Issue no 133 by Palestinian Weekly Report

Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

Read in This Issue

P12 67 years to Nakba, 135 countries recognize Palestine

FEATUREDSTORY P 4 Israeli forces ‹fired indiscriminately› in Gaza

P8 Palestine backs India’s bid for UNSC

Israeli insider

Israel›s Netanyahu faces deadline to form coalition FIFACongresstodiscussPalestineproposal to suspend Israel

P 11

Articles&analysesP15 Israeli court makes way for demolitionofPalestinianvillage

Now is the time to isolate Israel

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CONTENTS

Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

FEATURED STORY Israeli forces ‹fired indiscriminately› in Gaza News of Palestine FIFA Congress to discuss Palestine proposal to suspend Israel Palestine backs India’s bid for UNSC

4 7 8

Israel Insider 3,500PalestinianchildrenstrandedinIsrael›sNetanyahufacesdeadlinetoformcoalition 9 Israeli Elections 2015 :Results 10 Israeli court makes way for demolition of Palestinian village 11 67 years to Nakba, 135 countries recognize Palestine 12 Detentions of Hamas-aligned students ‹deeply worrying› 13 Articles & Analyses Now is the time to isolate Israel

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

Featured Story

Israeliforces‹firedindiscriminately›inGaza An Israeli activist group has accused the military of employing a “policy of indiscriminate fire” that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians during last year’s Gaza war. Breaking the Silence said the rules of engagement during the 50-day conflict were “the most permissive” it had seen. Testimonies provided by more than 60 Israeli soldiers who fought in last summer’s war in Gaza have raised serious questions over whether Israel’s tactics breached its obligations under international law to distinguish and protect civilians. They include allegations that Israeli ground troops were briefed to regard everything inside Gaza as a “threat” and they should “not spare ammo”, and that tanks fired randomly or for revenge on buildings without knowing whether they were legitimate military targets or contained civilians. In their testimonies, soldiers depict rules of engagement they characterised as permissive, “lax” or largely non-existent, including how some soldiers were instructed to treat anyone seen looking towards their positions as “scouts” to be fired on. The group also claims that the Israeli military operated with different safety margins for bombing or using artillery and mortars near civilians and its own troops, with Israeli forces at times allowed to fire significantly closer to civilians than Israeli soldiers. 4

Phillipe Sands, professor of law at University College London and a specialist in international humanitarian law, described the testimonies as “troubling insights into intention and method”. “Maybe it will be said that they are partial and selective, but surely they cannot be ignored or brushed aside, coming as they do from individuals with first-hand experience: the rule of law requires proper investigation and inquiry.” Describing the rules that meant life and death in Gaza during the 50-day war – a conflict in which 2,200 Palestinians were killed – the interviews shed light for the first time not only on what individual soldiers were told but on the doctrine informing the operation. Despite the insistence of Israeli leaders that it took all necessary precautions to protect civilians, the interviews provide a very different picture. They suggest that an overarching priority was the minimisation of Israeli military casualties even at the risk of Palestinian civilians being harmed. While the Israel Defence Forces Military Advocate General’s office has launched investigations into a number of individual incidents of alleged wrongdoing, the testimonies raise wider questions over policies under which the war was conducted. Post-conflict briefings to soldiers suggest that the high death toll and destruction were treated as “achievements” by officers who judged the attrition would keep Gaza “quiet for five years”. The tone, according to one sergeant, was set before the ground offensive into Gaza that began on 17 July last year in pre-combat briefings that preceded the entry of six reinforced brigades into Gaza.

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015 “[It] took place during training at Tze’elim, before entering Gaza, with the commander of the armoured battalion to which we were assigned,” recalled a sergeant, one of dozens of Israeli soldiers who have described how the war was fought last summer in the coastal strip.

women who were killed because one had a mobile phone. A soldier described the incident: “After the commander told the tank commander to go scan that place, and three tanks went to check [the bodies] ... it was two women, over the age of 30 ... unarmed. They were listed as terrorists. They were ﬁred at. So of course they must have been terrorists.”

