23 aug 2013
Egyptian intelligence and security services trained members of a group calling itself "Tamarod Gaza," a senior Hamas official charged Friday.
In a video released Sunday, masked activists read a statement by "Tamarod Gaza" calling for protests across the enclave on Nov. 11 to overthrow Hamas.
On Nov. 11, all "tyrannies and oppression practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza" will come to an end, according to the statement.
The Egyptian Tamarod movement is a protest group that organized opposition to the rule of president Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader who was deposed on July 3.
Hamas' Yahya Mousa told the Lebanese newspaper El-Nashra that Tamarod had centers in the West Bank and Gaza and that its members were trained by Egyptian intelligence and security services.
Hamas security services have detained members of the group in Gaza and they are being interrogated, Mousa added.
"There is a big difference in reality between Egypt and Gaza. Those traitors don't have any place among the Palestinian people who protect the political system and resistance," Mousa said.
"These groups will not succeed and will not have any impact in Gaza," the Hamas official said.
Mousa dismissed the group's claim that it is fighting "oppression" in Gaza. "This doesn't mean anything. Our people in Gaza suffer the oppression of President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel and the US," he said.
He added: "These groups want to sink the nation in blood to keep Israel as the only power and controller in the area ... The Arab nation is being exposed to an international conspiracy which Israel and the US lead."
Mousa said Washington's "war on terror" was a conspiracy against political Islam in the region, and he accused the Palestinian Authority of being a part of a US coalition.
Gulf states are sponsoring the coalition, which is conspiring against Egypt where it created a "fascist and criminal coup," the Hamas official said.
The coalition is working against dignity, freedom and revolutions in the Arab nation, he added.
Responding to the report, a high-ranking Egyptian official said Hamas was trying to protect itself from the anger of the Palestinian people.
"We feel pity for Hamas for having such minds that lost its people due to oppressive and unjust practices against them and began using excuses to justify its failure and protect itself from the anger of Palestinian people," he told Ma'an.
"There must be a decision taken inside the movement to escalate against Egypt to try to throw all problems in Gaza on its biggest sister Egypt," he added.
In July, a group calling itself "Tamarod," Arabic for rebellion, marched through Ramallah calling for a third intifada.
Masked protesters rallied through Ramallah's streets, chanting that a third intifada, or uprising, would restore the dignity of the Palestinian cause.
They called on Palestinian factions to resume military activities and to unite in resistance against Israel's occupation.
In a video released Sunday, masked activists read a statement by "Tamarod Gaza" calling for protests across the enclave on Nov. 11 to overthrow Hamas.
On Nov. 11, all "tyrannies and oppression practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza" will come to an end, according to the statement.
The Egyptian Tamarod movement is a protest group that organized opposition to the rule of president Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader who was deposed on July 3.
Hamas' Yahya Mousa told the Lebanese newspaper El-Nashra that Tamarod had centers in the West Bank and Gaza and that its members were trained by Egyptian intelligence and security services.
Hamas security services have detained members of the group in Gaza and they are being interrogated, Mousa added.
"There is a big difference in reality between Egypt and Gaza. Those traitors don't have any place among the Palestinian people who protect the political system and resistance," Mousa said.
"These groups will not succeed and will not have any impact in Gaza," the Hamas official said.
Mousa dismissed the group's claim that it is fighting "oppression" in Gaza. "This doesn't mean anything. Our people in Gaza suffer the oppression of President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel and the US," he said.
He added: "These groups want to sink the nation in blood to keep Israel as the only power and controller in the area ... The Arab nation is being exposed to an international conspiracy which Israel and the US lead."
Mousa said Washington's "war on terror" was a conspiracy against political Islam in the region, and he accused the Palestinian Authority of being a part of a US coalition.
Gulf states are sponsoring the coalition, which is conspiring against Egypt where it created a "fascist and criminal coup," the Hamas official said.
The coalition is working against dignity, freedom and revolutions in the Arab nation, he added.
Responding to the report, a high-ranking Egyptian official said Hamas was trying to protect itself from the anger of the Palestinian people.
"We feel pity for Hamas for having such minds that lost its people due to oppressive and unjust practices against them and began using excuses to justify its failure and protect itself from the anger of Palestinian people," he told Ma'an.
"There must be a decision taken inside the movement to escalate against Egypt to try to throw all problems in Gaza on its biggest sister Egypt," he added.
In July, a group calling itself "Tamarod," Arabic for rebellion, marched through Ramallah calling for a third intifada.
Masked protesters rallied through Ramallah's streets, chanting that a third intifada, or uprising, would restore the dignity of the Palestinian cause.
They called on Palestinian factions to resume military activities and to unite in resistance against Israel's occupation.
Member of the political bureau of Hamas, Izzar al-Resheq, said that the PA’s insistence on negotiations and secret meetings with the occupation, along with its disavowal of the requirements for national reconciliation harms the Palestinian cause and its future. He warned of the dangers of taking unilateral decisions without national consensus. In a statement to Quds Press on Thursday, Resheq strongly disapproved the insistence of the PA’s negotiations team on continuing with the secret negotiations with the occupation despite the escalation of Israeli attacks against Palestinian lands and holy places.
The latest such attack is plans to build a synagogue above the Marwani prayer hall at the Aqsa Mosque. Another Judaization plan is the so called renovation of old buildings in the old city. This is in addition to daily demolition of Palestinian homes, ethnic cleansing and murder of Palestinians.
“All unilateral decisions [taken by the PA] that lead to the liquidation of the Palestinian cause are rejected by all Palestinian factions, along with the Palestinian masses who refuse to give up their rights and national fundamentals and will stand against all attempts to concede or squander those rights,” he told Quds Press.
The latest such attack is plans to build a synagogue above the Marwani prayer hall at the Aqsa Mosque. Another Judaization plan is the so called renovation of old buildings in the old city. This is in addition to daily demolition of Palestinian homes, ethnic cleansing and murder of Palestinians.
“All unilateral decisions [taken by the PA] that lead to the liquidation of the Palestinian cause are rejected by all Palestinian factions, along with the Palestinian masses who refuse to give up their rights and national fundamentals and will stand against all attempts to concede or squander those rights,” he told Quds Press.
On Tuesday, 20 August 2013, a colonel who serves as director of the office of the Palestinian presidency’s secretary general broke into a house in Ramallah and fired inside it allegedly because his child was attacked by another child living in the house. As a result of the indiscriminate shooting, the colonel’s child, who was accompanying him, was injured by a bullet to the foot. This attack constitutes a form of misuse of weapons, a phenomenon which prevails in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), and the testimony of the affected house’s owner, Ms. Hanan Du’ais Abu Kwaik, 44, at approximately 03:00 on Tuesday, 20 August 2013, Colonel Sa’id Ahmed, director of the office Tayeb Abdul al-Rahim, secretary general of the Palestinian presidency, his bodyguard and his child stormed Abu Kwaik’s house in al-Hayat housing community in Baten al-Hawa neighborhood in Ramallah. The colonel and his bodyguard were armed.
Colonel Ahmed searched for Abu Kwaik’s child, 13-year-old Bahaa’, and when he found him, he attempted to force him out of the house claiming that Bahaa’ had attacked the colonel’s child, but Bahaa’ was able to escape. Immediately, the colonel opened fire indiscriminately. As a result, the colonel’s child was injured by a bullet to the foot, and the house was damaged.
PCHR condemns this attack, which constitutes a form of misuse of weapons, a phenomenon which prevails in the oPt. PCHR calls upon the Attorney General’s office to investigate it and bring the perpetrators before justice.
Source: PCHR Gaza
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), and the testimony of the affected house’s owner, Ms. Hanan Du’ais Abu Kwaik, 44, at approximately 03:00 on Tuesday, 20 August 2013, Colonel Sa’id Ahmed, director of the office Tayeb Abdul al-Rahim, secretary general of the Palestinian presidency, his bodyguard and his child stormed Abu Kwaik’s house in al-Hayat housing community in Baten al-Hawa neighborhood in Ramallah. The colonel and his bodyguard were armed.
Colonel Ahmed searched for Abu Kwaik’s child, 13-year-old Bahaa’, and when he found him, he attempted to force him out of the house claiming that Bahaa’ had attacked the colonel’s child, but Bahaa’ was able to escape. Immediately, the colonel opened fire indiscriminately. As a result, the colonel’s child was injured by a bullet to the foot, and the house was damaged.
PCHR condemns this attack, which constitutes a form of misuse of weapons, a phenomenon which prevails in the oPt. PCHR calls upon the Attorney General’s office to investigate it and bring the perpetrators before justice.
Source: PCHR Gaza
Medical sources in the northern West bank city of Nablus have reported Friday [August 23, 2013] that unknown assailants violently attacked and stabbed a Palestinian security Lieutenant, a former detainee, inflicting serious injuries.
The Lieutenant, Mohammad Abu Islam, was stabbed several times and was violently beaten, by unknown attackers, as he was heading back home in Al-Ma’ajeen area in Nablus city.
He is a former political prisoner who was previously kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel.
Mohammad was violently beaten, was hit by batons, including on his head, and was stabbed in the neck. He is currently in a stable condition.
His brother, Bassem, stated that Mohammad was attacked as he was parking his car in the parking lot at the residential building where he lives, and added that visibility in the parking area is low. Bassem did not accuse any person of being behind the attack.
It is worth mentioning that Mohammad was a member of a social reconciliation committee trying to restore calm after recent clashes in the Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, claimed that lives of two persons, while several others have been injured.
The Lieutenant, Mohammad Abu Islam, was stabbed several times and was violently beaten, by unknown attackers, as he was heading back home in Al-Ma’ajeen area in Nablus city.
He is a former political prisoner who was previously kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel.
Mohammad was violently beaten, was hit by batons, including on his head, and was stabbed in the neck. He is currently in a stable condition.
His brother, Bassem, stated that Mohammad was attacked as he was parking his car in the parking lot at the residential building where he lives, and added that visibility in the parking area is low. Bassem did not accuse any person of being behind the attack.
It is worth mentioning that Mohammad was a member of a social reconciliation committee trying to restore calm after recent clashes in the Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, claimed that lives of two persons, while several others have been injured.
22 aug 2013
The sudden death of a young Palestinian man in Jenin in the northern West Bank aroused police suspicions, and they decided to transfer the body for forensic tests.
Locals said the unnamed 23-year-old man was undergoing therapy. His family believed he might have taken an overdose of medication. Police launched an investigation and were awaiting autopsy results.
Family members told Ma’an that the young man was evacuated to a public hospital in Jenin after he fell seriously ill. He was pronounced dead shortly after he arrived.
Separately, locals in a village near Jenin said a woman was evacuated to hospital after she attempted to set herself on fire.
They said the woman, who was also unnamed, locked the door of her room and set fire to herself. Neighbors arrived and removed the door to find the woman lying on the ground in serious condition.
Locals said the unnamed 23-year-old man was undergoing therapy. His family believed he might have taken an overdose of medication. Police launched an investigation and were awaiting autopsy results.
Family members told Ma’an that the young man was evacuated to a public hospital in Jenin after he fell seriously ill. He was pronounced dead shortly after he arrived.
Separately, locals in a village near Jenin said a woman was evacuated to hospital after she attempted to set herself on fire.
They said the woman, who was also unnamed, locked the door of her room and set fire to herself. Neighbors arrived and removed the door to find the woman lying on the ground in serious condition.
Tomato prices in the West Bank have dropped due to imports from Israel, prompting farmers and merchants to urge for intervention by the ministry of agriculture to protect local products.
At the same time, consumers are welcoming the low prices which fell to a half a shekel per kilo as a result of the surplus after local and imported products flooded Palestinian markets.
Muhammad Hamdan, a Palestinian shopper, told Ma’an Wednesday he hoped the ministry of agriculture would “allow importing other vegetables in order to lower prices and help Palestinian citizens face the dire economic conditions.”
He noted that a kilo of tomatos reached 10 shekels at some points in 2013.
Local merchant Abdul-Raof Ideis says the current prices are the result of a huge surplus in local markets because large quantities are being imported from Israel while the local harvest is already flooding the market.
An official in the ministry of agriculture told Ma'an that it had already warned merchants in the central farmers market in Hebron to avoid importing tomatoes from Israel except with a special permit.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that the ministry would start Thursday dumping tomatoes imported from Israel in an attempt to protect national products.
At the same time, consumers are welcoming the low prices which fell to a half a shekel per kilo as a result of the surplus after local and imported products flooded Palestinian markets.
Muhammad Hamdan, a Palestinian shopper, told Ma’an Wednesday he hoped the ministry of agriculture would “allow importing other vegetables in order to lower prices and help Palestinian citizens face the dire economic conditions.”
He noted that a kilo of tomatos reached 10 shekels at some points in 2013.
Local merchant Abdul-Raof Ideis says the current prices are the result of a huge surplus in local markets because large quantities are being imported from Israel while the local harvest is already flooding the market.
An official in the ministry of agriculture told Ma'an that it had already warned merchants in the central farmers market in Hebron to avoid importing tomatoes from Israel except with a special permit.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that the ministry would start Thursday dumping tomatoes imported from Israel in an attempt to protect national products.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) welcomed the statements of Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya, in which he called for unity. Member of the Front's politburo Rabah Muhanna said in a statement on Wednesday that "the PFLP has always been calling for holding the elections and respecting freedoms, during its bilateral meetings with Hamas or in its statements."
He added: "A real will would lead to the activation of the constituents of society and its institutions, and the alleviation of the tension in the Palestinian street, especially the Gaza Strip."
Muhanna called for uniting all the efforts in order to continue confronting the Israeli occupation.
The Popular Front leader stressed the need to "ensure the integrity" of the municipal elections, and called for conducting these elections under the supervision of the Central Election Commission to ensure its success.
He called for an end to the division and the completion of national reconciliation process, through the implementation of the Cairo Agreement.
He added: "A real will would lead to the activation of the constituents of society and its institutions, and the alleviation of the tension in the Palestinian street, especially the Gaza Strip."
Muhanna called for uniting all the efforts in order to continue confronting the Israeli occupation.
The Popular Front leader stressed the need to "ensure the integrity" of the municipal elections, and called for conducting these elections under the supervision of the Central Election Commission to ensure its success.
He called for an end to the division and the completion of national reconciliation process, through the implementation of the Cairo Agreement.
21 aug 2013
Ihab Ghussain, spokesman for the Palestinian government, stressed that Fatah and Ramallah authority will never succeed in "breaking the will of our people and their right to adhere to their national constants." Ghussain told PIC on Tuesday that Fatah movement wants to promote and entrench the division through several steps and want to get rid of the Strip using every possible way.
He pointed to remarks made by some Fatah leaders, who spoke clearly about their willingness to take painful steps against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
"Fatah seeks in the coming stage to conduct presidential and legislative elections only in the West Bank, in parallel with other steps that include tightening the siege on the Gaza Strip, in agreement with some Parties," Ghussain added.
He stressed that Fatah movement does not give any priority to national reconciliation, and is engaging in the project of negotiations with the occupation.
He pointed to remarks made by some Fatah leaders, who spoke clearly about their willingness to take painful steps against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
"Fatah seeks in the coming stage to conduct presidential and legislative elections only in the West Bank, in parallel with other steps that include tightening the siege on the Gaza Strip, in agreement with some Parties," Ghussain added.
He stressed that Fatah movement does not give any priority to national reconciliation, and is engaging in the project of negotiations with the occupation.
"Through comedy we can talk about anything," claims Palestinian American comedian Maysoon Zayed. Nothing is off limits to Zayed, from Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine, the unending bickering between Palestinian party factions, to her personal life and struggle with cerebral palsy. Given the subject matter of most of her material, her delivery, as she weaves Arabic words into her performances and her ambition to pave the way for more Arab women to venture into comedy, surprisingly Zayed says a majority of her audience are American bred and not of Arab descent, she estimates maybe ten percent of her fans are indeed Arab.
Despite the United States' hostile climate towards Arabs after 9/11 and her disability in the cut throat industry of entertainment, Zayed has been able to overcome a significant amount of obstacles to build a strong fan base in the U.S. In addition to her comedic work, in 2003 she co-founded the annual New York Arab-American Comedy Festival with fellow Arab American comedian Dean Obeidallah. Zayed says in the U.S. many Americans do not understand the meaning of words like "occupation" and "checkpoint," however she does, and believes she is able to shed light on Palestinian experiences and Palestinian society through her work.
Zayed, who will be performing Thursday night at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem is the first woman to perform standup comedy in Palestine, she has already performed in Ramallah and Jerusalem. She is excited to perform in Palestine where she says she is "100% free" to discuss anything she wants, unlike some other Arab countries where she has been denied entry since the Arab Spring. In Egypt and Qatar Zayed says her material has been restricted, she has never had that experience when performing in Palestine.
In addition to Zayed's performances, she told PNN that she intends to visit a center for people with disabilities in Nazareth, to encourage creativity within the center's programs as she is a testament to outshining her own disability with talent, creative art and strong politics.
Despite the United States' hostile climate towards Arabs after 9/11 and her disability in the cut throat industry of entertainment, Zayed has been able to overcome a significant amount of obstacles to build a strong fan base in the U.S. In addition to her comedic work, in 2003 she co-founded the annual New York Arab-American Comedy Festival with fellow Arab American comedian Dean Obeidallah. Zayed says in the U.S. many Americans do not understand the meaning of words like "occupation" and "checkpoint," however she does, and believes she is able to shed light on Palestinian experiences and Palestinian society through her work.
Zayed, who will be performing Thursday night at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem is the first woman to perform standup comedy in Palestine, she has already performed in Ramallah and Jerusalem. She is excited to perform in Palestine where she says she is "100% free" to discuss anything she wants, unlike some other Arab countries where she has been denied entry since the Arab Spring. In Egypt and Qatar Zayed says her material has been restricted, she has never had that experience when performing in Palestine.
In addition to Zayed's performances, she told PNN that she intends to visit a center for people with disabilities in Nazareth, to encourage creativity within the center's programs as she is a testament to outshining her own disability with talent, creative art and strong politics.
Activist Linda Jarayseh will be giving a presentation and discussion on Gender violence in Palestinian society. The event will take place in the AICafe, on Saturday 24 August 2013, from 7:30 PM.
Gender violence is a complex social, political and psychological phenomenon in any country, even more so within Palestinian society which is facing the additional discrimination and challenges created by the Israeli occupation and colonial policies.
What are the characteristic and extent of gender violence in Palestinian society? How is it similar and different from such violence in other places in the world? And how are various sectors within Palestinian society – the Palestinian Authority, communities, social scientists and religious groups – challenging this violence?
Linda Jarayseh is a long-term activist working with Palestinian women in a variety of settings, including prisons and the community. Linda is the outreach director of the Mehwar Center for the Protection and Empowerment of Women and Families. Mehwar, based on Beit Sahour, is the sole centre for women affected by gender violence in the West Bank.
The AIC is a joint Palestinian-Israeli activist organization engaged in dissemination of information, political advocacy and grassroots activism. The AICafè is a political and cultural café open on Tuesday and Saturday night from 7pm until 10.30 pm. Every Thursday at 8 PM, the AICinema screens films from the Arab World and beyond. The AIC is located in the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour, close to Suq Sha'ab (follow the sign to Jadal Center). We have a small library with novels, political books and magazines. We also have a number of Films in DVD copies and the AIC publications which are aimed to critically analyze both Palestinian and Israeli societies, as well as the conflict itself.
Gender violence is a complex social, political and psychological phenomenon in any country, even more so within Palestinian society which is facing the additional discrimination and challenges created by the Israeli occupation and colonial policies.
What are the characteristic and extent of gender violence in Palestinian society? How is it similar and different from such violence in other places in the world? And how are various sectors within Palestinian society – the Palestinian Authority, communities, social scientists and religious groups – challenging this violence?
Linda Jarayseh is a long-term activist working with Palestinian women in a variety of settings, including prisons and the community. Linda is the outreach director of the Mehwar Center for the Protection and Empowerment of Women and Families. Mehwar, based on Beit Sahour, is the sole centre for women affected by gender violence in the West Bank.
The AIC is a joint Palestinian-Israeli activist organization engaged in dissemination of information, political advocacy and grassroots activism. The AICafè is a political and cultural café open on Tuesday and Saturday night from 7pm until 10.30 pm. Every Thursday at 8 PM, the AICinema screens films from the Arab World and beyond. The AIC is located in the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour, close to Suq Sha'ab (follow the sign to Jadal Center). We have a small library with novels, political books and magazines. We also have a number of Films in DVD copies and the AIC publications which are aimed to critically analyze both Palestinian and Israeli societies, as well as the conflict itself.
A responsible source in Gaza government denied on Tuesday night media speculations that Mahmoud Ezzet, the new temporary leader of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, was in Gaza. The source told the government news agency Al-Rai that the rumor fell in line with the campaign of incitement against Gaza.
The source appealed to all rational men in Egypt to put an end to the series of accusations against Gaza, adding that it contradicted Egypt’s historical relations with Palestine and its cause.
The source appealed to all rational men in Egypt to put an end to the series of accusations against Gaza, adding that it contradicted Egypt’s historical relations with Palestine and its cause.
20 aug 2013
Ever since he was 18, when Omar Danoun started med school, they’ve called him “doctor.” Friends and family, cousins and neighbors — everyone in Rantis, the West Bank village he’s lived in his whole life. It’s a close-knit population of around 3,000, belonging to six clans and spread over a little more than 100 acres of arid, rocky hillside, dotted with olive trees that cut hard shadows in the ochre earth. The carved-stone ruins of Roman wells and cisterns abound, traces of a centuries-long history of human habitation. Donkeys graze at the outskirts of town, and nearby a small brown dog lopes after a chicken, yapping as he goes.
A group of giggling children sends a soccer ball skidding across a concrete roadway in the last of the fading daylight.
To the west, just over the next ridge from Rantis, lies the Green Line, the border separating the West Bank and Israel. A wire fence and gravel track run along the ridge; on the other side, the Israeli military conducts training exercises, and occasionally the flat crack of automatic weapons fire echoes dully in the valley. From the village summit one can look over the ridge and the wall, to the far horizon and the rising skyline of Tel Aviv, and beyond it, the placid immensity of the Mediterranean Sea.
Omar has lived here his entire 26 years, and they call him doctor now because that is what he does. He ministers to the sick, helps to heal the afflicted: the work of doctors everywhere. Tall and slender, with dark, closely cropped hair and beard, he has a quiet intensity as he attends to his fellow villagers, farmers mostly, whether they need just a quick checkup or immediate attention, something that can’t wait for the 45-minute drive over dusty roads to Ramallah, the nearest city. Children, adults, everyone.
You could say he was raised to do this work. When Omar was born, his father, who once taught English literature and now manages student textbooks for the Ministry of Education, started an apiary in the valley west of Rantis. The family came to raise more and more bees, selling their honey to pay for Omar’s education. He graduated and opened his clinic, committing himself to the long hours of caring for his people. Today, he says, “I want to go back and repay them what they paid me. Because they spent a lot of money and effort on things for getting me education. So it’s a kind of payback.”
Omar wants to pay back his parents not only by becoming the village doctor, but in another way, one almost completely foreign to Palestine. He’s among a group of students and researchers who’ve formed the Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative, hoping to kickstart sophisticated scientific research in a country with only the most basic medical infrastructure, and where specialization — in narrow but vital areas including pediatric cardiology, but also broader fields such as neurology and psychiatry — is almost completely absent.
Even among typically ambitious medical students, the idea of establishing a foundation for original neuroscience research in Palestine seemed daunting. The students were too busy or simply uninterested in clinical research; there were few qualified teachers; there was little equipment, or money to buy any. What there was in abundance was skepticism.
That was four years ago. Today the Initiative has more than 20 students doing original research, and partnerships with Rutgers University–Newark, Harvard University, Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and the International School for Advanced Studies in Italy. It has produced four published papers; four more are currently under review. Last September, it received a National Institutes of Health grant, considered among the most prestigious in the field, a marker of serious, professional work. It’s making the kind of steady progress necessary to build an institution.
But most importantly to Omar and his colleagues, it’s giving them an opportunity to help. To give back.
Building a foundation
On a sunny summer afternoon, Omar walks through a door with a computer-printed piece of paper taped to the outside. “Al-Quds Cognitive Neuroscience Lab,” it reads, and the door opens into a rectangular, white-walled classroom dominated by a long wooden table. Just over a dozen students are seated around it. The women sit on the left, nearly all wearing hijabs, and the men sit on the right.
At the head of the table, umbilicalled to the wall by a long extension cord, sits a MacBook. On-screen, the slightly pixelated face of Mohammad Herzallah leads the day’s discussion, shifting black squares representing his curly hair. His voice, originating almost 6,000 miles away, in Newark, New Jersey, asks about the role of the hippocampus in treating depression. An extended answer follows about the workings of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a popular class of antidepressant drugs that includes Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil.
Or rather, “popular” in the United States. According to the World Health Organization, 19.2 percent of US adults surveyed experienced a major depressive episode in their lives; the Centers for Disease Control found that about one in every 10 Americans aged 12 and over takes antidepressants, including SSRIs. As both diagnoses of depression and use of antidepressants rose in the US, “Prozac” became a household name. More than just a drug, it has become a cultural signifier for debates about mental illness and its proffered cures.
Depression in the West Bank is at 36 percent — nearly double that of the US
In Palestine, by contrast, television does not air commercials for antidepressants, nor do magazines feature full-page, pastel-colored ads suggesting you ask your doctor if a particular pill is right for you. Depression itself remains stigmatized. “People don’t want to speak about it, people don’t want to mention it, people don’t even want to speak about family members who have it,” says Herzallah, co-founder and director of the Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative. Depressed patients often don’t seek medical attention; if they do, they often couch their ailment in physical terms, complaining about, for example, lower back pain. And they try hard not to be seen leaving a mental health clinic.
Beneath the collective reticence, Palestine has a problem. According to one published study, 25 percent of Palestinians will experience a major depressive episode in their lifetimes. Herzallah believes data gathered by the Initiative indicates that rate in the West Bank is closer to 36 percent — or nearly double that of the US. Yet, as Herzallah puts it, “We have about 20 psychiatrists and 14 neurologists to serve 2.8 million inhabitants of the West Bank in Palestine.”
A high rate of depression, and not enough trained medical professionals to treat it. It was a serious problem, yes, but also a potential opportunity. And Mohammad Herzallah knew how to recognize an opportunity. He hadn't planned to be a doctor. Growing up in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, he wanted to be a physicist, either astro- or nuclear. His father, himself a professor, cautioned him that physics and Palestine don’t mix: if you want to do science and get support to go somewhere else to do it, he said, go for it. If not, consider something else. Always interested in biology, Herzallah chose medical school at Al-Quds University, a Palestinian school in Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. When he arrived, he focused on neuroscience, teaching himself.
He faced down a lot of skepticism in those early days. Neuroscience simply wasn’t being done at Al-Quds. “As an eager young medical student who wanted to become a researcher,” he says, “there were no opportunities at all.” No facilities, no resources, and, perhaps most crucially, no understanding that research mattered. And doctors lacking the basic tools to treat their patients weren’t likely to be swayed by Herzallah’s youthful enthusiasm; they’d tell him he was crazy to focus on such specialized research when people needed medical help now. Even his father told him he was crazy: he was on his own.
Until his fifth year, when he met Dr. Mark Gluck and Dr. Adel Misk. Brought together by previous collaborations on Parkinson’s research, the two neuroscientists sought to establish the infrastructure for neuroscience and mental health research in Palestine. It was a daunting goal: their two schools, Rutgers University–Newark for Gluck, Al-Quds University for Misk, had joined together, but as Gluck says, “It was very hard to find any student who would work for free on a project most of them thought would go nowhere.” Comparing their resources — teachers, technology, and money — with the million-dollar labs at cutting-edge world institutions, he says, provoked not just skepticism, but despair.
Among those initial recruits, though, was Herzallah, who Gluck dubs “an absolute superstar.” And soon enough the neuroscientists recognized the one problem they’d come together to address also provided an opportunity. In Palestine, there were many depressed patients to treat, and most of them had never taken any form of antidepressant. That enabled research on how antidepressants affect previously unmedicated brains — study difficult in, for example, the United States, where a much higher percentage of the population has taken such drugs.
