issue no 57

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Issue No : 57 19th August, 2013

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia | 1


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Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

Palestinian Cultural

Organization Malaysia

Read In This Report

Hamas calls for an end to bloodshed Egypt

IOA meets Jordanian hunger strikers› demands

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P 10

Israel releases 26 Palestinian prisoners, detains tens others

What peace are they talking about?

By:

Oraib Rantawi

Hamas renewed its rejection to the futile negotiations

P 5Israel supports military rule in Egypt

P 6

Egypt closes Rafah border crossing

P 7Bombs and arrests in Palestinian refugee

camps in Syria

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P 4

P 9

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CONTENTS

News of Palestine

Articles & Analyses

What peace are they talking about? 10

Hamas renewed its rejection to the futile negotiations 4

Israel supports military rule in Egypt 5

Hamas calls for an end to bloodshed Egypt 6

Egypt closes Rafah border crossing 7

Bombs and arrests in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria 7

IOA meets Jordanian hunger strikers› demands 8

Israel releases 26 Palestinian prisoners, detains tens others 9

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News of Palestine

15/08/2013Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have recon-vened US-brokered peace talks in Jerusalem amid low expectations, and dogged by plans for more Jewish settler homes on occupied land.

An Israeli official, who declined to be named and who was briefed on Wednesday›s talks that were held at an undisclosed Jerusalem location, described them as serious and said the parties agreed to meet again soon. No details were given on the subject matter of the talks. For its part, Hamas movement renewed its rejec-tion to the futile negotiations, saying they only serve the interests of the occupation. The move-ment stressed, at a press conference on Monday evening, that Abu Mazen and his negotiating team do not have the legitimacy and the right to

give up any part of the land of Palestine or any of the people›s rights.It stressed that the Palestinian people with all its factions including the PLO factions have rejected the resumption of negotiations, and called on all the Palestinian living forces and factions to unite against the move which aims to liquidate the Pal-estinian cause. It also called on the Arab League and the Arab and Islamic countries to «lift the cover on this negotiating process,» amid the Pal-estinian Authority›s serious and continued con-cessions.Hamas also emphasized on the choice of resis-tance until the liberation of Palestine, the return of all refugees, the release of all captives and the liberation of Jerusalem.

Source: Aljazeera+PIC

Hamas renewed its rejection to the futile negotiations

Second round of negotiations in Jerusalem

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Israel supports military rule in Egypt

16/08/2013Israeli writer, Yossi Melman, has said that Israel›s main concern is the possible downfall of the military regime in Egypt. He has also said that Israel is fearful that chaos could lead the country into civil war.

Melman made clear that Israel was not con-cerned that this would undermine Egypt›s de-velopment or independence, but said this «could render null the peace treaty that has brought rel-ative calm to the border for more than 30 years.»

In his article in the Jerusalem Post, Melman wrote: «Israel›s primary concerns regarding Egypt are the possible fall of the military regime or a descent into civil war.»

Melman asserted that Israel was treading care-fully as it is unable to do anything significant to protect its borders if the peace treaty is annulled. «From a diplomatic and military perspective, Israel is following events in Egypt with great trepidation, in the knowledge that there is little it can do.» Therefore, Melman said, «Israel has been engaging in some diplomatic lobbying,

particularly in Washington and a number of Eu-ropean capitals, with the intent of persuading those governments against rushing to step up their condemnation of the latest Egyptian mili-tary operation to remove the pro-Muslim Broth-erhood protesters from the streets of Cairo and other cities.»

The senior Israeli writer continued, «since (they) ousted President Mohamed Morsi six weeks ago, Israel has been secretly manoeuvring via friendly nations, deploying heavy diplomatic le-verage to stop Western governments, first and foremost the United States, from denouncing the overthrow by the Egyptian security forces, deterring them from calling it a ‹massacre.›»

He said that calling it a massacre «weakens the military-backed Egyptian government and strengthens the will of the Muslim Brotherhood to continue its policy of brinkmanship.»

Melman asserted that most European countries support the military coup. He said that military rule «for now enjoys the support of most of the Egyptian people.»

Source: MEMO

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Palestinian Cultural

Organization Malaysia

Hamas calls for an end to bloodshed Egypt16/08/2013The Islamc Resistance Movement (Hamas) has condemned the Egyptian authorities for target-ing the peaceful protestors at Rabea al-Adaw-eya and Nahda Squares resulting in horrific massacres claiming hundreds of lives.

In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas renewed its position with regard to supporting people’s right to freedom and dignity and called for an end to Egyptian bloodshed.

«While we express pain and sadness at the Egyp-tian blood that was shed today in Cairo squares, we stress our unwavering position regarding Arab and Muslim peoples’ right to freedom and dig-nity. At this sombre juncture we call for an end to the shedding of Egyptian people’s blood and to stop using force against peaceful demonstrators.”

Meanwhile, thousands of worshipers dem-onstrated after the Friday prayers at the Aqsa mosque to protest the massacres committed by the Egyptian army against peaceful protest-ers in Cairo. Participants in the demonstration raised the Egyptian flag and pictures of the elected president of Egypt Muhammad Morsi and chanted against the military junta which committed the massacres.

The Aqsa Imam, Dr. Ikrima Sabri, condemned the heinous massacres in Cairo saying: “It re-minds us of the invasions by the Crusaders and the Mongols and Tatars and their beastly acts.» He added that Egypt was facing a dangerous

conspiracy and condemned those who supported the military coup against president Morsi stressing that those behind the coup are implementing a cer-tain agenda and they do not represent the majority of Egyptian people.

On the other hand, several media outlets affili-ated to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah praised the Egyptian army›s killing of pro-Morsi protesters in Cairo on Wednesday.

Whilst the official PA news agency did not mention the massacres, the PA›s official TV reported the in-terim government›s figures on the number of cau-salities and reported that the Muslim Brotherhood members had attacked the police and the army.

Head of the Fatah Bloc in the Palestinian Legisla-tive Council, threatened Hamas with violence if they continued to ignore calls for internal nego-tiations. However, Fatah and PA had already sus-pended talks on reconciliation when they signed up for peace talks with Israel.

Source: Agencies

Demonstrations at al-Aqsa to protest the massacres

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15/08/2013A spokesman for the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip, Ihab Al-Ghossin, has confirmed that the Egyptian authorities have closed the Rafah border crossing.

Al-Ghossin said that the Egyptians had told the Gaza government that the closure was in place due to the on-going state of uncertainty in Egypt. The number of travellers crossing through Rafah has decreased se-verely since the military coup that removed Mohamed Morsi on July 3.

The Rafah border crossing is the only normal outlet for Palestinians from Gaza to have contact with the outside world.

Source: MEMO

Egypt closes Rafah border crossing

Bombs and arrests in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria

16/08/2013The humanitarian NGO Action Group for the Palestinians of Syria has reported that Palestin-ian refugee camps have been bombed. No ca-sualties were reported although Syrian regime forces arrested three young men from Al-Rimal refugee camp in Lattakia.

In a press statement released on Thursday, the group said that the Yarmouk refugee camp was subjected to shelling overnight which affected the area surrounding Al-Rija Square and Lou-bieh Street.

Fighting and bombs were also reported in Husseiniyeh and Daraa refugee camps. Snipers targeted anyone trying to enter or leave Daraa. Residents complain of rising prices and severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

Source: MEMO

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15/08/2013

The Israeli prison Service (IPS) has accepted the Jordanian hunger strikers› demands after going on hunger strike for three months, Fouad Khuf-fash, Ahrar center director said.

Fouad Khuffash the director of Ahrar center said in a statement on Sunday that the IPS agreed on ending the solitary confinement, allowing fam-ily visits and gathering the prisoners in one pris-on. He explained that the Jordanian detainees led a great struggle to end their suffering and achieved a large part of their demands.

The hunger strikers› demands include all the 27 Jordanian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The agreement states that the first family visit to the Jordanian prisoners will last for four hours af-ter three weeks while the regular monthly visits will last for an hour and a half.

The human rights center›s director pointed out that the IPS tried to eliminate the prisoners Abdullah Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamed from

the agreement, however the striking prisoners re-fused.

Meanwhile, Jordanian prisoner Abdullah al-Barghouthi was transferred from Afula hospital to Ramle prison hospital despite his sharp health deterioration after 104 days on hunger strike, hu-man rights sources said.

The Mandela institution for Palestinian prisoners’ affairs confirmed that al-Barghouthi was trans-ferred to Ramle prison clinic after suspending his hunger strike since Sunday.

The institution expressed grave concern over al-Barghouthi›s health status especially that he was transferred from Afula prison before he recovered as part of the Israeli arbitrary policy against the hunger strikers.

The human rights institution stressed the need to transfer al-Barghouthi and the four Jordanian prisoners who went on hunger strike immediately to a specialized hospital.

Source: Agencies

IOA meets Jordanian hunger strikers› demandsDemonstrations at al-Aqsa to protest the massacres

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14/08/2013

On Wednesday morning Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners as promised, in a ‹good gesture› ahead of the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) while detained tens oth-ers from cities across the West Bank.

Of the released prisoners, 11 arrived at the headquarters of the Palestinian president in Ramallah and 15 arrived in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas welcomed the release of the prisoners, but reiterated that the price of the release of any pris-oner must not be further concessions.

Meanwhile, Palestinian human rights activists have pointed out that around one-third of the prison-ers to be released by Israel today as part of the conditions for returning to negotiations would have completed their sentences soon in any case. None of the prisoners in the first cohort, claims the Palestinian Prisoners› Centre, are from Jerusalem or inside Israel; at 60 per cent, most are from the Gaza Strip.

Source: Agencies

Israel releases 26 Palestinian prisoners, detains tens others

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By: Oraib Rantawi*

The construction of 1,200 housing units in the occupied West Bank does not threaten the peace process, although Is-rael finds it difficult to accept the «unfair accusations» that activities of the sort are «ex-pansive» and «aggressive». The «Arab idol» winner Mo-hammad Assaf sang about a «flying bird» and threatens the peace process because the lyrics urges the destruction of the State of Israel. The singer calls on soaring birds to send regards to the Palestinians in Nazareth, Acre and Tiberias, which rattles those who insist that Israel is a «Jewish state». Such recognition is a precondi-tion to the negotiations. Israel has US support for such a des-ignation and now wants to ex-tract it from the Palestinian Au-thority, 22 Arab countries and 57 other Islamic states.

In order to justify and sell the release of a few pre-Oslo pris-oners to the Israeli electorate, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government have approved 1,200 new settlement housing units. It is as if Israel is nego-tiating with itself and arriving

sion will lead us to the situa-tion where all of Palestine has been absorbed by settlements and there will be nothing left to negotiate, except perhaps how to re-invent the wheel.

We knew in advance that the negotiations would resume without the Palestinians› ba-sic requirement for a freeze on settlement construction. We were told that there were «un-derstandings», at the very least a Palestinian-American under-standing, that Netanyahu will stop extending the occupation quietly and gradually. The re-ality is that Netanyahu and his government are accelerating and increasing the occupation with maximum publicity while

at «adjustments» and «deals» that please its ruling class, and no more. By the time that all of the 140 detainees are released according to the «Kerry under-standings» Israel will have built more than five thousand new housing units. It is also possible, if previous experience is any-thing to go by, that the Israelis will simply re-arrest the men at the first sign that they are not get-ting their own way in the talks. Israel has used such a «revolving door» policy before and will do so again.

A spokesman for the Palestin-ian Authority has called the new settlement construction «a nail in the coffin of the peace process» but how many nails have already been hammered into this coffin? How many more nails will the peace process coffin withstand before it turns into «sawdust»? Smarter spokesmen have said that decisions of like this con-firm that Israel is only interested in expansion and occupation and not in the two-state solution and the peace process. Sadly, this is like re-inventing the wheel, but how many times do we have to do it? The resumption of talks in parallel with settlement expan-

Articles & Analyses

What peace are they talking about?

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””

So the next time that someone says that this is an «opportu-nity» and «the last chance» for peace», we are entitled to ask, «What peace are you talk-ing about?»

the world looks on with the usual condemnations and decla-rations but no concrete action to stop Israel doing exactly what it wants.

There has been deliberate hype too about the prisoner release deal. This, though, will only serve to distract everyone from the PA›s inability to stop settle-ment activity, but nobody will be able to wave the «stop the talks» card or rap the negotia-tors on the knuckles for going ahead while settlement expan-sion continues.

The whole frivolous charade means that Israel will continue to expand at the expense of our land and our rights and our holy places, regardless of talks or what the rest of the world may think. The Israelis know how to play the game and they will use all of their determination and cunning to prolong the talks as long as possible in order to give themselves more time to change the facts on the ground. The Pal-estinian team at the talks will have two options: accept what the Israelis tell them to accept or abandon negotiations, again, and be blamed for their failure, just as Arafat was blamed in the past, and we all know where that led.

These are not talks between equal protagonists, despite what the media, the US and Israel would like us to believe. Israel is an occupying state; it breaks international laws with impuni-

ty and it is expanding daily but the Palestinians have to negoti-ate their way out while the oc-cupier continues to ravage their land and lives. Palestinians are urged to be «calm» and «ex-ercise restraint» while Israel›s brutal military occupation goes on all around them. Nobody calls on the Israelis to end the occupation, which leads us to ask, who are the Israelis nego-tiating with, and what are they negotiating? The PA hasn›t even extracted the most basic precondition from them: stop settlement activity. We have to pay the price while the Israe-lis pick the fruits of whichever trees they choose.

So the next time that someone says that this is an «opportu-nity» and «the last chance» for peace», we are entitled to ask, «What peace are you talking about?»

* Oraib Rantawi is the founder and director general of the Am-man-based Al Quds Center for Political Studies and an estab-lished writer and columnist. He has authored and edited several strategic studies and organized and participated in seminars and conferences in Jordan and internationally. He is also a fre-quent commentator and analyst on television and has produced his own show “Qadaya wa Ah-dath” (Issues and Events).

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issue no 57

Documents

palestinian prisoners

palestinian negotiators

palestinian people

palestinian refugee

palestinian living forces

military rule

israel releases

report hamas