“[The commander] said: ‘We don’t take risks. We do not spare ammo. We unload, we use as much as possible.’”

The testimonies raise questions whether Israel fully met its obligations to protect civilians in a conﬂict area from unnecessary harm, requiring it not only to distinguish between civilians and combatants but also ensure that when using force, where there is the risk of civilian harm, that it is “proportionate”.

“The rules of engagement [were] pretty identical,” added another sergeant who served in a mechanised infantry unit in Deir al-Balah. “Anything inside [the Gaza Strip] is a threat The area has to be ‘sterilised,’ empty of people – and if we don’t see someone waving a white flag, screaming: “I give up” or something – then he’s a threat and there’s authorisation to open fire ... The saying was: ‘There’s no such thing there as a person who is uninvolved.’ In that situation, anyone there is involved.” “The rules of engagement for soldiers advancing on the ground were: open fire, open fire everywhere, first thing when you go in,” recalled another soldier who served during the ground operation in Gaza City. The assumption being that the moment we went in [to the Gaza Strip], anyone who dared poke his head out was a terrorist.” Soldiers were also encouraged to treat individuals who came too close or watched from windows or other vantage points as “scouts” who could be killed regardless of whether there was hard evidence they were spotting for Hamas or other militant groups. “If it looks like a man, shoot. It was simple: you’re in a motherfucking combat zone,” said a sergeant who served in an infantry unit in the northern Gaza strip. “A few hours before you went in the whole area was bombed, if there’s anyone there who doesn’t clearly look innocent, you apparently need to shoot that person.” Defining ‘innocent’ he added: “If you see the person is less than 1.40 metres tall or if you see it’s a lady ... If it’s a man you shoot.” In at least one instance described by soldiers, being female did not help two

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“One of the main threads in the testimonies,” said Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer and legal adviser to Breaking the Silence, “is the presumption that despite the fact that the battle was being waged in urban area – and one of most densely populated in the world – no civilians would be in the areas they entered.” That presumption, say soldiers, was sustained by virtue of warnings to Palestinians to leave their homes and neighbourhoods delivered in leaﬂets dropped by aircraft and in text and phone messages which meant – in the IDF’s interpretation – that anyone who remained was not a civilian. Even at the time that view was deeply controversial because – says Sfard and other legal experts interviewed – it reinterpreted international law regarding the duty of protection for areas containing civilians. Sfard added: “We are not talking about a [deliberate] decision to kill civilians. But to say the rules of engagement were lax gives them too much credit. They allowed engagement in almost any circumstances, unless there was a felt to be a risk to an IDF soldier.” If the rules of engagement were highly permissive, other soldiers say that they also detected a darker mood in their units that further coloured the way that soldiers behaved. “The motto guiding lots of people was: ‘Let’s show them,’ recalls a lieutenant who served in the Givati Brigade in Rafah. “It was evident that was a starting point. Lots of guys who did their reserve duty with me don’t have much pity towards [the Palestinians].” He added: “There were a lot of people there who really hate Arabs. Really, really hate Arabs. You could see the hate in their eyes.” A second lieutenant echoed his comments. “You could feel there was a radicalisation in the way the whole thing was conducted. The discourse was extremely rightwing ... [And] the very fact that [Palestinians were] described as ‘uninvolved’ rather than as civilians, and the desensitisation to the surging number of dead on the Palestinian side. It doesn’t matter whether they’re |

Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015 involved or not … that’s something that troubles me.” And the testimonies, too, suggest breaches of the IDF’s own code of ethics – The Spirit of the IDF – which insists: “IDF soldiers will not use their weapons and force to harm human beings who are not combatants or prisoners of war, and will do all in their power to avoid causing harm to their lives, bodies, dignity and property.” Contrary to that, however, testimonies describe how soldiers randomly shelled buildings either to no obvious military purpose or for revenge. One sergeant who served in a tank in the centre of the Gaza Strip recalls: “A week or two after we entered the Gaza Strip and we were all firing a lot when there wasn’t any need for it – just for the sake of firing – a member of our company was killed. “The company commander came over to us and told us that one guy was killed due to such-and-such, and he said: ‘Guys, get ready, get in your tanks, and we’ll fire a barrage in memory of our comrade” … My tank went up to the post – a place from which I can see targets – can see buildings – [and] fired at them, and the platoon commander says: ‘OK guys, we’ll now fire in memory of our comrade’ and we said OK.” How Israeli forces used artillery and mortars in Gaza, says Breaking the Silence, has raised other concerns beyond either the rules of engagement or the actions of specific units. According to the group’s research during the war, the Israeli military operated two different sets of rules for how close certain weapons could be fired to Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians. Yehuda Shaul, one of the founders of Breaking the Silence, and himself a former soldier, explains: “What our research during this project uncovered was that there were three designated ‘Operational Levels’ during the conflict – numbered one to three. What the operational level was was set higher up the chain of command. Above the level of the Gaza division. What those levels do is designate the likelihood of civilian casualties from weapons like 155mm artillery and bombs from ‘low’ damage to civilians to ‘high’. “What we established was that for artillery fire in operational levels two and three Israeli forces were allowed to fire much closer to civilians than they were to friendly Israeli forces.” Ahead of the conflict – in which 34,000 shells were fired into Gaza, 19,000 of them explosive – artillery and air liaison officers had been supplied with a list of sensitive sites to which fire was not to be directed within

clear limits of distance. These included hospitals and UN schools being used as refugee centres, even in areas where evacuation had been ordered. “Even then,” explains Shaul, “we have a testimony we took that a senior brigade commander issued order how to get around that, instructing that the unit fired first outside of the protected area and then calling for correction fire on to the location that they wanted to hit. “He said: “If you go on the radio and ask to hit this building, we have to say no. But if you give a target 200 metres outside then you can ask for correction. Only thing that is recorded is the first target not the correction fire.” And in the end, despite the high number of civilian casualties, the debriefings treated the destruction as an accomplishment that would discourage Hamas in the future. “You could say they went over most of the things viewed as accomplishments,” said a Combat Intelligence Corps sergeant. “ “They spoke about numbers: 2,000 dead and 11,000 wounded, half a million refugees, decades worth of destruction. Harm to lots of senior Hamas members and to their homes, to their families. These were stated as accomplishments so that no one would doubt that what we did during this period was meaningful. “They spoke of a five-year period of quiet (in which there would be no hostilities between Israel and Hamas) when in fact it was a 72hour ceasefire, and at the end of those 72 hours they were firing again.” Without responding to the specific allegations, the Israeli military said: “The IDF is committed to properly investigating all credible claims raised via media, NGOs, and official complaints concerning IDF conduct during operation Protective Edge, in as serious a manner as possible. “It should be noted that following Operation Protective Edge, thorough investigations were carried out, and soldiers and commanders were given the opportunity to present any complaint. Exceptional incidents were then transferred to the military advocate general for further inquiry.”

Source: The Guardian & BBC

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

News of Palestine

FIFACongresstodiscussPalestineproposal to suspend Israel FIFA’s annual Congress will discuss a proposal from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) for the suspension of Israel, according to the agenda published by football’s governing body on Monday. Palestine has complained that Israel has continued to hamper its football activities, saying Israel imposes restrictions on the movement of their athletes between the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The PFA has also cited curbs Israel places on the import into Palestinian territories of sports equipment and on visits by foreign teams and individuals. Agenda 15 on the item for the May 29 Congress in Zurich read: “Proposal by the Palestinian Football Association for the suspension of the Israel Football Association.” Two years ago, FIFA established a task force which included president Sepp Blatter, the Israeli and Palestinian football chiefs and the heads of the European and Asian football confederations to examine the Palestinian complaints and to try

