Issue no 115 by Palestinian Weekly Report

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Read in This Issue

FEATURED STORY

P7 Meshaal lauds Turkey for supporting Palestine

Five Reasons Why 2014 Was a Game Changer in Palestine

P9 No change in Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s support to Palestine cause, Govt says

Press Releases

PCOMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Statement of Support and Solidarity with flood victims

P8 Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in Gaza

P16

Articles & Analyses Dozens arrested in Israel corruption probe

P17

If Mary and Joseph Tried to Reach Bethlehem Today, They Would Get Stuck at an Israeli Checkpoint Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

CONTENTS

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

FEATURED STORY 2014 Was a Game Changer in Palestine

Press Releases PCOM’s Statement of Support and Solidarity with flood victims

News of Palestine Meshaal lauds Turkey for supporting Palestine Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in Gaza No change in India’s support to Palestine cause, Govt says A muted Christmas in Gaza Palestinian state bid should be ‹reworded›, Fatah leader says Israeli forces crush Palestinian protests in West Bank 407 Jewish settlers storm Al-Aqsa for Hanukkah Israeli troops raze Palestinian factory near Ramallah

7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15

Israel Insider Dozens arrested in Israel corruption probe

Articles & Analyses If Mary and Joseph Tried to Reach Bethlehem Today, They Would Get Stuck at an Israeli Checkpoint

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Featured Story

Five Reasons Why

2014 Was a Game Changer in Palestine

23 Dec 2014

In terms of losses in human lives, 2014 has been a horrific year for Palestinians, surpassing the horrors of both 2008 and 2009, when anIsraeli war against the Gaza Strip killed and wounded thousands. While some aspects of the conflict are stagnating between a corrupt, ineffectual Palestinian Authority (PA), and the criminality of Israeli wars and occupation, it would also be fair to argue that 2014 was also a game changer to some degree – and it is not all bad news. To an extent, 2014 has been a year of clarity for those keen to understand the reality of the ‘Palestinian-Israeli conflict’ but were sincerely confused by the contrasting narratives. Here are some reasons that support the argument that things are changing. 1. A Different Kind of Palestinian Unity Although the two leading Palestinian parties Hamas and Fatah agreed to a unity government in April, little has changed on the ground. Yes, a government was officially established in June, and held its first meeting in October. But Gaza is effectively still managed by Hamas, which has been largely left alone managing the affairs of the Strip after the Israeli war in July-August. Perhaps Mahmoud Abbas’s authority is hoping that the massive destruc4

tion would weaken Hamas into political submission, especially as Egypt continues to seal shut the Rafah border.

But while the factions are failing to unite, the Israeli war on Gaza has inspired a new impetus of struggle in the West Bank. Israeli plans of targeting holy sites in Jerusalem, particularly the al-Aqsa Mosque, coupled with the deep anguish felt by most Palestinians over the massacres carried out by Israel in Gaza, are slowly reverberating into a wave of mini-uprisings. Some speculate the situation will eventually lead to a massive Intifada that will engulf all of the territories. Whether a third intifada takes place in 2015 or not, is a different question. What matters is that the long-orchestrated plot to divide Palestinians is breaking apart and a new collective narrative of a common struggle against occupation is ﬁnally forming. 2. A New Resistance Paradigm The debate regarding what form of resistance Palestinians should or should not adopt is being sidelined and settled, not by international do-gooders, but by Palestinians themselves. They are opting to use whatever effective form of resistance they can that could deter Israeli military advances, as resistance groups have actively done in Gaza. Although Israel’s latest war killed nearly 2,200 and wounded over 11,000 Palestinians that were mostly civilians, nevertheless, it has still failed to

achieve any of its declared or implied objectives. It was another reminder that sheer military strength is no longer the only overriding factor in Israel’s conduct towards Palestinians. While Israel brutalized civilians, the resistance killed 70 Israelis, over 60 of whom were soldiers; this was also an important step testifying to the maturity of Palestinian resistance, which had previously targeted civilians during the second intifada and reflected more desperation rather than a winning strategy. The legitimization of the resistance was to a degree, reflected in the recent decision by the European court to remove Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations. Resistance in the West Bank is taking on other forms. Although it is yet to mature into a steady campaign of anti-occupation activities, it seems to be forming an identity of its own that takes into account what is possible and what is practical. The fact is that the ‘one size fits all’ modes of resistance debate is becoming less relevant, giving way to an organic approach

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014 to resistance devised by Palestinians themselves. 3. BDS Normalizes Debate on Israeli Crimes Another form of resistance is crystalizing in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) which continues to grow, gathering steam, supporters and constant achievements. Not only was 2014 a year in which BDS managed to win the support of numerous civil society organizations, academicians, scientists, celebrities and to reach out to people from all walks of life, it did something else that is equally important: It normalized the debate on Israel in many circles around the world. While any criticism of Israel was considered a taboo in yesteryears, it has been forever broken. Questioning the morality and practicality of boycotting Israel is no longer a frightening subject, but is open for debate in numerous media outlets, universities and other platforms. 2014 has been a year that made the discussion of boycotting Israel more mainstream than ever before. While a critical mass is yet to be achieved in the US, the momentum is constantly building up being led by students, clergy men and women, celebrities and ordinary people. In Europe, the movement has been hugely successful. 4. Parliaments are Feeling the Heat While, traditionally, much of the southern hemisphere offered unconditional support for Palestinians, the West conceitedly stood with Israel. Following the Oslo accords, a bewildering European position evolved, where they ﬂirted with ﬁnding the ‘balance’ between an occupied nation and the occupier. At times, the European

Union (EU) timidly criticized the Israeli occupation, while continuing to be one of Israel’s largest trade partner, providing weapons to the Israeli army, who then use them to carry out war crimes in Gaza and sustain its military occupation in the West Bank. This debauched policy is being challenged by citizens of various European countries. The Israeli summer war on Gaza exposed Israel’s human rights violations and war crimes like never before, revealing along the way EU hypocrisy. To relieve some of the pressure, some EU countries appear to be taking stronger stances against Israel, reviewing their military cooperation, and more boldly questioning the rightwing policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A spate ofparliamentary votes followed, overwhelmingly voting to recognize Palestine as a state. While these decisions remain largely symbolic, they represent an unmistakable shift in EU attitude towards Israel. Netanyahu continues to rail against European ‘hypocrisy’, assured, perhaps, by Washington’s unconditional support. But with the US losing control over the tumultuous Middle East, the Israeli prime minister might soon be forced to rethink his obstinate attitude. 5. Israel’s Democracy Exposed For decades, Israel deﬁned itself as both a democratic and Jewish state. The objective was clear: to maintain Jewish superiority over Palestinian Arabs, while continuing to present itself as a modern ‘western’ democracy – in fact, the ‘only democracy in the Middle East.’ While Palestinians and many others were never sold on the democracy charade, many accepted the dichotomy with little questioning.

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

While Israel doesn’t have a constitution, it has a ‘code’, called the Basic Law. Since there is no Israeli equivalent to a ‘constitutional amendment’ – the Netanyahu government is pushing for a new law at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. This will basically put forth new principalsunder which Israel will define itself. One of these principals will define Israel as ‘the national state of the Jewish people’, thus casting all nonJewish citizens of Israel as lesser citizens. While, for all intents and purposes, Palestinian citizens of Israel have been treated as an outcast, and discriminating against in many ways, the new Basic Law will be a constitutional confirmation of their state-enforced inferiority. The Jewish and democratic paradigm is dying for good, exposing Israel’s reality the way it is.

The Year Ahead Certainly 2015 will bring much of the same: The PA will ﬁght for its own existence, and try to maintain its privileges, bestowed by Israel, the US and others by using every tool available; Israel will also remain emboldened by American funds and unconditional support and military backing. Yes, the next year will also prove frustratingly familiar in that regard. But the new, real and opposing momentum will unlikely cease, challenging and exposing the Israeli occupation, on one hand, and sidestepping the ineffectual, selfserving Palestinian Authority on the other. 2014 was a very painful year for Palestine, but also a year in which the collective resistance of the Palestinian people, and their supporters, proved too strong to bend or break. And in that, there can be much solace.

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Press Releases

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

News of Palestine

Meshaal lauds Turkey for supporting Palestine

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Saturday praised Turkey as a “source of power” for all Muslims in gratitude to Turkey’s leaders for supporting the Palestinian cause. “A democratic, stable and developed Turkey is a source of power for all Muslims,” Meshaal said in an address to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) annual congress in the conservative central Anatolian city of Konya. Meshaal said a “strong Turkey means a strong Jerusalem, a strong Palestine,” voicing hopes to “liberate Palestine and Jerusalem,” according to the state-run Anatolia news agency. His brief address was interrupted repeatedly by cheering crowds in the hall waving Turkish and Palestinian ﬂags and chanting: “God is greatest” and “Down with Israel!” The Hamas chief often shows up at the ruling party’s

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

events. He also attended the AKP’s congress in 2012 when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was serving as prime minister. Current Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, in his speech said Turkey’s red flag featuring a crescent with a star was a “symbol of the innocent in the world.” “God is witness ... we will make this red flag a symbol of the innocent. This red flag will fly side by side with the flags of Palestine, free Syria and all other innocents’ flags anywhere in the world,” he told the congress. Turkey’s leaders, in particular Erdogan, are known for their angry outbursts at Israel. A staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, Erdogan has often blasted Israel over its military assaults on the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by 27 Dec 2014 Source: MEE Hamas. |

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Warplanes hit southern Gaza

Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in Gaza Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man after a firefight along the border with the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian hospital officials in the territory. Sources in Hamas have named the dead man as Tayseer Asmairi, a member of the group’s armed wing’s monitoring unit in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said in a statement that a routine patrol on the Israeli side of the border came under attack on Wednesday from snipers in southern Gaza and that forces responded with fire from the ground and the air. “In response to the firing at our forces who were east of the fence in the southern Gaza Strip, we carried out immediate attacks against the relevant targets,” the statement said shortly after Palestinian medics confirmed reports of a fatality in the same area. The incident Khan Younis workers were on the border dia said.

occurred in the area as Israeli engaged in work fence, Israeli me-

The work has been stopped following what Israel described as the “gravest” incident since the Gaza war. The military instructed Gazan farmers to keep away from the border area “for their own safety”.

An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on any Israeli casualties in the clash.

bombed a Hamas base in Gaza, just hours after a rocket launched earlier that day from the territory.

‘Israel responsible’

Israel launched its Gaza offensive on July 8 with the declared aim of halting cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas.

Hamas blamed Israel for the deadly confrontation, saying that Israeli forces had busted the border fence. “The Israeli occupation is responsible for the tension east of Khan Younis. They tried to cross the border, provoking a response from Hamas,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. The group said that while it wanted calm, it would respond to Israeli actions, listing Israel’s air strikes as one form of violation of the truce that ended the 50-day war in August.

The ﬁghting was ended by an Egyptian-brokered truce on August 26. More than 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed in seven weeks of ﬁghting, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed.

24 Dec 2014 Source: Al-Jazeera

On Friday, Israeli ﬁghter jets

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

No change in India’s support to Palestine cause, Govt says

Dec 27, 2014 NEW DELHI: Amid speculation that India may be contemplating a shift in its Palestine policy, the government reiterated on Friday that there was no change in New Delhi’s policy of extending “traditional support’’ for the Palestinian cause even as it continues to maintain good relations with Israel. Apart from external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s statement in Parliament earlier this year, which sought to allay apprehension that there was any change in India’s Palestine policy, the foreign ministry also referred to the recent message by PM Narendra Modi to the UN reafﬁrming support for the “just cause of Palestine and solidarity with the Palestinian people for their struggle”. The message was meant to mark the International day of solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 24.

Source: The Times of India

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

A muted Christmas in Gaza Christmas is hidden upstairs at the Toy Toy shop in the core of Gaza City. Visitors entering the small, unassuming store must ascend a side staircase before stumbling upon a room full of Christmas goods - rows of red and green candles, shelves adorned with grinning elf dolls, a ﬂoor covered in shiny green wrapping paper. A lone employee, 24-year-old Hussam Abu Shaban, wraps snow-white garlands around a plastic tree and jokingly refers to himself as Gaza’s Santa. But in a city that has barely started to recover from a crushing summer war, this is no ordinary Christmas. Indeed, for many Christian residents of the besieged Gaza Strip, there is little to celebrate this holiday season. “This Christmas is not like last year,” Shaban tells Al Jazeera. “Most Christians just take a small tree for the kids. They’ve lost a lot of family members, some from the war, some not.” Wreckage from Israel’s 51-day assault on Gaza, which killed more than 2,100 Palestinians and displaced hundreds of thousands more, remains visible everywhere in the densely populated coastal enclave. Buildings demolished by air strikes still lie in jarring heaps of rubble, unﬁxed nearly four months after the bombs stopped falling. Driving through the streets of Gaza on Christmas Eve, it is tough to spot many signs at all of the holiday season. A few storefronts are festooned with pine boughs and shiny ornaments. But residents - even those who religiously celebrate the holiday - are not putting Christmas on display.

out of public view this year. “This is inside the house,” he explains, adjusting his thick blue corduroy jacket as he gestures around his living room. Power cuts have left his home temporarily without electricity, but a single strip of battery-powered lights casts a glow over red Christmas place mats with gold tassels, a Santa-themed napkin holder, glittering red candles and, in one corner, the family Christmas tree. “We don’t show it outside in such circumstances after the war.” His daughter, Elaine al-Salfiti, 18, wanted to go to Bethlehem with her mother this year to celebrate Christmas in the heart of the Holy Land. But Salfiti, clad in a sweater emblazoned with white snowflakes and reindeer, explains that her mother will be going alone, because she cannot obtain the necessary travel permissions.

“There were a lot of Christians killed in this war. Christian homes were destroyed,” Nabeel al-Salﬁti, 62, tells Al Jazeera. “Every year it’s been tougher [to celebrate].”

“It’s very depressing, because everyone I know travels to celebrate and I’m left alone,” she tells Al Jazeera. The absence of Christmas in much of Gaza is not lost on her, either: “Here we feel isolated. There’s so much missing. It’s not pleasant, like before.”

Christmas was already a humble celebration in Gaza. The vast majority of the strip’s 1.8 million residents are Muslim, with less than one percent identifying as Christian. And many of those are Orthodox, meaning they celebrate Christmas on January 7 rather than December 25.

Many other Christians in Gaza say they do not wish to discuss Christmas publicly, concerned that speaking to the media could get them in trouble and cause difﬁculties with obtaining permits to go to Bethlehem - especially amid increasingly brittle relations with Israel.

Shaban describes Christmas as a “uniting” force, noting many of the decorations that Toy Toy sells are purchased by Muslims.

“Christmas is inevitably coming with its decoration, its ﬁnery and its celebrations, but our inner souls are still affected, in all respects, by the devastating effects of war,” Nahed al-Dabbagh, 25, tells Al Jazeera after attending Christmas Eve ceremonies at the Latin Church in central Gaza City.

Even though the festive spirit has been more lacklustre this year than in ones previous, “we all like the decorations of Christmas”. But Salﬁti, whose home brims with holiday cheer on the inside, says he made a conscious decision to keep Christmas 10

“We hope that the next Christmas will be a feast of goodness and peace on the Palestinian people.”

25 Dec 2014 Source: Aljazeera

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Palestinian state bid should be ‹reworded›, Fatah leader says

Critical voices that include a jailed senior Fatah leader, emerged this week urging the Palestinian leadership to reword a UN proposal to end Israeli occupation, less than a week after a resolution was submitted at the 15-member Security Council to that effect. In a letter from an Israeli prison, Marwan Barghouti criticised the UN draft, urging the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to change it to reﬂect “a commitment to the people’s inalienable

national rights”. On December 17, Jordan submitted a draft UN Security Council resolution on behalf of the Palestinians, calling for an end to the Israeli occupation by 2017, and setting a one-year timeline for peace talks. The proposal went through a series of changes that took into account a separate text drawn up by France, with Germany and Britain’s help. Convicted on multiple murder

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

charges arising from his role in the second Intifada, Barghouti has so far served 12 years in an Israeli prison. He has long supported using the UN as a tool for diplomacy, but he said the current version of this resolution represented an “unjustiﬁed fallback which will adversely affect the Palestinian position”. The Fatah ofﬁcial, who enjoys broad popularity among Palestinians, said the broader Palestin|

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014 ian leadership should reword the resolution to reflect the illegality of the settlements. Figures released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics last week showed that the Israeli settler population grew by almost 23 percent in the last four years, during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s time in office. The population in Israel only grew by about 10 percent. There are approximately 200,000 settlers living in East Jerusalem, which proponents of the two-state solution envision as a capital for a future Palestinian state. Barghouti criticised the proposal for failing to mention Palestinian prisoners. “The plight of prisoners may not be part of the final status issues, but it should be mentioned in any resolution because prisoners’ freedom is a right and a precondition for peace,” he wrote. There are approximately 7,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. In the past few months, the Fatah leader has been vocal about disagreements with the PLO’s upper echelon on many issues, including the latest move at the UN. In April, he accused the Palestinian

leadership of neglecting the prisoner issue.

put all the Palestinians’ eggs in the basket of negotiations.”

“Never has a national liberation movement neglected and ignored the issue of the release of prisoners such as the one in the Palestinian case,” wrote Barghouti in a communique.

Israel had labelled the UN move a “gimmick” that would only aggravate the Palestinian-Israeli conﬂict. “Certainly this [draft] will not hasten an agreement because without Israel’s consent, nothing will change,” Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.

“The PLO signed the Oslo [I] Accord without preconditioning it on the release of a single prisoner, and without including any reference, albeit a minute one, to prisoners.” The Palestinians have been threatening to go to the UN for months, demanding a timetable for the end of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he was open to further consultation on the draft, another indication that a vote on the resolution was not imminent. “The current draft resolution does not meet the minimum afforded to Palestinians by international law,” said Hani al-Masri, a Ramallahbased political pundit. “It excludes using the Palestinians trump cards, namely going to the ICC and turning to resistance and boycott. All it does is

According to Foreign Policy, US Secretary of State John Kerry revealed that two Israeli leaders - Hatnua Chairwoman Tzipi Livni and former President Shimon Peres - had asked him to stop the vote before Israeli elections took place in March, because it could pave the way for a more rightwing, anti-peace government. Kerry did not rule out the possibility of Washington’s support for a more tempered version of the proposal, which would exclude a timetable for ending Israel’s military control, and a settlement of hotly contested issues, such as Jerusalem and refugees’ right of return, in the run-up to future talks.

24 Dec 2014 Source: Al Jazeera

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Israeli forces crush Palestinian protests in West Bank

Tens of Palestinians were wounded or suffered from gas inhalation after Israeli occupation forces attacked them during their weekly anti-wall protest, local Palestinian news agencyQudsnet reported on Friday. Local Palestinian sources said that the protesters raised the Palestinian flag and the pictures of the late chief of the Palestinian anti-wall committee, Ziad Abu-Ein, who was killed by the Israeli occupation last week. The Palestinian protesters chanted slogans in support of Palestinian unity and condemned the Israeli occupation and aggression. They also denounced Israel’s policy of land appropriation and called for the release of Palestinian prisoners. Several international delegations and activists took part in the anti-wall protests, including the head of the Japanese Football Association Kuzo Motto. Coordinator of the popular anti-wall committee in Kafr Qaddoum, Khaldoun Ishtiwi, said that the Israeli occupation directly attacked the protesters and fired live bullets and gas canisters. Ishtiwi said that a number of the Israeli peace activists and senior Palestinian officials also participated in the protests. Meanwhile, in Bethlehem, the Israeli occupation attacked anti-wall protesters and prevented them from reaching the Separation Wall.

27 December 2014

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Source: Agencies |

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

407 Jewish settlers storm Al-Aqsa for Hanukkah

At least 407 Jewish settlers forced their way into East Jerusalem’s ﬂashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex during this week’s Hanukkah holidays, a Palestinian NGO said Thursday. The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowments and Heritage said that, from Sunday to Thursday, 407 Israelis – protected by Israeli police – had conducted individual and group tours inside the mosque complex. Of these, 52 were young Israeli troops who entered the complex in military uniform as part of a so-called “guidance and exploration” program, the NGO said. “Occupation forces harassed Muslim worshippers at the gates of the mosque complex, arresting 20 over the past week,” it added. It went on to say that detained worshippers had been subsequently released after being subject to monetary ﬁnes and barred from entering the Al-Aqsa complex for periods ranging

from two weeks to one month. Israeli ofﬁcials could not be reached for comment on the issue. Jewish settlers frequently force their way into the religious site through the Al-Magharbeh Gate. A number of Jewish groups had called on supporters to storm the mosque compound this week to mark the advent of the Jewish Hanukkah holidays, or “Festival of Lights.” For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world’s third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount,” claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state in a move never recognized by the international community. In September 2000, a visit to Al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon sparked what later became known as the “Second Intifada,” a popular uprising against Israel’s decades-long occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.

25 Dec 2014

Source: Agencies

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Israeli troops raze Palestinian factory near Ramallah

Israeli troops on Tuesday demolished a Palestinian makeshift factory near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank under the pretext that it had been built without a permit, one of his owners said. “An Israeli military force backed by a bulldozer forced their way into Yasamin neighborhood in Al-Bireh town in the ﬁrst hours of the day and demolished the structure,” Mahdi al-Khatib told The Anadolu Agency. The makeshift building housed a factory specialized in manufacturing steel doors, he said, noted that the demolition cost the owners around $64,000 in losses. The Israeli authorities are yet to comment on the demolition. Yasamin neighborhood falls within “Area C,” which covers nearly two thirds of the West Bank and remains under Israel’s full civil and security control, as laid down in the 1995 Oslo II Accord between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians complain that the Israeli authorities frequently prohibit construction of cement and/or iron structures in the region. Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the city of Jerusalem in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.

23 December 2014

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Source: MEMO

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Israeli Insider

Dozens arrested in Israel corruption probe

Israeli police have arrested more than two dozen current and former ofﬁcials in a corruption investigation, including several from the party of Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister, according to a police spokesperson. Local media reported on Thursday that the investigation was one of the most “important” anti-corruption operations in the country’s history and could strike a blow to Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party just three months away from a general election.

custody until Sunday, the spokesperson said. Stas Misezhnikov, former tourism minister, was also detained. Others under investigation include Yisrael Beitenu’s former campaign chief, the former presidents of the basketball and handball federations and several ofﬁcials in charge of settlement operations in the West Bank and Golan Heights. A total of 24 people have been arrested while another four remain under house arrest, the spokesperson said. According to a recent opinion poll conducted by Israeli military radio, 40 percent of people who voted for Yisrael Beitenu in the last general election said they were reconsidering their support for the party in the wake of the scandal.

According to police, “millions” of Lieberman refused to comment on the investigation, AFP news shekels of public funds have alleged- agency said. ly been transferred to organisations He had been forced to leave the post in December 2012 following close to the party. a corruption probe, but was reinstated in November last year. Ofﬁcials implicated include Faina Kirshenbaum, the deputy interior minis- Israelis will head to the polls in March for the second general electer, who has been questioned by po- tion in just over two years after Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved lice. Her daughter Ronit will remain in parliament in December following the breakdown of his coalition 25 Dec 2014 Source: Agencies government. 16

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Articles & Analyses

If Mary and Joseph Tried to Reach Bethlehem Today, They Would Get Stuck at an Israeli Checkpoint By: Mehdi Hasan ‘Tis the season of Nativity scenes. But here’s a question to consider: would Joseph and Mary even have been able to reach Bethlehem if they were making that same journey today? How would that carpenter and his pregnant wife have circumnavigated the Kafka¬esque network of Israeli settlements, roadblocks and closed military zones in the occupied West Bank? Would Mary have had to experience labour or childbirth at a checkpoint, as one in ten pregnant Palestinian women did between 2000 and 2007 (resulting in the death of at least 35 newborn babies, according to the Lancet)? “If Jesus were to come this year, Bethlehem would be closed,” declared Father Ibrahim Shomali, a Catholic priest of the city’s Beit Jala parish, in December 2011. “Mary and Joseph would have needed Israeli permission - or to have been tourists.” Three years on, nothing has changed. Bethlehem today is surrounded on three sides by Israel’s eight-metre-high concrete wall, cutting it off from Jerusalem just six miles to the north; the city is also encircled by 22 illegal Is-

raeli settlements, including Nokdim - home to Israel’s far-right foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman (the only foreign minister in the world who doesn’t live inside the borders of his own country). The biblical birthplace of Christ has had large chunks of land conﬁscated and colonised and its tourism-dependent economy has been hit hard: the city has one of the highest unemployment rates (25%) and levels of poverty (22%) in the West Bank. As a result, Christians continue to emigrate from one of the holiest places of Christianity - the Christian proportion of Bethlehem’s population has dropped, in recent decades, from 95% to less than a third. Overall, in 1948, Christians in Palestine accounted for roughly 18% of the Arab population; today they make up less than 2% of the Pal-

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

estinian population of the occupied territories. So here is another question to consider: why is it that the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, or countries such as Sudan, has attracted the attention and anger of politicians in the west, yet the Christians of Palestine don’t get a look-in? There are no motions, resolutions or petitions ﬁled on their behalf; no solidarity expressed. Could it be because their persecutors aren’t Arabs or Muslims: it’s the state of Israel? The Israeli government, conveniently, blames the decline of the Palestinian Christian population on the intolerance of militant Muslim groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The problem for the Israelis is that the Christian exodus pre-dates the exis-

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014 tence of Hamas - the creation of Israel in 1948 was marked by the expulsion of as many as 50,000 Christians from their homes not to mention that Palestinian Christians in their own right have repeatedly refused to endorse their occupiers’ dis¬ingenuous narrative. A 2006 poll by the Open Bethlehem campaign group found that 78% of Christian residents of the city singled out “Israeli aggression and occupation” as “the main cause of emigration”, while a mere 3% exclusively blamed the “rise of Islamic movements”. “Divide and rule” is the name of the (Israeli) game; trying to turn Palestinian Christians against Palestinian Muslims by blaming the latter for the persecution and emigration of the former; even trying to redefine what it means to be a Palestinian Christian. In February, the Knesset passed a law recognising Palestinian Christians in Israel as a minority distinct from Palestinian Muslims. Yariv Levin, the Likud politician who sponsored the law, said it would “connect us to the Christians, and I am careful not to refer to them as Arabs, because they are not Arabs”. Yet Arab Christians, and specifically Palestinian Christians, have always been at the forefront of efforts to resist Israeli expansionism: from politicians such as Hanan Ashrawi to diplomats such as Afif Safieh, who served as the PLO’s envoy in London, Washington and Moscow; from the New York-based academic Edward Said to the militant leader George Habash, 18

“Divide and rule” is the name of the (Israeli) game; trying to turn Palestinian Christians against Palestinian Muslims by blaming the latter for the persecution and emigration of the

who founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The current mayor of Bethlehem is Vera Baboun, a Palestinian Christian who has written of “the despair of decades of living under a foreign occupation”. The Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Manuel Hassassian, is Christian, too. “We as Christians are part and parcel of the social fabric of [Palestinian] society,” Hassassian told me, adding: “I want to celebrate Christmas in a free country.” Palestinian church leaders Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox - came together in 2009 to declare the occupation a “sin against God” and urge a boycott of Israel. What a contrast with US evangelical leaders who shamefully line up behind right-wing Israeli governments and Jewish settlers as they wait for Armageddon. Palestinian Christians complicate the simplistic narrative of “Muslims v Jews”; they are an inconvenient reminder that the conﬂict in the Holy Land has nothing to do with theology and everything to do with freedom and self-determination. Whatever your view of Jesus or Muhammad, if you are a Palestinian resident of the West Bank you are a victim of the longest military occupation in the world. “There is no difference between Christian and Muslim,” remarks a character in Saraya, the Ogre’s Daughter, a novel by the Palestinian Christian writer Emile Habibi. “We are all Palestinian in our predicament.”

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 115 29th December , 2014

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia