10 aug 2013
Minister Amir Peretz (Hatnua) spoke on the phone with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and gave his regards for the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.
Perez said he sees an important opportunity for a breakthrough towards the renewal of negotiations.
Peretz's office reported that Abbas declared that the Palestinians will make every effort in order to reach an agreement.
Perez said he sees an important opportunity for a breakthrough towards the renewal of negotiations.
Peretz's office reported that Abbas declared that the Palestinians will make every effort in order to reach an agreement.
US suckles Israel USD 30 million a day: Mark Glenn
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Press TV has conducted an interview with Mark Glenn, Crescent and Cross Solidarity Movement from Idaho, about the issue of more continued approvals from Israel to build illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land at a time when the US wants to broker talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
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In response to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat's demand to stop Israeli settlement expansion, Netanyahu says Palestinians educating next generation to hate Israel.
After chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat sent a letter Thursday to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry saying that construction in the settlements would harm the peace process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter of his own to Kerry over the weekend. In it, Netanyahu said that the Palestinians were still inciting against Israel even after the peace process had been renewed.
Officials in Netanyahu’s bureau said that the prime minister protested to Kerry that officials in the Palestinian Authority were continuing to call for Israel’s destruction even after the parties resumed negotiations.
Incitement and peace do not go together, Netanyahu wrote Kerry. Netanyahu added that instead of educating the next generation of Palestinians to live in peace with Israel, Palestinians were being educated to hate Israel, which laid the foundation for continued violence and terror.
Officials in Netanyahu’s bureau said Netanyahu was referring to remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Egyptian journalists last week, while talks were being resumed in Washington. Abbas had said that he was opposed to the presence of even one Israeli in the future Palestinian state. Netanyahu claimed that the remark constitutes incitement against Israel.
Netanyahu included in his letter to Kerry other examples of what he calls incitement against Israel. Among them is a quote from an anchor on the Palestinian state television station during a broadcast about the Barcelona soccer team’s visit to the West Bank. In that broadcast, the anchor defined Palestine as “extending from Rosh Hanikra to Eilat,” and not only within the 1967 borders.
Netanyahu said in his letter that before the game against Barcelona, a Palestinian singer performed a song containing the words: “My land Palestine, look to Safed and Tiberias, send greetings to the sea of Acre and Haifa, don’t forget Nazareth, and tell Beit She’an its people will return.”
In Erekat’s letter, he demanded that Kerry stop Israel from moving forward on plans for new settlement construction. Erekat did not threaten to boycott the talks, but warned that unless settlement expansion is stopped, he finds it hard to see how negotiations can “bring about progress towards a peace agreement.” The letter details several plans that Israel announced this week, including construction of 63 housing units in East Jerusalem’s Jabal Mukkaber neighborhood; construction of 878 units in various West Bank settlements, almost all of them outside the major settlement blocs; and the cabinet’s decision to include additional settlements on Israel’s list of national priority areas, which will entitle them to various benefits.
Claiming that the settlements violate both the Geneva Convention and Israel’s obligations under the Oslo Accords, Erekat termed these announcements evidence of “Israel’s bad faith and lack of seriousness,” as well as a direct slap in the face to Washington’s mediation efforts. He therefore urged Kerry to “take the necessary action to ensure that Israel does not advance any of its settlement plans, and abides by its legal obligations and commitments.”
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO’s executive committee, also urged Kerry yesterday to take “real action” against Israel, which she accused of “openly disrupting” his peacemaking efforts. In a press statement, she charged that Israel was “deliberately destroying the two-state solution and killing any sort of hope,” and warned that “in absence of a clear international response, our duty is to protect our land and our people with the rightful tools of international legitimacy we have gained through statehood.”
A senior Palestinian official explained that the Palestinian leadership is already under heavy pressure from its public for having agreed to resume direct talks with Israel with no guarantee that they will bear any fruit, and the announcement of the new settlement construction merely increases this pressure.
“The secretary of state must now prove that the administration in Washington is an unbiased mediator and patron, and isn’t bowing to Israeli dictates,” he said.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Washington “does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity” and has taken up the issue with Israel.
After chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat sent a letter Thursday to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry saying that construction in the settlements would harm the peace process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter of his own to Kerry over the weekend. In it, Netanyahu said that the Palestinians were still inciting against Israel even after the peace process had been renewed.
Officials in Netanyahu’s bureau said that the prime minister protested to Kerry that officials in the Palestinian Authority were continuing to call for Israel’s destruction even after the parties resumed negotiations.
Incitement and peace do not go together, Netanyahu wrote Kerry. Netanyahu added that instead of educating the next generation of Palestinians to live in peace with Israel, Palestinians were being educated to hate Israel, which laid the foundation for continued violence and terror.
Officials in Netanyahu’s bureau said Netanyahu was referring to remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Egyptian journalists last week, while talks were being resumed in Washington. Abbas had said that he was opposed to the presence of even one Israeli in the future Palestinian state. Netanyahu claimed that the remark constitutes incitement against Israel.
Netanyahu included in his letter to Kerry other examples of what he calls incitement against Israel. Among them is a quote from an anchor on the Palestinian state television station during a broadcast about the Barcelona soccer team’s visit to the West Bank. In that broadcast, the anchor defined Palestine as “extending from Rosh Hanikra to Eilat,” and not only within the 1967 borders.
Netanyahu said in his letter that before the game against Barcelona, a Palestinian singer performed a song containing the words: “My land Palestine, look to Safed and Tiberias, send greetings to the sea of Acre and Haifa, don’t forget Nazareth, and tell Beit She’an its people will return.”
In Erekat’s letter, he demanded that Kerry stop Israel from moving forward on plans for new settlement construction. Erekat did not threaten to boycott the talks, but warned that unless settlement expansion is stopped, he finds it hard to see how negotiations can “bring about progress towards a peace agreement.” The letter details several plans that Israel announced this week, including construction of 63 housing units in East Jerusalem’s Jabal Mukkaber neighborhood; construction of 878 units in various West Bank settlements, almost all of them outside the major settlement blocs; and the cabinet’s decision to include additional settlements on Israel’s list of national priority areas, which will entitle them to various benefits.
Claiming that the settlements violate both the Geneva Convention and Israel’s obligations under the Oslo Accords, Erekat termed these announcements evidence of “Israel’s bad faith and lack of seriousness,” as well as a direct slap in the face to Washington’s mediation efforts. He therefore urged Kerry to “take the necessary action to ensure that Israel does not advance any of its settlement plans, and abides by its legal obligations and commitments.”
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO’s executive committee, also urged Kerry yesterday to take “real action” against Israel, which she accused of “openly disrupting” his peacemaking efforts. In a press statement, she charged that Israel was “deliberately destroying the two-state solution and killing any sort of hope,” and warned that “in absence of a clear international response, our duty is to protect our land and our people with the rightful tools of international legitimacy we have gained through statehood.”
A senior Palestinian official explained that the Palestinian leadership is already under heavy pressure from its public for having agreed to resume direct talks with Israel with no guarantee that they will bear any fruit, and the announcement of the new settlement construction merely increases this pressure.
“The secretary of state must now prove that the administration in Washington is an unbiased mediator and patron, and isn’t bowing to Israeli dictates,” he said.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Washington “does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity” and has taken up the issue with Israel.
Indyk, to land in Israel
Ministerial committee to determine Sunday which prisoners will be released two days later. Meanwhile, US envoy Martin Indyk will land in Israel for preliminary talks with both sides
The ministerial committee that was formed some two weeks ago to compose the list of prisoners who are to face release as part of an Israeli gesture as part of the resumption of negotiations, is to convene for the first time on Sunday, when the committee will finalize a list of prisoners to be released on Tuesday. The identity of the prisoners expected to be released remains unknown.
US envoy Martin Indyk is scheduled to land in Israel on Sunday. During his visit, Indyk will hold talks with both sides ahead of formal negotiations. The criteria by which the ministers are to determine which of the prisoners can be released were set by the Shin Bet, which prioritized the names of the prisoners according to the amount of threat they pose to Israeli security.
The Shin Bet lists will be presented to the ministerial committee on Sunday, and the names of the prisoners who are to be released will be published once the committee finalizes the list.
The State is required by law to publish the names in the Israel Prison Service website 48 hours prior to the release of the prisoners.
President Shimon Peres will most likely not be signing pardons, seeing as most of the security prisoners who will be released Tuesday will be Palestinians, in which case the release needs the approval of the IDF .
If all goes according to plan, negotiation teams will reconvene on Wednesday.
Ahead of Indyk's visit to the region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry Saturday night, in which he accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of incitement against Israel.
PMO sources said that the letter mentioned quotes in which Abbas speaks against Israeli presence in the future Palestinian state, and additional quotes from the official Palestinian television broadcasts. "Incitement and peace cannot go hand in hand," Netanyahu wrote in the letter.
In another letter to Kerry, the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday that Israel's intention to build 1,000 new homes in settlements was an indication of "Israel's bad faith and lack of seriousness" in the talks.
Ministerial committee to determine Sunday which prisoners will be released two days later. Meanwhile, US envoy Martin Indyk will land in Israel for preliminary talks with both sides
The ministerial committee that was formed some two weeks ago to compose the list of prisoners who are to face release as part of an Israeli gesture as part of the resumption of negotiations, is to convene for the first time on Sunday, when the committee will finalize a list of prisoners to be released on Tuesday. The identity of the prisoners expected to be released remains unknown.
