17 mar 2015
Can you imagine reading an editorial in a respected newspaper today discussing the rights of "Negroes" or "Chinamen"? Probably not. And yet, like other newspapers in this country, The Times continues to use the generic term "Arabs" or "Israeli Arabs" to refer to the Palestinians who live inside Israel, falsely distinguishing them from the Palestinians who live in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 or those who were driven into exile during the destruction of Palestine in 1948.
The term is, at best, an archaism from the mid-20th century that Palestinians themselves resist using. Using it is akin to using "Negroes" or "Coloreds" instead of "African Americans" or calling Asians "Orientals." In general, the term that an ethnic or national group uses to designate itself is surely preferable to the terms that its antagonists have historically used to designate it.
But what's at stake here is not merely rhetoric but a form of historical distortion that makes it all but impossible for readers to fully grasp the nature of the conflict.
Palestinian artists and intellectuals as well as the most important institutions of Palestinian civil society inside Israel, including the human rights organization Adalah and the Mada al-Carmel research center, use the term "Palestinians" to identify and affiliate themselves and to assert their indissoluble connection to the rest of the Palestinian people.
In 2007, Adalah drafted a constitution for what it envisages as a genuinely multicultural and truly democratic state of Israel (i.e., not the state as it actually exists, which treats Palestinians as second-class citizens). It states, for example, "The Palestinian Arab citizens of the State of Israel have lived in their homeland for innumerable generations. Here they were born, here their historic roots have grown, and here their national and cultural life has developed and flourished. They are active contributors to human history and culture as part of the Arab nation and the Islamic culture and as an inseparable part of the Palestinian people."
Mada al-Carmel's Haifa Declaration — the single most important collective declaration of and by the Palestinians inside Israel — similarly states, "We, sons and daughters of the Palestinian Arab people who remained in our homeland despite the Nakba, who were forcibly made a minority in the State of Israel after its establishment in 1948 on the greater part of the Palestinian homeland; do hereby affirm in this Declaration the foundations of our identity and belonging, and put forth a vision of our collective future, one which gives voice to our concerns and aspirations and lays the foundations for a frank dialogue among ourselves and between ourselves and other peoples."
As these declarations remind us, the Palestinians inside Israel are the remnant of the Palestinian people who survived the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, when the majority of the country’s Muslim and Christian population was driven into exile in what Palestinians call the Nakba. As Adalah puts it most succinctly, their political status “was changed against their will, making them a minority in their homeland.” Adalah adds, “they did not relinquish their national identity.”
Just as Palestinians existed as a people before the dismemberment of their homeland, they continue to exist as a people afterward. To refer to some Palestinians as Palestinian and others merely as deracinated "Arabs" is to doubt or negate their claim to a national existence as a people both historically and in the present. And in any case, it's not up to The Times — or anyone else — to determine who counts as Palestinian and who doesn't.
In fact, to use the ethnic term "Arab" to describe the Palestinians inside Israel is to strip them of any national identity — not only the national identity that they themselves assert, but quite literally any national identity whatsoever, given that, according to a 2013 ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court, "Israeli" is not a national identity. (For all its loose talk of democracy, Israel considers itself, after all, the state of the Jewish people rather than the state of its actual citizens or of those over whom it rules.) To reduce and describe people merely as an ethnicity shorn of national identity is, even if implicitly, to negate their political identity and to deny their rights, which, especially in this case, has very disturbing implications.
Moreover, to use different designations for the Palestinians inside Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied territories and in exile is to obscure, if not to deny altogether, the unity and continuity of the Palestinian people. The fact that the Palestinians inside Israel are an integral part of the Palestinian people is absolutely central to the history of this conflict as well as key to its resolution. Times readers will have no way of knowing that, given the newspaper's use of different designations for different parts of the Palestinian people.
Finally, and most importantly, Palestinians themselves — those inside Israel and those in the occupied territories and around the world — have asserted their identity as a people. It's unacceptable to deny or at best ignore these assertions, to look the other way, or pretend not to hear, when a people insists that they are a people and that they have a right to freedom and a will to be free.
Saree Makdisi, a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA, is the author of "Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation."
This piece is part of Blowback, our online forum for rebuttals to The Times. If you would like to write a full-length response to a recent Times article, editorial or op-ed and would like to participate in Blowback, here are our FAQs and submission policy.
The term is, at best, an archaism from the mid-20th century that Palestinians themselves resist using. Using it is akin to using "Negroes" or "Coloreds" instead of "African Americans" or calling Asians "Orientals." In general, the term that an ethnic or national group uses to designate itself is surely preferable to the terms that its antagonists have historically used to designate it.
But what's at stake here is not merely rhetoric but a form of historical distortion that makes it all but impossible for readers to fully grasp the nature of the conflict.
Palestinian artists and intellectuals as well as the most important institutions of Palestinian civil society inside Israel, including the human rights organization Adalah and the Mada al-Carmel research center, use the term "Palestinians" to identify and affiliate themselves and to assert their indissoluble connection to the rest of the Palestinian people.
In 2007, Adalah drafted a constitution for what it envisages as a genuinely multicultural and truly democratic state of Israel (i.e., not the state as it actually exists, which treats Palestinians as second-class citizens). It states, for example, "The Palestinian Arab citizens of the State of Israel have lived in their homeland for innumerable generations. Here they were born, here their historic roots have grown, and here their national and cultural life has developed and flourished. They are active contributors to human history and culture as part of the Arab nation and the Islamic culture and as an inseparable part of the Palestinian people."
Mada al-Carmel's Haifa Declaration — the single most important collective declaration of and by the Palestinians inside Israel — similarly states, "We, sons and daughters of the Palestinian Arab people who remained in our homeland despite the Nakba, who were forcibly made a minority in the State of Israel after its establishment in 1948 on the greater part of the Palestinian homeland; do hereby affirm in this Declaration the foundations of our identity and belonging, and put forth a vision of our collective future, one which gives voice to our concerns and aspirations and lays the foundations for a frank dialogue among ourselves and between ourselves and other peoples."
As these declarations remind us, the Palestinians inside Israel are the remnant of the Palestinian people who survived the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, when the majority of the country’s Muslim and Christian population was driven into exile in what Palestinians call the Nakba. As Adalah puts it most succinctly, their political status “was changed against their will, making them a minority in their homeland.” Adalah adds, “they did not relinquish their national identity.”
Just as Palestinians existed as a people before the dismemberment of their homeland, they continue to exist as a people afterward. To refer to some Palestinians as Palestinian and others merely as deracinated "Arabs" is to doubt or negate their claim to a national existence as a people both historically and in the present. And in any case, it's not up to The Times — or anyone else — to determine who counts as Palestinian and who doesn't.
In fact, to use the ethnic term "Arab" to describe the Palestinians inside Israel is to strip them of any national identity — not only the national identity that they themselves assert, but quite literally any national identity whatsoever, given that, according to a 2013 ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court, "Israeli" is not a national identity. (For all its loose talk of democracy, Israel considers itself, after all, the state of the Jewish people rather than the state of its actual citizens or of those over whom it rules.) To reduce and describe people merely as an ethnicity shorn of national identity is, even if implicitly, to negate their political identity and to deny their rights, which, especially in this case, has very disturbing implications.
Moreover, to use different designations for the Palestinians inside Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied territories and in exile is to obscure, if not to deny altogether, the unity and continuity of the Palestinian people. The fact that the Palestinians inside Israel are an integral part of the Palestinian people is absolutely central to the history of this conflict as well as key to its resolution. Times readers will have no way of knowing that, given the newspaper's use of different designations for different parts of the Palestinian people.
Finally, and most importantly, Palestinians themselves — those inside Israel and those in the occupied territories and around the world — have asserted their identity as a people. It's unacceptable to deny or at best ignore these assertions, to look the other way, or pretend not to hear, when a people insists that they are a people and that they have a right to freedom and a will to be free.
Saree Makdisi, a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA, is the author of "Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation."
This piece is part of Blowback, our online forum for rebuttals to The Times. If you would like to write a full-length response to a recent Times article, editorial or op-ed and would like to participate in Blowback, here are our FAQs and submission policy.
A cluster of anti-Israel activists distributed leaflets calling on Palestinian residents of 1948 Occupied Palestine to boycott Israeli parliamentary polls that opened on Tuesday.
The leaflets disseminated in the regions of Ara, Ar’ara, and Wadi Ara come as part of a widespread boycott-of-Israel campaign calling for shunning Israeli parliamentary elections as a means to set the stage for rescinding Israel’s legitimacy—the biggest threat to Palestinianhood.
“The real battle with such a usurper entity should not be fought only by recoiling from casting one’s ballot but in facing all forms of colonization,” youth activist Mohamed Kubha said in his exclusive statements to the PIC.
“If such a national project is ever to see the day, confrontation, rather than assimilation, should be the weapon,” he added.
Though the available potentials are quite modest, since the move is carried out by independent activists, their weight is by no means trifling, as the campaign is promoted by people who strongly believe in their cause, he further stated.
“We don’t have any problem with potential divergences of outlook and positions. After all, we are all brothers and sisters in the resistance path,” Kubha said.
But we’re not on the same mind when it comes to the fruits we will be reaping by taking part in Israeli ballot, the activist added, wondering whether contributions in the poll would be of any benefit to the national liberation project and to the dream of restoring Palestinians’ rights.
“Certainly our campaign gets on the nerves of the Israeli occupation as an entity that aims to break up our identity into pieces,” he said, adding “But we’re trying our best to foil such any Israeli scheme aimed at gulping down Palestinians in the very labyrinths of the Israeli community.”
The leaflets disseminated in the regions of Ara, Ar’ara, and Wadi Ara come as part of a widespread boycott-of-Israel campaign calling for shunning Israeli parliamentary elections as a means to set the stage for rescinding Israel’s legitimacy—the biggest threat to Palestinianhood.
“The real battle with such a usurper entity should not be fought only by recoiling from casting one’s ballot but in facing all forms of colonization,” youth activist Mohamed Kubha said in his exclusive statements to the PIC.
“If such a national project is ever to see the day, confrontation, rather than assimilation, should be the weapon,” he added.
Though the available potentials are quite modest, since the move is carried out by independent activists, their weight is by no means trifling, as the campaign is promoted by people who strongly believe in their cause, he further stated.
“We don’t have any problem with potential divergences of outlook and positions. After all, we are all brothers and sisters in the resistance path,” Kubha said.
But we’re not on the same mind when it comes to the fruits we will be reaping by taking part in Israeli ballot, the activist added, wondering whether contributions in the poll would be of any benefit to the national liberation project and to the dream of restoring Palestinians’ rights.
“Certainly our campaign gets on the nerves of the Israeli occupation as an entity that aims to break up our identity into pieces,” he said, adding “But we’re trying our best to foil such any Israeli scheme aimed at gulping down Palestinians in the very labyrinths of the Israeli community.”
The Tunisian judiciary has made a historic precedent that criminalizes normalization with Israel for the first time in Tunisia.
Sousse court of first instance has banned Monday two planned tourist flights to occupied Jerusalem via Jordan’s King Hussein crossing on March.
Tunisian Association of Arab Resistance to Imperialism and Zionism known as "Resist" filed in February a lawsuit to stop the trips, saying that they were a form of normalization with Israel.
The lawsuit was based on the fourth article in the 2014 constitution that reiterates Tunisia's support for the Palestinian cause, and opposition to Israeli occupation.
Resist said that a local travel agency in Sousse, a coastal city in eastern Tunisia, tried to "normalize relations" with Israel, by arranging trips to occupied Jerusalem.
"Normalizing relations with the Zionist entity in an official fashion can take on various forms including tourism, in particular religious and cultural tourism, or normalization through direct and indirect commercial exchange," the lawsuit stated.
Resist said that the two trips were clearly exploiting religious sentiments to attract travelers by arranging visits to Islamic and Christian religious sites in Jerusalem.
Such actions are "defeatist and negligent to the historical rights of the Arab nation in Palestine and other occupied lands".
Nadia al-Warghi, the association's lawyer, said that this is the first time in Tunisia’s history that courts have made a legal ruling on the Tunisian constitution related to normalization of relations with Israel.
Speaking to al-Araby al-Jadeed, al-Warghi noted that the court stated that the advertisement for the trip did not include information about whether the accommodation, transport, tour guides, and agency that would be responsible for organizing visas and permits would be Israeli or Palestinian.
Al-Warghi said that this fact spurred her to complain to Tunisian security services.
She believes that this ruling will be a starting point for other cases related to Israel, and will help to give more power to groups working for Palestinian rights.
"It is important we overcome the sense of inability and the sense of satisfaction with just crying for children while they are killed in Palestine. There must be a move towards concrete actions. I think Israel and the Mossad followed the case but the court was decisive in its ruling," al-Warghi said.
Sousse court of first instance has banned Monday two planned tourist flights to occupied Jerusalem via Jordan’s King Hussein crossing on March.
Tunisian Association of Arab Resistance to Imperialism and Zionism known as "Resist" filed in February a lawsuit to stop the trips, saying that they were a form of normalization with Israel.
The lawsuit was based on the fourth article in the 2014 constitution that reiterates Tunisia's support for the Palestinian cause, and opposition to Israeli occupation.
Resist said that a local travel agency in Sousse, a coastal city in eastern Tunisia, tried to "normalize relations" with Israel, by arranging trips to occupied Jerusalem.
"Normalizing relations with the Zionist entity in an official fashion can take on various forms including tourism, in particular religious and cultural tourism, or normalization through direct and indirect commercial exchange," the lawsuit stated.
Resist said that the two trips were clearly exploiting religious sentiments to attract travelers by arranging visits to Islamic and Christian religious sites in Jerusalem.
Such actions are "defeatist and negligent to the historical rights of the Arab nation in Palestine and other occupied lands".
Nadia al-Warghi, the association's lawyer, said that this is the first time in Tunisia’s history that courts have made a legal ruling on the Tunisian constitution related to normalization of relations with Israel.
Speaking to al-Araby al-Jadeed, al-Warghi noted that the court stated that the advertisement for the trip did not include information about whether the accommodation, transport, tour guides, and agency that would be responsible for organizing visas and permits would be Israeli or Palestinian.
Al-Warghi said that this fact spurred her to complain to Tunisian security services.
She believes that this ruling will be a starting point for other cases related to Israel, and will help to give more power to groups working for Palestinian rights.
"It is important we overcome the sense of inability and the sense of satisfaction with just crying for children while they are killed in Palestine. There must be a move towards concrete actions. I think Israel and the Mossad followed the case but the court was decisive in its ruling," al-Warghi said.
Hamas Movement on Monday denounced recent remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he declared his total rejection of the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu's remarks prove Israel's claims about peace, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.
The spokesman also lashed out at the Palestinian Authority's approach in pursuing negotiations with Netanyahu.
The Israeli Prime Minister said Monday there would be no Palestinian state if he were reelected.
Netanyahu's comments were considered as a last-ditch effort to woo right-wing voters on the eve of a general election.
Netanyahu's remarks prove Israel's claims about peace, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.
The spokesman also lashed out at the Palestinian Authority's approach in pursuing negotiations with Netanyahu.
The Israeli Prime Minister said Monday there would be no Palestinian state if he were reelected.
Netanyahu's comments were considered as a last-ditch effort to woo right-wing voters on the eve of a general election.
16 mar 2015
Likud leader stresses right-wing credentials by vowing to keep 'all parts' of Jerusalem and continue to build in its controversial neighborhoods.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a final bid to shore up right-wing support ahead of a knife-edge vote on Tuesday, said he would not permit a Palestinian state to be created under his watch if he is re-elected.
Trailing his centre-left opponent Isaac Herzog in opinion polls, the three-term leader has sought to shift the focus away from socioeconomic issues and on to security challenges, saying he alone can defend Israel.
Having previously hinted that he would accept a Palestinian state, Netanyahu reversed course on Monday, citing risks that he linked to the regional spread of Islamist militancy. He said that if he is re-elected, the Palestinians would not get the independent state they seek in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
"Whoever moves to establish a Palestinian state or intends to withdraw from territory is simply yielding territory for radical Islamic terrorist attacks against Israel," he told the Israeli news site NRG.
Asked if that meant a state would not be established if he remained prime minister, he said: "Indeed."
On the final day of campaigning Monday, Netanyahu visited Har Homa, a Jewish development in east Jerusalem that is viewed as an illegal settlement by the Palestinians and the international community.
Netanyahu vowed to preserve Jerusalem's unity "in all its parts" and said he would "continue to build and fortify" the city to prevent any future division.
"Come home," he told disaffected Likud supporters. The choice is symbolic: the Likud led by me, that will continue to stand firmly for (Israel's) vital interests, compared with a left-wing government... ready to accept any dictate," he said.
Netanyahu promoted the establishment of Har Homa in 1997, in defiance of deep-seated international opposition, after he was first elected prime minister.
"I thought we had to protect the southern gateway to Jerusalem by building here," Netanyahu said, with a construction site behind the podium as his backdrop. "There was huge objection, because this neighbourhood is in a location which prevents the Palestinian (territorial) contiguity."
Despite the gap in polls, the numbers do not necessarily rule out Netanyahu's chances of forming the next government after Tuesday's election but have rattled the Likud, which began the campaign all but assured that it would stay in office. In recent days it has been on a get-out-the-vote blitz with Netanyahu warning against the rise of a left-wing government in a series of interviews and before tens of thousands of hard-line supporters at a Tel Aviv rally organized by the right on Sunday evening.
"This is a fateful struggle, a close struggle. We must close this gap. We can close this gap," Netanyahu said to roaring applause at the rally.
Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said Netanyahu's comments were "dangerous" and could plunge the region into violence.
"This is the real Netanyahu," she said. "From the beginning, he was attempting to carry out a grand deception by pretending to be in favor of the two-state solution. But what he was actually doing on the ground is destroying the chances of peace."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a final bid to shore up right-wing support ahead of a knife-edge vote on Tuesday, said he would not permit a Palestinian state to be created under his watch if he is re-elected.
Trailing his centre-left opponent Isaac Herzog in opinion polls, the three-term leader has sought to shift the focus away from socioeconomic issues and on to security challenges, saying he alone can defend Israel.
Having previously hinted that he would accept a Palestinian state, Netanyahu reversed course on Monday, citing risks that he linked to the regional spread of Islamist militancy. He said that if he is re-elected, the Palestinians would not get the independent state they seek in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
"Whoever moves to establish a Palestinian state or intends to withdraw from territory is simply yielding territory for radical Islamic terrorist attacks against Israel," he told the Israeli news site NRG.
Asked if that meant a state would not be established if he remained prime minister, he said: "Indeed."
On the final day of campaigning Monday, Netanyahu visited Har Homa, a Jewish development in east Jerusalem that is viewed as an illegal settlement by the Palestinians and the international community.
Netanyahu vowed to preserve Jerusalem's unity "in all its parts" and said he would "continue to build and fortify" the city to prevent any future division.
"Come home," he told disaffected Likud supporters. The choice is symbolic: the Likud led by me, that will continue to stand firmly for (Israel's) vital interests, compared with a left-wing government... ready to accept any dictate," he said.
Netanyahu promoted the establishment of Har Homa in 1997, in defiance of deep-seated international opposition, after he was first elected prime minister.
"I thought we had to protect the southern gateway to Jerusalem by building here," Netanyahu said, with a construction site behind the podium as his backdrop. "There was huge objection, because this neighbourhood is in a location which prevents the Palestinian (territorial) contiguity."
Despite the gap in polls, the numbers do not necessarily rule out Netanyahu's chances of forming the next government after Tuesday's election but have rattled the Likud, which began the campaign all but assured that it would stay in office. In recent days it has been on a get-out-the-vote blitz with Netanyahu warning against the rise of a left-wing government in a series of interviews and before tens of thousands of hard-line supporters at a Tel Aviv rally organized by the right on Sunday evening.
"This is a fateful struggle, a close struggle. We must close this gap. We can close this gap," Netanyahu said to roaring applause at the rally.
Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said Netanyahu's comments were "dangerous" and could plunge the region into violence.
"This is the real Netanyahu," she said. "From the beginning, he was attempting to carry out a grand deception by pretending to be in favor of the two-state solution. But what he was actually doing on the ground is destroying the chances of peace."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday that, if reelected, he will build thousands of settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem to prevent future concessions to Palestinians.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's general election on a whistle-stop tour of Har Homa, a contentious settlement neighborhood of annexed East Jerusalem, the PM vowed that he would never allow Palestinians to establish a capital in the city's eastern sector.
"I won't let that happen. My friends and I in Likud will preserve the unity of Jerusalem," he said of his ruling right-wing party, according to AFP, vowing to prevent any future division of the city by building thousands of new settler homes.
"We will continue to build in Jerusalem, we will add thousands of housing units, and in the face of all the (international) pressure, we will persist and continue to develop our eternal capital," he added.
During the 2013 negotiations, Israeli officials announced, and, eventually, carried out in full force, plans to build thousands of additional homes in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, while continuing to further seize lands, demolish homes and agricultural resources and, thus, leaving scores of Palestinian families severely disenfranchised and without so much as a roof over their heads to shelter them from inclement weather.
Gazans were already surviving on a mere 8 hours per day of electricity when the Palestinian negotiating team finally resigned in protest, in mid-November. Israel, soon after, made quite clear its position on securing peace with Palestinians when Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, during a meeting with young Likud Party supporters, boasted:
“I was threatened in Washington: ‘not one brick’ [of settlement construction] … after five years, we built a little more than one brick…”
Asked about "peace talks with the Palestinians”, the PM reportedly replied, according to +972 online Israeli magazine: “about the – what?” to which his audience responded with a round of chuckling.
Critics of Israel's aggressively right-wing regime assert that such peace negotiations are simply used as a front for continued settlement expansion and military occupation, noting that settlement activity clearly increases during negotiations, while daily acts of violence against Palestinians, by both Israeli civilians and soldiers alike, remains as of yet unchallenged by the powers that be.
Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
Israel refers to both halves of the city as its "united, undivided capital" and does not see construction in the eastern sector as settlement building.
