Issue no 32

Issue No: 32 24th Feb, 2013

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 1

Issue No: 32

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM)

Read in this report:

1024 Palestinians killed in Syria since the start of revolution

Palestinian anger after prisoner

in Israeli jail (P.4)

With an "empty gun," Netanyahu threatens to go back to voters

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM)

Israeli settlers escalate attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem

1024 Palestinians killed in Syria since the start of revolution (P.6)

Palestinian anger after prisoner dies

Mishaal meets Erdogan during Turkey visit

With an "empty gun," Netanyahu threatens to go back to voters (P.8)

PLC receives Malaysian solidarity delegation (P.10)

24th Feb, 2013

2

Israeli settlers escalate attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem (P.5)

Mishaal meets Erdogan during (P.7)

receives Malaysian solidarity (P.10)



Contents

NEWS OF PALESTINE

Palestinian anger after prisoner dies in Israeli jail .................................................................................. 4

Israeli plans to isolate Jerusalem from its eastern and western neighborhoods ...................................... 4

Israeli settlers escalate attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem ............................................................ 5

Israeli tanks breaches the truce in Gaza .................................................................................................. 6

1024 Palestinians killed in Syria since the start of revolution ................................................................ 6

Haniyeh: Interference in Palestinian affairs impedes unity .................................................................... 7

Mishaal meets Erdogan during Turkey visit ........................................................................................... 7

ISRAEL INSIDER

With an "empty gun," Netanyahu threatens to go back to voters ........................................................... 8

Netanyahu and Livni sign coalition agreement ....................................................................................... 9

MALAYSIA & PALESTINIAN CAUSE

PLC receives Malaysian solidarity delegation ...................................................................................... 10

ARTICLES & ANALYSES

The truth about the reconciliation talks ................................................................................................. 11



Palestinian anger after prisoner dies in Israeli jail

24/02/2013 Palestinian prisoners are refusing food for the day in solidarity with the four prisoners on hunger-strike and to mourn the death of a Palestinian detainee “Arafat Jaradat” at an Israeli detention center on Saturday only six days after his arrest.

Palestinian sources have revealed that “Jaradat” had been subjected to severe torture on charges of taking part in 'anti-Israeli activities.' Even after his ill-treatment, he was denied proper medical treatment.

Upon hearing about his death, Palestinians in West Bank cities took to streets in protest. Fierce clashes erupted with the Israeli

occupation forces, who tried to close down the security checkpoints between the Palestinian cities.

In a related context, Samer Al-Issawi -who is on hunger strike since over 210 days- was sentenced on Tuesday (21/2) to eight months by a Jerusalem magistrate court. His sentence begins at the date of his arrest. Shireen Issawi, Samer’s sister, and the Palestinian human rights group Addameer confirmed today that Issawi vows to continue with his hunger strike which has caused his weight to dramatically drop and urgent warnings regarding his health.

On the other hand, the Palestinian government in Gaza lashed out at the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) for re-arresting Palestinian ex-prisoners who were freed in the prisoners’ exchange deal. The government said in a statement on Monday that the IOA act was an atrocious violation of the exchange agreement and an additional proof of its constant breaches of international doctrines and agreements.

Source: Agencies

_______________________________________________________________

Israeli plans to isolate Jerusalem from its eastern and western

neighborhoods

17/02/2013 The Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in occupied Jerusalem has held a

press conference on Saturday near the family Ayoub Shamasneh's house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, threatened to be confiscated.

Ismail Khatib, head of the Committee, considered the confiscation of the family's house a part of an Israeli plan to reduce the Palestinian presence in the holy city to 12%.

He added that the confiscation of Shamasneh's house came in light of the Israeli ethnic cleansing process carried out against The Palestinian native population of the city, stressing the support of all the Islamic bodies in Jerusalem for the family.

NEWS OF PALESTINE



The Israeli authorities targeted the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood because it is one of the most important northern districts of the city, located between the old town of Jerusalem and the Israeli outposts. It links between Jerusalem northern neighborhoods such as Shuafat and Beit Hanina and villages northwest of Jerusalem with the old town and the slopes of Tur Mount.

The expert on the settlement and maps, Khalil al-Tufkaji, said that Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood represents a stumbling block to several settlement projects to isolate northern Jerusalem from the old town.

He pointed out that the Palestinian residents in these neighborhoods or the West Bank would not be able to reach al-Aqsa Mosque without prior permission from the occupation authorities.

He concluded by saying that dozens of settlement associations work with the Israeli government and municipal government departments at Judaizing the holy city and to prepare for the construction of the third alleged Temple in place of al- Aqsa Mosque.

Source: PIC

_______________________________________________________________

Israeli settlers escalate attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem

21/02/2013 Hundreds of Israeli settlers marched into the Balata neighbourhood in Nablus city early on Thursday and performed Talmudic rituals in the Tomb of Youssef. Clashes erupted with local Palestinian residents, resulting in tens of casualties.

Witnesses in the area said at least ten buses carrying settlers entered neighbourhood,

accompanied by a large number of Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters and plastic bullets at the Palestinians. According to medical sources, tens of the Palestinians were taken to hospitals for shock and gas inhalation.

Meanwhile, another group of Israeli settlers raided the Qasra neighbourhood south of Nablus and burned six Palestinian cars late on Wednesday night.

According to the head of settlement dossier in northern West Bank, Ghassan Daglas, the settlers left Yesh Kodish settlement, which is adjacent to Qasra, and blazed the Palestinian cars in the centre of the neighbourhood.

Source: MEMO



Israeli tanks breaches the truce in Gaza

21/02/2013 Israeli occupation forces carried out on Thursday morning a limited invasion into the Khoza'a neighbourhood to the east of Khan Younis city.

According to eyewitnesses, several Israeli tanks accompanied by seven bulldozers penetrated about 300 metres deep into the Palestinian farms adjacent to the border in the area.

The bulldozers uprooted a number of trees and caused extensive damage to the Palestinian farms, particularly the wheat and barley crops.

Sporadic shots were heard in the area, but no casualties were reported.

Local sources said that this invasion is the third in 24 hours. According to the sources, a similar number of Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered the same area yesterday morning with tanks and bulldozers. That coincided with an incursion into the eastern area of Jabalia city, north of the Gaza Strip. There, the Israelis also levelled Palestinian farms and uprooted a large number of trees.

In a related context, Israeli Navy Forces have kidnapped on Tuesday morning Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza Strip coast and confiscated their boat and fishing equipment. Besides, a Palestinian fisherman was moderately wounded on Thursday afternoon after an Israeli navy gunboat fired at his fishing boat off the northern coast of Gaza Strip. The Israeli navy continues its chase of Palestinian fishermen and their boats off Gaza despite the calm agreement reached with Egyptian patronage.

Source: MEMO

______________________________________________________________

1024 Palestinians killed in Syria since the start of revolution

23/02/2013 Working group for Palestinians in Syria said that a Palestinian youth from the residents of the Yarmouk refugee camp was killed several days ago in shelling by the Syrian regular army raising number of killed Palestinians to 1024.

The group confirmed that different parts in the Yarmouk refugee camp witnessed in the early

morning hours of Saturday mortar attacks with no injuries reported, and added that a shell also fell on al-Orouba Street and caused material damage.

Residents of the Yarmouk refugee camp organized a demonstration after Friday prayers in front of Filastin Mosque. They roamed the camp's streets and chanted slogans demanding lifting the blockade imposed on the camp. The demonstrators also condemned the bombing on the Yarmouk refugee camp which killed a number of refugees and wounded dozens of others. The regular army still imposes an economic blockade on the camp's residents and prevents the entry of medical supplies and fuel, in addition to the continuation of shelling and killing of civilians.

Source: PIC



Haniyeh: Interference in Palestinian affairs impedes unity

22/02/2013 Ismail Haniyeh on Friday blamed external intervention in Palestinian affairs for hindering national reconciliation.

"We started to see a new wave of external interventions in the Palestinian decision-making process aimed at impeding the ongoing reconciliation efforts," Haniyeh said

after Friday prayers at Khan Younis mosque in southern Gaza.

Haniyeh said Hamas' commitment to reconciliation was demonstrated by its decision to allow the Central Elections Commission to update the electoral roll in Gaza. The CEC completed voter registration on Wednesday.

"This move wouldn’t have been accomplished without the positive atmosphere and the honest intentions which prevailed during the Cairo talks and the responsible decision taken by the Gaza government and embraced by Hamas," the premier said.

The decision showed that Hamas is not afraid of elections, he said, adding that "legislative and presidential elections and elections of the Palestinian National Council should be carried out simultaneously." Other unresolved issues should be addressed at the same time, he said.

Source: Ma’an Agency

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Mishaal meets Erdogan during Turkey visit

19/02/2013 Political bureau chairman of Hamas Khaled Mishaal met with Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan in Istanbul on Monday at the outset of an official visit to Turkey.

The Mishaal-Erdogan discussions focused on the Palestine question, Palestinian reconciliation, and developments in the region.

Hamas delegation, also comprising four members of the political bureau, is expected to have a series of meetings with Turkish officials.

Source: PIC



With an "empty gun," Netanyahu threatens to go back to voters

18/02/2013 The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has threatened to go back to ballot boxes if the leaders of Yesh Atid and Jewish Home parties did not agree on a coalition government in accord with his specifications, Likud-Beiteinu sources revealed on Monday.

Marathon talks with representative of Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party and Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party have failed to reach an agreement for either party to join the coalition because neither of them is ready to give up basic principles of their platforms.

At the same time, Netanyahu, whose factional coalition got the high chairs in the Knesset but cannot form a government alone, is trying to form a coalition government that matches his own criteria, Israeli media reported.

However, Yesh Atid and the Jewish Home told the Likud-Beiteinu that they had formed an alliance in which either both parties join the government together or refuse together. Both parties are persistent on the conscription of the ultra-orthodox Jews into military and national services. Netanyahu is opposed to this.

Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper, Maariv, reported that Likud-Beiteinu sources are 'threatening' Lapid that if he continues to be stubborn, Netanyahu will go back to the polls.

"Bennett better not tug too hard on the rope because it will snap," the Likud-Beiteinu sources said, according to the Maariv. "Netanyahu is prepared to go to elections; the important thing is to not give in to the pact that [Bennett] has with Lapid."

Netanyahu is trying to separate both parties from each other based on the fact that the extremist Jewish home party is a natural ally to the Likud-Beiteinu. But sources in the Jewish Home were reported by Maariv as saying: "Netanyahu has to bear in mind that religious Zionism is not the Likud's pampered dog."

Challenging Netanyahu, Yesh Atid sources said: "Netanyahu is threatening with an empty gun. If we went to the vote today Likud would get 12 seats because the public will punish him for not forming the most natural government with us, which is what the government should have been right from the start."

Israeli analysts say that Netanyahu cannot be separated from his ultra-orthodox allies which strongly oppose the conscription of their sons. At the same time, he cannot form any government without either Yesh Atid or the Jewish Home.

Source: MEMO

ISRAEL INSIDER



Netanyahu and Livni sign coalition agreement

20/02/2013 Israel's incumbent Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, announced yesterday their agreement to form the country's next coalition government and pledged to protect the "Jewish identity for the State of Israel."

Speaking at a joint press conference, both the Likud-Beiteinu leader, Netanyahu, and the Hatnua party leader, Livni, spoke about the

terms of their agreement through which Livni is to hold the justice ministry and take charge of any future Palestinian negotiations.

"The commitment to negotiations led to a partnership," Livni told reporters. "Two and a half months ago my colleagues and I formed Hatnua and we vowed to fight for a diplomatic agreement, even if it does not pay off politically."

Livni considers the commitment to diplomacy as the main reason behind the coalition agreement. "This led to a partnership with the prime minister after I was given the opportunity to negotiate with the aim of ending the conflict with the Palestinians."

Although Livni's party is regarded as centre-left, she spoke candidly of plans to achieve far-right objectives through her diplomacy. According to the agreement, Livni whose party won six seats in last month's election will become a member of Netanyahu's inner cabinet.

Source: MEMO



PLC receives Malaysian solidarity delegation

22/02/2013 Members of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), headed by Dr. Ahmed Bahar, First Deputy President of the Council, have received on Thursday a solidarity delegation from the Malaysian Islamic Society.

The Malaysian delegation came in support of the steadfastness of the Gaza Strip people, through establishing houses for the needy families, and through re-building mosques demolished by the occupation.

Bahar appreciated the Malaysian role in support of the Palestinian cause in all international forums, in addition to the Malaysia's refusal to recognize the Israeli entity, and the Malaysian diplomatic efforts to regain Palestinian rights and to highlight the suffering of the Palestinians kidnapped MPs in

the Israeli occupation prisons in the international human rights councils.

For his part, the head of the Malaysian delegation, Mr. Abdul Aziz Abu Bakar, confirmed that the delegation is on a humanitarian mission to support the steadfastness of the people of Palestine in general, and the Gaza Strip in particular, through rebuilding the houses and mosques destroyed by the occupation forces during the recent wars.

“We're very excited as soon as we enter Palestine through the Rafah crossing” he said, promising to provide material and moral support to the Palestinian steadfastness until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem.