and resolve them. Blatter said at the time that he was determined to resolve the impasse. However, on Friday PFA president Jibril Rajoub told Reuters that nothing had improved and reiterated his claim that Israel was “were persecuting Palestine footballers, athletes and the movement of sporting equipment”. Rajoub agreed to drop a similar resolution at last year’s Congress in Sao Paulo but he said he would not back down this time. It would need a three-quarter majority of FIFA’s 209 members for Palestine’s proposal to succeed. Israel, whose federation is a member of UEFA, cites security concerns for restrictions it imposes in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self rule, and along the border with the Gaza Strip. But it says it has eased travel for Palestinian athletes between the territories, which requires passage via Israel.

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

Palestine backs India’s bid for UNSC

India and Palestine have identified areas of further cooperation and identified mechanisms to better the existing relation India and Palestine have identified areas of further cooperation and identified mechanisms to better the existing relations. At the end of the first round of Foreign Office Consultations between India and Palestine in Ramallah, on Monday, New Delhi said it “continued support” the Palestinian cause and is extending assistance to the latest developments in the Middle East Peace Process. Palestine for its part has reiterated its support to the efforts and aspirations of India to obtain a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, both India and Palestine also discussed a gamut of bilateral issues, identified challenges and mechanisms to strategise and take the relationship forward. The government recently reiterated that there was no change in New Delhi’s policy of extending “traditional support’’ for the Palestinian cause, despite its good relations with Israel. Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj informed Parliament earlier this year that India has reaffirming support for the “just cause of Palestine and solidarity with the Palestinian people for their struggle”.

Source: The Hindu

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

Israeli children insider 3,500Palestinian strandedin Israel›sNetanyahufacesdeadlineto form coalition

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is racing to assemble a coalition government ahead of a Wednesday evening deadline. His Likud party won March’s election but he is still trying to strike deals with other parties to gain a majority. On Monday, former ally Avigdor Lieberman said his Yisrael Beitenu party would not join the coalition. If one is not formed by midnight (21:00 GMT), President Reuven Rivlin will offer the chance to another party. By late Tuesday, Mr Netanyahu had secured deals with three parties - the centrist Kulanu and two ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas - giving him 53 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, the Knesset. Hard bargain Early on Wednesday, the prime minister was said to be in talks with the right-wing Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party led by Naftali Bennett.

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

Israeli Elections 2015 :Results

Bayit Yehudi’s eight seats would give Mr Netanyahu the necessary 61 for a slim majority. But Israeli media said Mr Bennett was trying to strike a hard bargain, asking for the prestigious justice ministry portfolio. Mr Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister, pulled out of the talks on Monday, saying the coalition was not “nationalist” enough. Analysts say Mr Netanyahu could try to form a “national unity” government with the leading centre-left opposition party Zionist Union, but both sides have so far played down the possibility. Likud’s election win came as a surprise after exit polls had predicted a dead heat between the party and the Zionist Union. In the end, it gained 30 seats in the Knesset and the Zionist Union 24. Israel’s system of proportional representation always produces coalition governments. No party has ever won an outright majority.

Source: BBC

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

Israelicourtmakeswayfordemolitionof Palestinian village

An Israeli high court ruling has rejected a request to halt the demolition of a Palestinian West Bank village. Activists fear the worst is soon to come for the settlement of 340 people, which has been ﬁghting over right for land for nearly 30 years. The village of Sussiya in the southern Hebron Hills has been labeled unauthorized by the Civil Administration – the Israeli governing body operating in the West Bank.

Residents in the village claim ownership of the land, but are unable Area A is secured and governed by the Palestinians, while Area C is under full to attain the appropriate permits to Israeli control. In Area B, the administration comes from the Palestine Authority, while security is provided by Israeli forces. build any type of housing. The High Court of Justice issued The High Court of Justice issued a ruling on Monday, rejecting the request filed on a ruling on Monday, rejecting the behalf of the Rabbis for Human Rights and Sussiya residents on February 2014 to request filed on behalf of the Rab- prevent the planned demolitions. The court stated that it believes that alternative bis for Human Rights and Sussiya living solutions were available to the Palestinians living there. residents on February 2014 to “It is unusual for the state to oppose a temporary restraining order in this way,” prevent the planned demolitions. Rabbi Arik Ascherman told The Jerusalem Post. “It heightens our suspicion that The court stated that it believes they have an intent to demolish Sussiya before there is an actual court hearing that alternative living solutions on the case.” were available to the Palestinians One of the lawyers from the village, Quamar Mishirqi-Assad, added that Israel wants living there. to move the village settlement closer to Area B of the West Bank and away from the “It is unusual for the state to op- current Area C location, which makes up over 60 per cent of the West Bank. pose a temporary restraining order in this way,” Rabbi Arik As- Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into three zones: Area cherman told The Jerusalem Post. A, Area B and Area C. Area A is secured and governed by the Palestinians, while “It heightens our suspicion that Area C is under full Israeli control. In Area B, the administration comes from the they have an intent to demolish Palestine Authority, while security is provided by Israeli forces. Sussiya before there is an actual Beit Iksa residents have been given orders, signed by the Israeli military comcourt hearing on the case.” mander in the West Bank Nitzan Alon, to evacuate by 2017. One of the lawyers from the vil- The occupied territories of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip have been lage, Quamar Mishirqi-Assad, seeking full statehood and independence from Israel for decades. Thousands of added that Israel wants to move people have perished in one of the most prolonged conflicts in modern history. the village settlement closer to Area B of the West Bank and The Palestinians have been granted non-member, observer-state status in the away from the current Area C lo- UN and continue to push for recognition. cation, which makes up over 60 Their April 1 accession to the International Criminal Court marked the Palestinper cent of the West Bank. ians most substantial step to date in their international legal campaign. The move Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, the opens up the door to seek justice for Israel’s operation ‘Protective Edge’ last sumWest Bank was divided into three mer, in which thousands of civilians in Gaza were killed. It also gives them a zones: Area A, Area B and Area C. venue in which to contest the Jewish state’s continuing settlement building.

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia Source: RT

Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

67 years to Nakba, 135 countries recognize Palestine

On May 15 of every year, Palestinians mark “Nakba Day” – when the state of Israel was founded in 1948 – to reaffirm their right of return to the lands from which their ancestors were forcibly displaced. Since that year, the Palestinian cause has gone through several milestones, beginning with the armed struggle against Israel in the 1950s and early 1960s. Another significant milestone was the acceptance of a political deal based on a two-state solution in line with the 1988 decision of the Palestinian National Council (the legislature of the Palestine Liberation Organization) in Algeria, and the subsequent peace negotiations in the 1991 Madrid Conference that led to the 1993 Oslo Accord. With the collapse of peace negotiations 20 years later, Palestinians resorted to urging the United Nations and the international community to recognize a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, and to join international organizations and treaties, such as the International Criminal Court, which Palestine officially joined in April. In 2012, Palestine was recognized by the UN as a non-Member observer state. Two years later, an unprecedented international support for the symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders was voiced out. This support was brought about by a series of motions adopted by a number of European parliaments. The Swedish parliament was the first to catalyze the momentum of recognition of the Palestinian state earlier this year. In October, Sweden officially recognized the State of Palestine, becoming the first European Union state to take such a move. In this, however, Sweden was the eighth European state to recognize the Palestinian state after the Czech Republic; Hungary; Poland; Bulgaria; Romania; Malta, and Cyprus, which made their recognition some time before they became European Union members. 12

