By: Walid Zaher
• Arbitrary Israeli measures, including commemoration of the annexation of Jerusalem, constitute a serious violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which considers the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be occupied territories since 1967 in addition to confirming the illegality of settlements, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said on Monday.(Wafa) Attachment
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned, in a statement Monday, the Israeli government for holding the weekly cabinet meeting under the Al-Aqsa Mosque and for approving several illegal procedures.(Wafa) Attachment
• Responding to reports by the Hamas-run energy authority in Gaza regarding an agreement reached between Gaza and Ramallah to solve Gaza’s worsening electricity crisis, the Ramallah-based Energy and Natural Resources Authority denied Monday reaching any such agreement. (Wafa)
• Israeli forces Monday detained at least 18 Palestinians, mostly in overnight raids across a number of West Bank districts, said security sources.(Wafa)
• Newspapers review: Israeli approval of Jerusalem cable car project focus of dailies.(Wafa)
• A senior Palestinian official on Monday denied a report about a feud between US President Donald Trump and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during Trump’s visit to Bethlehem last week.(PNN)
• Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, sent a letter to senior Israeli officials on 23rd of May, urging them to cancel open tenders offering Palestinian lands declared as state property in the West Bank because Israel has no legal authority over the 1967 occupied territories.(PNN)
• Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary-General Saeb Erekat denounced on Sunday a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet held earlier in the day in tunnels located underneath the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem as a “provocation” and proof that Israel “insists on sabotaging international efforts” for peace.(Ma’an)
• Taleb Abu Arar, a member of the Joint List coalition that represents Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, released a statement on Monday demanding that Israeli government officials be “punished” for demolitions that took place in a Bedouin village in Israel earlier this month.(Ma’an)
• The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the United Nation Security Council on Monday to uphold its responsibilities vis-a-vis international law and protect occupied East Jerusalem from the latest Israeli attempts to “Judaize” the city.(Ma’an)
• Less than two weeks after Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists set up the Sumud Freedom Camp in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron, Israeli forces raided the camp on Monday, destroying it for the third time since its establishment, and arrested three Palestinians.(Ma’an)
• The Israeli cabinet approved, on Sunday, a plan to expand the teaching of Israeli curriculum in East Jerusalem Palestinian schools for the next five years.(IMEMC)
• The Israeli Civil Administration’s High Planning Committee approved, on Sunday, the building of a new colonial settlement in the occupied West Bank for the evacuees from the Amona settlement.(IMEMC)
• Israeli forces continued with systematic crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) for the week of 18-24 May, 2017. Soldiers killed a Palestinian child while a girl succumbed to her wounds in Bethlehem. A Palestinian civilian was killed and a photojournalist was wounded by a settler in Howarah village, south of Nablus, and 46 Palestinian civilians, including 12 children and 2 women, were wounded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (IMEMC)
• Haaretz Editorial//Listen to Mahmoud Abbas (Haaretz) Attachment
• New details released on agreement to suspend Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike (PNN) Attachment
Abu Rudeineh: Commemorating Jerusalem annexation a violation of Security Council resolution
RAMALLAH, May 29, 2017 (WAFA) – Arbitrary Israeli measures, including commemoration of the annexation of Jerusalem, constitute a serious violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which considers the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be occupied territories since 1967 in addition to confirming the illegality of settlements, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said on Monday.
He added: “Such arbitrary measures would harm efforts to revive the peace process and would lead to further tension.”
Abu Rudeineh said that the recent meetings between President Mahmoud Abbas and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, in Washington and Bethlehem represented an opportunity to reach a just and comprehensive solution. However, he said, Israeli actions will lead to dangerous developments and will harm peace efforts.
“We demand that the US administration not allow Israel to proceed with these dangerous steps,” he said.
Foreign Ministry says Israel’s measures in Jerusalem undermine peace
RAMALLAH, May 29, 2017 (WAFA) – Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned, in a statement Monday, the Israeli government for holding the weekly cabinet meeting under the Al-Aqsa Mosque and for approving several illegal procedures.
The statement said these procedures include the allocation of millions of dollars to fund “Judaizing” projects in East Jerusalem; construction of a car cable in the vicinity of the al-Buraq Wall; expansion of Jewish settlements in the city; construction of tunnels, elevators and passages to link al-Buraq Wall with the Jewish Quarter; and a plan to “Israelize” education in Jerusalem.
The ministry condemned the Israeli government for these procedures, saying they may undermine any chance of peace or a two-state solution of Palestine and Israel living side by side.
