JUNE 2007

UPDATE:june 18th

Uri Avnery Analysis on Gush ShalomThe American aim is clear. President Bush has chosen a local leader for every Muslim country, who will rule it under American protection and follow American orders. In Iraq, in Lebanon, in Afghanistan, and also in Palestine.

Hamas believes that the man marked for this job in Gaza is Mohammed Dahlan. For years it has looked as if he was being groomed for this position. The American and Israeli media have been singing his praises, describing him as a strong, determined leader, "moderate" (i.e. obedient to American orders) and "pragmatic" (i.e. obedient to Israeli orders). And the more the Americans and Israelis lauded Dahlan, the more they undermined his standing among the Palestinians. Especially as Dahlan was away in Cairo, as if waiting for his men to receive the promised arms.

In the eyes of Hamas, the attack on the Fatah strongholds in the Gaza Strip is a preventive war. The organizations of Abbas and Dahlan melted like snow in the Palestinian sun. Hamas has easily taken over the whole Gaza Strip.

CROCODILE TEARS - Avnery's analysis

GAZA:Palestinian In-fighting Continues to Divide and Rule

The fighting in Gaza is laying bare a dangerous trend: neither Hamas nor Fateh appear to be able to control either their gunmen or the militants in the streets. Two months after the Mecca power-sharing agreement, keen for a showdown, both Hamas' and Fateh's armed wings and their patrons run amuck of their top political leaders.

Palestinian streets no longer feel even remotely safe, and many have been surprised at the weak efforts of both Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the Islamic movement Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas of the largely secular Fateh movement in their unconvincing calls for a truce. Despite this week's repeated attempts, with Egyptian delegations, to make a cease-fire stick, all efforts have ended in failure and tragedy. Abbas had been planning to come to Gaza but rumors spread that some groups had plotted to assassinate him. Thus, his intended trip from the West Bank to Gaza faded in the headlines. The streets now remain unpredictable, with Palestinians living in collective fear and frustration, with no safe way to go out in the streets. The situation is even worse now that political leaders are no longer able to reign in their gunmen or the militants who set the road-blocks and target each other in the streets.

Gaza’s factional, internal-fighting, which has killed more than 70 people and wounded hundreds, is the failure of the Hamas and Fateh coalition deal forged in March to address the important issue of who controls Palestinian security forces. Without a doubt, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has failed to clarify things, rendering things much worse than ever.

Ghassan Zaid: "I’m scared; there's no way to go out without being shot at —I feel so scared all the time, and feel terribly about the ongoing fighting. My children no longer feel safe because of this fighting--- and I can’t take them to schools to attend their final exams,” said the 43 year old man from Gaza City, as gunfire shots rang out everywhere in Gaza City, as in Gaza Strip's north, the central area, and southern Rafah.

The clashes go on and on in nearly every part of the Strip. Horrifying stories are being told which illustrate the graveness of the situation: some people tell about the senseless and often brutal way in which their loved ones were killed. The daughter of one of the slain, described her fauther's death as "slaughter" in an interview with a local radio station in Gaza. She said that her father, who was a business man, was killed by the presidential guards as he was sitting inside his house. Suddenly, militants and masked men had come to their door and asked for five minutes outside with him. But, to her relief, the men came back. Asia Al Nimir, 20, recalled: "I assumed my dad was in safe hands, and was possibly back sitting on the sofa.” She said that the soldier tauntingly informed her: "No, your dad isn't on the sofa, he's lying on the floor.”

Asia had not imagined that they would kill him, as he was an independent business man, very well-respected among the local community. His house was but a few meters away from the presidential compound in Gaza. It wasn't possible to identify his body, the corpse being riddled with bullets from head to toe. She added that, causing further devastation, the militants stole her father's car, her mother’s gold, their money...Even her laptop, which she uses for her engineering courses at the university, was also stolen. Asia was in a state of shock at her father's murder, and she can still not understand the reason for his death, why he was dragged out of his house and massacred with numerous bullets. “I want to know: where is my father? Why was he killed? What for?” she asked, never to be answered.

The spark which fed these fires came last week when the top Abbas allied security chiefs moved 3,000 security officers loyal to Fatah into the streets of Gaza City, apparently as part of a law and order crackdown.

Israel is also playing a major part in the killings:

The fighting continues, as the Israeli F-16s, warcrafts, and helicopters target different places, including Hamas-affiliated or ministry of interior buildings for the Executive Force---the elite force which was established by the Minsity of Interior in Gaza to keep law and order, as well as to protect ministers and PA organizations. Many believe that Israel's purpose is to help the comparatively more moderate Fateh, with Israel's airstrikes on Hamas locations. Yet Israel maintains that it is the launching of homemade rockets towards Israel by Hamas and other splinter factions, leaving a number of people injured but not dead, which has instigated this fresh military sweep into Gaza. Israeli press goes so far as to proclaim Israel's desire to remain neutral and apart from the in-fighting of Gaza. Yet, many wonder, which came first, the rocket-shelling or the plan to re-invade Gaza---one which hinged on a believable pretext.

Yet, the Israeli assault which began last Wednesday goes on and on in Gaza, with many people being killed and injured in attacks on housing units and key infrastructure, including children, civilians, militants, and wanted people. A local radio station announced that the house of a Hamas commander was threatened with bombing by Israeli F-16s, and immediately hundreds of people rushed to take positions inside and on the roof of the house, acting as human shields to prevent the air raid. The presence of such an amount of people prevented Israel from demolishing the house.

