Issue No: 44
22nd May, 2013
Issue No: 44
22nd May, 2013
Read in this report:
Jerusalem committee warns of Israeli Judaization schemes (P.3)
Israel cancels UNESCO mission to Jerusalem (P.5)
Administrative detainees to start a hunger strike at the beginning of June (P.6)
Jerusalem committee warns of Israeli Judaization schemes (P.4)
Israel seeks to legalise four settlement outposts in the West Bank (P.5)
Reporter: Israeli forces arrest fishermen (P.7)
Issue No: 44
22nd May, 2013
CONTENTS
NEWS OF PALESTINE Meshaal renews rejection of a two-state solution ...................................................................... 4 Jerusalem committee warns of Israeli Judaization schemes ...................................................... 4 Israel cancels UNESCO mission to Jerusalem .......................................................................... 5 Israel seeks to legalise four settlement outposts in the West Bank............................................ 6 Administrative detainees to start a hunger strike at the beginning of June ............................... 6 Reporter: Israeli forces arrest fishermen .................................................................................... 7
ARTICLES & ANALYSES Israel's dirty little secret: the 'internally displaced persons' it continues to deny basic rights ... 8
Issue No: 44
22nd May, 2013
NEWS OF PALESTINE
Meshaal renews rejection of a two-state solution Hamas's rejection of the two-state solution and criticized the recent visit of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Khaled Meshaal said that Hamas will continue the armed struggle as an option to liberate the land, while Fatah movement has chosen to continue its diplomatic efforts.
16/05/2013 Khaled Mashaal, head of the political bureau of Hamas movement, confirmed his movement's adherence to resistance in confronting the occupation and liberating Palestine. Meshaal's remarks came during an exclusive interview with the American Foreign Policy magazine, through which he stressed on
Meshaal renewed Hamas's rejection of a twostate solution, stressing that his movement is not against the Israelis because they hold a different belief, but it struggles against the occupation of its land. "Palestinians are suffering from the settlement. They are suffering in the detention camps and in the prisons of the occupation," Meshaal said "[We aim] to stop the suffering of our people in Jerusalem as they are suffering from the judaization of the city ... We want real peace that would regain the rights of our people." Source: PIC
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Jerusalem committee warns of Israeli Judaization schemes legal, financial, and media support for Jerusalem's steadfastness. It also called for mass participation in the GMJ that marks the 46th anniversary of the occupation of the eastern part of Jerusalem and al-Aqsa mosque. Massive marches will be organized in the Gaza strip towards Jerusalem or the nearest point possible to it in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. 20/05/2013 The Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) National Committee warned of the Israeli endeavors to Judaize both, the Islamic and the Christian holy places. The committee called, during a meeting at the PLC headquarters, to activate the political,
Head of the Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) National Committee, Prof. Ahmed Abu Halabiya, stated that supporting Jerusalem and Palestine is an Islamic duty, calling for a coherent strategy for the support of Jerusalem and Palestinian fundamentals. He called for wide Arab, Islamic and international participation in the GMJ in solidarity with al-Aqsa mosque.
Issue No: 44
22nd May, 2013
The march was launched to emphasize the Arab and Islamic character of the holy city and al-Aqsa mosque and to thwart the Israeli schemes to control Jerusalem, he pointed.
the 46th anniversary of the occupation of the eastern part of the Holy City, which is home to the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and other sacred sites.
The International Executive Committee of the Global March to Jerusalem announced this year’s March to take place across the globe on Friday 7 June 2013. This date coincides with
Source: PIC
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Israel cancels UNESCO mission to Jerusalem "Palestinian foreign minister, Riad al-Maliki, recently said they considered the mission a "commission of inquiry," the sources said, and that they "would discuss political issues with the mission."
20/05/2013 Israeli authorities announced on Monday that they had cancelled the UNESCO mission due to visit the old city of Jerusalem because the Palestinian Authority had failed to keep the mission away from politics, media sources reported. Israeli radio, broadcasting in Hebrew, reported from sources in the Israeli foreign ministry that the decision was taken after the Palestinian side retracted previous pledges that the issue was not to be politicised.
