MAY 2003

Wednesday May 21, 2003

Israelis, Palestinians Hold Unofficial Talks in Japan

By Steve Herman

TOKYO - Israeli and Palestinian delegates at unofficial and low-key talks in Japan are calling for their governments to implement the so-called road map for peace.

The group of Israeli and Palestinian government, business, and academic leaders drew up a list of steps they say will build peace in the Middle East.

Kohei Hashimoto heads the Institute for New International Political Systems, which organized the informal talks in Tokyo. "We agreed that [to] the end to all form of terror and violence. And, second, a two state solution to the peace process. And, third, both parties to declare in a clear manner the acceptance of the road map. And, fourth, the end of occupation [of parts of Palestinian territory by Israel]. Fifth, economic cooperation," he said.

The delegates discussed how their governments should implement the so-called roadmap for Middle East peace, backed by the United States, the United Nations, and several governments.

At a news conference wrapping up the talks, Palestinian Cabinet Affairs Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said following the roadmap hinges on cooperation between his government and the Israelis. "If we and the Israeli government will not be able to cooperate together, in order to implement and meet these commitments, the security and the political ones, we think that the chance for success will be very limited, if not a nil chance," Abed Rabbo said.

Participants say the two days of talks were aimed at building trust as a step toward ending the violence in the Middle East. Former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said there will be more meetings.

"The discussions here, which were both ideologically but also pragmatic, were another stage toward cooperation or tighter cooperation between the two parties. And that it was just not one shot, but it will continue in the region, in other places and also in Japan in the near future," Beilin said.

Both Abed Rabbo and Beilin, who say they come from the peace camps in their communities, stress that they were speaking in Japan as individuals rather than representatives of their governments.

-[VOANews (voanews.com).] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Monday May 19, 2003

Survey: Israel a Democracy in Form More than in Substance

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - A recent poll published by Ma’ariv showed that a solemn one out of three Israelis support the internationally-endorsed “roadmap” to peace in the Middle East, which is a three-phased blueprint aimed at ending the 31-month-old conflict.

The survey published on Friday in the Israeli daily also showed that fewer than one in three Israelis support the idea of the US pressuring their premier Ariel Sharon, who will be meeting US President George Bush next week, to accept the new peace initiative.

The poll found that 36% of Israelis support the roadmap while 29% opposed the blueprint put together by the “Quartet” of peace mediators comprising the EU, US, UN and Russia. 35% were undecided.

Moreover, the poll, conducted this week among 560 Israelis showed that 30% of those surveyed supported US pressure on Sharon to accept the “roadmap”, with 46% opposing. 24% were undecided.

47% of Israelis voiced content with the performance of Sharon as premier, while 42% said they were not.

The Ma’ariv poll is concurrent with another census that revealed that over half (53%) of the Jewish population of Israel is opposed to equal rights for Arab Israelis.

The conclusion of the Israel Democracy Institute, which conducted this survey last month, was that Israel is basically a democracy in form more than substance, and that it has yet to internalize fully the concept of democracy.

The results of the “Israeli Democracy Survey”, which takes into consideration polls and comparisons in other democracies, will be announced next Thursday at the residence of the Israeli president Moshe Katsav, Ha’aretz reported.

The survey, which was conducted among 1,208 adults representing all sectors of Israel’s population, revealed that only 77% of respondents supported the premise that democracy is the best form of governance, which is the lowest in 20 years.

The professors who conducted this poll say that democracy is particularly vulnerable today because of the 31-month-old Intifada and the ongoing occupation of Palestinian territory, consequently making Israel a low scorer in the areas of human rights and freedom of press.

In the past months, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have killed at least 6 journalists, two of whom were foreigners. Dozens others were beaten and have had their equipment destroyed.

On the freedom of press, Israel scored 70 out of 100, which is the minimum any state requires for its press to be considered free.

Israel has been subject to showers of rebuke from international media and human rights groups for its attitude towards journalists.

-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/)

Saturday May 17, 2003

Allowing Jews In Al-Aqsa Irks Muslims, Christians: Church

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - The Orthodox Church condemned yesterday, Friday, May 16, the Israeli government’s intention to soon allow Jews to pray inside al-Aqsa mosque compound, one of Islam’s holiest sites.

“The step is nothing but a provocation of the feelings of both Muslims and Christians,” stressed the Church spokesman Archimandrite Attallah Hanna.

“Opening the doors of al-Aqsa mosque to Jews is immoral, and clearly demonstrates the Israeli government’ s racial practices and its attempt to Judaise the holy city,” Hanna told Quds Press news agency.

“Today it is Al-Aqsa mosque, tomorrow it will be the Church of holy Sepulcher,” he warned.