US envoy Martin Indyk is scheduled to land in Israel on Sunday. During his visit, Indyk will hold talks with both sides ahead of formal negotiations. The criteria by which the ministers are to determine which of the prisoners can be released were set by the Shin Bet, which prioritized the names of the prisoners according to the amount of threat they pose to Israeli security.
The Shin Bet lists will be presented to the ministerial committee on Sunday, and the names of the prisoners who are to be released will be published once the committee finalizes the list.
The State is required by law to publish the names in the Israel Prison Service website 48 hours prior to the release of the prisoners.
President Shimon Peres will most likely not be signing pardons, seeing as most of the security prisoners who will be released Tuesday will be Palestinians, in which case the release needs the approval of the IDF .
If all goes according to plan, negotiation teams will reconvene on Wednesday.
Ahead of Indyk's visit to the region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry Saturday night, in which he accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of incitement against Israel.
PMO sources said that the letter mentioned quotes in which Abbas speaks against Israeli presence in the future Palestinian state, and additional quotes from the official Palestinian television broadcasts. "Incitement and peace cannot go hand in hand," Netanyahu wrote in the letter.
In another letter to Kerry, the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday that Israel's intention to build 1,000 new homes in settlements was an indication of "Israel's bad faith and lack of seriousness" in the talks.
Despite all Israel's declared settlement plans in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is still intent on sitting at the negotiating table once again with the Israelis next Wednesday after a first round of talks in Washington at the end of July. As announced by the US department of state, the second round of negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian representatives will be held on the 14th of August in [the occupied cities] of Jerusalem and Jericho this time.
Meanwhile, the US department of state condemned Israel for its persistent settlement activities in the West Bank despite the launch of the peace talks.
It said that Israel's plan to build more than 800 housing units in the West Bank would undermine the efforts to create the atmosphere for the success of the second round of its negotiations with the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, the US department of state condemned Israel for its persistent settlement activities in the West Bank despite the launch of the peace talks.
It said that Israel's plan to build more than 800 housing units in the West Bank would undermine the efforts to create the atmosphere for the success of the second round of its negotiations with the Palestinians.
"The city is undergoing a cultural renaissance," says Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, running for re-election, has big plans for Jerusalem, and none of them has anything to do with dividing it • He says his challenger, Moshe Lion, is supported by backroom wheeler-dealers and does not even live in the capital.
When Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was asked in private conversations why he believed that after five successful years on the job, two wily, veteran politicians -- Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman and Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri -- had decided to challenge his position as mayor with their candidate, Moshe Lion, he replied: "There were political wheeler-dealers who tried to find out from me whether they could get what they wanted in exchange for their support for me. My answer to them was an unequivocal 'no.' With me, it is all about transparency. I don't even approach the lines before the illegal line. They can't have their way with me."
He declined to provide further details, but added that he later heard that those same anonymous wheeler-dealers had ended up supporting another candidate.
* * * *
Earlier this week, sitting in the living room of his Jerusalem home in the neighborhood of Beit Hakerem, I tried to confront Barkat and find out more about the content of those private conversations. Barkat, as expected, spoke with great caution.
"I was asked to make appointments that I was not prepared to make, because my commitment is not to the political system, and not to this or that individual, but only to the residents of the city. Maybe some people want to go back to the way things once were. It won't happen with me," he says.
Recently, an alarming study suggested that one out of every 10 Israelis who file a request for a construction permit also offer a bribe along the way. Court records reveal that at least some of the clerks working in Jerusalem have been apprehended and prosecuted for such crimes. This study was even more significant in light of the recent Holyland affair (overg the construction of the enormous Holyland housing complex in the city), which saw two former Jerusalem mayors -- Ehud Olmert and Uri Lupolianski -- investigated on suspicion of taking bribes in exchange for advancing the project.
"Fortunately," Barkat says with half a smile, "the fool who can convince me to take a bribe has not been born yet."
"Every suspicion has been fully investigated," he says. "I encourage anyone who wants to complain of corruption to come forward. They will get my full support as well as the support of the entire city mechanism, the prosecution and the police."
Barkat prefers not to expand on Moshe Lion, the candidate running against him in the upcoming mayoral election.
"I have been a resident of this city for 53 years. My children grew up here. I have proved myself in the private sector, and I have proved myself in the public sector as well in the last five years. If you want, you can describe me now as a 'public entrepreneur,'" he says.
Lion, Barkat adds, is not a resident of the city. In Barkat's view, this makes his opponent, a one-time director-general of the Prime Minister's Office (during Benjamin Netanyahu's first term as prime minister in 1996), unsuitable for the position of Jerusalem mayor. Barkat argues that bringing a candidate in from outside the city doesn't look good.
"Tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are," Barkat says.
"Any semi-intelligent person knows that this is a case of someone hooking someone else up with a job -- a political deal intended to advance personal agendas.
"If that is not the case, then please explain to me why they went for a non-Jerusalem resident. I am from Jerusalem. Today, tomorrow, always. For me, Jerusalem is not a political appointment or a job -- it is my life's mission. For 12 years [as a city councilman before becoming mayor] I have been working for a salary of one shekel per year. Every day I wake up in the morning with only one thing driving me: the privilege of serving Jerusalem."
Five years ago, Barkat went up against Meir Porush -- currently an MK on behalf of United Torah Judaism -- and Russian-Israeli businessman Arcadi Gaydamak for the position of mayor. Gaydamak was viewed as a bit of an oddity in the Israeli political landscape: Despite his financial contributions during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and despite having purchased the city's soccer team Beitar Jerusalem, he won only 10,000 votes. Barkat, on the other hand, got 117,000 votes -- 52 percent of the total -- and won the election.
During the campaign, an internal conflict within the ultra-Orthodox community prompted the prominent Gerer hassidim to shift their support from Porush to Barkat. At that point, the gap between Barkat and Porush stood at 24,000 votes, so clearly that was not the reason for Barkat's victory (contrary to claims made by Lieberman). The reason, apparently, was the high secular turnout as well as the changes Barkat had effected within the national religious sector.
"In the past, the national religious population would generally vote for the haredi [ultra-Orthodox] candidates," Barkat explains. "But now, the trend has completely reversed." Proving his point, Barkat presents the latest poll, which suggests that about 80% of the national religious population supports his candidacy.
In the last election, Barkat's victory was achieved in part by a clear, precise campaign, warning voters of the danger that a haredi mayor would pose to the character of the city. The campaign suggested that Porush wanted to win the mayor's post to impose his vision on the city. Today, things are a little more complicated. Barkat faces Lion, who is not haredi but does have the support of the haredim as well as the support of the political wheeler-dealers -- double support that Barkat sees as a double threat.
Q: Does the deal between Lieberman and Deri possess any real power?
"It is a back-channel deal that the public isn't buying. The residents of Jerusalem are smart enough to see things as they really are. This deal is based on an antiquated worldview that may be more suitable for party primaries or shady transactions."
When Barkat is asked whether he was concerned about the possibility of the haredi rabbis joining forces and collectively supporting a different candidate, he focuses his stare and reminds the inquirer that the combined force that exists in Jerusalem, and should be the force driving it, is a Zionist combination of secular, traditional and religious Zionist individuals who, according to his account, support him unwaveringly. What about the haredim? Many of them are also rooting for him, he notes, adding that he has never deprived any sector in the city.
According to Likud sources, last week Likud Director-General Gadi Arieli called Lion and asked him to remove the Likud-Beytenu logo from his campaign posters. Lion has been endorsed by Lieberman, the chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, and enjoys the support of certain Likud activists in Jerusalem, but he has not been officially endorsed by Netanyahu, who is Likud chairman as well as prime minister.
In addition, after Barkat, the party list includes a number of well-known Jerusalem Likud members: Kobi Kahlon, the brother of former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon; successful supermarket owner and businessman Rami Levy; and Meir Turjeman, a well-known figure and, up until recently, an opponent of Barkat's. Likud officials have decided not to hold a primary election to select a municipal candidate for the Jerusalem election and to refrain from running any candidates. So far, Netanyahu has not endorsed any of the candidates.
Meanwhile, to make it harder for Netanyahu to support Barkat, a local Likud branch has recently spearheaded a motion, filed with the party's top steering committee, to approve the merger between Likud and Yisrael Beytenu in the Jerusalem municipal elections. The decision is still pending the approval of the Likud's legal adviser, followed by Netanyahu's approval. If it passes, and Likud ends up selecting a candidate, this candidate will run on behalf of both Likud and Yisrael Beytenu.
Why has Netanyahu so far avoided publicly endorsing you?
"I'll start by saying that my relationship with him is excellent. He has remarked, more than once, that he is very pleased with the changes that this city is undergoing. He is a resident of Jerusalem; he knows the city. His wife is here, and his children are growing up here. I enjoy the prime minister's full support for the welcome changes happening in the city. The secret of the success of these changes is the cooperation between the government and the municipality. This is an opportunity for me to thank him for the support and the resources. He has also said very clearly that he does not endorse Moshe Lion. Will it go any further than that? That is up to him."
And thus, local and national politics collide. Jerusalem, because of its significance and centrality as Israel's capital, has never remained solely within the bounds of local politics. Barkat's and Netanyahu's joint course began many years ago. Barkat has voiced his faith in Netanyahu's ability to keep Jerusalem united many times along the way. Now that Netanyahu has relaunched peace talks with the Palestinians, raising once again core issues like the unity of Jerusalem for debate, Barkat continues to give Netanyahu his complete support. As everyone knows, Barkat has been very consistent in his strong opposition to dividing the city or handing over any part of its municipal territory to the Palestinians.
"I am not concerned," he says. "I know what the prime minister's position is, and what the government's position is, and of course what the majority of the public thinks about the centrality and unity of the city under any future deal, if there is such a deal."
How do you propose handling the Palestinian designs on Jerusalem?
"If the deal collapses because it hinges on the Jerusalem issue, so be it. It is better not to make any deal than to agree to a bad deal," Barkat says.
Jerusalem is the largest city in Israel. It possesses enormous economic potential, and its main growth engine rests on tourism. Some 4 million foreign tourists visit Jerusalem every year. The prime minister and the mayor have an identical goal: to raise the number of annual tourists to 10 million. Tourism represents the creation of jobs in a variety of areas and helps the city deal with the unflattering statistics indicating high rates of poverty in certain parts -- parts in which the state invests very few resources in efforts to improve.
This obviously affects the municipality, which, at the end of the day, ends up bearing the cost of the municipal tax exemptions handed out by the state to a relatively large portion of the population in the city. These exemptions amount to around 550 million shekels ($155 million) in lost municipal revenue annually, and the state does not compensate the municipality for this loss.
"The state decided that certain people, with lower socio-economic status, are exempt from paying municipal tax. I accept that. But the state needs to compensate the city so that it can close the consequent gap," Barkat says. Even though there is still no state compensation, Barkat boasts a balanced municipal budget.
A connection between the past and the future
Barkat's vision for the next five years is a new master plan focusing on unemployment and public transportation. He plans to build an enormous commercial center at the entrance to the city, the planning stage of which lasted three years and is now in the final stages of approval. The center will contain a million square meters (10.7 million square feet) in 13 35-story towers. The development cost is assessed at 1.2 billion shekels. In Barkat's vision, the center will be inaugurated at around the same time as the new fast rail connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Also in the works: the development of two light rail lines -- costing 15 billion shekels ($340 million) -- in addition to the line that is currently in service. This time, he promises, all the ills of the existing line will have been eliminated, and the development will be overseen by the city rather than an external company. Currently, in a city with a population of 800,000 people and tens of thousands of visitors and commuters, the light-rail train hosts some 130,000 passengers every day. The planned new lines will link Gilo to Givat Ram to French Hill and the Mount of Olives. A cable car will then take passengers from the Mount of Olives to the Western Wall and continue to the German Colony.
Barkat continues to make the case for what he believes is his successful mayoral term: During his term, the "First Station" (a central entertainment, culture and enrichment hub located in the old train station plaza) was built and Park Hamesila (Train Track Park) was established, as was the Jerusalem Arena adjacent to Teddy Stadium. The Beit Mazia theater was renovated, as was Hansen Hospital (once known as the Lepers' Home). Park Teddy was also built.
"Change starts first and foremost with the atmosphere," Barkat explains, immediately mentioning the changes that are currently apparent on the ground. In education, for example, there has been an increase in the number of students enrolled in public and religious public schools. Just this year, 26 new preschools have been opened in the religious Zionist sector. Barkat lifted district restrictions (no longer requiring children to enroll in institutions only in their district) allowing 89% of parents to enroll their children in the schools they wished.
Barkat becomes particularly emotional when he talks about the flourishing cultural scene in the city.
"Jerusalem's cultural centers have gone from survival mode to blossoming. Jerusalem is experiencing a cultural renaissance," he says.
"Residents of Jerusalem understand what a profound change culture has effected in this city in terms of atmosphere, quality of life and the economy. One of the reasons for the growth in the city is that Jerusalem has restored its role as a city of culture. We have surpassed Tel Aviv in terms of the number of cultural events, and today, the road to Jerusalem is no longer a one-way street."
Moshe Lion's headquarters responds
Lion's campaign headquarters issued a response saying that "Barkat chased after the haredim in the last election, and it was thanks to them that he won. He continues to woo them today with unprecedented promises worth tens of millions of shekels. At his meeting with Aryeh Deri on June 24, Barkat offered a list of promises to the haredi sector, like the position of deputy mayor and the independence of haredi education. Even Barkat's deputy, Yitzhak Pindrus of United Torah Judaism, said that Barkat has given the haredim more than any mayor before him.
"For five years, Moshe Lion worked as the chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority, working closely with Barkat, and he saw up close [Barkat's] unsuccessful conduct and his disconnection from the residents of the city. Some 90,000 residents have left the city during his term. In education, there has been a decline of dozens of percentage points in eligibility for matriculation exams. The city is ranked 135th in the Meitzav list [a national education index]. The city suffers from dirt and neglect, and in the transportation department, the residents suffer from degraded roads and terrible parking problems. In addition, the price of housing has risen in the city more than any other city in the country."
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, running for re-election, has big plans for Jerusalem, and none of them has anything to do with dividing it • He says his challenger, Moshe Lion, is supported by backroom wheeler-dealers and does not even live in the capital.
When Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was asked in private conversations why he believed that after five successful years on the job, two wily, veteran politicians -- Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman and Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri -- had decided to challenge his position as mayor with their candidate, Moshe Lion, he replied: "There were political wheeler-dealers who tried to find out from me whether they could get what they wanted in exchange for their support for me. My answer to them was an unequivocal 'no.' With me, it is all about transparency. I don't even approach the lines before the illegal line. They can't have their way with me."
He declined to provide further details, but added that he later heard that those same anonymous wheeler-dealers had ended up supporting another candidate.
* * * *
Earlier this week, sitting in the living room of his Jerusalem home in the neighborhood of Beit Hakerem, I tried to confront Barkat and find out more about the content of those private conversations. Barkat, as expected, spoke with great caution.
"I was asked to make appointments that I was not prepared to make, because my commitment is not to the political system, and not to this or that individual, but only to the residents of the city. Maybe some people want to go back to the way things once were. It won't happen with me," he says.
Recently, an alarming study suggested that one out of every 10 Israelis who file a request for a construction permit also offer a bribe along the way. Court records reveal that at least some of the clerks working in Jerusalem have been apprehended and prosecuted for such crimes. This study was even more significant in light of the recent Holyland affair (overg the construction of the enormous Holyland housing complex in the city), which saw two former Jerusalem mayors -- Ehud Olmert and Uri Lupolianski -- investigated on suspicion of taking bribes in exchange for advancing the project.
"Fortunately," Barkat says with half a smile, "the fool who can convince me to take a bribe has not been born yet."
"Every suspicion has been fully investigated," he says. "I encourage anyone who wants to complain of corruption to come forward. They will get my full support as well as the support of the entire city mechanism, the prosecution and the police."
Barkat prefers not to expand on Moshe Lion, the candidate running against him in the upcoming mayoral election.
"I have been a resident of this city for 53 years. My children grew up here. I have proved myself in the private sector, and I have proved myself in the public sector as well in the last five years. If you want, you can describe me now as a 'public entrepreneur,'" he says.
Lion, Barkat adds, is not a resident of the city. In Barkat's view, this makes his opponent, a one-time director-general of the Prime Minister's Office (during Benjamin Netanyahu's first term as prime minister in 1996), unsuitable for the position of Jerusalem mayor. Barkat argues that bringing a candidate in from outside the city doesn't look good.
"Tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are," Barkat says.
"Any semi-intelligent person knows that this is a case of someone hooking someone else up with a job -- a political deal intended to advance personal agendas.
"If that is not the case, then please explain to me why they went for a non-Jerusalem resident. I am from Jerusalem. Today, tomorrow, always. For me, Jerusalem is not a political appointment or a job -- it is my life's mission. For 12 years [as a city councilman before becoming mayor] I have been working for a salary of one shekel per year. Every day I wake up in the morning with only one thing driving me: the privilege of serving Jerusalem."
Five years ago, Barkat went up against Meir Porush -- currently an MK on behalf of United Torah Judaism -- and Russian-Israeli businessman Arcadi Gaydamak for the position of mayor. Gaydamak was viewed as a bit of an oddity in the Israeli political landscape: Despite his financial contributions during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and despite having purchased the city's soccer team Beitar Jerusalem, he won only 10,000 votes. Barkat, on the other hand, got 117,000 votes -- 52 percent of the total -- and won the election.
During the campaign, an internal conflict within the ultra-Orthodox community prompted the prominent Gerer hassidim to shift their support from Porush to Barkat. At that point, the gap between Barkat and Porush stood at 24,000 votes, so clearly that was not the reason for Barkat's victory (contrary to claims made by Lieberman). The reason, apparently, was the high secular turnout as well as the changes Barkat had effected within the national religious sector.
"In the past, the national religious population would generally vote for the haredi [ultra-Orthodox] candidates," Barkat explains. "But now, the trend has completely reversed." Proving his point, Barkat presents the latest poll, which suggests that about 80% of the national religious population supports his candidacy.
In the last election, Barkat's victory was achieved in part by a clear, precise campaign, warning voters of the danger that a haredi mayor would pose to the character of the city. The campaign suggested that Porush wanted to win the mayor's post to impose his vision on the city. Today, things are a little more complicated. Barkat faces Lion, who is not haredi but does have the support of the haredim as well as the support of the political wheeler-dealers -- double support that Barkat sees as a double threat.
Q: Does the deal between Lieberman and Deri possess any real power?
"It is a back-channel deal that the public isn't buying. The residents of Jerusalem are smart enough to see things as they really are. This deal is based on an antiquated worldview that may be more suitable for party primaries or shady transactions."
When Barkat is asked whether he was concerned about the possibility of the haredi rabbis joining forces and collectively supporting a different candidate, he focuses his stare and reminds the inquirer that the combined force that exists in Jerusalem, and should be the force driving it, is a Zionist combination of secular, traditional and religious Zionist individuals who, according to his account, support him unwaveringly. What about the haredim? Many of them are also rooting for him, he notes, adding that he has never deprived any sector in the city.
According to Likud sources, last week Likud Director-General Gadi Arieli called Lion and asked him to remove the Likud-Beytenu logo from his campaign posters. Lion has been endorsed by Lieberman, the chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, and enjoys the support of certain Likud activists in Jerusalem, but he has not been officially endorsed by Netanyahu, who is Likud chairman as well as prime minister.
In addition, after Barkat, the party list includes a number of well-known Jerusalem Likud members: Kobi Kahlon, the brother of former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon; successful supermarket owner and businessman Rami Levy; and Meir Turjeman, a well-known figure and, up until recently, an opponent of Barkat's. Likud officials have decided not to hold a primary election to select a municipal candidate for the Jerusalem election and to refrain from running any candidates. So far, Netanyahu has not endorsed any of the candidates.
Meanwhile, to make it harder for Netanyahu to support Barkat, a local Likud branch has recently spearheaded a motion, filed with the party's top steering committee, to approve the merger between Likud and Yisrael Beytenu in the Jerusalem municipal elections. The decision is still pending the approval of the Likud's legal adviser, followed by Netanyahu's approval. If it passes, and Likud ends up selecting a candidate, this candidate will run on behalf of both Likud and Yisrael Beytenu.
Why has Netanyahu so far avoided publicly endorsing you?
"I'll start by saying that my relationship with him is excellent. He has remarked, more than once, that he is very pleased with the changes that this city is undergoing. He is a resident of Jerusalem; he knows the city. His wife is here, and his children are growing up here. I enjoy the prime minister's full support for the welcome changes happening in the city. The secret of the success of these changes is the cooperation between the government and the municipality. This is an opportunity for me to thank him for the support and the resources. He has also said very clearly that he does not endorse Moshe Lion. Will it go any further than that? That is up to him."
And thus, local and national politics collide. Jerusalem, because of its significance and centrality as Israel's capital, has never remained solely within the bounds of local politics. Barkat's and Netanyahu's joint course began many years ago. Barkat has voiced his faith in Netanyahu's ability to keep Jerusalem united many times along the way. Now that Netanyahu has relaunched peace talks with the Palestinians, raising once again core issues like the unity of Jerusalem for debate, Barkat continues to give Netanyahu his complete support. As everyone knows, Barkat has been very consistent in his strong opposition to dividing the city or handing over any part of its municipal territory to the Palestinians.
"I am not concerned," he says. "I know what the prime minister's position is, and what the government's position is, and of course what the majority of the public thinks about the centrality and unity of the city under any future deal, if there is such a deal."
How do you propose handling the Palestinian designs on Jerusalem?
"If the deal collapses because it hinges on the Jerusalem issue, so be it. It is better not to make any deal than to agree to a bad deal," Barkat says.
Jerusalem is the largest city in Israel. It possesses enormous economic potential, and its main growth engine rests on tourism. Some 4 million foreign tourists visit Jerusalem every year. The prime minister and the mayor have an identical goal: to raise the number of annual tourists to 10 million. Tourism represents the creation of jobs in a variety of areas and helps the city deal with the unflattering statistics indicating high rates of poverty in certain parts -- parts in which the state invests very few resources in efforts to improve.
This obviously affects the municipality, which, at the end of the day, ends up bearing the cost of the municipal tax exemptions handed out by the state to a relatively large portion of the population in the city. These exemptions amount to around 550 million shekels ($155 million) in lost municipal revenue annually, and the state does not compensate the municipality for this loss.
"The state decided that certain people, with lower socio-economic status, are exempt from paying municipal tax. I accept that. But the state needs to compensate the city so that it can close the consequent gap," Barkat says. Even though there is still no state compensation, Barkat boasts a balanced municipal budget.
A connection between the past and the future
Barkat's vision for the next five years is a new master plan focusing on unemployment and public transportation. He plans to build an enormous commercial center at the entrance to the city, the planning stage of which lasted three years and is now in the final stages of approval. The center will contain a million square meters (10.7 million square feet) in 13 35-story towers. The development cost is assessed at 1.2 billion shekels. In Barkat's vision, the center will be inaugurated at around the same time as the new fast rail connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Also in the works: the development of two light rail lines -- costing 15 billion shekels ($340 million) -- in addition to the line that is currently in service. This time, he promises, all the ills of the existing line will have been eliminated, and the development will be overseen by the city rather than an external company. Currently, in a city with a population of 800,000 people and tens of thousands of visitors and commuters, the light-rail train hosts some 130,000 passengers every day. The planned new lines will link Gilo to Givat Ram to French Hill and the Mount of Olives. A cable car will then take passengers from the Mount of Olives to the Western Wall and continue to the German Colony.
Barkat continues to make the case for what he believes is his successful mayoral term: During his term, the "First Station" (a central entertainment, culture and enrichment hub located in the old train station plaza) was built and Park Hamesila (Train Track Park) was established, as was the Jerusalem Arena adjacent to Teddy Stadium. The Beit Mazia theater was renovated, as was Hansen Hospital (once known as the Lepers' Home). Park Teddy was also built.
"Change starts first and foremost with the atmosphere," Barkat explains, immediately mentioning the changes that are currently apparent on the ground. In education, for example, there has been an increase in the number of students enrolled in public and religious public schools. Just this year, 26 new preschools have been opened in the religious Zionist sector. Barkat lifted district restrictions (no longer requiring children to enroll in institutions only in their district) allowing 89% of parents to enroll their children in the schools they wished.
Barkat becomes particularly emotional when he talks about the flourishing cultural scene in the city.
"Jerusalem's cultural centers have gone from survival mode to blossoming. Jerusalem is experiencing a cultural renaissance," he says.
"Residents of Jerusalem understand what a profound change culture has effected in this city in terms of atmosphere, quality of life and the economy. One of the reasons for the growth in the city is that Jerusalem has restored its role as a city of culture. We have surpassed Tel Aviv in terms of the number of cultural events, and today, the road to Jerusalem is no longer a one-way street."
Moshe Lion's headquarters responds
Lion's campaign headquarters issued a response saying that "Barkat chased after the haredim in the last election, and it was thanks to them that he won. He continues to woo them today with unprecedented promises worth tens of millions of shekels. At his meeting with Aryeh Deri on June 24, Barkat offered a list of promises to the haredi sector, like the position of deputy mayor and the independence of haredi education. Even Barkat's deputy, Yitzhak Pindrus of United Torah Judaism, said that Barkat has given the haredim more than any mayor before him.
"For five years, Moshe Lion worked as the chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority, working closely with Barkat, and he saw up close [Barkat's] unsuccessful conduct and his disconnection from the residents of the city. Some 90,000 residents have left the city during his term. In education, there has been a decline of dozens of percentage points in eligibility for matriculation exams. The city is ranked 135th in the Meitzav list [a national education index]. The city suffers from dirt and neglect, and in the transportation department, the residents suffer from degraded roads and terrible parking problems. In addition, the price of housing has risen in the city more than any other city in the country."
An Israeli bulldozer sits at a construction site in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
A political analyst has denounced the planned resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) as “meaningless theatrics” aimed at covering up Washington and Tel Aviv’s agenda in the region.
“The so-called ‘peace talks’ initiated by [US Secretary of State] John Kerry between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are meaningless theatrics that are part of a stratagem concealing and obscuring the real intentions of the US and Israel in the Middle East,” said Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya in a Friday article titled “John Kerry’s Israeli-Palestinian talks are a cover for aggression and annexation” on Russia Today’s website.
The idea of negotiations is used as a “convenient tool” to distract the international public opinion by portraying Israel as a “reasonable entity willing to make concessions for peace and security,” he added.
While Israel has made no concessions in reality, the Palestinian side has been the only party which has been making the real compromises under pressures from Washington and Israel, the article pointed out.
Nazemroaya described the PA as “a US and Israeli client that polices the Palestinians for Washington and Tel Aviv” and also warned that US mediator in the planned talks Martin Indyk “has been tied to every tentacle of the Zionist lobby inside and outside of the United States.”
“Whatever the reasons are behind the renewal of the futile talks between Tel Aviv and the PA, the US government and Israel are not interested in a just resolution. Neither the talks nor the negotiators nor the US government, as a broker, are genuine,” the article read.
“While the destitute Palestinian people undergo territorial disposition, the sham peace talks have served as nothing more than a smokescreen for Tel Aviv to systematically colonize what is left of the Palestinian homeland as Israeli Lebensraum or ‘living space’,”’ it added.
On Thursday, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said talks between the PA and the Israeli regime will resume on August 14 in al-Quds (Jerusalem).
On July 19, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas rejected the US’ proposal for the resumption of talks, saying it “considers the Palestinian Authority’s return to negotiations with the occupation to be at odds with the national consensus.”
On Sunday, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah and began marching towards the PA Acting Chief Mahmoud Abbas' headquarters to protests against the planned resumption of talks with Israel.
Several police officers and demonstrators were injured and some were arrested during the march organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The last Palestinian-Israeli talks were halted in September 2010 after Tel Aviv refused to freeze its settlement activities in the West Bank.
Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip, and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the Palestinian territories occupied in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.
A political analyst has denounced the planned resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) as “meaningless theatrics” aimed at covering up Washington and Tel Aviv’s agenda in the region.
“The so-called ‘peace talks’ initiated by [US Secretary of State] John Kerry between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are meaningless theatrics that are part of a stratagem concealing and obscuring the real intentions of the US and Israel in the Middle East,” said Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya in a Friday article titled “John Kerry’s Israeli-Palestinian talks are a cover for aggression and annexation” on Russia Today’s website.
The idea of negotiations is used as a “convenient tool” to distract the international public opinion by portraying Israel as a “reasonable entity willing to make concessions for peace and security,” he added.
While Israel has made no concessions in reality, the Palestinian side has been the only party which has been making the real compromises under pressures from Washington and Israel, the article pointed out.
Nazemroaya described the PA as “a US and Israeli client that polices the Palestinians for Washington and Tel Aviv” and also warned that US mediator in the planned talks Martin Indyk “has been tied to every tentacle of the Zionist lobby inside and outside of the United States.”
“Whatever the reasons are behind the renewal of the futile talks between Tel Aviv and the PA, the US government and Israel are not interested in a just resolution. Neither the talks nor the negotiators nor the US government, as a broker, are genuine,” the article read.
“While the destitute Palestinian people undergo territorial disposition, the sham peace talks have served as nothing more than a smokescreen for Tel Aviv to systematically colonize what is left of the Palestinian homeland as Israeli Lebensraum or ‘living space’,”’ it added.
On Thursday, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said talks between the PA and the Israeli regime will resume on August 14 in al-Quds (Jerusalem).
On July 19, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas rejected the US’ proposal for the resumption of talks, saying it “considers the Palestinian Authority’s return to negotiations with the occupation to be at odds with the national consensus.”
On Sunday, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah and began marching towards the PA Acting Chief Mahmoud Abbas' headquarters to protests against the planned resumption of talks with Israel.
Several police officers and demonstrators were injured and some were arrested during the march organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The last Palestinian-Israeli talks were halted in September 2010 after Tel Aviv refused to freeze its settlement activities in the West Bank.
Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip, and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the Palestinian territories occupied in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.
9 aug 2013
Israeli Arab and Palestinian women activists scuffle with Israeli riot policemen during a protest against the Prawer Plan plan to resettle Israel’s Bedouin minority from their villages in the Negev Desert, in the village of Arara, northern Israel, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013.
Israel's Knesset is pushing to pass legislation that would forcibly relocate tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens.
As Palestinian and Israeli leaders assemble in Washington for their first direct talks in three years, the Israeli Knesset is pushing to pass legislation that will displace tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens in the Negev region of southern Israel.
In late July, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said negotiations are currently intended to span nine months, adding that he believes “the leaders, the negotiators, and citizens invested in this effort can make peace for one simple reason: because they must.”
“A viable two-state solution is the only way this conflict can end—and there is not much time to achieve it,” Kerry said. But the overwhelmingly majority of Palestinians — including those who carry Israeli citizenship — do not share Kerry’s optimism.
Doubts of U.S. and Israeli sincerity are only exacerbated by Israel’s latest plan to forcibly relocate the Bedouin population in the Negev desert.
An oft-overlooked demographic within the already marginalized Palestinian minority, Bedouins make up around 30 percent of the region’s total population. Between 2008 and 2011, roughly 2,200 homes were demolished by the state, resulting in the displacement of some 14,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel, the Negev Coalition for Civil Equality recently told Al Jazeera.
The Prawer Plan
The Prawer-Begin Bill refers to those 200,000 Bedouins in the Negev as “citizens with equal rights in the State of Israel [who are] entitled an economic-social framework that will enable them to realize the opportunities for growth that are available to citizens of Israel.”
Its projected consequences are quite far from ensuring equal opportunities, however. Around 30,000 Bedouins from 35 “unrecognized” villages will be forcibly relocated to bantustan-like townships approved by the government.
While a great deal of those who are slated for dispossession live in villages that predate the 1948 establishment of Israel, many were also placed on their present lands by military decree following the state confiscation of their land following 1948.
The first reading of the bill was approved by the Knesset in late June. In order to become law, Israeli daily Haaretz reported, it “must pass two more Knesset readings. But it could also be modified in committee prior to subsequent votes by the full Knesset.”
Far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has spearheaded efforts to pass the Begin-Prawer Bill. In addition to the angry response from Palestinians across the map, organizations and political parties close to the Israeli settler establishment also have offered stubborn opposition to the plan, but for vastly different reasons: They argue that there is no need to compensate the displaced because “there is no basis to recognize Bedouin ownership of land” in the first place.
The plan has been roundly denounced by human rights organizations and international legal bodies. Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, slammed the bill. “As citizens of Israel, the Bedouin are entitled to the same rights to property, housing and public services as any other group in Israel.”
“The government must recognize and respect the specific rights of its Bedouin communities, including recognition of Bedouin land ownership claims,” Pillay added.
A unified pushback
In response, activists in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have staged a number of coordinated demonstrations. Their message has been boosted by a handful of solidarity protests across the globe, particularly in the United States and Europe.
On July 15, a nationwide campaign brought out thousands in Beersheba, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Gaza City and elsewhere. A general strike was declared by the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee — which represents Palestinian citizens of Israel — leaving businesses and municipalities in Arab parts of Israel closed.
At least 34 people were arrested, according to 972 Magazine. Israeli forces reportedly used excessive force by employing stun grenades and attacked unarmed protesters without provocation, with an Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights attorney claiming that “two of the [arrested] men were taken into a room and beaten badly while in custody.”
The resistance offered to the Prawer Plan, writes journalist and activist Linah al-Saafin at The Electronic Intifada, “asserts that despite political division, non-representative and collaborative leadership, Palestine remains from the river to the sea, with the Bedouins in the Naqab an integral component of the Palestinian population.”
Two weeks later on Aug. 1, demonstrators staged another ‘Day of Rage.’ Similar protests alighted across the country, accompanied by arrests and claims of indiscriminate and disproportionate force by police.
“Since the Second Intifada, I haven’t felt Palestinians as united as they were last month [at the anti-Prawer Plan demonstrations],” Maria Zahran, a Palestinian human rights activist, told Mint Press News. She also reported that there was close coordination between Palestinians inside Israel and in the occupied West Bank.
“There was a big push from the younger generations,” said Zahran, adding that youth activist networks were created to continue organizing after the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee announced it wouldn’t organize another protest after the July 15 strike. This coordination between young people birthed the Aug. 1 demonstration.
Palestinian citizens of two states?
Tzipi Livni, Israeli Justice Minister and chief negotiator, said history “is made by realists who are not afraid to dream.” But a quick survey of the discourse over negotiations shows that few see her dream of a two-state solution as realistic or desirable.
British journalist and activist Ben White recently wrote, “The bigger risk is not that these negotiations may fail, but that, on their current terms, they may succeed.”
“The two-state solution… is designed to preserve Israel as an ethnocratic Jewish state in the majority of historic Palestine,” he added. “Establish a hollow authority in Ramallah to save a pretend democracy in Haifa.”
Speaking in Jerusalem in March, President Obama pledged 3 billion dollars a year in aid to Israel for the next decade. In order to bring the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table, Kerry has sought to implement a four billion dollar investment plan to resurrect the lifeless Palestinian economy.
Yet despite the immense financial resources being poured into the current negotiations, there is a growing consensus that the two-state solution ignores the basic national rights of Palestinians in Israel and those exiled in refugee camps. The Prawer Plan offers a grim peak into the potential future of those Palestinians left as a minority in Israel if negotiations bring into being a Palestinian state around the 1967 borders.
“We all know that it can’t be a Jewish state and democratic at the same time,” Zahran concluded. “If there are Arab citizens and other minorities and it’s Jewish-only, it’s not a state for all its citizens.”
Israel's Knesset is pushing to pass legislation that would forcibly relocate tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens.
As Palestinian and Israeli leaders assemble in Washington for their first direct talks in three years, the Israeli Knesset is pushing to pass legislation that will displace tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens in the Negev region of southern Israel.
In late July, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said negotiations are currently intended to span nine months, adding that he believes “the leaders, the negotiators, and citizens invested in this effort can make peace for one simple reason: because they must.”
“A viable two-state solution is the only way this conflict can end—and there is not much time to achieve it,” Kerry said. But the overwhelmingly majority of Palestinians — including those who carry Israeli citizenship — do not share Kerry’s optimism.
Doubts of U.S. and Israeli sincerity are only exacerbated by Israel’s latest plan to forcibly relocate the Bedouin population in the Negev desert.
An oft-overlooked demographic within the already marginalized Palestinian minority, Bedouins make up around 30 percent of the region’s total population. Between 2008 and 2011, roughly 2,200 homes were demolished by the state, resulting in the displacement of some 14,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel, the Negev Coalition for Civil Equality recently told Al Jazeera.
