting with the leader, as he does not carry a mobile phone or appear in public for fear of arrest or assassination by Israeli forces. Bassam al-Saadi shared that the Palestinian security forces raided his home and the home of other Islamic Jihad members during the first day of the security crackdown.
"The PA claimed that the security crackdown in the Jenin camp was aimed at eliminating drug dealers and criminals, but they raided my home and the home of other Islamic Jihad members. Nearly two months into the crackdown, they haven't arrested a single criminal or drug dealer. Instead, they are pursuing Islamic Jihad members,” said Saadi.
While Maj. Gen. Dweikat denied "any targeting or arrests based on political affiliation," the commissioner-general of the Independent Commission for Human Rights — which operates as an ombuds office — said in a report on the crackdown, "We see between the lines that there could also be political reasons" for the arrests.
Although Jamal Huwail, a former prisoner who is now a Fatah deputy in the Palestinian Legislative Council, denied that the crackdown targeted Islamic Jihad, he did note that "Given the importance of a figure such as Bassam al-Saadi, the security forces should deal with him in a different way. There has been some floundering concerning the matter. The security forces first announced that Sheikh Saadi was wanted by them, then denied this claim. They then came back and said that his son was wanted, because they needed to justify the raid on his home."
"Targeting of Islamic Jihad operatives is occurring in all parts of the West Bank through summons, arrests and harassment. But things are different in the Jenin camp. Every time the occupation forces carry out a raid in the camp, it only results in clashes with the military. This disturbs the PA, which alone has kept its grip on the camps for the past six years, and [during this period] there have not been any armed clashes with the occupation," said Bassam al-Saadi.
Yet Saadi, who was detained for 12 years and whose wife and son are prisoners and two other sons have been killed, added, "Israel considers the Jenin camp the key to war and peace. They believe it is an indicator of the pulse of the West Bank."
This year, the Jenin camp has witnessed multiple armed clashes with Israeli forces, which constantly raid the camp. The most prominent raid occurred on Aug. 20, 2013, when a large force raided the camp to arrest Bassam al-Saadi. The raid ended in armed clashes with residents that led to the deaths of two young men, Majdi al-Lahouh and Karim Abu Sabih. Bassam al-Saadi avoided arrest.
On Sept. 17, 2013, Israeli forces raided the camp and assassinated an Islamic Jihad operative named Islam al-Toubasi following military clashes. This raid led to a split between the camp's residents and the Palestinian security forces. The latter responded to the violent events that accompanied Toubasi's funeral by declaring a security crackdown in the camp.
"There is no security crackdown, but rather an ongoing security process. The reason for the elevated tensions on Oct. 2 came following Toubasi's funeral, when vandals targeted property, cut down trees and attacked shops. [Those involved] exploited the blood of the martyr to target security towers with gunfire and locally-made explosive devices," said Dweikat.
Dweikat's statement surprised Huwail, who said, "They summoned about 1,000 members of the security forces, including Select Unit 101. They gathered for a speech given by the prime minister, and then raided the camp at night using flares and tearing off doors. Is this not a security crackdown?"
Huwail believes that the "military display that took place in the Jenin camp was aimed at provocation.”
"Why are all these forces taking action because some angry teenagers cut down trees, yet we don't see the same action when members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council are fired on in Ramallah in broad daylight?" he added.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights recorded violations carried out by the security forces against residents of the Jenin camp during the crackdown.
Khader Adnan, an Islamic Jihad member and former prisoner, told Al-Monitor, "The security forces assaulted me and then incited youth activists against me because I did not call for any activities in support of those detained [in Israeli prisons]. This is part of the aggression carried out against those active in Islamic Jihad and the movement’s supporters."
Tariq Ka’adan, an active member of Islamic Jihad, concluded by saying, “There is an exchange of roles between the PA and the occupation when it comes to targeting the movement’s members. The PA refrains from arresting members, fearing how this would make them look to the people, and instead asks the occupation to arrest them and clear them out of their way.”(http://www.almonitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/palestinian-authority-israel-occupation-islamic-jihad-jenin.html)
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Opinions
So that Israeli intelligence doesn’t get too optimistic
Al Quds Al Arabi Editorial
Media reports have spoken about the ‘annual evaluation’ presented by the Israeli intelligence services to the Tel Aviv security cabinet, which they said was full of optimism in terms of the expected developments in the Middle East next year. The reports said the members of the ‘hard nucleus” of Israel’s government came out of the meeting ‘without a bad feeling at all”.
Yedioth Ahranoth’s political analyst attributed this optimism first to the setback in the direct threats to Israel from neighboring armies because of their preoccupation with ‘internal confrontations. The second reason for the optimism is that “army organizations have been more deterred than in the past. According to estimations by the Israeli intelligence, “Hizbullah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and even Salafists and international jihadist organizations in Sinai and Syria” have ‘good and existential reasons not to get involved in confrontations with Israel.”
Israel’s optimism is not because of “Israeli intelligence and the military and army’s capabilities” but rather because of other factors including the security policies adopted by the new regime in Egypt and the disarmament of Syrian nuclear weapons along with the retreat of the Iranian nuclear threat.
As a result of the political developments in the Middle East, the intelligence report sees a future of cooperation between Israel and some Arab countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia against what the report called “extremist political Islam.” (There is an intentional merging between the Muslim Brotherhood and armed Salafist organizations in this term).
