Showing posts with label Palestinians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palestinians. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Obama phones Netanyahu over ‘regional security issues’
End Of Days News
US President Barack Obama spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone Wednesday to discuss regional security issues and Middle East peace, the White House said.
A brief statement said the two leaders agreed to continue their “close coordination.”
The call came amid a renewed peace push by the Americans and days after Israel reportedly carried out a number of airstrikes on weapons transfers within Syria, a move US officials said Washington backed.
The Obama administration has said it is considering providing weapons to vetted units in the armed opposition, among other military options, following last week’s revelation of a US intelligence assessment suggested chemical weapons use by the Assad regime. The US also is looking for ways to halt the violence that has killed more than 70,000 people.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Palestinians kick off Jerusalem bid by ceding Holy Sites Custodianship to Jordan’s king
End Of Days News
This foundation will not only raise strong Israeli objections but also be challenged by many Palestinians and therefore will have to last a long and tortuous course to survive.
Its importance lies in that the Palestinian Authority has taken the historically momentous step of ceding to the Hashemite throne the custodianship - religious, political, legal, and security - of the Muslim shrines on Temple Mount with authority over the Palestinian Waqf.
This should not be too much of a stretch since in practice, Israeli and Jordanian intelligence have cooperated quietly on such issues for many years.
The degree of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s involvement in Jordanian-Palestinian accord is still to be determined and also whether Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (in charge of negotiations with the Palestinians) were privy to its substance.
A historic agreement signed in Amman Sunday, March 31, between Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah II takes a new stand on Jerusalem - one of the core issues subject to negotiation with Israel - by accepting the king as Custodian of the city’s Holy Sites. The Palestinians agreed that Abdullah “will oversee and manage the Waqf (Muslim religious authority) in Jerusalem” and represent the interests of the Holy Sites “in relevant international forums… through feasible legal means.”
Where the Palestinian (Wafa) and Jordanian (Petra) versions of the same agreement differ is over the definition of “Palestinian sovereignty.”
DEBKAfile: However, by this document, the Palestinian leader and the king have laid the foundation for a mixed Arab-Palestinian-Israeli framework for managing the shrines holy to Jews (who are not mentioned), Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem. It has opened the door to what many will be perceive as a proposal to internationalize Jerusalem’s sanctuaries, a status affirmed but never honored from 1948 to 1967.
This foundation will not only raise strong Israeli objections but also be challenged by many Palestinians and therefore will have to last a long and tortuous course to survive.
Its importance lies in that the Palestinian Authority has taken the historically momentous step of ceding to the Hashemite throne the custodianship - religious, political, legal, and security - of the Muslim shrines on Temple Mount with authority over the Palestinian Waqf.
It means that henceforth, instead of the Palestinian Authority, Israel will have to engage the Jordanian government in discussions of matters pertaining to Temple Mount, especially hyper-sensitive security arrangements.
This should not be too much of a stretch since in practice, Israeli and Jordanian intelligence have cooperated quietly on such issues for many years.
The Hashemite House comes out of the accord with Palestinian recognition for the first time as the Custodian of the Holy Places of Jerusalem, especially the Mosque of al Aqsa, a title which parallels the Saudi king’s traditional title as Guardian of the Holy Places to Islam in Mecca and Medina.
The degree of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s involvement in Jordanian-Palestinian accord is still to be determined and also whether Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (in charge of negotiations with the Palestinians) were privy to its substance.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Palestinians to Obama: Stay off Temple Mount!
End Of Days News
The Palestinian Authority has advised the White House in Washington to call off President Barack Obama’s tour of the Western Wall and al Aqsa mosque on Temple Mount under the escort of Israeli security personnel. Obama is to spend March 20 and 21 on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. His visits to those shrines, said the PA, would be an affirmation of Israeli sovereignty.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad called on its supporters to prevent the US president setting foot on Temple Mount with a hail of rocks and eggs
Read More: http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3882/
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Arab Group: Kotel is a Muslim Site, And Jews Don't Belong There
End Of Days News
An Israeli Arab group, “The Al-Aqsa Heritage Institute,” on Thursday issued a statement demanding that Israel halt its plans to bring more Jews to the Kotel (Western Wall) – which, the group claims, is holy not to Jews, but to Muslims.
