Soon to be launched Elan: a magazine of contemporary Muslim culture, is on the lookout for talented journalists! Our start-up four-color glossy magazine is scheduled to launch Fall 2007, and we need a few good writers to work on short topical pieces 200-300 words) as well as longer, investigative features (2,000-3,000 words). The topics range from Music and Fashion to Media and Culture—all with an American Muslim focus.
Elan is dedicated to quality reporting on the current trends in the arts, business and contemporary Muslim lifestyle. We will also provide a public forum for the young professional community in print and on the web. Elan represents, embraces and commemorates the unique and distinct lifestyles of American Muslim, making Elsan a handbook for the chic Muslim. Our cosmopolitan publication is committed to incorporating all interpretations of Islam, realizing unity within our diversity.
For more information, please submit a resume and writing samples (pasted into the body of the e-mail---no attachments, please!) to: elan@elanthemag.com
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Ambassador al-Jubeir presents credentials to State Department
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
Washington, DC
www.saudiembassy.net
Ambassador Al-Jubeir presents a copy of his credentials to the State Department
WASHINGTON, DC [February, 21, 2007] - Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel A. Al-Jubeir presented a copy of his credentials to Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte at the State Department in Washington today.
Al-Jubeir was appointed to the post by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz on January 29, 2007. He succeeds Prince Turki Al-Faisal, who resigned last year for personal reasons.
Washington, DC
www.saudiembassy.net
Ambassador Al-Jubeir presents a copy of his credentials to the State Department
WASHINGTON, DC [February, 21, 2007] - Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel A. Al-Jubeir presented a copy of his credentials to Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte at the State Department in Washington today.
Al-Jubeir was appointed to the post by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz on January 29, 2007. He succeeds Prince Turki Al-Faisal, who resigned last year for personal reasons.
NEWS: Mohammed Mar'i's columns, features and analysis now moved to Arabisto.com
Mohammed Mar'i, a member of the National Arab American Journalists Association and a journalist based in Ramallah, Palestine, is now writing for the popular Arab American/Arab World blog "Arabisto.com."
Arabisto is considered "The Arab Street" when it comes to diversity of Arab World and Arab American opinion, one of the most read Arab blogs on the Internet.
Mar'i's columns are now being featured on the Arabisto site at www.Arabisto.com
# # #
Arabisto is considered "The Arab Street" when it comes to diversity of Arab World and Arab American opinion, one of the most read Arab blogs on the Internet.
Mar'i's columns are now being featured on the Arabisto site at www.Arabisto.com
# # #
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
FEATURE: 10,400 Palestinian prisoners face inhumane treatment in Israeli jails, By Mohammed Mar'i
10400 Palestinian Prisoners live inhumanly in Israeli Jails
By Mohammed Mar'i*
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)--The family of Palestinian prisoner Ismail Al Jamal of West Bank reugee camp of Balata appealed in a letter directed to international human rights organizations, especially the International Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners Affaires to pressure Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) for the release of their son.
The family said that Jamal, who has been sentenced to10 and half years, suffers from thrombosis and sclerosis of the arteries, after being shot by Israeli forces, during his arrest on 30th of January 2004.
Yahya Al Jamal, brother of Ismail, said that his brother's health is severely deteriorating since the Israeli prisoners' authority refused his treatment, despite his increasing suffering and his need of an urgent medical operation
The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners Affaires (MPA) revealed in its report, published Tuesday, February 13, 2007, that around 10400 Palestinian Prisoners live inhuman circumstances in 30 Israeli Jails, including Women and Children. The MPA said that most of prisoners suffer various physical and psychological diseases as a result of the inhuman circumstances of living. It added that 118 female prisoners and 330 children are still detained in Israeli jails facing daily Israeli torture and provocation. MPA mentioned that hundreds of children became more than 18 year-old inside prisons. It affirmed that at least 1000 prisoners suffer chronic diseases like pain of cartilage, cardiac diseases, diabetes and rheumatism, including 150 prisoners in critical case as a result of cancer, paralysis and kidney failure.
The report stated that the IOF have arrested 600 women and 6000 children during al-Aqsa Intifada which erupted in September 2000 . It mentioned that 553 prisoners have been detained before al-Aqsa Intifada, including 367 who have been detained before the Oslo Accord in 1993 .
In a recent development concerning the prisoners exchange deal, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees, Abu Mujahid, announced that the new Egyptian offer to release captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, will be conducted in three stages.
He said that "the man (Shalit) will be transported to Egypt before being handed over to Israel when the three stages are completed." Abu Mujahid said that the factions that captured Shalit had formed a joint intelligence body to deal with the case. He added that the factions adopted an antiquated system for contact between the faction leaders which cannot be traced by the Israeli intelligence. He refused to reveal this technique of communication but confirmed that "Shalit is now in good health and treated in a humanitarian way, he was not tortured." He also confirmed that the factions "will keep him until Israel complies with our demands."
Abu Mujahid denied that Shalit was being held at the Islamic University in Gaza, stating that the resistance cannot "hold him in such an open space, where anybody can enter and survey the area."
He clarified that the Egyptian offer comprises of "three stages, through which he (Shalit) is going to be sent to Egypt and they will hand him over to Israel, but only after the three stages are completed."
Abu Mujahid said that the factions have not yet confirmed their response to the offer but that the reply "will be made, after we hear the Israeli response." He blamed the Israeli government for the failure of all the four previous offers and he said "we prefer not to disclose the details of the offer and not to speak about it, as this may jeopardize the deal."
He said the Egyptians are playing an important role in the issue and have put in a lot of effort to arrange the exchange.
*Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com
By Mohammed Mar'i*
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)--The family of Palestinian prisoner Ismail Al Jamal of West Bank reugee camp of Balata appealed in a letter directed to international human rights organizations, especially the International Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners Affaires to pressure Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) for the release of their son.
The family said that Jamal, who has been sentenced to10 and half years, suffers from thrombosis and sclerosis of the arteries, after being shot by Israeli forces, during his arrest on 30th of January 2004.
Yahya Al Jamal, brother of Ismail, said that his brother's health is severely deteriorating since the Israeli prisoners' authority refused his treatment, despite his increasing suffering and his need of an urgent medical operation
The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners Affaires (MPA) revealed in its report, published Tuesday, February 13, 2007, that around 10400 Palestinian Prisoners live inhuman circumstances in 30 Israeli Jails, including Women and Children. The MPA said that most of prisoners suffer various physical and psychological diseases as a result of the inhuman circumstances of living. It added that 118 female prisoners and 330 children are still detained in Israeli jails facing daily Israeli torture and provocation. MPA mentioned that hundreds of children became more than 18 year-old inside prisons. It affirmed that at least 1000 prisoners suffer chronic diseases like pain of cartilage, cardiac diseases, diabetes and rheumatism, including 150 prisoners in critical case as a result of cancer, paralysis and kidney failure.
The report stated that the IOF have arrested 600 women and 6000 children during al-Aqsa Intifada which erupted in September 2000 . It mentioned that 553 prisoners have been detained before al-Aqsa Intifada, including 367 who have been detained before the Oslo Accord in 1993 .
In a recent development concerning the prisoners exchange deal, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees, Abu Mujahid, announced that the new Egyptian offer to release captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, will be conducted in three stages.
He said that "the man (Shalit) will be transported to Egypt before being handed over to Israel when the three stages are completed." Abu Mujahid said that the factions that captured Shalit had formed a joint intelligence body to deal with the case. He added that the factions adopted an antiquated system for contact between the faction leaders which cannot be traced by the Israeli intelligence. He refused to reveal this technique of communication but confirmed that "Shalit is now in good health and treated in a humanitarian way, he was not tortured." He also confirmed that the factions "will keep him until Israel complies with our demands."
Abu Mujahid denied that Shalit was being held at the Islamic University in Gaza, stating that the resistance cannot "hold him in such an open space, where anybody can enter and survey the area."
He clarified that the Egyptian offer comprises of "three stages, through which he (Shalit) is going to be sent to Egypt and they will hand him over to Israel, but only after the three stages are completed."
Abu Mujahid said that the factions have not yet confirmed their response to the offer but that the reply "will be made, after we hear the Israeli response." He blamed the Israeli government for the failure of all the four previous offers and he said "we prefer not to disclose the details of the offer and not to speak about it, as this may jeopardize the deal."
He said the Egyptians are playing an important role in the issue and have put in a lot of effort to arrange the exchange.
*Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com
NEWS: Palestinian Youth barred from Ramallah, By Mohammed Mar'i
Israel Barred Palestinian Youth from Interring Ramallah
By Mohammed Mar'i*
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) for the second day barred all Palestinians under the age of 30 from the West Bank cities of Nablus and Tulkarm from passing the Israeli checkpoints on their way to Ramallah under the pretext of "security alerts". Israeli security sources pretended that Palestinians intend to carry out "terrorist attacks" in respond to the Israeli excavation at Al Aqsa Mosque.
The IOF tightened its suppressive measures exerted on Palestinians at the checkpoints that block all the entrances of Nablus. The Huwwara, Beit Eiba, Al Bathan Valley, Yitzhar, and Za'tara checkpoints which surround the city from all directions prevented university students, civil servants, and teachers under the age of 30 from passing through.
The Palestinians of same age and same area were also not allowed to pass the Atara checkpoint, north of West Bank city of Ramallah. They were forced to use bypass roads through the mountains and hills to pass the Israeli checkpoints in an attempt to reach their places of work or study.
As a good-will gesture toward the Palestinian people following the meeting between Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last year, Israeli Occupation forces were supposed to remove some of the roadblocks and checkpoints that surround the Palestinian cities and converting the life of Palestinians willing to leave or to inter any city in the West Bank to a real hill.
Palestinians who travel through the West Bank cities didn't notice any change in the (IOF)'s policy at the checkpoints. They have horrible experience with them. They have to wait in long lines, under the burning sun or the freezing wind, alone or with their wives and kids, sick or healthy, young or old. Many Palestinian pregnant women deliver at these roadblocks, many sick Palestinians died while waiting the Israeli soldier to let them pass to the ambulance in the other side of the checkpoint or due to heart attack. Many Palestinians were beaten in the witness of their kids. Many Palestinians were obliged to sing songs, to dance, to give the Israeli soldiers cigarettes just to BASS. And other Palestinians were obliged to drink their urine just to cross the checkpoint. Israeli good-will steps no more than a mere illusion for them .
Mohammed Samaheh, a taxi driver from Salfeet area goes to Nablus every day. He said that the rainy weather did not encourage the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to ease their inspections, but instead, they forced passengers out of their cars into the rain for "extra screening". Khalid Saleem, an employee, travels from his hometown Jenin to Ramallah almost every day. He passes Za'tara checkpoint, south of Nablus. This checkpoint controls all Palestinians who travel from the West Bank northern cities to its center or southern ones. He said that the (IOF) serving at the checkpoint stop every car or bus, force passengers out of them into the rain or freezing wind, check their identity cards in search for wanted activists, the vehicles are checked by trained dogs in search for weapons. Ayman Adam, a student at An Najjah National University in Nablus said the same notice about Huwarra checkpoint, just south of Nablus. He goes ever day from his village Kafr el Dick, south of Nablus to the university to obtain his B.A in Business Administration. He said that "the Israeli soldiers oblige all passengers to stand in strait and long rows. They check every one, his identity card, his books' bag, and his body by electronic equipments before he allowed entering or leaving Nablus through revolving doors usually used for cows". "This is a collective punishment" he added. I can't usually attend the lectures at 8 o'clock in the morning because I arrive late. He accused the (IOF) policy as "it aims to increase ignorance in the Palestinian society". Salam Rimawee, an employee from Beit Reema village north of Ramallah, faced similar (IOF) measures at Atarah checkpoint, north of Ramallah and the only entrance for Palestinians who reside in West Bank northern cities. He said that "a unit from the Israeli Borders Police serves in the place humiliates Palestinians of who pass through this checkpoint". "The Israeli soldiers force the Palestinian drivers to stand in long rows; the soldiers don't allow any passenger to leave the car, and we have to stay for hours to pass ".
Usually, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and right wing politicians oppose any comprehensive plan to ease restrictions on the Palestinians and prefer gradual and cautious measures toward the Palestinian population to prevent the so called Palestinian "terrorists" from taking advantage of these measures to carry out "terrorist attacks" against Israeli civilian targets in the heart of Israel .
It is well known that this usual security pretext of (IOF) has no reality on ground. The (IOF) and other Israeli security apparatus know that any supposed Palestinian "terrorist" will not seek to pass through Israeli roadblocks but he will look for bypass roads .
It is clear for all observers and even to the Israeli organization "Machsom Watch" which supervises the (IOF) checkpoints that the decision to keep or remove these roadblocks, checkpoints is political rather than for security reasons. The Israeli Politicians used the checkpoints as suppressive measures against the Palestinian people to enforce them either to accept its plans for a Palestinian state with temporary boundaries, or Olmerts "convergence" plan, or to pressure the Palestinian leadership for some Political concessions. Since two years, the (IOF) checkpoint in the Jordan Valley doesn't allow any Palestinian from outside the area to enter. This means that the Palestinian must be living there, and that must be printed on his identity card to be allowed entry. This Israeli policy is part of its plan to isolate the Jordan Valley from the surrounding Palestinian neighborhood, to build further settlements in it so as to ease its annexation to Israel. Israel will continue with its de facto policy waiting a moderate Palestinian peace partner, at this point the cantons will not be negotiable .
When he was asked: "As someone who is familiar with the conditions of the Palestinians in Gaza, do you feel empathy toward them?" Nissim Levy who served in the Israeli intelligence service "Shin Bet" for 20 years answered Israeli journalist Uri Blau in an interview published in Haaretz on Jan. 6th 2007, saying: "Let's forget our patriotism for a moment. If a boy in Be'er Sheva falls in love with a girl in Haifa, what does he do? He picks up the phone, makes a date and drives to see her. If a boy from Bethlehem falls in love with a girl from Nablus, what does he do? He has to cross checkpoints, he needs a 1,001 permits. The moment that you reach the conclusion that you have nothing to live for, you immediately find that you have something to die for ."
*Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com
By Mohammed Mar'i*
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) for the second day barred all Palestinians under the age of 30 from the West Bank cities of Nablus and Tulkarm from passing the Israeli checkpoints on their way to Ramallah under the pretext of "security alerts". Israeli security sources pretended that Palestinians intend to carry out "terrorist attacks" in respond to the Israeli excavation at Al Aqsa Mosque.
The IOF tightened its suppressive measures exerted on Palestinians at the checkpoints that block all the entrances of Nablus. The Huwwara, Beit Eiba, Al Bathan Valley, Yitzhar, and Za'tara checkpoints which surround the city from all directions prevented university students, civil servants, and teachers under the age of 30 from passing through.
The Palestinians of same age and same area were also not allowed to pass the Atara checkpoint, north of West Bank city of Ramallah. They were forced to use bypass roads through the mountains and hills to pass the Israeli checkpoints in an attempt to reach their places of work or study.
As a good-will gesture toward the Palestinian people following the meeting between Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last year, Israeli Occupation forces were supposed to remove some of the roadblocks and checkpoints that surround the Palestinian cities and converting the life of Palestinians willing to leave or to inter any city in the West Bank to a real hill.
Palestinians who travel through the West Bank cities didn't notice any change in the (IOF)'s policy at the checkpoints. They have horrible experience with them. They have to wait in long lines, under the burning sun or the freezing wind, alone or with their wives and kids, sick or healthy, young or old. Many Palestinian pregnant women deliver at these roadblocks, many sick Palestinians died while waiting the Israeli soldier to let them pass to the ambulance in the other side of the checkpoint or due to heart attack. Many Palestinians were beaten in the witness of their kids. Many Palestinians were obliged to sing songs, to dance, to give the Israeli soldiers cigarettes just to BASS. And other Palestinians were obliged to drink their urine just to cross the checkpoint. Israeli good-will steps no more than a mere illusion for them .
Mohammed Samaheh, a taxi driver from Salfeet area goes to Nablus every day. He said that the rainy weather did not encourage the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to ease their inspections, but instead, they forced passengers out of their cars into the rain for "extra screening". Khalid Saleem, an employee, travels from his hometown Jenin to Ramallah almost every day. He passes Za'tara checkpoint, south of Nablus. This checkpoint controls all Palestinians who travel from the West Bank northern cities to its center or southern ones. He said that the (IOF) serving at the checkpoint stop every car or bus, force passengers out of them into the rain or freezing wind, check their identity cards in search for wanted activists, the vehicles are checked by trained dogs in search for weapons. Ayman Adam, a student at An Najjah National University in Nablus said the same notice about Huwarra checkpoint, just south of Nablus. He goes ever day from his village Kafr el Dick, south of Nablus to the university to obtain his B.A in Business Administration. He said that "the Israeli soldiers oblige all passengers to stand in strait and long rows. They check every one, his identity card, his books' bag, and his body by electronic equipments before he allowed entering or leaving Nablus through revolving doors usually used for cows". "This is a collective punishment" he added. I can't usually attend the lectures at 8 o'clock in the morning because I arrive late. He accused the (IOF) policy as "it aims to increase ignorance in the Palestinian society". Salam Rimawee, an employee from Beit Reema village north of Ramallah, faced similar (IOF) measures at Atarah checkpoint, north of Ramallah and the only entrance for Palestinians who reside in West Bank northern cities. He said that "a unit from the Israeli Borders Police serves in the place humiliates Palestinians of who pass through this checkpoint". "The Israeli soldiers force the Palestinian drivers to stand in long rows; the soldiers don't allow any passenger to leave the car, and we have to stay for hours to pass ".
Usually, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and right wing politicians oppose any comprehensive plan to ease restrictions on the Palestinians and prefer gradual and cautious measures toward the Palestinian population to prevent the so called Palestinian "terrorists" from taking advantage of these measures to carry out "terrorist attacks" against Israeli civilian targets in the heart of Israel .
It is well known that this usual security pretext of (IOF) has no reality on ground. The (IOF) and other Israeli security apparatus know that any supposed Palestinian "terrorist" will not seek to pass through Israeli roadblocks but he will look for bypass roads .
It is clear for all observers and even to the Israeli organization "Machsom Watch" which supervises the (IOF) checkpoints that the decision to keep or remove these roadblocks, checkpoints is political rather than for security reasons. The Israeli Politicians used the checkpoints as suppressive measures against the Palestinian people to enforce them either to accept its plans for a Palestinian state with temporary boundaries, or Olmerts "convergence" plan, or to pressure the Palestinian leadership for some Political concessions. Since two years, the (IOF) checkpoint in the Jordan Valley doesn't allow any Palestinian from outside the area to enter. This means that the Palestinian must be living there, and that must be printed on his identity card to be allowed entry. This Israeli policy is part of its plan to isolate the Jordan Valley from the surrounding Palestinian neighborhood, to build further settlements in it so as to ease its annexation to Israel. Israel will continue with its de facto policy waiting a moderate Palestinian peace partner, at this point the cantons will not be negotiable .
When he was asked: "As someone who is familiar with the conditions of the Palestinians in Gaza, do you feel empathy toward them?" Nissim Levy who served in the Israeli intelligence service "Shin Bet" for 20 years answered Israeli journalist Uri Blau in an interview published in Haaretz on Jan. 6th 2007, saying: "Let's forget our patriotism for a moment. If a boy in Be'er Sheva falls in love with a girl in Haifa, what does he do? He picks up the phone, makes a date and drives to see her. If a boy from Bethlehem falls in love with a girl from Nablus, what does he do? He has to cross checkpoints, he needs a 1,001 permits. The moment that you reach the conclusion that you have nothing to live for, you immediately find that you have something to die for ."
*Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com
Monday, February 12, 2007
ANALYSIS: Mecca Agreement refreshes hope for Palestinian Securities Exchange
Mecca Agreement Refreshes Palestine Securities Exchange
By Mohammed Mar'i*
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- As a first sign of economic improvement following the Mecca Agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the Palestine Securities Exchange (PSE) "Al-Quds Index" increased by ( 4.26%) compared with the last trading session.
Dr. Hassan Abu Libdeh , PSE Chairman, said in a special interview that " the results of today's session is due to the fact that the investors were encouraged by the Mecca Agreement so they returned back to invest in shares". "As we emphasized all the time, the PSE in Palestine is highly influenced by the current political situations. The evaluation of listed companies in PSE was usually beyond the real value due to political developments. Even with the start of Mecca meeting last week, "Al Quds Index" closed at an increasing by ( 2.61%) compared with the last trade session" he added.
Abu Libdeh hoped that the Mecca Agreement between the Palestinian rivals is a beginning to freeze the international political and financial siege imposed on the Hamas-led government. "An agreement with this size at the place where it was held must be internationally endorsed. We hope that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia play the needed role to insure it (endorsement) especially with the United States", he said. "This international endorsement will lead to drop economic siege and resumption of financial aid and accordingly the Palestinian Authority will be devoted to the national cause and to administer the economic affair. This will enable the public sector establishments from extending their services to the public", Abu Libdeh added.
He highly evaluated the generous donation of Saudi Arabia to the Palestinian people saying that "the initiative reveal genuine Arab morals of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Saudi leadership. It (the financial donation) has a strategic influence on the Palestinian Authority. It will enable the Authority from extending its services to the Palestinian public; activate the stalled economic situation, to reduce the unemployment within the Palestinian society, to implement frozen infrastructure projects after the formation of Hamas-led government".
As for the ability of Saudi Arabia to transfer the donation to the new Palestinian government which is a step in breaking the financial siege Abu Libdeh said that" I think that Kingdom which succeeded in ending the Palestinian crisis has the considerable regional and international role to insure international acceptance of the financial transfer mechanism". "We notice good signs on the Mecca Agreement from the European Union. Although the European Union reaffirmed the Quartet preconditions, but I think there is a possibility to renew the financial aid. What is more important more than the donations is the Palestinian welcome of the Mecca Agreement which means that the Palestinian factions understood the danger of internal strife", he added.
Abu Libdeh declined the influence of financial grants that the Palestinian civil servants get from the European Union and the down payments from the President's office or the Government on the economic situation. He considered that there must be "an official treatment to the financial crisis which began since a year". He said that the importance of Mecca Agreement is not that it will solve the issue of Palestinian civil servants salaries but it will enable the Palestinian Authority from extending its services to the public with responsibility and respect. "It isn't enough to ensure the salaries. There are frozen infrastructure projects. The Palestinian Ministries can't extend basic services to the Palestinian public which badly affected the health, education, and social services", he clarified.
He considers that the implementation of Mecca Agreement depends on the behavior of Palestinian factions which is the only factor to torpedo any procedures. "We are now in a critical stage and we have the Mecca Agreement as a base to go back to the political track. If the Palestinian factions abide by the Agreement we can success, otherwise it a matter of time to return to the field language (internal strife)" Abu Libdeh estimated.
*Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com
By Mohammed Mar'i*
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- As a first sign of economic improvement following the Mecca Agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the Palestine Securities Exchange (PSE) "Al-Quds Index" increased by ( 4.26%) compared with the last trading session.
Dr. Hassan Abu Libdeh , PSE Chairman, said in a special interview that " the results of today's session is due to the fact that the investors were encouraged by the Mecca Agreement so they returned back to invest in shares". "As we emphasized all the time, the PSE in Palestine is highly influenced by the current political situations. The evaluation of listed companies in PSE was usually beyond the real value due to political developments. Even with the start of Mecca meeting last week, "Al Quds Index" closed at an increasing by ( 2.61%) compared with the last trade session" he added.
Abu Libdeh hoped that the Mecca Agreement between the Palestinian rivals is a beginning to freeze the international political and financial siege imposed on the Hamas-led government. "An agreement with this size at the place where it was held must be internationally endorsed. We hope that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia play the needed role to insure it (endorsement) especially with the United States", he said. "This international endorsement will lead to drop economic siege and resumption of financial aid and accordingly the Palestinian Authority will be devoted to the national cause and to administer the economic affair. This will enable the public sector establishments from extending their services to the public", Abu Libdeh added.
He highly evaluated the generous donation of Saudi Arabia to the Palestinian people saying that "the initiative reveal genuine Arab morals of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Saudi leadership. It (the financial donation) has a strategic influence on the Palestinian Authority. It will enable the Authority from extending its services to the Palestinian public; activate the stalled economic situation, to reduce the unemployment within the Palestinian society, to implement frozen infrastructure projects after the formation of Hamas-led government".
As for the ability of Saudi Arabia to transfer the donation to the new Palestinian government which is a step in breaking the financial siege Abu Libdeh said that" I think that Kingdom which succeeded in ending the Palestinian crisis has the considerable regional and international role to insure international acceptance of the financial transfer mechanism". "We notice good signs on the Mecca Agreement from the European Union. Although the European Union reaffirmed the Quartet preconditions, but I think there is a possibility to renew the financial aid. What is more important more than the donations is the Palestinian welcome of the Mecca Agreement which means that the Palestinian factions understood the danger of internal strife", he added.
Abu Libdeh declined the influence of financial grants that the Palestinian civil servants get from the European Union and the down payments from the President's office or the Government on the economic situation. He considered that there must be "an official treatment to the financial crisis which began since a year". He said that the importance of Mecca Agreement is not that it will solve the issue of Palestinian civil servants salaries but it will enable the Palestinian Authority from extending its services to the public with responsibility and respect. "It isn't enough to ensure the salaries. There are frozen infrastructure projects. The Palestinian Ministries can't extend basic services to the Palestinian public which badly affected the health, education, and social services", he clarified.
He considers that the implementation of Mecca Agreement depends on the behavior of Palestinian factions which is the only factor to torpedo any procedures. "We are now in a critical stage and we have the Mecca Agreement as a base to go back to the political track. If the Palestinian factions abide by the Agreement we can success, otherwise it a matter of time to return to the field language (internal strife)" Abu Libdeh estimated.
*Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com
RELEASE: Arab Jewish cooperation continues at Neve Shalom
For Immediate Release: February 12, 2007
Contact: Deanna Armbruster 818-325-8884,
deanna@oasisofpeace.org
Promoting, Supporting and Demonstrating Jewish-Arab Cooperation and Equality in IsraelNeve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, Israel - Major Jewish-American organization have been discussing, recently, the reality of Jewish citizens in Israel living together with the State's Arab citizens. The Israeli Democracy Institute, United Jewish Community, Jewish Funders Network, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, UJA-Federation of New York, New Israel Fund, Alfred and Hanna Fromm Fund, and the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, and even AIPAC, have all formed task forces, held conferences and panels or are planning events addressing this issue.All of these efforts reflect a growing trend and understanding of the importance of addressing the issue of Israeli-Arabs, citizens of the State of Israel, who often experience discrimination in various spheres - national, economic, social, cultural, etc. Arab citizens make up 18% of Israel's total population and their demographic is growing rapidly.
The community of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam ("Oasis of Peace" in Hebrew and Arabic) has been focusing its efforts on promoting equality and understanding between Jewish and Arab citizens for nearly thirty-five years. 26 Jewish families and 26 Arab families - all citizens of Israel - live together and raise their children together in this unique community. The village offers experience and expertise in leading programs that promote Jewish-Arab interactions and understanding. Its bilingual, binational Primary School was the first such school in Israel when it was founded nearly twenty-five years ago. Arab and Jewish students learn each other's languages, cultures, histories and traditions and breakthrough many of the stereotypes and barriers that separate them. The majority of the students come from around the "Oasis of Peace" expanding the school's reach to parents and friends as well.
"It is important that the discussion is turning to this issue, but it will be critical that genuine equality for all peoples of Israel is central. The example of the "Oasis of Peace" is a key place to turn to in order to understand the challenges, and opportunities, to create such a state." explains Deanna Armbruster, the Executive Director of the American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam (www.oasisofpeace.org), a U.S. based 501c3 not-for-profit organization working to support and publicize the work of the "Oasis of Peace."
Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is also home to the School for Peace, a conflict management institute that also works to build positive relationships between Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians. Its workshops bring together Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel, as well as Palestinians living in the West Bank, for important dialogue workshops and conflict management training to promote equality.The "Oasis of Peace" has been bridging the gap between Arabs and Jews living in Israel for more than three decades and has been a pioneering voice in this area.
Its workshops and school often offer participants their first opportunities to meet someone from the other side. Its residents demonstrate daily that Arabs and Jews can live together with equality, understanding and peace. As attention in the U.S. turns toward the improvement of Jewish-Arab relations and the plight of Arab-Israelis, the model and programs of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam can provide insight and guidance.##
American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat Al-Salam
12925 Riverside Drive, 3rd Floor
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Tel. 818-325-8884, Fax 856-325-8983
Email afnswas@oasisofpeace.org
www.oasisofpeace.org ;
Contact: Deanna Armbruster 818-325-8884,
deanna@oasisofpeace.org
Promoting, Supporting and Demonstrating Jewish-Arab Cooperation and Equality in IsraelNeve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, Israel - Major Jewish-American organization have been discussing, recently, the reality of Jewish citizens in Israel living together with the State's Arab citizens. The Israeli Democracy Institute, United Jewish Community, Jewish Funders Network, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, UJA-Federation of New York, New Israel Fund, Alfred and Hanna Fromm Fund, and the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, and even AIPAC, have all formed task forces, held conferences and panels or are planning events addressing this issue.All of these efforts reflect a growing trend and understanding of the importance of addressing the issue of Israeli-Arabs, citizens of the State of Israel, who often experience discrimination in various spheres - national, economic, social, cultural, etc. Arab citizens make up 18% of Israel's total population and their demographic is growing rapidly.
The community of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam ("Oasis of Peace" in Hebrew and Arabic) has been focusing its efforts on promoting equality and understanding between Jewish and Arab citizens for nearly thirty-five years. 26 Jewish families and 26 Arab families - all citizens of Israel - live together and raise their children together in this unique community. The village offers experience and expertise in leading programs that promote Jewish-Arab interactions and understanding. Its bilingual, binational Primary School was the first such school in Israel when it was founded nearly twenty-five years ago. Arab and Jewish students learn each other's languages, cultures, histories and traditions and breakthrough many of the stereotypes and barriers that separate them. The majority of the students come from around the "Oasis of Peace" expanding the school's reach to parents and friends as well.
"It is important that the discussion is turning to this issue, but it will be critical that genuine equality for all peoples of Israel is central. The example of the "Oasis of Peace" is a key place to turn to in order to understand the challenges, and opportunities, to create such a state." explains Deanna Armbruster, the Executive Director of the American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam (www.oasisofpeace.org), a U.S. based 501c3 not-for-profit organization working to support and publicize the work of the "Oasis of Peace."
Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is also home to the School for Peace, a conflict management institute that also works to build positive relationships between Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians. Its workshops bring together Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel, as well as Palestinians living in the West Bank, for important dialogue workshops and conflict management training to promote equality.The "Oasis of Peace" has been bridging the gap between Arabs and Jews living in Israel for more than three decades and has been a pioneering voice in this area.
Its workshops and school often offer participants their first opportunities to meet someone from the other side. Its residents demonstrate daily that Arabs and Jews can live together with equality, understanding and peace. As attention in the U.S. turns toward the improvement of Jewish-Arab relations and the plight of Arab-Israelis, the model and programs of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam can provide insight and guidance.##
American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat Al-Salam
12925 Riverside Drive, 3rd Floor
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Tel. 818-325-8884, Fax 856-325-8983
Email afnswas@oasisofpeace.org
www.oasisofpeace.org ;
Monday, February 05, 2007
ANALYSIS: Mecca Meeting puts Saudi Leadership on challenge, By Mohammed Mar'i
Mecca Meeting Puts Saudi Leadership on Challenge
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)--The Palestinians, who their faces and hearts directed towards Mecca five times a day in prayers, questioned what the Mecca meeting between Palestinian rivals will conclude on Tuesday after the Quartet meeting and previous Arab mediations failed to end the Palestinian strife.
The Palestinians expressed their depression from the results of Quartet's meeting in Washington. The Quartet, as the Palestinians expected, was supposed to intervene in the fierce infighting in Gaza and to end the financial and political boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Contrarily, the Quartet reaffirmed the international aid embargo against the Hamas-led Palestinian government unless it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and accepts past peace agreements signed between the PLO and Israel. Hamas has refused to meet those terms up to now, leading to a cutoff of direct international aid and a breakdown of services and order in the Palestinian Authority. Political and financial sanctions imposed by the international community have failed to bring down the Hamas-led government. Many observers today admit that they were mistaken in their earlier assessments that Haniyeh's government would collapse as a result of the local and international pressure. Their predictions that Hamas's popularity would drop have also proven to be wrong.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hopes that replacing the current Hamas-led government with a more moderate national unity government would be enough to persuade the West and Israel to lift crippling sanctions imposed on the Palestinian government to pressure it to abandon its militantly anti-Israel stand. But previous rounds of coalition talks between Abbas and Hamas leaders to convince Hamas to change its positions in order to save the Palestinian Authority from government, social and economic collapse, as well as from catastrophic anarchy have ended in failure and often led to new bloodletting. The last round of talks for forming a national unity government was held between Abbas and Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal in Damascus last month. They failed to reach an agreement over the distribution of cabinet portfolios in the proposed unity government, mainly the Interior Ministry, which is formally responsible for the PA security forces, and the political platform of the government.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia invited Abbas, Mashaal, and Prime Minster Ismail Haniyeh to meet in the holy city of Mecca in a step to end the mutual slaughter taking place between Fatah and Hamas, and to solve the internal conflict which lies in the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. Saudi Arabia is trying by this political maneuver to succeed where Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and Syria have failed.
Observers see that what Saudi Arabia needs is to find a foreign-policy compromise that would free the Palestinian Authority from the international political and financial siege imposed on them. Once a compromise is found, the obstacles of distributing ministerial portfolios will be secondary if the two sides have the real intention to resolve the crises.
It would appear that there is a chance for Saudi Arabia to recognize the real stands of the two Palestinian sides. It can clarify if there is a diplomatic or political solution with Hamas, or that the internecine fighting between Fatah and Hamas no more than a struggle for power and domination of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO. Saudi Arabia has the chance to bring the two Palestinian factions back to the rationale that no one can eliminate the other. It seems that reviving the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 of Saudi King Abdullah will be of great interest at this time. The initiative "called for full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land-for-peace principle, and Israel's acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel". For Hamas, the initiative can be a suitable approach towards Israel in light of Mashal's last month statement recognizing Israel as a "fact" and calling for long Hudna (cease-fire) with Israel in exchange of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and by implicitly presenting its recognition of Israel as a condition for Israel's recognition of it. Hamas can put the initiative pack on track as a basis for future peace negotiation with Israel remembering Israeli defense Minister Amir Peretz saying last year that Israel "must deal with the Saudi initiative as a basis for negotiations".
Saudi Arabia , once Hamas and Fatah accepted this compromise, can adopt this political step and formed a Palestinian national unity government without previous US consultation. Saudi Arabia can acquire recognition from the Quartet, mainly the US which benefit from the regional role of Saudi Arabia in dealing with Iran's Nukes and against its activities in Iraq. Moreover, the moderate policy of Saudi Arabia enabled the Kingdom to resolve Arab disputes in the last century. In 1973, Saudi Arabia ended the crisis between Iraq and Kuwait when Iraq infiltrated the Kuwaiti boundaries. In 1989, Saudi Arabia succeeded in putting an end to the Lebanese civil war by concluding the Taif Agreement.
An agreement in Mecca, on the basis of Arab Peace Initiative, or on the basis of Hamas "respecting" the Quartet preconditions, is of high significance for the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia. For Palestinians, it seems that it will be the last chance before sliding to a civil war taking into consideration the rising military forces and arsenal in both sides. The Mecca meeting will be the last chance for the Palestinians before moving to the second phase of confrontation backed by the US and Iran after the phase of financial siege failed. For Saudi Arabia, it is a chance to prove its leading regional role despite the fact that the Quartet's reaffirmation of its January 30, 2006 preconditions minimized the chance of Saudi Arabia to success. Besides it will be a step for Saudi Arabia to regain consideration for its peace initiative which was rejected and humiliated by Israel. The Initiative was adopted by the Arab League in its summit at Beirut on March 28, 2002. Ariel Sharon, then Israeli Prime Minster, launched in the next day the "Operation Defensive Shield" where he reoccupied all major West Bank cities. Failing to achieve an agreement, the regional leadership will be dominated by Iran.
*(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)--The Palestinians, who their faces and hearts directed towards Mecca five times a day in prayers, questioned what the Mecca meeting between Palestinian rivals will conclude on Tuesday after the Quartet meeting and previous Arab mediations failed to end the Palestinian strife.
The Palestinians expressed their depression from the results of Quartet's meeting in Washington. The Quartet, as the Palestinians expected, was supposed to intervene in the fierce infighting in Gaza and to end the financial and political boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Contrarily, the Quartet reaffirmed the international aid embargo against the Hamas-led Palestinian government unless it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and accepts past peace agreements signed between the PLO and Israel. Hamas has refused to meet those terms up to now, leading to a cutoff of direct international aid and a breakdown of services and order in the Palestinian Authority. Political and financial sanctions imposed by the international community have failed to bring down the Hamas-led government. Many observers today admit that they were mistaken in their earlier assessments that Haniyeh's government would collapse as a result of the local and international pressure. Their predictions that Hamas's popularity would drop have also proven to be wrong.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hopes that replacing the current Hamas-led government with a more moderate national unity government would be enough to persuade the West and Israel to lift crippling sanctions imposed on the Palestinian government to pressure it to abandon its militantly anti-Israel stand. But previous rounds of coalition talks between Abbas and Hamas leaders to convince Hamas to change its positions in order to save the Palestinian Authority from government, social and economic collapse, as well as from catastrophic anarchy have ended in failure and often led to new bloodletting. The last round of talks for forming a national unity government was held between Abbas and Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal in Damascus last month. They failed to reach an agreement over the distribution of cabinet portfolios in the proposed unity government, mainly the Interior Ministry, which is formally responsible for the PA security forces, and the political platform of the government.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia invited Abbas, Mashaal, and Prime Minster Ismail Haniyeh to meet in the holy city of Mecca in a step to end the mutual slaughter taking place between Fatah and Hamas, and to solve the internal conflict which lies in the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. Saudi Arabia is trying by this political maneuver to succeed where Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and Syria have failed.
Observers see that what Saudi Arabia needs is to find a foreign-policy compromise that would free the Palestinian Authority from the international political and financial siege imposed on them. Once a compromise is found, the obstacles of distributing ministerial portfolios will be secondary if the two sides have the real intention to resolve the crises.
It would appear that there is a chance for Saudi Arabia to recognize the real stands of the two Palestinian sides. It can clarify if there is a diplomatic or political solution with Hamas, or that the internecine fighting between Fatah and Hamas no more than a struggle for power and domination of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO. Saudi Arabia has the chance to bring the two Palestinian factions back to the rationale that no one can eliminate the other. It seems that reviving the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 of Saudi King Abdullah will be of great interest at this time. The initiative "called for full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land-for-peace principle, and Israel's acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel". For Hamas, the initiative can be a suitable approach towards Israel in light of Mashal's last month statement recognizing Israel as a "fact" and calling for long Hudna (cease-fire) with Israel in exchange of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and by implicitly presenting its recognition of Israel as a condition for Israel's recognition of it. Hamas can put the initiative pack on track as a basis for future peace negotiation with Israel remembering Israeli defense Minister Amir Peretz saying last year that Israel "must deal with the Saudi initiative as a basis for negotiations".
Saudi Arabia , once Hamas and Fatah accepted this compromise, can adopt this political step and formed a Palestinian national unity government without previous US consultation. Saudi Arabia can acquire recognition from the Quartet, mainly the US which benefit from the regional role of Saudi Arabia in dealing with Iran's Nukes and against its activities in Iraq. Moreover, the moderate policy of Saudi Arabia enabled the Kingdom to resolve Arab disputes in the last century. In 1973, Saudi Arabia ended the crisis between Iraq and Kuwait when Iraq infiltrated the Kuwaiti boundaries. In 1989, Saudi Arabia succeeded in putting an end to the Lebanese civil war by concluding the Taif Agreement.
An agreement in Mecca, on the basis of Arab Peace Initiative, or on the basis of Hamas "respecting" the Quartet preconditions, is of high significance for the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia. For Palestinians, it seems that it will be the last chance before sliding to a civil war taking into consideration the rising military forces and arsenal in both sides. The Mecca meeting will be the last chance for the Palestinians before moving to the second phase of confrontation backed by the US and Iran after the phase of financial siege failed. For Saudi Arabia, it is a chance to prove its leading regional role despite the fact that the Quartet's reaffirmation of its January 30, 2006 preconditions minimized the chance of Saudi Arabia to success. Besides it will be a step for Saudi Arabia to regain consideration for its peace initiative which was rejected and humiliated by Israel. The Initiative was adopted by the Arab League in its summit at Beirut on March 28, 2002. Ariel Sharon, then Israeli Prime Minster, launched in the next day the "Operation Defensive Shield" where he reoccupied all major West Bank cities. Failing to achieve an agreement, the regional leadership will be dominated by Iran.
*(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
ANALYSIS: Mecca Meeting puts Saudi Leadership on challenge, By Mohammed Mar'i
Mecca Meeting Puts Saudi Leadership on Challenge
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)--The Palestinians, who their faces and hearts directed towards Mecca five times a day in prayers, questioned what the Mecca meeting between Palestinian rivals will conclude on Tuesday after the Quartet meeting and previous Arab mediations failed to end the Palestinian strife.
The Palestinians expressed their depression from the results of Quartet's meeting in Washington. The Quartet, as the Palestinians expected, was supposed to intervene in the fierce infighting in Gaza and to end the financial and political boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Contrarily, the Quartet reaffirmed the international aid embargo against the Hamas-led Palestinian government unless it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and accepts past peace agreements signed between the PLO and Israel. Hamas has refused to meet those terms up to now, leading to a cutoff of direct international aid and a breakdown of services and order in the Palestinian Authority. Political and financial sanctions imposed by the international community have failed to bring down the Hamas-led government. Many observers today admit that they were mistaken in their earlier assessments that Haniyeh's government would collapse as a result of the local and international pressure. Their predictions that Hamas's popularity would drop have also proven to be wrong.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hopes that replacing the current Hamas-led government with a more moderate national unity government would be enough to persuade the West and Israel to lift crippling sanctions imposed on the Palestinian government to pressure it to abandon its militantly anti-Israel stand. But previous rounds of coalition talks between Abbas and Hamas leaders to convince Hamas to change its positions in order to save the Palestinian Authority from government, social and economic collapse, as well as from catastrophic anarchy have ended in failure and often led to new bloodletting. The last round of talks for forming a national unity government was held between Abbas and Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal in Damascus last month. They failed to reach an agreement over the distribution of cabinet portfolios in the proposed unity government, mainly the Interior Ministry, which is formally responsible for the PA security forces, and the political platform of the government.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia invited Abbas, Mashaal, and Prime Minster Ismail Haniyeh to meet in the holy city of Mecca in a step to end the mutual slaughter taking place between Fatah and Hamas, and to solve the internal conflict which lies in the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. Saudi Arabia is trying by this political maneuver to succeed where Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and Syria have failed.
Observers see that what Saudi Arabia needs is to find a foreign-policy compromise that would free the Palestinian Authority from the international political and financial siege imposed on them. Once a compromise is found, the obstacles of distributing ministerial portfolios will be secondary if the two sides have the real intention to resolve the crises.
It would appear that there is a chance for Saudi Arabia to recognize the real stands of the two Palestinian sides. It can clarify if there is a diplomatic or political solution with Hamas, or that the internecine fighting between Fatah and Hamas no more than a struggle for power and domination of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO. Saudi Arabia has the chance to bring the two Palestinian factions back to the rationale that no one can eliminate the other. It seems that reviving the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 of Saudi King Abdullah will be of great interest at this time. The initiative "called for full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land-for-peace principle, and Israel's acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel". For Hamas, the initiative can be a suitable approach towards Israel in light of Mashal's last month statement recognizing Israel as a "fact" and calling for long Hudna (cease-fire) with Israel in exchange of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and by implicitly presenting its recognition of Israel as a condition for Israel's recognition of it. Hamas can put the initiative pack on track as a basis for future peace negotiation with Israel remembering Israeli defense Minister Amir Peretz saying last year that Israel "must deal with the Saudi initiative as a basis for negotiations".
Saudi Arabia , once Hamas and Fatah accepted this compromise, can adopt this political step and formed a Palestinian national unity government without previous US consultation. Saudi Arabia can acquire recognition from the Quartet, mainly the US which benefit from the regional role of Saudi Arabia in dealing with Iran's Nukes and against its activities in Iraq. Moreover, the moderate policy of Saudi Arabia enabled the Kingdom to resolve Arab disputes in the last century. In 1973, Saudi Arabia ended the crisis between Iraq and Kuwait when Iraq infiltrated the Kuwaiti boundaries. In 1989, Saudi Arabia succeeded in putting an end to the Lebanese civil war by concluding the Taif Agreement.
An agreement in Mecca, on the basis of Arab Peace Initiative, or on the basis of Hamas "respecting" the Quartet preconditions, is of high significance for the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia. For Palestinians, it seems that it will be the last chance before sliding to a civil war taking into consideration the rising military forces and arsenal in both sides. The Mecca meeting will be the last chance for the Palestinians before moving to the second phase of confrontation backed by the US and Iran after the phase of financial siege failed. For Saudi Arabia, it is a chance to prove its leading regional role despite the fact that the Quartet's reaffirmation of its January 30, 2006 preconditions minimized the chance of Saudi Arabia to success. Besides it will be a step for Saudi Arabia to regain consideration for its peace initiative which was rejected and humiliated by Israel. The Initiative was adopted by the Arab League in its summit at Beirut on March 28, 2002. Ariel Sharon, then Israeli Prime Minster, launched in the next day the "Operation Defensive Shield" where he reoccupied all major West Bank cities. Failing to achieve an agreement, the regional leadership will be dominated by Iran.
*(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)--The Palestinians, who their faces and hearts directed towards Mecca five times a day in prayers, questioned what the Mecca meeting between Palestinian rivals will conclude on Tuesday after the Quartet meeting and previous Arab mediations failed to end the Palestinian strife.
The Palestinians expressed their depression from the results of Quartet's meeting in Washington. The Quartet, as the Palestinians expected, was supposed to intervene in the fierce infighting in Gaza and to end the financial and political boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Contrarily, the Quartet reaffirmed the international aid embargo against the Hamas-led Palestinian government unless it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and accepts past peace agreements signed between the PLO and Israel. Hamas has refused to meet those terms up to now, leading to a cutoff of direct international aid and a breakdown of services and order in the Palestinian Authority. Political and financial sanctions imposed by the international community have failed to bring down the Hamas-led government. Many observers today admit that they were mistaken in their earlier assessments that Haniyeh's government would collapse as a result of the local and international pressure. Their predictions that Hamas's popularity would drop have also proven to be wrong.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hopes that replacing the current Hamas-led government with a more moderate national unity government would be enough to persuade the West and Israel to lift crippling sanctions imposed on the Palestinian government to pressure it to abandon its militantly anti-Israel stand. But previous rounds of coalition talks between Abbas and Hamas leaders to convince Hamas to change its positions in order to save the Palestinian Authority from government, social and economic collapse, as well as from catastrophic anarchy have ended in failure and often led to new bloodletting. The last round of talks for forming a national unity government was held between Abbas and Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal in Damascus last month. They failed to reach an agreement over the distribution of cabinet portfolios in the proposed unity government, mainly the Interior Ministry, which is formally responsible for the PA security forces, and the political platform of the government.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia invited Abbas, Mashaal, and Prime Minster Ismail Haniyeh to meet in the holy city of Mecca in a step to end the mutual slaughter taking place between Fatah and Hamas, and to solve the internal conflict which lies in the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. Saudi Arabia is trying by this political maneuver to succeed where Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and Syria have failed.
Observers see that what Saudi Arabia needs is to find a foreign-policy compromise that would free the Palestinian Authority from the international political and financial siege imposed on them. Once a compromise is found, the obstacles of distributing ministerial portfolios will be secondary if the two sides have the real intention to resolve the crises.
It would appear that there is a chance for Saudi Arabia to recognize the real stands of the two Palestinian sides. It can clarify if there is a diplomatic or political solution with Hamas, or that the internecine fighting between Fatah and Hamas no more than a struggle for power and domination of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO. Saudi Arabia has the chance to bring the two Palestinian factions back to the rationale that no one can eliminate the other. It seems that reviving the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 of Saudi King Abdullah will be of great interest at this time. The initiative "called for full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land-for-peace principle, and Israel's acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel". For Hamas, the initiative can be a suitable approach towards Israel in light of Mashal's last month statement recognizing Israel as a "fact" and calling for long Hudna (cease-fire) with Israel in exchange of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and by implicitly presenting its recognition of Israel as a condition for Israel's recognition of it. Hamas can put the initiative pack on track as a basis for future peace negotiation with Israel remembering Israeli defense Minister Amir Peretz saying last year that Israel "must deal with the Saudi initiative as a basis for negotiations".
Saudi Arabia , once Hamas and Fatah accepted this compromise, can adopt this political step and formed a Palestinian national unity government without previous US consultation. Saudi Arabia can acquire recognition from the Quartet, mainly the US which benefit from the regional role of Saudi Arabia in dealing with Iran's Nukes and against its activities in Iraq. Moreover, the moderate policy of Saudi Arabia enabled the Kingdom to resolve Arab disputes in the last century. In 1973, Saudi Arabia ended the crisis between Iraq and Kuwait when Iraq infiltrated the Kuwaiti boundaries. In 1989, Saudi Arabia succeeded in putting an end to the Lebanese civil war by concluding the Taif Agreement.
An agreement in Mecca, on the basis of Arab Peace Initiative, or on the basis of Hamas "respecting" the Quartet preconditions, is of high significance for the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia. For Palestinians, it seems that it will be the last chance before sliding to a civil war taking into consideration the rising military forces and arsenal in both sides. The Mecca meeting will be the last chance for the Palestinians before moving to the second phase of confrontation backed by the US and Iran after the phase of financial siege failed. For Saudi Arabia, it is a chance to prove its leading regional role despite the fact that the Quartet's reaffirmation of its January 30, 2006 preconditions minimized the chance of Saudi Arabia to success. Besides it will be a step for Saudi Arabia to regain consideration for its peace initiative which was rejected and humiliated by Israel. The Initiative was adopted by the Arab League in its summit at Beirut on March 28, 2002. Ariel Sharon, then Israeli Prime Minster, launched in the next day the "Operation Defensive Shield" where he reoccupied all major West Bank cities. Failing to achieve an agreement, the regional leadership will be dominated by Iran.
*(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Israel builds a bridge under al-Aqsa Mosque, By Mohammed Mar'i
Israel Builds a Bridge under Al Aqsa Mosque
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- While severe fighting continues between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza Strip, Israel will start constructing a bridge At Al Aqsa Mosque Sunday. The director of the cartographic department in the society for Arab Studies, Khalil Toufakji, has warned of an ethnic cleansing operation against some 24,000 Palestinians in the old city of Jerusalem.
Toufakji added that Israel has built "the Jewish neighborhood" in the city, which contains around 70 settlement units.
Speaking in a press conference in Ramallah on Saturday, Toufakji spoke about the holy city, "and the dangers it faces in the shadow of the Israeli government policy of Judaizing the city". He added that "anyone who is watching the Israeli strategy in the city will find that it has reached a dangerous stage, and is now in the last steps of its demographic Judaization."
Operating on the demographic level, the policy aims to reduce the number of Palestinian citizens in the city, so the Israelis will form a significant majority in the future.
Toufakji drew attention to the tunnels and bridges which Israel is currently constructing. The Israeli authorities are attempting to build a link between the Western wall complex by opening a tunnel from Magharbah Gate. It is understood that this tunnel will be opened on Sunday.
Toufakji declared "there is nothing left of the Magharbah neighborhood… the goal of all these excavations is an attempt to find the temple although there isn't proven sign of its existence in the place."
Toufakji criticized the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic neglect of Jerusalem saying "as all parties are ignoring the issue of Jerusalem… we speak on every occasion about the dangers facing the city but we do nothing". He also mentioned the change in the Israeli prime minister's convergence plans, stating that "there will be streets for Jews only, and other streets for Palestinians."
*(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- While severe fighting continues between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza Strip, Israel will start constructing a bridge At Al Aqsa Mosque Sunday. The director of the cartographic department in the society for Arab Studies, Khalil Toufakji, has warned of an ethnic cleansing operation against some 24,000 Palestinians in the old city of Jerusalem.
Toufakji added that Israel has built "the Jewish neighborhood" in the city, which contains around 70 settlement units.
Speaking in a press conference in Ramallah on Saturday, Toufakji spoke about the holy city, "and the dangers it faces in the shadow of the Israeli government policy of Judaizing the city". He added that "anyone who is watching the Israeli strategy in the city will find that it has reached a dangerous stage, and is now in the last steps of its demographic Judaization."
Operating on the demographic level, the policy aims to reduce the number of Palestinian citizens in the city, so the Israelis will form a significant majority in the future.
Toufakji drew attention to the tunnels and bridges which Israel is currently constructing. The Israeli authorities are attempting to build a link between the Western wall complex by opening a tunnel from Magharbah Gate. It is understood that this tunnel will be opened on Sunday.
Toufakji declared "there is nothing left of the Magharbah neighborhood… the goal of all these excavations is an attempt to find the temple although there isn't proven sign of its existence in the place."
Toufakji criticized the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic neglect of Jerusalem saying "as all parties are ignoring the issue of Jerusalem… we speak on every occasion about the dangers facing the city but we do nothing". He also mentioned the change in the Israeli prime minister's convergence plans, stating that "there will be streets for Jews only, and other streets for Palestinians."
*(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Thursday, February 01, 2007
NEWS: 3 Palestinians killed in West Bank, By Mohammed Mar'i
Israel Killed Three Palestinians in the West Bank
The non-violent resistance of Martin Luther King in Hebron
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish or distribute.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- Amid tense cease fire between the Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas and an accusation to the US of promoting civil war among the Palestinians by transferring $86 million to strengthen security forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed three Palestinians in the West Bank on Thursday.
The IOF troops killed Taha Mohammed, from the old city in Jerusalem, who tried to infiltrate Israel through the Separation Wall near the Kalandiya refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, on Thursday morning.
In Nablus, the IOF killed Amer Kalbouneh and Wael Awad during a predawn raid in the city. Dr Ghassan Hamdan who works for the Palestinian Medical Relief Committees said "that two were killed several IOF jeeps and bulldozers opened fire on Palestinian crowds and houses in the Old city of Nablus". He added that "the Israeli Forces prevented medical teams from rescuing and left them bleeding from their wounds until they died". The IOF accused Kalbouneh and Awad of belonging to al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, military wing of Fatah.
On separate Palestinian peaceful activity to protest the Israeli apartheid policy in Hebron city, Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, held Thursday a teach-in in front of the Tel Rumeida checkpoint in the city of Hebron. The theme of the action is the non-violent resistance promoted by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The International Solidarity Movement said in a press release that "Dr. King was one of the pioneers of the civil rights movement in the United States in the early 60s and was the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize".
The children of Tel Rumeida gathered together for their weekly art lesson at the checkpoint where they learned about the work of Dr. King and created a T-shirt with Dr. King's famous quote: "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed" in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
Last Thursday local residents and community representatives rallied at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint to demonstrate against settlers' violence and the closure of Shuhada Street which cuts through the centre of Hebron. Shuhada Street has been closed to Palestinians for six years, although the Israeli High Court recently ruled that this had been a 'mistake' and Palestinians had the right of access. Despite this ruling the Israeli authorities continue to deny passage to Palestinians along Shuhada Street. The residents of Hebron and Tel Rumeida demand the right to access freely all parts of their city.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
The non-violent resistance of Martin Luther King in Hebron
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish or distribute.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- Amid tense cease fire between the Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas and an accusation to the US of promoting civil war among the Palestinians by transferring $86 million to strengthen security forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed three Palestinians in the West Bank on Thursday.
The IOF troops killed Taha Mohammed, from the old city in Jerusalem, who tried to infiltrate Israel through the Separation Wall near the Kalandiya refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, on Thursday morning.
In Nablus, the IOF killed Amer Kalbouneh and Wael Awad during a predawn raid in the city. Dr Ghassan Hamdan who works for the Palestinian Medical Relief Committees said "that two were killed several IOF jeeps and bulldozers opened fire on Palestinian crowds and houses in the Old city of Nablus". He added that "the Israeli Forces prevented medical teams from rescuing and left them bleeding from their wounds until they died". The IOF accused Kalbouneh and Awad of belonging to al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, military wing of Fatah.
On separate Palestinian peaceful activity to protest the Israeli apartheid policy in Hebron city, Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, held Thursday a teach-in in front of the Tel Rumeida checkpoint in the city of Hebron. The theme of the action is the non-violent resistance promoted by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The International Solidarity Movement said in a press release that "Dr. King was one of the pioneers of the civil rights movement in the United States in the early 60s and was the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize".
The children of Tel Rumeida gathered together for their weekly art lesson at the checkpoint where they learned about the work of Dr. King and created a T-shirt with Dr. King's famous quote: "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed" in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
Last Thursday local residents and community representatives rallied at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint to demonstrate against settlers' violence and the closure of Shuhada Street which cuts through the centre of Hebron. Shuhada Street has been closed to Palestinians for six years, although the Israeli High Court recently ruled that this had been a 'mistake' and Palestinians had the right of access. Despite this ruling the Israeli authorities continue to deny passage to Palestinians along Shuhada Street. The residents of Hebron and Tel Rumeida demand the right to access freely all parts of their city.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Monday, January 29, 2007
ANALYSIS: Is Eilat bombing attempt to end Palestinian in-fighting? By Mohammed Mar'i
Eilat Bombing Attack left 3 Killed Israelis
Is the attack an attempt to end the fighting in Gaza or an invitation for Israel to inter it?
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- The bombing attack killed three Israelis and critically wounded two, Monday, January 29, 2007, when Mohammad Faisal al- Siksik, 21, from Shaja'iyyah in Gaza blew himself up in a bakery in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat.
"Saraya Al Quds", the military wing of Islamic Jihad which claimed the attack with another two Palestinian groups, said in a statement that they had engineered the attack in "an attempt to focus Palestinians' attention away from killing each other".
Abu Hamza, the spokesman of Saraya Al Quds, said in a special interview said that" Saraya Al Quds is planning for an attack in the heart of the Zionist enemy since seven months, we have chosen Eilat since it is the most safe and quiet Israeli city". "Saraya Al Quds and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades planned how to enter Eilat through hard and complex procedures", he added.
In its statement, "Saraya Al Quds" said that" the attacker infiltrated Eilat from Jordan and that the attack is part of "Operation Ice Thawing" in response to ongoing Israel aggressions against Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank".
The Israeli Army Radio reported that another two persons were critically wounded in the attack. An Israeli police officer told the Radio that "This was a suicide bombing and the bomber is one of the dead. He apparently entered with a bag or explosives belt and blew himself up inside the shop". "Bread still in trays and shattered glass were scattered outside the shop as ambulance crews and police swarmed the residential street", the officer added to the Radio. Witnesses told the Radio that "body parts were strewn throughout the bakery". Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi told the Israel Radio that" the victims of the attack were likely to be local residents and not tourists" adding that" the city had not been prepared for an attack".
Early Monday morning, "Saraya Al Quds", the military wing of Islamic Jihad movement, the "Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades", the military wing of Fatah movement, and the unknown Palestinian group "Army of Believers" claimed responsibility for carrying the attack.
The Islamic Jihad praised the Eilat attack and announced that "this is a welcomed attack that emphasizes the Palestinian resistance's intent to continue the Jihad until all Palestinian lands are freed".
Fatah spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman in a press release condemned the attack, saying, "We are against any operation that targets civilians, Israelis or Palestinians."
Fawzi Barhoum, spokesman of Hamas, called the attack a "natural response" to Israeli Occupation Forces policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as its ongoing boycott of the Hamas-led government". He added that "So long as there is occupation, resistance is legitimate". He considered that attacks on Israel are preferable than the bloody confrontations between Palestinians saying "the right thing is for Fatah weapons to be directed toward the occupation not toward Hamas". He added that "This is a message to the world saying that the Palestinian resistance has the right to choose the time and the place for their actions."
But can the Eilat attack which is the first bombing attack since April 2006, when a Palestinian bomber blew himself up at the old central bus station in Tel Aviv, killing nine people, can it put the Palestinian "resistance" back on track to fight Israel only? Or is it an invitation for Israel to be a third party in the fighting between the rivals Fatah and Hamas taking into consideration the continued Israeli threat to enter Gaza?
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Is the attack an attempt to end the fighting in Gaza or an invitation for Israel to inter it?
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- The bombing attack killed three Israelis and critically wounded two, Monday, January 29, 2007, when Mohammad Faisal al- Siksik, 21, from Shaja'iyyah in Gaza blew himself up in a bakery in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat.
"Saraya Al Quds", the military wing of Islamic Jihad which claimed the attack with another two Palestinian groups, said in a statement that they had engineered the attack in "an attempt to focus Palestinians' attention away from killing each other".
Abu Hamza, the spokesman of Saraya Al Quds, said in a special interview said that" Saraya Al Quds is planning for an attack in the heart of the Zionist enemy since seven months, we have chosen Eilat since it is the most safe and quiet Israeli city". "Saraya Al Quds and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades planned how to enter Eilat through hard and complex procedures", he added.
In its statement, "Saraya Al Quds" said that" the attacker infiltrated Eilat from Jordan and that the attack is part of "Operation Ice Thawing" in response to ongoing Israel aggressions against Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank".
The Israeli Army Radio reported that another two persons were critically wounded in the attack. An Israeli police officer told the Radio that "This was a suicide bombing and the bomber is one of the dead. He apparently entered with a bag or explosives belt and blew himself up inside the shop". "Bread still in trays and shattered glass were scattered outside the shop as ambulance crews and police swarmed the residential street", the officer added to the Radio. Witnesses told the Radio that "body parts were strewn throughout the bakery". Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi told the Israel Radio that" the victims of the attack were likely to be local residents and not tourists" adding that" the city had not been prepared for an attack".
Early Monday morning, "Saraya Al Quds", the military wing of Islamic Jihad movement, the "Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades", the military wing of Fatah movement, and the unknown Palestinian group "Army of Believers" claimed responsibility for carrying the attack.
The Islamic Jihad praised the Eilat attack and announced that "this is a welcomed attack that emphasizes the Palestinian resistance's intent to continue the Jihad until all Palestinian lands are freed".
Fatah spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman in a press release condemned the attack, saying, "We are against any operation that targets civilians, Israelis or Palestinians."
Fawzi Barhoum, spokesman of Hamas, called the attack a "natural response" to Israeli Occupation Forces policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as its ongoing boycott of the Hamas-led government". He added that "So long as there is occupation, resistance is legitimate". He considered that attacks on Israel are preferable than the bloody confrontations between Palestinians saying "the right thing is for Fatah weapons to be directed toward the occupation not toward Hamas". He added that "This is a message to the world saying that the Palestinian resistance has the right to choose the time and the place for their actions."
But can the Eilat attack which is the first bombing attack since April 2006, when a Palestinian bomber blew himself up at the old central bus station in Tel Aviv, killing nine people, can it put the Palestinian "resistance" back on track to fight Israel only? Or is it an invitation for Israel to be a third party in the fighting between the rivals Fatah and Hamas taking into consideration the continued Israeli threat to enter Gaza?
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Sunday, January 28, 2007
NEWS: Palestinian employee salaries bolster Hamas-led government, By Mohammed Mar'i
Salaries of Palestinian Servants Bolster Hamas-led Government
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
The Palestinian public sector servants received Sunday, January 28, 2007 a complete salary for the first time since the formation of Hamas-led government ten months ago. The Servants used to receive 350 US$ down payments from the European Union and internal tax revenues to secure the basic needs for their families. Although the payments didn't resolve the internal economic crisis but they relieved the pressure exerted on Palestinian Government.
Following the triumph of Hamas in January 2006 elections, international sanctions, both political and financial, were imposed on its government to oblige it to abide by Quartet's demands: government must be committed to non-violence, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the roadmap. The Palestinian Authority relied upon the international and Arab aid to pay the salaries of its servants. In an attempt to undermine the financial siege, Hamas leaders organized tours to some Arab and Islamic countries mainly Iran to raise money for the ostracized government. The raised money failed to be transferred to the Palestinian Finance Ministry due to the U. S. led embargo on banks not to transfer money to "Hamas terrorist government".
The European Union, which is the biggest donor to the PA, initiated a mechanism of financial grants to the Palestinian civil servants, especially teachers, health workers, and poor families with a goal of undermining support for Hamas within the Palestinian society. Their predictions that Hamas's popularity would drop in the Palestinian society have proven to be wrong. Many observers today admit that they were mistaken in their earlier assessments that Haniyeh's government would collapse as a result of the local and international pressure. It seems that the political and financial sanctions imposed by the international community not only have failed to bring down the Hamas-led government, but the international aid to the Palestinians increased by nearly 10 percent following Hamas's election victory, the United Nations under-secretary general for political affairs Ibrahim Gambari told the UN Security Council on Thursday, January 25, 2007 .
He said on the anniversary of Hamas's winning 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections that "aid to Palestinians in 2006 had actually increased, despite the reassessment of donor programs and the cessation of financial transfers by Israel to the Palestinians", adding that "most of the aid was bypassing the Palestinian government". He said in a UN press release that the "total assistance to Palestinians last year - not including funds channeled to the Palestinian Authority government or Hamas by regional donors - had been $1.2 billion, which represented a nearly 10% increase over 2005," a UN press release said .
Gambari said also that "humanitarian assistance alone had doubled since 2004 and primarily took the form of food aid and cash-for-work programs". The food and cash for work programs allowed around 35000 poor Palestinian families to get a monthly allowance.
The Abbas' Office played a great role in relieving pressure on Hamas Government. The international institutions, the European Union, and even Israel which transferred $100 million to the Palestinian Authority from the Palestinian tax revenues that have been frozen since the Hamas-led government came to power in the PA, transferred their fund to Abbas' Office account to bypass the Hamas government.
The US, European countries, and Fatah leaders pledged that Hamas would not stay in power for more than three of four months due to Palestinian public pressure after discovering that Hamas will not be able to run a government isolated politically and financially. But observers see that Hamas will not make any concessions or leave governance without a pressure from the Palestinian street. With a Palestinian people taking salaries and grants from international community and Israel via Abbas, there is no need change the Hamas Government.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
The Palestinian public sector servants received Sunday, January 28, 2007 a complete salary for the first time since the formation of Hamas-led government ten months ago. The Servants used to receive 350 US$ down payments from the European Union and internal tax revenues to secure the basic needs for their families. Although the payments didn't resolve the internal economic crisis but they relieved the pressure exerted on Palestinian Government.
Following the triumph of Hamas in January 2006 elections, international sanctions, both political and financial, were imposed on its government to oblige it to abide by Quartet's demands: government must be committed to non-violence, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the roadmap. The Palestinian Authority relied upon the international and Arab aid to pay the salaries of its servants. In an attempt to undermine the financial siege, Hamas leaders organized tours to some Arab and Islamic countries mainly Iran to raise money for the ostracized government. The raised money failed to be transferred to the Palestinian Finance Ministry due to the U. S. led embargo on banks not to transfer money to "Hamas terrorist government".
The European Union, which is the biggest donor to the PA, initiated a mechanism of financial grants to the Palestinian civil servants, especially teachers, health workers, and poor families with a goal of undermining support for Hamas within the Palestinian society. Their predictions that Hamas's popularity would drop in the Palestinian society have proven to be wrong. Many observers today admit that they were mistaken in their earlier assessments that Haniyeh's government would collapse as a result of the local and international pressure. It seems that the political and financial sanctions imposed by the international community not only have failed to bring down the Hamas-led government, but the international aid to the Palestinians increased by nearly 10 percent following Hamas's election victory, the United Nations under-secretary general for political affairs Ibrahim Gambari told the UN Security Council on Thursday, January 25, 2007 .
He said on the anniversary of Hamas's winning 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections that "aid to Palestinians in 2006 had actually increased, despite the reassessment of donor programs and the cessation of financial transfers by Israel to the Palestinians", adding that "most of the aid was bypassing the Palestinian government". He said in a UN press release that the "total assistance to Palestinians last year - not including funds channeled to the Palestinian Authority government or Hamas by regional donors - had been $1.2 billion, which represented a nearly 10% increase over 2005," a UN press release said .
