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March 31, 2014
Daily summary, Monday, March 31, 2014
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Main News
ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES OPPRESS LAND DAY DEMONSTRATIONS; MARCHES HELD INSIDE ’48 TERRITORIES
Palestinians on either side of the Green Line marked the 38th anniversary of Land Day. Israeli occupation forces cracked down on marches and activities around the West Bank including East Jerusalem and its suburbs where dozens of people were injured from teargas inhalation and bullets. One young man was arrested in the city while a woman was burned in the face during clashes at Damascus Gate. Another major demonstration took place in Hebron in protest of the settler takeover of the Rajabi house. In Tulkarm, dozens of citizens were choked with teargas during a protest at a nearby checkpoint west of the city, and in Bethlehem, Israeli forces barred activists and supporters from reaching a pice of land threatened with takeover by Israeli authorities in Al Khader. In Arraba, in the Galilee, thousands of people gathered for a central protest, holding up Palestinian flags, while another central demonstration was held in the unrecognized village of Suwaweel in the Negev Desert. Several demonstrations were also held in the Gaza Strip to commemorate the occasion. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
BENNET USES THE LANGUAGE OF ‘THUGS’ AND THREATENS THE PRESIDENT; ABU RUDEINEH HOLDS NETANYAHU RESPONSIBLE
Extremist Israeli economy minister Neftali Bennet resorted to the language of thugs and bravado, threatening President Abbas if he resorts to UN organizations. His threats reached a point of insinuating “arrest and trial” against Abbas, describing Fatah as ‘terrorist’. The president condemned Bennet’s statements and threats, holding Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for them. Bennet’s threats were broadcast on Israel’s Channel Seven, which were made after the Israeli cabinet session yesterday. He said that “President Abbas is threatening us with going to UN agencies, well we find that very amusing.” He went on to say that Israel would know how to handle Abbas, who is also the head of Fatah. “His rap sheet will be full of charges to hold him accountable for seeking to harm Israel in all possible ways.” Bennet said that if President Abbas insisted on going to the UN, he would “be doing Israel a favor” and they would know how to respond to him. He said Abbas would harm himself by going to the UN, hinting at submitting a charge sheet against him. Bennet also said that “the Israeli army could occupy Palestinian cities within a minute and a half” advising Abbas not to make any threats because he ‘has no state, no borders and no components of a state” even if the UN recognized it as a state. “That means nothing.”
Bennet also encouraged Abbas to continue with negotiations because there is more in it for him than for the Israelis. He continued that he was not against the talks but that he was against them being used to blackmail Israel. He also said that Abbas’ insistence on Israel to release the fourth batch of prisoners were ‘dreams and illusions” adding that the rumor about an additional release of 400 prisoners was an “April Fools” lie. He also said that they did not discuss the prisoner release in the cabinet meeting.
In response, presidential advisor Nabil Abu Rdeineh condemned Bennet’s statements, holding Israeli PM responsible for such public threats. The presidency has called on Netanyahu to provide a clear response to his minister’s statements.
In related news, an Israeli source said yesterday that Israel had proposed a draft agreement to President Abbas to move the negotiations along, saying that Abbas was looking into the Israeli proposal. (Al Hayat al Jadida)
KERRY PREPARES FOR AN URGENT VISIT TO THE REGION; NETANYAHU PROPOSES INCENTIVES
American officials said last night that US Secretary of State John Kerry was preparing to make an unplanned visit to the Middle East in search of a ‘formula to extend the period of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.” The official quoted did not give any details about the date of the impending visit, although some sources say he could arrive today. Israeli media sources did, however, quote from a Maan interview with Ziad Abu Ain in which he said that there were ‘various suggestions being put forward for the release of prisoner after the fourth batch is released.” An Israeli official said yesterday that marathon discussions under American mediation had been conducted between the Palestinians and Israelis in order to reach a formula for extending the negotiations. Israel’s Channel 10 said that Israeli PM Netanyahu was willing to soften his stances, proposing incentives to the Palestinians such as an additional release of prisoners. The channel added that Netanyahu and the Americans were waiting for an answer from the Palestinians regarding an extension of the talks. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=686098)
SETTLER OPENS FIRE AT PALESTINIAN WEST OF NABLUS, INJURING HIM
An Israeli settlers opened fire last night on a Palestinian youth near the Jet junction west of Nablus, injuring him. According to settlement file official in the northern West Bank Ghassan Daghlas, the settler opened fire with an automatic rifle on Nidal Yousef Shehada, 25, while he was changing the tire on his car. He was injured in the foot and taken to hospital for treatment, where his condition was described as moderate. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=686109)
ISRAELI JERUSALEM MUNCIPALITY ORDERS DEMOLITION OF RESIDENTIAL ‘SHACKS’
The Israeli municipality in Jerusalem gave a family in the city until the beginning of next month to carry out a judicial order to demolish their shack in the Hardoub area on the Mt. of Olives under the pretext that it was built there illegally. The family of Mahmoud Maslamani received a warning from the municipality that it had until tomorrow to demolish their home in accordance with a demolition order issued over a year ago. There are seven people living in the home. The order includes two corrugated iron shacks, which were built in 2013. The family has decided to tear down the home on their own so they could spare themselves the municipality costs of the demolition. (http://www.qudsnet.com/news/View/270275/)
THE KNESSET APPROVES TRANSFER OF NIS177 MILLION TO THE SETTLEMENTS
The Knesset’s financial committee approved yesterday to transfer NIS177 million to the settlements unit of the Zionist agency, which funds settlements in the West Bank. The committee had first refused to approve the money transfer because it said the settlement unit did not fall under the law of transparency and freedom of information and therefore its work cannot be monitored. It is also not obligated to publish the means in which the money is spent. However, the opposition was turned around this week and the money was approved. (Al Ayyam)
HAWATMEH UNVEILS UNPRECEDENTED INITIATIVE FOR ENDING THE SPLIT
Secretary general of the DFLP Nayef Hawatmeh revealed yesterday that his faction has put forth a new and unprecedented initiative for ending the political division between Fatah and Hamas. In a press conference yesterday in Amman on the occasion of Land Day, Hawatmeh said there were people in both Hamas and Fatah who did not want to end the division or establish national unity, which has ultimately led to the failure of these factions to implement previously signed agreements, namely the Cairo agreement for ending the split. He said the new project entailed the Hamas government announcing its resignation immediately to President Mahmoud Abbas. The very next day, the PA government would also resign and on the third day Abu Mazen would begin forming a national conciliation government of independent figures under his presidency. This government would be responsible for solving the outstanding issues from the split and which led to the current crisis that threatens the entire national project. It would also be responsible for holding general elections and within PLO institutions.
He continued that immediately after the two governments hand in their resignations and a national unity government is formed, Abu Mazen is called upon to hold a meeting of the temporary higher leadership of the PLO – which was formed in May, 2011 in order to authorize the new government and determine a timetable for elections. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=686090)
FATE OF NEGOTIATIONS TO BE DECIDED WITHIN DAYS; LEADERSHIP MEETING TONIGHT
The Palestinian leadership is to hold an important meeting this evening in Ramallah to discuss the next steps if Israel does not release the fourth batch of pre-Oslo prisoners. Meanwhile, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat briefed President Abbas on the latest developments on his ongoing contacts with US envoy Martin Indyk. Also, deputy minister for prisoner affairs, Ziad Abu Ain said that Israel had not officially informed them that they would not release the fourth group of prisoners but that the Israelis had informed the Americans they would not release them until the Palestinians agreed to extend the negotiations and continued to abide by their commitment not to go to the UN.
Last night, Palestinian sources confirmed that President Abbas is planning to demand the release of an additional 1,000 prisoners and also a halt to settlement construction in exchange for an extension to peace talks. The source also said that progress had been made in terms of the fourth prisoner release, saying they could be released in two days’ time.