In fact, the group says, Israel is “defiling the holiness of the site” by conducting Jewish prayers there.
In Jewish tradition, the Kotel is the outer retaining wall of the Holy Temple, which stood on the Temple Mount, approximately at the same location as the Al-Aqsa Mosque. When the Holy Temple was destroyed nearly 2,000 years ago, Jews were prohibited from worshipping on the Mount, first by the Romans and then by the Muslims, and proscribed from doing so by Jewish law – and adopted the Kotel as a place of prayer, as it was the closest place to the Holy Temple as the could get.
In Islamic legend, however, the Kotel is a Muslim site – famous as the wall that Muhammad used to tie up his donkey when he ascended to heaven on his “night journey” from the Temple Mount. The “Buraq Wall,” as Islamist groups call the Kotel, is a part of the Temple Mount, and thus has the same status for Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque, or the other holy places in the area.
In a statement this week, the group said that “the Buraq Wall, west of the Al Aqsa Mosque, is one of the main objectives of the Israeli occupation. As a result, more than 10 million Israelis and tourists violated the holiness of the site during 2012, this according to the occupying police force. The occupiers are proud of this large number, and say in fact that they want to double the number of visitors within a few years,” the statement said.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Egypt condemns Israel for prisoner’s death
End Of Days News
Egypt’s foreign minister on Monday condemned Israel’s policies toward Palestinian inmates, and specifically the alleged mistreatment of Arafat Jaradat, a prisoner who died on Saturday.
Mohammed Kamel Amr warned that, if continued, Israel’s policies would lead to a conflagration in the Palestinian territories, and could have serious implications for the entire region. Amr blamed Israel for any deterioration in regional stability.
Amr, a former Mubarak-era diplomat, expressed his condolences to the Jaradat family and called on the international community to adopt a strong stance against Israel’s “inhuman practices against the Palestinian prisoners,” according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
The Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv was not immediately available for comment.
In a response to Cairo’s statements, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor told The Times of Israel that “Israel’s treatment of detainees and prisoners is transparent and up to the best international standards of Western democracies” and that inmates have regular access to the International Red Cross.
“There are disciplinary measures, of course,” he said, in response to queries about accusations of solitary confinement. “Everything at all points is supervised and/or inspected or visited by the ICRC and human rights NGOs.
“We wish our dear neighbors would reach this standard of human rights and penitentiary services at some point,” he added. “We denounce the political manipulation by the PA and Hamas of the issue of due legal process of criminals.”
Cairo’s statements came in the wake of scathing criticism of Israel by Palestinian Authority officials, who accused Israel of torturing Jaradat to death in Megiddo Prison.
“Israel is killing our children with live fire,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said at an address in Ramallah on Monday, adding that he wouldn’t let Palestinians waste away in Israeli jails.
PA Minister of Detainees Issa Karake said at the press conference Sunday evening that “the information we have received so far is shocking and painful; the evidence corroborates our suspicion that Mr. Jaradat died as a result of torture, especially since the autopsy clearly proved that the victim’s heart was healthy, which disproves the initial alleged account presented by occupation authorities that he died of a heart attack.”
Israel said Jaradat died of heart failure, and that marks on his body were a result of efforts made to resuscitate him.
Abbas by fomenting Palestinian unrest risks losing control
End Of Days News
Day by day, Palestinian fury on the West Bank is stoked by one charge against Israel after another. The protesters of Hebron, Nablus and other West Bank towns and villages are in no mood to hear Israel’s version of the facts. Sunday, Feb. 24, Palestinian Authority officials alleged that Israeli mistreatment caused the death of a 30-year old Palestinian Arafat Jaradat in custody after taking part in rocking-throwing clashes with Israeli troops. Israel denied he was beaten and said he had died of heart failure. Israel’s forensic institute conducted an autopsy with a Palestinian physician in attendance with uncertain results. But the Palestinian street, demonstrating violently for the past week in solidarity with four Palestinian inmates on hunger strike, weren’t waiting. Tomorrow, there will be another trigger for protest and Israeli troops will disperse the rioters and stone-throwers with crowd dispersion measures.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials keep the heat up by accusing Israel of “murder, racism, and brutality.”
Clearly, Abbas (Abu Mazen) and his henchmen are prepared to risk matters getting out of hand on the West Bank.
debkafile examines their motives.