Stressing that the city’s Muslims and Christians are united in one trench, the leading clergyman threatened that any attempt to break into al-Aqsa mosque “will be confronted.”

Hanna’s statements came a few days after Israel's Internal Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi had promised that Jews will soon be allowed to pray inside Al-Aqsa compound, even without an accord with its Muslim guardians.

The Palestinians issued a strongly-worded warning that such a decision would only set the region further ablaze.

Archimandrite Hanna said Israel wants to obliterate all Arab Palestinian traces in al-Quds and holy lands, and wipe out “its spiritual heritage and imprint of civilization.”

A group of ultra-nationalist extremist Jews known as the Temple Mount Faithful had inflamed tensions in the occupied city in July, 2001, by laying a symbolic cornerstone for a Jewish temple on Al-Haram Al-Sharif (where al-Aqsa mosque is located), which some Jews claim is the site for the so-called Temple Mount.

Archimandrite Hanna said the Orthodox Church in Al-Quds would begin a series of contacts with a number of international institutions concerned “in an effort to condemn policies of the Israeli occupation forces against the city and its sacred places.”

He insisted on the Palestinians' right to return to their former homes in present-day Israel as a basic right.

"Whoever is going to give up the right of return is not a Palestinian, even if he is elected," he said in a recent rally.

The right of return is one of the most sacred tenets for millions of Palestinian refugees expelled out of their homes by Israel.

"This right is no less important than the right to have Al-Quds as our capital ... Although we have two religions, we are one people," said Hanna.

Friday May 16, 2003

Israel Ban on Envoy to Travel to Gaza Triggers Row with Norway

LONDON - Israel was reported Friday to have provoked a new diplomatic dispute with Norway over its refusal to allow Foreign Minister Jan Petersen's special envoy to the Middle East to travel to Gaza to meet Security Minister Mohammed Dahlan.

Ambassador Jakken Bioern Lian was prevented from entering Gaza on Wednesday, even though diplomats are supposed to be able to move in and out of the occupied territories without permission from Israeli authorities.

Oslo daily Aftenposten said that Norwegian government was not satisfied with Israel's claim that the ban was due to the difficult security situation and that its embassy had complained to the Israeli Foreign Ministry about the decision without coming to a solution.

"We await a more detailed explanation. Norway understands Israel stepping up security due to recent events but we think it is regrettable that it affects diplomatic relations," acting spokesman for the Norwegian Foreign Ministry Erik Bergesen was quoted saying.

The Norwegian Embassy in Tel Aviv was also told that Lian was an "unaccredited diplomat" and would not be allowed to enter Gaza on the grounds that only accredited diplomats would receive such clearance.

But such a claim was seen as a snub to the envoy, who has served as Norway's ambassador to the UN, Nato and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and held several meetings while being special envoy to the Middle East for the past nine months.

Thursday May 15, 2003

Sharon Hits out at Blair, Straw as Shalom Arrives in London

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom arrived in London on an official visit amid a brewing crisis in Israeli-European and British relations created by Israel’s attempts to sideline President Yasser Arafat and its objections to the internationally-adopted “roadmap” to peace in the Middle East, encouraged by its strategic US ally’s support and protection.

European Foreign Policy Coordinator Javier Solana has canceled a visit to Israel this week after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office declared he would not meet with the EU official because of Solana’s plans to meet with President Arafat.

The European Union recognizes Arafat as the legitimate and elected leader of the Palestinian people.

The US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s attempts last week in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to sideline the Palestinian leader were rebuffed.

The Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), whom Israelis and Americans are promoting as a Arafat replacement, had confirmed in a joint press conference with Powell in Jericho that his government is the government of Arafat.

The other members of the “Quartet,” which unveiled the “roadmap” earlier this month -- the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- are keeping channels open to Arafat, the incarnation of Palestinian nationalism since the 1960s.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou met with President Arafat late Tuesday in Ramallah despite Israeli objections. Greece holds the rotating EU presidency.

On the same day Solana urged Israel to endorse the “roadmap” peace plan, saying a changed postwar reality made it the best chance to revive stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

“We have to put all the pressure in order to have the Israelis accept in a clear manner the content of the roadmap,” Solana told reporters in Amman.

“We have a new possibility that we have to really get together to implement," said Solana. "The people in the region and in Palestine have to see that their lives begin to change, and the application of the roadmap would create hope that would create a determination by everybody to move forward,” he added.

Solana defended the peace proposal as a realistic and practical plan, unlike previous doomed Middle East initiatives.

“The roadmap is an agenda supported by everybody that has steps that commit both sides and a calendar that has very very precise things that everybody has to do, and when they have to do it,” he said.

“There is a new situation in the world” since the end of the Iraq war, Solana said, and he called on all involved to “behave in a positive and constructive manner to see the roadmap implemented” in order to bring peace to the region.

Shalom in London, Sharon hits out at Blair, Straw

Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister Silvan Shalom, who announced when he assumed his duties that mending fences with Europe is one of his ministry’s priorities, arrived Wednesday in London for official talks.

However, Sharon, just 24 hours before Shalom’s arrival, sounded as if he was trying to torpedo his foreign minister’s mission when he hit out at the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Sharon condemned as “unnecessary intervention” remarks made by Straw, which called for all United Nations resolutions to be observed, including those calling for Israel to withdraw from the Occupied Territories.

The Foreign Secretary was asked before the Iraqi conflict whether there was a double standard at work, in calling for the enforcement of resolutions imposed on Saddam Hussein’s regime but not those dealing with Israel.

He replied, “There is a double standard, and we will deal with it, and I feel upset and angry about the plight of the Palestinians, but I also feel angry and upset about the terror under which the Israelis have had to live.

“It is our responsibility, yes, to deal with Iraq, and also, yes, to deal with the Israel-Palestine crisis.”

Sharon told the Jerusalem Post newspaper Tuesday, “In my younger days, I always saw Tony Blair ... as a friend of Israel.

“And he may be a friend of Israel today, but those comparisons, the demands on Israel, appeared to me as unnecessary intervention.”

Relations between Britain and Israel plunged into the deep freeze after Sharon banned Palestinian delegates from attending a Middle East conference in London organized by Blair.

A Downing Street spokesman said Tuesday, ahead of Shalom’s visit, “The Prime Minister remains committed to doing all he can to help reach a settlement in the Middle East, which is why he welcomed the publication of the ‘road map’ at the end of last month and will continue to do all he can with the parties to move this process forward.”

US, Israel Don’t See Eye to Eye

Blair pressed US President Bush to publish his “roadmap” to peace, which is designed to pave the way for an independent Palestinian state by 2005.

Powell, leading the highest-level US peacemaking effort in more than a year, held critical talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders on Sunday but emerged with no sign of progress in implementing the peace “roadmap”, which was drafted and adopted by the “Quartet” of international diplomatic mediators.

Sharon’s chief of staff Dov Weisglass went to Washington Tuesday to prepare the groundwork for the prime minister's meeting next week with President George W. Bush.

Sharon draws much of support from the United States. The latest example was a US statement that Israel’s security is key to the security of the world.

In an exclusive interview with Israel’s daily Yediot Aharonot recently, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that the “security of Israel is the key to security of the world,.” Rice added that she feels “a deep bond to Israel.”

However, Rice did not see eye to eye with Sharon on the issue of Arafat’s fate.

Rice was asked why the US is not determined to get rid of Arafat as it was with Saddam Hussein.

“There are several difference between the situation in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” she said. “As President Bush made it clear, there is a potential to resolve the conflict via the solution based on two states, one Israel and the other Palestine. We feel that a two-state formula is for the benefit of both nations.”

“I don’t think that we can gain anything by drawing a parallel between the situation in Iraq and the situation with the Palestinians,” she added.

-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/)

Palestinians Adhere to Inalienable Right of Return as They Mark Al-Nakba

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - For 55 years, Palestinians at home and in exile have been marking the anniversary of Al-Nakba, meaning catastrophe, on May 15 when thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee their homes by Zionist paramilitaries.

On that land and on that day, the State of Israel proclaimed itself a state, and with it over 400 Palestinian villages were wiped off the map and nearly one million Palestinians were rendered homeless.

For decades, Israel’s ruthless perpetrations of bloodshed, disposition of Palestinians, confiscation of land, illegal settlement and destruction of homes remain unabated.

Even during the peak of peacetime between Palestinians and Israelis, the Jewish state continued to pepper the occupied territory with illegal Israeli settlements to make it virtually impossible for a contiguous future Palestinian state to be created.

Not so long ago, on this day, Palestinian parents and grandparents were forced to flee the ruthless Zionist paramilitary militias to the nearby Arab states of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria to name a few.

Some have returned when the Palestine National Authority—under the Oslo Peace Accords—took over control of some areas in 1993.

Most Palestinians remain living in exile in crammed, poverty-stricken refugee camps, which lack the most basic of humanitarian services. For those, the right of returning to the homes they were forced to leave behind is as scared as the ancestral land itself.

Thousands still hold the keys to their homes, now inhabited by Israelis, who were given the right to return to homes that was not theirs to begin with.

On this day, Palestinians gathering in all West Bank towns and cities to mark the 55th anniversary of Al-Nakba, pledged not to give up this legitimate right.