The death and injury toll increases dramatically and continually, from one hour to the next, as yet more people fall under attack by in-fighting as well as deadly Israeli airstrikes, shelling, and ground offensives. Tens have been injured and over 35 killed --a quarter of which were unarmed civilians--by this newest Israeli military invasion which PM Ehud Olmert pledges to escalate and which extreme hardline Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman wants to turn into a massive-scale operation. While Israel again justifies its offensive attacks with the usual refrain of "self-defense," one wonders why, as usual, Gazan civilian homes are under fire. The latest instances include the firing of a missile at a Hamas home in Gaza City lat Sunday, targeting Hamas lawmaker and Member of Parliament Khalil AL Haya but killing instead 8 civilians, members of his family, and injuring another 13. In the Northern Gaza Jebaliya refugee camp, 1 child was killed and 5 others suffered serious injuries when Israeli tank shelling hit their home early on Monday.

Israeli human rights group B'tselem has strongly condemned Israel's indiscriminate civilian assault as illegal war crimes and collective punishment against Gazan citizens.

WEST BANK: RAMALLAH - DETAILS OF AN ISRAELI INCURSION

In the afternoon, while Omar, the latest Israeli victim, was having a meal at Nazareth Restaurant, I was on the third floor, in a roundtable discussion, one in a series that I'm attending at the Mattin Group, a human rights-based policy research and advocacy organization. We were meeting to learn about the workings of the European Union and how we can make it more accountable to International Humanitarian Law. The irony between what was about to happen on the ground floor and what was being discussed on the third floor is mind-boggling and sobering, to say the least.

An hour and a half into our meeting in the conference room, the window of which overlooks the main Ramallah thoroughfare, we heard car tires screech and a loud bang. My knee-jerk comment was that a car accident had happened. One of my colleagues bent back to take a look and before he could speak rapid machine gun fire and loud explosions erupted. The gunfire was literally below our window. We all immediately took to the floor and crawled to a safe hallway in the middle of the office. An undercover Israeli military hit team had entered under the cover of an armored jeep, camouflaged to look like a Palestinian delivery truck, with Palestinian license plates and the whole works. A few meters away was a blue civilian mid-sized car with more undercover hit men; this group also had a masked man with them, most likely a Palestinian collaborator who was used to identify the hit team's target. This assumed collaborator could have also been an Israeli fake to make Palestinian onlookers feel like they are being betrayed more so than they really are -- we will never know. A few minutes later and an Israeli armored jeep showed up clearly exposing the unraveling events below. Then a Palestinian mini-van taxi with more Israeli plainclothes military personnel appeared, now wearing only baseball caps that identified them as "POLICE."

For the most part, we stayed in the center of the office, away from the windows. Most people with me had been through this type of activity before and took it in stride, thinking that another arrest operation was taking place. Two young foreign women that were with us seemed to be experiencing this for the first time and were worried it would last long. We comforted each other with some jokes. I lightheartedly noted that the normal time this goes on for is three days. A friend said that, if that's the case, we better start rationing the two small bags of pretzels that were on the table. Our foreign colleagues smiled and relaxed a bit. We joked that the Israelis shooting up a storm down below needed to join us in our meeting to learn about international humanitarian law. Although we all laughed, we knew that this is exactly the kind of act that keeps provoking and prolonging this crisis. In the heat of the moment, one does not see the crisis, but rather sees those around as humans who need comfort and everyone supports everyone else.

The shooting and percussion grenades intensified. We all now felt that something dire was happening. With every barrage of gunfire we would pull people away from the windows which were numerous and all exposed to the gunfire. Our hosts made their case for staying in the hallway, showing us the bullet holes in the wall from past stray bullets sustained during previous Israeli adventures. While we sat this out, we also recalled when the exact same office we were in was taken over in 2002 by the Israeli military which used it as a field base when they were operating in Ramallah, placing the city under military curfew for 34 consecutive days. In that episode, the soldiers trashed the entire office, leaving their feces on top of the photocopy machine as a souvenir.

After about 45 minutes we could hear a mass of people chanting below and we could hear rocks banging against the cars. A peek out the window and we saw hundreds of Palestinian youth flooding into the main street. In front of them a convoy of Israeli military jeeps was leaving the scene. As the jeeps accelerated, the youth ran after them in a desperate and futile attempt to inflict damage on their armored vehicles by pelting them with rocks. Our woman host looked out to the main street below; she stretched over the window ledge to see if any soldiers were still on the sidewalk below. As she stepped back from the window she was noticeably shaken. She said, "They took him away dead." I looked to see what she was referring to and the ambulance had just raced off, leaving a pool of thick, dark red blood on the sidewalk, as the only remnant indicating that hell had just visited this spot. A young female colleague standing next to me stood quietly, just weeping. It was assumed by us all that whoever was taken away in the ambulance, was taken away lifeless.

By the time we raced downstairs to the main road hundreds of people had gathered in two groups; one around the pool of blood and the other, 20 meters away, at the doorstep of Nazareth Restaurant which had its metal doors all closed, except one that was cracked open and the owner stood blocking people from entering. He was watery-eyed and visibly shaken, telling onlookers that there was nothing to see.
It seems seven other persons were injured and taken to the Ramallah Hospital and the Israeli military followed and surrounded the hospital! Tonight, it is yet unclear of these persons' fates. Right now, it's confirmed that one person, in Ramallah, was assassinated, point blank.


On my way home, I passed the Presidential Compound on Radio Street. This is Mahmoud Abbas's headquarters. Only a few hours before it was reported in the news that he announced that he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert on June 7 to discuss the 'peace process.' Alone, I just shook my head and wondered for how long can this Palestinian President, this Palestinian Authority Government, and this Palestinian Legislative Council continue to go through the empty motions of governance under military occupation, while Israel, with full internationally-sanctioned impunity, assassinates Palestinian citizens -- those very same security personnel that are supposed to hold the peace -- in broad daylight, arrests dozens from their beds every night -- including ministers, mayors and legislators -- and prohibit millions of Palestinians whom they have displaced from returning to their homes.
I
It is now being reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Information that:

Israel undercover 'special forces' executed a Palestinian man at point blank range this afternoon during an attack on Ramallah. The man, identified as Omar Abu Daher, a member of Mahmoud Abbas' Presidential Guard, was initially shot in the leg outside the offices of the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute on Ramallah's Main Street.

When he fell to the ground, Israeli undercover forces executed him with a shot to the back of the head at close range. He was killed instantly.

Paramedics from the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) managed to retrieve his body, which they transported to Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Ramallah. Doctors said that Daher had been shot 24 times all over his body.

As I close this writing, the shooting outside has been nonstop for almost an hour, mainly coming from the direction of the Al-Amari Refugee Camp, which is walking distance from my home. Most likely, this is from Palestinians, shooting in air, in an act of defiance (and desperation) after the loss of their fallen comrade. newprofile

A SHORT VISIT TO A FRIEND WHOSE HOUSE IS SURROUNDED BY THE ISRAELI GREAT GHETTO WALL.................

We went back up to the car and found our way back to the Jerusalem-Hebron Road past Rachel's Tomb, but to get to Hebron we made a right at Bab Al-Zaq and headed to Beit Jalla instead of going straight. There was no way to stay on this road as it was cut off again before Deheishe Camp. We stopped at the top of Beit Jalla to see the olive trees the Israelis had chopped down. This marks the route of the wall as it snakes its way up here. All of Beit Jalla's agricultural lands will be on the other side cut off from her people. The next time I stand here I will not be able to see this vista; I will only see grey concrete. (Emily Jacir)

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AN ESSAY FOR MY FATHER

Two kilometers outside Bethlehem, coming in from Jerusalem, is Jebel Abu Ghneim, which was once a green forest with 60,000 pine trees, and hundreds of animals and plants. The land's owners are from Bethlehem, Beit Sahour, Sur Baher and Um Tuba. In 1997, the Israelis began destroying the forest by uprooting all the trees in order to build Har Homa settlement. Now I see there is new construction at the bottom of the mountain as well. (Emily Jacir)

Emily Jacir writing from Bethlehem, occupied Palestine, Live from Palestine, 15 December 2006

I was 13 years old standing next to my father in Bethlehem one sunny and windy day when he took my hand and pointed to the settlement of Gilo and said, "See baba, see there?" My eyes followed his finger as it moved across the landscape and stopped at the settlement of Har Gilo. "And there. See? They are going to build settlements just like those all around us." Then with his arm still outstretched, we turned in a circle and as I watched his finger pointing at the horizon line around Bethlehem and Beit Jalla, he added, "One day they will encircle us."

This essay is for my father Yusuf Nasri Suleiman Jacir. My father who taught me what it means to be free, what justice is, how to fight, and who gave me his love for Palestine. He is my biggest hero. He is the most giving and loving person I have ever known in my entire life. His first priority has always been his family and he did anything he could to make us happy.

If he could have done what he wanted in his life he would have been a professor. That was his dream. For him this was the highest and most honorable profession. No one deserved more respect than a teacher. But a poor man from Bethlehem, with a family to support and family back home to take care of, could not afford to indulge in such bourgeoisie fantasies.

He fought hard to get where he is and he did it all by himself. Nothing was handed to him. He always had a lot of hardship in his life but he made it through and he did a great job. Because of him, I know that it is possible to do anything, at any age and that it is never too late.

My father was born and raised in Bethlehem where, although he came from a historically famous and wealthy family (our family tree goes back to 1500), he grew up poor. The Jacir family had gone bankrupt in the '30s and lost absolutely everything. What remains of their legacy is the historic "Jacir Palace". My great-grandfather Suleiman built it in 1910 with the intention that he and his five brothers' families would all live in the house together, and they did for a short time but then the family lost everything and his dream was lost forever. Suleiman had quite a reputation around the region for his incredible generosity; everyone knew that if you were hungry you could go there and he would feed you.

The Jacir "palace" is currently owned by Padico and is an International Hotel but prior to this it has had an interesting history of occupants. In the '40s the British used it as a prison. In the '50s it was a private school called Al-Ummah, and in fact my grandfather Nasri taught there. Al-Ummah was originally located in Al-Baqaa' in Jerusalem but after the 1948 catastrophe it was reborn in Bethlehem. Later the house became a government secondary boys' school and then at a later stage was transformed in to a government girls' school. Ironically, I saw recently in an Israeli tourist guide the Jacir palace described as built by a "Turkish Ottoman Merchant" -- not surprising as they are working on all fronts to erase and distort our history.