Abbas appears to count on reining in the violence whenever he decides it has exhausted its political usefulness. The Palestinian Authority chairman seems to believe that he only has to give the order for the seven special commando battalions subservient to the PA for the forces to go into action and restore order to the Palestinian street. But Western and Israeli military circles familiar with the situation in Ramallah think his calculus is flawed, because he is doesn’t seem to realize that parts of the PA commando force have established relations with Hamas, the rival group which rules the Gaza Strip.
This takes the Palestinian military structures into a period of uncertainty which recalls the early months of their second uprising (intifada) in 2000. It was hard then to make out which Palestinian units and security arms served which Palestinian strongman. The militias of the day, including the one under the command of Jibril Rajoub – a close Abbas aide today – divided their loyalties and their time between different Palestinian masters. At times, this was contingent on how much they were paid.
debkafile’s military sources estimate that if the current unrest is allowed to continue unchecked, Abbas will be swept aside by the turbulence. Faceless officers will take over and the force will break up into militias and the Palestinian Authority sink into anarchy.
Already Abbas’s relevance among the Palestinians at large is ebbing along with the welcome mat and donations extended him in most Arab capitals.
Even if Abbas does manage to squeeze another settlement construction freeze out of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, along with the release of jailed prisoners, and even revive the stalled flow of funds to the bankrupt Palestinian Authority, he will still face a tough impediment from the Gaza Strip.
To solve it, he would have to turn the clock back to November, 2012 and reverse a process launched then after the Israel Gaza Operation. The US, Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, Hamas and Israel, struck a deal, which ended the operation with a ceasefire and boosted Hamas domestically and internationally by ending the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and promoting cooperation between the Palestinian fundamentalists and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
Mahmoud Abbas clearly hopes that by fostering spiraling anti-Israel unrest on the West Bank, he can catch up with Hamas’s enhanced standing and recover a strong bargaining position for resumed talks with Israel in time for US President Barack Obama’s visit next month to Jerusalem and Ramallah. But he is skating on very thin ice.
This visit in any case may be postponed if Netanyahu fails to set up a post-election government coalition by March 20.
Day by day, Palestinian fury on the West Bank is stoked by one charge against Israel after another. The protesters of Hebron, Nablus and other West Bank towns and villages are in no mood to hear Israel’s version of the facts. Sunday, Feb. 24, Palestinian Authority officials alleged that Israeli mistreatment caused the death of a 30-year old Palestinian Arafat Jaradat in custody after taking part in rocking-throwing clashes with Israeli troops. Israel denied he was beaten and said he had died of heart failure. Israel’s forensic institute conducted an autopsy with a Palestinian physician in attendance with uncertain results. But the Palestinian street, demonstrating violently for the past week in solidarity with four Palestinian inmates on hunger strike, weren’t waiting. Tomorrow, there will be another trigger for protest and Israeli troops will disperse the rioters and stone-throwers with crowd dispersion measures.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials keep the heat up by accusing Israel of “murder, racism, and brutality.”
Clearly, Abbas (Abu Mazen) and his henchmen are prepared to risk matters getting out of hand on the West Bank.
debkafile examines their motives.
Abbas appears to count on reining in the violence whenever he decides it has exhausted its political usefulness. The Palestinian Authority chairman seems to believe that he only has to give the order for the seven special commando battalions subservient to the PA for the forces to go into action and restore order to the Palestinian street. But Western and Israeli military circles familiar with the situation in Ramallah think his calculus is flawed, because he is doesn’t seem to realize that parts of the PA commando force have established relations with Hamas, the rival group which rules the Gaza Strip.
This takes the Palestinian military structures into a period of uncertainty which recalls the early months of their second uprising (intifada) in 2000. It was hard then to make out which Palestinian units and security arms served which Palestinian strongman. The militias of the day, including the one under the command of Jibril Rajoub – a close Abbas aide today – divided their loyalties and their time between different Palestinian masters. At times, this was contingent on how much they were paid.
debkafile’s military sources estimate that if the current unrest is allowed to continue unchecked, Abbas will be swept aside by the turbulence. Faceless officers will take over and the force will break up into militias and the Palestinian Authority sink into anarchy.
Already Abbas’s relevance among the Palestinians at large is ebbing along with the welcome mat and donations extended him in most Arab capitals.