Palestine has a relatively homogenous gene pool
Palestine had another advantage: a genetically homogenous population. Different people react differently to antidepressants; up to half of patients gain no benefits at all. Genetics play a role in how patients react, adding one more variable to any study. It’s especially difficult to control in a country like the United States, where centuries of immigration and intermarriage have diversified the gene pool. Palestine, by contrast, has a relatively homogenous gene pool thanks to a lack of immigration and a tradition of inter-familial marriage: relatives marrying one another.
Those marriages lead to genetic homogenization in the next generation, which can create serious health problems as negative traits get amplified. Rare genetic disorders such as juvenile-onset Parkinson's disease (in children as young as 14), familial schizophrenia, and early-onset Alzheimer's disease are more prevalent among Palestinians, says Herzallah, in part because of a lack of genetic diversity. That gives the budding neurogeneticists at the Initiative a tragic opportunity to study the links between genes and these rare diseases.
The students had one more unique opportunity. More than half of Palestine’s people are younger than 24. Rates of depression vary with age, and having so many young people offered an opportunity to study those differences.
From the beginning, the Initiative’s founders focused on turning problems into opportunities, and on building a foundation that would last, not just for the students involved, but for the whole community. “We train students to do research,” Herzallah says, “but what we want to do is invest in people.” In the long run, Herzallah and his colleagues believe, they’re helping to create not just researchers, but invested citizens who’ll fight the Palestinian “brain drain” by staying to help their homeland and people.
The inner voice
“The quality of life here is... I mean, it’s bad, it’s not the best. Finances are bad. So everything is against people coming back here,” says Ibrahim Mughrabi, a postdoctoral researcher with the Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative. The unemployment rate in Palestine is over 20 percent, with a poverty rate nearly as high. Over half the labor force works in the service industry, and economic growth is driven almost entirely by donor aid and government spending, with very little private development. With the import and export of goods and labor controlled by Israeli security policies, Palestine has difficulty utilizing local resources. Smart people can see more opportunities elsewhere, and seize them where they can.
But Mughrabi, like his colleagues, chose to stay. He helped establish the neurogenetics program, with studies examining genetic markers that confer risk for psychiatric disorders. He also examines how genotype affects responses to therapy, studying how genetic differences determine whether antidepressants help a patient. He describes the Initiative as taking the first steps toward a Palestinian Neuroscience Institute that would support researchers, educate clinicians and students, and inform the public about mental health issues. Like many of his colleagues, he believes “research lies at the heart of medicine, and healthcare should be concerned with providing service, but with finding answers as well.” Palestine needs doctors and clinicians, and it needs the medical infrastructure to support them. But it also needs researchers willing to remain and address their country’s unique problems.
Many in the Initiative echo Mughrabi’s sentiment. Sundus Shalabi, a fifth year medical student, says, “I believe that you can do much more good for the whole community than just being a doctor. If you’re a researcher, you can help so many people out there who are suffering.” She’s worked on genetic research with the lab for two years; she’s grateful to be doing the kind of work she believes in. “I think as a doctor, as a medical student, and as a researcher, you have to make some sacrifices if you want to do some good for this country. I’m willing to make these sacrifices because I think it’s a very good thing to do for the people. We have very much to offer for our people and for the country, but this energy is wasted, so we need to collect it.”
Collecting energy, harvesting brainpower and putting it to productive, local use. That’s what the Initiative’s all about. It’s a long-term endeavor, as everyone acknowledges. “We’re starting a new generation of not only good medical students,” Shalabi says, “but also motivated young researchers who are willing to do something good for this country other than just prescribing medicine.” And for some students that means sacrifice: giving up potentially lucrative jobs elsewhere, declining the clear path to becoming “just” a doctor, and dedicating themselves to a project the provokes skepticism in even their fellow medical students.
“I think as a doctor, as a medical student, and as a researcher, you have to make some sacrifices if you want to do some good for this country.”
“You have to have faith to do this. Without hearing anybody, you have to go with your inner voice to do things, especially in Palestine,” says Aya Imam, a sixth year medical student from East Jerusalem. She was among the first to join the lab in 2010; she saw it as an opportunity to study abroad, and later spent two months as an intern in Switzerland. During that time, she says, “All I was thinking about was going back home. Because whatever you do outside, okay, you're benefiting, but you don't feel like you're giving.” She wasn’t giving until she was back home, doing her part for the people around her. Currently she’s working on antidepressant research, looking for impairments in cognitive function among patients taking SSRIs.
“‘You want to do what in Palestine? You know, we don’t have roads,’” laughs Mousa Hamad, describing the skepticism he often still encounters when talking about the Initiative. He works alongside Mohammad Herzallah at Rutgers–Newark, doing research and helping to publicize their work. It can sound crazy to outsiders. Even Herzallah’s father still thinks he’s crazy — if maybe a little less so than before. Maybe you have to have that inner voice. For his part, Herzallah says, “I'm not against the idea of being crazy, because everyone who achieved something important in history was crazy.”
Looking to the future
Of course, not everyone thinks he’s crazy. Herzallah can point with pride to the partnerships with prestigious universities worldwide; he can talk about the 35 students trained on cognitive neuroscience research methodologies, about the 14 working with partner institutions such as Columbia and NYU; he can offer the four published research papers and the other four under review. He can talk about the NIH grant and about being on campus at 7:30AM every Monday to Skype with his students, seven hours ahead of him in Abu Dis. Call him crazy if you want, but for him there’s no reason to think neuroscience can’t come to Palestine. “We don't lack the brains,” he says, “We don't lack the ambition. We don't lack the availability of smart people.” And the Initiative continues to grow, with more students applying every year.
With that success comes hope that as Ibrahim Mughrabi puts it, they “will inspire our colleagues to start their own initiatives and maybe help channel and train future graduates into the much-needed specialties in Palestine.” The crazy idea just might spread.
Meanwhile, Omar Danoun is leaving his small village, Rantis. But not forever. He’s leaving to learn more, heading to the University of Detroit Mercy to study. (His relatives can’t resist making jokes about sending him off to Detroit with a bulletproof vest.) He will go there to learn, and then he will come back, bringing with him the knowledge he’s gained. Back to his culture, to his family, and to the people who call him doctor.
A group of giggling children sends a soccer ball skidding across a concrete roadway in the last of the fading daylight.
To the west, just over the next ridge from Rantis, lies the Green Line, the border separating the West Bank and Israel. A wire fence and gravel track run along the ridge; on the other side, the Israeli military conducts training exercises, and occasionally the flat crack of automatic weapons fire echoes dully in the valley. From the village summit one can look over the ridge and the wall, to the far horizon and the rising skyline of Tel Aviv, and beyond it, the placid immensity of the Mediterranean Sea.
Omar has lived here his entire 26 years, and they call him doctor now because that is what he does. He ministers to the sick, helps to heal the afflicted: the work of doctors everywhere. Tall and slender, with dark, closely cropped hair and beard, he has a quiet intensity as he attends to his fellow villagers, farmers mostly, whether they need just a quick checkup or immediate attention, something that can’t wait for the 45-minute drive over dusty roads to Ramallah, the nearest city. Children, adults, everyone.
You could say he was raised to do this work. When Omar was born, his father, who once taught English literature and now manages student textbooks for the Ministry of Education, started an apiary in the valley west of Rantis. The family came to raise more and more bees, selling their honey to pay for Omar’s education. He graduated and opened his clinic, committing himself to the long hours of caring for his people. Today, he says, “I want to go back and repay them what they paid me. Because they spent a lot of money and effort on things for getting me education. So it’s a kind of payback.”
Omar wants to pay back his parents not only by becoming the village doctor, but in another way, one almost completely foreign to Palestine. He’s among a group of students and researchers who’ve formed the Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative, hoping to kickstart sophisticated scientific research in a country with only the most basic medical infrastructure, and where specialization — in narrow but vital areas including pediatric cardiology, but also broader fields such as neurology and psychiatry — is almost completely absent.
Even among typically ambitious medical students, the idea of establishing a foundation for original neuroscience research in Palestine seemed daunting. The students were too busy or simply uninterested in clinical research; there were few qualified teachers; there was little equipment, or money to buy any. What there was in abundance was skepticism.
That was four years ago. Today the Initiative has more than 20 students doing original research, and partnerships with Rutgers University–Newark, Harvard University, Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and the International School for Advanced Studies in Italy. It has produced four published papers; four more are currently under review. Last September, it received a National Institutes of Health grant, considered among the most prestigious in the field, a marker of serious, professional work. It’s making the kind of steady progress necessary to build an institution.
But most importantly to Omar and his colleagues, it’s giving them an opportunity to help. To give back.
Building a foundation
On a sunny summer afternoon, Omar walks through a door with a computer-printed piece of paper taped to the outside. “Al-Quds Cognitive Neuroscience Lab,” it reads, and the door opens into a rectangular, white-walled classroom dominated by a long wooden table. Just over a dozen students are seated around it. The women sit on the left, nearly all wearing hijabs, and the men sit on the right.
At the head of the table, umbilicalled to the wall by a long extension cord, sits a MacBook. On-screen, the slightly pixelated face of Mohammad Herzallah leads the day’s discussion, shifting black squares representing his curly hair. His voice, originating almost 6,000 miles away, in Newark, New Jersey, asks about the role of the hippocampus in treating depression. An extended answer follows about the workings of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a popular class of antidepressant drugs that includes Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil.
Or rather, “popular” in the United States. According to the World Health Organization, 19.2 percent of US adults surveyed experienced a major depressive episode in their lives; the Centers for Disease Control found that about one in every 10 Americans aged 12 and over takes antidepressants, including SSRIs. As both diagnoses of depression and use of antidepressants rose in the US, “Prozac” became a household name. More than just a drug, it has become a cultural signifier for debates about mental illness and its proffered cures.
Depression in the West Bank is at 36 percent — nearly double that of the US
In Palestine, by contrast, television does not air commercials for antidepressants, nor do magazines feature full-page, pastel-colored ads suggesting you ask your doctor if a particular pill is right for you. Depression itself remains stigmatized. “People don’t want to speak about it, people don’t want to mention it, people don’t even want to speak about family members who have it,” says Herzallah, co-founder and director of the Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative. Depressed patients often don’t seek medical attention; if they do, they often couch their ailment in physical terms, complaining about, for example, lower back pain. And they try hard not to be seen leaving a mental health clinic.
Beneath the collective reticence, Palestine has a problem. According to one published study, 25 percent of Palestinians will experience a major depressive episode in their lifetimes. Herzallah believes data gathered by the Initiative indicates that rate in the West Bank is closer to 36 percent — or nearly double that of the US. Yet, as Herzallah puts it, “We have about 20 psychiatrists and 14 neurologists to serve 2.8 million inhabitants of the West Bank in Palestine.”
A high rate of depression, and not enough trained medical professionals to treat it. It was a serious problem, yes, but also a potential opportunity. And Mohammad Herzallah knew how to recognize an opportunity. He hadn't planned to be a doctor. Growing up in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, he wanted to be a physicist, either astro- or nuclear. His father, himself a professor, cautioned him that physics and Palestine don’t mix: if you want to do science and get support to go somewhere else to do it, he said, go for it. If not, consider something else. Always interested in biology, Herzallah chose medical school at Al-Quds University, a Palestinian school in Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. When he arrived, he focused on neuroscience, teaching himself.
He faced down a lot of skepticism in those early days. Neuroscience simply wasn’t being done at Al-Quds. “As an eager young medical student who wanted to become a researcher,” he says, “there were no opportunities at all.” No facilities, no resources, and, perhaps most crucially, no understanding that research mattered. And doctors lacking the basic tools to treat their patients weren’t likely to be swayed by Herzallah’s youthful enthusiasm; they’d tell him he was crazy to focus on such specialized research when people needed medical help now. Even his father told him he was crazy: he was on his own.
Until his fifth year, when he met Dr. Mark Gluck and Dr. Adel Misk. Brought together by previous collaborations on Parkinson’s research, the two neuroscientists sought to establish the infrastructure for neuroscience and mental health research in Palestine. It was a daunting goal: their two schools, Rutgers University–Newark for Gluck, Al-Quds University for Misk, had joined together, but as Gluck says, “It was very hard to find any student who would work for free on a project most of them thought would go nowhere.” Comparing their resources — teachers, technology, and money — with the million-dollar labs at cutting-edge world institutions, he says, provoked not just skepticism, but despair.
Among those initial recruits, though, was Herzallah, who Gluck dubs “an absolute superstar.” And soon enough the neuroscientists recognized the one problem they’d come together to address also provided an opportunity. In Palestine, there were many depressed patients to treat, and most of them had never taken any form of antidepressant. That enabled research on how antidepressants affect previously unmedicated brains — study difficult in, for example, the United States, where a much higher percentage of the population has taken such drugs.
Palestine has a relatively homogenous gene pool
Palestine had another advantage: a genetically homogenous population. Different people react differently to antidepressants; up to half of patients gain no benefits at all. Genetics play a role in how patients react, adding one more variable to any study. It’s especially difficult to control in a country like the United States, where centuries of immigration and intermarriage have diversified the gene pool. Palestine, by contrast, has a relatively homogenous gene pool thanks to a lack of immigration and a tradition of inter-familial marriage: relatives marrying one another.
Those marriages lead to genetic homogenization in the next generation, which can create serious health problems as negative traits get amplified. Rare genetic disorders such as juvenile-onset Parkinson's disease (in children as young as 14), familial schizophrenia, and early-onset Alzheimer's disease are more prevalent among Palestinians, says Herzallah, in part because of a lack of genetic diversity. That gives the budding neurogeneticists at the Initiative a tragic opportunity to study the links between genes and these rare diseases.
The students had one more unique opportunity. More than half of Palestine’s people are younger than 24. Rates of depression vary with age, and having so many young people offered an opportunity to study those differences.
From the beginning, the Initiative’s founders focused on turning problems into opportunities, and on building a foundation that would last, not just for the students involved, but for the whole community. “We train students to do research,” Herzallah says, “but what we want to do is invest in people.” In the long run, Herzallah and his colleagues believe, they’re helping to create not just researchers, but invested citizens who’ll fight the Palestinian “brain drain” by staying to help their homeland and people.
The inner voice
“The quality of life here is... I mean, it’s bad, it’s not the best. Finances are bad. So everything is against people coming back here,” says Ibrahim Mughrabi, a postdoctoral researcher with the Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative. The unemployment rate in Palestine is over 20 percent, with a poverty rate nearly as high. Over half the labor force works in the service industry, and economic growth is driven almost entirely by donor aid and government spending, with very little private development. With the import and export of goods and labor controlled by Israeli security policies, Palestine has difficulty utilizing local resources. Smart people can see more opportunities elsewhere, and seize them where they can.
But Mughrabi, like his colleagues, chose to stay. He helped establish the neurogenetics program, with studies examining genetic markers that confer risk for psychiatric disorders. He also examines how genotype affects responses to therapy, studying how genetic differences determine whether antidepressants help a patient. He describes the Initiative as taking the first steps toward a Palestinian Neuroscience Institute that would support researchers, educate clinicians and students, and inform the public about mental health issues. Like many of his colleagues, he believes “research lies at the heart of medicine, and healthcare should be concerned with providing service, but with finding answers as well.” Palestine needs doctors and clinicians, and it needs the medical infrastructure to support them. But it also needs researchers willing to remain and address their country’s unique problems.
Many in the Initiative echo Mughrabi’s sentiment. Sundus Shalabi, a fifth year medical student, says, “I believe that you can do much more good for the whole community than just being a doctor. If you’re a researcher, you can help so many people out there who are suffering.” She’s worked on genetic research with the lab for two years; she’s grateful to be doing the kind of work she believes in. “I think as a doctor, as a medical student, and as a researcher, you have to make some sacrifices if you want to do some good for this country. I’m willing to make these sacrifices because I think it’s a very good thing to do for the people. We have very much to offer for our people and for the country, but this energy is wasted, so we need to collect it.”
Collecting energy, harvesting brainpower and putting it to productive, local use. That’s what the Initiative’s all about. It’s a long-term endeavor, as everyone acknowledges. “We’re starting a new generation of not only good medical students,” Shalabi says, “but also motivated young researchers who are willing to do something good for this country other than just prescribing medicine.” And for some students that means sacrifice: giving up potentially lucrative jobs elsewhere, declining the clear path to becoming “just” a doctor, and dedicating themselves to a project the provokes skepticism in even their fellow medical students.
“I think as a doctor, as a medical student, and as a researcher, you have to make some sacrifices if you want to do some good for this country.”
“You have to have faith to do this. Without hearing anybody, you have to go with your inner voice to do things, especially in Palestine,” says Aya Imam, a sixth year medical student from East Jerusalem. She was among the first to join the lab in 2010; she saw it as an opportunity to study abroad, and later spent two months as an intern in Switzerland. During that time, she says, “All I was thinking about was going back home. Because whatever you do outside, okay, you're benefiting, but you don't feel like you're giving.” She wasn’t giving until she was back home, doing her part for the people around her. Currently she’s working on antidepressant research, looking for impairments in cognitive function among patients taking SSRIs.
“‘You want to do what in Palestine? You know, we don’t have roads,’” laughs Mousa Hamad, describing the skepticism he often still encounters when talking about the Initiative. He works alongside Mohammad Herzallah at Rutgers–Newark, doing research and helping to publicize their work. It can sound crazy to outsiders. Even Herzallah’s father still thinks he’s crazy — if maybe a little less so than before. Maybe you have to have that inner voice. For his part, Herzallah says, “I'm not against the idea of being crazy, because everyone who achieved something important in history was crazy.”
Looking to the future
Of course, not everyone thinks he’s crazy. Herzallah can point with pride to the partnerships with prestigious universities worldwide; he can talk about the 35 students trained on cognitive neuroscience research methodologies, about the 14 working with partner institutions such as Columbia and NYU; he can offer the four published research papers and the other four under review. He can talk about the NIH grant and about being on campus at 7:30AM every Monday to Skype with his students, seven hours ahead of him in Abu Dis. Call him crazy if you want, but for him there’s no reason to think neuroscience can’t come to Palestine. “We don't lack the brains,” he says, “We don't lack the ambition. We don't lack the availability of smart people.” And the Initiative continues to grow, with more students applying every year.
With that success comes hope that as Ibrahim Mughrabi puts it, they “will inspire our colleagues to start their own initiatives and maybe help channel and train future graduates into the much-needed specialties in Palestine.” The crazy idea just might spread.
Meanwhile, Omar Danoun is leaving his small village, Rantis. But not forever. He’s leaving to learn more, heading to the University of Detroit Mercy to study. (His relatives can’t resist making jokes about sending him off to Detroit with a bulletproof vest.) He will go there to learn, and then he will come back, bringing with him the knowledge he’s gained. Back to his culture, to his family, and to the people who call him doctor.
Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk, political bureau member of Hamas, has said that his movement demands the implementation of all reconciliation agreements as one package. He said in a statement on his Facebook page on Tuesday that Hamas did not refuse presidential and parliamentary elections, but rather asked for implementation of all reconciliation agreements.
Abu Marzouk echoed what Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, had said on Monday that the meeting between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza earlier Monday was “a protocol meeting”.
For his part, Dr. Jamal Muhaisen, a Fatah central committee member, said in Ramallah that elections would take place in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip regardless of Hamas’s rejection.
Abu Marzouk echoed what Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, had said on Monday that the meeting between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza earlier Monday was “a protocol meeting”.
For his part, Dr. Jamal Muhaisen, a Fatah central committee member, said in Ramallah that elections would take place in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip regardless of Hamas’s rejection.
Noted political analyst and professor Abdul-Sattar Qasem said that Fatah faction would soon seek the help of the Egyptian army to take military action ending the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In a press statement to Quds Press, Qasem expressed his belief that the Gaza Strip would come through more difficult times and Fatah faction would escalate its conspiracies against Hamas, but its plots would certainly fail.
He opined that the Egyptian military regime holds feelings of animosity towards Hamas in Gaza because of its links to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and thus would impose further restrictions on Gaza and the movement of passengers at Rafah border crossing.
Qasem considered that the latest remarks made by senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmed about distressing changes in Gaza reflected that Fatah plans to take over Gaza through the help of the Egyptian military regime.
He opined that the Egyptian military regime holds feelings of animosity towards Hamas in Gaza because of its links to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and thus would impose further restrictions on Gaza and the movement of passengers at Rafah border crossing.
Qasem considered that the latest remarks made by senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmed about distressing changes in Gaza reflected that Fatah plans to take over Gaza through the help of the Egyptian military regime.
19 aug 2013
Hundreds of Palestinians rallied Monday in front of offices of the Palestinian mobile service provider Jawwal in Gaza City after the company refused to help the a family which has been trying to collect information about a relative who went missing in June.
The family of Muhammad Khalil al-Aloul has been trying to convince Jawwal to provide details of incoming and outgoing calls to the missing man’s phone, but the company has refused to reveal any details, citing privacy concerns.
The angry protesters tried to close the main gates of Jawwal's offices and prevented customers from accessing it. As a result, a brawl broke between protesters and one of the Jawwal employees. Hamas-affiliated police officers arrived and prevented the protesters from interrupting the company’s work.
After police intervened, representatives of the protesters met with Jawwal executives and explained to them how any detail about the missing man may help his family or at least give them hope about his fate.
“Since my brother was kidnapped, we have been trying to convince Jawwal executives, but in vain,” said Samir al-aLoul, a brother of the missing man. He appealed to the attorney general in the Hamas-run government in Gaza to give orders to Jawwal to reveal details of his brother’s phone calls.
Representatives of Jawwal told Ma'an they were not immediately able to comment.
The family of Muhammad Khalil al-Aloul has been trying to convince Jawwal to provide details of incoming and outgoing calls to the missing man’s phone, but the company has refused to reveal any details, citing privacy concerns.
The angry protesters tried to close the main gates of Jawwal's offices and prevented customers from accessing it. As a result, a brawl broke between protesters and one of the Jawwal employees. Hamas-affiliated police officers arrived and prevented the protesters from interrupting the company’s work.
After police intervened, representatives of the protesters met with Jawwal executives and explained to them how any detail about the missing man may help his family or at least give them hope about his fate.
“Since my brother was kidnapped, we have been trying to convince Jawwal executives, but in vain,” said Samir al-aLoul, a brother of the missing man. He appealed to the attorney general in the Hamas-run government in Gaza to give orders to Jawwal to reveal details of his brother’s phone calls.
Representatives of Jawwal told Ma'an they were not immediately able to comment.
A Palestinian man was seriously injured Monday afternoon after unidentified assailants attacked him near Qalandiya refugee camp south of Ramallah.
Palestinian security sources told Ma’an that Hani Kaabna, 37, sustained wounds in both feet after assailants hit him several times with hatchets. His family insists the injuries were caused by gunshots.
Sources at Ramallah’s Palestine Medical Complex confirmed that the victim’s wounds were very serious especially because he had been left bleeding for a long time.
They explained that he suffered some brain damage as a result of bleeding.
Palestinian security sources told Ma’an that Hani Kaabna, 37, sustained wounds in both feet after assailants hit him several times with hatchets. His family insists the injuries were caused by gunshots.
Sources at Ramallah’s Palestine Medical Complex confirmed that the victim’s wounds were very serious especially because he had been left bleeding for a long time.
They explained that he suffered some brain damage as a result of bleeding.
A newly announced Palestinian youth movement, said to be based in the Gaza Strip, released a statement and a video Sunday calling on all residents of Gaza to protest on Nov. 11.
They urged protests against rivalries, exclusion, single-handedness, injustice, oppression and the violation of the inalienable rights of the people of Gaza.
“We can’t remain silent any more, and those who count on our defeat are mistaken losers, while those who count on our tolerance should know that tolerance could come to an end,” a masked activist read on behalf of a new movement identified as “rebel against injustice.”
Nov. 11, 2013 is the “desired day”, added the statement, which highlighted that on that day all “tyrannies and oppression practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza” will come to an end. “They have practiced fraud in the name of religion and resistance declaring themselves as believers while they labeled us as disbelievers.”
The statement accused Hamas in Gaza of shedding Palestinian blood “for the sake of murder only” as well as torturing and humiliating people through their daily practices in Gaza.
“It is time we rejected death forcibly under Hamas’ pretext of security. Our people regardless of their political and even religious affiliations have been targeted by their criminality,” the statement continued. It explicitly accused Hamas of murder, torture, sabotage, bribes, vandalism and smuggling.
“Those who carry resistance fighters’ rifles must stop pointing these rifles at their own people, and stop scaring them, stabbing them, betraying them and trading their pains.”
The statement pledged that Hamas would not rule Gaza any more after Nov. 11.
But it said that Hamas’ people would not be asked to leave Gaza. “We will not ask you to leave because you are part of us even if you exterminate us. All options are open to us except arms because we are different from you. It is you not us who would point their guns at their brothers.”
The statement ended by urging young people in Gaza and young people of Palestine to rebel and added that God will eventually administer justice to those who have been oppressed.
They urged protests against rivalries, exclusion, single-handedness, injustice, oppression and the violation of the inalienable rights of the people of Gaza.
“We can’t remain silent any more, and those who count on our defeat are mistaken losers, while those who count on our tolerance should know that tolerance could come to an end,” a masked activist read on behalf of a new movement identified as “rebel against injustice.”
Nov. 11, 2013 is the “desired day”, added the statement, which highlighted that on that day all “tyrannies and oppression practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza” will come to an end. “They have practiced fraud in the name of religion and resistance declaring themselves as believers while they labeled us as disbelievers.”
The statement accused Hamas in Gaza of shedding Palestinian blood “for the sake of murder only” as well as torturing and humiliating people through their daily practices in Gaza.
“It is time we rejected death forcibly under Hamas’ pretext of security. Our people regardless of their political and even religious affiliations have been targeted by their criminality,” the statement continued. It explicitly accused Hamas of murder, torture, sabotage, bribes, vandalism and smuggling.
“Those who carry resistance fighters’ rifles must stop pointing these rifles at their own people, and stop scaring them, stabbing them, betraying them and trading their pains.”
The statement pledged that Hamas would not rule Gaza any more after Nov. 11.
But it said that Hamas’ people would not be asked to leave Gaza. “We will not ask you to leave because you are part of us even if you exterminate us. All options are open to us except arms because we are different from you. It is you not us who would point their guns at their brothers.”
The statement ended by urging young people in Gaza and young people of Palestine to rebel and added that God will eventually administer justice to those who have been oppressed.
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Byzantine mosaics and ancient monasteries all attest to the rich past of the Gaza Strip. Yet the territory's significant archeological sites are under threat from its political isolation as well as extreme weather conditions.
A French archeologist has swept away a layer of sand to unveil an ancient Byzantine mosaic depicting stories from the past; and all this precious treasure lies just meters from the Jabaliyah refugee camp. The mosaic-- dating back to the 6th century AD, is yet another reminder of Gaza's importance in antiquity. Today dozens of excavated archeological sites spread from North to South. Take Tel Es-Sakan, in the center of the coastal territory, or Tell Umm el-Amr-- a Christian monastery which dates back to the 4th century AD. Experts say these sites are at risk due to political tension in the region, as well as weather conditions. It will cost more than 40-thousand dollars a year to preserve them. |
18 aug 2013
Teenage girl poised to be youngest Arab doctor
Iqbal Al Assaad was not just a prodigy as a child, she was a prodigy with a dream - to become a doctor and help the Palestinian relatives she visited in refugee camps while she was growing up in Lebanon. She graduated from high school, top of her class, at the age of 12. Already, she had mastered the biochemistry and mathematics she would need for medical school.
By the age of 13, Iqbal had not only learnt to drive, she had caught the eye of Lebanon's education minister, who helped her to secure a medical scholarship in Qatar.
And this year, at 20, she became not only the youngest ever medical graduate from Cornell University's Qatar branch, but possibly the youngest Arab doctor ever.
"Since day one, Iqbal stood out as a very mature and professional student despite her age and experience," says one of her professors at Cornell, Dr Imad Makki.
"The sky is the limit for Iqbal."
There is just one problem: Iqbal cannot work as a doctor in Lebanon, the country of her birth. "My dream is to come back to do something for the Palestinian refugees in the camps, even by opening a free clinic for them," she says.
"But if you're a Palestinian doctor, you're not allowed to work in public hospitals."
Medicine is among several dozen professions from which Palestinian refugees are still effectively barred.
Although Palestinians in Lebanon were given the right to take clerical and lower-level jobs in 2005 and allowed to work in further professions in 2010, skilled fields such as medicine and law are regulated by professional syndicates. These organisations impose strict restrictions on membership meant to guard jobs for Lebanese nationals.
The syndicates worry that a Palestinian "entrance to the labour market will be overwhelming - so they feel it's about job opportunities for Lebanese nationals", said Lina Hamdan, a spokeswoman for the Lebanese government's Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee. "Officially there is nothing preventing them from practising and working, but the professions are ruled by the syndicates."
Iqbal's story is unique, but her dilemma is increasingly common. The UN Relief Works Agency, UNRWA, estimates the Palestinian population in the country at roughly 450,000, with about 92,000 new Palestinian refugees arriving from Syria since that conflict began in 2011.
For the young Iqbal, it was a lack of health care for Palestinians that touched her most deeply.
She grew up in Bar Elias, a small village in the Bekaa valley, after her parents arrived in Lebanon. She visited relatives in the refugee camps and was struck from a young age by the poverty she found.
Although UNRWA provides primary medical care facilities, it cannot pay for more advanced medical cases, meaning refugees often "face a choice between forgoing essential medical treatment and falling deeply into debt," as the organisation explains on its website.
"It was seeing that refugees don't have any type of medical insurance," Iqbal says. "Only if this person has money and can afford things at the hospital, then he can get the medical care he needs."
With a dream in the back of her mind, Iqbal dedicated herself to education, diving into mathematics and biology.
After she graduated from high school, herconviction impressed Lebanon's education minister Khaled Qabbani, who promised to secure a scholarship. He turned to Qatar Foundation chairwoman Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned.
Qatar welcomed Iqbal on a full scholarship at Weill Cornell Medical College, part of a group of elite branch American campuses in the country's Education City. She had never taken an entrance exam. Nor had she ever lived outside Lebanon. She was at least five years younger than all her peers.
Her voice still evokes the pressure she felt to succeed.
Ms Al Assaad is now on her way to the United States for a residency in paediatrics at the Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the top residencies for her speciality.
She wants to come back to Qatar to work, since the country's education system gave her so much.
Then, she will follow her dream.
"I want to come back the Middle East between Qatar and Lebanon," she says. "I feel it would be the first step" if Lebanon could let refugees work as doctors.
But working in an independent Palestine would be an even better solution. "Palestine," she said, "is always a dream.
Iqbal Al Assaad was not just a prodigy as a child, she was a prodigy with a dream - to become a doctor and help the Palestinian relatives she visited in refugee camps while she was growing up in Lebanon. She graduated from high school, top of her class, at the age of 12. Already, she had mastered the biochemistry and mathematics she would need for medical school.
By the age of 13, Iqbal had not only learnt to drive, she had caught the eye of Lebanon's education minister, who helped her to secure a medical scholarship in Qatar.
And this year, at 20, she became not only the youngest ever medical graduate from Cornell University's Qatar branch, but possibly the youngest Arab doctor ever.
"Since day one, Iqbal stood out as a very mature and professional student despite her age and experience," says one of her professors at Cornell, Dr Imad Makki.
"The sky is the limit for Iqbal."
There is just one problem: Iqbal cannot work as a doctor in Lebanon, the country of her birth. "My dream is to come back to do something for the Palestinian refugees in the camps, even by opening a free clinic for them," she says.
"But if you're a Palestinian doctor, you're not allowed to work in public hospitals."
Medicine is among several dozen professions from which Palestinian refugees are still effectively barred.
Although Palestinians in Lebanon were given the right to take clerical and lower-level jobs in 2005 and allowed to work in further professions in 2010, skilled fields such as medicine and law are regulated by professional syndicates. These organisations impose strict restrictions on membership meant to guard jobs for Lebanese nationals.
The syndicates worry that a Palestinian "entrance to the labour market will be overwhelming - so they feel it's about job opportunities for Lebanese nationals", said Lina Hamdan, a spokeswoman for the Lebanese government's Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee. "Officially there is nothing preventing them from practising and working, but the professions are ruled by the syndicates."
Iqbal's story is unique, but her dilemma is increasingly common. The UN Relief Works Agency, UNRWA, estimates the Palestinian population in the country at roughly 450,000, with about 92,000 new Palestinian refugees arriving from Syria since that conflict began in 2011.
For the young Iqbal, it was a lack of health care for Palestinians that touched her most deeply.
She grew up in Bar Elias, a small village in the Bekaa valley, after her parents arrived in Lebanon. She visited relatives in the refugee camps and was struck from a young age by the poverty she found.
Although UNRWA provides primary medical care facilities, it cannot pay for more advanced medical cases, meaning refugees often "face a choice between forgoing essential medical treatment and falling deeply into debt," as the organisation explains on its website.
"It was seeing that refugees don't have any type of medical insurance," Iqbal says. "Only if this person has money and can afford things at the hospital, then he can get the medical care he needs."
With a dream in the back of her mind, Iqbal dedicated herself to education, diving into mathematics and biology.
After she graduated from high school, herconviction impressed Lebanon's education minister Khaled Qabbani, who promised to secure a scholarship. He turned to Qatar Foundation chairwoman Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned.
Qatar welcomed Iqbal on a full scholarship at Weill Cornell Medical College, part of a group of elite branch American campuses in the country's Education City. She had never taken an entrance exam. Nor had she ever lived outside Lebanon. She was at least five years younger than all her peers.
Her voice still evokes the pressure she felt to succeed.
Ms Al Assaad is now on her way to the United States for a residency in paediatrics at the Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the top residencies for her speciality.
She wants to come back to Qatar to work, since the country's education system gave her so much.
Then, she will follow her dream.
"I want to come back the Middle East between Qatar and Lebanon," she says. "I feel it would be the first step" if Lebanon could let refugees work as doctors.
But working in an independent Palestine would be an even better solution. "Palestine," she said, "is always a dream.
17 aug 2013
Hamas movement stressed that it will not accept that any party in the Gaza Strip interferes in the Egyptian internal affairs. The movement spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement on Saturday "Hamas wasn't and will never be involved in Egypt's internal affairs."
Hamas has recently published a number of documents that exposes the role of Fatah movement in inciting against the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians, and distorting the image of the Palestinian resistance.
Meanwhile, Arab diplomatic sources in Cairo warned of plans hatched by the PA, some regional and international parties and Israel to crack down on the Gaza Strip, and of the PA's intentions to take unilateral action on the Palestinian arena.
The sources told Quds Press that this scheme aims to isolate Hamas politically and distract the attention away from the negotiation process between Fatah and Israel.
They added that a part of this scheme is represented in escalating the media campaign against Gaza, carrying out mass arrests in the West Bank against Hamas affiliates, and supporting and encouraging campaigns on Facebook inciting against Hamas movement.
In Gaza, Hamas official sources confirmed that these plans will not succeed in achieving their objectives, and warned Fatah of "committing follies against members of Hamas in the West Bank".
Hamas has recently published a number of documents that exposes the role of Fatah movement in inciting against the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians, and distorting the image of the Palestinian resistance.
Meanwhile, Arab diplomatic sources in Cairo warned of plans hatched by the PA, some regional and international parties and Israel to crack down on the Gaza Strip, and of the PA's intentions to take unilateral action on the Palestinian arena.
The sources told Quds Press that this scheme aims to isolate Hamas politically and distract the attention away from the negotiation process between Fatah and Israel.
They added that a part of this scheme is represented in escalating the media campaign against Gaza, carrying out mass arrests in the West Bank against Hamas affiliates, and supporting and encouraging campaigns on Facebook inciting against Hamas movement.
In Gaza, Hamas official sources confirmed that these plans will not succeed in achieving their objectives, and warned Fatah of "committing follies against members of Hamas in the West Bank".
Delayed West Asia Youth Tournament to Open on Sunday
The West Asia Youth Tournament planned for the Palestinian areas will start on Sunday in spite of a delay by few days due to attempts by Israel to prevent members of the guest teams to reach Palestine, the organizing committee announced on Saturday. It said the games between teams from the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine will open on Sunday and will continue until the end of the week. All games will be held at Faisal Husseini stadium in Ram, just outside Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Football Association has threatened to complain Israel the FIFA congress for not allowing some administrators in the guest teams to reach the West Bank.
However, a change in the Israeli position allowed the games to start on Sunday when they were supposed to start on Thursday.
The West Asia Youth Tournament planned for the Palestinian areas will start on Sunday in spite of a delay by few days due to attempts by Israel to prevent members of the guest teams to reach Palestine, the organizing committee announced on Saturday. It said the games between teams from the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine will open on Sunday and will continue until the end of the week. All games will be held at Faisal Husseini stadium in Ram, just outside Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Football Association has threatened to complain Israel the FIFA congress for not allowing some administrators in the guest teams to reach the West Bank.
However, a change in the Israeli position allowed the games to start on Sunday when they were supposed to start on Thursday.
Three cases of death, including two young girls, were reported in Hebron in the last 24 hours, medical and police sources said Saturday. Hatem Sharabati, 22, a male resident of Hebron, was found hanged to death in his shop on Saturday. The body was taken to the forensic center for examination and police has opened investigation into cause of death.
Medics also said a 7-year-old girl was brought to hospital in Hebron in serious condition. Attempts to revive her failed and she died in the process, said the sources. Cause of death was not immediately identified.
Another 14-year-old girl was brought dead to the emergency ward at Hebron hospital.
Doctors were not able to identify the cause of death and the body was sent to the forensic center for examination.
Medics also said a 7-year-old girl was brought to hospital in Hebron in serious condition. Attempts to revive her failed and she died in the process, said the sources. Cause of death was not immediately identified.
Another 14-year-old girl was brought dead to the emergency ward at Hebron hospital.
Doctors were not able to identify the cause of death and the body was sent to the forensic center for examination.
16 aug 2013
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Jesse Gonzalez/PNN Exclusive
What is the role of architecture and landscape in occupation, and how can the occupied people use them in everyday, practical resistance? In this fascinating interview, former Decolonizing Architecture researcher Suzanne Harris-Brandts provides a refreshing perspective on different forms of resistance that use landscape and architecture to reclaim land that has been militarized or ‘deactivated’ by the Israeli regime. Harris-Brandts said her research with West Bank based Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency (DAAR) focused on “dissecting how power operated through landscape, and then finding moments of subversion where both the absurdity of the kind of ardent attempt to keep power and |
segregation so strong could be challenged; and also where everyday practices could start to provide a moment of political agency.”
So what does that look like? One example she gave was one centered around revitalizing the history of apiaries in the West Bank, while re-appropriating restricted spaces.
This project was called “Extraterritorial Appropriation.” Harris-Brandts started by looking at places where physical access is prohibited, like closed military zones, which are often slated for future settlements. She was trying to find a way to ‘activate’ these areas, while thinking about the intersections between Palestinian landscape, political agency and economy.
Harris-Brandts focused on apiaries, bee keeping, which has a long history in the West Bank but has greatly declined since the occupation. One factor in this decline is the strict cultivation restrictions on Palestinian lands, which limit the type and style of cultivation. If land is not cultivated “properly,” it can be confiscated by the Israeli state, a practice that has had an extremely negative impact bee keeping practices. But in open swaths of military zones there are no cultivation restrictions. Planting wildflowers in these closed zones to revitalize apiaries would give the spaces “a new form of activation,” one that is Palestinian-oriented, and the bees would act as agents of “re-appropriation” in spaces that can’t be physically accessed.
The flowers that would bloom in these areas? Israeli protected wild flowers. “So if I draw back to the idea of the absurdity of the strong restrictions of the occupation” Harris-Brandts explains, “we start to think, what would be the logical response?” The interviewer added, “Have checkpoints for the bees?” Harris-Brandts continued, “Yeah, and so, always looking at how you can take a sincere situation and use it to elucidate complexities and underlying absurdities.”
While Harris-Brandts does not explain her conceived method of seeding the wildflowers, there was a picture showing a person slinging a capsule of seeds over a fence. This image seemed to show an idea of how the process could be started.
Harris-Brandts also spoke of other projects that dealt with waste management issues and the reactivation of house demolition sites (which can’t be rebuilt upon), and the small areas of ‘state land’ that are dabble between private Palestinian lands.
DAAR is a collective and residency program for artists and architects, based in Beit Sahour, Palestine. Their work “combines discourse, spatial intervention, education, collective learning, public meetings and legal challenges … [and] proposes the subversion, reuse, profanation and recycling of the existing infrastructure of a colonial occupation,” according to the DAAR website.
More of Harris-Brandts’ work can be found here.
So what does that look like? One example she gave was one centered around revitalizing the history of apiaries in the West Bank, while re-appropriating restricted spaces.
This project was called “Extraterritorial Appropriation.” Harris-Brandts started by looking at places where physical access is prohibited, like closed military zones, which are often slated for future settlements. She was trying to find a way to ‘activate’ these areas, while thinking about the intersections between Palestinian landscape, political agency and economy.
Harris-Brandts focused on apiaries, bee keeping, which has a long history in the West Bank but has greatly declined since the occupation. One factor in this decline is the strict cultivation restrictions on Palestinian lands, which limit the type and style of cultivation. If land is not cultivated “properly,” it can be confiscated by the Israeli state, a practice that has had an extremely negative impact bee keeping practices. But in open swaths of military zones there are no cultivation restrictions. Planting wildflowers in these closed zones to revitalize apiaries would give the spaces “a new form of activation,” one that is Palestinian-oriented, and the bees would act as agents of “re-appropriation” in spaces that can’t be physically accessed.
The flowers that would bloom in these areas? Israeli protected wild flowers. “So if I draw back to the idea of the absurdity of the strong restrictions of the occupation” Harris-Brandts explains, “we start to think, what would be the logical response?” The interviewer added, “Have checkpoints for the bees?” Harris-Brandts continued, “Yeah, and so, always looking at how you can take a sincere situation and use it to elucidate complexities and underlying absurdities.”
While Harris-Brandts does not explain her conceived method of seeding the wildflowers, there was a picture showing a person slinging a capsule of seeds over a fence. This image seemed to show an idea of how the process could be started.
Harris-Brandts also spoke of other projects that dealt with waste management issues and the reactivation of house demolition sites (which can’t be rebuilt upon), and the small areas of ‘state land’ that are dabble between private Palestinian lands.
DAAR is a collective and residency program for artists and architects, based in Beit Sahour, Palestine. Their work “combines discourse, spatial intervention, education, collective learning, public meetings and legal challenges … [and] proposes the subversion, reuse, profanation and recycling of the existing infrastructure of a colonial occupation,” according to the DAAR website.
More of Harris-Brandts’ work can be found here.
Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, at his presidential headquarters in the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that that the two leaders discussed the latest developments in the newly resumed direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The two leaders held a press conference following their meeting; President Abbas said that the first round of direct talks, which started on Wednesday, discussed all final status issues, such as Jerusalem, borders, settlements, refugees, the detainees and security.
Prior to the meeting, the UN head visited the grave of late Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, and placed roses on the grave.
Abbas added that he hopes all final status issues will be resolved in the set timeframe for the direct talks within six to nine months.
“It is too early to say that we achieved something, or did not achieve anything”, Abbas said, “We hope we will have some answers that in the coming days”.
The president further stated that the Palestinians went to direct talks with sincere and true intentions to achieve a just and comprehensive peace agreement, adding that he hopes Israel has the same intentions.
“Israel must understand that its settlements in occupied Palestine are illegitimate, and must stop all settlement construction and expansion activities; settlement are illegal, the International Community knows that, so do we”, Abbas said, “Israel should also release all of the Palestinian political prisoners, and should show positive intentions in the talks”.
On his part, Ki-moon stated that he came to the West Bank to reaffirm the legitimate Palestinian right of self-determination, and the right to establish the state that should have been established a very long time ago.
He welcomed the resumption of direct talks between Ramallah and Tel Aviv, and thanked the United States, especially Secretary of State, John Kerry, for his efforts.
The international official further called on both sides to refrain from activities that jeopardize peace talks, and expressed deep concern regarding Israel’s recent decision to build hundreds of units for Jewish settlers in occupied Jerusalem, and the occupied West Bank.
He added that settlement activities obstruct talks, and render the two-state solution impossible.
Ki-moon also welcomed the release of dozens of detainees from Israeli prisons, and added that he is concerned regarding the fate on 5000 Palestinian political prisoners still imprisoned by Israel, especially the detainees who are held without trial or charges, and holding extended hunger strikes.
He also stressed on the importance of Freedom of Movement to the Palestinians, and added that the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip suffer from some of the grimmest humanitarian conditions due to Israel’s siege and violations.
He said that negotiations with Israel are not a replacement for national Palestinian reconciliation, adding that reconciliation is needed to that a real and lasting peace can be achieved.
Ki-moon added that the international community must not forget that there are 5 million Palestinian refugees, still suffering from harsh conditions in refugees camps in Palestine, and in various Arab countries, and added that the UN is doing whatever it can to alleviate their suffering.
The Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that that the two leaders discussed the latest developments in the newly resumed direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The two leaders held a press conference following their meeting; President Abbas said that the first round of direct talks, which started on Wednesday, discussed all final status issues, such as Jerusalem, borders, settlements, refugees, the detainees and security.
Prior to the meeting, the UN head visited the grave of late Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, and placed roses on the grave.
Abbas added that he hopes all final status issues will be resolved in the set timeframe for the direct talks within six to nine months.
“It is too early to say that we achieved something, or did not achieve anything”, Abbas said, “We hope we will have some answers that in the coming days”.
The president further stated that the Palestinians went to direct talks with sincere and true intentions to achieve a just and comprehensive peace agreement, adding that he hopes Israel has the same intentions.
“Israel must understand that its settlements in occupied Palestine are illegitimate, and must stop all settlement construction and expansion activities; settlement are illegal, the International Community knows that, so do we”, Abbas said, “Israel should also release all of the Palestinian political prisoners, and should show positive intentions in the talks”.
On his part, Ki-moon stated that he came to the West Bank to reaffirm the legitimate Palestinian right of self-determination, and the right to establish the state that should have been established a very long time ago.
He welcomed the resumption of direct talks between Ramallah and Tel Aviv, and thanked the United States, especially Secretary of State, John Kerry, for his efforts.
The international official further called on both sides to refrain from activities that jeopardize peace talks, and expressed deep concern regarding Israel’s recent decision to build hundreds of units for Jewish settlers in occupied Jerusalem, and the occupied West Bank.
He added that settlement activities obstruct talks, and render the two-state solution impossible.
Ki-moon also welcomed the release of dozens of detainees from Israeli prisons, and added that he is concerned regarding the fate on 5000 Palestinian political prisoners still imprisoned by Israel, especially the detainees who are held without trial or charges, and holding extended hunger strikes.
He also stressed on the importance of Freedom of Movement to the Palestinians, and added that the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip suffer from some of the grimmest humanitarian conditions due to Israel’s siege and violations.
He said that negotiations with Israel are not a replacement for national Palestinian reconciliation, adding that reconciliation is needed to that a real and lasting peace can be achieved.
Ki-moon added that the international community must not forget that there are 5 million Palestinian refugees, still suffering from harsh conditions in refugees camps in Palestine, and in various Arab countries, and added that the UN is doing whatever it can to alleviate their suffering.