For the report to be an actual intelligence assessment, it could not disregard the function of intelligence services around the world, which is to uncover dangers and risks (or fabricate them if there aren’t any). In this sense, Israeli intelligence sees it as a negative sign that Iran’s nuclear program was not completely contained . It is also concerned about the possibility of an eruption at a popular level could happen in Israel just like it did in Arab countries.
Israel’s optimism does not necessarily have to be ample justification for our pessimism. Rather, it should be an occasion to analyze our strategic mistakes. We are the inhabitants of this stricken reason – Arabs, Kurds, religions and sects. This is enough reason for us to take a calm and wise look back at ourselves.
It is painful for us residents of this region, to see our peoples go from fighting to gain their stolen freedom and dignity to nihilistic and destructive conflicts. It is painful for us to see our tyrannical regimes dominate over our people and citizens, to see the Nakba of Palestine multiply into multiple Nakbas in Iraq and Syria and to see our moral compass lost, pointing in the direction of dictatorial governments against our peoples or in the direction of groups that go against democracy and human rights and which are based on sectarianism and ideology.
It pains us to see the defense minister of the biggest Arab county call on his people to demonstrate and protest in order to give him authorization to remove an elected president and then to use this mandate to prevent demonstrations and protests before establishing a new security and military rule that sentences young women students that stood against it to six year in prison on charges of ‘gathering.” Four others were charged with ‘hooliganism”!
It pains us to see that the priority of the Egyptian government is war on its own people, restricting Hamas and coordinating with Israel under the guise of fighting terror. It pains us to see the Syrian Arab Army replace its enmity towards Israel with enmity towards its own people and to destroy its cities, bomb its citizens with chemical weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles and explosive kegs, weapons it never used against Israel.
It pains us to see Hizbullah, which waged a heroic war against Israel in 2006, turn its guns towards its fellow Syrians who rose up against a horrible and brutal regime, all under the pretext of defending Lebanon and Palestine. Through this tragic mistake, it has turned the struggle of the Syrian people to bring down a dictator into a Shiite-Sunni war, the flames of which will not be extinguished for generations to come.
It pains us to see the cause of Palestine become a diplomatic plaything where the cause is buried and the fate of the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims is manipulated to no end.
But in spite of all this, we advise Israel not to be too optimistic. Revolution is a huge dialectical process that takes years and years. The Arab peoples have grabbed hold of the torch of freedom and they will never let it go. (http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=108295)
We should learn from the town of Ezarriyeh
By Ibrahim Sha’aban
The Israeli occupation has disfigured the character of the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip and has made innocent Palestinian citizens pay the price for it in all facets of their lives. This disfigurement and suffering became even clearer after the Oslo Accords and the division of the West Bank into three parts (A, B and C).
The entrance to the town of Ezarriyeh is a flagrant example of this disfigurement and suffering. Suddenly, after the Oslo Accords, and without warning, the town and its eastern entrance became a main road to connect the northern and southern West Bank. It was also an important outlet after the separation wall was built with Arab Jerusalem.
What made matters worse was the occupation’s placement of a stop sign at the entrance to the town to allow settlers to pass freely. This caused horrible traffic jams at certain hours. It got even worse when Israeli authorities narrowed the road leading to the entrance, making it one-way. The issue of cantons became a reality for anyone who could see. The situation became unbearable and the crisis threatened to explode, which it did.
The city of Ezarriyeh and its town council, its mayor, members, youths and citizens decided to take a quick and peaceful action at the entrance to their town. They sat down, called hesitant official authorities and contact the media, friends and foreign consulates. All worked loyally together and achieved a reasonable transitional solution in a time when all solutions except those harmful to the Palestinians, have been suspended.
What happened in Ezarriyeh is a small example of what happens in Palestine. We are not asking that its success is copied and applied in other places of Palestine, but we call for solutions that follow its suit. That is because each case is special and has its own uniqueness, but what happened points to peaceful resistance if used in the right circumstances and which can achieve goals no lesser than other alternative ways. We know that this is not enough and that the [removal of] a stop sign does not trump the awl. Because if the judge is your adversary, to whom are you supposed to complain? But we must try, with the full awareness that we are facing an occupier and setters who do not hesitate to harm the Palestinians.
We must highlight the civil and peaceful nature of our conflict with the occupier and stay away as much as possible from the nature of military force and rhetoric which only causes a rumble more than it creates a consensus on this or that national issue. We must impose the human dimension as a means of dealing with an adversary without forfeiting rights.
Civil resistance is another face to the many faces of resisting occupations or tyrannical authorities. It is given many names: nonviolence, peaceful resistance, peaceful defense, civil defense, etc. It is nothing new in history and is aimed at weakening the adversary, deterring it and making its ways much harder.
This needs organization, planning, insight, discipline, flexibility and unity; it needs us to move away from division and separation. Most importantly, is that the Palestinian people must trust their own capabilities and know that they can achieve their own goals. It doesn’t hurt to have outside support either, to disseminate information and increase contacts and relationships with others regarding civil resistance. We must highlight that the Palestinian people is a civil, unarmed population that wants to obtain their civil daily rights within a framework of dignity and humanity.
There are many humanitarian issues that need the people of this country to work and sacrifice for in the spirit of collective action. Perhaps, what happened in Ezarriyeh is a lesson and a motivation for others to push their national issues forward. The people and only the people can decide on their fate and not one group or faction alone. Division is weakness. There is strength in unity. (http://www.amin.org/articles.php?t=opinion&id=22712)
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