Even if Abbas does manage to squeeze another settlement construction freeze out of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, along with the release of jailed prisoners, and even revive the stalled flow of funds to the bankrupt Palestinian Authority, he will still face a tough impediment from the Gaza Strip.
To solve it, he would have to turn the clock back to November, 2012 and reverse a process launched then after the Israel Gaza Operation. The US, Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, Hamas and Israel, struck a deal, which ended the operation with a ceasefire and boosted Hamas domestically and internationally by ending the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and promoting cooperation between the Palestinian fundamentalists and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
Mahmoud Abbas clearly hopes that by fostering spiraling anti-Israel unrest on the West Bank, he can catch up with Hamas’s enhanced standing and recover a strong bargaining position for resumed talks with Israel in time for US President Barack Obama’s visit next month to Jerusalem and Ramallah. But he is skating on very thin ice.
This visit in any case may be postponed if Netanyahu fails to set up a post-election government coalition by March 20.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
THIS SPEAKS VOLUMES! Frabjous day? Obama’s coming to town
End Of Days News
The Israeli press is still dissecting the news of US President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit, its significance, its implications, and the White House’s announcement that Obama isn’t bringing a new peace plan with him.
Haaretz quotes White House Press Secretary Jay Carney saying that Obama “expects to discuss with Israeli leaders the issues of a nuclear Iran and the situation in Syria,” but not peace with the Palestinians. Israel Hayom quotes US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro saying Obama has no demands for Netanyahu during his upcoming visit, which is intended to convey the significance Obama sees in the “strong and deep connection between both countries.” Yedioth Ahronoth calls the White House announcement “lowering expectations.” Makor Rishon reports that Netanyahu has placed his national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, in charge of the president’s visit.
Haaretz’s op-ed argues that Obama’s visit “presumably attests to the new order of priorities of Obama’s second term,” namely, “negotiations with the Palestinians, and the close relationship he sees between the peace process and stability in a Middle East undergoing convulsions.” It also charges that Obama “seeks to influence the coalition negotiations, and to make it clear to whatever Israeli government is formed that he won’t allow it to shove the diplomatic issue onto the back burner or into the deep freeze.”
In Maariv, Eli Avidar contends that Obama’s decision to visit Ramallah and Amman as well as Jerusalem is all about political pressure on Israel. “President Obama is coming to fulfill his promise to the Palestinian leadership to exert greater pressure on Israel with the beginning of his second term,” he writes. The problem is that Obama seeks political leadership that the Palestinians cannot provide, he argues. “The Abbas government and its political perspective are bankrupt. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is a acceptable person, but he has no public support. Abbas’s situation is even worse, and it’s vrey doubtful if he can provide the goods that President Obama is interested in.”
Haaretz leads with the behind-closed-doors statements attributed to Amidror that West Bank settlement construction is harming Israel’s standing abroad.
“Construction in the settlements has become a diplomatic problem and is causing Israel to lose support even among its friends in the West,” the paper quotes him saying.
The report adds that Amidror opposed responding with new settlement construction to the November 29 United Nations General Assembly vote on upgrading the Palestinians’ status to a nonmember state. “He especially opposed the announcement that Israel would move forward with planning for the E1 corridor, which links Jerusalem with the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim, warning that this would provoke an international outcry,” the paper writes.
Amidror’s opinion, it adds, is shared by Netanyahu’s special negotiator with the Palestinians, Yitzhak Molcho.
Maariv leads with the Channel 2 story reporting on satellite images of the Syrian scientific research facility allegedly struck by Israel last week. According to the report, the images taken in the last week show a blackened parking lot, which it claims is proof of the Israeli hit. The only thing missing is damage to the buildings that Syria claimed Israel inflicted when IAF planes bombed the site. It cites the report’s claims that the strike hit the convoy in the parking lot but dealt no damage to the nearby buildings.
It also reports on the near-completion of the fully-reinforced hospital in Haifa that can withstand nonconventional weapons — including an atomic bomb — and can treat up to 2,000 patients in case of war. Maariv also mentions that the owners of planes at a Haifa airport were ordered to remove their aircraft from the field and given no explanation why.
Israel Hayom reports on the ongoing coalition talks between Netanyahu and the various party leaders, and the scheduled round two of meetings between the once and future prime minister and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid.