While Sweden was the 135th state to recognize the state of Palestine. Its October move reverberated in many European capitals. Five European parliaments followed in Sweden’s footsteps by symbolically recognizing the Palestinian state later. On October 13, Britain’s House of Commons adopted a non-binding resolution, urging the government to recognize the State of Palestine. A month later, the Spanish Parliament voted with an overwhelming majority on a non-binding resolution, urging Madrid to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. France followed suit on December 2, after a majority of French lawmakers approved a non-binding resolution, calling on Paris to recognize the Palestinian state. On December 11, the Irish parliament adopted a non-binding bill, urging the Irish government to recognize the State of Palestine. A day later, the Portuguese parliament took a similar step. In February, the parliaments of Belgium and Italy adopted similar resolutions. Such a momentum encouraged a number of European Parliament blocs to suggest that the European Union, which has a total of 28 member states, recognize the State of Palestine. Nevertheless, the European Parliament only recognized the Palestinian state in principle, without committing member states to do the same, a move some commentators attributed to what they described as “political considerations” within the parliament. The overwhelming majority of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have recognized the state of Palestine, making up most of the 135 countries who had taken the move.

Source: AA

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

DetentionsofHamas-alignedstudents ‹deeply worrying›

After the victory of a Hamas-aligned group over Fatah-aligned rivals in student council elections at Birzeit University last month, Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces have begun detaining and questioning student leaders of the group. “Everyone knew that this was going to happen,” Nagham Yassin, a Birzeit student who is a member of a leftist student group aligned with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told Al Jazeera. “It happened last time the Islamic bloc won in 2007. Everyone assumed it would happen this time. Anyone who goes into student politics - especially Hamas supporters - knows they risk arrest.” Birzeit is Palestine’s oldest and arguably most prestigious university. The results of its student council elections, regarded as a bellwether for the region’s politics, are scrutinised by politicians, pundits and analysts alike - particularly as general elections have not been held in the West Bank since 2006. Until last month, the student group aligned with Fatah had won a majority in the university’s elections since 2008. Since the April elections, two representatives of the winning Hamas-aligned group have been detained by PA security forces, and more than a dozen others summoned for interrogation. Jihad Saleem says he was stopped by plainclothes ofﬁcers in an unmarked car when he left the campus two days after the vote. He alleges that he was blindfolded, deprived of sleep, held in stress positions and denied communication with his lawyer during a 24-hour interrogation, after which he was released without charge. “They wanted to know how the Islamic bloc won the elections. They wanted to know how Hamas’ supporters had funded the election campaign on the campus. They wanted me to describe the structure of the student organisation, and whether I had connections to leadership in Gaza,” Saleem told Al Jazeera. “I told my interrogators that it was my right to be politically active and that it was beyond their mandate to detain me. I told them that if they wanted to discuss politics generally, I would be happy to speak with them - that they didn’t need to detain me to hear my analysis of the elections and why I believed Fatah supporters lost.”

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015 PA security forces have confirmed that “students were detained”, but have not commented on the specific allegations. At a news conference in Ramallah last Thursday, spokesperson Major General Adnan al-Damiri said PA security forces have acted in accordance with the law. “We do not, have not, and we will not detain anyone - student or otherwise - for their political affiliation. We respect freedom of expression. Arrests are made strictly according to the law,” Damiri said. “We detain individuals if we believe they are engaged in criminal activity, whether it is planning or executing armed operations, managing illegal financial networks, possession of harmful materials - weapons, drugs - or incitement of hatred or violence.” A report from Human Rights Watch found that 25 students have been arrested, detained or summoned for interrogation from West Bank universities since the April 22 student council elections. Students from groups that oppose Fatah at Birzeit say these cases appear to have been politically motivated. Of the four student parties to participate in Birzeit’s student council elections, only members of the Hamas-aligned bloc have been detained. Some students being sought for questioning by the PA were waiting to respond until after the exam period, Omar Kiswani, a member of the Hamas-aligned bloc, told Al Jazeera. While “many have responded to the summons,” he said, others were fearful that it could lead to prolonged detention and interfere with exams. More than a dozen core members of the Hamas-aligned group have evaded detention by taking up temporary residence with “friends or relatives” or simply “disappearing”, said Ghadeer Safadi, a student volunteer with Right 2 Education, an on-campus organisation that monitors student arrests. “Instead, PA security personnel have been delivering summonses to students’ parents at home, sometimes repeatedly, when they can’t find the students or when students fail to attend the appointments,” Safadi told Al Jazeera. Mohammad Saqer, an electrical engineering student from Ramallah and a member of the Hamas-aligned bloc, was arrested by PA security on April 30 and remains in detention. Saqer, who says he will likely have to repeat this academic year if he is not released in time for exams, has been on a hunger strike to protest his detention, according to Kiswani. “After the elections, Fatah’s students said, ‘the Islamic bloc won the elections fair and square - this is democracy’, but they didn’t issue any statement, any condemnation, when their fellow students in the Islamic bloc were arrested by the PA,” Yassin said. However, Faris Zawahreh, a student representative of the Birzeit group that supports Fatah, told Al Jazeera that the group “denounces all politically motivated arrests in Palestine, whether it is Israel’s [army] arresting Palestinians for political activities, Hamas arresting Fatah supporters in Gaza, or the PA’s recent arrests of Islamic bloc supporters at Birzeit”. According to Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch: “It is deeply worrying that students are being held by Palestinian forces for no apparent reason other than their connection to 14

Hamas or their opinions. Palestinians should be able to express critical political opinions without being arrested or beaten.” Samir Awad, who teaches international relations at Birzeit, said the victory of the Hamas-aligned group is intertwined with the PA security establishment’s repressive attitude towards political opposition. The Hamas-aligned group’s success was “a vote, not necessarily for Hamas, but against Fatah,” Awad told Al Jazeera. “[It was the practise of the] security establishment that ended up costing Fatah the elections. They have only themselves to blame. PA security forces are more repressive than democratic in how they confront political opposition, [which is] doubly problematic for politically expressive Birzeit students, who are also subject to Israel’s occupation too.” Right 2 Education’s most recent figures suggest that 35 students are currently being detained by Israeli security forces for “political activities”. The group estimates that 500 Birzeit students have been detained in Israel in the last five years. Kiswani believes the PA’s “repressive” response to the latest student vote will “influence the result of next year’s elections too”, but will not intimidate students into voting for Fatah. “The Islamic bloc - Hamas - is not a student organisation, it’s not a group of people. It’s an ideology. You can’t intimidate an ideology,” Kiswani said. “Of course there’s a danger to my future; everyone in the Islamic bloc knows the risks. But it’s an ideal, I believe, worth sacrificing for.”

Source: Al Jazeera

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Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

Articles & Analyses

Now is the time to isolate Israel Sharif Nashashibi One of the most memorable developments of the Israeli elections was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s last-ditch scramble for votes by explicitly ruling out a Palestinian state under his watch. The make-up of his new coalition government highlights the hollowness of his post-election backtracking from that statement amid international uproar - not that anyone was fooled by it. Arguably the most right-wing, extremist government in Israel’s history - and that is saying something - consists of ﬁve parties: Likud, Jewish Home, United Torah Judaism, Shas and Kulanu. Between them, they either explicitly rule out a Palestinian state, or accept one with conditions that make the likelihood of its establishment, let alone its viability, impossible. These conditions include Israel keeping East Jerusalem, being recognised as a Jewish state, and keeping the largest settlement blocs, which are built on the West Bank’s water aquifers and most fertile land, and hinder the territorial contiguity of a Palestinian state. That state, meanwhile, would have to be demilitarised and renounce the rights of Palestinian refugees. Major concessions No time was wasted after the announcement of the coalition government on Thursday, with the approvedconstruction of 900 settler homes in East Jerusalem. Indeed, none of the coalition part-

