August 15, 2008
The life of the Arab world's most celebrated poet is over. We ask: How will all those touched by the work of Mahmoud Darwish remember him? In this day and age, Can the pen mobilize the conscious of the masses to pick up the sword? Mahmoud Darwish was, after all, a poet not a politician.
Part 2
Showing posts with label mahmoud abbas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mahmoud abbas. Show all posts
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Abbas' Village League
Arjan El Fassed - The Electronic Intifada - September 10, 2007
For as long Palestinians have resisted violent Israeli policies against them, successive Israeli governments have tried to undermine Palestinian unity and foment divisions. A principal strategy has been to try to foster alternative leaders willing to abandon fundamental Palestinian demands for justice and focus on an agenda with which Israel is comfortable.
For as long Palestinians have resisted violent Israeli policies against them, successive Israeli governments have tried to undermine Palestinian unity and foment divisions. A principal strategy has been to try to foster alternative leaders willing to abandon fundamental Palestinian demands for justice and focus on an agenda with which Israel is comfortable.
Palestinian Diaspora: With or against collaboration?
Laith Marouf - The Electronic Intifada - September 14, 2007
In the past few months, Palestinians in the Diaspora have watched with horror the latest developments in their homeland. There has been a flurry of articles about what to do, but overall there is a feeling that they are helpless to affect the situation on the ground. What has been missing is an understanding that Palestinians in the Diaspora must undertake a clear assessment of their own situation if they are to have any impact at all.
The recent events have cast light on dark deeds: the collaboration between Mahmoud Abbas and associates like Mohammed Dahlan on the one hand, and Israel on the other; the transfer of weapons and training by the US and other countries to certain Palestinian militias whose mission was to overthrow the result of the January 2006 election. Palestinians see clearly that Abbas -- who embraces Israeli leaders while refusing to talk to other Palestinian factions -- was the author of the Oslo agreement that never even mentioned the word "occupation," and is now discussing a new "agreement of principles" that will cancel the right of return, legitimize Israeli settlements and threaten other basic rights.
In short, what we have now is a clique of collaborators in control of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority "presidency" and much of what is left of the PLO.
In the past few months, Palestinians in the Diaspora have watched with horror the latest developments in their homeland. There has been a flurry of articles about what to do, but overall there is a feeling that they are helpless to affect the situation on the ground. What has been missing is an understanding that Palestinians in the Diaspora must undertake a clear assessment of their own situation if they are to have any impact at all.
The recent events have cast light on dark deeds: the collaboration between Mahmoud Abbas and associates like Mohammed Dahlan on the one hand, and Israel on the other; the transfer of weapons and training by the US and other countries to certain Palestinian militias whose mission was to overthrow the result of the January 2006 election. Palestinians see clearly that Abbas -- who embraces Israeli leaders while refusing to talk to other Palestinian factions -- was the author of the Oslo agreement that never even mentioned the word "occupation," and is now discussing a new "agreement of principles" that will cancel the right of return, legitimize Israeli settlements and threaten other basic rights.
In short, what we have now is a clique of collaborators in control of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority "presidency" and much of what is left of the PLO.
Olmert delays Palestinian prisoner release
ABC NEWS, Reuters : September 16, 2007
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert delayed a plan to release from prison scores of members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah movement, Israeli officials said.
Officials said Mr Olmert had planned to ask the Cabinet on Sunday to release more prisoners, but the item was removed from the agenda amid fears it would not garner enough support. Plans to release more prisoners have already been delayed once.
"The Cabinet is not going to vote on this tomorrow," a spokesman for the Prime Minister's office said.
One government official, who asked not to be named, said the vote had been delayed because a list of prisoners had not been agreed upon.
Mr Olmert told Mr Abbas at a meeting on Monday he would ask his cabinet to approve the prisoner release as a goodwill gesture for the Ramadan fasting month, which began this week, Palestinian officials said.
Israel had been expected to free around 100 Fatah prisoners.
Israel has already freed more than 250 prisoners, mostly Fatah members, as part of a plan to bolster Mr Abbas against Islamist rivals Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June.
The issue of releasing prisoners is highly emotive for Palestinians, who see their some 11,000 brethren held in Israeli jails as fighters for freedom from Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
------------------------------------------
Israel's Olmert delays Palestinian prisoner release
Yahoo! Asia News: Sunday September 16, 2007
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert delayed a plan to release from prison scores of members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah movement, Israeli officials said on Saturday. Officials said Olmert had planned to ask the cabinet on Sunday to release more prisoners, but the item was removed from the agenda amid fears it would not garner enough support. Plans to release more prisoners have already been delayed once.
"The cabinet is not going to vote on this tomorrow," a spokesman for the prime minister's office said.
One government official, who asked not to be named, said the vote had been delayed because a list of prisoners had not been agreed upon.
Olmert told Abbas at a meeting on Monday he would ask his cabinet to approve the prisoner release as a goodwill gesture for the Ramadan fasting month, which began this week, Palestinian officials said. Israel had been expected to free around 100 Fatah prisoners.
Israel has already freed more than 250 prisoners, mostly Fatah members, as part of a plan to bolster Abbas against Islamist rivals Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June.
It is unclear whether Olmert has enough support to push through the plan after a series of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza in recent weeks rekindled calls within the Jewish state for tougher action against militants to curb the salvoes.
The officials said any prisoners to be released would have "no blood on their hands" and at least one year left on their sentences. They would be released on condition they signed a document promising not to be involved in violence.
Olmert is engaged in talks with Western-backed Abbas to prepare for a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference expected in November.
The issue of releasing prisoners is highly emotive for Palestinians, who see their some 11,000 brethren held in Israeli jails as fighters for freedom from Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
------------------------------------------------
Olmert delays Palestinian prisoner release
Cabinet support called uncertain
The Boston Globe: Reuters September 16, 2007
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel delayed a plan to release from prison scores of members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah movement, Israeli officials said yesterday.
Officials said Olmert had planned to ask the Cabinet today to release more prisoners, but the item was removed from the agenda amid fears that it would not garner enough support. Plans to release more prisoners have already been delayed once.
One government official, who asked not to be named, said the vote had been delayed because a list of prisoners had not been agreed upon.
Palestinian officials said that Olmert told Abbas at a meeting Monday he would ask his Cabinet to approve the prisoner release as a good-will gesture for the Ramadan fasting month, which began last week. Israel had been expected to free about 100 Fatah prisoners.
Israel has already freed more than 250 prisoners, mostly Fatah members, as part of a plan to bolster Abbas against Islamist rivals Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June.
It is unclear whether Olmert has enough support to push through the plan after a series of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza in recent weeks rekindled calls within the Jewish state for tougher action against militants to curb the salvoes.
The officials said any prisoners to be released would have "no blood on their hands" and at least one year left on their sentences. They would be released if they signed a document promising not to be involved in violence.
Olmert is engaged in talks with Western-backed Abbas to prepare for a US-sponsored Middle East peace conference expected in November.
The estimated 11,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails are viewed by Palestinians as fighters for freedom from Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
Separately yesterday, the Israeli Army arrested 12 protesters at a rally near the West Bank city of Nablus after they hurled stones at soldiers and tried to force their way through a checkpoint, an army spokesman said.
Two of those arrested were Palestinians and the rest were Israelis and foreigners. One protester was slightly injured and taken to a hospital, the spokesman said, adding that about 40 people attended the rally.
An Israeli newspaper website said the protesters were demonstrating against a roadblock planned for the area.
Also yesterday, a small Israeli force pushed into the northern Gaza Strip, clashing with militants and bulldozing farmland, the army and residents said.
Local medics said a 17-year-old Palestinian was in serious condition after being shot in his stomach in northern Gaza. The army said it had no reports of injuries.
An army spokesman said Israeli forces conducted a routine operation against what it called terror threats in the north of the coastal enclave.
Militants in northern Gaza fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Israelis and exchanged fire with soldiers, he said.
Tensions between the Jewish state and Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June, have increased sharply after a makeshift rocket fired into Israel by militants wounded at least 35 Israeli Army conscripts last week.
The Israeli Army frequently carries out operations in border areas to curb rocket attacks from Gaza. Israel has opted against a major offensive in the territory, but last week's rocket attack rekindled calls for tougher action.
Militants from major groups said they were on high alert in case Israel launched a major incursion into Gaza, and are deploying hundreds of fighters near the border at night.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert delayed a plan to release from prison scores of members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah movement, Israeli officials said.
Officials said Mr Olmert had planned to ask the Cabinet on Sunday to release more prisoners, but the item was removed from the agenda amid fears it would not garner enough support. Plans to release more prisoners have already been delayed once.
"The Cabinet is not going to vote on this tomorrow," a spokesman for the Prime Minister's office said.
One government official, who asked not to be named, said the vote had been delayed because a list of prisoners had not been agreed upon.
Mr Olmert told Mr Abbas at a meeting on Monday he would ask his cabinet to approve the prisoner release as a goodwill gesture for the Ramadan fasting month, which began this week, Palestinian officials said.
Israel had been expected to free around 100 Fatah prisoners.
Israel has already freed more than 250 prisoners, mostly Fatah members, as part of a plan to bolster Mr Abbas against Islamist rivals Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June.
The issue of releasing prisoners is highly emotive for Palestinians, who see their some 11,000 brethren held in Israeli jails as fighters for freedom from Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
------------------------------------------
Israel's Olmert delays Palestinian prisoner release
Yahoo! Asia News: Sunday September 16, 2007
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert delayed a plan to release from prison scores of members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah movement, Israeli officials said on Saturday. Officials said Olmert had planned to ask the cabinet on Sunday to release more prisoners, but the item was removed from the agenda amid fears it would not garner enough support. Plans to release more prisoners have already been delayed once.
"The cabinet is not going to vote on this tomorrow," a spokesman for the prime minister's office said.
One government official, who asked not to be named, said the vote had been delayed because a list of prisoners had not been agreed upon.
Olmert told Abbas at a meeting on Monday he would ask his cabinet to approve the prisoner release as a goodwill gesture for the Ramadan fasting month, which began this week, Palestinian officials said. Israel had been expected to free around 100 Fatah prisoners.
Israel has already freed more than 250 prisoners, mostly Fatah members, as part of a plan to bolster Abbas against Islamist rivals Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June.
It is unclear whether Olmert has enough support to push through the plan after a series of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza in recent weeks rekindled calls within the Jewish state for tougher action against militants to curb the salvoes.
The officials said any prisoners to be released would have "no blood on their hands" and at least one year left on their sentences. They would be released on condition they signed a document promising not to be involved in violence.
Olmert is engaged in talks with Western-backed Abbas to prepare for a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference expected in November.