On his part, Israeli PM Netanyahu said that the “fate of the negotiations would be decided within days”. (Al Quds)
CARTER WARNS KERRY AGAINST VIOLATING INTERNATIONAL LAW IN DRAFTING THE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT
Former US President Jimmy Carter informed President Abbas about the letter he wrote to US Secretary John Kerry regarding his efforts to reach a framework agreement and to salvage the peace process. In his letter, he expressed his concern for some of the statements made by Martin Inkyk to AIPAC and to certain Jewish groups. While Carter told Abbas that he supported Kerry’s efforts to reach a proposal acceptable by both sides, he also warned him of the ‘damaging effects of overstepping in any way international law while drafting the framework.” He pointed to the need to abide by UN resolution 242,which was accepted by former Israeli PM Menachem Begin and also the Knesset as part of the Camp David Accords, and which is also supported by the EU, the Quartet and the Arab League. Carter stressed that while there may be ‘new facts on the ground” the US’s official proposal to cancel out and violate international law would make it impossible for the Palestinians inside their homeland and abroad to accept this framework agreement as a new foundation. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU ATTACKS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL FOR ADOPTING ANTI-ISRAEL DECISIONS
Israeli PM Netanyahu criticized yesterday the UN Human Rights Council for adopting a series of resolutions that condemn Israel, saying there were human rights violations in other parts of the world as well. He said the HRC condemned Israel five times over the weekend while the massacres are continuing in Syria and innocent people are being hung in the Middle East. Meanwhile, minister for foreign affairs Riyad Al Malki welcomed the resolutions, saying they were confirmation of several things, including the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, an independent state the right of return for refugees and the illegality of the occupation. (Al Ayyam)
HAMAS DENIES MEDIA ACCUSTIONS OF PLANNING TO ASSASSINATE SISI
Hamas denied yesterday that Egyptian security services had arrested three of its members on claims of planning to assassinate former Egyptian defense minister and presidential candidate Abdel Fattah Sisi. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said the report in the Kuwaiti-based Al Ra’iy newspaper about the arrest of three Hamas members was a lie. He said that running such news was a huge insult to Egypt because it makes the Egyptian army and security services look ‘fragile” and incapable of maintaining its security and borders. He also maintained that the news piece was aimed at distorting the image of the Palestinian resistance. According to the Kuwaiti news report, a group of Hamas operatives snuck into Sinai through an underground tunnel, saying that the Egyptian security services found a coded letter with them for a plan to assassinate Sisi. (http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=149299)
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Headlines
*Ukrainians in Gaza demand Russian citizenship (Al Ayyam)
*12 people injured in separate explosions in Rafah and Khan Younis (Al Ayyam)
*The President receives phone call from Nabil Al Arabi (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
* Kr?henbühl to take over his duties as UN commissioner general (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Erdogan’s party wins local elections (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
Ereket: the doors are not yet closed to the release of the fourth batch of prisoners (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Ya’alon: this is a decisive week for negotiations with Palestinians (Al Quds)
*Barghouti and Saadat: the negotiations have proven to be futile; the alternative is resistance in all its forms, and reconciliation (Al Quds)
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Front Page Photos
Al- Quds:Arraba: Land Day march in the Galilee
Al-Ayyam: The Galilee: thousands of people participate in a huge gathering in Arraba for Land Day
Al Hayat Al Jadida:.1)Woman argues with soldiers at Damascus Gate; Palestinian flags raised in Land Day march in Arraba
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Voice of Palestine News
Jerusalem: Last night, activities continued on the occasion of Land Day. Israeli police dealt with the activities brutally in various areas such as Essawiyeh and Silwan where they beat young men and boys, including Ali Qaraeen, a minor. Israeli police also attacked an entire family in Essawiyeh when they raided their home. The police cracked down on a demonstration on Salah Eddin street and prevented the protesters from proceeding.
In Tour, resident Mahmoud Maslami was ordered to tear down his own home, on claims that it was built without a permit
Inside the Green Line: the prisoner issue in the Israeli government is still taking on several aspects. Israel is saying it is sending certain letters to the Palestinians, but it has not given any details. John Kerry is coming to the region today to try and minimize this crisis. But so far, Israel has not changed its position and is still trying to blackmail the Palestinian leadership into accepting its conditions.
Gaza Strip: Today, according to previous announcements, this is the last day the Rafah crossing is opened. The crossing is running smoothly. The first day 800 people crossed, yesterday 750 people, which is acceptable given that the previous period was so tough. We expect the same number of people will use the crossing today as well. There are currently intensive efforts to try and allow the crossing to be opened at least three days a week.
Also 11 people were injured in mysterious explosions in various areas of the Gaza Strip (see more news below). The police opened an investigation into the two incidents.
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Voice of Palestine Interviews
**Minister for Prisoner Affairs Issa Qaraqe, on the release of the fourth batch of prisoners
Q: Have all of the efforts and contacts last night brought any results in terms of the prisoner release?
Until now, there have been no definite results and I think the efforts will continue today. Israel’s positions are still intransigent and extortionist and are contradicting to the spirit of the agreement on the prisoners. The Palestinian leadership is also continuing to refuse all of Israel’s conditions including the extension of negotiations. The leadership will meet today and make the necessary decisions in regards to Israel’s positions.
Q:What decisions do you think the leadership will make today in its meeting?
One of the most important decisions I think they will make is to officially make a move to join UN and international agencies and to use all of tools of international law to defend the rights of the Palestinians. We need to take advantage of our membership in the UN to regain our rights.
Q: Has there been no definite position from the sponsor of this process, the United States?
The Americans should be more definitive and should be putting more pressure on Israel to honor their commitments, but it seems as though the American role is more of a mediator and does not put the necessary pressure, even though they are the sponsor of the prisoner agreement. Even though they have seen that Israel blatantly violated this agreement and that this has created a lot of anger among the people and among the prisoners themselves. The prisoners get what Israel is doing, meaning that they do not expect anything from the occupation other than this. But they refuse to be pawns used by Israel to blackmail the leadership.
Q: The prisoners threatened to take protest measures if Israel evaded its commitment to release them. Can you tell us anything about that?
When things are finalized and if Israel does not release the fourth batch, I expect the prisoners will take protest measures and hunger strikes in response to this Israeli position.
**PLO Executive Committee member Saleh Rafat, on the leadership’s meeting today
Q: What moves are going to be discussed today in the meeting?
As you know, there was an agreement with Israel and the Americans to release all pre-Oslo prisoners. Now, Israel refuses to release the fourth batch. So today, we are going to discuss Israel’s evasions of its commitments and also its move to release the leadership from its commitment not to go to UN and international agencies, which was part of the original deal. We are also going to discuss the dead end of the negotiations and America’s biased positions, namely trying to extend the negotiations.
Q: Israeli reports are saying that President Abbas is asking the Americans to pressure Israel into releasing 1,000 additional prisoners and to give the Palestinians control over some of Area C in exchange for extending the negotiations. Is the leadership considering this?
Right now, we are talking only about the agreement on the prisoners, which Israel did not honor. What guarantees do we have that we won’t agree with Kerry over the release of these prisoners or 1,000 more and Israel does not carry it out? They haven’t honored their commitments until now. So we should reject Israel’s and America’s demand to extend the negotiations and turn to international and UN agencies to push for sanctions on Israel to end this occupation.
**Fatah Central Council member Mahmoud Aloul, on Neftali Bennet’s threats to Israel
Q: What do you make of these comments and threats?
I think they are very important because of what they signify. Regardless of his stupid remarks, they show how effective and how potent the tool in the Palestinians’ hands is after they became an observer state in the UN. These statements show how Israel has lost its nerves and that the Palestinians have a tool that can actually make an impact. I think that Israel’s leaders are very aware that the Palestinians can no longer be swayed with threats. They have made their decision and their destiny is to remain on their land and defend it.
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More Headlines
Israel confiscates 300 dunams of land south of Nablus
The Israeli government decided today to confiscate 300 dunams of agricultural land to build a school and cemetery for settlers. The land belongs to residents in the Jaloud village south of Nablus. According to settlement official Ghassan Daghlas, the Israeli government informed the residents that they would confiscate the 300 dunams of land located in between the settlements of Shivot Rahel and Shilo in order to build an educational complex and a cemetery for the settlers. Daghlas said the land belongs to Tawfeeq Mohammed and Ahmad Mohammed. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=686170)
Ukrainians in Gaza demand Russian citizenship
A news report yesterday said that people currently residing in the Gaza Strip who are citizens of Crimea and have Ukrainian citizenship have demanding that they are granted Russian citizenship just like the other residents of the Crimean peninsula, which was recently annexed to Russia. According to one woman, Irena Romian, there are some people in the Gaza Strip with Ukrainian citizenship who now feel very instable after Crimea was annexed to Russia. She said they were now demanding that they are granted Russian passports so that they could do the same for their family members and register new births at the Russian embassy. According to a source in the Russian representative office in the Gaza Strip, there are around 500 Russian citizens living in Gaza. As for Ukrainian families, the source said there were about 10 families demanding Russian citizenship now. (Al Ayyam)
12 people injured in three separate explosions in Rafah and Khan Younis
12 people including seven children were injured yesterday in three mysterious and separate explosions in Rafah and Khan Younis. The seven children suffered varying injuries in an explosion in the Tel Sultan neighborhood west of Rafah. It is believed that the explosion was caused by unexploded Israeli ordinates. The children were playing near the Japanese garden north of the neighborhood when they found an unidentified object and took it home. As they began toying with it, it exploded. One child was seriously wounded. Another four were injured near a gas station west of Khan Younis, all of them seriously. In a third incident, a young man was seriously wounded when an unexploded shell left behind by the Israeli occupation went off, also in Khan Younis. Hospital sources say the man’s legs had to be amputated from wounds caused by the explosion (Al Ayyam)
Israeli occupation forces storm Bab Al Karameh, arrest nine
Israeli occupation forces stormed the Bab Al Karameh village this morning, set up by Palestinian activists in the old Turkish fortress in Jiftlik near Jericho. Coordinator for the anti-wall and settlement committee in Hebron, Rateb Jbour said a large Israeli army force stormed the village at two this morning, beating the activists and arresting nine. (http://safa.ps/details/news/125664.html)
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Arab Press
Would Abbas be the man of settlement?
by Amer Al Sabaileh
The ongoing conflict within Fateh raises some major questions about the ability of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to be a real leader for Palestinians. According to many observers, 79-year-old Abu Mazen is losing control over his movement for various reasons, central of which is his individualist leadership style.
In her article in The New York Times last week, Isabel Kershner questions Abbas’ decision “to open up another front within his own Fateh movement by beginning a nasty, public campaign” against Mohammad Dahlan, a former Gaza strongman and Fateh security chief and a “onetime ally” who he now sees as a “rival”.
However, many question the motivations behind the unprovoked accusation that risks serious impacts within Fateh.
Some observers believe that there will be no settlement without Palestinian reconciliation. Resolving the differences between Fateh and Hamas is difficult enough without dealing with internal splits within Fateh.
This recent campaign raises questions about Abbas’ ability to deliver a settlement, as he walks further away from Palestinian reconciliation.
The Americans are hedging the risk of collapsed negotiations by prolonging and slowing them down while these internal disputes play out. This is balanced with the risk that Abbas’ legitimacy is retained, which is a big risk given that his term in office expired a long time ago and he is moving away from Palestinian reconciliation.
Even if Abbas survives as leader of Fateh and signs an agreement, any question of his legitimacy will also raise questions about the legitimacy of that agreement.
Meanwhile, the major obstacle to a settlement is still the stubbornness of Israel’s position. This raises questions about the Palestinian president’s proclamations of American pressure being placed on him. Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s position deflects any pressure on the Palestinian leader. In fact, if the Americans are serious about agreement on a settlement, there should be more of a focus on finding alternatives to the current protagonists on both sides.
The US administration is pushing for the survival of Abbas, who a diplomatic source has compared to a drone (male honeybee), as a man who has a single mission.
It should be noted that that not all drones can achieve their mission; in this case a powerful and energetic leader is needed to achieve Palestinian reconciliation to ensure that any agreement they sign is legitimate and widely accepted.(http://jordantimes.com/would-abbas-be-the-man-of-settlement)
Israel's water miracle that wasn't
By Charlotte Silver
Israel doesn't have a 'water problem' because it steals water from Palestinians, writes Silver [AFP]
It was impressive at first: Long stretches of seemingly barren, beige hills punctuated by abundantly fertile farms growing oranges, dates and watermelons, first appearing in southern Israel in the middle of the 20th century. Unlike the gaudy, fake lakes and gushing fountains of Las Vegas plopped in the middle of the Mojave desert, this prodigious agricultural production was not meant to signal decadence; rather, it was a testament to Israel's prudent husbandry of the land, an intelligence and expertise that not only enriched the region but legitimised the presence of Israel and the expulsion of Palestinians.
Israel credits its use of desalination plants and drip-irrigation with enabling the desert to bloom - the iconic image reinforcing the still-lingering notion that the land of historic Palestine was a dry one, while further impressing Israel's world audience with the young country's wizardry with water.
Less attention is given to the Knesset report commissioned in 2002, nearly four decades after Israel's national water carrier began diverting the Jordan river to Israeli citrus orchards in the Negev. The report concluded that the region's ongoing water crisis - a desiccated Jordan river and shrinking Dead Sea - was 'primarily man-made'.
In December 2011, Ben Ehrenreich reported the unrecuperated cost of such agricultural opulence: It required half of Israel's water while providing only three percent of the country's GDP. Nevertheless, the extravagance was deemed necessary by the commission, which determined it held a "Zionist-strategic-political value, which goes beyond its economic contribution".
But there is another motive behind peddling the myth of eternal water scarcity in Palestine: If you argue that you're creating potable water out of what was nothing, you've already successfully obscured your theft of something.
In fact, Palestinians have not historically wanted for water. But the characterisation of Palestine as a desperately arid land has, as Clemens Messerschmid wrote in 2011, "naturalised" the water crisis that Palestinians experience every day. Gaza, which is currently subsisting off of a water source that is 95 percent non-potable, long served as an oasis for travellers crossing from Cairo to Damascus. This history - and more - is important to consider amid the recent enthusiastic clamour over Israel's miraculous water surplus that promises to provide a glimmer of hope for peace and cooperation, but is, in truth, a helpful cover-up for its ongoing theft and exploitation.
The mythology is currently in a renaissance.
At the beginning of this month, Netanyahu paid a visit to California - which has experienced record-low rainfall this year - to create a pact with Governor Jerry Brown that vaguely promised a collaboration on future projects, especially those concerning water conservation and production. To nervous Californians, Netanyahu crowed, "Israel doesn't have a water problem!" - no doubt expecting to dazzle his audience with this miracle before trotting out the virtues of his country's innovation and industry.
The statement was a stunning show of hubris and mendacity in light of the fact that Netanyahu's country has long deprived Palestinians of their own water.
The visit - and the message it carried - are just the latest in the PR ploys aptly called "bluewashing". Israel doesn't have a "water problem" because it steals water from Palestinians.
The theft
The Israeli military has governed all sources of water in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967 and 1974, respectively. Originally gained by military conquest, its control has subsequently been affirmed through the Oslo Accords and, increasingly, the work of the Palestinian Authority and international NGOs.
A brief review of the state's dominion over water resources shows that Israel diverts the Jordan river into Lake Tiberias, as do Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon to their respective territories, leaving the Dead Sea with a declining sea-level. Flaunting international laws against the pillage of occupied lands, Israel controls the mountain aquifer - 80 percent of which lies beneath the West Bank - and over-extracts it for agriculture, as well as settlers' pools and verdant lawns. In 2009, the Mountain Aquifer supplied 40 percent of Israel's agricultural needs and 50 percent of its population's drinking water.
Israel also takes more than its share from the coastal aquifer that lies beneath Gaza, and diverts the Wadi Gaza into Israel's Negev desert, just before it reaches Gaza. Lastly, Israel's wall conveniently envelops wells and springs that lie east of the Green Line.
With all these sources of water, it's no miracle that Israelis can comfortably consume about five times as much water as Palestinians.
In 1982, the Ministry of Defence - then led by Ariel Sharon - sold the entirety of the West Bank's water infrastructure to semi-private Mekorot for one symbolic shekel. What was once a military acquisition became the property of a state-owned company; today the Palestinians in the West Bank buy over half of their water from Mekorot, often at a higher price than nearby settlers.
Founded in 1937, Israel's water company, Mekorot, has been crucial to the Zionist state-building project, and to that end has aided in Israel’s erasure of its original boundaries. Israeli occupation watchdog group, Who Profits, notes that on Mekorot's map of its National Water System, there is no Green Line.
Mekorot's governance of water ensures Palestinians remain on their knees of dependence on Israel - prohibited from using the water flowing beneath their feet or develop their own water infrastructure. The years immediately following Israel's usurpation of Palestine's water resources saw a sharp 20 percent decline in Palestine's agricultural production. Nearly 200,000 Palestinians in the West Bank have no access to running water, nor do Palestinians have the ability to collect water themselves without explicit permission, which is rarely granted.
Mekorot executes this crime of theft all the while Israel maintains that it has the solutions to scant rainfall and scarcity of water, and that Mekorot provides humanitarian assistance to parched and needy Palestinians.
March 22 marked World Water Day, a day commemorated globally every year since 1993. This year, the day was intentionally chosen to kick off a week-long protest against Mekorot - dubbed International Week Against Mekorot - that will end on March 30, Palestine's Land Day. The campaign is crucial amid the current amplification of Israel's trumpeting its water tech prowess.
Mekorot began expanding internationally in 2005; a year that also saw the launch of Brand Israel Group, a multimillion-dollar initiative to improve the country's image abroad, in which the exporting of commodities plays a useful role. Israel is presented as the country that provides an answer to one of the globe’s most ominous threats - global warming, drought, and water scarcity.
"Israel has taken the challenge of water scarcity and built an export industry in water tech," Will Sarni of Deloitte Consulting, recently wrote, noting that the industry saw a 170 percent increase in exports in six years. McKinsey has estimated that the global water market is the third or fourth largest commodity market in the world.
And, while the Palestinian Authority long resisted desalination projects as a substitute for restoring water rights to Palestinians, today it has embraced these technical solutions - yet another indication of its impotence as a political entity.
Yet in spite of all this, not everyone is buying Israel's campaign of bluster and braggadocio. Proponents of BDS, a movement calling for boycotts and sanctions against Israel, have already scored significant victories against Mekorot: The Netherlands and Argentina recently cancelled contracts with Mekorot, citing Mekorot's violation of international law.
The significance of these successes cannot be overstated: A clear indication that the call for BDS is reaching the ears of government leaders and, perhaps more important, that Zionists are failing in their ceaseless quest to make the world forget their crimes against Palestinians.(http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/03/israel-water-miracle-palestine-20143247252981587.html)
Palestinian cause unites all Arabs
By Marwan Asmar
Palestine unites all. Just when it was thought the recent Arab summit in Kuwait was dithering and in deep malaise with inter-Arab tensions and conflicts in the high seat, the Palestinian cause quickly changed all that.
The speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas proved the rallying ground for the 22-member Arab delegations to recharge their energies and refocus their efforts to castigate Israel for its constant renewable demands and conditions for the revitalisation of the peace process.
In an almost point blank, no nonsense, robust atmosphere, the Kuwaiti Declaration of the annual Arab League’s 25 summit expressed its rejection of recognising the “Jewish identity” of Israel, which the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now stressed the Palestinians must undertake as a premium for putting the peace process back on track.
The Arab delegations, which included 13 heads of state is on record for saying “we express our absolute and decisive rejection to recognise Israel as a Jewish state,” and for holding it responsible for the flagging peace process.
On the other hand, they stressed significance of supporting the Palestinian cause, which is “core” in the Arab world. These are strong words indeed and designed to give a moral and psychological boost to the Palestinians.
Abbas is clearly angry with the constant foot-dragging and changing demands made by Israeli policy-makers. The latest being so forthrightly put by Netanyahu as stating that the Palestinians must recognise Israel “as a national homeland of the Jewish people,” and “recognition of Israel as a Jewish state,” as if this is something new to the Palestinians and as if they have not be living under the evils of the occupation and subjected to being uprooted both in 1948 and 1967.
Many onlookers, seasoned political practitioners and international diplomats, might be baffled by all this sudden terminology. Many may privately say Palestinians have already succumbed to the idea that Israel already exists whether ‘we like it or not’— it has character, entity and trappings of statehood — and they are living under the barrel of the Israeli gun and tank and to deny otherwise would be living in a cuckoo land, which is meaningless in a world of nation states and international relations.
The peace process which started in Madrid in the early 1990s and followed by subsequent meetings and rendezvous between the Palestinian and Israeli delegations is surely enough evidence of how realistically the Palestinians came to view Israel and how they have come to accept against their will that their land had become divided and they have lived for long as the injured party.
And surely all that proves that Israel does exist, and if its politicians insist otherwise, then something must be wrong in the Israeli psychology. And the very clear fact is that it is the Israelis who are stalling by being deliberately negative and evasive in their approach to peace-making.
Palestinian politicians saddled in Ramallah and different cities in the West Bank and Gaza may have finally caught on and are now playing the same political game. Aside, and not in fear of a flagging peace process, they are saying no to Netanyahu and that Israel will not get its way because it is already obstructing legitimate Palestinian demands.
What Netanyahu claims about the Palestinians torpedoing the peace process is not how it is and the international community knows full well that it is Israel, which is accelerating the building of colonies in the West Bank, destroying houses in Palestinian villages and continuing with its grand designs on places like occupied East Jerusalem.
These activities have been going on for decades but the issue of “Jewish recognition” and “Jewish identity” is certainly so transparent of the unwillingness of Israel to make peace, that it is laughable.
Of course the Palestinians understand only too well the new Israeli political game. That’s why they are sticking to their traditional principles outlined by Abbas’s speech in the Kuwaiti summit last week which he put forward for the umpteenth time — including establishing a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines, having East Jerusalem as capital of the state, Palestinian control over all of its territory including borders and natural assets as well as the right of return of Palestinian refugees according to the UN Resolution 194 and the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002.
While Israel may in theory be willing to negotiate on all aspects, the return of refugees as dictated by Resolution 194 of 1948 is clearly a nightmare for them. Israel has already positioned its existence on the hundreds of thousands of refugees it forced out of their homes in 1948 while subsequently changing the geographical terrain of the area and uprooting Palestinian villages and populating them with incoming Jewish colonists.
The refugee file is clearly like opening up a can of worms, old wounds that need to be healed. That’s why Israel insists that the Jewish identity and the concept of “Jewishness” should be recognised by the Palestinian politicians and policy-makers to try to put a cap on the issue of who can enter and who can’t in any eventual settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis.
That may indeed be the real reason for Israeli foot-dragging and which now seems certain that next month’s peace process deadline would be missed. US Secretary of State John Kerry knows that and everybody is bracing themselves for a dateline extension beyond the end of April.
It is also why the Kuwait summit declaration may have come at an opportune moment to send out the strongest message from the Arabs of their dismay and frustration with Israel and its actions.(http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/palestinian-cause-unites-all-arabs-1.1311173)
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Opinions
Israeli blackmail again!
Al Quds Editorial
The news yesterday about the Israeli or the Israeli-American proposals for solving the negotiations crisis after Israel violating the agreement for resuming negotiations by refusing to release the fourth batch of prisoners, is raising many questions. This is especially since the leaks on these proposals indicate that Israel is insisting on extending the negotiations for a year and condition that the PA does not join UN agencies in addition to Israel choosing the list of prisoners not exceeding 400 along with the fourth batch. This is the tradeoff Israel is offering if the Palestinians agree to its terms.
It is very clear that Israel fears two things should the negotiations crash and burn. The first is for Palestine to join various international agencies in all that this entails pertaining to legally pursuing Israel in international arenas for their continuous violations of international law. Second, it fears the official end of the negotiations because they have served as the cover exploited by Israel to continue its wide scale settlement plans, Judaizing Jerusalem and carrying out the various aggressive measures against the Palestinians and their rights. Hence, it usurps the Palestinians – under the guise of negotiations – of the legitimate right to resist the illegitimate occupation with the excuse that we are involved in a peace process, which Israel knows will lead nowhere (as quoted by one of Netanyahu’s government ministers yesterday).
The more important question now is whether it is really useful for the Palestinians to extend these futile negotiations for another year during which Israel will continue to expand settlements and Judaize Jerusalem and impose suffering on the Palestinians? And all while the Palestinians are deprived of their legitimate right to turn to various international arenas to hold Israel accountable for its violations, not to mention being deprived of its right to resist the occupation.
If Israel wants to blackmail the Palestinians with the prisoner issue since it understands the sensitivity of the matter to the people, then what should be said here is that Israel releasing not even 7% of the total number of prisoners according to their proposal, will not solve the prisoner issue. Furthermore, the price for this is very high and crosses red lines in some places. It is inconceivable to reward the occupation for releasing prisoners. Furthermore, this reward would be in the form of preventing any resort to international arenas to confront settlements and other violations, even though the Palestinians are very keen on the release of any and all of prisoners.
Besides, the release of the fourth batch of prisoners is part of a binding agreement for Israel and is not conditioned with any extension of negotiations or with not turning to the international arena after this period is over. Israel’s conditions are a clear attempt to blackmail the Palestinians yet again, something which every Palestinian refuses.
In the end, Netanyahu, who said yesterday that he would not give the Palestinians anything in return, must realize that there are fixed and legitimate rights for the Palestinians that no one can surrender or negotiate over. He must also realize that his illegal occupation of others’ land and all of the violations that this occupation perpetrates must not be rewarded. Rather, the United States and the international community must obligate Israel to end its occupation and hold it accountable for all of the victims and losses it has caused the Palestinian people. Therefore, these Israeli proposals, which wreak of the mentality of the occupation, are better off being rejected. The Palestinians will not kill all their other options for regaining their rights. (Al Quds)
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