The Prawer Plan
The Prawer-Begin Bill refers to those 200,000 Bedouins in the Negev as “citizens with equal rights in the State of Israel [who are] entitled an economic-social framework that will enable them to realize the opportunities for growth that are available to citizens of Israel.”
Its projected consequences are quite far from ensuring equal opportunities, however. Around 30,000 Bedouins from 35 “unrecognized” villages will be forcibly relocated to bantustan-like townships approved by the government.
While a great deal of those who are slated for dispossession live in villages that predate the 1948 establishment of Israel, many were also placed on their present lands by military decree following the state confiscation of their land following 1948.
The first reading of the bill was approved by the Knesset in late June. In order to become law, Israeli daily Haaretz reported, it “must pass two more Knesset readings. But it could also be modified in committee prior to subsequent votes by the full Knesset.”
Far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has spearheaded efforts to pass the Begin-Prawer Bill. In addition to the angry response from Palestinians across the map, organizations and political parties close to the Israeli settler establishment also have offered stubborn opposition to the plan, but for vastly different reasons: They argue that there is no need to compensate the displaced because “there is no basis to recognize Bedouin ownership of land” in the first place.
The plan has been roundly denounced by human rights organizations and international legal bodies. Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, slammed the bill. “As citizens of Israel, the Bedouin are entitled to the same rights to property, housing and public services as any other group in Israel.”
“The government must recognize and respect the specific rights of its Bedouin communities, including recognition of Bedouin land ownership claims,” Pillay added.
A unified pushback
In response, activists in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have staged a number of coordinated demonstrations. Their message has been boosted by a handful of solidarity protests across the globe, particularly in the United States and Europe.
On July 15, a nationwide campaign brought out thousands in Beersheba, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Gaza City and elsewhere. A general strike was declared by the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee — which represents Palestinian citizens of Israel — leaving businesses and municipalities in Arab parts of Israel closed.
At least 34 people were arrested, according to 972 Magazine. Israeli forces reportedly used excessive force by employing stun grenades and attacked unarmed protesters without provocation, with an Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights attorney claiming that “two of the [arrested] men were taken into a room and beaten badly while in custody.”
The resistance offered to the Prawer Plan, writes journalist and activist Linah al-Saafin at The Electronic Intifada, “asserts that despite political division, non-representative and collaborative leadership, Palestine remains from the river to the sea, with the Bedouins in the Naqab an integral component of the Palestinian population.”
Two weeks later on Aug. 1, demonstrators staged another ‘Day of Rage.’ Similar protests alighted across the country, accompanied by arrests and claims of indiscriminate and disproportionate force by police.
“Since the Second Intifada, I haven’t felt Palestinians as united as they were last month [at the anti-Prawer Plan demonstrations],” Maria Zahran, a Palestinian human rights activist, told Mint Press News. She also reported that there was close coordination between Palestinians inside Israel and in the occupied West Bank.
“There was a big push from the younger generations,” said Zahran, adding that youth activist networks were created to continue organizing after the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee announced it wouldn’t organize another protest after the July 15 strike. This coordination between young people birthed the Aug. 1 demonstration.
Palestinian citizens of two states?
Tzipi Livni, Israeli Justice Minister and chief negotiator, said history “is made by realists who are not afraid to dream.” But a quick survey of the discourse over negotiations shows that few see her dream of a two-state solution as realistic or desirable.
British journalist and activist Ben White recently wrote, “The bigger risk is not that these negotiations may fail, but that, on their current terms, they may succeed.”
“The two-state solution… is designed to preserve Israel as an ethnocratic Jewish state in the majority of historic Palestine,” he added. “Establish a hollow authority in Ramallah to save a pretend democracy in Haifa.”
Speaking in Jerusalem in March, President Obama pledged 3 billion dollars a year in aid to Israel for the next decade. In order to bring the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table, Kerry has sought to implement a four billion dollar investment plan to resurrect the lifeless Palestinian economy.
Yet despite the immense financial resources being poured into the current negotiations, there is a growing consensus that the two-state solution ignores the basic national rights of Palestinians in Israel and those exiled in refugee camps. The Prawer Plan offers a grim peak into the potential future of those Palestinians left as a minority in Israel if negotiations bring into being a Palestinian state around the 1967 borders.
“We all know that it can’t be a Jewish state and democratic at the same time,” Zahran concluded. “If there are Arab citizens and other minorities and it’s Jewish-only, it’s not a state for all its citizens.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories in a bid to lend backing to revived peace talks, a ministry spokesman said Friday.
Westerwelle will meet President Shimon Peres and the chief Israeli negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, in Jerusalem on Sunday, followed by talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
He will then sit down with President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah before returning to Berlin.
"Foreign minister Westerwelle will express Germany's strong support for the resumption of talks under US mediation," the spokesman said in a statement.
"Germany and Europe will do all they can to lend backing to the new peace talks so they may be successful."
After three years of stalemate, talks between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators on ending their long-standing conflict began again last month in Washington under US mediation, and both sides agreed to try to resolve their differences within nine months.
The next round is to take place on August 14 in Jerusalem attended by US mediator Martin Indyk and is to be followed by a meeting in the West Bank city of Jericho.
A foreign ministry spokesman had told reporters Wednesday that Westerwelle would only travel to the region if he felt he could make a "positive contribution to the peace process", calling the effort "very difficult".
Westerwelle will meet President Shimon Peres and the chief Israeli negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, in Jerusalem on Sunday, followed by talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
He will then sit down with President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah before returning to Berlin.
"Foreign minister Westerwelle will express Germany's strong support for the resumption of talks under US mediation," the spokesman said in a statement.
"Germany and Europe will do all they can to lend backing to the new peace talks so they may be successful."
After three years of stalemate, talks between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators on ending their long-standing conflict began again last month in Washington under US mediation, and both sides agreed to try to resolve their differences within nine months.
The next round is to take place on August 14 in Jerusalem attended by US mediator Martin Indyk and is to be followed by a meeting in the West Bank city of Jericho.
A foreign ministry spokesman had told reporters Wednesday that Westerwelle would only travel to the region if he felt he could make a "positive contribution to the peace process", calling the effort "very difficult".
Kerry, Rice meet US Jewish leaders at White House
Secretary of State John Kerry and national security adviser Susan Rice met with Jewish community leaders at the White House on Thursday evening to update them on the resumption of talks and hear their concerns. Another meeting will be held Friday with leaders from the Arab-American community, Psaki said.
According to people familiar with Thursday's meeting, Kerry outlined a five-track approach for the negotiations with the Israelis and Palestinians: security, economics, international outreach, public outreach, and direct talks between the parties.
Secretary of State John Kerry and national security adviser Susan Rice met with Jewish community leaders at the White House on Thursday evening to update them on the resumption of talks and hear their concerns. Another meeting will be held Friday with leaders from the Arab-American community, Psaki said.
According to people familiar with Thursday's meeting, Kerry outlined a five-track approach for the negotiations with the Israelis and Palestinians: security, economics, international outreach, public outreach, and direct talks between the parties.
Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat has slammed the Israeli regime over its preliminary approval for the construction of more illegal settler units in the occupied West Bank.
In a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, Erekat said the Tel Aviv regime’s recent announcement indicates its “bad faith and lack of seriousness” in the US-backed talks between Palestinians and Israelis.
On Thursday, Guy Inbar, spokesman for Israel’s military-run civil administration in the occupied West Bank, said initial plans to construct more than 800 new illegal settler homes had been approved.
The Palestinian negotiator further called on Washington to take necessary measures to “ensure that Israel does not advance any of its settlement plans.”
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s executive committee, also urged Kerry on Thursday to take “real action” against the Israeli regime.
Erekat sent the letter on the same day that US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli regime will resume on August 14 in al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Psaki said that the United States “does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity and opposes any efforts to legitimize settlement outpost.”
The representatives of Israel and the Palestinian Authority met in Washington in late July. The meeting was the first direct negotiations in three years.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
In a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, Erekat said the Tel Aviv regime’s recent announcement indicates its “bad faith and lack of seriousness” in the US-backed talks between Palestinians and Israelis.
On Thursday, Guy Inbar, spokesman for Israel’s military-run civil administration in the occupied West Bank, said initial plans to construct more than 800 new illegal settler homes had been approved.
The Palestinian negotiator further called on Washington to take necessary measures to “ensure that Israel does not advance any of its settlement plans.”
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s executive committee, also urged Kerry on Thursday to take “real action” against the Israeli regime.
Erekat sent the letter on the same day that US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli regime will resume on August 14 in al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Psaki said that the United States “does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity and opposes any efforts to legitimize settlement outpost.”
The representatives of Israel and the Palestinian Authority met in Washington in late July. The meeting was the first direct negotiations in three years.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
United Foreign Secretary, Jennifer Psaki, stated Thursday [August 8, 2013] that the next round of direct Palestinian-Israeli talks will be held on August 14 in Jerusalem, then in the West bank city of Jericho.
Psaki stated that this second round of direct talks would be held under direct supervision of U.S. Special Middle East Envoy, Martin Indyk, and added that Secretary of State, John Kerry, will not be giving any statements after the meeting.
Direct talks started under American mediation when Israeli Chief Negotiator, Tzipi Livni, met with her Palestinian counterpart, Dr. Saeb Erekat, on July 29 and 30. Kerry supervised the talks that started after he visited the region six times starting in March this year.