“Netanyahu is expected to tell Lapid that he sees the ultra-Orthodox parties as partners in his future government, and that if Lapid wants to join the government, he must ease his positions — especially his demands concerning universal draft,” it reports. Israel Hayom adds that according to a source familiar with the coalition talks, “Netanyahu is interested in assembling the broadest possible government that includes Lapid, [Hatnua leader Tzipi] Livni and [Kadima leader] Shaul Mofaz from the center-left side of the political map, and the ultra-Orthodox factions and Jewish Home from the right side of the map.”
Yedioth Ahronoth also reports that Netanyahu and Lapid will meet on Wednesday to discuss forming a coalition with Jewish Home and Shas, and the article appears to quote the same source saying the prime minister “intends to try to convince Lapid to ease up on the issue of the draft,” and form a broad coalition.
It quotes sources in Yesh Atid, however, saying that it would be impossible to form a broad coalition because of the vast disparity in opinions between the parties Netanyahu aims to unite, and because a broad coalition would be bloated with ministers.
Makor Rishon, the religious-nationalist paper that acquired Maariv in November, reports on Hezbollah’s accusing Israel of launching “an international campaign” against it. According to the report, the Lebanese Shiite militia’s No. 2 told students that “Israel is trying to besmirch Hezbollah worldwide” and is conducting an “international fear campaign against Hezbollah because it failed in military confrontation against us.”
“We see Israel’s political expressions and the public accusations it disseminates in the international press, and we understand that it is trying to bring down the resistance in a political and international fashion, for in a military manner it cannot contend with us,” Sheikh Naim Kassem is quoted saying.
The same author, Assaf Gibor, writes a similar report in Maariv, except he leaves out the final accusatory statement and leads the article with European reactions to the Bulgarian statement accusing Hezbollah of carrying out last year’s bombing in Burgas.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Cairo to host 2nd Palestinian reconciliation meeting Wednesday: Fatah official
An official from Palestinian faction Fatah announced on Monday that a
meeting with rival Palestinian movement Hamas would be held on Wednesday in
Cairo.
meeting with rival Palestinian movement Hamas would be held on Wednesday in
Cairo.
Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah's central committee, said the Cairo
meeting would discuss the possible resumption of reconciliation efforts from
the same point at which they stalled last July.
meeting would discuss the possible resumption of reconciliation efforts from
the same point at which they stalled last July.
Al-Ahmed also stated that, as soon as an understanding was reached on the
resumption of work of the Palestinian Central Electoral Committee,
consultations would begin on the formation of a coalition government under
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
resumption of work of the Palestinian Central Electoral Committee,
consultations would begin on the formation of a coalition government under
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
He also asserted that reconciliation talks would include several parallel
committees concerned with issues such as 'public freedoms' and 'community
reconciliation.'
committees concerned with issues such as 'public freedoms' and 'community
reconciliation.'
The upcoming reconciliation meeting was announced after last Wednesday's
get-together in Cairo between Abbas and Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas'
political bureau.
get-together in Cairo between Abbas and Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas'
political bureau.
Hamas, for its part, has denied that Wednesday's meeting saw any discussion
of the resistance movements' military wing or Gaza-based security apparatus.
of the resistance movements' military wing or Gaza-based security apparatus.
According to London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Fatah has demanded that
Hamas dissolve its armed wings and recognise the National Security Forces as
Palestine's only armed force. The demand, however, was strenuously rejected
by Hamas, the newspaper reported.
Hamas dissolve its armed wings and recognise the National Security Forces as
Palestine's only armed force. The demand, however, was strenuously rejected
by Hamas, the newspaper reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has criticised last
Wednesday's reconciliation meeting, describing Meshaal as "the head of a
terror organisation."
Wednesday's reconciliation meeting, describing Meshaal as "the head of a
terror organisation."
The revival of talks between Gaza-based Hamas and West Bank-based Fatah
comes within the context of an Egyptian-sponsored unity agreement reached in
April of last year. The main terms of the deal, however, have yet to be
implemented due to ongoing differences over who should head up the proposed
coalition government.
comes within the context of an Egyptian-sponsored unity agreement reached in
April of last year. The main terms of the deal, however, have yet to be
implemented due to ongoing differences over who should head up the proposed
coalition government.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Abdullah says Arab Spring should push Israel to restart talks
Jordan’s king warned Monday that the failure to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians was adding to regional tensions.