My father did not have the opportunity to go to college until the age of 33. He was newly married with kids on the way, and working a full-time job and yet he managed to get his B.A.. He kept struggling so that eventually he got his masters degree at the age of 39 from the University of Chicago, which was a major achievement. Of course he could have never accomplished this without the help and support of my mother who worked a retail job selling clothes, and did things like hand sew clothes for us to wear. My father would work full-time and take night courses, and then he would come home where my mother would have dinner waiting for him. Right after he was finished eating, she would make him study until the wee hours of the morning. He said there was no way he could have done it without her. Her background was different then my father's. She was well-educated at a young age and already had a bachelors degree at the time of her marriage. Her dream was to get a masters degree which she started to slowly work on after getting married.

Eventually my father decided he was willing to go and live in a country where he would be deemed a "guest worker" and be made to feel estranged. This was Saudi Arabia and he accepted it so that his kids could have a better life then he did. Most importantly, he wanted us to have a chance to have what he couldn't get until he was in his mid-30's -- a college education. Saudi Arabia was not easy for my parents and they had to make huge sacrifices and adjustments. They were forbidden from practicing their religion and their culture. They were forbidden from holding hands, or displaying any signs of public affection. Their children could not study in an Arabic school because we were not Saudi nationals so the only option was the foreign schools. There was no cinema, no dance, and no theater. At one point my mother found out about a dance teacher who was secretly teaching and she immediately signed me and my sister up. But alas, the teacher was found out and promptly thrown out of the country (along with my eight-year-old dream of becoming a professional dancer). All foreign teenagers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at that time were forced to leave to pursue their high school education outside the country as it was forbidden for them to stay. Coming from a traditional Bethlehem family, you can imagine what a sacrifice this was for my father to have to send his children away from him. It was unheard of and heartbreaking for him. I will never forget the day I left home for Italy at the age of 14, my father (who was always open and free with his emotions which is another reason he is my hero) wept openly as he hugged me good bye.

In Saudi Arabia, my mother could no longer pursue her masters degree and had to give that up. She managed, of course, and became the first Arabic teacher at the American School in Riyadh. She also got involved in several Saudi women's groups. Best of all, she refused to wear the black abaya. She thought it was too dark and depressing and decided to make her own abaya. Her abaya was also black, and followed the rules by covering her body head to toe, but her abaya was covered in giant brightly colored flowers -- they were pink, purple and green. When I was a young girl I was embarrassed at the way she stuck out of the crowd and wished she would wear a plain black one like me and my sister, but now when I look back at it I am proud.

But we were close to Palestine. We were near our homeland and for my father the most important thing was being able to go back as much as we could. We went back (sometimes three times a year) in the '70s and '80s via Jordan and the infamous bridge where I have many deep memories of being stripped searched as a child, and having things like my chewing gum confiscated. Working in Saudi Arabia also gave my father the ability to support his family still in Bethlehem. When I was growing up, he worked almost seven days a week, office hours were not 9 to 5, they were 8 a.m. to midnight. He would come home for dinner but then he would have to rush back to the office where I always felt he worked like a slave. In Bethlehem, it seemed our family and other people had no idea what our lives were like outside Palestine and I heard them say many things. It didn't matter what we said; they had a fantasy in their mind about how we lived and nothing would change that. When I would complain about this to my mother, she would just quietly say "let them talk."

I remember walking the streets of Bethlehem as a child and holding my father's hands. I was always in awe as it seemed everyone knew him, everyone! My father never did resolve the fact that his children were growing up away from his parents and extended family. This fact hurt him and has always made him doubt if he made the right decision to leave Palestine.

Before my father got married and went to college he worked in Hebron from 1962 until 1969. He was working for UNRWA as the Area Welfare Officer for the Hebron and Bethlehem areas. The UNRWA headquarters was in Hebron and its area covered Bethlehem and all the surrounding villages and refugee camps. My father's specific job was that he was in charge of case work, youth activities, welfare distributions, and sewing centers in Bethlehem, Hebron, Arroub Camp, Fawwar camp and Deheishe camp. He also supervised case workers, youth leaders and sewing center supervisors. This job gave him the opportunity to travel to the USA for the first time in 1966 as a representative of Jordan to the Chicago International Program for Youth Leaders and Social workers. He spent four months in America and visited New York, Washington and Chicago. As a joke, they decided to dress in traditional Arab costumes when they flew to America to play with the Americans' stereotypes of who we Arabs are.

During his eight-year time period as a social worker, he used to commute daily to his work in Hebron from Bethlehem on the Hebron-Bethlehem bus. It was bus number 23. This bus originated in Jerusalem and made its way along the Jerusalem-Hebron road through Bethlehem and onwards to Hebron. He tells me that he had fun on his daily bus ride. In those days it was a long trip, depending on the weather and traffic it normally took anywhere from 40 to 50 minutes for him to get to the UNRWA office.

I tried to find this bus a few weeks back. It no longer runs. It stopped running ten years ago. There is also no way to get from Bethlehem to Hebron now on the Jerusalem-Hebron Road as the Israelis have chopped it into pieces and blocked it in several places. I tried to follow its route but instead of the wide open road, I found various checkpoints and at several points the wall completely closing the road. It seems like only a few years ago when I could follow this exact route.