The talks started with the intent to reach a final status agreement in nine months despite enormous obstacles that could topple them, including Israel’s ongoing invasions into Palestinian communities, and its ongoing assaults, in addition to its ongoing illegal settlements construction and expansion activities in the occupied West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel also refuses to hold talks on borders, natural resources and refuses to recognize the internationally guaranteed Right of Return of the Palestinian refugees.
Psaki stated that this second round of direct talks would be held under direct supervision of U.S. Special Middle East Envoy, Martin Indyk, and added that Secretary of State, John Kerry, will not be giving any statements after the meeting.
Direct talks started under American mediation when Israeli Chief Negotiator, Tzipi Livni, met with her Palestinian counterpart, Dr. Saeb Erekat, on July 29 and 30. Kerry supervised the talks that started after he visited the region six times starting in March this year.
The talks started with the intent to reach a final status agreement in nine months despite enormous obstacles that could topple them, including Israel’s ongoing invasions into Palestinian communities, and its ongoing assaults, in addition to its ongoing illegal settlements construction and expansion activities in the occupied West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel also refuses to hold talks on borders, natural resources and refuses to recognize the internationally guaranteed Right of Return of the Palestinian refugees.
8 aug 2013
A Palestinian protester argues with Israeli troops at a demo against settlements in al-Massara.
Israeli authorities have moved forward on giving final approval on plans to build nearly 1,000 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, an official told AFP on Thursday.
He said initial approval had been granted by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon several months ago and plans were now being made public so that any objections could be raised before the process moves to the next stage.
Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said the move applied to 920 new homes, while 166 units that had already been built without going through the necessary procedure were given the preliminary approval retroactively.
The total of 1,086 homes was spread across seven settlements, the NGO's Lior Amihai said.
This comes as US-brokered preparatory talks are under way between Israel and the PLO on resuming direct peace negotiations that have been stalled for nearly three years.
The PLO has demanded that Israel freeze settlement construction before returning to talks, but Israel has rejected any preconditions.
Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said on Thursday that settlement building was "the willful destruction of any chances of peace".
"If the US really wants peace they have to intervene immediately and effectively," she told AFP.
Peace Now's Amihai said the latest batch of approvals "showed the true intention of the government, putting a very heavy question mark on their intentions".
Israeli authorities have moved forward on giving final approval on plans to build nearly 1,000 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, an official told AFP on Thursday.
He said initial approval had been granted by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon several months ago and plans were now being made public so that any objections could be raised before the process moves to the next stage.
Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said the move applied to 920 new homes, while 166 units that had already been built without going through the necessary procedure were given the preliminary approval retroactively.
The total of 1,086 homes was spread across seven settlements, the NGO's Lior Amihai said.
This comes as US-brokered preparatory talks are under way between Israel and the PLO on resuming direct peace negotiations that have been stalled for nearly three years.
The PLO has demanded that Israel freeze settlement construction before returning to talks, but Israel has rejected any preconditions.
Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said on Thursday that settlement building was "the willful destruction of any chances of peace".
"If the US really wants peace they have to intervene immediately and effectively," she told AFP.
Peace Now's Amihai said the latest batch of approvals "showed the true intention of the government, putting a very heavy question mark on their intentions".
Several analysis are linking the resumption of the peace talks with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s desire to legitimize a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Some even claim that the U.S. administration is in the loop.
There were at least three articles in the Hebrew media this week speculating on the option of an Israeli strike on Iran. All pieces linked those scenarios to the peace process, and to the Wall Street Journal‘s report on reactor in Arak, which is due to become operational in the coming months and could be used for the creation of a plutonium bomb (those reports were already disputed, even in Israel)
Writing for Al-Monitor, Ben Caspit (who opposes the idea of an Israeli attack), speculates:
A week ago [July 30], after the painful decision to release more than 100 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are “heavyweight” murderers, to resume negotiations with the Palestinians, Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon had something very interesting to say: Underlying the decision to release prisoners — he stated — “were strategic considerations, which might be revealed in the future.” (…) What will we understand in the future? In light of the intimations, the signals and the whispers, we are able to figure out the quiet deal that was cut between Israel and the United States: Israel will do whatever is necessary to start negotiations with the Palestinians, maybe even reach a type of an interim arrangement ahead of the final status arrangement. America will give Israel a green light to bomb Iran after having fully verified that the Iranians are really poised to make the final “charge” toward the bomb.
At Haaretz, Sefi Rachlevsky and Alon Ben David raised the same idea – that the real reason Netanyahu entered the peace process is his desire to legitimize an attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities. Rechlevsky is an author and doesn’t have good sources (his article is not as much of a report as an analysis of Netanyahu’s character) but Alon Ben David is a veteran military correspondent. In previous weeks others have made similar suggestions (see Ynet’s military correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai).
There is also speculation that the nature of the understanding on this issue between the American administration and Israel has changed. Former head of military intelligence Amos Yadlin told Israel’s Army Radio this week that the administration’s position has “moved from a red light to yellow.”
Reports are that the heads of Israel’s security forces remain in opposition to an attack, including Air Force commander Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel.
There were at least three articles in the Hebrew media this week speculating on the option of an Israeli strike on Iran. All pieces linked those scenarios to the peace process, and to the Wall Street Journal‘s report on reactor in Arak, which is due to become operational in the coming months and could be used for the creation of a plutonium bomb (those reports were already disputed, even in Israel)
Writing for Al-Monitor, Ben Caspit (who opposes the idea of an Israeli attack), speculates:
A week ago [July 30], after the painful decision to release more than 100 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are “heavyweight” murderers, to resume negotiations with the Palestinians, Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon had something very interesting to say: Underlying the decision to release prisoners — he stated — “were strategic considerations, which might be revealed in the future.” (…) What will we understand in the future? In light of the intimations, the signals and the whispers, we are able to figure out the quiet deal that was cut between Israel and the United States: Israel will do whatever is necessary to start negotiations with the Palestinians, maybe even reach a type of an interim arrangement ahead of the final status arrangement. America will give Israel a green light to bomb Iran after having fully verified that the Iranians are really poised to make the final “charge” toward the bomb.
At Haaretz, Sefi Rachlevsky and Alon Ben David raised the same idea – that the real reason Netanyahu entered the peace process is his desire to legitimize an attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities. Rechlevsky is an author and doesn’t have good sources (his article is not as much of a report as an analysis of Netanyahu’s character) but Alon Ben David is a veteran military correspondent. In previous weeks others have made similar suggestions (see Ynet’s military correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai).
There is also speculation that the nature of the understanding on this issue between the American administration and Israel has changed. Former head of military intelligence Amos Yadlin told Israel’s Army Radio this week that the administration’s position has “moved from a red light to yellow.”
Reports are that the heads of Israel’s security forces remain in opposition to an attack, including Air Force commander Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel.
Gaza premier Ismail Haneyya has welcomed the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails on condition that the step would not be linked to concessions. Haneyya, addressing the Eid congregation on Thursday, expressed surprise at the return of PA to negotiations with the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) and warned it against offering concessions in those talks.
He said that the negotiations process allowed the IOA to go ahead in its Judaization and settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Haneyya, also deputy political bureau chairman of Hamas, called on Egypt to re-open the Rafah border crossing before individuals and goods.
He affirmed that his movement does not interfere in the internal affairs of Arab countries, adding that recent revelations (of secret Fatah documents) confirmed such trend and exposed those trying to smear the movement’s image.
The premier underlined that the unlimited American military support for Israel would not succeed in ending its isolation in the region.
He said that the negotiations process allowed the IOA to go ahead in its Judaization and settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Haneyya, also deputy political bureau chairman of Hamas, called on Egypt to re-open the Rafah border crossing before individuals and goods.
He affirmed that his movement does not interfere in the internal affairs of Arab countries, adding that recent revelations (of secret Fatah documents) confirmed such trend and exposed those trying to smear the movement’s image.
The premier underlined that the unlimited American military support for Israel would not succeed in ending its isolation in the region.
Hamas Movement has called on PA and Fatah movement to cancel talks with the Israeli occupation authority that only “harm national reconciliation and betray the martyrs and holy sites”. Opting to the negotiations option instead of national unity is a moral and political crime, the movement's statement said, pointing to the continued Israeli Judaization schemes, arrest campaigns, deportation and demolition crimes against the unarmed Palestinian people.
In its statement, Hamas renewed its total rejection to the PA decision to resume negotiation with the Israeli occupation that aims to compromise the Palestinian fundamental rights.
Hamas held Fatah responsible for the serious outcomes of its decision, saying that talks resumption cannot meet with the national reconciliation and unity.
The IOA tries to distract the attention of Palestinians away from the serious consequences of negotiations by releasing few dozens of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the statement added.
Wafa al-Ahrar exchange deal was an example of sacrifice and victory over the occupation where 1000 prisoners were released according to the resistance's, not the Israeli, conditions, it said.
The media campaign that accompanied the negotiation process was waged in order to cover the serious implications of the PA decision that will isolate the Gaza Strip, compromise Jerusalem and the right of return, in addition to West Bank settlement recognition, and surrendering the Jordan Valley. In other words it will liquidate the Palestinian cause, the statement continued.
The movement called on the Palestinian people and the Arab world to stand firmly against this suspicious conspiracy that targets Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa mosque, and the Palestinian issue.
In its statement, Hamas renewed its total rejection to the PA decision to resume negotiation with the Israeli occupation that aims to compromise the Palestinian fundamental rights.
Hamas held Fatah responsible for the serious outcomes of its decision, saying that talks resumption cannot meet with the national reconciliation and unity.
The IOA tries to distract the attention of Palestinians away from the serious consequences of negotiations by releasing few dozens of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the statement added.
Wafa al-Ahrar exchange deal was an example of sacrifice and victory over the occupation where 1000 prisoners were released according to the resistance's, not the Israeli, conditions, it said.
The media campaign that accompanied the negotiation process was waged in order to cover the serious implications of the PA decision that will isolate the Gaza Strip, compromise Jerusalem and the right of return, in addition to West Bank settlement recognition, and surrendering the Jordan Valley. In other words it will liquidate the Palestinian cause, the statement continued.
The movement called on the Palestinian people and the Arab world to stand firmly against this suspicious conspiracy that targets Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa mosque, and the Palestinian issue.
Givat Ze'ev settlement
Civil Administration spokesman says construction waits gov't green light. New homes earmarked for 11 settlements, some deep in West Bank, NGO says
Israel has given preliminary approval for the construction of more than 800 new homes in Jewish settlements on occupied West Bank land where Palestinians seek statehood, an Israeli official said on Thursday. The move could complicate US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which resumed last month after an almost three-year freeze over the settlement dispute and whose second round is expected to take place next week.
Guy Inbar, spokesman for Israel's military-run Civil Administration in the West Bank, said initial plans to build 800 new settler homes were approved on Wednesday, though actual construction would require a green light from the government.
"This is a lengthy process," said Inbar, who did not immediately provide further details on the plans.
Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, put the number of new homes discussed by the Civil Administration on Wednesday at 1,096 and said they were earmarked for 11 settlements – some of them located deep within the West Bank.
Israel insists it would annex major West Bank settlement blocs, which are mainly situated close to the Israeli border, under any peace accord with the Palestinians. Most world powers regard all the settlements as illegal and Palestinians say the enclaves could deny them a viable and contiguous state.
Palestinian officials did not immediately comment on the new settlement initiative, which surfaced as Muslims celebrated the festival of Eid al-Fitr.
Some 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured in the 1967 War, amid 2.5 million Palestinians. Israel withdrew in 2005 from the Gaza Strip, which is now governed by Hamas Islamists opposed to permanent co-existence with the Jewish state.
On Sunday, the rightist Israeli government put 91 settlements on a national priority funding list, adding six to a roster of dozens of enclaves already eligible for supplemental state cash.
Last month, while US Secretary of State John Kerry was on a peace-brokering visit to the region, the Civil Administration granted initial approval for construction of 732 new homes in Modiin Ilit, a settlement midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Civil Administration spokesman says construction waits gov't green light. New homes earmarked for 11 settlements, some deep in West Bank, NGO says
Israel has given preliminary approval for the construction of more than 800 new homes in Jewish settlements on occupied West Bank land where Palestinians seek statehood, an Israeli official said on Thursday. The move could complicate US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which resumed last month after an almost three-year freeze over the settlement dispute and whose second round is expected to take place next week.
Guy Inbar, spokesman for Israel's military-run Civil Administration in the West Bank, said initial plans to build 800 new settler homes were approved on Wednesday, though actual construction would require a green light from the government.
"This is a lengthy process," said Inbar, who did not immediately provide further details on the plans.
Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, put the number of new homes discussed by the Civil Administration on Wednesday at 1,096 and said they were earmarked for 11 settlements – some of them located deep within the West Bank.
Israel insists it would annex major West Bank settlement blocs, which are mainly situated close to the Israeli border, under any peace accord with the Palestinians. Most world powers regard all the settlements as illegal and Palestinians say the enclaves could deny them a viable and contiguous state.
Palestinian officials did not immediately comment on the new settlement initiative, which surfaced as Muslims celebrated the festival of Eid al-Fitr.
Some 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured in the 1967 War, amid 2.5 million Palestinians. Israel withdrew in 2005 from the Gaza Strip, which is now governed by Hamas Islamists opposed to permanent co-existence with the Jewish state.
On Sunday, the rightist Israeli government put 91 settlements on a national priority funding list, adding six to a roster of dozens of enclaves already eligible for supplemental state cash.
Last month, while US Secretary of State John Kerry was on a peace-brokering visit to the region, the Civil Administration granted initial approval for construction of 732 new homes in Modiin Ilit, a settlement midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, stated that direct political talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will start very soon, and added that the Palestinians will not abandon their legitimate rights, and their right to declare occupied Arab Jerusalem as the capital of their state.
His statements came after her placed roses on the grave of late President, Yasser Arafat, as the Muslim nation started the Al-Fitir Holy Feast celebration, marking the end of the Holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The President said that this feast carries special joy to the Palestinian people, and all detainees who have been imprisoned before the year 1994, as they will be released from Israeli prisons soon.
“God willing, the release will start very soon, and will be carried out on stages that are not far away from each other”, Abbas said, “We all exerted maximum efforts to secure their release, and now they will be freed, and we will continue to act on the release of all detainees”.
“I hope that next feast will be celebrated under an independent and sovereign Palestinian State, with the Holy City of Jerusalem as its capital”, he stated, “We did not forget the file of national reconciliation and unity, we want to end all sorts of internal divisions”.
The President added that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and the Fateh movement, are ready to implement the Doha and Cairo national unity agreements.
“Let’s hold elections, we are ready for that, and I hope every party is ready too”, he said.
He added that internal divisions and conflicts are a disgrace, and stressed on the importance to finally achieve national unity, and comprehensive reconciliation.
His statements came after her placed roses on the grave of late President, Yasser Arafat, as the Muslim nation started the Al-Fitir Holy Feast celebration, marking the end of the Holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The President said that this feast carries special joy to the Palestinian people, and all detainees who have been imprisoned before the year 1994, as they will be released from Israeli prisons soon.
“God willing, the release will start very soon, and will be carried out on stages that are not far away from each other”, Abbas said, “We all exerted maximum efforts to secure their release, and now they will be freed, and we will continue to act on the release of all detainees”.
“I hope that next feast will be celebrated under an independent and sovereign Palestinian State, with the Holy City of Jerusalem as its capital”, he stated, “We did not forget the file of national reconciliation and unity, we want to end all sorts of internal divisions”.
The President added that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and the Fateh movement, are ready to implement the Doha and Cairo national unity agreements.
“Let’s hold elections, we are ready for that, and I hope every party is ready too”, he said.
He added that internal divisions and conflicts are a disgrace, and stressed on the importance to finally achieve national unity, and comprehensive reconciliation.
The Israeli Government has officially announced a timeframe for the release of 104 Palestinian detainees, imprisoned since before the first Oslo peace accord was signed in 1993, and said that the detainees will be released in four stages, starting next week, and ending in eight months of direct talks.
The Israeli Radio has reported that the first group of detainees will be released next week, then four months later, the second group will be released “depending on the progress of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) in the West Bank.”
The Radio added that the third and fourth stages would be implemented after the direct talks have continued for six and eight months, and that the release is solely dependent on the “progress of talks with the Palestinians”.
Direct talks with Tel Aviv started recently following several years of stalemate due to ongoing Israeli violations topped by Israel’s illegal settlement construction and expansion activities in occupied Palestine, its ongoing invasions and assaults.
U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, managed to get the talks started “without preconditions”, and without an Israel commitment to completely stop its illegal settlement activities.
Various Palestinian factions and groups, and the general public attitude in Palestine, rejected the move made by the P.A., and considered it a setback to the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.
Originally, Israel was supposed to release the 104 political prisoners, those who spent 20 or more years in Israeli prisons, as a goodwill gesture from Tel Aviv to boost the prospects of direct talks, but Israel then decided not to release the detainees all at once.
On its part, the Hamas movement said that the release of a few dozen of detainees under Israeli preconditions is an Israeli act meant to delude the public opinion, and the international community.
Hamas added that, despite the joy of freedom, and the happiness it brings to every detainee and the Palestinian people; the Palestinians will not be deluded, and will never abandon their legitimate rights of real freedom, liberation and independence.
The Israeli Radio has reported that the first group of detainees will be released next week, then four months later, the second group will be released “depending on the progress of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) in the West Bank.”
The Radio added that the third and fourth stages would be implemented after the direct talks have continued for six and eight months, and that the release is solely dependent on the “progress of talks with the Palestinians”.
Direct talks with Tel Aviv started recently following several years of stalemate due to ongoing Israeli violations topped by Israel’s illegal settlement construction and expansion activities in occupied Palestine, its ongoing invasions and assaults.
U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, managed to get the talks started “without preconditions”, and without an Israel commitment to completely stop its illegal settlement activities.
Various Palestinian factions and groups, and the general public attitude in Palestine, rejected the move made by the P.A., and considered it a setback to the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.
Originally, Israel was supposed to release the 104 political prisoners, those who spent 20 or more years in Israeli prisons, as a goodwill gesture from Tel Aviv to boost the prospects of direct talks, but Israel then decided not to release the detainees all at once.
On its part, the Hamas movement said that the release of a few dozen of detainees under Israeli preconditions is an Israeli act meant to delude the public opinion, and the international community.
Hamas added that, despite the joy of freedom, and the happiness it brings to every detainee and the Palestinian people; the Palestinians will not be deluded, and will never abandon their legitimate rights of real freedom, liberation and independence.