The issue of releasing prisoners is highly emotive for Palestinians, who see their some 11,000 brethren held in Israeli jails as fighters for freedom from Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
------------------------------------------------
Olmert delays Palestinian prisoner release
Cabinet support called uncertain
The Boston Globe: Reuters September 16, 2007
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel delayed a plan to release from prison scores of members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah movement, Israeli officials said yesterday.
Officials said Olmert had planned to ask the Cabinet today to release more prisoners, but the item was removed from the agenda amid fears that it would not garner enough support. Plans to release more prisoners have already been delayed once.
One government official, who asked not to be named, said the vote had been delayed because a list of prisoners had not been agreed upon.
Palestinian officials said that Olmert told Abbas at a meeting Monday he would ask his Cabinet to approve the prisoner release as a good-will gesture for the Ramadan fasting month, which began last week. Israel had been expected to free about 100 Fatah prisoners.
Israel has already freed more than 250 prisoners, mostly Fatah members, as part of a plan to bolster Abbas against Islamist rivals Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June.
It is unclear whether Olmert has enough support to push through the plan after a series of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza in recent weeks rekindled calls within the Jewish state for tougher action against militants to curb the salvoes.
The officials said any prisoners to be released would have "no blood on their hands" and at least one year left on their sentences. They would be released if they signed a document promising not to be involved in violence.
Olmert is engaged in talks with Western-backed Abbas to prepare for a US-sponsored Middle East peace conference expected in November.
The estimated 11,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails are viewed by Palestinians as fighters for freedom from Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
Separately yesterday, the Israeli Army arrested 12 protesters at a rally near the West Bank city of Nablus after they hurled stones at soldiers and tried to force their way through a checkpoint, an army spokesman said.
Two of those arrested were Palestinians and the rest were Israelis and foreigners. One protester was slightly injured and taken to a hospital, the spokesman said, adding that about 40 people attended the rally.
An Israeli newspaper website said the protesters were demonstrating against a roadblock planned for the area.
Also yesterday, a small Israeli force pushed into the northern Gaza Strip, clashing with militants and bulldozing farmland, the army and residents said.
Local medics said a 17-year-old Palestinian was in serious condition after being shot in his stomach in northern Gaza. The army said it had no reports of injuries.
An army spokesman said Israeli forces conducted a routine operation against what it called terror threats in the north of the coastal enclave.
Militants in northern Gaza fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Israelis and exchanged fire with soldiers, he said.
Tensions between the Jewish state and Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June, have increased sharply after a makeshift rocket fired into Israel by militants wounded at least 35 Israeli Army conscripts last week.
The Israeli Army frequently carries out operations in border areas to curb rocket attacks from Gaza. Israel has opted against a major offensive in the territory, but last week's rocket attack rekindled calls for tougher action.
Militants from major groups said they were on high alert in case Israel launched a major incursion into Gaza, and are deploying hundreds of fighters near the border at night.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Friday, 31 August 2007
What do Palestinians really think?
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, August 27, 2007
"Palestinian poll finds support for Fatah government over Hamas."
That headline from the International Herald Tribune, one of many
similar ones last week, must have warmed the hearts of supporters of
the illegal, unelected and Israeli-backed Ramallah "government" of
Salam Fayyad. Last June Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas dismissed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and the
national unity government he headed, and appointed Fayyad without
the legally required endorsement of the Palestinian legislative
council. This followed Hamas' rout of the US and Israeli-backed
militias of Fatah warlord Mohammed Dahlan in the Gaza Strip.
Does this poll vindicate the US and Israeli strategy of funding and
arming Palestinian collaborator leaders in Ramallah, and Abbas'
strategy of embracing Israel, cracking down on the resistance,
colluding in a cruel siege on his people in Gaza, and refusing all
dialogue with Hamas? A closer look at the poll results as well as
the context suggests the opposite.
"Palestinian poll finds support for Fatah government over Hamas."
That headline from the International Herald Tribune, one of many
similar ones last week, must have warmed the hearts of supporters of
the illegal, unelected and Israeli-backed Ramallah "government" of
Salam Fayyad. Last June Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas dismissed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and the
national unity government he headed, and appointed Fayyad without
the legally required endorsement of the Palestinian legislative
council. This followed Hamas' rout of the US and Israeli-backed
militias of Fatah warlord Mohammed Dahlan in the Gaza Strip.
Does this poll vindicate the US and Israeli strategy of funding and
arming Palestinian collaborator leaders in Ramallah, and Abbas'
strategy of embracing Israel, cracking down on the resistance,
colluding in a cruel siege on his people in Gaza, and refusing all
dialogue with Hamas? A closer look at the poll results as well as
the context suggests the opposite.
Saturday, 11 August 2007
Mahmoud Abbas' war against the Palestinian people
Ali Abunimah - The Electronic Intifada - 10 August 2007
"Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was apparently more delighted by the banquet prepared for him by the wife of Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat than he was with meeting President Mahmoud Abbas in Jericho the day before yesterday," the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported on its website on 8 August, citing Israel's Channel 10 television station.
Channel 10's correspondent spoke of the "hospitality and warmth" that marked Abbas' reception of Olmert and his delegation, noting that "Erekat's wife insisted on personally preparing and serving" the banquet. Olmert, the report added, "was unable to conceal his delight and appetite for the rich food and for the hospitality and generosity" the Israelis received from their Palestinian hosts.