Gambari said also that "humanitarian assistance alone had doubled since 2004 and primarily took the form of food aid and cash-for-work programs". The food and cash for work programs allowed around 35000 poor Palestinian families to get a monthly allowance.
The Abbas' Office played a great role in relieving pressure on Hamas Government. The international institutions, the European Union, and even Israel which transferred $100 million to the Palestinian Authority from the Palestinian tax revenues that have been frozen since the Hamas-led government came to power in the PA, transferred their fund to Abbas' Office account to bypass the Hamas government.
The US, European countries, and Fatah leaders pledged that Hamas would not stay in power for more than three of four months due to Palestinian public pressure after discovering that Hamas will not be able to run a government isolated politically and financially. But observers see that Hamas will not make any concessions or leave governance without a pressure from the Palestinian street. With a Palestinian people taking salaries and grants from international community and Israel via Abbas, there is no need change the Hamas Government.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
NEWS: Palestinian polls show majority feel they are not safe, By Mohammed Mar'i
The Palestinian Internal Crisis: 86.9% of Palestinians aren't safe, 53.5% see it a civil war
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- A recent Palestinian public opinion poll shown that the majority of Palestinian people are concerned with the deteriorated internal security and bloody confrontations between Fateh and Hamas due to the failure of forming a national unity government. Whereas ð86.9 % of respondents, of the 25th Palestinian Public Opinion Poll conducted by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah National University during the period from January 22-24, 2006, did not feel safe neither for themselves nor for their families and properties under the present circumstances, 53.5 % of respondents believed that Palestinians have entered in a civil war after the armed confrontations between Fateh and Hamas.
According to the Poll that included 1360 persons from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 71.8% of respondents said that their economic situation under the current circumstances is deteriorating and 74.5 % of respondents said that the local security conditions deteriorated .
Regarding Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared intention to conduct early Presidential and Legislative elections after the wavering of the negotiations on the formation of a unity government, 52 %of respondents supported Abass' call for early Presidential and Legislative elections if no compromise is reached towards the formation of a unity Palestinian government while 517 %of respondents rejected Hamas' position in refusing conducting early Presidential and Legislative elections if no compromise is reached towards the formation of a new Palestinian government .
The Palestinians consider that a national unity government may rescue them from the current crisis whether the brutal confrontations between the rivals Fateh and Hamas or the international financial siege. 54.4 %of respondents saw that a unity government is the proper form of government that can manage Palestinian affairs, 18.1% saw that it is an independent national technocrat government, 8.1% saw that it is a Hamas government and 15.3% saw that it is a Fateh government . 23.7% of respondents supported the idea that the future government should be a government of services without having anything to do with the political affairs . 71.3 % of respondents saw that an agreement to form a national unity government, if achieved, will relieve the Palestinian People from the political and financial siege imposed on them . 16.6 %of respondents saw that the delay in the formation of a unity government is related to the disagreement on the political agenda of the government; 29.6% saw that it is related to the disagreement on the distribution of portfolios . 46 %of respondents supported the idea that the responsibilities of negotiations with Israel should be given to the PLO . 77.6% of respondents supported the reformation of the PLO so that it would include all nonmember Palestinian factions.
If early Palestinian presidential and legislative elections is conducted, 29 % of respondents said that they will vote for a Fateh candidate if new Presidential elections are conducted; 19% said they will vote for a Hamas candidate, while 29.5 % of respondents said that they will vote for Fateh candidates if new Legislative elections are conducted; 19.3% said they will vote for Hamas candidates.
Hamas recognition of Israel is an international condition to deal with a Hamas led government and to leave the financial siege. 49.5% of respondents believed that Khalid Mishal's declaration that 'Israel is a reality' is a preface to the recognition of Israel by Hamas . 40.5 % of respondents considered the proposal submitted to the Palestinian Prime Minister's Advisor Ahmed Yousif by some European countries and personalities as a "new Oslo deal ".
Concerning the attitudes of Palestinians towards methods of resistance against Israel, 56.6% of respondents supported armed operations inside Israel; while 37.4% rejected them. 64.2% of respondents supported concentrating armed operations within the borders of the 1967 occupied territories . 47.4 % of respondents rejected firing rockets at Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip . 47.1% of respondents said that firing rockets against Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip hurts the Palestinian cause; 30.1% said it serves the Palestinian cause positively . 27.2 % of respondents said the form of struggle that best serves the Palestinian cause is the armed struggle .
The poll also concentrated on the external intervention and pressure exerted on Abbas and Hamas to resolve the internal crisis. 75% of respondents said that kidnapping foreign journalists and sympathizers with Palestinians hurts the Palestinian cause . 77.3 % of respondents said that there is some outside intervention in the Palestinian decision; 6.5% said that it is an Arab intervention, 22.5% said that it is a foreign one, 68.9% said that it is both foreign and Arab, and 72.1% said that this intervention is a negative one . 9.5% of respondents believed that the last visit of US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East achieved some progress in pushing forward the peace process and the implementation of the Road Map; 80.7% believed the contrary. 12.9% of respondents believed that the US and Israeli declarations in support of President Mahmoud Abbas reinforce the Palestinian people's trust in his policy; 50.1% believed that such declarations reduce people's trust .
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- A recent Palestinian public opinion poll shown that the majority of Palestinian people are concerned with the deteriorated internal security and bloody confrontations between Fateh and Hamas due to the failure of forming a national unity government. Whereas ð86.9 % of respondents, of the 25th Palestinian Public Opinion Poll conducted by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah National University during the period from January 22-24, 2006, did not feel safe neither for themselves nor for their families and properties under the present circumstances, 53.5 % of respondents believed that Palestinians have entered in a civil war after the armed confrontations between Fateh and Hamas.
According to the Poll that included 1360 persons from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 71.8% of respondents said that their economic situation under the current circumstances is deteriorating and 74.5 % of respondents said that the local security conditions deteriorated .
Regarding Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared intention to conduct early Presidential and Legislative elections after the wavering of the negotiations on the formation of a unity government, 52 %of respondents supported Abass' call for early Presidential and Legislative elections if no compromise is reached towards the formation of a unity Palestinian government while 517 %of respondents rejected Hamas' position in refusing conducting early Presidential and Legislative elections if no compromise is reached towards the formation of a new Palestinian government .
The Palestinians consider that a national unity government may rescue them from the current crisis whether the brutal confrontations between the rivals Fateh and Hamas or the international financial siege. 54.4 %of respondents saw that a unity government is the proper form of government that can manage Palestinian affairs, 18.1% saw that it is an independent national technocrat government, 8.1% saw that it is a Hamas government and 15.3% saw that it is a Fateh government . 23.7% of respondents supported the idea that the future government should be a government of services without having anything to do with the political affairs . 71.3 % of respondents saw that an agreement to form a national unity government, if achieved, will relieve the Palestinian People from the political and financial siege imposed on them . 16.6 %of respondents saw that the delay in the formation of a unity government is related to the disagreement on the political agenda of the government; 29.6% saw that it is related to the disagreement on the distribution of portfolios . 46 %of respondents supported the idea that the responsibilities of negotiations with Israel should be given to the PLO . 77.6% of respondents supported the reformation of the PLO so that it would include all nonmember Palestinian factions.
If early Palestinian presidential and legislative elections is conducted, 29 % of respondents said that they will vote for a Fateh candidate if new Presidential elections are conducted; 19% said they will vote for a Hamas candidate, while 29.5 % of respondents said that they will vote for Fateh candidates if new Legislative elections are conducted; 19.3% said they will vote for Hamas candidates.
Hamas recognition of Israel is an international condition to deal with a Hamas led government and to leave the financial siege. 49.5% of respondents believed that Khalid Mishal's declaration that 'Israel is a reality' is a preface to the recognition of Israel by Hamas . 40.5 % of respondents considered the proposal submitted to the Palestinian Prime Minister's Advisor Ahmed Yousif by some European countries and personalities as a "new Oslo deal ".
Concerning the attitudes of Palestinians towards methods of resistance against Israel, 56.6% of respondents supported armed operations inside Israel; while 37.4% rejected them. 64.2% of respondents supported concentrating armed operations within the borders of the 1967 occupied territories . 47.4 % of respondents rejected firing rockets at Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip . 47.1% of respondents said that firing rockets against Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip hurts the Palestinian cause; 30.1% said it serves the Palestinian cause positively . 27.2 % of respondents said the form of struggle that best serves the Palestinian cause is the armed struggle .
The poll also concentrated on the external intervention and pressure exerted on Abbas and Hamas to resolve the internal crisis. 75% of respondents said that kidnapping foreign journalists and sympathizers with Palestinians hurts the Palestinian cause . 77.3 % of respondents said that there is some outside intervention in the Palestinian decision; 6.5% said that it is an Arab intervention, 22.5% said that it is a foreign one, 68.9% said that it is both foreign and Arab, and 72.1% said that this intervention is a negative one . 9.5% of respondents believed that the last visit of US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East achieved some progress in pushing forward the peace process and the implementation of the Road Map; 80.7% believed the contrary. 12.9% of respondents believed that the US and Israeli declarations in support of President Mahmoud Abbas reinforce the Palestinian people's trust in his policy; 50.1% believed that such declarations reduce people's trust .
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Saturday, January 27, 2007
NEWS?ANALYSIS: An Islamic militia claims attack on Al-Arabiya News Channel by Mohammed Mar'i
An Islamic Militia Claimed Blasting Al Arabiya News Channel in Gaza
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- Although it isn't the first time the Palestinians hear cover names for Palestinian armed militias after blasting and violent incidents in the West Bank and Gaza , an armed group called 'Suyuf Al-Haq Al-Islamiya', which means 'The Islamic Swords of Right Group', has claimed responsibility for the explosion at Al-Arabiya news channel in Gaza City on Monday night.
The group said in a statement that this explosion came as part of its campaign "Al-Ard Al-Baida", that means 'The White Land'. It said that the campaign has been launched to make "the land of Rabat pure from infidelity and corruption". 'The land of Rabat' is an Islamic term referring to the region surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the land of historic Palestine.
The statement accused Al-Arabiya of lying, hypocrisy and infidelity over several months. In its statement, the Group accused the Channel of being the voice of the Jewish state and not an Arabic channel. It said, "The perpetrators of this explosion send a message to the channel and other channels that put themselves in the service of Zionism whose main concern is to fight Islam and Muslims."
This Group has also claimed responsibility for the bombing of several Internet cafes and stores selling popular music cassettes in the Gaza Strip, and also for threatening women who wear modern cloths and unveiled their faces in the Gaza Strip.
At the beginning of 2006, this same group threatened to blow up churches in the Palestinian territories after newspapers in Denmark published insulting cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad, and also after the Pope Benedict XVI expressed comments in a lecture at a German university that were considered insulting about Islam.
In another violation of the freedom of expression in the West Bank and Gaza, the Executive Force has said that "it will prosecute any media outlet that does not broadcast or publish neutral news and insists on publishing lying and deception, and ignores the obvious realities".
The media office of the Executive Force, which is an armed militia under the control of the Hamas Minister of Interior Said Siyam, "promised to pursue any outlet that provokes incitement against members of the Executive Force and puts their blood in danger". The office said that "whereas some local radio stations and websites say they provide the truth, and that they broadcast the news, accurately and objectively, we (the media office) find that the reality is that they are exposing allegations, thereby losing credibility in the eyes of our people."
The media office also called "the Palestinian people not to believe the so-called 'salaried mouthpieces' which do not allow other parties an opportunity to explain their points of view". It also "called the print media, radio and television to deal professionally with the statements from the Executive Force's media and to convey the facts and events in the Palestinian arena with responsibility and professionalism".
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- Although it isn't the first time the Palestinians hear cover names for Palestinian armed militias after blasting and violent incidents in the West Bank and Gaza , an armed group called 'Suyuf Al-Haq Al-Islamiya', which means 'The Islamic Swords of Right Group', has claimed responsibility for the explosion at Al-Arabiya news channel in Gaza City on Monday night.
The group said in a statement that this explosion came as part of its campaign "Al-Ard Al-Baida", that means 'The White Land'. It said that the campaign has been launched to make "the land of Rabat pure from infidelity and corruption". 'The land of Rabat' is an Islamic term referring to the region surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the land of historic Palestine.
The statement accused Al-Arabiya of lying, hypocrisy and infidelity over several months. In its statement, the Group accused the Channel of being the voice of the Jewish state and not an Arabic channel. It said, "The perpetrators of this explosion send a message to the channel and other channels that put themselves in the service of Zionism whose main concern is to fight Islam and Muslims."
This Group has also claimed responsibility for the bombing of several Internet cafes and stores selling popular music cassettes in the Gaza Strip, and also for threatening women who wear modern cloths and unveiled their faces in the Gaza Strip.
At the beginning of 2006, this same group threatened to blow up churches in the Palestinian territories after newspapers in Denmark published insulting cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad, and also after the Pope Benedict XVI expressed comments in a lecture at a German university that were considered insulting about Islam.
In another violation of the freedom of expression in the West Bank and Gaza, the Executive Force has said that "it will prosecute any media outlet that does not broadcast or publish neutral news and insists on publishing lying and deception, and ignores the obvious realities".
The media office of the Executive Force, which is an armed militia under the control of the Hamas Minister of Interior Said Siyam, "promised to pursue any outlet that provokes incitement against members of the Executive Force and puts their blood in danger". The office said that "whereas some local radio stations and websites say they provide the truth, and that they broadcast the news, accurately and objectively, we (the media office) find that the reality is that they are exposing allegations, thereby losing credibility in the eyes of our people."
The media office also called "the Palestinian people not to believe the so-called 'salaried mouthpieces' which do not allow other parties an opportunity to explain their points of view". It also "called the print media, radio and television to deal professionally with the statements from the Executive Force's media and to convey the facts and events in the Palestinian arena with responsibility and professionalism".
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Thursday, January 25, 2007
FEATURE: Dome of the Rock on Vodka Bottle in Israel, By Mohammed Mar'i
Dome of the Rock on Vodka Bottle in Israeli
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- While the Muslims in Palestine were pleased by the arrival of the renovated pulpit (minbar in Arabic) of Salah Ad-Deen of Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, an Israeli import and export company distributed vodka bottles with pictures of the Dome of the Rock printed on.
Ahmed Al Abrah, citizen of Al Ramleh in Israel, told the Al Aqsa Establishment for Reconstructing the Islamic Holy Sites on Monday, January 22, 2007 that he has seen the photo of the Dome of the Rock on bottles of wine he bought from a cafeteria in Rahovot city in Israel a few days ago . "I went in a tour to check if this kind of vodka is being sold in other stores or cities in Israel and I found it in so many stores like in Ashdod", he said.
Al Abrah told them that he broke all the bottles with the photo except one as an evident. The Establishment said that the bottle contains a kind of vodka labeled "SOYUS-VICTAN EVREISKAYA". It is distributed by an Israeli company called "Bolonia for import and export company 2000 MD" in the Israeli city of Ashdod. The Establishment added that on the other side of the bottle it appears that it is originally manufactured in the Ukraine.
The Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Mohammed Hussein condemned the behavior of the Israeli company saying that "the marketing of wine bottles with a picture of the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine in Jerusalem, on them is an Israeli attempt to humiliate Muslims everywhere". He said that "putting a picture of a holy shrine on a bottle of wine which is forbidden in Islam is an insult on Islamic creed and Islamic civilization." "It is a belligerence on Muslims dignity and passion", he added.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- While the Muslims in Palestine were pleased by the arrival of the renovated pulpit (minbar in Arabic) of Salah Ad-Deen of Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, an Israeli import and export company distributed vodka bottles with pictures of the Dome of the Rock printed on.
Ahmed Al Abrah, citizen of Al Ramleh in Israel, told the Al Aqsa Establishment for Reconstructing the Islamic Holy Sites on Monday, January 22, 2007 that he has seen the photo of the Dome of the Rock on bottles of wine he bought from a cafeteria in Rahovot city in Israel a few days ago . "I went in a tour to check if this kind of vodka is being sold in other stores or cities in Israel and I found it in so many stores like in Ashdod", he said.
Al Abrah told them that he broke all the bottles with the photo except one as an evident. The Establishment said that the bottle contains a kind of vodka labeled "SOYUS-VICTAN EVREISKAYA". It is distributed by an Israeli company called "Bolonia for import and export company 2000 MD" in the Israeli city of Ashdod. The Establishment added that on the other side of the bottle it appears that it is originally manufactured in the Ukraine.
The Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Mohammed Hussein condemned the behavior of the Israeli company saying that "the marketing of wine bottles with a picture of the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine in Jerusalem, on them is an Israeli attempt to humiliate Muslims everywhere". He said that "putting a picture of a holy shrine on a bottle of wine which is forbidden in Islam is an insult on Islamic creed and Islamic civilization." "It is a belligerence on Muslims dignity and passion", he added.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
NEWS/ANALYSIS: Palestinian journalists under attack in Gaza, By Mohamed Mar'i
Who Attacks Journalists in Palestine
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- The Palestinian journalists in Gaza held a one-day strike in protest of the blasting attack on the Al Arabiya TV offices in Gaza, which occurred late Monday evening causing severe property damage but no injuries.
The assault came a day after the failure of the Damascus meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas politburo Khalid Mashaal in forming a unity government and days after Al Arabiya aired a report in which it was claimed that Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh cursed God saying "Even if God sets conditions for us, we will reject this."
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, Fatah official Maher Mikdad blamed Hamas. "This is the project of fear and terrorizing that is taking place," he said. "Hamas is the hero of that scene par excellence". Palestinian government spokesman Ghazi Hamad of Hamas denounced the bombing. "Despite the disagreement between us and Al Arabiya, we reject this method and we consider it unacceptable. I have urged the Interior Minister to find out who is responsible," he said. Reham Abdel Karim, the Al Arabiya office manager, refused to blame anyone. She said there have been many threats against staffers, and the government was informed of them. "We received a clear threat they would explode the office and kill some employees," she said, but would not name those responsible.
In the continued Palestinian internal crisis, Hamas and Fatah leaders hurl accusations that the reports of Arab news channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya usually biased. Hamas supporters refer to Al Arabiya channel as 'al-Ibriya', meaning 'the Hebrew', accusing the news channel of promoting American and Israeli interests in the Middle East. The Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan accused Al Jazeera news channel of being biased for Hamas, charging it as a mouthpiece for the Islamic group and the Islamic Brotherhood. Last year Fatah gunmen set fire to a number of vehicles belonging to Al-Jazeera in Ramallah to protest the station's failure to cover a Fatah rally.
Taking into consideration the increasing number of attacks on journalists and media outlets whether local or external, Palestinian or Arab it seems that the issue more than bias and the lack of objectivity. The Palestinian independent news agency Maan was threatened by Fatah official Jamal Nazzal accusing it of being biased in favor of Hamas. Many days ago unidentified gunmen set fire to two vehicles belonging to the Palestinian Media and Communication Company in Ramallah. One of them belongs to the Palestinian journalist Maher Shalabi. Several Journalists have been kidnapped in Gaza Strip last year: two FOX News journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, the AP photographer Emilio Morenatti, and AFP photographer Jaime Razuri. Moreover, several Palestinian journalists have received repeated death threats, the matter that led some of them to stop writing under their real names and others to take measures to ensure their safety.
The observer of attacks on journalists and media premises in the West Bank and Gaza Stip can conclude that the timing of such attacks usually follows the failure of calming between the rivals Fatah and Hamas. The two sides want to oblige journalists to adopt their point of view. With the absence of law that guards the freedom of expression in Palestinian Authority and the "failure" of PA security forces to arrest any of the assailants, the attacks will continue and the assailant will be "unknown" as usual.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- The Palestinian journalists in Gaza held a one-day strike in protest of the blasting attack on the Al Arabiya TV offices in Gaza, which occurred late Monday evening causing severe property damage but no injuries.
The assault came a day after the failure of the Damascus meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas politburo Khalid Mashaal in forming a unity government and days after Al Arabiya aired a report in which it was claimed that Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh cursed God saying "Even if God sets conditions for us, we will reject this."
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, Fatah official Maher Mikdad blamed Hamas. "This is the project of fear and terrorizing that is taking place," he said. "Hamas is the hero of that scene par excellence". Palestinian government spokesman Ghazi Hamad of Hamas denounced the bombing. "Despite the disagreement between us and Al Arabiya, we reject this method and we consider it unacceptable. I have urged the Interior Minister to find out who is responsible," he said. Reham Abdel Karim, the Al Arabiya office manager, refused to blame anyone. She said there have been many threats against staffers, and the government was informed of them. "We received a clear threat they would explode the office and kill some employees," she said, but would not name those responsible.
In the continued Palestinian internal crisis, Hamas and Fatah leaders hurl accusations that the reports of Arab news channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya usually biased. Hamas supporters refer to Al Arabiya channel as 'al-Ibriya', meaning 'the Hebrew', accusing the news channel of promoting American and Israeli interests in the Middle East. The Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan accused Al Jazeera news channel of being biased for Hamas, charging it as a mouthpiece for the Islamic group and the Islamic Brotherhood. Last year Fatah gunmen set fire to a number of vehicles belonging to Al-Jazeera in Ramallah to protest the station's failure to cover a Fatah rally.
Taking into consideration the increasing number of attacks on journalists and media outlets whether local or external, Palestinian or Arab it seems that the issue more than bias and the lack of objectivity. The Palestinian independent news agency Maan was threatened by Fatah official Jamal Nazzal accusing it of being biased in favor of Hamas. Many days ago unidentified gunmen set fire to two vehicles belonging to the Palestinian Media and Communication Company in Ramallah. One of them belongs to the Palestinian journalist Maher Shalabi. Several Journalists have been kidnapped in Gaza Strip last year: two FOX News journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, the AP photographer Emilio Morenatti, and AFP photographer Jaime Razuri. Moreover, several Palestinian journalists have received repeated death threats, the matter that led some of them to stop writing under their real names and others to take measures to ensure their safety.
The observer of attacks on journalists and media premises in the West Bank and Gaza Stip can conclude that the timing of such attacks usually follows the failure of calming between the rivals Fatah and Hamas. The two sides want to oblige journalists to adopt their point of view. With the absence of law that guards the freedom of expression in Palestinian Authority and the "failure" of PA security forces to arrest any of the assailants, the attacks will continue and the assailant will be "unknown" as usual.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Monday, January 22, 2007
FEATURE: Love Song to Israeli checkpoints
"Katyusha" love song to protest Israeli Checkpoints in the West Bank
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- In the second activity of the 'Thirty Days against Checkpoints Campaign' a musical band of Palestinian children (under the age of 16 years old) will perform the popular Russian folk song 'Katyusha' at Huwwara checkpoint, south the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday 24th January at 12 noon.
Katyusha is a Russian Soviet wartime song about a girl longing for her beloved, who is away on military service. The music was composed in 1938 by the Jew Matvei Blanter and the lyrics were written by the Russian poet Mikhail Isakovsky. It was first performed by the celebrated folk singer, Lidiya Ruslanova.
Mohammed Dwaikat, coordinator of the Palestinian Body for Dialogue, Peace, and Equality (HASM) said that "the musical group will perform (Katyusha Song) which is a Russian song such as the (Delaounh Song) in the Palestinian folklore". "This song has been used by the Jews in Europe during and after the Second World War to express their rejection of discrimination to which they were subjected in Europe in addition to used to focus on the story of the Holocaust, and in comparison to this case, the Palestinians now are in this aspect".
It is known that Nablus is most closed city in the West Bank. Since 2002 it is surrounded by 6 Israeli checkpoints. The Israeli soldiers oblige all passengers to stand in strait and long rows. They check every one, his identity card, his books' bag, and his body by electronic equipments before he allowed entering or leaving Nablus. "Each night its citizens victims to violent military raids and their lives have not been peaceful or normal for years" Dwaikat said.
Clarifying why Nablus in particular is tightly closed by Israeli soldiers, Dwaikat said that "the people of Nablus are looked upon as terrorists and treated accordingly." Other West Bank cities are also blocked by around 400 Israeli checkpoints. Despite that the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert toured several West Bank checkpoints in the West Bank last week to see firsthand that the promises he announced on December 2006 to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about easing movement had been implemented, The Israel Occupation Forces admitted yesterday that the 44 checkpoints Olmert promised Abbass to remove "had either been removed before the political level decided on the alleviations or had been bypassed by Palestinians earlier, and a decision had been made not to rebuild them."
In its first activity to protest the Israeli checkpoints (HASM) dressed Palestinian schoolchildren in Native American costume on Sunday, 14th of January 2007 and gathered for a peaceful demonstration at Huwarra checkpoint to bring international awareness to deteriorating conditions in Nablus including collective punishment and a lack of mobility among its citizens. (HASM) has chosen the Native American dress to "call attention to the similarities between the current process of ghettoization and closure taking place in Nablus and the plight which befell the Native Americans during the early history of the United States".
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- In the second activity of the 'Thirty Days against Checkpoints Campaign' a musical band of Palestinian children (under the age of 16 years old) will perform the popular Russian folk song 'Katyusha' at Huwwara checkpoint, south the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday 24th January at 12 noon.
Katyusha is a Russian Soviet wartime song about a girl longing for her beloved, who is away on military service. The music was composed in 1938 by the Jew Matvei Blanter and the lyrics were written by the Russian poet Mikhail Isakovsky. It was first performed by the celebrated folk singer, Lidiya Ruslanova.
Mohammed Dwaikat, coordinator of the Palestinian Body for Dialogue, Peace, and Equality (HASM) said that "the musical group will perform (Katyusha Song) which is a Russian song such as the (Delaounh Song) in the Palestinian folklore". "This song has been used by the Jews in Europe during and after the Second World War to express their rejection of discrimination to which they were subjected in Europe in addition to used to focus on the story of the Holocaust, and in comparison to this case, the Palestinians now are in this aspect".
It is known that Nablus is most closed city in the West Bank. Since 2002 it is surrounded by 6 Israeli checkpoints. The Israeli soldiers oblige all passengers to stand in strait and long rows. They check every one, his identity card, his books' bag, and his body by electronic equipments before he allowed entering or leaving Nablus. "Each night its citizens victims to violent military raids and their lives have not been peaceful or normal for years" Dwaikat said.
Clarifying why Nablus in particular is tightly closed by Israeli soldiers, Dwaikat said that "the people of Nablus are looked upon as terrorists and treated accordingly." Other West Bank cities are also blocked by around 400 Israeli checkpoints. Despite that the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert toured several West Bank checkpoints in the West Bank last week to see firsthand that the promises he announced on December 2006 to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about easing movement had been implemented, The Israel Occupation Forces admitted yesterday that the 44 checkpoints Olmert promised Abbass to remove "had either been removed before the political level decided on the alleviations or had been bypassed by Palestinians earlier, and a decision had been made not to rebuild them."
In its first activity to protest the Israeli checkpoints (HASM) dressed Palestinian schoolchildren in Native American costume on Sunday, 14th of January 2007 and gathered for a peaceful demonstration at Huwarra checkpoint to bring international awareness to deteriorating conditions in Nablus including collective punishment and a lack of mobility among its citizens. (HASM) has chosen the Native American dress to "call attention to the similarities between the current process of ghettoization and closure taking place in Nablus and the plight which befell the Native Americans during the early history of the United States".
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
FEATURE: Cheap life of Palestinian laborers By Mohammed Mar'i
The Cheap Life of Palestinian Laborers
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- Muhammad Kamal Battat went highly motivated to his work after spending the weekend with his family. He was happy to get a new job after suffering from unemployment for years. Mohammed left his West Bank city of AL Dahirryeh, south of Hebron, to Beer Shiva south of Israel, where the construction site he worked in. He left the warmness of his family to the coldness of the construction site where there is no heating just to earn some Israeli Shekels for the daily needs of his kids.
He went there without knowing the deal between the contactor and the guards. A colleague of Mohammed said that the guards made a deal with the contractor who has to pay them money in exchange for permitting the workers to sleep at the construction site. He added that a few days ago the guard threatened to kill the workers if the deal is not fulfilled. On Saturday, January 20, 2007, when the workers arrived to the site, the guard demanded the money and when they refused he shot Muhammad dead.
The tragic story of laborer Mohammed Battat, 30 years, who left six children, is not the first by Israeli guards or soldiers.
Wahib Al Deek, a plasterer was killed By Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on December 14, 2006. Al Deek worked in a renovation project in his village Kafr El Deek, south west of Nablus. He took his breakfast that day with his wife who is three months' pregnant, and later he left his kids Useid, 6, Asil, 5 and Sali, 3. Wais is six months old, to the working place which is few meters from his home. The (IOF) soldiers, who interred the place searching for stones throwers, shot Al Deek dead in front of his father accusing him of endangering the life of soldiers.
In Mohammed case it was possible for the guard to call the Israeli police to arrest laborers if he, the guard, was concerned for the security of Israel. He killed him leaving six orphans and a widow just for hundreds of Shekels. Regarding Wahib, the (IOF) soldiers were able to arrest him since the old building where he worked has only one entrance. The (IOF) soldiers were able to shot him in the leg if he was holding a rock because he was visible. It seems that the life of a Palestinian doesn't worth a moment of self restraint from Israeli security apparatus. It seems that the Israeli soldier with" light finger on trigger" can smoothly eliminate a Palestinians' life.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- Muhammad Kamal Battat went highly motivated to his work after spending the weekend with his family. He was happy to get a new job after suffering from unemployment for years. Mohammed left his West Bank city of AL Dahirryeh, south of Hebron, to Beer Shiva south of Israel, where the construction site he worked in. He left the warmness of his family to the coldness of the construction site where there is no heating just to earn some Israeli Shekels for the daily needs of his kids.
He went there without knowing the deal between the contactor and the guards. A colleague of Mohammed said that the guards made a deal with the contractor who has to pay them money in exchange for permitting the workers to sleep at the construction site. He added that a few days ago the guard threatened to kill the workers if the deal is not fulfilled. On Saturday, January 20, 2007, when the workers arrived to the site, the guard demanded the money and when they refused he shot Muhammad dead.
The tragic story of laborer Mohammed Battat, 30 years, who left six children, is not the first by Israeli guards or soldiers.
Wahib Al Deek, a plasterer was killed By Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on December 14, 2006. Al Deek worked in a renovation project in his village Kafr El Deek, south west of Nablus. He took his breakfast that day with his wife who is three months' pregnant, and later he left his kids Useid, 6, Asil, 5 and Sali, 3. Wais is six months old, to the working place which is few meters from his home. The (IOF) soldiers, who interred the place searching for stones throwers, shot Al Deek dead in front of his father accusing him of endangering the life of soldiers.
In Mohammed case it was possible for the guard to call the Israeli police to arrest laborers if he, the guard, was concerned for the security of Israel. He killed him leaving six orphans and a widow just for hundreds of Shekels. Regarding Wahib, the (IOF) soldiers were able to arrest him since the old building where he worked has only one entrance. The (IOF) soldiers were able to shot him in the leg if he was holding a rock because he was visible. It seems that the life of a Palestinian doesn't worth a moment of self restraint from Israeli security apparatus. It seems that the Israeli soldier with" light finger on trigger" can smoothly eliminate a Palestinians' life.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Friday, January 19, 2007
ABC Good Morning America hires racist commentator
ABC TV, one of the most popular and usually fairest news operations in America, has announced plans to hire racist CNN Talk Show Host Glenn Beck as a commentator ont he flagship morning news program Good Mornign America.
Beck is a bigot and a racist whose shows are often filled with inaccurate information about Arabs and Muslims, and who uses hate as a means of building audience.
Here is a release from ADC on Glenn Beck's racism and suggested strategy to respond to the hiring of a bigot:
ADC Action Alert:
Urge ABC to Reconsider Hiring Glen BeckWashington, DC January 19, 2007
ABC's "Good Morning America" recently announced that Glenn Beck has been hired as a regular commentator on its program. Many of you might be aware of Beck from his CNN Headline News show or his talk-radio show, where he has consistently fueled his commentary with vitriol and falsehoods toward Arabs and Muslims.Calling his CNN Headline News show the "Fusion of Entertainment and Enlightenment," Beck has distinguished himself, not for cutting edge or insightful news, but by his almost obsessive hateful rhetoric attacking and vilifying the Arab and Muslim communities in the US. While this type of vitriol pervades talk radio, CNN Headline News has given Beck his own nightly television show, airing nightly at 7pm and replaying at 9pm and 12am EST on CNN's Headline Prime, and now he will be offering commentary for ABC's Good Morning America.Beck refers to himself, not as a journalist, but as a conservative with his own bias (comments he made on his special, "Exposed: The Extremist Agenda").
With his television and radio shows, website, Beck offers you his own biased version of just about everything.Beck has suggested that Arab and Muslim Americans are apathetic to terrorism and that if they do not take action they will be "looking through a razor wire fence at the West." You can read just a few of the blatantly prejudice statements he's made on the show at the bottom of this alert.The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Arab American Institute (AAI), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) sent a letter to ABC News and Good Morning America requesting that they reconsider Beck's hiring. To view the letter, see:
http://adc.org/Doc/Joint%
20Letter%20to%20Beck.doc
HOW YOU CAN HELP ABC News responded to our letter, which is promising, but we need your help in order to encourage positive action on the part of ABC News regarding this matter. See the ABC News response at:
http://adc.org/PDF/ABC%20Glenn
%20Beck%20Reply%20Letter.pdf
ADC, AAI, and MPAC are asking supporters to call and email ABC News and voice their concerns about "Good Morning America's" decision to hire Glenn Beck. Included below is a sample email and contact information to call the show.
BECK IN HIS OWN WORDS* On August 10 and September 5, 2006, Beck stated that Arab and Muslim Americans are apathetic to terrorism—completely ignoring the positive contributions of the community, especially in regard to national security—and warned that Muslims "who have sat on [their] hands the whole time rather than 'lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head' will face dire consequences. One of those consequences being that Muslims will be "looking through a razor wire fence at the West."* On November 14, 2006, Beck interviewed then Congressman-elect Keith Ellison and asked him to "prove to me that you are not working with our enemies" simply because of Ellison's religious affiliation.* On November 15, 2006, Beck said he was surprised by an American criticizing Al Qaeda because "the man who wrote it is a Muslim."
CALL ABC NEWSPhone calls are an extremely effective tool for action. Take just a few minutes to call the ABC switchboard in New York at (212) 456-7777 and urge ABC to reconsider.
When you call ABC News, be sure to mention the following points:*If you are a GMA viewer, let them know.* Politely but firmly convey your concern that adding Beck to the GMA staff would weaken the show's journalistic integrity and jeopardize its reputation as a fair and objective news program.* State that by giving Beck such a prominent platform to spread dishonest and hurtful statements, ABC is perpetuating fear of Arab and Muslim communities and is inciting hatred toward Arab and Muslim Americans. See sample of his comments above.* Ask ABC News to reconsider its hiring of Beck.EMAIL ABC NEWSIf you are able, please supplement your emails with a phone call to ABC's switchboard. You can use the points listed above to write an email, or feel free to send the following:netaudr@abc.comdavid.westin@abc.com
SAMPLE EMAIL LETTERDear Mr. Westin and Good Morning America Staff,As an ABC News viewer, I am concerned by your recent decision to hire Glenn Beck.Glenn Beck has used his radio and television shows to spread false and hurtful statements about the Arab and Muslim American communities, and his dangerous language helps perpetuate fear and prejudice towards us. In light of his previous comments and on air rhetoric, I worry that he will use Good Morning America to spread this rhetoric to an even broader audience.I am also concerned that that his addition to Good Morning America will weaken the show's journalistic integrity and jeopardize its reputation as a fair and objective news program. Beck himself says he is not a journalist, calling himself, "a conservative with his own bias."I urge for you to reconsider your hiring of Glenn Beck. Thank you for your consideration.
-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee www.adc.org1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW Washington, DC 20007Tel: 202-244-2990 Fax: 202-244-7968 E-mail: media@adc.org
END
Beck is a bigot and a racist whose shows are often filled with inaccurate information about Arabs and Muslims, and who uses hate as a means of building audience.
Here is a release from ADC on Glenn Beck's racism and suggested strategy to respond to the hiring of a bigot:
ADC Action Alert:
Urge ABC to Reconsider Hiring Glen BeckWashington, DC January 19, 2007
ABC's "Good Morning America" recently announced that Glenn Beck has been hired as a regular commentator on its program. Many of you might be aware of Beck from his CNN Headline News show or his talk-radio show, where he has consistently fueled his commentary with vitriol and falsehoods toward Arabs and Muslims.Calling his CNN Headline News show the "Fusion of Entertainment and Enlightenment," Beck has distinguished himself, not for cutting edge or insightful news, but by his almost obsessive hateful rhetoric attacking and vilifying the Arab and Muslim communities in the US. While this type of vitriol pervades talk radio, CNN Headline News has given Beck his own nightly television show, airing nightly at 7pm and replaying at 9pm and 12am EST on CNN's Headline Prime, and now he will be offering commentary for ABC's Good Morning America.Beck refers to himself, not as a journalist, but as a conservative with his own bias (comments he made on his special, "Exposed: The Extremist Agenda").
With his television and radio shows, website, Beck offers you his own biased version of just about everything.Beck has suggested that Arab and Muslim Americans are apathetic to terrorism and that if they do not take action they will be "looking through a razor wire fence at the West." You can read just a few of the blatantly prejudice statements he's made on the show at the bottom of this alert.The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Arab American Institute (AAI), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) sent a letter to ABC News and Good Morning America requesting that they reconsider Beck's hiring. To view the letter, see:
http://adc.org/Doc/Joint%
20Letter%20to%20Beck.doc
HOW YOU CAN HELP ABC News responded to our letter, which is promising, but we need your help in order to encourage positive action on the part of ABC News regarding this matter. See the ABC News response at:
http://adc.org/PDF/ABC%20Glenn
%20Beck%20Reply%20Letter.pdf
ADC, AAI, and MPAC are asking supporters to call and email ABC News and voice their concerns about "Good Morning America's" decision to hire Glenn Beck. Included below is a sample email and contact information to call the show.
BECK IN HIS OWN WORDS* On August 10 and September 5, 2006, Beck stated that Arab and Muslim Americans are apathetic to terrorism—completely ignoring the positive contributions of the community, especially in regard to national security—and warned that Muslims "who have sat on [their] hands the whole time rather than 'lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head' will face dire consequences. One of those consequences being that Muslims will be "looking through a razor wire fence at the West."* On November 14, 2006, Beck interviewed then Congressman-elect Keith Ellison and asked him to "prove to me that you are not working with our enemies" simply because of Ellison's religious affiliation.* On November 15, 2006, Beck said he was surprised by an American criticizing Al Qaeda because "the man who wrote it is a Muslim."
CALL ABC NEWSPhone calls are an extremely effective tool for action. Take just a few minutes to call the ABC switchboard in New York at (212) 456-7777 and urge ABC to reconsider.
When you call ABC News, be sure to mention the following points:*If you are a GMA viewer, let them know.* Politely but firmly convey your concern that adding Beck to the GMA staff would weaken the show's journalistic integrity and jeopardize its reputation as a fair and objective news program.* State that by giving Beck such a prominent platform to spread dishonest and hurtful statements, ABC is perpetuating fear of Arab and Muslim communities and is inciting hatred toward Arab and Muslim Americans. See sample of his comments above.* Ask ABC News to reconsider its hiring of Beck.EMAIL ABC NEWSIf you are able, please supplement your emails with a phone call to ABC's switchboard. You can use the points listed above to write an email, or feel free to send the following:netaudr@abc.comdavid.westin@abc.com
SAMPLE EMAIL LETTERDear Mr. Westin and Good Morning America Staff,As an ABC News viewer, I am concerned by your recent decision to hire Glenn Beck.Glenn Beck has used his radio and television shows to spread false and hurtful statements about the Arab and Muslim American communities, and his dangerous language helps perpetuate fear and prejudice towards us. In light of his previous comments and on air rhetoric, I worry that he will use Good Morning America to spread this rhetoric to an even broader audience.I am also concerned that that his addition to Good Morning America will weaken the show's journalistic integrity and jeopardize its reputation as a fair and objective news program. Beck himself says he is not a journalist, calling himself, "a conservative with his own bias."I urge for you to reconsider your hiring of Glenn Beck. Thank you for your consideration.
-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee www.adc.org1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW Washington, DC 20007Tel: 202-244-2990 Fax: 202-244-7968 E-mail: media@adc.org
END
PRESS RELEASE: EEOC, safe workplaces for youth
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: EEOC
Christine Nazer
(202) 663-4911
christine.nazer@eeoc.gov
Ketchum PR
Michael Stern
312-228-6892 (office)
312-953-8834 (cell)
michael.stern@ketchum.com
Chicago-area Companies Create Safer Workplaces for Youth
EEOC Seminar to Help Local Employers Prevent Harassment of Young Workers
CHICAGO – Jan. 17, 2007: On Monday, Jan. 22, Naomi Churchill Earp, Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and area legal experts will meet with local employers at the Swissotel Chicago to discuss how to prevent discrimination and create safe workplaces for young employees.
Chair Earp is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at 9:15. The seminar, scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon, is one of many activities the EEOC conducts as part of its Youth@Work Initiative. The national outreach program, launched in 2004, is designed to both educate young people about their workplace rights and responsibilities, and help employers create positive first work experiences for young adults.
Part-time jobs during the school year and summer months have long attracted young adults to the labor force. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, an estimated three million teens work after school. This number jumps to 7.1 million during the height of summer.
"Young people make up a significant portion of the nation’s workforce, particularly in the food and retail industries," said EEOC Chair Earp. "By empowering youth to understand their workplace rights and responsibilities, and partnering with employers to promote fair and inclusive workplaces, we can help young workers become productive adult citizens."
Monday’s seminar will focus specifically on how to identify and prevent potential employment problems involving young adults. According to attorney Andrew Goldberg, partner at Laner, Muchin, Dombrow, Becker, Levin and Tominberg, Ltd., maintaining a discrimination-free work environment is a business necessity.
(more)
EEOC Seminar/Page Two
"For the employers accused of creating an unsafe workplace a lawsuit can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Goldberg. "For the employees affected by the situation, it can mean much more. Both employers and the young adults they hire need an education in workplace rights and responsibilities."
Youth@Work events have proven successful for employer audiences. To date, the EEOC has held more than 1,800 Youth@Work events nationwide, reaching more than 128,000 students, education professionals, and employers. The EEOC has also entered into groundbreaking Youth@Work partnerships with the National Retail Federation, the National Restaurant Association, and the National Education Association, as well as countless local partnerships with employer organizations, community groups, and educators.
One local company that has worked with the EEOC to create a safer workplace for its young employees is Heartland Foods Corp. The company, which is one of the largest franchisees of the BURGER KING® Restaurant chain, employs 1,877 young adults in the Chicagoland area. It conducts annual compliance training, has established an employee hotline number and has created in-store materials to promote a positive work environment.
"Working at our restaurants is often a young person’s first job," said Steven Wiborg, Chief Executive Officer of Heartland Foods Corp. "These are the people on the front lines working with our customers. We want to make sure that first experience is a positive one."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics there are 21,762 eating and drinking establishments in the state of Illinois, which account for 8.6 percent of the state’s employment. Further information about how to create safe workplaces for young adults is available online at http://youth.eeoc.gov.
About the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The EEOC is a federal agency responsible for enforcing the federal statutes which prohibit employment discrimination, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, or religion; the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits job discrimination based on the existence or perception of a disability; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which prohibits discrimination against persons age 40 and over; and the Equal Pay Act (EPA), which prohibits wage discrimination based on sex. The EEOC’s Chicago District Office, located at 500 W. Madison Street in Chicago, enforces the anti-discrimination laws in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.
###
CONTACT: EEOC
Christine Nazer
(202) 663-4911
christine.nazer@eeoc.gov
Ketchum PR
Michael Stern
312-228-6892 (office)
312-953-8834 (cell)
michael.stern@ketchum.com
Chicago-area Companies Create Safer Workplaces for Youth
EEOC Seminar to Help Local Employers Prevent Harassment of Young Workers
CHICAGO – Jan. 17, 2007: On Monday, Jan. 22, Naomi Churchill Earp, Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and area legal experts will meet with local employers at the Swissotel Chicago to discuss how to prevent discrimination and create safe workplaces for young employees.
Chair Earp is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at 9:15. The seminar, scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon, is one of many activities the EEOC conducts as part of its Youth@Work Initiative. The national outreach program, launched in 2004, is designed to both educate young people about their workplace rights and responsibilities, and help employers create positive first work experiences for young adults.
Part-time jobs during the school year and summer months have long attracted young adults to the labor force. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, an estimated three million teens work after school. This number jumps to 7.1 million during the height of summer.
"Young people make up a significant portion of the nation’s workforce, particularly in the food and retail industries," said EEOC Chair Earp. "By empowering youth to understand their workplace rights and responsibilities, and partnering with employers to promote fair and inclusive workplaces, we can help young workers become productive adult citizens."
Monday’s seminar will focus specifically on how to identify and prevent potential employment problems involving young adults. According to attorney Andrew Goldberg, partner at Laner, Muchin, Dombrow, Becker, Levin and Tominberg, Ltd., maintaining a discrimination-free work environment is a business necessity.
(more)
EEOC Seminar/Page Two
"For the employers accused of creating an unsafe workplace a lawsuit can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Goldberg. "For the employees affected by the situation, it can mean much more. Both employers and the young adults they hire need an education in workplace rights and responsibilities."
Youth@Work events have proven successful for employer audiences. To date, the EEOC has held more than 1,800 Youth@Work events nationwide, reaching more than 128,000 students, education professionals, and employers. The EEOC has also entered into groundbreaking Youth@Work partnerships with the National Retail Federation, the National Restaurant Association, and the National Education Association, as well as countless local partnerships with employer organizations, community groups, and educators.
One local company that has worked with the EEOC to create a safer workplace for its young employees is Heartland Foods Corp. The company, which is one of the largest franchisees of the BURGER KING® Restaurant chain, employs 1,877 young adults in the Chicagoland area. It conducts annual compliance training, has established an employee hotline number and has created in-store materials to promote a positive work environment.
"Working at our restaurants is often a young person’s first job," said Steven Wiborg, Chief Executive Officer of Heartland Foods Corp. "These are the people on the front lines working with our customers. We want to make sure that first experience is a positive one."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics there are 21,762 eating and drinking establishments in the state of Illinois, which account for 8.6 percent of the state’s employment. Further information about how to create safe workplaces for young adults is available online at http://youth.eeoc.gov.
About the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The EEOC is a federal agency responsible for enforcing the federal statutes which prohibit employment discrimination, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, or religion; the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits job discrimination based on the existence or perception of a disability; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which prohibits discrimination against persons age 40 and over; and the Equal Pay Act (EPA), which prohibits wage discrimination based on sex. The EEOC’s Chicago District Office, located at 500 W. Madison Street in Chicago, enforces the anti-discrimination laws in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.
###
FEATURE: Palestinian's families imprisoned in Hebron, By Mohammed Mar'i
A Palestinian Family Caged in Hebron
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the Israeli Police prohibited Israeli Peace Now activists from interring the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday, January 7 th, 2007 in order to protest the violence towards Palestinians on the part of settlers in the town, mainly the harassment of a Palestinian woman by the Israeli female settler Yifat Alkobi.
The Israel Radio reported Thursday that the Hebron army commander and the city's police chief had originally permitted the Peace Now demonstration, but (IOF) Central Commander Maj.-Gen. Ya'ir Naveh had decided to cancel it, saying in a statement that it was a danger to public security, peace and order in Hebron.
Despite the fact that the video of Alkobi calling a Palestinian woman of Abu Aisheh family "sharmuta" (whore) has been taken in June 2006 by B'tselem, but it gave a real image of how the Hebronites and Israeli live according to Wye River agreement that divided the city to H1 and H2 sections. The H1 section which contains the neighborhoods was allocated for the Palestinians. The H2 which contains the religious and historic places in Hebron was allocated for Israeli settlers.
The Abu- Aisheh family in Hebron has been suffering at the hands of Israeli settlers of Tel-Rumaida community for a along time now. Members of the Abu Aisheh family claimed that the quarrel was just one example of the suffering they endure on a daily basis. Tayseer Abu- Aisheh, 43, said that he had filed between 200 and 300 complaints against settlers in recent years, but the Israeli police did nothing to stop their harassment.
Abu-Aisheh and his extended family live in a two-storey house. "The cage you see in the video is where we live. When we open the door and we hear curse words or stormed by stones and eggs by them (settlers)" he said. "In this winter, they (settlers) spray us with cold water using a big fire hose located near the house", he added.
Abu- Aisheh said "hell" is not a strong enough word to describe what his family is going through. "To prevent confrontations with the settlers – we coordinate the time we leave the cage we live in with the settlers' schedule," he said. "We leave for work and school only after they do – and this result in tardiness."
According to Abu Aisheh, during the Eid al-Adha holiday a week ago he was forced to obtain special permits for his family to visit his home. "My wife's family has not visited us for the past five years because there are no permits and for fear of settler harassments," he said. Every day the Israeli Civil Administration soldiers visit the Abu Aisheh house to make certain that no strangers reside there with the family members. Recently they have been required to obtain permits to bring their sheep into the property. "The charity organizations wanted to give my father three sheep so he may raise them and earn a living, and we called the International Red Cross to coordinate their entrance (to the property), he said. "This is how life is in hell."
No doubt that the life of Abu Aisheh family is a real prison and that the video tape incident is shocking, but the big question is: Can both sides live together?
Where hatred is dominating in Hebron, coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians seems impossible. The Israeli settlers clustered around the "Cave of the Patriarchs" believe that facing the" murderous terrorists" who make up most of Hebron's Palestinians is a purchase to Prophet Abraham. The Palestinians consider that the Israeli community which consists of 600 settlers intent on ethnically cleansing the 120,000 local inhabitants. There is no potential middle-ground, no place for compromise. It is a portray of Palestinian –Israeli conflict.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the Israeli Police prohibited Israeli Peace Now activists from interring the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday, January 7 th, 2007 in order to protest the violence towards Palestinians on the part of settlers in the town, mainly the harassment of a Palestinian woman by the Israeli female settler Yifat Alkobi.
The Israel Radio reported Thursday that the Hebron army commander and the city's police chief had originally permitted the Peace Now demonstration, but (IOF) Central Commander Maj.-Gen. Ya'ir Naveh had decided to cancel it, saying in a statement that it was a danger to public security, peace and order in Hebron.
Despite the fact that the video of Alkobi calling a Palestinian woman of Abu Aisheh family "sharmuta" (whore) has been taken in June 2006 by B'tselem, but it gave a real image of how the Hebronites and Israeli live according to Wye River agreement that divided the city to H1 and H2 sections. The H1 section which contains the neighborhoods was allocated for the Palestinians. The H2 which contains the religious and historic places in Hebron was allocated for Israeli settlers.
The Abu- Aisheh family in Hebron has been suffering at the hands of Israeli settlers of Tel-Rumaida community for a along time now. Members of the Abu Aisheh family claimed that the quarrel was just one example of the suffering they endure on a daily basis. Tayseer Abu- Aisheh, 43, said that he had filed between 200 and 300 complaints against settlers in recent years, but the Israeli police did nothing to stop their harassment.
Abu-Aisheh and his extended family live in a two-storey house. "The cage you see in the video is where we live. When we open the door and we hear curse words or stormed by stones and eggs by them (settlers)" he said. "In this winter, they (settlers) spray us with cold water using a big fire hose located near the house", he added.
Abu- Aisheh said "hell" is not a strong enough word to describe what his family is going through. "To prevent confrontations with the settlers – we coordinate the time we leave the cage we live in with the settlers' schedule," he said. "We leave for work and school only after they do – and this result in tardiness."
According to Abu Aisheh, during the Eid al-Adha holiday a week ago he was forced to obtain special permits for his family to visit his home. "My wife's family has not visited us for the past five years because there are no permits and for fear of settler harassments," he said. Every day the Israeli Civil Administration soldiers visit the Abu Aisheh house to make certain that no strangers reside there with the family members. Recently they have been required to obtain permits to bring their sheep into the property. "The charity organizations wanted to give my father three sheep so he may raise them and earn a living, and we called the International Red Cross to coordinate their entrance (to the property), he said. "This is how life is in hell."
No doubt that the life of Abu Aisheh family is a real prison and that the video tape incident is shocking, but the big question is: Can both sides live together?
Where hatred is dominating in Hebron, coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians seems impossible. The Israeli settlers clustered around the "Cave of the Patriarchs" believe that facing the" murderous terrorists" who make up most of Hebron's Palestinians is a purchase to Prophet Abraham. The Palestinians consider that the Israeli community which consists of 600 settlers intent on ethnically cleansing the 120,000 local inhabitants. There is no potential middle-ground, no place for compromise. It is a portray of Palestinian –Israeli conflict.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
OP-ED: Palestinians welcome Halutz resignation by Mohammed Mar'i
OP-ED: Halutz to La Hague not to Home
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- Bad news to hear that Dan Halutz, Chief of Staff of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) just only resigned. The Palestinians who suffered from his brutal and bloody of targeted killings policy preferred to see him judged for the war crimes he committed since 2002.
Halutz who participated in the Israeli wars against Arab countries since 1968 was the first chief of staff to come from Israeli Air Force. During his tenure as Air Force Commander between 2000-2004, Halutz approved and oversaw operations that caused the death of many Palestinian civilians, including numerous children.
His appointment to chief of staff in February 2005 aroused harsh opposition amongst Israeli left-wing people and human rights organizations because Halutz said that he "slept well at night" in an interview after the targeted killing of Hamas military chief Salah Shehadeh in 2002 by dropping a one-ton bomb on his resident, even though 14 innocent women and children were killed during the attack.
Halutz also added in an interview with Ha'aretz: "If you want, despite this, to know how I feel when I release a bomb, then I'll tell you – I feel a slight hit in the plane as a result of the bomb being released. A second later it's all over, and that's it. That's what I feel." What morals are these?
Despite the fact that Halutz, who is married with three children, executed the disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, but the happy days and calm nights of freedom of Gazan families didn't live long. Under Halutz commandment, the Israeli artillery shills killed 24 of Athamneh family in Beit Hanoun. The (IOF) said in an investigation report that the shill missed its direction. Under his commandment also, the shills of Israeli Navy killed 8 of Ghalia family on Beit Lahia peach leaving Huda, whose tragic photo weeping her killed father shocked the whole world, alone.
Under his commandment the (IOF) erased hundreds of Jabalya houses leaving thousands of Jabalian families homeless in search for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and to combat weapons smuggling from Egypt.
Implementing the Israeli "war on Palestinian terror", Halutz imprisoned West Bank residents in cantons. He turned their life to hill while waiting to bass at the (IOF) checkpoints and roadblocks that close the entrances of Palestinian cities.
Halutz confiscated the most fertile Palestinian agricultural land to build the Separation Wall. He surrounded and later demolished Jericho prison to detain Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and four other members of the group who assassinated the Israel Minster Rahavam Zeevi in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001 although the were serving their imprisonment sentence according to Palestinian law and the prison was controlled by American and British supervisors.
Whereas the wide majority of Palestinians consider their conflict with Israel exceeds Halutz, but they prefer to see him sued as a war criminal in La Hague International Court.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish.)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine)-- Bad news to hear that Dan Halutz, Chief of Staff of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) just only resigned. The Palestinians who suffered from his brutal and bloody of targeted killings policy preferred to see him judged for the war crimes he committed since 2002.
Halutz who participated in the Israeli wars against Arab countries since 1968 was the first chief of staff to come from Israeli Air Force. During his tenure as Air Force Commander between 2000-2004, Halutz approved and oversaw operations that caused the death of many Palestinian civilians, including numerous children.
His appointment to chief of staff in February 2005 aroused harsh opposition amongst Israeli left-wing people and human rights organizations because Halutz said that he "slept well at night" in an interview after the targeted killing of Hamas military chief Salah Shehadeh in 2002 by dropping a one-ton bomb on his resident, even though 14 innocent women and children were killed during the attack.
Halutz also added in an interview with Ha'aretz: "If you want, despite this, to know how I feel when I release a bomb, then I'll tell you – I feel a slight hit in the plane as a result of the bomb being released. A second later it's all over, and that's it. That's what I feel." What morals are these?
Despite the fact that Halutz, who is married with three children, executed the disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip in August 2005, but the happy days and calm nights of freedom of Gazan families didn't live long. Under Halutz commandment, the Israeli artillery shills killed 24 of Athamneh family in Beit Hanoun. The (IOF) said in an investigation report that the shill missed its direction. Under his commandment also, the shills of Israeli Navy killed 8 of Ghalia family on Beit Lahia peach leaving Huda, whose tragic photo weeping her killed father shocked the whole world, alone.
Under his commandment the (IOF) erased hundreds of Jabalya houses leaving thousands of Jabalian families homeless in search for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and to combat weapons smuggling from Egypt.
Implementing the Israeli "war on Palestinian terror", Halutz imprisoned West Bank residents in cantons. He turned their life to hill while waiting to bass at the (IOF) checkpoints and roadblocks that close the entrances of Palestinian cities.
Halutz confiscated the most fertile Palestinian agricultural land to build the Separation Wall. He surrounded and later demolished Jericho prison to detain Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and four other members of the group who assassinated the Israel Minster Rahavam Zeevi in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001 although the were serving their imprisonment sentence according to Palestinian law and the prison was controlled by American and British supervisors.
Whereas the wide majority of Palestinians consider their conflict with Israel exceeds Halutz, but they prefer to see him sued as a war criminal in La Hague International Court.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
FEATURE: Entry denials continue into West Bank, By Mohammed Mar'i
Foreign Nationals still denied entry to West Bank by Israel
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine) -- Although Lana K. is an American national, and a mother of 2 children, she was denied entry on January 3rd and again on January 9th by the Israeli Occupation Forces ([IOF). Lana is married to a Palestinian and has been living with her family in Nablus for 10 years and used to renew her visa periodically. When Lana was first forced to return to Jordan, her children, carrying their Israeli-issued Palestinian residency ID's, were refused re-entry into Jordan. The children were permitted transit the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge and their father arrived from Nablus to take them back to Nablus. Despite the new Israeli entry procedures announced nearly 2 weeks, Lana attempted to join her family in the West Bank failed.
In a letter delivered to chief Palestinian negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erakat on December 28, 2006, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (CoGAT), Major General Yossef Mishlav states changes in Israel's policy of denying entry to foreign nationals traveling into West Bank. The letter states that entry of foreign nationals from countries that have "visa agreements with Israel" may inter the West Bank but "they required to keep military commander's consent form with his or her passport"." The letter further explains that restricted foreign nationals will be 'eligible' to apply for temporary entry into the West Bank as well as periodic visa renewals.
Fadah Ihlal Thum, is another case of suffering due to Israeli policy. She came to live in the West Bank in 2001. She is married to a local Palestinian and has a five-month-old baby. Fadah is studying at Bir Zeit University and one of Bir Zeit's best students. She is in her final year and has twice received Bir Zeit's rare and prestigious 'honor' award. She has a bright future ahead of her if she is able to complete her degree in French and English, particularly as she already fluently speaks Arabic and Portuguese.
Fadah had been renewing her visa internally as is permitted to some residents until her last renewal in September 2006 when, along with hundreds of others, she was suddenly given a 'last permit' stamp on her visa and was forced to leave her home, husband and baby in December. She went to Jordan for four days with her husband and baby. When she returned, the (IOF) allowed her husband and baby to enter while she was ordered to return to Jordan. "When my husband took the baby who was sick at the moment, and but my luggage in the returning bus I burst into tears" Fadah said. "They allowed me to enter just for seven days, and know I have to leave in order to renew my visa" she added. Fadah fears that once she leaves, Israel won't allow her re-entry.
The West Bank's Bir Zeit University also suffered from the Israeli policy. The Bir Zeit University Right to Education Campaign in a press release on 6 January 2007 said that the Israeli " policy has brought tremendous insecurity to Bir Zeit University and its financial and academic well being."
I n addition to two of Bir Zeit's faculty staff: Somida Abbas and Bahgat Taiam who are already outside and have 'denied entry' stamped in their passports, the University fears the risk of being unable to continue teaching in some fields by losing irreplaceable lecturers or about 383 students who fear deportation or prison sentences if they are caught at checkpoints.
The Arabic language and culture program is particularly at risk as it is entirely self-sufficient and dependent on their foreign students' access to the University. In the last term alone, four students were not allowed to complete their studies as they were not allowed to enter or re-enter the OPT. The program is also a major source of emergency funds for the university, which has recently come into use to cover staff salaries since the economic blockade post the 2006 elections. Since Israel's restrictions on access to Palestinian education, applications for next term's course fell by 50 percent - taking with it 50 percent of the program's income.
The Campaign for Right to Entry/Re-entry, based in Ramallah, regarded the Israeli new policy in a press conference in Ramallah "as a rare moment where the Israeli Authorities acknowledge in writing the severe humanitarian crisis brought on by Israeli policies of denying foreign nationals the right to family reunification and entry to the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)". But it considered that Mishlav's letter "leaves many questions unanswered and the crisis unresolved.
The Campaign said that "several foreign nationals with family in the oPt have been denied entry under circumstances that indicate the implementation of the newly announced procedures remains arbitrary, abusive and internationally unlawful", and that the "procedures for granting residency to foreign nationals whose life and livelihood is in the oPt remain unanswered" it added.
The Campaign also considered that the "CoGAT's" letter to Erekat "does not offer a solution to the thousands of individuals who have remained in the oPt after the expiration of their permits, fearing they would be denied re-entry. The notice also fails to indicate if foreign nationals seeking entry into occupied East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip will be eligible to apply for temporary admission or visa extensions".
Israel is refusing to consider over 120,000 applications for family unification, forcing many families to relocate abroad. Together with many foreign nationals who have established their primary business or professional activities in the West Bank, or otherwise aspire to build their lives in the West Bank, these new procedures place them in a state of continuous uncertainty under constant threat of expulsion and exclusion.
Whereas the announced new Israeli policy regarding entry to foreign nationals traveling into the West Bank, is eligible to nationals from friend countries to Israel, the Israeli policy towards nationals from enemy-classified countries or that do not have " visa agreements with Israel", who are tens of thousands of foreigners, including 60,000 Jordanian-born women, as well as women from other Arab countries, Russia and the Ukraine is vague. Israel used to grant them a six -months permit. However, Israel stopped granting them or family unification approvals after the outbreak of the intifada.
Faruoq, from the Salfeet area has been engaged to a Palestinian relative residing in Jordan and bears its nationality. Since his fiancée hasn't a Palestinian ID, and wasn't granted a visiting permit, Farhat postponed his wedding several times. He filed an application for unification with his fiancée but was denied by Israel several times." I have been engaged sine a long time", he said. "If the situation will not change and my fiancée doesn't have a permit perhaps we will be divorced", he added.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
By Mohammed Mar'i
(Arab American Media Services. Permission granted to republish)
(Ramallah, Occupied Palestine) -- Although Lana K. is an American national, and a mother of 2 children, she was denied entry on January 3rd and again on January 9th by the Israeli Occupation Forces ([IOF). Lana is married to a Palestinian and has been living with her family in Nablus for 10 years and used to renew her visa periodically. When Lana was first forced to return to Jordan, her children, carrying their Israeli-issued Palestinian residency ID's, were refused re-entry into Jordan. The children were permitted transit the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge and their father arrived from Nablus to take them back to Nablus. Despite the new Israeli entry procedures announced nearly 2 weeks, Lana attempted to join her family in the West Bank failed.
In a letter delivered to chief Palestinian negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erakat on December 28, 2006, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (CoGAT), Major General Yossef Mishlav states changes in Israel's policy of denying entry to foreign nationals traveling into West Bank. The letter states that entry of foreign nationals from countries that have "visa agreements with Israel" may inter the West Bank but "they required to keep military commander's consent form with his or her passport"." The letter further explains that restricted foreign nationals will be 'eligible' to apply for temporary entry into the West Bank as well as periodic visa renewals.
Fadah Ihlal Thum, is another case of suffering due to Israeli policy. She came to live in the West Bank in 2001. She is married to a local Palestinian and has a five-month-old baby. Fadah is studying at Bir Zeit University and one of Bir Zeit's best students. She is in her final year and has twice received Bir Zeit's rare and prestigious 'honor' award. She has a bright future ahead of her if she is able to complete her degree in French and English, particularly as she already fluently speaks Arabic and Portuguese.
Fadah had been renewing her visa internally as is permitted to some residents until her last renewal in September 2006 when, along with hundreds of others, she was suddenly given a 'last permit' stamp on her visa and was forced to leave her home, husband and baby in December. She went to Jordan for four days with her husband and baby. When she returned, the (IOF) allowed her husband and baby to enter while she was ordered to return to Jordan. "When my husband took the baby who was sick at the moment, and but my luggage in the returning bus I burst into tears" Fadah said. "They allowed me to enter just for seven days, and know I have to leave in order to renew my visa" she added. Fadah fears that once she leaves, Israel won't allow her re-entry.
The West Bank's Bir Zeit University also suffered from the Israeli policy. The Bir Zeit University Right to Education Campaign in a press release on 6 January 2007 said that the Israeli " policy has brought tremendous insecurity to Bir Zeit University and its financial and academic well being."
I n addition to two of Bir Zeit's faculty staff: Somida Abbas and Bahgat Taiam who are already outside and have 'denied entry' stamped in their passports, the University fears the risk of being unable to continue teaching in some fields by losing irreplaceable lecturers or about 383 students who fear deportation or prison sentences if they are caught at checkpoints.
The Arabic language and culture program is particularly at risk as it is entirely self-sufficient and dependent on their foreign students' access to the University. In the last term alone, four students were not allowed to complete their studies as they were not allowed to enter or re-enter the OPT. The program is also a major source of emergency funds for the university, which has recently come into use to cover staff salaries since the economic blockade post the 2006 elections. Since Israel's restrictions on access to Palestinian education, applications for next term's course fell by 50 percent - taking with it 50 percent of the program's income.
The Campaign for Right to Entry/Re-entry, based in Ramallah, regarded the Israeli new policy in a press conference in Ramallah "as a rare moment where the Israeli Authorities acknowledge in writing the severe humanitarian crisis brought on by Israeli policies of denying foreign nationals the right to family reunification and entry to the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)". But it considered that Mishlav's letter "leaves many questions unanswered and the crisis unresolved.
The Campaign said that "several foreign nationals with family in the oPt have been denied entry under circumstances that indicate the implementation of the newly announced procedures remains arbitrary, abusive and internationally unlawful", and that the "procedures for granting residency to foreign nationals whose life and livelihood is in the oPt remain unanswered" it added.
The Campaign also considered that the "CoGAT's" letter to Erekat "does not offer a solution to the thousands of individuals who have remained in the oPt after the expiration of their permits, fearing they would be denied re-entry. The notice also fails to indicate if foreign nationals seeking entry into occupied East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip will be eligible to apply for temporary admission or visa extensions".
Israel is refusing to consider over 120,000 applications for family unification, forcing many families to relocate abroad. Together with many foreign nationals who have established their primary business or professional activities in the West Bank, or otherwise aspire to build their lives in the West Bank, these new procedures place them in a state of continuous uncertainty under constant threat of expulsion and exclusion.
Whereas the announced new Israeli policy regarding entry to foreign nationals traveling into the West Bank, is eligible to nationals from friend countries to Israel, the Israeli policy towards nationals from enemy-classified countries or that do not have " visa agreements with Israel", who are tens of thousands of foreigners, including 60,000 Jordanian-born women, as well as women from other Arab countries, Russia and the Ukraine is vague. Israel used to grant them a six -months permit. However, Israel stopped granting them or family unification approvals after the outbreak of the intifada.
Faruoq, from the Salfeet area has been engaged to a Palestinian relative residing in Jordan and bears its nationality. Since his fiancée hasn't a Palestinian ID, and wasn't granted a visiting permit, Farhat postponed his wedding several times. He filed an application for unification with his fiancée but was denied by Israel several times." I have been engaged sine a long time", he said. "If the situation will not change and my fiancée doesn't have a permit perhaps we will be divorced", he added.
(Mohammed Mar'i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)
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