In Ramallah, dozens of people from all walks of life diverged on Al-Manara Square for a moment of silence to honor the lives of those who were killed and dispossessed in 1948.

Similar demonstrations erupted in villages, town and refugee camps across the occupied territory to echo the same message: That Palestinians will continue their struggle for their right to return home.

-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/)

Wednesday May 14, 2003

One Killed, 18 Wounded in Nablus; Jenin Refugee Camp Invaded

BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank (ISM) - Tayseer Abushab, age 22-23, was killed today by Israeli soldiers in Nablus in an ongoing incursion into the area of the grand Mosque. His twin brother, Kamal, was killed by Israeli soldiers last year during another incursion.

18 Palestinians have been injured so far today, 2 of them critically. Israeli soldiers opened fire after children who were on their way home from school threw rocks at the occupation army tanks. ISM volunteers in the area report that soldiers are still firing on civilians.

Israeli soldiers invaded Jenin refugee camp today with 3-5 tanks and approximately 5 jeeps. They are reportedly firing indiscriminately within the camp.

An ISM volunteer was reporting via telephone while she stood with a family that the Israeli army was using as human shields. A soldier ordered her to disconnect the call when he realized that she was reporting on the actions of the Israeli forces.

Attempts to reach her via telephone since have been unsuccessful.

Tuesday May 13, 2003

Israel Seals Off Gaza Strip One Day After Powell’s Visit; Kills 3 Palestinians

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - A day after US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, the Israeli government re-imposed a tight closure on the Gaza Strip at a time when three Palestinians were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the past twenty-four hours.

This renewed bloodshed and siege of Palestinian cities and towns comes a day after Israel claimed it was easing stringent restrictions it has been imposing on Palestinians since the Intifada for independence erupted some 31 months ago.

After Sunday’s separate talks with the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, Powell urged the two sides to implement the US-proposed “roadmap” for peace and resolve their differences.

Powell also said he “underscored to [Israeli] Prime Minister Sharon and his government the need for Israel to do its part in improving the daily lives of Palestinians.”

Later, Israel announced a lift to the closure imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, the Israeli “humanitarian” gesture lasted only for few hours.

After Powell left, Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip completely and imposed a curfew on the areas controlled by its IOF army.

The Israeli occupation army justified the move as a precautionary step after receiving information that Palestinians are planning new attacks on Israel from inside Gaza.

Friday May 9, 2003

Israeli Forces 'Invade' Foreign Pacifists HQ, Arrest Three

BETHLEHEM - Israeli occupation forces gate-crashed Friday, May 9, the main office of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), arrested two female peace advocates and a Palestinian employee in addition to confiscating equipment and six computers.

"The army invaded our office and arrested three people. Two are internationals and another is a Palestinian. They also took a lot of equipment, computers and hard disks," said Ghassan Andoni, an ISM member who witnessed the Israeli raid on the groups' premises in the town of Beit Sahur.

The arrestees were Christine Razowsky, 28 from Chicago, and an Australian woman who did not want her name released, as well as Palestinian Fida Gharib, 22, a secretary for the organization, the Israeli Haaretz daily reported quoting Israeli spokeswoman Laura Gordon.

Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said two foreigners had been handed over to police custody and were being questioned for entering a restricted military area.

The interrogation documents and other evidence - including the computers - will be used by the Israeli Interior Ministry to decide whether the foreigners should be deported, Kleiman said.

Palestinian witnesses said the building, which houses the ISM main office for the Palestinian territories, was surrounded by 15 armored vehicles and searched by soldiers, reported Agency France-Press (AFP).

A Palestinian source close to the ISM said the Israeli raid was linked to the investigation into the April 30 bombing attack by a British national in Tel Aviv that left three fatal victims.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the Israeli army is checking whether the ISM, which uses foreigners as human shields to protect Palestinian civilians from the Israeli army, helped the attacker enter Israel.

Andoni said the Israeli soldiers gave no explanation when they entered the office, and he denied any link between the ISM and the bomber, Assif Mohammad Hanif.

"The army is planning to evacuate all internationals from the territories and that under any reason. They just don't want any witnesses for their actions," he stressed.

"We have our position very clear on suicide bombings: the ISM has no link whatsoever with the Tel Aviv attack," Andoni said.

George Rishmawi, a Palestinian official close to the group, also stressed that Israel wanted to "deport any foreigner who supports us."

"We consider these people to be international witnesses to the suffering of the Palestinian people."

Press reports have also indicated that Israeli authorities were considering expelling all ISM members from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

On its website, the ISM describes itself as a "Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and international activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation."

It says it uses "nonviolent, direct-action methods of resistance to confront and challenge illegal Israeli occupation forces and policies."

ISM have recently complained they have become targets to the Israeli occupation forces in the occupied Palestinian territories.

On March 16, a U.S. national, 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to protect a Palestinian house threatened with demolition.

On Sunday, April 4, two ISM members, an American and a Dane, were injured when Israeli occupation forces opened indiscriminate fire on a number of Palestinian youths and peace activists in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

American Barry Avery, 24, sustained a serious gunshot in the face while Danish Lasse Schmit, 35, was injured in the leg by shrapnel.

On April 11, Thomas Hurndall, 21-year-old British activist, was pronounced clinically dead after being shot by the Israeli army when trying to protect children from Israeli fire in the same area.

-Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

UN Settlements Agency to Establish Special Program in Occupied Territories

UNITED NATIONS - The governing body of the United Nations agency dealing with human settlements and the problems of rapid urbanization ended its current session today with an unprecedented move - adopting a resolution which would establish a special Human Settlements Program in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The text on the Occupied Palestinian Territories will create a program that would address the difficult housing situation there. It was one of a record number of resolutions adopted today as the Governing Council of the UN Human Settlement Program (UN-HABITAT) closed out its 19th session in Nairobi.

Overall, the resolution indicates recognition by all parties the urgent need to resolve the long-term deterioration in human settlements conditions in the occupied territories. It requests UN-HABITAT to establish the program to improve shelter and basic urban services and urges the donor community to provide $5 million to fund the project's first two years.

Unlike previous resolutions tabled on the territories, this text was adopted by consensus, an important precedent for the agency. "The passing of this resolution signals a sense of optimism especially as shelter and human settlements are key elements in reaching long term sustainable peace in the Middle East," said Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT.

Chief amongst the other texts was a resolution approving a budget of $44.4 million dollars for the UN Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation - an increase of 40 per cent over its last budget and nearly double the budget approved by the 17th session. The Executive Director has also been authorized to commit up to $50.5 million subject to availability of resources. It also approved the Work Program for 2004-2005, which included the creation of a fourth division to work on human settlements financing.

The resolutions tabled at the Governing Council were designed to improve the UN-HABITAT's capacity to meet the challenges of urbanization. The recommendations were aimed at strengthening the agency's ability to help governments implement the Habitat Agenda and to meet the 2000 Millennium Development Goals, especially those concerned with improving the conditions of slum dwellers and the urban poor in developing countries. Special emphasis also was placed on least developed countries and on handling the specific problems of countries with economies in transition.

In a major step forward, a resolution was passed requesting that gender perspectives be integrated into all UN-HABITAT's activities. Governments were urged to promote the effective participation of women in human settlements planning and development with an emphasis on poor women's right to housing, land and need for secure tenure. This includes access to credit and protection from forced evictions, particularly for women with HIV/AIDS.

-[United Nations News Center.] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Thursday May 8, 2003

With 'Roadmap' Only Days Old, Settlers Begin Enlarging Illegal Colonies

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PMC) - In contravention with the newly launched, internationally-endorsed “roadmap” to peace, Israeli settlers on Wednesday laid the cornerstone of a new Jewish settlement project in the occupied West Bank at the illegal Beit El settlement, near Ramallah.

The new settlement project comes as Israelis commemorated Independence Day, and with it Palestinians marked the Catastrophe (Nakba) of the expulsion and dispossession of thousands of Palestinians by Zionist paramilitaries in 1948.

“On Israel’s Independence Day we officially laid the first stone of a new district which will be called Ginot Beit El,” David Shawat from the so-called “Beit El council” told AFP.

This new project, deemed illegal under international law, comes only a few days after the official launching of the “roadmap” to ending the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which specifically calls for a halt of illegal Jewish settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The project being described by the settlers as a “new quarter” of the illegal settlement, will include some 72 housing units.

There are however upcoming plans to start another project, comprising some 40 housing units, in 2-3 weeks, Shawat said.

"The construction of another district of Beit El with 40 extra dwellings will be launched from here in two or three weeks," he said.

The settlers claimed that the project had started out just after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a champion of the settlement movement in the occupied territory, claimed Israel might dismantle some West Bank settlements, including Beit El and Shilo, as part of the new peace plan.

The new plans come just two weeks after Israel’s right-wing parliamentary speaker Reuven Rivlin laid the first stone in a project to build more houses in the illegal West Bank settlement of Shilo.

40% of the West Bank is already peppered with illegal Israeli settlements, housing some 200,000 settlers.

Foreigners, Israelis, Palestinians Attacked by Settlers

Meanwhile on Wednesday, armed settlers beat a group of foreigners and Israelis, who had come to aid Palestinian farmers plow their land in the West Bank village of Sawiya.

Twenty armed settlers and a German shepherd from the illegal settlement of Eli assaulted the group-- comprising 2 internationals and 5 Israelis-- who had gone to the village to protect Palestinian farmers from repeated settler attacks.

According to the group, the settlers threw stones on one Palestinian farmer, whose shoulder was dislocated. Several settlers and a large dog attacked a South African woman, going by the name of Anna, while her purse and camera were snatched.

Another International, Ayesha, fell and injured her ankle while being chased down a rocky hillside by the settlers. Keren, Raz, Ariel, and Ilan, all Israelis, were beaten with sticks. One French journalist named Frederique was beaten and his camera stolen. Other thefts included a donkey, a horse, and plowing equipment.

The group said an Israeli occupation soldier witnessed the attacks but did nothing to stop the rampaging settlers.

Only later did more occupation soldiers arrive to the scene and ask the group to leave their land, which is almost 300 meters from the illegal settlement of Eli.

The settlers “seemed to appear from nowhere,” according to Anna, and began running at the groups screaming and shouting “Nazis, Nazis!”

“This attack was an attack against peace,” said Anna. “We were working together to plow the fields, side by side with Israelis and Palestinians. It’s obvious that the illegal settlers want to destroy peace between people and terrorize them in order to get them to leave their land. We were simply enjoying the beautiful day in this pastoral landscape, and were suddenly surrounded by violence and being attacked.”

“Despite the risks, the land must be plowed so that the farmers can feed their families,” Anna stressed.

-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/)

Israeli-Palestinian Road Map Plan is 'Historic Window of Opportunity': Annan

COPENHAGEN - The Road Map plan for peace between Israeli and Palestinians was “a historic window of opportunity” opening up “after a terrible period of death and destruction on both sides of the conflict,” United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in a message issued at a meeting on Arab-Israeli peace.

“No previous peace plan has enjoyed such broad support from such important actors as this one does: the US, Europe, Russia, and key Arab states, including Egypt and Jordan,” Annan said to the International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The alliance brings together influential people from Egyptian, Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli societies participating in their private capacities and representing a wide range of political trends but united by the wish of realizing peace in the region.

Annan said the Road Map, formally presented last week by the diplomatic Quartet of the UN, United States, European Union and Russian Federation, was very clear about the end goal, “which is a secure and prosperous Israel and an independent, viable, sovereign and democratic Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security, in a Middle East from which terror and violence will at last be banished.”

He also noted that it was equally clear about steps for getting there, not only who must do what, but also when. “It recognizes that peace will not be achieved if each side waits for the other to move first,” he said.

“At every stage in the process, both sides must be able to see a tangible improvement in their situation, and an unmistakable movement towards the end goal. Otherwise they will not have the confidence to move on.”

But, he warned, “Let’s be clear: the Map may come from the Quartet, but it is Israelis and Palestinians who must travel the Road. The continuing violence shows that both sides have tough decisions to take, as rejectionists try to drive them off the road with new terror attacks. Both must hold firm to their commitments, and not allow extremists to dictate the future.”

The Road Map calls for a series of parallel steps by the Israelis and Palestinians over the next three years towards a realizing the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine.

-[United Nations News Center.] Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Tuesday May 6, 2003

Israelis Fire on Parents of Injured British Peace Activist

By Cahal Milmo
The Independent

The parents of a British peace activist who was shot in the head by Israeli troops came under fire themselves as they traveled to the spot where their son was critically injured.

Anthony and Jocelyn Hurndall were in a British diplomatic convoy entering the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip when Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint fired a shot, which passed narrowly over the top of their vehicles.

The incident on Saturday afternoon took place despite the Israeli Army being given notice of the journey on at least three occasions – the last minutes before the convoy arrived.

The Foreign Office said last night that an explanation had been requested from the Israeli authorities for the warning shot, which was fired as the two armoured Range Rovers entered the Abu Khouli checkpoint on the edge of Rafah at about 1pm.

Concerns were being raised yesterday over the conduct of Israeli soldiers in the south of the Gaza Strip. The incident in which the Hurndalls were fired at comes not only after their son was shot in Rafah, but after two other Westerners were killed in the city.

The Hurndalls, whose eldest son, Tom, is in a coma in an Israeli hospital after he was shot three weeks ago while trying to reach two Palestinian children, were being accompanied by Tom's youngest brother and the military and political attachés to the British embassy in Tel Aviv.

Mrs. Hurndall, a schoolteacher from Tufnell Park, north London, said: "We were passing through the checkpoint very, very slowly when there was the sound of a bullet – it was like the sound of a large stone coming off the car.

"What struck me was the ludicrousness of the situation. Here we were, the parents and brother of someone who has been wounded by Israeli Defense Forces and who then fire a warning shot over our car for no apparent reason.

"It was a measure of the insanity that can take hold here." The single shot was fired from one of two watchtowers that stand above the checkpoint, causing the two British cars, identifiable by their white diplomatic plates, to come to an immediate halt.

Not until the defense attaché, Colonel Tom Fitzalan-Howard, had stepped from the car with his hands in the air to talk with the soldiers inside the tower was the convoy able to proceed.

Notice that the cars would be passing through Abu Khouli was given at least three times – in the days before the trip, just as it was setting off and 10 minutes before it arrived.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "A single warning shot was fired as our staff were crossing the checkpoint. No-one was injured but the incident has been raised with the Israeli Defense Forces."

It is understood that an Israeli Army captain at the checkpoint later told members of the convoy that the shot had been fired because the vehicles had not stopped. There was no order to do so.

The journey by the Hurndall family to Rafah, where they met peace activists from the International Solidarity Movement who had been working with Tom, was made as they launched an appeal to raise £20,000 to bring him back to Britain by air ambulance.

The 21-year-old student, who was studying photography at Manchester Metropolitan University, was hit by a high-velocity bullet fired by an Israeli sniper as he moved towards two frightened Palestinian children in daylight.

Monday May 5, 2003

Public Dispute between Israeli FM, US Envoy over Palestinian Refugees

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Ahead of a Monday meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has definitely ruled out waiving the Palestinian right of return as a precondition for Israel’s approval of the internationally adopted “roadmap” to peace in the Middle East.

“This is one of their (Israelis’) dreams. We absolutely refuse to waive the (Palestinian) right of return as a precondition for Israel’s approval of the ‘roadmap’,” Abu Mazen said in his first meeting with the local press since his confirmation as prime minister last week.

The Palestinian refugees problem “is an issue for final status negotiations and may not be discussed now,” he said, adding that the issue “should be resolved on the basis of international legitimacy as stipulated by the UN resolution number 194 of 1948.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom on Sunday publicly raised Israel’s demand that the Palestinians forego the right of return for refugees in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state with provisional borders, already mentioned in the second phase of the “roadmap” plan.

“This (creation of a Palestinian state) will only be possible if they (first) give up on the right of return,” he said, adding, “Otherwise the plan won't be accepted by the Israeli public.”

Despite this public dispute, Abu Mazen confirmed that, “we definitely want to meet with (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon to discuss how to cooperate in implementing the “roadmap” and the mutual obligations” arising there from, the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam quoted him as saying.

“We have sent messages to the Israelis to arrange a preparatory meeting between us to be followed by a meeting with Prime Minister Sharon,” Abbas told reporters.

“These meetings are natural to discuss implementation of the roadmap and the mutual commitments that will be carried out by the sides, but until now we have not received any response, maybe because of the [Israeli] holidays,” he said.

On Sunday, Sharon told his ministers at a weekly cabinet meeting of his intention to personally head negotiations, which are set to resume with a new US-led peace initiative, Israeli public radio said.

Abbas said the Palestine National Authority (PNA) has accepted the roadmap “as is” and stressed that the Israeli side should give an immediate clear-cut approval of the “roadmap”.

“What is needed now is to hear from the Israelis that they have accepted (the road map),” Abbas said. “If the roadmap is re-opened it will never be closed...we have to move directly to implementing it.”

The Israeli Knesset was scheduled to hold a special session Monday to debate the “roadmap.”

Israel has listed 15 reservations about the document, which was presented after Abbas’ cabinet was approved by the Palestinian parliament on Tuesday.

The peace plan calls for a stop to violence in a now 31-month-old Palestinian uprising, a freeze in illegal Israeli settlement expansion on occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

The Palestinian PM denied media reports that a Palestinian-Israeli security meeting was held.

“No security meetings were held, but such meetings will undoubtedly be held as the ‘roadmap’ stipulated” to hold them.

However, Mohammed Dahlan, the Palestinian Cabinet minister in charge of security affairs, told The Associated Press on Sunday that he would lead a Palestinian delegation for security talks with the Israelis on Thursday -- the first such meeting between the two sides since August.

Burns: “a Strategic Opportunity”

Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to meet Monday with the US envoy William Burns, who met late Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Earlier, Burns met with Israeli foreign and “defense” ministers Silvan Shalom and Shaul Mofaz.

Sharon told Burns Sunday that the new Palestinian PM Abu Mazen must work to dismantle what he called the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, Burns also met with the Israeli-Palestinian peace coalition, headed by former Labor MK Yossi Beilin and PNA cabinet affairs minister Yasser Abed Rabbo in Jerusalem.

Burns said that US President George W. Bush was committed to advancing the peace process, noting that the events in Iraq, Abu Mazen’s appointment and the publication of the “roadmap” had created “a strategic opportunity” for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Burns also stressed the importance of the mutual steps on the ground - a war on “terror” on the part of the PNA, and Israeli gestures that will aid the success of Abu Mazen.

A dispute emerged between Shalom and Burns over how to deal with reservations regarding the “roadmap,” with Burns insisting the Israelis and Palestinians had to discuss the issues between them and reach agreement.

“I think that it’s absolutely critical, and the president has made this clear on a number of occasions, that terror and violence be ended, that it's impossible to conceive of progress being made in the direction of the two-state vision unless there are decisive efforts to bring that about,” Burns said after his meeting with Shalom.

“That’s going to require a restoration of Palestinian efforts against terror,” he added. “It’s also going to require steps taken by all sides.”

Shalom raised Israel’s demand that the Palestinians forego the right of return for refugees in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state with provisional borders, already mentioned in the second phase of the “roadmap” plan.

But Burns told Shalom, “This is a matter between you and them.”

Shalom persisted, “It will be impossible. This will only be possible if they [first] give up on the right of return,” he said, referring to the setting up of a provisional state.

“Otherwise the plan won’t be accepted by the Israeli public.”

Burns replied, “I understand that this is a crucial matter for you, and we will have to weigh how we deal with it.”

-[Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] Published at the (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/)

Israeli Labor Future In Disarray After Mitzna's Exit

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israel's centre-left Labor party was in tailspin Monday, May 5, after its embittered leader Amram Mitzna abruptly quit, warning the country's founding party it was no longer governable, and another senior member said his step-down could spell the end of the party.

Most commentators said the former general was probably too candid to jump into the political swamp in the first place, but as no successor of significant stature was emerging, there was speculation whether the state's oldest party would even run in the next elections, reported Agency France-Press (AFP).

Either by underestimating the task ahead of him when he came to power, or by misreading the political mood of the country, Mitzna was being held widely responsible for turning the first political force in Israel into a party on the brink of bankruptcy.

"He was a nice guy, he was straight and honest. But it takes more than that. There is an absolute rule in Israeli politics right now: you have to be in the center to make an impact," said political analyst Efraim Inbar.

Mitzna angered the pragmatists in his party by consistently refusing to join a coalition government with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing Likud, in what was seen as a coup de grace for the ailing party's plummeting ratings.

Although his unwavering attachment to his principles drew the respect of many, he failed to build a strong team around him and muster the support of the party apparatus.

"Unfortunately, his short term as leader of the Labor party gave honesty in politics a bad name ... There is a thin line between honesty and amateurism. Mitzna crossed it," said the top-selling Yediot Aharonot's Nahum Barnea in an editorial.

But Mitzna's resignation is no solution to Labor's problems and could plunge the party even deeper into crisis.

He had soared to the party leadership after Labor made a major compromise to the ideas propounded in the peace process itself by working hand in glove with Sharon, a sworn enemy of the Oslo peace accords Labor engineered.

The collaboration sparked an identity crisis which will likely emerge again unless a strong consensual leader comes forward.

The party either has to organize new primaries very soon or appoint a temporary leadership to weather the storm, and its members were due to meet on Monday to discuss an appropriate way forward.

"They have to find somebody unlike Mitzna: a centrist, somebody who comes across as a statesman. But looking around, nobody stands out. This looks like anything but an opportunity to bounce back for the Labor party," Inbar said.

Haim Ramon, a potential candidate for the position, was not optimistic as to his fellow Labor leaders' ability to avoid further internal squabbling and even predicted his party's collapse.

"Emotional drives were stronger and took precedence over logic," Ramon told military radio. "They should have understood that the moment Mitzna was chosen, it was incumbent on them to aid him and not topple him, because Mitzna's fall could be the end of the Labor Party."

Barnea outlined three scenarios, stressing that the least likely was that of a public outcry over the plight of the betrayed leader, pushing Mitzna to launch an aggressive campaign and run again for a stronger mandate.

"A second possibility, slightly more realistic, is that the Labor Party will split up, and a new movement will arise, in cooperation with (the left-wing opposition group) Meretz, which will be the largest opposition party. The Labor Party will sink into its debts and disappear," the daily's chief editorialist said.

"A third possibility is that Mitzna - with no title, with no camp, bearing an image of failure - will be the one to disappear," Barnea concluded.

That could open the door to Mitzna's hawkish rival Binyamin Ben-Eliezer - who led the party when he served as Sharon's defense minister throughout the reoccupation of the West Bank - to run for a new leadership mandate and jump into bed again with Sharon.

-Published at the Palestine Chronicle.

Sunday May 4, 2003

Friday May 2, 2003