Behind all the theater, the results of the meeting were as meagre as can be expected. Olmert publicly affirmed his commitment to the "two-state solution," while spokesmen briefed the press that Israel was not ready to discuss any fundamental issues, such as borders, halting colonial settlements, or the rights of refugees. The exercise was aimed at maintaining the fiction of a "peace process" from which Abbas will supposedly one day be able to deliver results.
Yet while he treats Olmert to delicacies in Jericho, Abbas is doing his best to ensure that Palestinians in Gaza continue to suffer and starve due to the closure of the commercial and civilian crossings and tightened siege imposed by Israel since Hamas fighters routed US- and Israeli-backed Fatah militias in early June.
A source who works directly with Abbas' ministers in the unelected and illegal "emergency government" of Salam Fayyad in Ramallah wrote to me that "Abbas has explicitly ordered the Rafah border to close and remain closed with the purpose of strangling Hamas." The source, who was motivated to speak out by his outrage, but requested anonymity because he fears reprisals, added that Abbas "is ready to see his own people die for his political games." The source added that while Abbas' official public relations pronouncements are that the border is to be opened at once, "what is going on in the meetings is the opposite."
What my source confirmed had already been revealed by Haaretz in a 8 July article that reported that Abbas "asked Israel and Egypt prevent the movement of people from Egypt to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing" and that "Abbas and a number of his aides asked that the request not be made public" ("Abbas asks for Rafah Gaza-Egypt crossing point to remain closed," Haaretz, 18 July 2007).
Abbas' policy of colluding with Israel to starve his own people is having its effect. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA issued a desperate appeal for the borders of the besieged strip to be reopened. Filippo Grandi, the agency's deputy commissioner general warned in a 9 August statement that within weeks Gaza could "be one hundred percent aid dependent" (Press Statement by Filippo Grandi, Deputy Commissioner General, UNRWA, Gaza City, 9 August 2007.)
All 600 garment factories in Gaza have shut down because they cannot import raw materials and 90 percent of factories involved in the construction industry have closed, the BBC reported on 9 August, citing figures given by the UN. As many as 120,000 workers in Gaza are likely to lose their jobs, and even UNRWA and the United Nations Development Programme have had to halt construction of shelters for refugees. ("UN warns over Gaza economic woe," BBC News, 9 August 2007.)
In what might be a tacit admission of Abbas' complicity, Grandi made a direct appeal not only to Israel, but to the "Palestinian authorities" to take "immediate steps to open up the Karni Crossing, to imports and exports, as well as humanitarian goods." He added, "Only this will allow the little that remains of Gaza's economy to survive."
As the people in Gaza suffer strangulation, thousands of their relatives were stranded in desperate conditions on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, refugees exiled even from their place of exile. Many are people in poor health who went to Egypt to seek medical treatment, and at least 31 have died while waiting to return home.
On the political front, Hamas has continued to react to Abbas' escalating war with equanimity, issuing daily calls for dialogue, reconciliation and a return to a national unity government. Despite the siege, it has also continued to hold its own successfully, paying the wages of thousands of government employees whose salaries Abbas and Fayyad had confiscated.
Abbas, while literally embracing the occupier and colonizer, has continued to angrily reject any intra-Palestinian dialogue. Yet it is doubtful how long this position will be tenable. Abbas, under a veto from the Bush administration refuses to talk, even as some senior Israelis have started to advocate direct dialogue with Hamas.
One of those is Efraim Halevy, the former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Halevy said, "I don't say we should talk to Hamas out of sympathy to them. I have no sympathy whatsoever for Hamas. I think they are a ghastly crowd ... But I have not seen anybody who says the Abbas-Fayyad tandem is going to do the job" ("What if Israel Talked to Hamas? Ex-Spymaster's Plan, Seen as Heresy by Some," Wall Street Journal, 1 August 2007).
Halevy expressed doubts about the US strategy of trying to prop up Abbas and isolate Hamas, calling it "political fantasy." He called for Israel to negotiate a long-term truce with Hamas, something the movement has already offered. Halevy, the Journal reported, "is part of a small band of public figures who now say that, because of Hamas's growing clout, it is becoming impossible to avoid such a dialogue. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell joined the group in a recent interview with National Public Radio."
Unashamed, Abbas carries on; he recently received another large arms shipment -- 1,000 rifles -- coordinated by Israel and Jordan to strengthen his militias against Hamas. All these provocations are having an effect. While Hamas' civilian leadership continues to offer olive branches, the rank and file of the resistance movement are showing signs that their patience is wearing thin.
Following Fayyad's recent call for all resistance forces to unilaterally disarm in front of the occupation, and the subsequent publication of his "government program" that omitted mention of armed struggle, the Palestinian Resistance Committees (PRC) issued an ominous warning. In a 28 July press conference a spokesman for the group -- a coalition of resistance fighters from various factions including Fatah, responsible for capturing the Israeli prisoner of war Gilad Shalit -- "dubbed Abbas, Fayyad and other members of the government the 'Ramallah traitors' and vowed they will receive an 'identical response as to the Israeli occupation'" ("PRC: Fayad and 'Ramallah traitors' targets for attack," Haaretz, 28 July 2007).
Meanwhile, another Hamas member, Mou'aiad Bani Odeh, 22, died in an Israeli hospital after being transferred from al-Juneid prison, run by Abbas' forces. Bani Odeh, Hamas alleges, succumbed to injuries resulting from torture inflicted by Abbas' men, who continue their campaign of repression against Hamas members throughout the West Bank. ("Hamas member dies after being tortured in jail run by Palestinian Authority," Ma'an News, 10 August 2007.)
The signs are that unless Abbas and his entourage reverse course and end their war against the Palestinian people, the apparent calm that now prevails will soon be shattered by another storm.
Ali Abunimah is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse.
"Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was apparently more delighted by the banquet prepared for him by the wife of Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat than he was with meeting President Mahmoud Abbas in Jericho the day before yesterday," the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported on its website on 8 August, citing Israel's Channel 10 television station.
Channel 10's correspondent spoke of the "hospitality and warmth" that marked Abbas' reception of Olmert and his delegation, noting that "Erekat's wife insisted on personally preparing and serving" the banquet. Olmert, the report added, "was unable to conceal his delight and appetite for the rich food and for the hospitality and generosity" the Israelis received from their Palestinian hosts.
Behind all the theater, the results of the meeting were as meagre as can be expected. Olmert publicly affirmed his commitment to the "two-state solution," while spokesmen briefed the press that Israel was not ready to discuss any fundamental issues, such as borders, halting colonial settlements, or the rights of refugees. The exercise was aimed at maintaining the fiction of a "peace process" from which Abbas will supposedly one day be able to deliver results.
Yet while he treats Olmert to delicacies in Jericho, Abbas is doing his best to ensure that Palestinians in Gaza continue to suffer and starve due to the closure of the commercial and civilian crossings and tightened siege imposed by Israel since Hamas fighters routed US- and Israeli-backed Fatah militias in early June.
A source who works directly with Abbas' ministers in the unelected and illegal "emergency government" of Salam Fayyad in Ramallah wrote to me that "Abbas has explicitly ordered the Rafah border to close and remain closed with the purpose of strangling Hamas." The source, who was motivated to speak out by his outrage, but requested anonymity because he fears reprisals, added that Abbas "is ready to see his own people die for his political games." The source added that while Abbas' official public relations pronouncements are that the border is to be opened at once, "what is going on in the meetings is the opposite."
What my source confirmed had already been revealed by Haaretz in a 8 July article that reported that Abbas "asked Israel and Egypt prevent the movement of people from Egypt to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing" and that "Abbas and a number of his aides asked that the request not be made public" ("Abbas asks for Rafah Gaza-Egypt crossing point to remain closed," Haaretz, 18 July 2007).
Abbas' policy of colluding with Israel to starve his own people is having its effect. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA issued a desperate appeal for the borders of the besieged strip to be reopened. Filippo Grandi, the agency's deputy commissioner general warned in a 9 August statement that within weeks Gaza could "be one hundred percent aid dependent" (Press Statement by Filippo Grandi, Deputy Commissioner General, UNRWA, Gaza City, 9 August 2007.)
All 600 garment factories in Gaza have shut down because they cannot import raw materials and 90 percent of factories involved in the construction industry have closed, the BBC reported on 9 August, citing figures given by the UN. As many as 120,000 workers in Gaza are likely to lose their jobs, and even UNRWA and the United Nations Development Programme have had to halt construction of shelters for refugees. ("UN warns over Gaza economic woe," BBC News, 9 August 2007.)
In what might be a tacit admission of Abbas' complicity, Grandi made a direct appeal not only to Israel, but to the "Palestinian authorities" to take "immediate steps to open up the Karni Crossing, to imports and exports, as well as humanitarian goods." He added, "Only this will allow the little that remains of Gaza's economy to survive."
As the people in Gaza suffer strangulation, thousands of their relatives were stranded in desperate conditions on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, refugees exiled even from their place of exile. Many are people in poor health who went to Egypt to seek medical treatment, and at least 31 have died while waiting to return home.
On the political front, Hamas has continued to react to Abbas' escalating war with equanimity, issuing daily calls for dialogue, reconciliation and a return to a national unity government. Despite the siege, it has also continued to hold its own successfully, paying the wages of thousands of government employees whose salaries Abbas and Fayyad had confiscated.
Abbas, while literally embracing the occupier and colonizer, has continued to angrily reject any intra-Palestinian dialogue. Yet it is doubtful how long this position will be tenable. Abbas, under a veto from the Bush administration refuses to talk, even as some senior Israelis have started to advocate direct dialogue with Hamas.
One of those is Efraim Halevy, the former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Halevy said, "I don't say we should talk to Hamas out of sympathy to them. I have no sympathy whatsoever for Hamas. I think they are a ghastly crowd ... But I have not seen anybody who says the Abbas-Fayyad tandem is going to do the job" ("What if Israel Talked to Hamas? Ex-Spymaster's Plan, Seen as Heresy by Some," Wall Street Journal, 1 August 2007).
Halevy expressed doubts about the US strategy of trying to prop up Abbas and isolate Hamas, calling it "political fantasy." He called for Israel to negotiate a long-term truce with Hamas, something the movement has already offered. Halevy, the Journal reported, "is part of a small band of public figures who now say that, because of Hamas's growing clout, it is becoming impossible to avoid such a dialogue. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell joined the group in a recent interview with National Public Radio."
Unashamed, Abbas carries on; he recently received another large arms shipment -- 1,000 rifles -- coordinated by Israel and Jordan to strengthen his militias against Hamas. All these provocations are having an effect. While Hamas' civilian leadership continues to offer olive branches, the rank and file of the resistance movement are showing signs that their patience is wearing thin.
Following Fayyad's recent call for all resistance forces to unilaterally disarm in front of the occupation, and the subsequent publication of his "government program" that omitted mention of armed struggle, the Palestinian Resistance Committees (PRC) issued an ominous warning. In a 28 July press conference a spokesman for the group -- a coalition of resistance fighters from various factions including Fatah, responsible for capturing the Israeli prisoner of war Gilad Shalit -- "dubbed Abbas, Fayyad and other members of the government the 'Ramallah traitors' and vowed they will receive an 'identical response as to the Israeli occupation'" ("PRC: Fayad and 'Ramallah traitors' targets for attack," Haaretz, 28 July 2007).
Meanwhile, another Hamas member, Mou'aiad Bani Odeh, 22, died in an Israeli hospital after being transferred from al-Juneid prison, run by Abbas' forces. Bani Odeh, Hamas alleges, succumbed to injuries resulting from torture inflicted by Abbas' men, who continue their campaign of repression against Hamas members throughout the West Bank. ("Hamas member dies after being tortured in jail run by Palestinian Authority," Ma'an News, 10 August 2007.)
The signs are that unless Abbas and his entourage reverse course and end their war against the Palestinian people, the apparent calm that now prevails will soon be shattered by another storm.
Ali Abunimah is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse.
Friday, 20 July 2007
Alive now, dead later?
19 - 25 July 2007 - Al Ahram Weekly - Issue No. 854
Palestinian activists have nervously decided to hand in their arms in exchange for an amnesty from Israel. But are they correct in trusting the Israelis not to assassinate them in future? Not according to seasoned Israeli commentators, writes Saleh Al-Naami.
...................
Alex Fishman, a military commentator for Yediot Aharanot, observed that all the Palestinian activists that Israel said it would take off its wanted list would remain under surveillance by Israeli intelligence so that they could be easily nabbed whenever security officials in Tel Aviv deemed it necessary.
Israeli Channel 2 defence correspondent, Ronny Daniel was amused by Fatah activists' talking about "retiring" from the fight. He quipped that the Israeli security services would never be satisfied until the activists were "retired from the face of this earth."
------------------
Israel arrests 300 Fatah affiliates prior to the release of 250
Nablus – Ma'an – Statistical evidence has revealed that the Israeli authorities have intensified their arrest campaigns against Palestinians in the West Bank in the past two weeks, especially after the Sharm el Sheikh summit of Middle Eastern leaders. During the summit Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, promised to release 250 prisoners affiliated to the Fatah movement.
The pledge was portrayed as a gesture of good will towards the Palestinians.
Fatah's information office issued a statement announcing that Israel has apprehended more than 300 Palestinians affiliated to the Fatah movement over the past two weeks. The number arrested in just two weeks has already exceeded the number of detainees proposed to be freed by Olmert.
-------------------------
Goodwill: Israel style
CNN International acknowledged the arrest of over 200 before releasing 250. They also acknowledged that there are some 11,000 prisoners in Israeli prisons.
............................................
20 July 2007: Alan Fisher reports for Al Jazeera English on one of the 'freed' Palestinian prisoners:
More than 250 Palestinian prisoners are freed by Israel.
Their release is being seen as a gesture of support for the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Not one of the released prisoners is from Hamas.
Around 85 per cent of those freed are from Abbas' Fatah faction.
The rest from smaller groups, like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
But the number is just a fraction of nearly 10,000 Palestinians still held in Israeli jails.
Palestinian activists have nervously decided to hand in their arms in exchange for an amnesty from Israel. But are they correct in trusting the Israelis not to assassinate them in future? Not according to seasoned Israeli commentators, writes Saleh Al-Naami.
...................
Alex Fishman, a military commentator for Yediot Aharanot, observed that all the Palestinian activists that Israel said it would take off its wanted list would remain under surveillance by Israeli intelligence so that they could be easily nabbed whenever security officials in Tel Aviv deemed it necessary.
Israeli Channel 2 defence correspondent, Ronny Daniel was amused by Fatah activists' talking about "retiring" from the fight. He quipped that the Israeli security services would never be satisfied until the activists were "retired from the face of this earth."
------------------
Israel arrests 300 Fatah affiliates prior to the release of 250
Nablus – Ma'an – Statistical evidence has revealed that the Israeli authorities have intensified their arrest campaigns against Palestinians in the West Bank in the past two weeks, especially after the Sharm el Sheikh summit of Middle Eastern leaders. During the summit Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, promised to release 250 prisoners affiliated to the Fatah movement.
The pledge was portrayed as a gesture of good will towards the Palestinians.
Fatah's information office issued a statement announcing that Israel has apprehended more than 300 Palestinians affiliated to the Fatah movement over the past two weeks. The number arrested in just two weeks has already exceeded the number of detainees proposed to be freed by Olmert.
-------------------------
Goodwill: Israel style
CNN International acknowledged the arrest of over 200 before releasing 250. They also acknowledged that there are some 11,000 prisoners in Israeli prisons.
............................................
20 July 2007: Alan Fisher reports for Al Jazeera English on one of the 'freed' Palestinian prisoners:
More than 250 Palestinian prisoners are freed by Israel.
Their release is being seen as a gesture of support for the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Not one of the released prisoners is from Hamas.
Around 85 per cent of those freed are from Abbas' Fatah faction.
The rest from smaller groups, like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
But the number is just a fraction of nearly 10,000 Palestinians still held in Israeli jails.
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
"Israel Can Do What it Wants": The Stark Truth From Ilan Pappe
AUDIO: "Israel Can Do What it Wants": The Stark Truth From Ilan Pappe
Crossing The Line: Life in Occupied Palestine, 16 February 2007
http://ctl.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=182723
Crossing The Line: Life in Occupied Palestine, 16 February 2007
http://ctl.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=182723
Thursday, 25 January 2007
EI EXCLUSIVE: Leaked Israeli document gives frightening glimpse of apartheid
EI Exclusive: LEAKED ISRAELI DOCUMENT GIVES FRIGHTENING GLIMPSE OF APARTHEID
By Ali Abunimah,
The Electronic Intifada, 25 January 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6442.shtml
ISRAELI MINISTRY OF DEFENSE DOCUMENT PROVIDES GLIMPSE INTO THE MINDSET OF APARTHEID'S BUREAUCRACY, OUTLINES MOVEMENT RESTRICTIONS, BUREAUCRATIC ETHNIC CLEANSING, POLITICAL MANIPULATION AND ATTEMPT TO FOSTER COLLABORATORS. READ EI'S SUMMMARY AND ANALYSIS BELOW. FOR IMAGES AND TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL DOCUMENT VISIT THE LINK ABOVE.
President Jimmy Carter angered Israel and its friends by describing "the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank."
Now, The Electronic Intifada has obtained an Israeli Ministry of Defense Powerpoint presentation which provides a frightening glimpse into the mindset of the bureaucracy of apartheid.
The first page of the document bears the name "Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories" as well as the acronym "COGAT" at the bottom of each page. These appear to refer to the unit of the Israeli army that enforces the occupation against the Palestinian civilian population.
The top of the first slide also bears the names and insignia of the "State of Israel" and the "Ministry of Defense." Dated January 12, the presentation is titled "Key Measures for easing the daily lives of the Palestinian Population."
Far from that, the document provides detail of the regime of severe movement restrictions, bureaucratic ethnic cleansing and political manipulation and fostering of collaborators that Israel operates in the the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The document, in English, appears to be genuine. While its exact purpose or audience is not known, it may have been designed to impress foreign diplomats with Israel's generosity to the Palestinians.
Among the policies the document outlines are:
- Efforts to "empower Abu-Mazen" (Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas) by facilitating entry of "security equipment for the Presidential Guard" donated by foreign countries. (The United States recently announced that it would provide millions of dollars of weapons and equipment to this unit which serves as a personal militia for Abbas and his Fatah faction who seek to overthrow the democratically-elected Hamas government).
- Providing special privileges for "the movement of VIPs and senior Palestinians" and others allies of Abbas, including "facilitating movement without security checks."These special privileges, not available to millions of Palestinians are intended for "Strengthening Abu-Mazen,"presumably at the expense of the democratically-elected Hamas-led cabinet and legislative council dozens of whose members, far from enjoying VIP treatment, have been kidnapped and are being held without charge or trial by Israeli occupation forces.
- Special permits for 505 Palestinian "businessmen,"allowing them to be exempt from the pass laws that forbid overnight stays by Palestinians in Israel. They will also be subject to fewer security checks. This privileged class may also benefit from the "Possible return of $60 Million from the frozen tax money to the private sector, subject to identification of the businessman, and the formation of a working mechanism." This could possibly indicate that Israel, in collusion with Abbas, seeks to misappropriate Palestinian public assets it has illegally seized, bypassing the Palestinian Authority Finance Ministry and redistributing them to Abbas cronies.
- With frightening precision, allowing "42,899" Palestinian laborers to work "in Israel and the settlements" and exempting 2,000 Palestinian agricultural laborers from the pass laws so that "overnight stay in Israel" is"permitted." Of these workers, a mere 1,600 would be permitted to enter occupied East Jerusalem, the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank.
Millions of Palestinians around the world are forbidden from visiting or living in their country due to Israeli restrictions and laws that discriminate against non-Jews. A privileged few Palestinians have been able to do so, however, by virtue of their citizenship in the United States or European countries, whose citizens are generally allowed to enter Israel without visas as tourists. Even this precarious existence has recently been threatened by the new Israeli practice of denying them re-entry if they leave the country for any reason. While the document claims these restrictions will be eased, it also confirms the policy of prohibiting ordinary family life for Palestinians. Palestinians (always referred to as "foreign nationals") with foreign passports, even those with spouses and families Israel does recognize as residents,will be limited to a total cumulative stay not exceeding 27 months in their country. No other country calling itself a democracy systematically treats indigenous people as foreigners and deports them in this manner breaking apart families in the process.
Finally, the document lists a number of catergories of "humanitarian" workers who will be given some leeway from the strict pass laws. These include 1,450 religious personnel, 1,300 hospital employees, 300 hotel workers,and lawyers, teachers and residents of an enclave in occupied East Jerusalem that has been besieged by settlers and the apartheid wall.
Amidst a system of ruthless and obsessive control such as the one Israel operates against Palestinians, not even this token 'easing' designed purely for public relations can be taken for granted; Israel routinely lies about what it does. For example, during a summit meeting with Mahmoud Abbas in December, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert promised to remove dozens of checkpoints and obstacles impeding the movement of Palestinians inside the occupiedWest Bank. The Israeli occupation forces later claimed to have removed 44 of the hundreds of obstacles in fulfillment of Olmert's pledge. In fact, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported on January 22, the Israeli army "admitted on Sunday that the 44 dirt obstacles it said had been removed from around West Bank villages did not actually exist."
What does exist, and is plain for all the world to see, is a horrifying regime of totalitarian control of millions of Palestinians who remain prisoners of Israel's racist system and the army and settler militias that enforce it.
By Ali Abunimah,
The Electronic Intifada, 25 January 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6442.shtml
ISRAELI MINISTRY OF DEFENSE DOCUMENT PROVIDES GLIMPSE INTO THE MINDSET OF APARTHEID'S BUREAUCRACY, OUTLINES MOVEMENT RESTRICTIONS, BUREAUCRATIC ETHNIC CLEANSING, POLITICAL MANIPULATION AND ATTEMPT TO FOSTER COLLABORATORS. READ EI'S SUMMMARY AND ANALYSIS BELOW. FOR IMAGES AND TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL DOCUMENT VISIT THE LINK ABOVE.
President Jimmy Carter angered Israel and its friends by describing "the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank."
Now, The Electronic Intifada has obtained an Israeli Ministry of Defense Powerpoint presentation which provides a frightening glimpse into the mindset of the bureaucracy of apartheid.
The first page of the document bears the name "Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories" as well as the acronym "COGAT" at the bottom of each page. These appear to refer to the unit of the Israeli army that enforces the occupation against the Palestinian civilian population.
The top of the first slide also bears the names and insignia of the "State of Israel" and the "Ministry of Defense." Dated January 12, the presentation is titled "Key Measures for easing the daily lives of the Palestinian Population."
Far from that, the document provides detail of the regime of severe movement restrictions, bureaucratic ethnic cleansing and political manipulation and fostering of collaborators that Israel operates in the the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The document, in English, appears to be genuine. While its exact purpose or audience is not known, it may have been designed to impress foreign diplomats with Israel's generosity to the Palestinians.
Among the policies the document outlines are:
- Efforts to "empower Abu-Mazen" (Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas) by facilitating entry of "security equipment for the Presidential Guard" donated by foreign countries. (The United States recently announced that it would provide millions of dollars of weapons and equipment to this unit which serves as a personal militia for Abbas and his Fatah faction who seek to overthrow the democratically-elected Hamas government).
- Providing special privileges for "the movement of VIPs and senior Palestinians" and others allies of Abbas, including "facilitating movement without security checks."These special privileges, not available to millions of Palestinians are intended for "Strengthening Abu-Mazen,"presumably at the expense of the democratically-elected Hamas-led cabinet and legislative council dozens of whose members, far from enjoying VIP treatment, have been kidnapped and are being held without charge or trial by Israeli occupation forces.
- Special permits for 505 Palestinian "businessmen,"allowing them to be exempt from the pass laws that forbid overnight stays by Palestinians in Israel. They will also be subject to fewer security checks. This privileged class may also benefit from the "Possible return of $60 Million from the frozen tax money to the private sector, subject to identification of the businessman, and the formation of a working mechanism." This could possibly indicate that Israel, in collusion with Abbas, seeks to misappropriate Palestinian public assets it has illegally seized, bypassing the Palestinian Authority Finance Ministry and redistributing them to Abbas cronies.
- With frightening precision, allowing "42,899" Palestinian laborers to work "in Israel and the settlements" and exempting 2,000 Palestinian agricultural laborers from the pass laws so that "overnight stay in Israel" is"permitted." Of these workers, a mere 1,600 would be permitted to enter occupied East Jerusalem, the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank.
Millions of Palestinians around the world are forbidden from visiting or living in their country due to Israeli restrictions and laws that discriminate against non-Jews. A privileged few Palestinians have been able to do so, however, by virtue of their citizenship in the United States or European countries, whose citizens are generally allowed to enter Israel without visas as tourists. Even this precarious existence has recently been threatened by the new Israeli practice of denying them re-entry if they leave the country for any reason. While the document claims these restrictions will be eased, it also confirms the policy of prohibiting ordinary family life for Palestinians. Palestinians (always referred to as "foreign nationals") with foreign passports, even those with spouses and families Israel does recognize as residents,will be limited to a total cumulative stay not exceeding 27 months in their country. No other country calling itself a democracy systematically treats indigenous people as foreigners and deports them in this manner breaking apart families in the process.
Finally, the document lists a number of catergories of "humanitarian" workers who will be given some leeway from the strict pass laws. These include 1,450 religious personnel, 1,300 hospital employees, 300 hotel workers,and lawyers, teachers and residents of an enclave in occupied East Jerusalem that has been besieged by settlers and the apartheid wall.
Amidst a system of ruthless and obsessive control such as the one Israel operates against Palestinians, not even this token 'easing' designed purely for public relations can be taken for granted; Israel routinely lies about what it does. For example, during a summit meeting with Mahmoud Abbas in December, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert promised to remove dozens of checkpoints and obstacles impeding the movement of Palestinians inside the occupiedWest Bank. The Israeli occupation forces later claimed to have removed 44 of the hundreds of obstacles in fulfillment of Olmert's pledge. In fact, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported on January 22, the Israeli army "admitted on Sunday that the 44 dirt obstacles it said had been removed from around West Bank villages did not actually exist."
What does exist, and is plain for all the world to see, is a horrifying regime of totalitarian control of millions of Palestinians who remain prisoners of Israel's racist system and the army and settler militias that enforce it.
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