Issue No : 72
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia
2th December, 2013
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2th December, 2013
Issue No : 72
Read In This Report
P5
Mishaal arrives in Malaysia
Anti-Prawer demos planned worldwide
Israelis kill three more Palestinians in occupied West Bank
Israeli Minister says settlement construction will resume at a rapid pace
PP66
PP8 P77
P10 PP88
More than 400 Israelis commit suicide every year P9
Don›t just resign, withdraw from the negotiations altogether
P10
By: Dr Fayez Rasheed
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Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia
Issue Issue No No : 72: 72
PalestinianCultural CulturalOrganization OrganizationMM alaysia Palestinian alaysia
December, 2th2th December, 20132013
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2th December, 2013
Issue No : 72
CONTENTS News of Palestine
Mishaal arrives in Malaysia Anti-Prawer demos planned worldwide Israelis kill three more Palestinians in occupied West Bank Israeli Minister says settlement construction will resume at a rapid pace
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Israel Insider
More than 400 Israelis commit suicide every year
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Articles & Analyses
Don›t just resign, withdraw from the negotiations altogether
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Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia
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Issue No : 72
2th December, 2013
News of Palestine
Mishaal arrives in Malaysia
1/12/2013 Khaled Mishaal, the political bureau chairman of Hamas, arrived in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to attend the Annual General Assembly of the ruling party “UMNO”.
UMNO Secretary General Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and a number of other political leaders in the country.
The sources pointed out that Mishaal would deliver a speech at the international forum hosted A senior source in Hamas by the ruling party before the told the PIC that Mishaal, inaugural session of its General who is heading a delegation Assembly. comprising political bureau member Sami Khater along He is also expected to deliver anwith Osama Hamdan, the other speech at the International head of the movement’s for- Islamic University in Malaysia, eign relations department, is which groups students from 100 scheduled to meet Malaysian nationalities including PalestinPrime Minister Dato’ Seri ians. Najib Razak. This is the first official visit for He added that Mishaal is the Hamas supreme leader to also scheduled to confer with Malaysia in an indication to the
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growing relations between both parties. For his part, the Chairman of the Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM), Muslim Imran, said that the official visit of top Hamas’ leaders to Malaysia will contribute to foster the relation with the Malaysian Government, which has been accelerated since the historic visit of Dato’ seri Najib to the besieged Gaza Strip. “The visit is a great opportunity to reinforce the Malaysian role towards the Palestinian issue at the regional and international levels”, added Muslim.
Source: Agencies | 5
2th December, 2013
Issue No : 72
Hamas urges Palestinians to unite against Israel’s Prawer plan
Anti-Prawer demos planned worldwide 30/11/2013 Protests slated for Saturday in dozens of cities worldwide are likely to be the largestyet demonstrations against Israel›s so-called Prawer Plan to uproot Bedouin villages. A joint Israeli-Palestinian activist organization on Thursday announced the 24 locations where demonstrations were scheduled to take place. Saturday›s worldwide protest event in early November, the same day Israeli government officials met in the Negev to discuss plans for the construction of four Israeli neighbourhoods in place of the Bedouin village of Israel›s Prawer Plan, if im- Umm al-Hiran. plemented, would result in «No one will live quietly and the systematic destruction of comfortably as long as a single more than 35 villages in the family in Negev faces the threat Negev and the «expulsion of displacement. No one in this and urbanization» of more country will enjoy freedom and than 70,000 Bedouin Pales- dignity if we Palestinians, espetinians with Israeli citizen- cially in Negev, do not live in dignity on our land,» the organiship, the AIC said. «The Prawer Plan is the larg- zations said in a statement. In the announcement, the Alternative Information Center called on all who «oppose ethnic cleansing, displacement and confinement in the 21st century» to attend the protests.
est Israeli land-grab since Meanwhile, the Hamas Movement reiterated its strong rejec1948,» the group said. Several Palestinian youth tion of Israel›s Prawer plan that organizations called for aims to displace the Palestinian
people from the Negev region and urged the Palestinian people and their political forces all over Palestine to stand united in the face of this scheme. In a press release issued on Saturday, Hamas said that the Prawer plan is racist and violates the international law, especially the international declaration of human rights. Hamas also stated that Israel›s plans to expand settlements and displace the Palestinian people from their native land are desperate attempts, which will never succeed in changing the history and uprooting the Palestinians from their land.