ners accept a freeze on settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories, which is illegal under international law. Netanyahu made major concessions to Jewish Home - the most right-wing coalition member, which rejects a Palestinian state outright - as the latter’s last-minute support was vital to the formation of a parliamentary majority. Without its backing, Israel’s president would have tasked another MP - likely Isaac Herzog, leader of the opposition Zionist Union, the second-largest party in parliament - with forming a government. Jewish Home will “take several key portfolios, including justice and education, as well as control of the World Zionist Organization’s settlement division, which transfers money to settlements,” AFP newswire reported.

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“The party will have two seats in the security cabinet,” which makes critical decisions regarding war and peace, “and the position of deputy defence minister, with responsibility for the Civil Administration that runs civilian affairs in most of the occupied West Bank”. According to media reports, Netanyahu is likely for now to become foreign minister as well as prime minister, and Likud’s Moshe Yaalon - also opposed to a Palestinian state - will likely remain defence minister and have a place in the security cabinet. Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon is expected to become ﬁnance minister and serve in the security cabinet. Kahlon, who favours continued settlement construction, has said talk of a Palestinian state is pointless because “at the moment we have no partner and there’s nobody to talk to on the other side”. If he and his colleagues do |

Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015 not deem the pliant Palestinian Authority and its President Mahmoud Abbas as worthy of talking to, then no one on the Palestinian side will ever be - in other words, forget indeﬁnitely about a Palestinian state.

If another attempt was successful, Israel would ignore it - as it has done with countless other UN resolutions - but this would only add to its pariah status.

Silver lining Amid such gloomy prospects lies an opportunity for the Palestinians. Had the new Israeli government been more centrist or left-leaning, the international community would be giving it the beneﬁt of the doubt, forgetting that every Israeli government, regardless of ideology, has enthusiastically entrenched the occupation and colonisation of Palestine. The silver lining with Netanyahu’s new coalition is that there will be no pretence or expectation about the prospect of Palestinian selfdetermination. As such, the Palestinians and their supporters should capitalise on what will likely be Israel’s growing international isolation, even among its allies. This will give further impetus to the increasingly effective Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement, it may help the Palestinian case at the International Criminal Court, and it should encourage the PA to join more international bodies and treaties. The Authority may feel that the time is right to renew its bid for a UN Security Council resolution setting a deadline for the end of Israel’s occupation. The ﬁrst attempt failed because of US lobbying and the threat of its veto. However, since Netanyahu’s election pledge to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state, the US has said it may reconsider the use of its veto at the Security Council in support of its staunchest ally.

The PA must also finally stop its shameful subservience and securitycoordination withtheoccupying power,forwhichthe Authorityhasnothing to show its people.

The PA must also finally stop its shameful subservience and security coordination with the occupying power, for which the Authority has nothing to show its people. This will result in punitive Israeli measures, but an unashamedly extremist government will have less diplomatic backing. Israel’s flagrant rejection of an independent Palestine may also galvanise the movement for a single binational state. This movement’s ranks have been bolstered in recent years by the realisation among more and more people that a two-state solution is no longer possible given the extent of Israel’s colonisation and fragmentation of Palestine. Ironically, those Israeli politicians most vehemently against a Palestinian state may be bringing about their worst nightmare: A binational state with equality of citizenry, rather than the Jewish ethnocracy/theocracy that currently exists and which they want to entrench. Prospects for a negotiated resolution to the conflict seem more distant than ever, but that does not mean that the situation is devoid of hope. The contrary may be true if the Palestinians and their supporters can turn Israel’s intransigence and obstructionism - personified by its new government - into an opportunity. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect PCOM’s editorial policy.

Source: Al Jazeera

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Issue No : 133 14th MAY 2015

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia