SOME 20 leading Israeli leftists have signed a petition urging European leaders to support Palestinian statehood at the United Nations.

The petition, delivered yesterday to European ambassadors based in Israel, said UN endorsement of Palestinian statehood would not harm Israeli interests. “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech in Washington and the sweeping support he received from the US Congress shows that the peace process has reached its end,” the statement said, stressing that Israel has a choice between recognising a Palestinian state or a renewed wave of violence.

Among those signing the petition were the former speaker of the Knesset parliament, Avraham Burg, former foreign ministry director general Alon Liel, a Nobel laureate, writers and academics.

Mr Liel said he was worried about Israel becoming an apartheid state if the diplomatic stalemate continued. “I think that if there is no vote in September on recognising a Palestinian state, we shall find ourselves sliding even more rapidly into the slippery slope of a shared state, which I view as a true catastrophe.”

The signatories argued that given the mutual suspicions between the sides and current foot-dragging, a Palestinian declaration of independence was not just a right, but also a positive, constructive step.

The petitioners said that, as Israeli citizens, they will support a Palestinian declaration of statehood based on the 1967 lines, with agreed land swaps. The petition also called for Gaza , which is controlled by Hamas, to be included as part of a future Palestinian state as long as it is ruled by a Palestinian leadership that recognises Israel’s existence.

The petition followed weekend surveys in the Israeli newspapers that showed solid support for Mr Netanyahu’s hawkish speech to Congress, and a 13 per cent rise in his popularity compared to recent polls taken before his trip to the US.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians are not seeking to isolate Israel on the international stage, but will pursue their unilateral drive for UN recognition of statehood unless peace talks resume. “We do not want to isolate Israel or to delegitimise it. On the contrary, we want to co-exist with it,” he said.

Speaking in Doha ahead of today’s meeting of Arab leaders to discuss the diplomatic deadlock, Mr Abbas said negotiations remained the best option as far as the Palestinians were concerned.

“We will review the steps we will take – persisting with negotiations as the fundamental way to achieving a resolution,” he said. “If we fail in reaching this solution, then we confirm that we will go to the United Nations.”

The Palestinians are expected to ask the UN general assembly in September to endorse an independent state, even without signing a peace agreement with Israel. It is expected a large majority of UN member states would vote in favour of such a resolution. Both Mr Netanyahu and US president Barack Obama have criticised such a move, arguing that bilateral negotiations are the only way to end the impasse.

The Irish Times

“We will insist on reconciliation, bolster steadfastness, and face occupation with unity,” Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday, in response to statements made this week by his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a speech delivered at close of a week of events marking Nakba Day in Gaza City, Haniyeh echoed the rhetoric of the Israeli prime minister, saying “We will tear up the occupation,” in an echo of Netanyahu’s request to President Mahmoud Abbas that he “tear up” the Palestinian unity agreement.

The unity deal inked in Cairo on May 4 “must be implemented honestly and accurately,” Haniyeh said, referring to the document which lays the groundwork for the formation of a transitional government of independent technocrats, which will execute an agreed upon platform and see through elections within a year.

“I don’t want to discuss details, but we need to implement each item entirely without any amendments that could harm the reconciliation agreement,” he said, alluding to current efforts by Fatah and Hamas delegates in Cairo to appoint committee members who will oversee the release of political prisoners, the reconstruction of Gaza and eventually the merging of security forces in each territory.

Netanyahu’s speeches from Washington’s Oval Office, at the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee and later in front of the US Congress, rejected US President Barack Obama’s stance on the resumption of negotiations based on the 1967 borders, shocking the international community.

One EU official told the German daily Der Spiegel that Europe would have to consider political action against Israel if it continued thwarting the peace process.

“We must face Netanyahu’s remarks by enhancing steadfastness and resistance, and we should get out of the black mantle of the so-called negotiations,” Haniyeh added.

He urged Palestinians in exile to “practice non-violent field activities” like those that took place on May 15, which saw thousands breach Israel’s armistice line with Syria, demanding the realization of their right to return.

“Thousands approached the borders this year, so let it be millions next year,” Haniyeh said.

“Every nation needs unity, or the more so the Palestinian people… (who are) striving to create a Palestinian state in accordance with UN resolutions, the Quartet of international mediators (the UN, the EU, Russia, and the US), and the Arab peace initiative,” the Russian foreign minister said.

Lavrov voiced his support in a meeting with representatives of Hamas and Fatah in Moscow. The Palestinians and Russians later issued a joint statement.

The Russian foreign minister called the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal a historic event and urged the Palestinian factions to hash out the details of the unity pact and lay the groundwork for its implementation, a Press TV correspondent reported on Tuesday.

In May leaders of the two main Palestinian factions signed a reconciliation deal in Egypt, paving the way for the creation of an interim unity government.

PRESS TV

HM The Queen has sent the following message to President Peres ahead of the occasion of Israel’s Independence Day:

“On the occasion of your National Day, it gives me great pleasure in sending Your Excellency my warmest greetings, together with my best wishes for every success for the people of the State of Israel in the coming year.

Elizabeth R”

No Nakba (“day of the catastrophe”) message has been sent by the Queen to any Palestinian representative on the commemoration of  the loss of the majority of Palestine and the flight of 700,000 Palestinian refugees escaping the Zionist terrorism that lead to the state of Israel. No message was sent over the success of the unity deal or future plans for Palestinian recognition.

Months after trying to place controversial ads about Israel on Metro buses, the Seattle group behind the ads said its latest effort to put a similar message on billboards has also been rejected.

The group, the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC), said billboard company Clear Channel Outdoor had placed three of the group’s signs last week and this week.

The signs say, “Equal rights for Palestinians – Stop funding the Israeli military.”

But on Wednesday, Clear Channel announced it was canceling the contract, saying it re-evaluated its decision after people complained, according to SeaMAC.

“We don’t under what is objectionable about equal rights…” SeaMAC volunteer Ed Mast said Thursday, standing near billboard on Elliott Avenue West that once had his message. It now said, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”

“This leaves us censored now twice in Seattle.”

Olivia Lippens, president of Clear Channel Outdoor Seattle, said the company is committed to ensuring that “all messages we post, and any websites they promote, adhere to community standards and are not offensive towards any business.”

“Upon further review, it became evident that a campaign sponsored by Stop 30 Billion.org promoted a website that is not in keeping with those standards,” Lippens said in a statement.

“As a result of that review, we removed this advertising from our displays.”

The website Lippens refers to is for an umbrella group called the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel. The $30 billion refers to the amount the United States has committed to giving Israel in military aid over the next decade, says the group.

(The actual website on the billboards is for SeaMAC, whose site is stop30billion-seattle.org).

Mast said the billboards were placed on Aurora Avenue, Elliott Avenue West and Lake City Way. Lippens said Clear Channel was working to remove them in the next few days.

Last year, King County had authorized SeaMAC to put ads on Metro buses that said, “Israeli war crimes: Your tax dollars at work.”

But news of the ads prompted a torrent of complaints and threats of violence, and county officials worried about civil disobedience and terrorist acts.

Executive Dow Constantine reversed the decision in December, before the ads ever went up. SeaMAC and the ACLU then sued the county, saying the decision violated the Constitution.

The controversy also prompted King County Metro to announce new transit advertising policy earlier this month, saying it will take ads for non-profits, but that certain political and public issue ads will be banned.

One-fourth of the Palestinian population residing in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) has been put behind the bars by the Israeli government, making Palestinians the most imprisoned people in the world, according to a new report.
Besides, Israel is the only state worldwide that has child prisoners under the age of 18. They number 280. “Their living conditions are harsh. Prison administration refuses to allow mature prisoners to join them. Israel uses all sorts of punishment and tortures against child prisoners to recruit them as spies. They threaten them with rape and other forms of violence,” contends the report by ‘Friends of Humanity International’.

“There is no one single family that didn’t experience the arrest of one of its members. The majority of those detained are male, which constitutes over 40 percent of the total male Palestinian population” in the OPT, says the report titled ‘A year of Jails storming and attempts to weaken prisoners determination’.

“Since Israel began its illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, more than 650,000 Palestinians have been detained, representing approximately twenty percent of the current total Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories,” notes the report released in Vienna on April 22, 2011.

The report points out that Israel has illegally detained Palestinian men, women and children through an extensive and systematic set of regulations that control every aspect of Palestinian life. They restrict or deny their basic human rights.

Authors of the report, Fuad Al Khoffash and Ghassan Obaid, call a spade a spade: “The conditions of the prisons and treatment of prisoners are horrendous, violating numerous international laws. The Israeli military, which governs the Occupied Territories, constantly changes or issues new military orders that are often unknown to local populations until implemented. Palestinian prisoners are then subject to Israeli military tribunals, which rarely follow required international standards of fair trial. Palestinians not only live under an illegal occupation, but also under an unstable and unjust system of law and order.”

The majority of Palestinian political prisoners are charged with offenses under Israeli military orders of which there are some 1,500 governing the West Bank and 1,400 enforced in Gaza before Israel’s withdrawal from that area in 2005.

These military regulations carry a broad definition of “security” and they ban, amongst other things, political expression. For example, according to Military order 101 it is forbidden to conduct a protest march or meeting (grouping of ten or more where the subject concerns or is related to politics) “without permission of the Military Commander”. The distribution of political articles and pictures with “political connotations” is also forbidden under the same order.

Al Khoffash and Obaid add: “Israeli policies towards its prisoners routinely violate international law. Torture has become an endemic problem within Israeli prisons and increasing numbers of children are beginning to end up in Israeli jails. These general trends are areas of growing concern as they have remained unabated for decades.”

While there is a general problem facing Palestinians in Israeli prisons, the report provides details of the suffering faced by Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel.

The report says: “Year 2010 was not an ordinary year for Palestinian prisoners. Yet, if there is a common feature to describe the reality of the movement of prisoners and the captives, we could label it as ‘A year of Jails storming and attempts to Weaken Prisoners Determination’.”

Al Khoffash and Obaid add: “The In 2010 there was also the largest movement of prison leaders of Palestinian detainees in an effort to disrupt prisoners and create a state of instability within prisons. This policy intended to hinder the work of Prisoners Movement, to plan and organize their struggle within jails such as protests and hunger strikes.

“The year also witnessed a sharp decrease in the number of prisoners in Israeli jails which was 6500 persons distributed in dozens of Israelis jails. The year included various random campaigns to arrest people in the West Bank cities and villages. Such campaigns were carried almost daily. Indeed there are daily operations storming houses, villages and towns in return of releases of some prisoners. It seems Israel is trying to send a message pointing out that no Palestinian is immune and protected from these campaigns and operations.”

The report has gathered some shocking information: The prisoners were tortured and their belongings were confiscated. They were hit, beaten, including with electric sticks and sprayed with tear gas. They were separated individually or moved to other departments in the jail, not dissimilar to what happened to those in Hadarim detention centre.

“In Hadarim centre, prisoners in division three were moved to division five. Walls between divisions were demolished while prisoners were deprived from taking electric equipments with them. Prisoners were corralled and put in a detention which lacked any basic provisions required in every prison. All this happened under a pretext of searching for mobile phones.”

The same incident happened in Nafha detention centre, located in the desert which the Israeli army stormed more than ten times. On every occasion, says the report, confrontation took place between prison guards and prisoners, resulting in bloody attacks against prisoners and their leaders.

On one occasion, an Israeli officer, at Nafha detention (which host Palestinian prisoners of highest sentences from Gaza Strip), phoned the wife of one of the prisoners with abuse to evoke response, while searching his private belongings. The incident caused enormous damage and has pushed the Management of the prison to apologize and provide further assurance that an open investigation in the manner in which prison cells are raided and prisoners restrained by carried out.

“The Israeli state and Prison Service facility has escalated their humiliating and torture tactics. Rarely a week passes before another raid or attack against prisoner’s chambers. Such conditions made the lives of prisoners extremely difficult, forced to live in continuous tension fearing frequent and untimely attacks,” the authors of the report note. (IDN-InDepthNews/26.04.2011)

Spokesman for UN chief says he wants more moderate Abbas, Fatah to lead unity gov’t; stresses deal should not undermine peace with Israel.

UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday cautiously welcomed a unity agreement aimed at ending the rivalry among ruling Palestinian factions, but stressed that it should not undermine peace with Israel.

“The Secretary-General welcomes efforts being made to promote Palestinian reconciliation and the important contribution of Egypt in this regard,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement.

“He hopes that reconciliation will now take place in a manner that promotes the cause of peace, security and non-violence,” he said.

The Egyptian-brokered deal, announced on Wednesday, calls for forming a new government acceptable to both Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, which is dominant in the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip Hamas’s rulers.

Egypt has invited Palestinian leaders to Cairo next week for the signing of the deal, Palestinian officials said on Friday.

Israel denounced the agreement, saying Abbas could not be a peace partner if he mends ties with Hamas, an Islamist group whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, but which has said it is open to a long-term ceasefire.

Nesirky indicated that Ban wanted Abbas’ more moderate Fatah movement to lead any unity government.

“The United Nations has long underscored the need for progress towards Palestinian unity within the framework of the Palestinian Authority led by President Abbas and the commitments of the Palestine Liberation Organization,” he said.

“The United Nations will study carefully the agreement as soon as the details are available,” Nesirky added.

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=218486

Three children were injured by flying glass as Israeli F16 fighter planes flew six raids against the Gaza Strip overnight, hospital staff, witnesses and Hamas officials said Friday.

The three children, aged two, four and 11, were hit by flying glass in a raid on the Sabra district, in the western part of Gaza City, said Moawiya Hassanein, head of the Palestinian emergency services in Gaza.

Three Israeli air strikes targeted an area west of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza.

A fourth raid destroyed a workshop in the refugee camp of Nusseirat, in central Gaza.

In two other air raids, Israeli fighters targeted points in the west of Gaza City, completely destroying a small dairy factory in the Sabra district, said witnesses.

