10 apr 2014
Palestine’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, sent identical letters to the UN Secretary General, President of the UN Security Council and President of the UN General Assembly briefing them on the escalating Israeli dangerous violations in East Jerusalem.
NEW YORK, April 10, 2014 (WAFA) In his letter, Mansour stated that Israel’s illegal procedures, by state officials, settlers or extremists, against the Palestinian people, their land and their holy sites, destabilize the situation and pose religious sensitivities at a time the United States, the Arab League and the Quartet Committee are exerting efforts to salvage the floundering peace talks.
Mansour referred to the nonstop Israel settlers’ raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as well as the restrictions imposed by police on Palestinian worshipers’ entry to the mosque yards.
He said the imminent Israeli draft law to allow Jewish settlers to perform rituals inside the mosque campus is not only provocative to the already exacerbating political atmosphere, but is also a disregard to the sensible status of the mosque, which is still under the Jordanian custody.
Furthermore, Mansour said these illegal procedures by Israel in al-Aqsa Mosque requires serious and prompt attention by the international community and the UN Security Council to restore peace and security.
In reference to the nonstop settlement construction, Mansour said settlements undermine peace talks and the two-state solution within the 1967 borders.
He finally called upon the international community to take immediate actions to pressure Israel to put an end to its grave infringement to the international law, including the humanitarian law.
M.N./T.R.
NEW YORK, April 10, 2014 (WAFA) In his letter, Mansour stated that Israel’s illegal procedures, by state officials, settlers or extremists, against the Palestinian people, their land and their holy sites, destabilize the situation and pose religious sensitivities at a time the United States, the Arab League and the Quartet Committee are exerting efforts to salvage the floundering peace talks.
Mansour referred to the nonstop Israel settlers’ raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as well as the restrictions imposed by police on Palestinian worshipers’ entry to the mosque yards.
He said the imminent Israeli draft law to allow Jewish settlers to perform rituals inside the mosque campus is not only provocative to the already exacerbating political atmosphere, but is also a disregard to the sensible status of the mosque, which is still under the Jordanian custody.
Furthermore, Mansour said these illegal procedures by Israel in al-Aqsa Mosque requires serious and prompt attention by the international community and the UN Security Council to restore peace and security.
In reference to the nonstop settlement construction, Mansour said settlements undermine peace talks and the two-state solution within the 1967 borders.
He finally called upon the international community to take immediate actions to pressure Israel to put an end to its grave infringement to the international law, including the humanitarian law.
M.N./T.R.
The Israeli government is considering subtracting from the monthly tax revenue it transfers to the Palestinian Authority the amount the PA pays to (terrorists) and their families, a government official said on Wednesday.
Holding back the monthly tax revenues – or a part of them – is one option Israel is considering, the official said, in response to the PA ’s (unilateral) application last week to join 15 international conventions and treaties, a move that sent the diplomatic talks into a tailspin.
Israel transfers to the PA each month about NIS 400 million it collects for it in tax and duty revenue.
According to a document released from the Prime Minister’s Office, the PA transferred $153.5m. in 2012 to (terrorists) in Israeli prisons and to their families, as well as to families of deceased (terrorists), including suicide bombers. This amounts to nearly 16 percent of all foreign aid to the PA .
The PA received $786m. in foreign aid in 2012, a substantial component of its $3.1 billion budget that year, the document said.
According to these figures, money paid to the (terrorists) and their families represents fully 5 percent of the PA ’s annual total budget.
The document was written in January but released by the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday.
One Israeli government official said it would be “morally justified” for Israel to subtract from the money it transfers to the PA each month the amount that is spent on grants and monthly payments to (terrorists) and their families. The PA cannot complain about its financial difficulties, and then pay huge sums to support (terrorists), he claimed.
According to the document, “the Palestinian Authority is highly dependent on foreign aid. This money, which supports the PA budget, is fungible to meet payments for imprisoned and released (terrorists.)”
Seventy-eight of the 104 convicted (terrorists) who Israel released as part of the deal that led to the PLO agreeing to restart negotiations in July receive monthly stipends of up to $3,500, and grants of up to $25,000, the document said.
“In this way the PA is giving a strong financial incentive to terrorism, including through the misuse of fungible foreign financial assistance,” the document read.
“Publicly rewarding convicted (murderers) gives an official stamp of approval to terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. It is a highly persuasive form of incitement to violence and (terrorism.)”
Providing financial support for (terrorists) “not only violates basic morality, it encourages further (terrorist) outrages” and “may tempt young Palestinians to seek an answer to familial financial difficulties through the use of violence,” the document further stated.
Since 1967, when (Israel) occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, more than 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This represents approximately 20% of the total population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and 40% of all males. Despite prohibition by international law, Israel detains Palestinians in prisons throughout Israel, far from their families, who almost never obtain the necessary permits to leave the Occupied Palestinian Territories to visit them.
Source: THE JERUSALEM POST
Holding back the monthly tax revenues – or a part of them – is one option Israel is considering, the official said, in response to the PA ’s (unilateral) application last week to join 15 international conventions and treaties, a move that sent the diplomatic talks into a tailspin.
Israel transfers to the PA each month about NIS 400 million it collects for it in tax and duty revenue.
According to a document released from the Prime Minister’s Office, the PA transferred $153.5m. in 2012 to (terrorists) in Israeli prisons and to their families, as well as to families of deceased (terrorists), including suicide bombers. This amounts to nearly 16 percent of all foreign aid to the PA .
The PA received $786m. in foreign aid in 2012, a substantial component of its $3.1 billion budget that year, the document said.