According to the Telegraph, the Israeli official said that the Palestinians are also pushing for the delegation to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, "which is revered as Judaism's most sacred place." Israel agreed on the UNESCO mission, which was due to visit the Holy city today [Monday], in exchange for the Palestinian Authority and the Arabic group withdrawing draft resolutions to be filed with the international organisation. Last month, Israeli radio revealed a Palestinian-Jordanian agreement with Israel to withdraw the resolution in exchange for Israel granting permission to the UNESCO delegation. The agreement was brokered by the US.
"They drew a picture of the UNESCO mission as if it was an international investigation committee," Israeli foreign ministry sources said.
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM)
Source: MEMO
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Issue No: 44
22nd May, 2013
Israel seeks to legalise four settlement outposts in the West Bank act to legalize four West Bank outposts for which a delimitation order was issued in 2003." The government's move, added the peace movement, encourages settlers in their illegality safe in the knowledge that their outposts will be "legalised" retrospectively. "They can thus continue to establish facts on the ground, which harms the chances for peace." 17/05/2013 Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Thursday that the Netanyahu government wants to give retroactive approval to four unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts already slated for demolition.
The outposts to be turned into "legalised" settlements are Ma'ale Rehavam to the east of Bethlehem; Haroeh north of Ramallah; Givat Assaf to the east of Ramallah; and Mitzpe Lachish south west of Hebron. Source: Agencies
Haaretz newspaper reported that "in a document submitted to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday, the state said that it will
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Administrative detainees to start a hunger strike at the beginning of June hunger strike after two weeks; to demand their release, and a stop to the persistent policy of extending their detention without setting a date for their release. The sources told Quds Press on Thursday that the prisoners are demanding to stop the policy of administrative detention under which the Palestinians are detained without specific charges or trial. 17/05/2013 The Palestinian administrative prisoners in Israeli jails decided to launch an open-ended hunger strike at the beginning of the month of June. Sources in the captive movement inside the Negev prison said that the administrative detainees decided to go on an open-ended
According to Palestinian human rights data, there are 218 Palestinian detainees held under the Israeli administrative detention, mainly in the prisons of the Negev, Ofer, Megiddo and Hadarim. Meanwhile, prisoner Ayman Abu Daoud, from al-Khalil, has continued on Thursday his open hunger strike for the 32nd day, in rejection of the continuation of his detention.
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM)
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Issue No: 44
22nd May, 2013
Ayman's family said that its son continues to refuse meals in rejection of the occupation's attempt to issue a decision obliging him to continue his previous sentence of 36 years imprisonment, and from which he had already served seven years.
The Israeli occupation forces re-arrested Abu Dawoud in February 2012. He announced an open-ended hunger strike on April 14. Source: PIC
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Reporter: Israeli forces arrest fishermen In a related context, Israeli gunships opened their automatic gun machines on the Palestinian fishermen along the Gaza coast in the early morning of Monday. Witnesses said that the shooting towards the Palestinian fishing boats had started before dawn and continued until morning. No casualties have been reported.
21/05/2013 Israeli forces detained two Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, a Ma'an correspondent said. Mahmoud and Khaled Zayed were taken to an unknown location and their boat was confiscated.
The Israeli navy had been repeatedly shooting at the Palestinian fishermen along the Gaza Sea. The fishermen said they were trying to frighten them in order to prevent them from staying in the sea long enough to fish.