My father was in Hebron at work when the war broke out on June 5, 1967. He managed to return to Bethlehem on UNRWA transportation from the Hebron office to the UNRWA office in Bethlehem. From the UNRWA office in Bethlehem he walked home to his house as the Israelis were shelling the city.

Meanwhile my mother at the same time was on her way from Amman to Bethlehem by car. Her car was attacked by the Israeli army and run over by a tank. She spent three days hiding in the hills and made it back to Bethlehem on foot.

My father eventually realized that UNRWA was created to ensure that we remain beggars and never create the means to help ourselves. UNRWA seemed to do nothing but keep us stagnate and in a state of permanent waiting.

He left.

Perhaps you would like to read the wonderful results and promises today of the hypocrisy and stalled propaganda of UNRWA

UNRWA - ADDRESS BY KAREN KONING ABUZAYD
27TH APRIL 2007

UNRWA Commissioner-General
Political and Security Committee of the EU Council of Ministers
Brussels, 27 April 2007

I very much appreciate the opportunity to address your Committee today. Over the years, the European Union has been a reliable and valued supporter of UNRWA and of the Palestinian people. We hold the EU in high regard not only on account of past and continuing support, but also because we have high expectations for its future role in the region. The European Union is a testament to how a shared commitment to human rights, democratic institutions and the rule of law can translate into peace and sustainable prosperity for millions of people. My presentation this morning will broadly outline the situation facing Palestine refugees in the Near East and the principal challenges UNRWA confronts in providing its services. UNRWA’s expertise and its long experience of direct service provision to refugees have endowed the Agency with first-hand knowledge and unique insights into Palestinian issues, including many that lie beyond the confines of its humanitarian and human development mandate. I will draw on that knowledge as well as my own experience of living and working in Gaza for more than six and a half years.

One of UNRWA’s most priceless assets is a relationship of trust with refugees themselves, host country governments and other stakeholders. This relationship of mutual confidence has been a vital ingredient in UNRWA’s success since its establishment and it continues to be evident in the close cooperation we enjoy with host governments and authorities. Without going into fine operational details, I would like to mention some highlights of our work in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, before offering comments on the occupied Palestinian territory.

Lebanon, Syria and Jordan
For several years now, our Lebanon operation has benefited from close collaboration with EC and ECHO. Over 400,000 Palestine refugees in Lebanon have endured very difficult conditions and various forms of restrictions. We were pleased when in October 2005 Prime Minister Siniora announced his intention to improve living conditions for Palestine refugees, to ease restrictions on their access to employment and to allow construction materials into the refugee camps. These are welcome promises and while they are yet to be enshrined in legislation, there are good prospects for raising the standard of living for refugees and allowing them to contribute positively to the wider community. The centrepiece of our plans is a 50 million dollar camp improvement project to address the squalid conditions in the 12 refugee camps. We are grateful to the Lebanese Government, which not only supported the initiative from the outset, but also helped to raise 21 million dollars by the end of 2006, allowing work to commence. It is worth noting that Palestine refugees did not feature in the conflict with Israel in the summer of last year and have not been drawn into the political tensions currently prevailing in Lebanese politics.

The Syrian government’s hospitality to Palestine refugees - now numbering in excess of 442,000 - has been exemplary, as has its record of excellent cooperation with UNRWA. The Neirab Rehabilitation Project is an example of how that cooperation bears fruit for refugees. The project is relocating 300 families from the overcrowded camp, a former WWII British army barracks, to new housing units built on nearby land provided by the government. We are due to commence work on the second phase, viz., renovating the Neirab camp itself, once the required 26 million dollars in new funding is obtained.

Jordan hosts the largest population of well over 1.8 million Palestine refugees. The country has been especially generous, providing many refugees with secure residential status as well as civil and economic freedoms. The large number of refugees in Jordan has drawn attention to the contribution made by host countries to the well-being of refugees. This has in turn underlined the need to acknowledge their sacrifices and contributions and to ensure that they are adequately supported. The pressure on UNRWA services has highlighted the need to improve the quality of our programmes and to become more responsive to refugee requirements. I will now turn to the occupied Palestinian territory – the region which tends – often for good reason - to dominate global attention.

The occupied Palestinian territory
The people of Gaza and the West Bank – refugees and non-refugees alike - are being crushed, slowly but surely, by the impact of the de facto sanctions regime imposed since February 2006. As long as the policy to isolate the Palestinian Authority remains in place, the situation will continue to worsen as the economy and the society itself unravel under the weight of one of the harshest boycotts we have seen in recent times. One aspect that I consider particularly egregious is the fact that some 165,000 Palestinian Authority employees received only half of their salaries in 2006.

1.) Owing to restrictions on the movement of goods, capital flight and recession, industries that once supported livelihoods, such as the fishing and garment industries, are in steep decline. It should come as no surprise that 66% of Palestinians live in poverty, a 30% increase over 2005. There has been a 40% decline in Gross Domestic Product since 1999, with a close to 10 % contraction occurring in 2006 alone. In Gaza, 80% of the population rely on UN food aid, while 88% of refugees live below the absolute poverty line.

2.)The sanctions have also paralyzed the institutions of governance – institutions that the international community has been building with painstaking care and at great cost - since the Oslo accords. The suspension of donor support and the withholding of VAT and customs transfers from Israel are destroying the ability of the Palestinian society to function. Other casualties of the sanctions regime include the rule of law, the cohesion of Palestinian society and the ability of the vulnerable to gain access to social safety-net support. Inevitably, the numbers of poor and unemployed continue to rise.


World Bank, March 07

Given the depth to which the Palestinian economy has sunk, the contribution of the Temporary International Mechanism (TIM) could only go so far. The over 170 million dollars that has so far been disbursed is a generous and significant amount. Still, the mechanism was not designed to boost the economy or to support sustainable economic recovery. In that regard – and while the TIM has helped to avoid destitution for many - it could not address the fundamental requirements of the occupied Palestinian territory.

As a Gaza resident, I see direct connections between desperate poverty and the insecurity that prevails in many parts of the occupied territory. For the first few months of the year, internal armed conflict cost many lives. That conflict subsided considerably following the formation of the national unity government. However, insecurity continues to constrain normal life. We are gravely concerned about the safety of Alan Johnston. His abduction, reportedly by a criminal gang for money, and the fact that he has been held for so long is a sad commentary on the ability of the Palestinian Authority to enforce law and order. The fact that Corporal Shalit is yet to be released raises other questions. Insecurity hampers humanitarian access and UNRWA’s ability to operate. We are now down to a bare minimum of 10 international staff following an attack by gunmen on one of our vehicles. There are substantial costs to maintaining humanitarian operations in such an insecure environment. While the safety and security of my staff remains our priority, we are also concerned about the cost implications of insecurity – in both financial and administrative terms. Armoured vehicles and armed escorts have to be paid for, and restrictions on field visits limit our ability to monitor and manage operations.

Gaza is in a state of ongoing, low-intensity conflict. Incursions into Gaza and military operations inside Gaza take place frequently and there are often live fire incidents resulting in Palestinian deaths. The firing of Qassam rockets into Israel also continues, albeit at a reduced rate relative to their frequency during the second half of 2006.

The situation in the West Bank is dominated by several closely related features: low-intensity conflict; the demolition of Palestinian homes; the expansion of Israeli settlements and severe restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinian people and goods. I will elaborate only on the movement and access issues. This is an area which does not attract much attention in the international media, even though grave damage is being done to Palestinian lives and livelihoods. The Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) of Nov 2005 was designed to facilitate the movement of Palestinian people and goods between the West Bank and Gaza and also between the occupied territory and Israel and the outside world. It was based on the very sound principle that freedom of movement and better economic opportunities for Palestinians would translate into improved security for all. Just the opposite has happened. Restrictions have increased to a point where freedom of movement is now virtually non-existent for Palestinians in the West Bank.

There are now 549 physical obstacles to movement – a 44% increase over last year. Besides the proliferation of physical obstacles, Palestinians have to deal with a draconian permit regime and with the massive West Bank wall that cuts them off from services; from their land; from worship at their most holy sites; and from visiting their families in East Jerusalem. The cumulative effect of all these restrictions is the fragmentation of the West Bank into rigidly controlled cantons. There are now no fewer than 10 such sections, of which Jerusalem is one. The result is that Palestinian families are broken-up and the Palestinian economy is strangled.

Organizational matters: funding and management reform
Allow me now to turn to some organizational matters, namely the Agency’s funding situation and the progress we are making with our management reform process.

As you are aware, UNRWA is funded almost exclusively by voluntary contributions from donors. While we are grateful that the EU and other major donors have kept faith with us over the decades, we are very concerned that budget shortfalls have become a permanent feature of our planning cycle. In the past six years, only three of the Agency's top ten general fund (regular budget) donors increased their contributions in national currency terms, while five donated less then they did previously. Our 2007 general fund stands at 487.2 million dollars against expected income estimated at 380 million dollars. The shortfall of approximately 107 million dollars will have adverse consequences for the scope and quality of services we deliver to Palestine refugees. Allow me to share with you a few examples of the impact of under-funding.

The funding picture is as bleak for our emergency appeal. To date, UNRWA has received pledges for only 20% of the 246 million dollar 2007 Emergency Appeal. We are already planning cuts on some emergency interventions. The urgent needs of some 1.5 million beneficiaries in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will not be met as conceived, at a time when they have few if any alternative sources of support. Funding shortfalls make it very difficult to implement our plans to maintain –
let alone improve - the quality of our services. UNRWA requires - and Palestine refugees deserve – a better response to their needs.

The process of management reform is at the moment our principal internal preoccupation. We are aware that we must become more “modern” and more strategic if we are to retain the support and confidence of refugees, donors and other stakeholders. We also appreciate that we must continuously refresh the way we work through a perpetual process of renewal.

These are some of the considerations driving our process of management reform. The process has been budgeted at 30 million dollars over a period up to 2009, of which 9.5 million dollars has been pledged. We appreciate the votes of confidence we have received from donors but more is needed to bring the reform process to a successful conclusion. We are at the moment entering into a difficult
phase of meshing programme strategy with planning and budgeting processes.

I will now offer some concluding observations on the political outlook from an UNRWA point of view.

Political outlook
My starting point is that there can be no security without credible prospects for a lasting peace. From our perspective in field operations, we see in the current circumstances an opportunity for generating a fresh momentum for peace. The Palestinian-Israeli issue has enjoyed a rush of attention over the past few months, with a succession of high level missions to the region, including Secretary-General Ban’s first visit, as well as a number of notable developments. The peace process has been moribund for so long that we tend to mistake heightened attention for progress and are inclined to be satisfied with very small steps. We must guard against this and shake ourselves out of our collective apathy. We must capitalize on positive developments and take the necessary steps to turn this recent surge of interest into concrete forward movement in the process of building peace.

The renewed engagement of States within the region is an encouraging sign. These States bring with them not only an intimate understanding of the Palestinian experience in a regional context, but also resources, international legitimacy and credibility on the streets of Gaza and the West Bank. By encouraging regional engagement, we broaden the range of parties that have the leverage to encourage moderation and compromise.

The formation of a national unity government is another welcome development. It suggests that the political parties understand that it is futile and destructive to resolve political differences through force of arms. It indicates that there are actors within the Palestinian polity that not only recognize moments when concessions are necessary, but also possess the political maturity to seize those moments. These are qualities that the international community should reward and cultivate, because they point to the potential for Palestinians to become genuine partners for peace.Untitled

WORLD BANK REPORT - 9TH APRIL 2007; HA'ARETZ

David Craig, World Bank Country Director for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, says Israel's restrictions policy in the West Bank "increases the costs of business activity there and creates a high level of uncertainty and inefficiency making the normal conduct of business exceedingly difficult and stymies the growth and investment which is necessary to fuel economic revival."

The authors of the report explain that the policy of "closures" in the West Bank are carried out through a series of policies and regulations as well as the creation of physical obstacles. These contribute to the break-up of the territory into cantons that are becoming increasingly smaller and more disconnected from one another.

The report notes that the number of physical barriers, including checkpoints, roadblocks and gates, in the West Bank continues to rise. Based on data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories (OCHA), the number of such impediments as of March stood at 546, or 44 percent higher than at the signing of the Agreement on Movement and Access in November 2005.

"While physical impediments are the visible manifestations of closure, the means of curtailing Palestinian movement and access are actually far more complex and are based on a set of administrative practices and permit policies which limit the freedom of Palestinians to move home, obtain work, invest in businesses or construction and move about outside of their municipal jurisdiction," the report states.

The administrative restrictions prevent Palestinians from entering significant portions of the West Bank, including "all areas within the municipal boundaries of settlements, the 'seam zone,' the Jordan Valley, East Jerusalem, restricted roads and other 'closed' areas."

"The combined effect of physical and administrative obstacles is the division of the West Bank into three segments (north, central, south) and additionally ten segments or enclaves, with Palestinians channeled through manned checkpoints in order to move between the trisections and in and out of the enclaves," according to the report.

"The practical effect of this shattered economic space is that on any given day the ability to reach work, school, shopping, healthcare facilities and agricultural land is highly uncertain and subject to arbitrary restriction and delay. In economic terms, the restrictions have created a level of uncertainty and inefficiency which has made the normal conduct of business extremely difficult and therefore has stymied the growth and investment which is necessary to fuel economic revival."

THE BEDOUINS OF THE JORDAN VALLEY

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

AL HADIDIYA, West Bank, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Al Hadidiya means "iron-clad" in Arabic, but the Palestinian farmers and shepherds who live on the rocky West Bank field that bears the name lead fragile lives.

Take Abdel Rahim Abu Sakar, a slight man in a flowing white keffiyeh headdress. His tents have been destroyed three times by Israel to try to force him, his three wives and 23 children to move elsewhere in the occupied territory.The 56-year-old faces a new eviction order, which Israel plans to implement within two months, removing him and 20 fellow Bedouin tribe members from the field ringed by pastures where they have camped for decades.

Israel, citing security concerns, has tightened its grip in the Jordan Valley region where al Hadidiya is located, particularly in the past two years, Palestinian and Red Cross officials say.Israel wants Abu Sakar out for security reasons, says Tsidki Maman, a spokesman for the military's civil administration in the West Bank: the encampment borders an Israeli army base, a firing range and a Jewish settlement.Abu Sakar knows no other life than subsisting by corralling his sheep and growing lentils and barley in a field he has leased for years from Palestinian landowners.

He said he was once able to name a price for his sheep, but now must settle for whatever is offered by the few merchants who make it past Israel's checkpoints to his village.However, he insists he will remain. "Life here is very hard but we don't have any alternatives," he told Reuters."We will never leave," Abu Sakar said, as gunfire from a nearby Israeli army training base echoed across the hills.

Israel has suggested the shepherds move from al Hadidiya, a village of makeshift sheds and tents in a valley near the West Bank's border with Jordan, to a more established town nearby, a military source said. The shepherds are reluctant to give in to what Palestinians see as an Israeli land-grab, or risk being penned in by Israeli army checkpoints and cut off from the pastures and farmland they lease.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stepped in to try to mediate a compromise, after an Israeli court rejected the case for the last time in December. "We try to intervene with the authorities to prevent such expulsions," Marcin Monko, an ICRC spokesman said, citing the organisation's role under the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure proper treatment of civilians under military occupation. Saleh Abu Hussein, a lawyer for the farmers, said the Israeli army had given them a deadline of April 10 to move or have their camp demolished again, arguing that the Palestinians had never obtained permits to live there.

Israel regards the Jordan Valley as a strategic asset, a gateway between it and Arab states to the east, and wants to keep control of the area under any peace deal for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Red Cross officials say Israel has significantly reduced the number of three-month permits it issues to Palestinians to access the Jordan Valley to graze their sheep, grow vegetables and market produce.More than 40 percent of the valley zone has effectively been placed off-limits to Palestinians while Jewish settlements there have expanded, Red Cross and Palestinian officials say.
At least 1,000 farmers have complained to the Red Cross of difficulties obtaining passes to the region, a statement from the organisation adds. Israel says its restrictions are designed to prevent Palestinian militants from launching attacks in an area that has seen violence during the Palestinian uprising that erupted in 2000 when peace talks failed.

For Abu Sakar, Israeli restrictions compound the effects of an economic crisis in the West Bank in the past year spurred by a Western boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian government to put pressure on the militant group to recognise Israel. He has slipped deeper into poverty, earning just 20,000 Israeli shekels ($4,600) a year, barely enough to feed his large family. He cannot afford to buy or rent a home in a more permanent village as Israel would have him do.

A series of trenches dug by Israel and a metal gate that is usually closed have already made Abu Sakar's trip to the closest village for food, medical care and schools much longer than it once was -- two hours instead of about 20 minutes.

Over a plate of homemade goat's cheese and tea, he recounts how soldiers threw his family out of their home once in torrential rain, and dislodged them on another occasion in searing summer heat when his youngest child was four months old. He points to the red-roofed houses of a neighbouring Jewish settlement, Beqaot, just a football field from his tents.
"These people have all the amenities they need. We don't even have running water. Yet they won't even let us keep our little tents on this land," he says.

Posted by CRIMES AND CORRUPTION OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS mparent7777 Marc Parent CCNWON

On April 21st, an Israeli court decision ordering the demolition of all the homes of the approximately 100 inhabitants of the Bedouin hamlet of Al Hadidiya, in the northeast West Bank, came into effect.

An'am (40) and Omar (50) have seven children, of whom the two youngest, boys ages three years and seven months, are at home with
them. The family is refusing to leave and move their tent-home and
flock of 140 goats and 100 sheep to where the Israeli Civil
Administration has suggested.

Al Hadidiya lies in the Jordan Valley, which comprises almost one
third of the West Bank's territory and provides access to the water
reserves of the River Jordan. Israel regards it as strategic and a
buffer between it and the Arab states to the east, and wants to keep
it for itself.


Of the 2,400 square km. of land in the valley, 455.7 square km. is
considered "closed military areas," and 1655.5 square km. is occupied
by 24 illegal Israeli settlements. These "facts on the ground" affect
the traditional lifestyle of the Jordan Valley Bedouins and deprive
them of their livelihoods. The grazing area for their animals is
becoming ever smaller, and consequently the flocks are smaller than
they used to be. Also, travel restrictions hinder the shepherds from
going to neighboring towns to sell cheese, and reduce the number of
merchants coming into Bedouin villages to buy sheep or goats. All of
this has affected the earnings of Bedouin families.


Yet the confiscation of Palestinian land and the attempt to expel the
Bedouins are not the only measures Israel is taking to transform the
Jordan Valley into a land without Palestinians. Another element has
been the isolation of the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West
Bank. Four principal checkpoints separate the valley from the rest of
the West Bank, and since March 2005 only those Palestinians whose home
address is in the Jordan Valley, as entered in their identity cards,
are allowed to pass. This means that some two million Palestinians
from the rest of the West Bank cannot enter the Jordan Valley.

An'am and Omar married and settled in Al Hadidiya two decades ago.
They have already suffered two home demolitions. This time they are
determined to stay in the tent and resist the demolition, even though
they face a danger of being arrested. They have invited international
solidarity activists to support them and possibly to document the
expected brutality of the Israeli occupation, when and if the
bulldozers come through. Omar's words reflect sadness, more than
bitterness, when he speaks of the previous demolition some years ago,
when several of their sheep were run over by the military vehicles and
An'am was assaulted while trying to prevent this. Grazing the herd and
producing cheese from the milk is their way of life, and how they
provide for their family.

After supper and over a glass of warm, sweet milk, An'am and Omar show
family pictures and recount how Arif, their firstborn son, was killed
by the Israeli army at the age of 13. He had been throwing stones at
soldiers with other boys; the soldiers opened fire on the youngsters
and shot Arif in the head. He died six days later, in February 2003.
The couple's four daughters and eldest surviving son attend school in
the nearby town of Tammun. An'am and Omar are scared for their two
smallest sons, who live with them, and Omar is aware that his
resistance to demolition may get him into an Israeli jail, but he
repeats they will stay in this house and "will sleep under the stars
until they rebuild a new one at the same place."

As we prepared to leave Al Hadidiya we were given homemade cheese and
newly laid eggs. Despite our insistence, An'am and Omar would not take
any money; smiling, they kept saying that we were most welcome. The
next day, Omar telephoned to ask about our journey home to Haris. They
have lost a child to the occupation, the state of Israel has been
denying them their basic human rights, such as the right to housing,
to earn a livelihood, freedom of movement; bulldozers may come any day
to demolish their home; and yet they remain hospitable and think of
their guests even after they are gone. We are humbled.
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