According to these figures, money paid to the (terrorists) and their families represents fully 5 percent of the PA ’s annual total budget.
The document was written in January but released by the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday.
One Israeli government official said it would be “morally justified” for Israel to subtract from the money it transfers to the PA each month the amount that is spent on grants and monthly payments to (terrorists) and their families. The PA cannot complain about its financial difficulties, and then pay huge sums to support (terrorists), he claimed.
According to the document, “the Palestinian Authority is highly dependent on foreign aid. This money, which supports the PA budget, is fungible to meet payments for imprisoned and released (terrorists.)”
Seventy-eight of the 104 convicted (terrorists) who Israel released as part of the deal that led to the PLO agreeing to restart negotiations in July receive monthly stipends of up to $3,500, and grants of up to $25,000, the document said.
“In this way the PA is giving a strong financial incentive to terrorism, including through the misuse of fungible foreign financial assistance,” the document read.
“Publicly rewarding convicted (murderers) gives an official stamp of approval to terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. It is a highly persuasive form of incitement to violence and (terrorism.)”
Providing financial support for (terrorists) “not only violates basic morality, it encourages further (terrorist) outrages” and “may tempt young Palestinians to seek an answer to familial financial difficulties through the use of violence,” the document further stated.
Since 1967, when (Israel) occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, more than 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel. This represents approximately 20% of the total population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and 40% of all males. Despite prohibition by international law, Israel detains Palestinians in prisons throughout Israel, far from their families, who almost never obtain the necessary permits to leave the Occupied Palestinian Territories to visit them.
Source: THE JERUSALEM POST
In an unusually pointed rebuke of an ally, Israel said on Wednesday that it was “deeply disappointed” by Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks a day earlier that appeared to lay primary blame on Israel for the crisis in the American-brokered Middle East peace talks.
The Israeli-Palestinian dispute that has brought the talks to the brink of collapse appeared to be developing into an open quarrel between Israel and the United States, even as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were said to be planning a third meeting here this week with American mediators to try to resolve the crisis.
In a sign that the sides were still far from reconciled, Israel on Wednesday directed its government ministers and senior ministry officials to refrain from meeting with their Palestinian counterparts, a move that officials said could delay bilateral projects.
The ban on contacts does not apply to the negotiators, and Israeli officials signaled that coordination between the two sides on security issues would continue. But it was intended to send a message that there would be no business as usual.
In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Mr. Kerry said that both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides bore responsibility for “unhelpful” actions, but that the precipitating event of the impasse was Israel’s announcement of 700 new housing units for Jewish settlement in an area of Jerusalem across the 1967 lines, in territory the Palestinians claim for a future state.
“Poof, that was sort of the moment,” Mr. Kerry said. “We find ourselves where we are.”
In what is being referred to here as the “poof speech,” Mr. Kerry laid out the chain of events that led to the verge of a breakdown.
Clearly stung by Mr. Kerry’s portrayal and his focus on the settlement issue, Israel countered on Wednesday that it was the Palestinians who had “violated their fundamental commitments” by applying last week to join 15 international conventions and treaties.
Mr. Kerry’s remarks “will both hurt the negotiations and harden Palestinian positions,” said an official in the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
In Washington, Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman, said at a briefing that Mr. Kerry was not blaming one side more than the other, “because they’ve both taken unhelpful steps.”
The Palestinian action on the international bodies came after Israel failed to release a promised fourth group of prisoners by a late March deadline. Hours before the Palestinians decided on that course, Israel’s housing minister published construction bids for the contentious new housing.
Mr. Kerry, the official in Mr. Netanyahu’s office said, “knows that it was the Palestinians who said no to continued direct talks with Israel in November; who said no to his proposed framework for final status talks; who said no to even discussing recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people; who said no to a meeting with Kerry himself; and who said no to an extension of the talks.”
That wording appeared intended to cast the Palestinians in the role of peace rejectionists, echoing the Khartoum Resolution of 1967. That year, after the Arab-Israeli War, Arab heads of state laid out the main principles of their approach to Israel, which became known as “the three nos” — no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with it.
The Israeli official added: “In the understandings reached prior to the talks, Israel did not commit to any limitation on construction. Therefore, the Palestinian claim that building in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, was a violation of the understandings is contrary to the facts. Both the American negotiating team and the Palestinians know full well that Israel made no such commitment.”
Xavier Abu Eid of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s negotiations unit said in response that Israel was “undermining the American role in the peace process.” The Palestinian side, he said, “never raised any issue that is not already an Israeli obligation.”
Israel is obliged to stop settlement activity, Mr. Abu Eid said, because it is considered illegal under international law. The Obama administration has described the settlements as illegitimate.
Israel’s failure to release the fourth group of prisoners, he added, violated an American-brokered agreement. As for extending the talks, he said, Israel has so far shown no interest in trying to reach an agreement establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
While the details of the negotiations have been kept secret at Mr. Kerry’s insistence, little progress appeared to have been made, with the sides stuck over fundamental issues like borders, security, the future of Jerusalem, the fate of the Palestinian refugees and Israel’s demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
Under an American-brokered deal to resume negotiations last July, Israel had pledged to release 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners in four groups, and the Palestinians pledged not to turn to international bodies for the nine months allotted for the talks.
Israel said the Palestinians unilaterally applied to join the treaties last week as the Israeli government was preparing to approve a broader deal, including the prisoner release, on the condition that the Palestinians agreed to an extension of the negotiations beyond their April 29 expiration date.
But numerous senior Palestinian officials have said the prisoner release was part of a separate deal and not contingent on an extension of negotiations. They said they waited days after the March 29 deadline for the release and kept hearing from American officials that the Israeli government was about to approve the release, but nothing happened.
“Israel wants to see the negotiations continue and will persist in its efforts to resolve the current crisis,” the official from the Israeli prime minister’s office said. But he warned that “in response to unilateral Palestinian steps, Israel will take unilateral steps of its own.”
The Israeli ban on high-level contacts was the latest in a series of tit-for-tat measures.
Israel has already frozen plans for a Palestinian cellphone company to enter Gaza and for allowing 3G service in the West Bank. In addition, Israeli officials said plans to advance Palestinian housing and agricultural projects in parts of the West Bank where Israel maintains full control had also been delayed.
Ehab Bseiso, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, told Reuters that the Israeli decision to ban high-level contacts undermined international efforts “to revive the negotiations, to proceed with a constructive solution to the challenges facing the peace process.”
Some Israeli ministries have no contact with their Palestinian counterparts in any case, and most civilian issues are coordinated through the Israeli military administration in the West Bank. But staff members of the Israeli and Palestinian Finance Ministries routinely meet to coordinate the transfer of tax revenues that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, and there are frequent contacts on issues like the environment, tourism and communications.
Source: THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Israeli-Palestinian dispute that has brought the talks to the brink of collapse appeared to be developing into an open quarrel between Israel and the United States, even as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were said to be planning a third meeting here this week with American mediators to try to resolve the crisis.
In a sign that the sides were still far from reconciled, Israel on Wednesday directed its government ministers and senior ministry officials to refrain from meeting with their Palestinian counterparts, a move that officials said could delay bilateral projects.
The ban on contacts does not apply to the negotiators, and Israeli officials signaled that coordination between the two sides on security issues would continue. But it was intended to send a message that there would be no business as usual.
In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Mr. Kerry said that both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides bore responsibility for “unhelpful” actions, but that the precipitating event of the impasse was Israel’s announcement of 700 new housing units for Jewish settlement in an area of Jerusalem across the 1967 lines, in territory the Palestinians claim for a future state.
“Poof, that was sort of the moment,” Mr. Kerry said. “We find ourselves where we are.”
In what is being referred to here as the “poof speech,” Mr. Kerry laid out the chain of events that led to the verge of a breakdown.
Clearly stung by Mr. Kerry’s portrayal and his focus on the settlement issue, Israel countered on Wednesday that it was the Palestinians who had “violated their fundamental commitments” by applying last week to join 15 international conventions and treaties.
Mr. Kerry’s remarks “will both hurt the negotiations and harden Palestinian positions,” said an official in the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
In Washington, Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman, said at a briefing that Mr. Kerry was not blaming one side more than the other, “because they’ve both taken unhelpful steps.”
The Palestinian action on the international bodies came after Israel failed to release a promised fourth group of prisoners by a late March deadline. Hours before the Palestinians decided on that course, Israel’s housing minister published construction bids for the contentious new housing.
Mr. Kerry, the official in Mr. Netanyahu’s office said, “knows that it was the Palestinians who said no to continued direct talks with Israel in November; who said no to his proposed framework for final status talks; who said no to even discussing recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people; who said no to a meeting with Kerry himself; and who said no to an extension of the talks.”
That wording appeared intended to cast the Palestinians in the role of peace rejectionists, echoing the Khartoum Resolution of 1967. That year, after the Arab-Israeli War, Arab heads of state laid out the main principles of their approach to Israel, which became known as “the three nos” — no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with it.
The Israeli official added: “In the understandings reached prior to the talks, Israel did not commit to any limitation on construction. Therefore, the Palestinian claim that building in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, was a violation of the understandings is contrary to the facts. Both the American negotiating team and the Palestinians know full well that Israel made no such commitment.”
Xavier Abu Eid of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s negotiations unit said in response that Israel was “undermining the American role in the peace process.” The Palestinian side, he said, “never raised any issue that is not already an Israeli obligation.”
Israel is obliged to stop settlement activity, Mr. Abu Eid said, because it is considered illegal under international law. The Obama administration has described the settlements as illegitimate.
Israel’s failure to release the fourth group of prisoners, he added, violated an American-brokered agreement. As for extending the talks, he said, Israel has so far shown no interest in trying to reach an agreement establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
While the details of the negotiations have been kept secret at Mr. Kerry’s insistence, little progress appeared to have been made, with the sides stuck over fundamental issues like borders, security, the future of Jerusalem, the fate of the Palestinian refugees and Israel’s demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
Under an American-brokered deal to resume negotiations last July, Israel had pledged to release 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners in four groups, and the Palestinians pledged not to turn to international bodies for the nine months allotted for the talks.
Israel said the Palestinians unilaterally applied to join the treaties last week as the Israeli government was preparing to approve a broader deal, including the prisoner release, on the condition that the Palestinians agreed to an extension of the negotiations beyond their April 29 expiration date.
But numerous senior Palestinian officials have said the prisoner release was part of a separate deal and not contingent on an extension of negotiations. They said they waited days after the March 29 deadline for the release and kept hearing from American officials that the Israeli government was about to approve the release, but nothing happened.
“Israel wants to see the negotiations continue and will persist in its efforts to resolve the current crisis,” the official from the Israeli prime minister’s office said. But he warned that “in response to unilateral Palestinian steps, Israel will take unilateral steps of its own.”
The Israeli ban on high-level contacts was the latest in a series of tit-for-tat measures.
Israel has already frozen plans for a Palestinian cellphone company to enter Gaza and for allowing 3G service in the West Bank. In addition, Israeli officials said plans to advance Palestinian housing and agricultural projects in parts of the West Bank where Israel maintains full control had also been delayed.
Ehab Bseiso, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, told Reuters that the Israeli decision to ban high-level contacts undermined international efforts “to revive the negotiations, to proceed with a constructive solution to the challenges facing the peace process.”
Some Israeli ministries have no contact with their Palestinian counterparts in any case, and most civilian issues are coordinated through the Israeli military administration in the West Bank. But staff members of the Israeli and Palestinian Finance Ministries routinely meet to coordinate the transfer of tax revenues that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, and there are frequent contacts on issues like the environment, tourism and communications.
Source: THE NEW YORK TIMES
Israeli negotiators suggested to deport to the Gaza Strip 10 of the veteran prisoners expected to be freed by Israel this month, but the Palestinian side refused to discuss that proposal, a senior official said Thursday.
Acting on instructions from the president, the Palestinian negotiators refused to discuss the proposal of deporting any prisoner to avoid repetition of previous experiences when prisoners were deported to Gaza or to foreign countries, according to the high-level Palestinian source.
At the end of March, Israel refused to release a final batch of Palestinian prisoners the PLO had been expecting to be freed in a gesture to restart peace talks last year.
In response, the PLO applied last week to adhere to 15 international treaties, leading Israel to threaten sanctions against the Palestinian government in the occupied West Bank.
On Thursday, a new meeting between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators attended by US special envoy Martin Indyk took place, the same source told Ma'an.
The parties, added the source, are to discuss the possibility that Israel releases the fourth group of prisoners to reduce tensions between the two sides in the hope of resuming talks.
According to the source, the Palestinian negotiators will continue to separate the release of prisoners and the extension of peace talks beyond the agreed deadline of April 29.
Abbas, meanwhile, says he is ready to extend peace talks based on principles and terms of reference that lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Abbas told the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily newspaper that his move to join 15 international conventions and treaties embodied “one of the Palestinian people’s rights and Israel has nothing to do with that.”
During a meeting with foreign ministers of the Arab League in Cairo on Wednesday, Abbas reviewed a report in detail about peace talks and the impasse they reached. He also updated the participants on the results of the last tripartite meeting between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators and US mediators.
Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians were relaunched in July under the auspices of the US after nearly three years of impasse.
Israel's government has announced the construction of thousands of settler housing units and its army has killed 60 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since the negotiations began.
Acting on instructions from the president, the Palestinian negotiators refused to discuss the proposal of deporting any prisoner to avoid repetition of previous experiences when prisoners were deported to Gaza or to foreign countries, according to the high-level Palestinian source.
At the end of March, Israel refused to release a final batch of Palestinian prisoners the PLO had been expecting to be freed in a gesture to restart peace talks last year.
In response, the PLO applied last week to adhere to 15 international treaties, leading Israel to threaten sanctions against the Palestinian government in the occupied West Bank.
On Thursday, a new meeting between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators attended by US special envoy Martin Indyk took place, the same source told Ma'an.
The parties, added the source, are to discuss the possibility that Israel releases the fourth group of prisoners to reduce tensions between the two sides in the hope of resuming talks.
According to the source, the Palestinian negotiators will continue to separate the release of prisoners and the extension of peace talks beyond the agreed deadline of April 29.
Abbas, meanwhile, says he is ready to extend peace talks based on principles and terms of reference that lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Abbas told the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily newspaper that his move to join 15 international conventions and treaties embodied “one of the Palestinian people’s rights and Israel has nothing to do with that.”
During a meeting with foreign ministers of the Arab League in Cairo on Wednesday, Abbas reviewed a report in detail about peace talks and the impasse they reached. He also updated the participants on the results of the last tripartite meeting between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators and US mediators.
Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians were relaunched in July under the auspices of the US after nearly three years of impasse.
Israel's government has announced the construction of thousands of settler housing units and its army has killed 60 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since the negotiations began.
The Israeli civil administration on Thursday, seized 180 dunums of Palestinian land in the villages of Ein Yabrud and Silwad north of Ramallah, under the pretext of constructing a wastewater treatment plant in favor of Ofra illegal settlement.
Haaretz reported that the procedures for building the wastewater treatment plant have started in 2007, but Israel didn't give the Israeli regional council a license for construction.
The regional council in the West Bank has started to search for an alternative solution through establishing the plant on a Palestinian land in the nearby villages without obtaining a construction permit.
Haaretz reported that the procedures for building the wastewater treatment plant have started in 2007, but Israel didn't give the Israeli regional council a license for construction.
The regional council in the West Bank has started to search for an alternative solution through establishing the plant on a Palestinian land in the nearby villages without obtaining a construction permit.
The decision by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to sign 15 international treaties brought further proof of Israeli racist attitudes towards the Palestinians.
Public statements by senior Israeli officials, as well as commentaries and analyses by Israeli pundits show angry reactions to the Palestinian move, something akin to the anger one would read about when slaves did not show enough respect and actually dared "suggest" that they wanted to be free.
The Israeli prime minister set the tone during the start of the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting. He argued that Palestinians can only get their coveted state through his style of negotiations and based on his conditions, including his new demand that Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state.
Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz joined the attack with a diatribe reflecting a slave owner mentality: "Truth be told, Mahmoud Abbas is spitting in our faces. The Palestinian Authority exists thanks to us. Not only because of the Oslo Accords, but because of the funds we transfer them, and the security we give them. Otherwise, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as they control Gaza, would also take down Abbas and take over Ramallah."
Other Israeli officials made similar remarks. Settlements representative in the Cabinet Neftali Bennett mocked the Palestinian president's UN move: "If he wants to go to the UN, I will buy him the ticket and there he will face a personal lawsuit for war crimes."
The Israelis are not signatories to the Rome Convention, which created the International Court of Justice, an institution the Palestinians have not signed up to.
While the vulgarity of Israeli officials came out loud and clear in reaction to the Palestinian move, a more nuanced Israeli racism showed up in the analyses published after the decision. Instead of explaining the truth about the breakdown of the talks, Israeli analysts came up with all sorts of excuses except the real one.
Rarely was the Israeli refusal to implement an agreed-to quid pro quo dealt with.
Palestinians had agreed not to join UN agencies or treaties in return for Israel releasing 104 prisoners who had served more than 20 years and jail and who had been imprisoned prior to the Oslo Accords. Israel reneged on that US-sponsored agreement and the Palestinians felt that they were free of their obligation.
Israeli analysts focused on blaming the Palestinians for the lack of progress in the peace talks, saying that Abbas was trying to salvage a supposedly lost public support.
All these are factually false, and fail to point at Israel for failure of progress in the peace talks.
The Palestinian president has made tough decisions and showed he is able to take difficult choices, like when he told Israeli students one month ago that Palestinians do not plan to flood Israel with refugees. His public compromise on one of the most difficult issues, the right of return, clearly belies the Israeli claim that he is no partner for talks.
Neither has Abbas lost public support, as the Israelis claim.
Two independent polls taken in March (a month before the Palestinian decision) show high approval rating for Abbas. The Arwad poll conducted around March 11 shows 58 per cent of Palestinians approving his efforts. In another poll, 53 per cent said that they would vote for Abbas if national elections were to take place, an increase from 52 per cent a few months earlier. Certainly these are not numbers of a failing leader who is looking for a public relations stunt to improve his standings, as claimed by Israel.
Israelis also claim that Palestinians are "drunk with power" because they made a number of claims in the April 2 meeting between chief Palestinian and Israeli negotiators Saeb Erekat and Tzipi Livni.
By demanding the return of the 2002 deportees from the Church of Nativity incident, the release of 1,200 prisoners and the opening of closed institutions (such as the chamber of commerce) in Jerusalem, Palestinian negotiators were repeating requests that had already been agreed to but not implemented.
These demands were made numerous times before. The mostly forgotten Roadmap Agreement calls for the return to the situation prior to October 2000 and the release of 1,200 prisoners. Israel's short memory does not mean that the oppressive acts that it carries out must be tolerated forever.
The childish statement made by Israel's prime minister vis-à-vis the unilateral move made by these rebellious Palestinian slaves could be almost comic.
"If Palestinians take unilateral moves we will respond by unilateral moves," he warned.
Every single day Israel continues its occupation and colonial settlement activities, it is acting unilaterally. The idea that it will take another unilateral move does not scare Palestinians who have little more to lose through their newfound, albeit tiny, act independent of their Israeli occupiers.
Public statements by senior Israeli officials, as well as commentaries and analyses by Israeli pundits show angry reactions to the Palestinian move, something akin to the anger one would read about when slaves did not show enough respect and actually dared "suggest" that they wanted to be free.
The Israeli prime minister set the tone during the start of the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting. He argued that Palestinians can only get their coveted state through his style of negotiations and based on his conditions, including his new demand that Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state.
Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz joined the attack with a diatribe reflecting a slave owner mentality: "Truth be told, Mahmoud Abbas is spitting in our faces. The Palestinian Authority exists thanks to us. Not only because of the Oslo Accords, but because of the funds we transfer them, and the security we give them. Otherwise, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as they control Gaza, would also take down Abbas and take over Ramallah."
Other Israeli officials made similar remarks. Settlements representative in the Cabinet Neftali Bennett mocked the Palestinian president's UN move: "If he wants to go to the UN, I will buy him the ticket and there he will face a personal lawsuit for war crimes."
The Israelis are not signatories to the Rome Convention, which created the International Court of Justice, an institution the Palestinians have not signed up to.
While the vulgarity of Israeli officials came out loud and clear in reaction to the Palestinian move, a more nuanced Israeli racism showed up in the analyses published after the decision. Instead of explaining the truth about the breakdown of the talks, Israeli analysts came up with all sorts of excuses except the real one.
Rarely was the Israeli refusal to implement an agreed-to quid pro quo dealt with.
Palestinians had agreed not to join UN agencies or treaties in return for Israel releasing 104 prisoners who had served more than 20 years and jail and who had been imprisoned prior to the Oslo Accords. Israel reneged on that US-sponsored agreement and the Palestinians felt that they were free of their obligation.
Israeli analysts focused on blaming the Palestinians for the lack of progress in the peace talks, saying that Abbas was trying to salvage a supposedly lost public support.
All these are factually false, and fail to point at Israel for failure of progress in the peace talks.
The Palestinian president has made tough decisions and showed he is able to take difficult choices, like when he told Israeli students one month ago that Palestinians do not plan to flood Israel with refugees. His public compromise on one of the most difficult issues, the right of return, clearly belies the Israeli claim that he is no partner for talks.
Neither has Abbas lost public support, as the Israelis claim.
Two independent polls taken in March (a month before the Palestinian decision) show high approval rating for Abbas. The Arwad poll conducted around March 11 shows 58 per cent of Palestinians approving his efforts. In another poll, 53 per cent said that they would vote for Abbas if national elections were to take place, an increase from 52 per cent a few months earlier. Certainly these are not numbers of a failing leader who is looking for a public relations stunt to improve his standings, as claimed by Israel.
Israelis also claim that Palestinians are "drunk with power" because they made a number of claims in the April 2 meeting between chief Palestinian and Israeli negotiators Saeb Erekat and Tzipi Livni.
By demanding the return of the 2002 deportees from the Church of Nativity incident, the release of 1,200 prisoners and the opening of closed institutions (such as the chamber of commerce) in Jerusalem, Palestinian negotiators were repeating requests that had already been agreed to but not implemented.
These demands were made numerous times before. The mostly forgotten Roadmap Agreement calls for the return to the situation prior to October 2000 and the release of 1,200 prisoners. Israel's short memory does not mean that the oppressive acts that it carries out must be tolerated forever.
The childish statement made by Israel's prime minister vis-à-vis the unilateral move made by these rebellious Palestinian slaves could be almost comic.
"If Palestinians take unilateral moves we will respond by unilateral moves," he warned.
Every single day Israel continues its occupation and colonial settlement activities, it is acting unilaterally. The idea that it will take another unilateral move does not scare Palestinians who have little more to lose through their newfound, albeit tiny, act independent of their Israeli occupiers.
The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage revealed that the Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) and the so-called Israeli Heritage Authority had dug a new tunnel down the Buraq Square in the holy al-Aqsa Mosque. The excavation process was carried out beginning with al-Buraq Square and heading westwards in the direction of al-Khalil gate in Occupied Jerusalem, the Foundation’s photo-based statement said on Wednesday.
According to the Foundation, such excavations make part of the Tunnel-Network undertaken underneath Silwan town, south of al-Aqsa Mosque.
The excavation processes were found out during a field visit to the Tunnel-Network, connected to the Silwan network, dug below and around al-Aqsa area by the IOA.
The Foundation further documented, upon its arrival to the excavation area down al-Buraq Square, the presence of an iron staircase followed by a door that was closed, before heading to an adjacent area where they surprisingly caught sight of a long tunnel. The end of the tunnel couldn't be reached even after long-while-walks. The Foundation further spotted that the tunnel is gradually moving westwards.
According to the Foundation, such excavations make part of the Tunnel-Network undertaken underneath Silwan town, south of al-Aqsa Mosque.
The excavation processes were found out during a field visit to the Tunnel-Network, connected to the Silwan network, dug below and around al-Aqsa area by the IOA.
The Foundation further documented, upon its arrival to the excavation area down al-Buraq Square, the presence of an iron staircase followed by a door that was closed, before heading to an adjacent area where they surprisingly caught sight of a long tunnel. The end of the tunnel couldn't be reached even after long-while-walks. The Foundation further spotted that the tunnel is gradually moving westwards.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered ministers to limit contact with their Palestinian counterparts as the Arab League blamed his government Wednesday for the "dangerous stalemate" in US-brokered peace talks.
The moves came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry, who kick-started the talks in July after a nearly three-year hiatus, blamed Israel for derailing the process by announcing new settlement construction.
"In response to the Palestinian violation of their commitments under peace talks... Israel government ministers have been told to refrain from meeting their Palestinian counterparts," an Israeli official told AFP.
Palestinian labor minister Ahmad Majdalani downplayed the significance of the move.
"There are no (regular) meetings organised between Palestinian and Israeli ministers, apart from the finance ministers," he told AFP.
A Palestinian government source told AFP the Israelis might move to block tax revenue collected by Israel on the Palestinian Authority's behalf.
And an Israeli official confirmed that the government "envisaged withholding part of the amounts remitted ... each month in reaction to the unilateral Palestinian moves."
The official added that the "important sums" given to Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and to their families each month by the PA is a "form of supporting terrorism."
"We envisage holding back the equivalent of that" unspecified amount, the source said.
Approximately 5,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails.
The PA pays prisoners a monthly "salary" that runs from $400 (290 euros) for those serving less than three years to more than $3,000 for sentences above 30 years.
Israel briefly withheld tax revenues in December 2012 to punish the Palestinians for their successful drive for observer state status at the United Nations.
'Israel wholly responsible'
Washington denounced Netanyahu's order as "unfortunate".
"We believe that cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority has provided benefits to both sides," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
"We continue to urge both sides to take steps that contribute to a conducive environment for peace."
Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo with President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel was "wholly responsible for the dangerous stalemate" in the US-brokered talks which are scheduled to wrap up on April 29.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi accused Israel of dragging its feet, telling reporters: "Gaining time is a strategic objective for Israel."
On Tuesday, Kerry said Israel's April 1 approval of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem ignited the latest crisis in the negotiations, a charge that left Israeli officials bristling.
While he cited intransigence on both sides, Kerry said a delayed Israeli plan to release several Palestinian prisoners as part of a good faith effort was sabotaged by the settlements move.
"In the afternoon, when they were about to maybe get there, 700 settlement units were announced in Jerusalem and, poof, that was sort of the moment," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
At the end of March, Israel refused to release a final batch of long-serving Palestinian prisoners as agreed under the talks, and at the same time reissued tenders for 708 settler homes in East Jerusalem.
The Palestinians responded by applying to accede to 15 international treaties, despite their previous commitment to refrain from such action during the nine months of talks.
Peace talks have since teetered on the brink of collapse, with Washington fighting an uphill battle to get the sides to agree to a framework proposal to continue the negotiations beyond April 29 to the end of the year.
'No apology for building'
Kerry's remarks were met with a crisp response from Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the far-right Jewish Home party.
"Israel will never apologize for building in Jerusalem," Bennett said.
"For many years (the Palestinians) tried with explosions and bombs to stop us being in the eternal capital of the Jewish people. It will not happen."
The State Department, perhaps assessing the potential impact Kerry's comments could have in the Middle East, rushed to explain that the secretary of state was fair-minded in apportioning blame.
"John Kerry was again crystal clear today that both sides have taken unhelpful steps and at no point has he engaged in a blame game," spokeswoman Psaki said on Twitter.
"He even singled out by name Prime Minister Netanyahu for having made courageous decisions throughout (the) process."
The two sides were to meet US envoy Martin Indyk Wednesday for the second time this week, with another meeting expected on Thursday, a Palestinian source told AFP.
"Despite all, we are committed, as Palestinians and Arabs, to the negotiation process and the efforts exerted by Kerry in order to find a way out of this crisis," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said in Cairo.
The moves came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry, who kick-started the talks in July after a nearly three-year hiatus, blamed Israel for derailing the process by announcing new settlement construction.
"In response to the Palestinian violation of their commitments under peace talks... Israel government ministers have been told to refrain from meeting their Palestinian counterparts," an Israeli official told AFP.
Palestinian labor minister Ahmad Majdalani downplayed the significance of the move.
"There are no (regular) meetings organised between Palestinian and Israeli ministers, apart from the finance ministers," he told AFP.
A Palestinian government source told AFP the Israelis might move to block tax revenue collected by Israel on the Palestinian Authority's behalf.
And an Israeli official confirmed that the government "envisaged withholding part of the amounts remitted ... each month in reaction to the unilateral Palestinian moves."
The official added that the "important sums" given to Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and to their families each month by the PA is a "form of supporting terrorism."
"We envisage holding back the equivalent of that" unspecified amount, the source said.
Approximately 5,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails.
The PA pays prisoners a monthly "salary" that runs from $400 (290 euros) for those serving less than three years to more than $3,000 for sentences above 30 years.
Israel briefly withheld tax revenues in December 2012 to punish the Palestinians for their successful drive for observer state status at the United Nations.
'Israel wholly responsible'
Washington denounced Netanyahu's order as "unfortunate".
"We believe that cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority has provided benefits to both sides," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
"We continue to urge both sides to take steps that contribute to a conducive environment for peace."
Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo with President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel was "wholly responsible for the dangerous stalemate" in the US-brokered talks which are scheduled to wrap up on April 29.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi accused Israel of dragging its feet, telling reporters: "Gaining time is a strategic objective for Israel."
On Tuesday, Kerry said Israel's April 1 approval of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem ignited the latest crisis in the negotiations, a charge that left Israeli officials bristling.
While he cited intransigence on both sides, Kerry said a delayed Israeli plan to release several Palestinian prisoners as part of a good faith effort was sabotaged by the settlements move.
"In the afternoon, when they were about to maybe get there, 700 settlement units were announced in Jerusalem and, poof, that was sort of the moment," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
At the end of March, Israel refused to release a final batch of long-serving Palestinian prisoners as agreed under the talks, and at the same time reissued tenders for 708 settler homes in East Jerusalem.
The Palestinians responded by applying to accede to 15 international treaties, despite their previous commitment to refrain from such action during the nine months of talks.
Peace talks have since teetered on the brink of collapse, with Washington fighting an uphill battle to get the sides to agree to a framework proposal to continue the negotiations beyond April 29 to the end of the year.
'No apology for building'
Kerry's remarks were met with a crisp response from Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the far-right Jewish Home party.
"Israel will never apologize for building in Jerusalem," Bennett said.
"For many years (the Palestinians) tried with explosions and bombs to stop us being in the eternal capital of the Jewish people. It will not happen."
The State Department, perhaps assessing the potential impact Kerry's comments could have in the Middle East, rushed to explain that the secretary of state was fair-minded in apportioning blame.
"John Kerry was again crystal clear today that both sides have taken unhelpful steps and at no point has he engaged in a blame game," spokeswoman Psaki said on Twitter.
"He even singled out by name Prime Minister Netanyahu for having made courageous decisions throughout (the) process."
The two sides were to meet US envoy Martin Indyk Wednesday for the second time this week, with another meeting expected on Thursday, a Palestinian source told AFP.
"Despite all, we are committed, as Palestinians and Arabs, to the negotiation process and the efforts exerted by Kerry in order to find a way out of this crisis," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said in Cairo.
President Mahmoud Abbas says he is ready to extend peace talks based on principles and terms of reference that lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Abbas told the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily newspaper Thursday that his move to join 15 international conventions and treaties embodied “one of the Palestinian people’s rights and Israel has nothing to do with that.”
During a meeting with foreign ministers of the Arab League in Cairo on Wednesday, Abbas reviewed a report in detail about peace talks and the impasse they reached. He also updated the participants on the results of the last tripartite meeting between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators and US mediators.
Abbas urged Arab countries to materialize a financial security network which the Kuwait Arab League summit approved. Arab countries pledged to allocate a monthly payment of $100 million to the Palestinian Authority.
Arab foreign ministers agreed in their emergency meeting to extend peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians after the April 29 deadline. They urged Israel to release the last group of veteran Palestinian prisoners who have been in custody before the Oslo Accords of 1994.
Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians were relaunched in July under the auspices of the US after nearly three years of impasse.
Israel's government has announced the construction of thousands of settler housing units and its army has killed 60 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since the negotiations began.
Abbas Agrees to Extend Negotiations with Israel, say Israeli Sources
Israeli sources claimed that the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to extend negotiations past the deadline of April 29.
The sources said that the President agreed to extend the negotiations, which will be based on the establishment of a future Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The source added that President Abbas signed letters of accession to 15 international conventions and treaties to assure that this is an essential right for the Palestinian people, while Israel considers the move as unilateralism and a red line.
Abbas told the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily newspaper Thursday that his move to join 15 international conventions and treaties embodied “one of the Palestinian people’s rights and Israel has nothing to do with that.”
During a meeting with foreign ministers of the Arab League in Cairo on Wednesday, Abbas reviewed a report in detail about peace talks and the impasse they reached. He also updated the participants on the results of the last tripartite meeting between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators and US mediators.
Abbas urged Arab countries to materialize a financial security network which the Kuwait Arab League summit approved. Arab countries pledged to allocate a monthly payment of $100 million to the Palestinian Authority.
Arab foreign ministers agreed in their emergency meeting to extend peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians after the April 29 deadline. They urged Israel to release the last group of veteran Palestinian prisoners who have been in custody before the Oslo Accords of 1994.
Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians were relaunched in July under the auspices of the US after nearly three years of impasse.
Israel's government has announced the construction of thousands of settler housing units and its army has killed 60 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since the negotiations began.
Abbas Agrees to Extend Negotiations with Israel, say Israeli Sources
Israeli sources claimed that the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to extend negotiations past the deadline of April 29.
The sources said that the President agreed to extend the negotiations, which will be based on the establishment of a future Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The source added that President Abbas signed letters of accession to 15 international conventions and treaties to assure that this is an essential right for the Palestinian people, while Israel considers the move as unilateralism and a red line.
Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett urged Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to annex some 60 percent of the West Bank in response to the Palestinians’ stopping talks with Israel and turning to the UN.
All 350,000 of the Jews in Judea and Samaria live in Area C, some 60% of the area. Of the Palestinians in the West Bank, 97% live in Area A, which is under full Palestinian control, and Area B, which is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli occupation control.
“It is clear that the diplomatic process has run its course and that we are entering a new era,” Bennett wrote Netanyahu. “We have been hitting our heads against the wall of negotiations over and over again for years and we kept getting surprised when the wall did not break. The time has come for new thinking.”
Bennett launched a public relations initiative Wednesday for his “Settlement Blocs First” plan, which calls for annexing blocs such as Ariel, Gush Etzion, Ma’aleh Adumim, Beit El-Ofra and communities that overlook Ben-Gurion Airport. He explained his plan on CNN Wednesday night and intends to push it to the international community.
A Hebrew video with subtitles in multiple languages that the Jerusalem and Diaspora affairs minister released explained why the plan could be practical. It says that the international community does not recognize Israel’s annexation of eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, so annexing part of the West Bank would just add another thing for the world to complain about.
The three-staged plan starts with annexing Area C and offering citizenship to its Palestinians.
It calls for giving the Palestinians upgraded autonomy in Areas A and B. The third stage is massive investment in Palestinian areas to improve their quality of life and improve their lives.
“We should be taking a bottom- up strategy rather than creating an artificial state in the heart of Israel,” a source close to Bennett said.
Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz blamed Bayit Yehudi Wednesday for the stalemate in diplomatic talks. Unlike his Hatnua colleague, MK Amram Mitzna, he did not call for leaving the coalition.
He said he supports staying in the “government”, because he believes his party leader, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, can still advance the diplomatic process.
Peretz told “Army” Radio that he did not see any other possible coalition being built in the current Knesset.
ALRAY contributed to this
Source JP
All 350,000 of the Jews in Judea and Samaria live in Area C, some 60% of the area. Of the Palestinians in the West Bank, 97% live in Area A, which is under full Palestinian control, and Area B, which is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli occupation control.
“It is clear that the diplomatic process has run its course and that we are entering a new era,” Bennett wrote Netanyahu. “We have been hitting our heads against the wall of negotiations over and over again for years and we kept getting surprised when the wall did not break. The time has come for new thinking.”
Bennett launched a public relations initiative Wednesday for his “Settlement Blocs First” plan, which calls for annexing blocs such as Ariel, Gush Etzion, Ma’aleh Adumim, Beit El-Ofra and communities that overlook Ben-Gurion Airport. He explained his plan on CNN Wednesday night and intends to push it to the international community.
A Hebrew video with subtitles in multiple languages that the Jerusalem and Diaspora affairs minister released explained why the plan could be practical. It says that the international community does not recognize Israel’s annexation of eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, so annexing part of the West Bank would just add another thing for the world to complain about.
The three-staged plan starts with annexing Area C and offering citizenship to its Palestinians.
It calls for giving the Palestinians upgraded autonomy in Areas A and B. The third stage is massive investment in Palestinian areas to improve their quality of life and improve their lives.
“We should be taking a bottom- up strategy rather than creating an artificial state in the heart of Israel,” a source close to Bennett said.
Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz blamed Bayit Yehudi Wednesday for the stalemate in diplomatic talks. Unlike his Hatnua colleague, MK Amram Mitzna, he did not call for leaving the coalition.
He said he supports staying in the “government”, because he believes his party leader, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, can still advance the diplomatic process.
Peretz told “Army” Radio that he did not see any other possible coalition being built in the current Knesset.
ALRAY contributed to this
Source JP