A statement from the royal palace said King Abdullah II told a delegation from the Washington-based American Israel Public Affairs Committee that regional changes tied to the Arab Spring should “drive” the Israeli government to “embrace peace.”
In his talks Monday with the pro-Israel group, the king also called on Israel to stop measures that he said hinder peace efforts, including West Bank settlement construction.
Abdullah urged Israel, the Palestinians and the US to resume peacemaking efforts. He called for direct talks based on a two-state solution, which envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state.
He said it remained the “only formula” to end the 65-year old conflict.
On Sunday, Abdullah said he would host Israeli and Palestinian peace delegates next month in hopes of getting negotiations back on track, Israel Radio reported, quoting the London-based Al-Hayat.
In a separate interview with the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, the Jordanian monarch said that with US President Barack Obama’s inauguration coming up on January 21, and the Israeli elections the following day, he saw a “new opportunity to reach an agreement that we cannot afford to miss.”
He referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the “main cause of instability in the Middle East” and emphasized that its solution was a priority for Jordan.
Also on Sunday, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the European Union was formulating a new Israeli Palestinian peace plan to be presented in March.
According to the paper, the goal of the EU plan was to bring about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem. The report said the EU intended to set a clear timetable for negotiations between the two sides in 2013.
Israeli sources said the EU would like to use the plan as the basis for a regional discussion, which would include the participation of Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states. Such a move would force Israel to join a pan-Middle East conference or risk being seen as an obstacle to peace, the report said.
“The Europeans cannot force an agreement on us, but they certainly have the ability to embarrass us,” a senior Israeli diplomat was quoted as saying. “They are formulating a policy of parameters that will set forth the principles of a future peace agreement, and they will put it on the table.”
Friday, January 11, 2013
Palestinians erect ‘tent city’ to protest Israeli settlements in West Bank
"We are setting up a Palestinian village here where people will stay permanently in order to protect this Palestinian land," Mohammad Khatib, one of the organizers of the tent village, told Reuters.
The encampment has been named “Bab el Shams,” which means “Gateway to the Sun” in Arabic. The tents are providing temporary homes and a health clinic for activists.
The site covers 4.6 square miles (12 square km) and backs onto East Jerusalem, where Palestinians want to establish their capital.
The project began roughly one month ago, by residents of nearby Palestinian villages in danger of having their lands “frozen” to accommodate settler expansions, Palestinian activist Abdallah Abu Rahma told Haaretz.
"Palestinians are no longer content with policies of occupation and settlement,” Rahmaa said.
Palestinians, together with Israeli and foreign activists, stand near newly-erected tents in an area known as E1, near Jerusalem January 11, 2013. (Reuters/Ammar Awad)
The building of Israeli settlements is frowned upon by many international powers which say the move will be detrimental to securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Direct peace talks between Israel and Palestine broke down in 2010.
Israel has frozen building in E1 for many years, after coming under pressure from then US President George W. Bush.
However, Netanyahu announced settlement plans after the Palestinians won de-facto state recognition at the UN General Assembly last year. Those plans involve building around 4,000 housing units in the area.
Palestinians retaliated to the announcement, as they seek to establish an independent state in the West Bank.
"This is not a symbolic act, but comes in response to Israeli settlement building and we are sending a message to the international community that urgent action must be taken against Israel's settlement construction," Khatib said.
Around 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
US urges Israel, Palestinians to take steps to renew talks
Now is the time for real leadership on the part of the both the Palestinians and Israelis, in order to return to negotiations, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Wednesday in a daily press briefing.
"We urge both sides to clearly demonstrate that they’re serious about achieving two states living side by side in peace and security," she continued.
"So we call on Israel, we call on the Palestinians to cease any kind of counterproductive, unilateral actions and to take concrete steps to return to direct negotiations so that all the issues can be discussed, and the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security can be realized," she added.
"We urge both sides to clearly demonstrate that they’re serious about achieving two states living side by side in peace and security," she continued.
"So we call on Israel, we call on the Palestinians to cease any kind of counterproductive, unilateral actions and to take concrete steps to return to direct negotiations so that all the issues can be discussed, and the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security can be realized," she added.
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