The attacks were carried out by F16 fighters, the witnesses said.

Israel’s armed forces have launched regular air raids on the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, responding to repeated rocket attacks into Israel from Gaza-based militants.

In recent days, Israeli ground forces have also clashed with Palestinian militants along the border with Israel.

On Tuesday, a Palestinian teenager was killed and several others were wounded as Israeli troops fired on protestors near the Gaza border.

The incident happened as Israeli Arabs and Palestinians marked “Land Day”, the annual commemoration of Israel’s killing of six Arab citizens during a 1976 protest against land confiscations.

And an Israeli officer and soldier were killed during fierce clashes last weekend.

Following the deaths, finance minister Yuval Steinitz, from the governing rightwing Likud party, told public radio: “Sooner or later we will liquidate the military regime of the pro-Iranian Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.”

The present surge in violence is the worst since the end of the 22-day Israeli assault on the territory launched in December 2008 that killed some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Artist Robert Ballagh, who designed the set for Riverdance , is boycotting an upcoming tour to Israel by Riverdance in support of justice for the Palestinian people.

In an open letter, Ballagh has also said he will donate any royalties due to him for performances by Riverdance in Israel to the fund for an Irish boat, which is taking part in an flotilla of vessels that hopes to break the “illegal and inhuman blockade” of Gaza.

“I, along with many other Irish creative and performing artists, signed a cultural boycott pledge not to visit Israel. This was a positive response to the call by Palestinian filmmakers, artists and cultural organisations for a cultural boycott of Israel. I believe that this non-violent cultural boycott will contribute to the struggle for justice for the Palestinian people.”

“Because I have signed up to support the cultural boycott I will not be travelling to Israel with Riverdance ,” he said.

Ballagh said his decision to support the boycott was inspired by a meeting with Nelson Mandela, who told him the sporting and cultural boycott of South Africa was an essential weapon in the struggle against apartheid.

In a second open letter published today, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign says the Riverdance “farewell tour”, which includes events in three Israeli cities, violates a call for boycotts issued by 170 Palestinian civil society organisations in 2005 and a subsequent cultural boycott issued by filmmakers and artists.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, representing more than 1,000 residents of the Gaza Strip, said on Thursday that courts in Israel refused to hear their demands, Ynetnews reported.

The judges wrote that demands for compensation over damage should have been filed within two years and other damages can be filed seven years after the incident.

The Palestinian group, however, said that courts are permitted to extend the statute of limitations by three additional years in such cases.

A spokesman for the human rights center, attorney Michael Sfard, said filing a case within such a short period of time is always impossible due to Israel’s refusal of entry permits.

Israel launched an all-out war on the Gaza Strip three days before the turn of 2009. The three-week war killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 300 children.

The offensive leveled 4,000 houses in the territory and devastated a large portion of infrastructure. More than 50,000 people were displaced as a result of the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed a visiting delegation of US lawmakers Thursday to join him in measures against the Palestinian unity deal, according to Israeli media reports.

The meeting saw a decision to push a diplomatic campaign, focusing on the European Union, to undermine international recognition of the unity government between rival Hamas and Fatah factions, Israeli daily Haaretz cited senior Israeli government officials saying.

Netanyahu told the seven US Congress members, who had come to Israel on a bipartisan delegation, that “Israel would not recognize any government in the world that included members from Al-Qaida,” the report said.

The Prime Minister also said the United States should block aid to a Palestinian government that does not recognize Israel or renounce terror, quoting remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in April 2009, saying that these were preconditions for talks or economic support.

Israeli military and intelligence officials joined the meeting of visiting Congress members, and told the delegation Hamas had signed the unity deal due to fears of instability in its allied regime, Syria, according to Haaretz’ report.

After 18 months of largely fruitless reconciliation talks, delegations from Hamas and Fatah meeting in Cairo on Wednesday announced a deal to form an interim unity government of technocrats with a view to holding presidential and legislative elections within a year.

The deal raises the prospect of an end to the devastating political divide that has seen the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority govern the West Bank while the Islamist Hamas movement control the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak vowed Thursday not to recognize a Palestinian government that includes Hamas, with Netanyahu warning President Mahmoud Abbas must chose between peace with Israel and Hamas. Senior US congress members decried the unity move and immediately threatened to axe millions in funding for the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian-Israeli Knesset member Ahmad At-Tibi responded on Thursday saying, “Threats by Netanyahu and the US Congress against the Palestinians in light of the reconciliation agreement are arrogant, hypocritical and Israeli chutzpa,” according to a report in Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post.

Tibi continued, “In Israel, they sanctify the value of national unity, but demand that the Palestinians remain divided and weak. Palestinian unity will promote the goals of the Palestinian people to achieve freedom and independence.”