21 dec 2017
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20 dec 2017
The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday adopted a majority in favor of a resolution reaffirming the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
176 member states voted in favor of the resolution. Only seven countries voted against it, including the United States, Israel, and Canada, while seven countries abstained.
The sweeping vote comes one day after the United States vetoed a Security Council draft resolution on Jerusalem.
According to observers, Tuesday’s vote shows that the world rejects the U.S. unilateral position on Jerusalem, which increases its isolation.
On Monday, the United States blocked an Egyptian-drafted Security Council resolution at the United Nations that would have rejected President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Egyptian proposal calls on the international community to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in Jerusalem in accordance with Security Council Resolution 478 of 1980.
Trump’s Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and start lengthy preparations to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city has been criticized by all the Arab countries and many U.S. allies, including fellow Security Council members France and Britain.
176 member states voted in favor of the resolution. Only seven countries voted against it, including the United States, Israel, and Canada, while seven countries abstained.
The sweeping vote comes one day after the United States vetoed a Security Council draft resolution on Jerusalem.
According to observers, Tuesday’s vote shows that the world rejects the U.S. unilateral position on Jerusalem, which increases its isolation.
On Monday, the United States blocked an Egyptian-drafted Security Council resolution at the United Nations that would have rejected President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Egyptian proposal calls on the international community to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in Jerusalem in accordance with Security Council Resolution 478 of 1980.
Trump’s Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and start lengthy preparations to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city has been criticized by all the Arab countries and many U.S. allies, including fellow Security Council members France and Britain.
18 dec 2017
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday signed 22 agreements and international treaties that are believed to strengthen the legal status of the State of Palestine on a global scale.
These important agreements would make the State of Palestine a key partner in discussing and addressing the fundamental issues facing the whole world, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Earlier in the day, Abbas said during a meeting of the PA leadership in Ramallah that the decision of the U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is devoid of any legitimacy.
Abbas vowed to take all necessary steps, legal and diplomatic, against Trump’s move, adding that the U.S. role as a peace broker has fallen apart.
These important agreements would make the State of Palestine a key partner in discussing and addressing the fundamental issues facing the whole world, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Earlier in the day, Abbas said during a meeting of the PA leadership in Ramallah that the decision of the U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is devoid of any legitimacy.
Abbas vowed to take all necessary steps, legal and diplomatic, against Trump’s move, adding that the U.S. role as a peace broker has fallen apart.
14 dec 2017
Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, on Wednesday organized a military parade in Gaza City on the occasion of the Movement’s 30th founding anniversary.
Hundreds of masked armed fighters in army uniform toured the main streets of Gaza City, carrying different weapons, including homemade sniper rifles and rockets.
December 14 of each year marks the anniversary of Hamas’s inception in 1987. Its armed wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was created later in 1991.
Hundreds of masked armed fighters in army uniform toured the main streets of Gaza City, carrying different weapons, including homemade sniper rifles and rockets.
December 14 of each year marks the anniversary of Hamas’s inception in 1987. Its armed wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was created later in 1991.
The White House on Thursday announced postponing the upcoming visit of the US Vice President Mike Pence to Israel and Palestine, which was slated on December 19, days after Palestinian officials cancelled plans to meet him.
According to the Hebrew Walla website, the delay decision was made upon request by the White House due to US Congressional votes on tax reforms.
The change of plans comes days after Palestinian people strongly refused meeting with Pence and officials cancelled their meeting with him in the West Bank.
This followed President Donald Trump's decision last week to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel and to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
According to the Hebrew Walla website, the delay decision was made upon request by the White House due to US Congressional votes on tax reforms.
The change of plans comes days after Palestinian people strongly refused meeting with Pence and officials cancelled their meeting with him in the West Bank.
This followed President Donald Trump's decision last week to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel and to move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
The Hamas Movement has warned that it is time for the Israeli occupation state to pay dearly for its crimes against the Palestinian people and their holy sites.
“Today, we will give a promise and send a warning. We promise our people to achieve victory and we warn this enemy (Israel) that its attacks against our people and holy sites have reached its peak and it is time for it to pay its debts,” Hamas stated in a press release issued on its 30th founding anniversary.
Hamas also emphasized in its statement that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine,” describing it as a “united Arab and Islamic city with no east or west.”
"All miserable decisions taken to declare Jerusalem city a capital for the occupation (Israel) are considered stupid and will be doomed to failure,” it added.
Hamas called on all factions to share the responsibility of the homeland and work together on protecting the Palestinian rights and national constants and renouncing all forms of security cooperation with the Israeli occupation.
“Today, we will give a promise and send a warning. We promise our people to achieve victory and we warn this enemy (Israel) that its attacks against our people and holy sites have reached its peak and it is time for it to pay its debts,” Hamas stated in a press release issued on its 30th founding anniversary.
Hamas also emphasized in its statement that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine,” describing it as a “united Arab and Islamic city with no east or west.”
"All miserable decisions taken to declare Jerusalem city a capital for the occupation (Israel) are considered stupid and will be doomed to failure,” it added.
Hamas called on all factions to share the responsibility of the homeland and work together on protecting the Palestinian rights and national constants and renouncing all forms of security cooperation with the Israeli occupation.
11 dec 2017
A group of Palestinian academicians launched a national initiative demanding Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas not to meet the US Vice President Mike Pence who is expected to visit the West Bank and Israel next week.
The academic Adnan Abu Amer, Head of Political Science Department at al-Ummah University in Gaza, told the PIC reporter that the initiative came in response to the US President Donald Trump’s decision to recolonize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and accordingly to move the US embassy to the holy city.
Abu Amer, one of prominent figures who launched the initiative, affirmed that 1,000 signatures were collected from Palestinian academicians in the West Bank, Gaza, Occupied Jerusalem, 1948 Occupied Palestine and diaspora in addition to Gulf countries.
The initiative will be submitted to the office of PA President Mahmoud Abbas next week, Abu Amer concluded.
The academic Adnan Abu Amer, Head of Political Science Department at al-Ummah University in Gaza, told the PIC reporter that the initiative came in response to the US President Donald Trump’s decision to recolonize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and accordingly to move the US embassy to the holy city.
Abu Amer, one of prominent figures who launched the initiative, affirmed that 1,000 signatures were collected from Palestinian academicians in the West Bank, Gaza, Occupied Jerusalem, 1948 Occupied Palestine and diaspora in addition to Gulf countries.
The initiative will be submitted to the office of PA President Mahmoud Abbas next week, Abu Amer concluded.
Scores of Palestinian youths on Monday morning participated in a march before Beit Hanoun crossing. It aimed at preventing the Bahraini normalization delegation from entering Gaza Strip.
The PIC reporter said that the protesters torched car wires as an expression for their insistence on not allowing the delegation to enter the besieged Gaza Strip after paying a visit to the Israeli occupation.
He added that the outraged protesters carried stones and other staff to be used in order to ban the normalization delegation from arriving in Gaza.
For its part, the Ministry of Education announced that it will not allow receiving the delegation in its schools.
The PIC reporter said that the protesters torched car wires as an expression for their insistence on not allowing the delegation to enter the besieged Gaza Strip after paying a visit to the Israeli occupation.
He added that the outraged protesters carried stones and other staff to be used in order to ban the normalization delegation from arriving in Gaza.
For its part, the Ministry of Education announced that it will not allow receiving the delegation in its schools.
4 dec 2017
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I have always dreamed of traveling.
In Gaza, we are born believing that happiness is beyond the borders. We study, work, get married, have children and die without ever feeling that we have experienced true happiness. I tried to seek it. I formed a music ensemble. I worked as a journalist, despite being a student in a city with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. I graduated from university with excellent grades. But there was always something missing: freedom. In 2014, I had an opportunity to attend a language course in France, |
but I couldn’t travel because of Israel’s assault on Gaza that year. Instead of visiting France, I faced imminent death for 51 days.
That long, exhausting experience compelled me to question my future and my choices.
I applied for a scholarship to complete my master’s degree in France. I was the only Palestinian in Gaza chosen for the scholarship the year I applied. I won a place in a master’s program in communications at Paris 8 University.
Cost of freedom
For a Palestinian in Gaza, to choose freedom means to lose many other things.
First, I had to leave my home.
“When someone leaves Gaza,” my mother says, “it always feels like the last time we’ll see them.”
Other students are able to go home during school breaks. But I cannot, for fear of being trapped in Gaza again.
To be free and happy, I had to begin from scratch.
I spent my last months in Gaza obsessing over the possibility of not being able to travel because of the siege. I wanted to spend that time savoring my mother’s cooking and walking around my hometown.
But, not knowing if I would be able to leave in time for the beginning of my program in France, all I could do was wait. I spent my days and nights worrying, instead of making proper goodbyes.
My course was set to start in September, so in August I tried to make my way out of Gaza, easier said than done.
I tried to go to Egypt through Rafah crossing, the sole point of entry and exit for most of Gaza’s two million residents,but Cairo’s prolonged closure of the gates meant there was no guarantee I could travel. I was number 17,000 on the list of people registered and waiting to cross – there were that many others waiting in line ahead of me.
I considered paying smugglers a small fortune in advance to ensure my exit from Gaza – a journey that would entail crossing from Gaza to Egypt, sleeping on the ground for one night and crossing the Sinai the next day. A very dangerous trip, given the instability and violence in the region.
Leaving
But after I said my goodbyes and was on my way to Rafah, I received the phone call that changed my life.
A French consulate employee told me: “Mousa, don’t go through Rafah. We got Israeli and Jordanian permits so you can leave from Erez.”
I was skeptical at first, but accepted when told I would be solely responsible for myself should I choose to cross through Rafah.
Erez checkpoint is the only point of passage for travelers between Gaza and Israel, and it’s almost impossible to attain a permit to leave through it.
In late August, Israeli authorities imposed new restrictions on Palestinians leaving Gaza via Erez. I wasn’t allowed to take any electronic devices other than my mobile phone. I also had to pack everything I owned into two handbags because hard shell cases are prohibited at Erez.
My biggest fear was not being able to take my musical instrument, the oud, with me. But I decided to try.
On 7 September, I headed to Erez with two heavy duffle bags and my fragile oud in its soft case, unfit for a three-day journey to Paris.
After long hours of stalling and intensive scanning of my oud, I was allowed to enter Erez. I was made to sign a document agreeing I would not go back to Gaza for one year. I was not told by the Israeli agents why.
Mousa, Moses, Moshe
Being named after the prophet of Judaism is common among Muslims, as we believe in Judaism and Christianity as part of our religion.
At first, I thought it was a coincidence that every officer at Erez smiled after reading my name. But that did not spare me the two-hour wait. Even Moshe from Gaza needs a permit to enter Israel, the Jewish state.
“How do you feel?” the driver, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, asked me as we left Erez, the worst question a prisoner can be asked when leaving the only place they’d ever known.
I expected to spend a while in the car before feeling like I was in a different place. But I was shocked: a new world was just beyond Erez. What a world! Two million people imprisoned just behind those gates!
I did not answer the driver’s question. I was completely speechless.
“Enjoy Palestine”
I kept asking myself: is this Palestine? Or is it Israel? My father fought for this land. Is it ours? My father’s phone call interrupted my thoughts.
“Did you see the land?” he asked.
“What land? Everything in front of me is endless flat landscape.”
“Al-Masmiyya is just after the plain. Don’t miss it.”
“Even you wouldn’t be able to recognize it after all those years! I will try to find it.”
“Enjoy Palestine, son.”
Al-Masmiyya is the village my grandparents were expelled from in 1948. Although I couldn’t find it, just the idea of looking for it made me feel like I was in Palestine. Nothing but Palestine.
In the day I spent in Amman, Jordan, and during my flights from Amman to Rome, and from Rome to Paris, I asked myself if I would ever get used to freedom.
It’s a confusing feeling. I am free, but my family and loved ones are still trapped in Gaza, many of them waiting for a chance to escape to a cold and distant place, just for the chance to feel free.
It does not feel like home here. There is no mother, cute nephews, or even the sea. But the feeling of freedom is worth every tear that follows video calls with my family in our cozy home.
Mine wasn’t a hero’s journey. I am just an ambitious young man who worked hard to realize his dream. The hardships we face in Gaza don’t make us superhumans. We are normal people with legitimate dreams and resilient hope.
Mousa Tawfiq is a journalist from Gaza.
That long, exhausting experience compelled me to question my future and my choices.
I applied for a scholarship to complete my master’s degree in France. I was the only Palestinian in Gaza chosen for the scholarship the year I applied. I won a place in a master’s program in communications at Paris 8 University.
Cost of freedom
For a Palestinian in Gaza, to choose freedom means to lose many other things.
First, I had to leave my home.
“When someone leaves Gaza,” my mother says, “it always feels like the last time we’ll see them.”
Other students are able to go home during school breaks. But I cannot, for fear of being trapped in Gaza again.
To be free and happy, I had to begin from scratch.
I spent my last months in Gaza obsessing over the possibility of not being able to travel because of the siege. I wanted to spend that time savoring my mother’s cooking and walking around my hometown.
But, not knowing if I would be able to leave in time for the beginning of my program in France, all I could do was wait. I spent my days and nights worrying, instead of making proper goodbyes.
My course was set to start in September, so in August I tried to make my way out of Gaza, easier said than done.
I tried to go to Egypt through Rafah crossing, the sole point of entry and exit for most of Gaza’s two million residents,but Cairo’s prolonged closure of the gates meant there was no guarantee I could travel. I was number 17,000 on the list of people registered and waiting to cross – there were that many others waiting in line ahead of me.
I considered paying smugglers a small fortune in advance to ensure my exit from Gaza – a journey that would entail crossing from Gaza to Egypt, sleeping on the ground for one night and crossing the Sinai the next day. A very dangerous trip, given the instability and violence in the region.
Leaving
But after I said my goodbyes and was on my way to Rafah, I received the phone call that changed my life.
A French consulate employee told me: “Mousa, don’t go through Rafah. We got Israeli and Jordanian permits so you can leave from Erez.”
I was skeptical at first, but accepted when told I would be solely responsible for myself should I choose to cross through Rafah.
Erez checkpoint is the only point of passage for travelers between Gaza and Israel, and it’s almost impossible to attain a permit to leave through it.
In late August, Israeli authorities imposed new restrictions on Palestinians leaving Gaza via Erez. I wasn’t allowed to take any electronic devices other than my mobile phone. I also had to pack everything I owned into two handbags because hard shell cases are prohibited at Erez.
My biggest fear was not being able to take my musical instrument, the oud, with me. But I decided to try.
On 7 September, I headed to Erez with two heavy duffle bags and my fragile oud in its soft case, unfit for a three-day journey to Paris.
After long hours of stalling and intensive scanning of my oud, I was allowed to enter Erez. I was made to sign a document agreeing I would not go back to Gaza for one year. I was not told by the Israeli agents why.
Mousa, Moses, Moshe
Being named after the prophet of Judaism is common among Muslims, as we believe in Judaism and Christianity as part of our religion.
At first, I thought it was a coincidence that every officer at Erez smiled after reading my name. But that did not spare me the two-hour wait. Even Moshe from Gaza needs a permit to enter Israel, the Jewish state.
“How do you feel?” the driver, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, asked me as we left Erez, the worst question a prisoner can be asked when leaving the only place they’d ever known.
I expected to spend a while in the car before feeling like I was in a different place. But I was shocked: a new world was just beyond Erez. What a world! Two million people imprisoned just behind those gates!
I did not answer the driver’s question. I was completely speechless.
“Enjoy Palestine”
I kept asking myself: is this Palestine? Or is it Israel? My father fought for this land. Is it ours? My father’s phone call interrupted my thoughts.
“Did you see the land?” he asked.
“What land? Everything in front of me is endless flat landscape.”
“Al-Masmiyya is just after the plain. Don’t miss it.”
“Even you wouldn’t be able to recognize it after all those years! I will try to find it.”
“Enjoy Palestine, son.”
Al-Masmiyya is the village my grandparents were expelled from in 1948. Although I couldn’t find it, just the idea of looking for it made me feel like I was in Palestine. Nothing but Palestine.
In the day I spent in Amman, Jordan, and during my flights from Amman to Rome, and from Rome to Paris, I asked myself if I would ever get used to freedom.
It’s a confusing feeling. I am free, but my family and loved ones are still trapped in Gaza, many of them waiting for a chance to escape to a cold and distant place, just for the chance to feel free.
It does not feel like home here. There is no mother, cute nephews, or even the sea. But the feeling of freedom is worth every tear that follows video calls with my family in our cozy home.
Mine wasn’t a hero’s journey. I am just an ambitious young man who worked hard to realize his dream. The hardships we face in Gaza don’t make us superhumans. We are normal people with legitimate dreams and resilient hope.
Mousa Tawfiq is a journalist from Gaza.