Successive Israeli leaders have vowed that Jerusalem will never again be divided -- in war or peace.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's general election on a whistle-stop tour of Har Homa, a contentious settlement neighborhood of annexed East Jerusalem, the PM vowed that he would never allow Palestinians to establish a capital in the city's eastern sector.
"I won't let that happen. My friends and I in Likud will preserve the unity of Jerusalem," he said of his ruling right-wing party, according to AFP, vowing to prevent any future division of the city by building thousands of new settler homes.
"We will continue to build in Jerusalem, we will add thousands of housing units, and in the face of all the (international) pressure, we will persist and continue to develop our eternal capital," he added.
During the 2013 negotiations, Israeli officials announced, and, eventually, carried out in full force, plans to build thousands of additional homes in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, while continuing to further seize lands, demolish homes and agricultural resources and, thus, leaving scores of Palestinian families severely disenfranchised and without so much as a roof over their heads to shelter them from inclement weather.
Gazans were already surviving on a mere 8 hours per day of electricity when the Palestinian negotiating team finally resigned in protest, in mid-November. Israel, soon after, made quite clear its position on securing peace with Palestinians when Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, during a meeting with young Likud Party supporters, boasted:
“I was threatened in Washington: ‘not one brick’ [of settlement construction] … after five years, we built a little more than one brick…”
Asked about "peace talks with the Palestinians”, the PM reportedly replied, according to +972 online Israeli magazine: “about the – what?” to which his audience responded with a round of chuckling.
Critics of Israel's aggressively right-wing regime assert that such peace negotiations are simply used as a front for continued settlement expansion and military occupation, noting that settlement activity clearly increases during negotiations, while daily acts of violence against Palestinians, by both Israeli civilians and soldiers alike, remains as of yet unchallenged by the powers that be.
Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
Israel refers to both halves of the city as its "united, undivided capital" and does not see construction in the eastern sector as settlement building.
Successive Israeli leaders have vowed that Jerusalem will never again be divided -- in war or peace.
Palestinian activists in different European cities have started to make preparations to send convoys to the German capital Berlin to attend the 13th Palestinians in Europe Conference.
In Denmark, the Danish Muslim Council and the Palestinian Forum announced their convoys would move on April 24 to Berlin, just one day before the start of the Conference.
For its part, the Palestinian Association in Germany announced it would organize convoys to Berlin from different cities, including Hamburg and Bremen.
The organizers of the Palestinians in Europe Conference stated in a recent press release that the preparations for convoys to Berlin were not confined to Denmark and Germany, affirming that there were similar moves in Sweden, France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Norway.
They also said that guests from Arab, Muslim, and foreign countries would also participate in the Conference.
The Palestinians in Europe Conference will kick off on April 25, under the slogan "The Palestinians in Europe and their national Palestinian project."
In Denmark, the Danish Muslim Council and the Palestinian Forum announced their convoys would move on April 24 to Berlin, just one day before the start of the Conference.
For its part, the Palestinian Association in Germany announced it would organize convoys to Berlin from different cities, including Hamburg and Bremen.
The organizers of the Palestinians in Europe Conference stated in a recent press release that the preparations for convoys to Berlin were not confined to Denmark and Germany, affirming that there were similar moves in Sweden, France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Norway.
They also said that guests from Arab, Muslim, and foreign countries would also participate in the Conference.
The Palestinians in Europe Conference will kick off on April 25, under the slogan "The Palestinians in Europe and their national Palestinian project."
Hamas on Monday morning denied ongoing claims that the group’s chief Khaled Mishaal has started mediation between Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen.
A PIC news reporter quoted a senior Hamas-affiliated political source as stating that “claims recently propagated by media outlets are just groundless.”
Unidentified media sources have recently claimed that Khaled Mishaal was conducting a mediation between Riyadh and Yemen’s Islah Party, at the request of Saudi Arabia, which has been alarmed at the possibility of a power struggle in Yemen, something that might negatively affect the Gulf security.
A PIC news reporter quoted a senior Hamas-affiliated political source as stating that “claims recently propagated by media outlets are just groundless.”
Unidentified media sources have recently claimed that Khaled Mishaal was conducting a mediation between Riyadh and Yemen’s Islah Party, at the request of Saudi Arabia, which has been alarmed at the possibility of a power struggle in Yemen, something that might negatively affect the Gulf security.
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahhar affirmed that the leadership of his Movement had received an official invitation to visit Saudi Arabia, without stating its date.
In a political symposium held on Sunday at the Islamic University, Zahhar added that Hamas accepted the invitation, which he said was made by a country of a pivotal role in the Arab and regional arenas.
He also stated that his Movement would never engage in alliances with other countries or be dependent on them.
"We have learned from the mistakes of the PLO with regard to engaging in alliances with some countries and be reliant on them. We have no position but that of defending the Palestinian project, and we accept subordination to no country."
In another context, the Hamas official denied there were contacts between his Movement and a mediating party to negotiate a new prisoner swap deal with the Israeli occupation.
He stressed that there could be no such deal without Israel fulfilling all its commitments under the first swap agreement, "Wafa al-Ahrar deal."
"We do not want to pay the price twice," he said.
As for the relations with Egypt, Zahhar expressed hope that there could be a new page of relationship with the Egyptian regime, especially since there was no real proof about his Movement's interference in Egypt's internal affairs or events.
He also commented on the new leaked documents that confirmed that the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority security apparatuses in the West Bank provided Israel with information against the resistance by saying that the leaks did not give something new.
He added that the Fatah Movement did not want the reconciliation with Hamas in the first place and still has a legitimacy complex that prevents it from recognizing the results of any election unless it is the winner.
In a political symposium held on Sunday at the Islamic University, Zahhar added that Hamas accepted the invitation, which he said was made by a country of a pivotal role in the Arab and regional arenas.
He also stated that his Movement would never engage in alliances with other countries or be dependent on them.
"We have learned from the mistakes of the PLO with regard to engaging in alliances with some countries and be reliant on them. We have no position but that of defending the Palestinian project, and we accept subordination to no country."
In another context, the Hamas official denied there were contacts between his Movement and a mediating party to negotiate a new prisoner swap deal with the Israeli occupation.
He stressed that there could be no such deal without Israel fulfilling all its commitments under the first swap agreement, "Wafa al-Ahrar deal."
"We do not want to pay the price twice," he said.
As for the relations with Egypt, Zahhar expressed hope that there could be a new page of relationship with the Egyptian regime, especially since there was no real proof about his Movement's interference in Egypt's internal affairs or events.
He also commented on the new leaked documents that confirmed that the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority security apparatuses in the West Bank provided Israel with information against the resistance by saying that the leaks did not give something new.
He added that the Fatah Movement did not want the reconciliation with Hamas in the first place and still has a legitimacy complex that prevents it from recognizing the results of any election unless it is the winner.
Hamas afternoon Sunday called on the international institutions to join ongoing initiatives aimed at building a hospital in Rafah city, south of the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said in statements on Facebook that the moment has come by to rescue Rafah city, urging the world’s activists and institutions to take part in ongoing endeavors to build a medical complex in the area.
Abu Zuhri stressed the group’s readiness to provide all necessary data for the concerned parties.
Over 162 Palestinians were mass-murdered in Rafah in one single day and night during last summer’s Israeli offensive on the besieged coastal enclave, he said, adding that half of the casualties succumbed to their wounds due to acute shortages in medical staff and kit.
A so-called “Friday massacre” perpetrated by the Israeli occupation in Rafah last summer, took away the lives of dozens of Gazan civilians, most of whose bodies were stored in vegetable refrigerators.
Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said in statements on Facebook that the moment has come by to rescue Rafah city, urging the world’s activists and institutions to take part in ongoing endeavors to build a medical complex in the area.
Abu Zuhri stressed the group’s readiness to provide all necessary data for the concerned parties.
Over 162 Palestinians were mass-murdered in Rafah in one single day and night during last summer’s Israeli offensive on the besieged coastal enclave, he said, adding that half of the casualties succumbed to their wounds due to acute shortages in medical staff and kit.
A so-called “Friday massacre” perpetrated by the Israeli occupation in Rafah last summer, took away the lives of dozens of Gazan civilians, most of whose bodies were stored in vegetable refrigerators.
15 mar 2015
Hamas spokesman Husam Badran said there are positive signs in Saudi Arabia's position towards his Movement, describing its regional role as very important.
"We are seeing positive signs in Saudi Arabia's position in general, and we hope that the new era will be a special springboard for the support of the Palestinian cause and lead to a development in the relations with Hamas," Badran stated in an interview conducted by the Saudi website al-Taqreer (report).
"We are meant to open relations with every party that can support the Palestinian cause and back our right to resist the occupation," the spokesman said, pointing out that such relations, however, must not be at the expense of any regional country.
As for the relationship with Egypt, the Hamas spokesman said that the recent court terror rulings against Hamas put a big question mark over the viability of any future Egyptian role in the Palestinian cause.
"If Egypt really wanted to keep its role towards the [Palestinian] cause, especially with regard to the indirect negotiation, it has to change its positions towards Hamas, redress the fault caused by its court verdicts, and end the misleading and unjust incitement campaigns that are waged by some media figures against Hamas and Gaza as well as against the Palestinian people in general."
"We are seeing positive signs in Saudi Arabia's position in general, and we hope that the new era will be a special springboard for the support of the Palestinian cause and lead to a development in the relations with Hamas," Badran stated in an interview conducted by the Saudi website al-Taqreer (report).
"We are meant to open relations with every party that can support the Palestinian cause and back our right to resist the occupation," the spokesman said, pointing out that such relations, however, must not be at the expense of any regional country.
As for the relationship with Egypt, the Hamas spokesman said that the recent court terror rulings against Hamas put a big question mark over the viability of any future Egyptian role in the Palestinian cause.
"If Egypt really wanted to keep its role towards the [Palestinian] cause, especially with regard to the indirect negotiation, it has to change its positions towards Hamas, redress the fault caused by its court verdicts, and end the misleading and unjust incitement campaigns that are waged by some media figures against Hamas and Gaza as well as against the Palestinian people in general."
The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) intends to hold a meeting soon to enforce the decision taken recently by its central council to halt security coordination and reconsider economic ties with Israel, PLO official Saeb Erekat said.
"The Palestinian central council's decision is clear and needs no explanation, where it decided to halt the security coordination and reassess the economic relations with Israel, and it is binding," Erekat, member of the PLO executive committee, told Voice of Palestine radio station on Sunday.
"We cannot keep such one direction relationship. Israel is pirating our tax money and violating all agreements, including the security ones," he added.
The PLO central council issued during the closing session of its 27th meeting in Ramallah earlier this month a decision halting the security cooperation with Israel.
Following its decision, the Palestinian Authority security apparatuses launched a large-scale arrest campaign against Hamas cadres and supporters in the West Bank, which was seen by Hamas as "an act of penance for the PLO central council's sinful move against Israel".
"The Palestinian central council's decision is clear and needs no explanation, where it decided to halt the security coordination and reassess the economic relations with Israel, and it is binding," Erekat, member of the PLO executive committee, told Voice of Palestine radio station on Sunday.
"We cannot keep such one direction relationship. Israel is pirating our tax money and violating all agreements, including the security ones," he added.
The PLO central council issued during the closing session of its 27th meeting in Ramallah earlier this month a decision halting the security cooperation with Israel.
Following its decision, the Palestinian Authority security apparatuses launched a large-scale arrest campaign against Hamas cadres and supporters in the West Bank, which was seen by Hamas as "an act of penance for the PLO central council's sinful move against Israel".
A series of recordings released by the Interior Ministry in Gaza proved that the Palestinian Authority (PA) apparatuses in the West Bank collaborated with the Israeli occupation against Palestinian resistance factions, Hamas has said.
The group’s spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said in a statement on Saturday night the recordings reflect the depth and gravity of the PA-Israeli security coordination.
The Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza released recordings Saturday, purporting to show that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah spied on Palestinian resistance and was involved in recent blasts in the Strip.
Telephone calls were also released between security officials in Ramallah and their employees in the Gaza Strip in addition to their agents in Egypt and Jordan, recruited to stake out the Palestinian resistance and pass the pieces of information on to the Israeli occupation.
For his part, senior Hamas leader, Mousa Abu Marzouk called on the PA to cease its antagonistic deeds against Gaza and rather work on fostering the reconstruction process.
“The implementation of the reconciliation accord and national responsibilities require another, totally different, behavior on the part of the PA,” Abu Marzouk said in statements posted on his Facebook page, wondering about the reasons why the PA has been spying on the Palestinian resistance and lashing out at Hamas.
The group’s spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said in a statement on Saturday night the recordings reflect the depth and gravity of the PA-Israeli security coordination.
The Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza released recordings Saturday, purporting to show that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah spied on Palestinian resistance and was involved in recent blasts in the Strip.
Telephone calls were also released between security officials in Ramallah and their employees in the Gaza Strip in addition to their agents in Egypt and Jordan, recruited to stake out the Palestinian resistance and pass the pieces of information on to the Israeli occupation.
For his part, senior Hamas leader, Mousa Abu Marzouk called on the PA to cease its antagonistic deeds against Gaza and rather work on fostering the reconstruction process.
“The implementation of the reconciliation accord and national responsibilities require another, totally different, behavior on the part of the PA,” Abu Marzouk said in statements posted on his Facebook page, wondering about the reasons why the PA has been spying on the Palestinian resistance and lashing out at Hamas.