Source: PIC

MALAYSIA & PALESTINIAN CAUSE



The truth about the reconciliation talks

By: Dr. Daud Abdullah The Palestinian national reconciliation talks have turned into a reconciliation process. Like the Middle East Peace Process, they are without progress and an apparent end. To boot, they can hardly be described as national since they are primarily about the chronic differences between Fatah and Hamas, both of which exert unrivalled influence over Palestinian national politics. Last week, both organisations tried to gloss over what was evidently a failure to agree on procedural as well as substantive issues. The only agreement of note was to continue talking.

Although the electoral procedures were supposed to have been settled in a previous "Cairo Agreement", President Mahmoud Abbas threw a spanner into the works by calling for new changes. He wants to fix the date of the elections before the formation of the unity government, by a presidential decree, of course, without recourse to the Palestinian version of a parliament, the Legislative Council. Hamas rejected the proposal.

More substantively, Abbas apparently told the organisations that Palestine is now the West Bank and Gaza only and what remains is Israel. Neither Hamas nor Islamic jihad accepted this, pointing out that no one has the right to surrender the land of historic Palestine.

Not surprisingly, therefore, last week's meeting in Cairo failed to produce any significant results. Indeed, Mr Abbas left Cairo before any decision was taken on the crucial issues of the PLO, the national unity government and elections.

One explanation for the botched talks was offered by the director of the Cairo-based Centre for Palestinian Studies, Ibrahim Al-Dirawi. He reported that during a secret meeting held in Ramallah between the US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, and Mahmoud Abbas and other PLO leaders,

Shapiro requested that they "freeze the reconciliation talks until after President Obama's visit to the region". Abbas duly, and dutifully, complied. In Cairo, he told his counterparts that he was unable to form a government with Hamas supporters while the US president was in the region.

In the same manner that this was outlined behind closed doors, the time has surely come for both Hamas and Fatah to tell the Palestinian people that there is no love lost between them and even a temporary marriage is out of the question. Palestinians are now convinced that the best they can hope for is some form of loose arrangement between the two factions.

While common sense necessitates a united Palestinian leadership, Abbas is evidently pulled in opposing directions. While national responsibilities demand reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, previous agreements with Israel – and US paymasters pull him in the other direction. The Israeli Minister of Finance, Yuval Steinitz, underscored this when he threatened to withhold the tax revenues - the equivalent of $100 million per month - due to the Palestinian Authority if it forms a unity government with Hamas.

To many observers, President Abbas's objective is to hold elections more than anything else. Talk of reconciliation is only a means to cajole Hamas into an agreement to hold parliamentary polls. Let's assume for the sake of argument that the next election is not rigged; neither the PA nor Israel nor its Western supporters would sanction another Hamas victory. There are no guarantees that the advocates of democracy for the Arab world would accept the democratic choice of the Palestinians if that means a Hamas government. Indeed, experience suggests the exact opposite.

ARTICLES & ANALYSIS



Clearly Mr Abbas desperately needs to have the elections as a means to regain control of Gaza and extend his writ in the West Bank. In effect, the polls must expedite the exit of Hamas from the very door through which it entered. This would give the PA and Israel the "democratic" authority to outlaw the movement and harass and arrest its members and supporters just as they did in the immediate aftermath of Oslo when hundreds were thrown into PA jails.

For now, Hamas appears to be in a position of relative strength. It has the legitimacy of being a resistance movement that has paid a price with the blood of its leaders and members. Moreover, it also has legitimacy from the 2006 elections, although things have changed. The entire Hamas political leadership in the West Bank, as well as its cadres, are in either Israeli or PA prisons. The movement would not have a snowball's chance in hell if a poll was called tomorrow. Hamas is acutely aware of this.

Its deputy leader, Musa Abu Marzouk, has said that the absence of political freedoms and the on-going detention campaign will turn any elections into a total farce. Abbas knows this, but is prepared to push on regardless. Hamas has thus raised the bar by calling for the next election, whenever it takes place, to include the Palestinians of the diaspora; the PA is unlikely to countenance this. Ironically, to exclude the diaspora from the vote would perpetuate the fragmentation of the Palestinian people.

A combination of political, economic and security factors have rendered reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas highly unlikely. As long as Abbas continues to grovel to the Americans and Israelis, it will remain an illusion. For now, the only consoling fact from this sad state of affairs is that the Palestinian people can hardly be described as divided as much as their political representatives very clearly are.



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Issue no 32

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