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM)
Source: Ma’an + Agencies
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Issue No: 44
22nd May, 2013
ARTICLES & ANALYSIS
Israel's dirty little secret: the 'internally displaced persons' it continues to deny basic rights By: Dr. Daud Abdullah* Inevitably, the 65th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba Catastrophe - was overshadowed by calls to exercise refugees' right of return. Although the vast majority of Palestinians live in forced exile and the focus tends to dwell on their plight, there is now an estimated 370,000 'internally displaced persons' (IDPs) within the “Israeli state�. They are also denied the right to return to their homes and villages. No Nakba anniversary can pass without remembering them. Unlike their compatriots in the wider Diaspora, the displaced Palestinians in Israel enjoy little international assistance and far less protection. Ever since the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) stopped providing services for them in 1952, they have remained refugees in their own land and second-class citizens in the state established around them. From the very first, Israel never intended to accord equal rights to the 150,000 Palestinians who remained on their land as 750,000 of their compatriots were being driven into exile, despite an undertaking given in its 'declaration of independence' to 'uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of religion, race or sex'. The Palestinians have always been regarded as a 'fifth column' and a threat to the security of the state. As such, they were subjected to military rule from 1948 until 1966. Under Israeli law, the IDPs are present in so far as they are obliged to pay taxes but absent in terms of their rights to employment, health care, water and education. They were assigned the absurd legal designation, unique to Israel, of 'present-absentees'. With no regard for their rights to ownership, the state has used its Absentee Property Law of 1950 to confiscate some 97 per cent of Palestinian land, leaving 1.5 million Palestinian 'citizens' access to the remaining three per cent. These are either administered
by the state or allocated to Zionist institutions such as the Jewish National Fund (JNF) for the exclusive use of Jews. Priority is given routinely to American Jews, followed by Europeans, Russians and others in that order. While Palestinian villages which pre-date the state of Israel are denied basic services, newlyestablished Jewish settlements are granted them unconditionally. In 1992, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that the Palestinian villages should be connected to the Israeli national water system. That has still not been done. On another level, the Regulation and Construction Law prohibits Palestinians from repairing let alone building their homes on land which Israel classifies as 'agricultural land' or 'closed military zones'. Their villages, mostly in the Negev and the Galilee, are 'unrecognised' by the state and, therefore, by definition 'illegal'. The underlying purpose of all these classifications by Israel is to force its Palestinians citizens to leave; it is, in other words, ethnic cleansing by stealth.
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Issue No: 44 If Palestinian homes in the West Bank, including Ramallah, are destroyed with impunity on the pretext that they have no proper licence, one can only imagine what is done to the 'unrecognised villages' in what Israel regards as its sovereign territory. Using the Emergency Laws inherited from the British Mandatory government, officials often post notices on homes earmarked for demolition, which are thereafter destroyed within forty-eight hours. In the Negev, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel - Adalah - reported the destruction of 2,200 homes and the forced displacement of more than 14,000 people between 2008 and 2011. In these villages women and children die in childbirth because they have no access to basic medical care of a kind accessible by Jewish immigrants the moment they land at Tel Aviv airport. Nevertheless, the fact that Palestinians in Israel marked this year's Nakba anniversary across the country demonstrates that after 65 years Israel has failed to erase their sense of identity and link to their land. Nor has it succeeded with its discriminatory laws to break the bonds between them and the rest of the Palestinian people; in fact, this has grown stronger. They all, to this day, share the common aspiration to return to their homes. After all the sacrifices they have made over the past 65 years it is inconceivable that the
22nd May, 2013 displaced Palestinians in Israel will submit to further ethnic cleansing. The problem of the IDPs in Israel differs only marginally from that of the refugees in the Diaspora. Without doubt, they all share the common experience of dispossession and dislocation but because the IDPs didn't cross international borders they have no access to humanitarian aid from the UNHCR or UNRWA. Though initially recognised and served by UNRWA, that came to an abrupt end in 1952 when Israel assumed responsibility for them not, it transpired, in order to provide for all of its citizens. Quite simply, and very cynically, the Israeli government wanted to divert attention from their officially-sanctioned maltreatment of its Palestinian citizens and prevent them from having access to international legal protection. The full story of the IDPs in Israel is yet to be told. After 65 years their dream of return remains unfulfilled. Like the generation who were forcibly evicted in 1948 they also have a right to return to their homes. Their living, striving and dying over the past six decades were all with this objective in mind. Israel may delay it for some time but cannot prevent it in the long-term, because no people in history have ever accepted completely the loss of their homeland. The Palestinians' day will come, with or without the approval of the Israeli government.
* Daud A. Abdullah is the current Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain. He has been senior researcher at the London-based Palestinian Return Centre and editor of the Return Review, which has recently been replaced with the Journal of Palestinian Refugees Studies.
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM)
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Issue No: 44
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM)
22nd May, 2013
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