Issue no 58

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Issue No : 58 26th August, 2013

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Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Palestinian Cultural

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Read In This Report

Hamas insists on reconciliation

agreement as a whole package

IOA meets Jordanian hunger strikers› demands

P 8

P 11

Gaza gov’t demands re-opening of Rafah crossing

PA-Israeli talks will lead no-where

By:

Khalid Amayreh

27 Palestinian refugees killed in Syria’s chemical attacks

P 5 Abbas: We will not demand a return to Jaffa, Acre or Haifa

P 6

“Israel” urges its allies to stand by the coup

P 7PA and Israeli occupation disperse pro-Egypt rallies

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P 4

P 9

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CONTENTS

News of Palestine

Articles & Analyses

PA-Israeli talks will lead nowhere 11

27 Palestinian refugees killed in Syria’s chemical attacks 4

Abbas: We will not demand a return to Jaffa, Acre or Haifa 5

Hamas insists on reconciliation agreement as a whole package 6

“Israel” urges its allies to stand by the coup 7

PA and Israeli occupation disperse pro-Egypt rallies 8

Gaza gov’t demands reopening of Rafah crossing 9

IOF raid kills young man, wounds three others in Jenin 10

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News of Palestine

24/08/201327 Palestinian refugees were killed on Thurs-day in chemical attacks by the Syrian regime forces and their allies in the towns of Zamalka and Ma›adamiyat Al-Sham in Damascus coun-tryside. The chemical attacks have claimed the lives of over 1300 Syrians, most of them were children and women.The action group for the Palestinians in Syria said that 18 Palestinians from the same family were among the victims that were killed in Za-malka.The action group also reported the exposure of the refugee camps of Khan Al-Sheikh and Dar›ah to several projectile attacks during the same days, with no reported casualties.

Both camps still suffer from an acute shortage of vital needs, especially the food and medical sup-plies.Al-Yarmouk refugee camp, however, witnessed a state of catious calm amidst military over flights.The action group also reported that Palestin-ian refugees in Yarmouk camp staged a protest outside Hamza Bin Abdul-Muttaleb Mosque in Arouba neighborhood to demand an end to the projectile attacks and the military blockade, which caused a life-threatening humanitarian cri-sis in the camp.

Source: PIC

27 Palestinian refugees killed in Syria’s chemical attacks

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Abbas: We will not demand a return to Jaffa, Acre or Haifa

24/08/2013PA›s president Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated readiness to relinquish the right of return, dur-ing a meeting with Israeli Knesset members from the left-wing Meretz party at his office in Ramallah.

«The Palestinian people are ready for and want peace. You have a commitment from the Pales-tinian people, and also from the leadership, that if we are offered a just agreement, we will sign a peace deal that will put an end to the conflict and to future demands from the Palestinian side.” Abbas told Knesset Members from the Meretz party on Thursday.

«We will not demand in the future to return to Jaffa, Acre or Haifa. Peace with Israel will be final and binding,» he added in a clear statement giving up the right of return for millions of Pal-estinian refugees.

Abbas said that he had sent a «reassurance mes-sage» to the Israelis in order to push the peace process talks forward. While reporting the story, correspondent of the Israeli Israel›s TV Chan-nel 2 Ohad Hamo described Abbas as «coura-geous.»

Hamo quoted Abbas as saying that «it is pos-sible for a peace agreement to be achieved very soon», during his meeting with the six Israeli leaders from the Meretz party.

«The Middle East is ablaze and this is the only and last opportunity for us. We can achieve an agreement within six months,» Abbas told the MKs.

In a related context, Ismail Haniyah, the Pales-tinian prime minister in Gaza, warned against

the Palestinian Authority›s resumption of nego-tiations with the Occupation, describing it as a «catastrophic choice» urging them to abandon this option.

During his speech at the special session of the Palestinian Legislative Council held on Tuesday at its headquarters in Gaza City Haniyah called on the Palestinian Authority›s President Mah-moud Abbas to withdraw from the negotiations with the Israeli Occupation. He also called for the establishment of a «broad national coalition to declare a rejection of negotiations and stick to the Palestinian national fundamentals,» adding that «most of the factions have a readiness to embark on setting up this alliance, at both inter-nal and external levels.»

He pointed out that «the return to negotiations reflects the state of failure and frustration» ex-perienced by the Palestinian Authority in Ra-mallah, stressing that political choices cannot be built on the basis of concessions.

Haniyah demanded an end to the Palestinian di-vision, saying that ending this division will be an important step on the road to re-building Pal-estinian institutions.

Source: Agencies

Haniyah calls for the formation of a national coalition to reject negotiations

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Palestinian Cultural

Organization Malaysia

Hamas insists on reconciliationagreement as a whole package

19/08/2013Delegations from the Palestinian Islamic Movement, Hamas, and Palestinian Liberation Movement, Fatah, met in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and discussed several issues regarding internal reconciliation.

The Fatah delegation suggested the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as elections for the Palestinian National Council. Hamas refuted this suggestion and in-sisting that all previously agreed to terms had to be carried out as one package.

In a meeting of both the movements on May 14 in Cairo, they had agreed to carry out previ-ous agreements on reconciliation within three months, this agreement ended on August 14.

Hamas spokesman, Sami abu-Zuhri, said that

Fatah had requested the meeting on Sunday. He said that his movement insisted that carrying out the terms of the agreement was the only measure that would guarantee ending the Palestinians divi-sions.

Abu-Zuhri also said that Fatah had proposed hold-ing elections and confirmed that Hamas said that elections would be the last part of the agreement to be implemented as fulfilment of the other terms would prepare the situation for elections.

Abu-Zuhri also said that Fatah had proposed hold-ing elections and confirmed that Hamas said that elections would be the last part of the agreement to be implemented as fulfilment of the other terms would prepare the situation for elections.

Source: MEMO

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23/08/2013The Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had sent, at the begin-ning of this week, a secret message to a number of senior Israeli ambassadors in Western Europe and North America about Israel›s stance on the situation in Egypt.

Maariv said that the message was sent with the approval of Netanyahu, who also serves as the country›s foreign minister, and aimed at provid-ing the Israeli ambassadors with some answers to the questions they are receiving in the countries in which they serve.

In recent days, Western as well as other Israeli reports have pointed to the fact that Israeli po-litical and security leaders have been making concerted efforts to urge the US administration to stand by General Sisi and not take any puni-tive steps against Egypt in the light of the Raba›a Al-Adawiyya and Al-Nahda square massacres. Moreover, Israeli newspapers have launched a media campaign over the last few days to em-phasize the importance of shared security and regional interests between the US and the Egyp-tian security and military, primarily the fact that Egypt is the only country among US allies which allows the latter to freely use the Egyptian air-

“Israel” urges its allies to stand by the coupAn Israeli envoy has secretly visited Cairo

space and Suez Canal without prior coordination. This is not the case with other allied countries in the region.

Meanwhile, reports on Israeli radio Tuesday af-ternoon revealed that a secret envoy for the Is-raeli government visited Cairo on Tuesday, and that he stayed there for several hours to hold talks with the military leaders in Egypt.

The Arab affairs analyst at Yediot Ahronot news-paper, Smadar Perry, said in an interview with the Hebrew radio channel Reshet Bet that it was important for the Israeli government to announce this news to confirm the continuation of securi-ty coordination between Israel and Egypt under General Sisi›s leadership.

Perry said the security cooperation and coordina-tion between the military leadership in Egypt and Israel would continue. She added that there are common interests between Israel and the Egyp-tian military, especially when it comes to the maintenance of security in the Sinai Peninsula, as well as the need to ensure a stability that main-tains the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.

Source: Agencies

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23/08/2013

On Friday afternoon Palestinian security servic-es and Israeli occupation forces cracked down on two separate solidarity marches with Egyp-tians in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank decided to take to the streets after Friday Prayer in soli-darity with the Egyptians and to condemn the bloody dispersal of the two anti-coup protests in Egypt.

The first march started from The Large Mosque in Al-Beera City. Sources from the West Bank said that the Palestinian Authority security ser-vices crushed the march immediately and de-tained two Hamas leaders; Jamal al-Taweel and Hussein Abu-Kweek.

Witnesses said that about 250 security staff sur-rounded the march and attacked the protesters with batons to disperse them.

Meanwhile, a big march started from Abu-Sneenah neighbourhood in Hebron. As they

passed across an Israeli checkpoint near Al-Ibra-himi Mosque, the occupation forces launched tear gas and dispersed them.

Meanwhile, member of Hamas›s political bu-reau Ezzat al-Resheq on Saturday condemned the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatuses for quelling a march organized by Hamas in solidar-ity with the Egyptian and Syrian peoples on Fri-day.

Resheq considered the suppression of the march and the attack on the people a serious escalation and a continuation to the series of suppression of freedoms in the West Bank.

For his part, former minister Wasfi Kabha stressed that the Palestinian Basic Law amended in 2005 ensures the freedom of opinion and expression, and that the human rights and fundamental free-doms should be respected. Kabha condemned the attack on the Palestinian leaders, the citizens, and press crews by the PA›s apparatuses.

Source: Agencies

PA and Israeli occupation disperse pro-Egypt rallies

Hamas condemns suppression of rallies in solidarity with Egypt

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23/08/2013

The Palestinian government in Gaza demanded the Egyptian authorities to reopen the Rafah crossing before the Palestinian citizens, stress-ing on its rejection to use the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing as a substitute for the Rafah crossing.

Youssef Rizqa, political adviser to Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza, told Quds Press that the continued closure of the Rafah crossing for the fourth consecutive day exacerbates the suffer-ing of hundreds of Palestinians who are forced to leave the Strip either for treatment, study or work.

Rizqa said the Rafah crossing did not cause any harm to Egypt, pointing out that the number of travellers through the crossing reached during the rule of Morsi was 1300 per day. However,

Gaza gov’t demands reopeningof Rafah crossing

since the overthrow of the government, the num-ber of travellers through the crossing did not ex-ceed 150 per day, before its closure on Monday.

He stressed that the Palestinian government in Gaza refuses to adopt Beit Hanoun (Erez) cross-ing, in north of Gaza, as a substitute for the Rafah crossing, warning that Beit Hanoun crossing may turn into «a trap for Palestinians» as it is under the control of the occupation forces.

Concerning the crossings agreement between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli side in November 2005; Rizqa said that this agreement ended in 2006, stressing that the Rafah crossing is an Egyptian - Palestinian crossing and that there is no place for a third party in it.

Source: PIC

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20/08/2013

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed a 22-year-old youth and wounded three others in a pre-dawn raid Tuesday on Jenin refugee camp.

Local sources said that IOF soldiers on more than 20 army vehicles stormed the refugee camp and fired live bullets and teargas at young men protesting the incursion.

They said that the youth Majd Lahlouh was taken to a hospital in Jenin city but attempts to revive him did not succeed and he died of a bul-

IOF raid kills young man, wounds three others in Jenin

let in the heart.

The sources pointed out that many other citizens were treated for suffocation as a result of the ex-tensive use of teargas canisters against them.

They said tension is still prevailing in the city of Jenin and its refugee camp after the raid, noting that the IOF soldiers repeatedly raided their areas over the past 24 hours.

Source: PIC

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By: Khalid Amayreh*

American-brokered «peace» talks between a manifestly-in-solent and dominant Israel on the one hand and a thoroughly vanquished Palestinian Author-ity (PA) on the other, are due to re-start in Occupied Jerusalem. The PA had been vowing for months it wouldn›t return to the negotiating table unless Israel halted settlement-expansion activities, which many pundits consider the main impediment to a possible peace agreement between the two sides.

However, apart from the arti-ficially-induced euphoria sur-rounding the resumption of the talks, there is little substantive evidence justifying whatever meagre of optimism that might exist within some quarters.

Within the Palestinian camp, there is very little hope that the current round of talks with Is-rael will be more fruitful than the numerous other previous rounds. One official close to the PLO Negotiating Depart-ment has intimated that «we have decided to deal positively with incessant American de-mands for the resumption of talks in order to appease the Americans and avoid possible

return for millions of Palestin-ian refugees and their descen-dants, uprooted from their an-cestral homeland when Israel was created in 1948.

Such critics argue rather con-vincingly that an authority that depends for its very existence and survival on politically-mo-tivated financial aid from the Americans can not really resist likely American coercion. Af-ter all, when money appears, heads bow, as the famous Per-sian poet Saadi Sherazi said 800 years ago.

More to the point, the pres-ent political environment in the Arab world, especially in Egypt where a Junta of anti-Is-lamic military officers and sec-ular politicians has overthrown the country›s only democrat-ically-elected president, may be sought by the PA leadership as an excuse to justify pos-

charges of being the rejectionist side.»

Otherwise, the PA seems, as al-ways, more of a vanquished supplicant begging Israel for «concessions» which most Pal-estinians, including the ultra-moderate PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas, view as long overdue Israeli commitments rather than concessions.

On Tuesday, 13 August, Israel released two dozen Palestinian prisoners who spent more than a quarter of a century in Israeli jails for carrying out acts of re-sistance against the decades-old occupation.

The release of the prisoners, which generated some irritation in the Israeli society, was largely viewed as «a gesture» to Abbas to help him keep face vis-à-vis his angry public where indigna-tion and a feeling of widespread helplessness is rife over the con-tinued unmitigated Jewish settle-ment activities.

Many ordinary Palestinians are quite worried that the PA might eventually budge to American- Israeli pressure to compromise or give up on vital Palestinian national interests, including Jeru-salem and the paramount right of

Articles & Analyses

PA-Israeli talks will lead nowhere

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””

As we all know, the Arab-Muslim world is not in its best shape these days, meaning that any deal be-tween Israel and the PA would only reflect the horrible inferior status quo in the Arab world

sible free concessions to Israel amounting to a clarion capitula-tion.

Indeed, there have been many indications that the bloody coup authority in Egypt is throwing its full weight behind the PA with regard to peace talks with Israel, possibly in the hope that this would make the US admin-istration overlook the colossal crime of deposing President Muhammed Mursi.

None the less, and despite the release of a small number of prisoners, it is highly unlikely that the resumption of peace talks will take us anywhere.

There are three main reasons justifying this view. First, Israel is highly unlikely to agree to give up the spoils of the 1967-war, let alone allow significant numbers of Palestinian refugees to return home to what is now Israel.

The Israeli society is simply too extremist and too jingoistic to al-low a dignified peace deal with the Palestinians to go through. More to the point, any Israeli government agreeing to give up the West Bank and return to the borders of the 4th of June, 1967, would be effectively committing a real political suicide.

Second, the United States possesses neither the willingness nor the incli-nation to exert any meaningful pres-sure on Israel, especially the kind of pressure that would make the Jew-ish state rethink its reputed intransi-gence and insolence. In fact, we all

know that when things get serious in Washington, Israel›s supporters, not Barack Obama or John Kerry, call the shots.

The third and last reason for my pessimistic forecast is the fact that the Palestinian people will simply contemptuously reject any «peace deal» that fails to recover the Pal-estinian people›s inalienable rights.

As we all know, the Arab-Muslim world is not in its best shape these days, meaning that any deal be-tween Israel and the PA would only reflect the horrible inferior status quo in the Arab world. Undoubt-edly, this would enable Israel to im-pose its dictates and blackmailing conditions unopposed.

Perhaps someone ought to tell the PA leadership that the Palestinian cause is too complicated to be re-solved, using conventional conflict-resolution mechanisms, given its immense religious, nationalistic and emotional dimensions.

Indeed, the world has utterly failed to resolve this enduring conflict for over a century. There is absolutely no reason, apart from some sa-lient optimism on the part of some American officials, indicating that the conflict is now more resolvable than it was 40, or 50 or even sixty years ago.

I candidly think the opposite is true.

* Khalid Amayreh is a se-nior American-educated Palestinian journalist liv-ing in Occupied Palestine .

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