Source: Ma’an Agency + PIC
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Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia
Issue No : 72
2th December, 2013
Israelis kill three more Palestinians in occupied West Bank
27/11/2013 Israeli occupation forces killed three more Palestinians in two separate incidents on Tuesday evening in the south of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Although the killings took place in two separate incidents, the Israelis claimed that the victims were all «planning to carry out terror attacks inside Israel». Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers shot at Mahmoud Al-Najjar and Mosa Qafeesha while the men were driving their car. Military sources told the Israeli media that the two men from the village of Yata died «instantly». According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli forces exchanged gunfire
with the Palestinians and claimed and searched homes belonging to have found two pistols and two to Palestinians in the village. explosive devices in the car. Early today, Wednesday, clashes The third Palestinian, Mohamed erupted between Palestinians Nairoukh, was killed by Israeli and Israeli forces inside Hebron. forces several kilometres away The youths hurled stones at the from the site of the first incident. Israeli soldiers, who responded The Israelis also alleged that he with so-called rubber bullets and was «planning to carry out terror tear gas. Red Crescent sources said that dozens of female stuattacks inside Israel». dents in a nearby school were All three bodies were kept by treated for breathing problems the Israelis until late on Tuesday after inhaling the gas. night, when they were handed over to the Palestinian Red Cres- The media is also reporting that Israeli occupation forces invadcent. ed several cities across the ocPrior to the killings, said local cupied West Bank this morning, Palestinians, the Israeli occupabreaking into houses and searchtion forces imposed a blockade ing them. Thirteen Palestinians on Hebron and prevented people have been arrested. from moving in or out of the city. A number of soldiers went to Yata Source: MEMO
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Issue No : 72
Settlement construction up 130% since resumption of “peace talks”
Israeli Minister says settlement construction will resume at a rapid pace
28/11/2013
Israel›s Minister of Housing Uri Ariel has said that settlement construction in the occupied West Bank will continue at a rapid pace. The minister, who is himself a settler, was participating in laying the foundation of an educational complex in the Itamar settlement near Nablus, in the northern West Bank, which will be named after the Vogel family who were murdered in the set- people of Israel are alive.» tlement three years ago. In a related context, Israeli CenThe minister remarked that: tral Bureau of Statistics reported «the majority of ministers in an increase of 5.5% in settlement Netanyahu›s cabinet support construction in the West Bank constructing the educational since the beginning of 2013 comcomplex to teach the Torah. pared to the corresponding time We will build many houses in frame in 2012, despite the fact the West Bank and Jerusalem, that 2013 has witnessed a resumpand we will say to ourselves, tion of “peace” between Palestinand then to the world, that the ian and Israeli authorities.
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About 32,290 construction sites for new housing units were erected this year across the occupied West Bank, Hebrew media said. The number of settlement projects in the West Bank rose by nearly 130% compared to 2012, according to statistics released Thursday.
Source: Agencies
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia
Issue No : 72
2th December, 2013
Israel Insider
More than 400 Israelis commit suicide every year
27/11/2013 Official data from the Israeli Knesset show that more than 400 Israelis commit suicide every year. According to the figures, the phenomenon has increased in recent years. On Tuesday the Israeli Knesset held a special plenary session to discuss the problem and approved a national plan for the prevention of suicide. The Knesset›s study centre found that the number of Israelis committing suicide each year increased from 290 in 2007 to 431 in 2010. Furthermore, more recent data show that since 2010, around 400 Israelis have committed suicide every year, most of them men. More than 90 per cent of them suffered psychological strains, including 60 per cent suffering from depression. According to the data, suicide has both direct and indirect effects on the Israeli economy. The direct cost is estimated to be around 100 million Israeli new shekels, and indirectly amounts to between 2 and 2.5 billion, including hospital services, insurance, police investigations and other related costs. Israel›s Health Minister Yael German explained that the goal of the Knesset discussion is to achieve a 20 per cent decrease in the suicide rate.
Source: MEMO
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2th December, 2013
Issue No : 72
Articles & Analyses
Don›t just resign, withdraw from the negotiations altogether By: Dr Fayez Rasheed The resignation of the Palestinian negotiating team reflects the crisis of the talks between the Palestinian Authority and the Israelis. Close to twenty sessions since 30 July concentrated mainly on Israel›s security needs; it knows how to run negotiations for its own best interests and is capable of blackmailing Palestinians, especially given that they agreed to return to the talks even without a halt to settlement expansion, which has actually increased since the end of July. The negotiations are supposed to last for nine months according to the agenda proposed by the US. Benjamin Netanyahu›s decision to freeze the latest intended settlement building in response to international disquiet doesn›t mean that he is going to cancel it. He will let the storm die down and then give the go-ahead yet again. For the negotiations, this will be business as usual. The issue does not lie in the resignation of the negotiations 10 |
team, because President Abbas can replace them with a new team if he actually accepts their resignation, which I doubt. The senior negotiator, Saeb Erekat, once said, «Life is negotiations». The real issue lies in the option of choosing negotiations in the first place despite Israel›s refusal to accept the Palestinian refugees› right of return, self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. The principle of negotiations was not based on the UN resolutions in these regards and was not based on stopping settlements and the 1967 borders, or negotiating the essential issues related to the essence of Palestinian rights. Unfortunately, Palestinian negotiators gave concessions gradually, until they got to the point where Israel has full control of the agenda and out-
comes, which are not what the Palestinians want. However, the PA agreed to return to talks under pressure from the Americans. What›s more important, though, is that the Palestinian Authority set negotiations as the main option for itself; this was a strategic error. The Palestinian Authority does not learn from its mistakes and has not taken on board any of the lessons to be learnt from other national liberation movements in Asia, Africa or Latin America; to be more accurate, it does not want to take these lessons into consideration. Abbas regards resistance as «terrorism» or «illegitimate violence»; he does not even want another intifada as the stones thrown would be «unjustified violence». He wants passive popular resistance, similar to that of M. K. Gandhi and his disobedient resistance in India against the British occupation; Abbas forgets the huge differences in the nature of the two enemies. The British occupied India only to leave later on, but the Zionists came to settle
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia
Issue No : 72
2th December, 2013
in Palestine forever and to expel its people. There is also the difference in the nature of the violence used by the British and Israeli occupations.
of the economic and administrative burden of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The PA has acted in Israel›s favour to dissuade active resistance against the occupation, and tied Abbas does not realise the nathe Palestinian economy to that of ture of the Israeli enemy and Israel when the Paris Economic that is a disaster (it would be an Convention was signed. even greater disaster if we find out that he does). The late Yas- It looks as if the PA has forgotten ser Arafat thought that by sign- its responsibilities towards Palesing the fateful Oslo agreement tinians living in the diaspora by he would be on the threshold of ignoring and deactivating PLO inthe Palestinian state but he did stitutions. It has come to believe not understand that Israel›s goal that the PA itself is a replacement in agreeing to the gathering of for the PLO, but this is a big misthe Palestinian fighters in one take. In doing so it has undermined place was to limit their move- its own case and negotiating tools ment as revolutionaries and lib- with the Israelis. erators. Unfortunately, neither Mahmoud Abbas, nor those in power in Gaza comprehend fully that the Palestinian political the PA must split undermines national unity withdraw from negotiations which is regarded as the main completely pillar in the fight against the enemy. Hence, the PA in Ramallah pursues and arrests resistance fighters and so does the government in Gaza after agreeing Has the PA done a full audit of a truce with Israel through the what has happened since Oslo Egyptians. National unity is one was signed? It seems not. It is of the conditions for victory and astonishing that it has agreed to the centre of gravity for the Pal- forego its right to join the Interestinian people on their revolu- national Criminal Court, through tionary path towards freedom. which it could take legal action
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The PA›s security coordination with the Israelis bolsters the occupation. Indeed, through the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, Israel relieved itself
against Israel, in return for the release of relatively few long-term prisoners. The Israelis are stalling on the release of the balance of the agreed number of prison-
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ers, but is this an effective way to get these men and women set free? Experience shows that those who are released by the Israelis with one hand can be, and often are, re-arrested soon after with the other. It also looks as if the PA has downgraded the importance of working cohesively with the Arab world, where the Palestinian issue has slipped from the list of priorities. Its approach towards settlements and negotiations has pushed back the Arab people for whom Jerusalem and Palestine have long been important issues. It is now feared that the Palestinian leadership will buckle under American pressure in the proposed end result of the negotiations even though it is clear that the US is not an honest broker for peace. The Americans are 100 per cent beside Israel despite occasional blips which sees harsh words exchanged between Washington and Tel Aviv; that›s all they are – words. What›s left to say is that negotiating with Israel is the wrong choice, full stop. Never mind the resignation of the negotiating team, the PA must withdraw from negotiations completely. Only that will make the Israelis and their supporters understand that the Palestinians are serious.
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2th December, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia