Vermonters
for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
Elections Archive - February 2007
Elections Archive - February 2007
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Vermonters
for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel Elections Archive - February 2007 |
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Mashaal promises end to Kassams Jerusalem Post 2/28/2007 While Russia told visiting Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Tuesday that it will try to convince the Quartet to lift the boycott of the Palestinian Authority government, Moscow will have its hands full as both the European Union and United Nations reaffirmed Tuesday that they were not interested in "playing ball" with the PA until it accepts the three international requirements. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the US position on this abundantly clear during her meeting in Jerusalem last week. The Quartet is made up of the US, the EU, Russia and the UN. Mashaal was greeted in Moscow on Tuesday, the second time since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative elections last January, by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in what appeared to be a crack in the Quartet’s solidarity to keep Hamas at arm’s length until it accepts the three "principles". Dahlan: all Fatah members will partake in the ministerial election process, we seek true political cohesion Ma’an News Agency 2/27/2007 Gaza - The Palestinian Legislative Council member from the Fatah bloc, Muhammad Dahlan, said on Tuesday that all members of the movement will take part in selecting the candidates for ministries in the forthcoming coalition government. He also said that the Gaza Strip will choose two candidates from Fatah and one independent, nominated by Fatah. Dahlan affirmed that his movement is adopting a democratic process, in which elections have already taken place in three regions of the Gaza Strip. He also commented that the new leaders in the Gaza Strip have pushed the movement forward. With regards to the abstention of some Palestinian forces from participation in the government, Dahlan said, "This is a negative and saddening outcome, but I respect Islamic Jihad’s position, which is consistent." PM Designate Advisor: "People’s Party and Third Way to Join Unity Cabinet" International Middle East Media Center 2/27/2007 Both the Palestinian People’s Party and the Third Way bloc will join the upcoming Palestinian unity cabinet, advisor of Palestinian PM designate Ahmad Yousef stated Tuesday. “Leaders of both parliamentary blocs have finally agreed to join the expected unity government”, Yousef stated. Yousef pointed out that all Palestinian factions, excluding the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Islamic Jihad, will join the new cabinet. The PM’s advisor stressed that the Makkah deal between Hamas and Fatah has laid the foundation for real power sharing based on effective power rotation between all factions concerned. Ahead of the Haniya-Abbas meeting, advisor Yousef confirmed that both Palestinian leaders would deal with future Palestinian moves with respect to lifting the blockade that has been internationally imposed since last year’s elections. UN: Poorest Palestinians living a "meagre existence totally reliant on assistance, with no electricity or heating" Ma’an News Agency 2/23/2007 Bethlehem - The United Nations World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are due to release a report later this month warning that many families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have become "totally reliant on outside assistance" over the last year. The UN agencies blame the increased dependence on outside assistance on the rising unemployment and poverty in the occupied Palestinian territories. This in turn they say is due to the "stagnation of trade" and the restrictions placed on funding to the Palestinian Authority since Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian Legislative Elections in January 2006. Based on statistics covering food security and socio-economic conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2006, the agencies state that "almost half of the population remains food insecure or is at risk of becoming food insecure". -- See also: Half of Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza malnourished Dahlan turns down post of deputy prime minister in order to work with "the masses" Ma’an News Agency 2/23/2007 Gaza - Palestinian Legislative Council deputy for Fatah, Mohammad Dahlan, has renewed his refusal to occupy the post of deputy prime minister in the incoming unity government. Speaking to Palestine TV, Dahlan said that this is an important position but, "I will work in the Fatah movement at the level of the masses and dedicate all my experience to helping the Fatah movement." He confirmed that President Abbas had offered him the position but he refused it. Dahlan added, "The Fatah movement has learned a lesson from its defeat in the elections; it received a message from the Palestinian people which said that there should be a comprehensive reform process in the movement and the assigning of new leadership. Quartet’s boycott of Palestinians is "immoral and counter-productive", Oxfam warns Ma’an News Agency 2/22/2007 Bethlehem - The international aid agency Oxfam has urged the Quartet to end its boycott of the Palestinian Authority and pressurize Israel into releasing the Palestinians’ confiscated tax monies. In a press release issued yesterday, 21 February 2007, Oxfam warned that "conditions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories were close to melt-down" as a result of the international boycott. "With Palestinian poverty levels rapidly increasing and basic services such as health and education crumbling, the chances of peace were diminishing," the agency said. Since Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006, Israel and the Middle East Quartet – comprising of the UN, EU, US and Russia – has frozen diplomatic contacts with the Palestinian Authority and withdrawn financial aid to Palestinian governmental bodies. First English-language radio, broadcast in both Palestinian territories and Israel, hopes to promote peace Ma’an News Agency 2/21/2007 Ramallah - The launch of the first English-language radio station, broadcast both in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel, was announced yesterday in the West Bank city of Ramallah. This initiative, which was announced by the South African businessman, Mr Ayzi Kersh, is intended to promote peace in the Middle East. The new radio station, RAM FM 93. 6, which will broadcast 24 hours a day in English to listeners throughout the Palestinian territories and Israel, is based on the South African radio station, Radio 702, which represented a successful platform for public opinion in South Africa during the intensely sensitive period that preceeded the democratic elections of 1994. RAM FM 93. 6 is licensed with the Palestinian Authority and broadcasts through new high-tech studios in both Ramallah and Jerusalem. King Abdullah of Jordan’s peace initiative: scuppered by Abbas signing the Mecca deal Ma’an News Agency 2/20/2007 Bethlehem - King Abdullah II of Jordan is apparently angry with Palestinian President Abbas for having signed the Mecca agreement, and therefore endangering a Middle East peace initiative he had planned, the Israeli paper ’Maariv’ claimed on Tuesday. According to the paper, King Abdullah has been working on this initiative for several months and he was planning to soon initiate secret negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Abbas without any involvement of Hamas. His initiative included demanding that Abbas call early elections, in which Hamas would fail. The Jordanian monarch would coordinate his initiative with other so-called moderate Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, in order to reach a regional peace agreement that would include the Arab countries’ official recognition of Israel. Different factions respond differently to their invitations to join the Palestinian coalition government Ma’an News Agency 2/20/2007 Bethlehem - The Palestinian factions have responded in different ways regarding participation in the intended Palestinian coalition government. As the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) abstained, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Palestinian Peoples’ Party (PPP) continue to await Hamas’s approval of their particular conditions before agreeing to participate. The head of the Hamas bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council, Salah Bardawil, told Ma’an that "Hamas have taken into account the results of the legislative elections and the Mecca agreement, which was harmonious with the national agreement document". He added that, "if Hamas make concessions, that will be only for the sake of the homeland, rather than [in response to] American and Israeli wishes. Mecca deal to dominate Monday’s summit Ha’aretz 2/14/2007 The Mecca Agreement between Fatah and Hamas, including its implications for the diplomatic process and Israeli-Palestinian relations, will be at the center of Monday’s tripartite summit in Jerusalem, senior government sources said no Tuesday. The summit, to take place at Jerusalem’s David Citadel Hotel, will include Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Olmert departs on Wednesday for a visit to Turkey, and Rice is due to arrive in the region on Saturday. At a preparatory meeting on the summit Tuesday, Olmert said that the strategic and geopolitical implications of the Mecca agreement are no less important than those of Hamas’s victory in the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council a year ago. Livni: Peace with Palestinians feasible, violence must end first Ha’aretz 2/10/2007 Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Friday peace between her country and Palestinians was realistic but she stressed militant violence had to end first. Speaking a day after fighting Palestinian factions agreed in Mecca to form a government of national unity, Livni said Israel wanted a peaceful solution to the decades-old conflict." Peace is, I believe, feasible and achievable," she told the opening dinner at a major international security conference in Munich with top politicians from around the world. "But our desire to make peace cannot come at the cost of risking our very lives." She said Islamist group Hamas, which won elections last year, did not represent the "national Palestinian interest or aspiration" but sought to destroy Israel. International caution over Palestinian deal ReliefWeb 2/9/2007 PARIS, Feb 9, 2007 (AFP) - There was international relief Friday at the agreement between rival Palestinian factions to form a national unity government, though the United States insisted the Palestinians must commit to peace with Israel. Israel and the European Union also only gave cautious approval of the accord between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal reached in the Saudi holy city of Mecca. Under the deal, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya will lead the new government, Abbas’s Fatah movement will name a deputy prime minister and the key post of interior minister will go to an independent. The US administration, which led an international boycott after Hamas won the Palestinian elections one year ago, said it wanted more details of the agreement... PM may nix Labor-Israel Beiteinu ministry agreement Ha’aretz 2/9/2007 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering rejecting an understanding between the Labor Party and Yisrael Beiteinu for a ministerial reshuffle, according to sources close to Olmert. The arrangement would turn over the science and sport portfolio to Yisrael Beiteinu and leave the Welfare Ministry in Labor’s hands. A rejection by the arrangement by the prime minister would mean the cabinet reshuffle may not be completed for a few days. Yesterday, after the appointment of Professor Daniel Friedmann as justice minister, Olmert met with Labor Party director general Eitan Cabel, who apparently presented the prime minister with Labor’s solution and told him that Yisrael Beitein u had agreed to it. Yisrael Beiteinu wants the chairmanship of the Finance Committee, which it called non-negotiable, and said it would also "be happy" to receive another portfolio. Fatah revoke punishment of 75 leaders, allowing them to stand in PLC elections Ma’an News Agency 2/7/2007 Bethlehem - The secretary of the Fatah movement, Farouq Qaddoumi, issued orders to reconsider the organisation of the leadership of the Fatah movement, who the movement punished during the Palestinian Legislative Council elections last year by removing them from the Fatah list. The decision of Qaddoumi was made after reviewing the punishments and he decided on the following:First, the punishment will be lifted for the names on the list. Second, the members will return to practice their membership as usual. Third, this decision is to be announced to all movements and institutions. Fourth, the decision will be considered effective from the 1st of January 2007. The decision included 75 names of Fatah members from the Palestinian territories, five from Jenin, three from Tulakrem, one from Tubas.... Hamas & Fateh head to Mecca for resumption of dialogue amid high hopes while Israelis expect failure Palestine News Network 2/6/2007 Palestinian hopes are high today as delegations from the Hamas and Fateh parties in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Diaspora head to Mecca Tuesday morning. The Saudi Arabian government is hosting the Palestinian talks that intend to find a solution to end the internal fighting and form a national unity government. If the talks do not succeed, Fateh members, including the President’s spokespeople, have indicated that early elections will be held. Hamas members say there is no room for failure and that the talks must be serious in rooting out the reasons for the internal conflict and the solution. It is unacceptable, said Abdel Bari Atwan this morning, to give “lengthy sermons on the sanctity of Palestinian blood. ” The meeting is for “discussion of the reasons that led to the internal fighting and finding practical solutions.  Articles
A political solution won’t save the Palestinian economy By Mohammed Samhouri, Daily Star 2/28/2007 The resignation of the Hamas-led government on February 15, and the expected formation of a new government based on the deal reached in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, between Hamas and Fatah may finally bring an end to internal Palestinian divisions and the internecine violence that followed last year’s stunning rise of Hamas to power. It may also herald the beginning of a process that could lead to a reversal of the crippling year-long Israeli and Western measures against the Palestinians. This would be a break for the 4 million residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, who have seen their lives shattered by a continued lack of basic needs and rising levels of lawlessness and anarchy. A more serious question, however, is whether a future Palestinian unity government can deal with the widespread poverty and unemployment plaguing the Palestinian territories. In the best of circumstances, the government would be operating under conditions similar to those existing on the eve of the January 2006 elections that Hamas won. On the social and economic front, therefore, there is little ground for optimism. The crisis conditions dating back to the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000 have led to extensive damage to the Palestinian economy, so that a return to the pre-2006 state of affairs may no longer be sufficient to revive the deeply stagnant economy. Two signs in particular are disturbing, both for their adverse impact on the long-term stability of Palestinian areas, and, by extension, for their impact on a Middle East that has already had its fair share of trouble. We Are Being Suffocated By Sami Abdel-Shafi, Palestine Chronicle 2/12/2007 It is one thing for the Quartet to demand a Palestinian rejection of violence, but unless pressure is brought to bear on Israel to release its military grip from the Palestinian territories it will suffocate Palestinian hope and show that the world is only chasing a phantom of peace. It was a surreal but telling reflection of how lonely Palestinians have become as their leadership has seemingly been pushed into breakdown and failure, while Israel watched from the sidelines. Late one night, I was suddenly yelled at to stop my car, turn the lights off and roll down the windows. Two masked men, without any identifying insignias, closed in from the sides; one pointed his machine gun at me while the other, two steps behind, shouldered a loaded rocket-propelled grenade launcher. That was a week last Thursday, hours after fierce clashes erupted between Hamas and Fatah, ending the seventh ceasefire between the factions, and ushering in the deadliest power struggle yet. To Palestinians it seemed sadly clear that the moral credit of their cause was being eroded: how must it look to the outside world that they had flip-flopped in one year between democratic elections and internecine violence? A day before this incident, a House of Commons development committee report warned of drastically deteriorating conditions in the occupied territories as a result of the US-led economic embargo in the wake of last year’s elections. The report questioned the proportionality of Israel’s own blockade and its implications for the prospects of a lasting peace. The Palestinian infighting only underlined the sense of those warnings. Civil War or coup d’état in Palestine? By Agustin Velloso, Palestine Chronicle 2/6/2007 What role is the international community playing in the shootings? Is there a civil war going on in Palestine? Still, what is the relationship between sanctions and shootings? What is going to happen from now on? Is there a civil war going on in Palestine? No, but this question and an affirmative answer is what pro-Israeli media are disseminating all over the world. Hence, the average news consumer does not discuss the “reality” of the civil war. But, are not we seeing that Palestinians are killing each other in Gaza streets? What we are seeing is that since Hamas took power in the last legislative elections (January 2006), which were monitored by hundreds of foreign observers, Jimmy Carter amongst them, the Western powers have made all kind of political and economic maneuvers to oust the winner with the help of the loser, Abu Mazen and his Fatah party. However, Palestine is not Iraq, there are no Western armies in Gaza, is it not an internal Palestinian affair? It is not an internal affair. Palestine is just one more square of the big Middle East cheesboard. The international community plays in it to its advantage, namely: the control of oil and the support of its ally, Israel. The Western powers support Fatah because they say it represents the ‘moderate’ Palestinians and torpedo Hamas because its program does not fit with the Zionist and Imperialist agendas. Once Hamas obtained the majority of the Legislative Council seats, the powerful leaders, Bush, Rice, Blair, Olmert, Solana and others adopted plan B: to oust Hamas from government no matter the price (to be paid by rank and file Palestinians, of course). What role is the international community playing in the shootings? Shootings are the last movement in the chess game. Before this movement, the Western countries –allegedly democratic and the guardians of international law- invaded countries, flattened entire cities, bombarded families at weddings and in the beach, and forced Arab and Muslim prisoners in secret flights around the globe to torture them at will and put them in cages like animals. Turmoil and Confusion By Ghassan Khatib, Palestine Chronicle 2/6/2007 Hamas, at this late stage in the game, cannot both accept the parameters of Oslo by running in elections for control of the PA and want to change them by denying the legitimacy of the Oslo agreement that created this body. Despite the surprise that greeted Hamas’ election victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections last year, the Islamic Resistance Movement did not come from nowhere. Hamas first emerged as a real player on the Palestinian social and economic scene during the first intifada that started in 1989. Even then it came from the ranks of the long-established Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which had remained relatively marginal until Hamas engaged in active resistance to the Israeli occupation. The movement strongly opposed the peace negotiations with Israel in 1991, the Oslo agreement of 1993 and all subsequent agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that was established as a result of Oslo. The movement also boycotted the 1996 parliamentary elections. With this opposition, Hamas gained three advantages that allowed it to steadily increase its popularity with the public. The first, and maybe most important, was its heavy involvement in fighting the Israeli occupation at a time when Fateh, which had initiated and led that struggle until the peace process, was no longer involved. Hamas, in other words, strove to replace Fateh as the leading resistance movement. In this regard, Hamas was helped immensely by Israel’s refusal to end its expansion of illegal Jewish settlements during the years of the peace process. Thus, Hamas’ second advantage was the failure of the peace process to achieve its promised and declared objectives, whether in terms of ending the occupation or in terms of improving the lives of Palestinians and establishing the institutions of a future Palestinian state. Hamas is not going away Editorial, Ha’aretz 2/6/2007 he terrible disturbances unfolding in the Gaza Strip, the killings of members of the security organizations of both Fatah and Hamas, the lack of control of the twin leaders - Mahmoud Abbas on one hand and Ismail Haniyeh on the other - are too easily being called "civil war." This is a term that apparently offers Israel refuge from the need to act on the diplomatic front. However, Israel has never needed excuses. With or without Palestinian infighting, Israel has usually said that it has no partner on the Palestinian side, irrespective of whether Yasser Arafat, Abbas or Haniyeh were in power. Once more we should treat the claim of there being "an absence of [Palestinian] leadership" and the excuse of the "fighting in the territories" with skepticism. During the past year, a new political reality emerged, both in the territories and in Israel, which the Quartet refuses to acknowledge. Hamas, not Fatah won the elections, and Hamas is the one that has a hold on the Palestinian institutions of government, while Fatah is behaving as a rebel movement that refuses to accept its defeats. Lately, Arab states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, considered moderates, recognize the fact that the general embargo on the Palestinian Authority is not only ineffective in altering this political reality - it contributes to dangerous developments that may have an influence on them. It appears that Hamas also recognizes the fact that purely ideological views cannot serve a political organization that is trying to rally broad public support. Therefore, Hamas is prepared to relinquish, to a certain degree, control over all senior Palestinian government positions; Khaled Meshal murmured that "Israel is a fact"; the political statements of Hamas have made it clear that it aspires to establish a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders; and now there is a Saudi/Egyptian effort to convince Hamas to adopt a moderate formula regarding the agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. LinksAdalah Adalah (Justice in Arabic) is the first non-profit, non-sectarian Palestinian-run legal center in Israel. The main goal of Adalah’s work is to achieve equal rights and minority rights protections for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Organization: Addameer (conscience) is a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution which focuses on human rights issues. Supports Palestinian prisoners, advocates for rights of political prisoners, works to end torture. Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Amnesty International USA Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. Arab Association for Human Rights - HRA The HRA was founded in 1988 to promote and protect the political, civil, economic, and cultural rights of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel and to further the domestic implementation of international human rights principles. It is an independent non-governmental organisation registered in Israel. Association for Civil Rights in Israel - ACRI The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) was founded in 1972 as a non-political and independent body, with the goal of protecting human and civil rights in Israel and in the territories under Israeli control. B’tselem The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. Occupation Prisoners News stories and reports about Palestinian prisoners from International Press Center, of the Palestinian National Authority’s State Information Service. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is an independent legal body based in Gaza City dedicated to protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law, and upholding democratic principles in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Palestinian Prisoners Society The Palestinian Prisoner Society is a social and human institution and its members are prisoners inside prisons and released prisoners. Membership is open to every Palestinian prisoner inside and outside prisons who meets the conditions of membership. Physicians for Human Rights - Israel Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR-Israel) was established in 1988 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, dedicated to promoting and protecting the medical human rights of all residents of Israel and the Occupied Territories. Public Committee Against Torture in Israel - PCATI An independent human rights organization founded that monitors the implementation conditions in detention centers and continues the struggle against the use of torture in interrogation in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine The main collection contains the texts of current and historical United Nations material concerning the question of Palestine and other issues related to the Middle East situation and the search for peace. World Organisation Against Torture OMCT is today the largest international coalition of NGOs fighting against torture,summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in order to preserve Human Rights. It has at its disposal a network, SOS Torture, consisting of some 240 non-governmental organisations which act as sources of information.
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