The ministry also called on the UN Security Council and the other concerned parties to uphold their legal and moral responsibility and to take the necessary measures to force Israel to stop these plans.
New details released on agreement to suspend Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike
PNN/Bethlehem/
New details have been released regarding the agreement under which Palestinian prisoners suspended the 40-day hunger strike on Saturday morning, 27th of May, providing elaboration on the specific issues addressed in the prisoners’ negotiations with the Israeli occupation prison administration.
Issa Qaraqe, director of the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission spoke in a press conference on Sunday, 28th of May in which he declared that “80 percent of the demands” of the prisoners were achieved in the strike, calling it “an important achievement to build on in the future on the basis of the protection of the prisoners’ rights and dignity.”
Qaraqe reported on the major items agreed upon by the strikers with the Israeli prison administration, as noted by Palestinian lawyer Karim Ajwa, who met on Sunday morning with one of the strike leaders, Palestinian prisoner Nasser Abu Hmeid.
1. Expanding access to public telephones in order to communicate with family members, in accordance with agreed-upon mechanisms, with continuation of dialogue on this issue as a priority for prisoners in all prisons.
2. Agreement was reached on a range of issues relating to family visits; first, lifting the security ban on hundreds of family members of Palestinian prisoners, ending the practice of returning visitors holding permits and refusing their visits at checkpoints, and lifting an unjustified ban imposed on more than 140 children who had been banned by the prison administration from visiting their parents.
3. Giving an initial commitment to shorten the time between visits for Palestinian prisoners from Gaza, for a period of up to one month instead of two months or more between visits.
4. Agreement was also reached on a number of issues related to the conditions of family visitation, including allowing the introduction of clothing and bags, and allowing prisoners to provide and share sweets with children and others.
5. Introducing new standards for visitation for relatives of the “second degree,” such as allowing the introduction of nephews and nieces during nursery school age and providing that prisoners whose fathers and mothers have died may add one or two additional more distant family members to their visitation list.
6. Providing formal approval for the return of the second monthly family visit according to the mechanism agreed upon between the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestinian Authority.
7. Reaching an agreement on the Ramle prison clinic, to return the ill prisoners to the larger “old” section of the prison, which has been renovated.
8. Agreement was reached on issues related to the conditions of women prisoners, including the inclusion of all prisoners in HaSharon prison, adjustments to the visitation process with family members, husbands and children, the introduction of handicraft materials, improvement of conditions of confinement, and establishment of a special transportation system, rather than the “Bosta,” for transfer to and from the courts.
9. On the issue of child prisoners, a number of issues were agreed upon to improve their conditions of confinement, access to education and related issues.
10. Agreement was reached on most issues related to the difficult conditions of life in Nafha prison.
11. On the issue of the sick prisoner patients held in the Ramle prison clinic, as noted above, to return the prisoners to the re-opened section with improved humanitarian conditions, as well as introducing a new system for the movement of these prisoners with private transportation, directly to and from the courts, rather than transiting through lengthy crossing points on the “Bosta.”
12. Distributing meals to prisoners in transit in the “Bosta” during transfers and allowing them access to use the toilet during this time.
13. Approving the establishment in every prison department of Palestinian “security prisoners” of a kitchen area for the preparation of food and the introduction of cooking equipment, rather than being in the same rooms with the prisoners.
14. Allowing photographs with parents once annually, or with a prisoner’s spouse. In the event of the prisoner’s father or mother’s death, the photograph could be taken with a brother or sister.
15. Introducing improvements to the “canteen” (prison store), with higher-quality goods available, including fruits and vegetables, molokhiyeh and spices.
16. Introducing modern sports and recreation equipment in the recreation yards.
17. Solving the problem of overcrowding in the prison sections and resolving the problem of high temperatures through a system of ventilation and cooling.
18. Adding an ambulance to be equipped for use to transfer prisoners in urgent health emergencies, to be stationed at the Negev, Ramon and Nafha prisons, due to the fact that these prisons are far from hospitals.
19. Transferring prisoners to prisons closer to their families’ places of residence.
In addition to these points, there will be a mechanism for further negotiations on additional issues. The prisoners’ committee will include Karim Younis, Nasser Abu Hmeid, Hafez Sharaya, Nasser Oweis, Ammar Merhi, and Ahmed Barghouthi. All prisoners who have been transferred since the beginning of the strike are to be returned to their original locations and the sanctions imposed on hunger-striking prisoners lifted. It should be noted that the imprisonment of Palestinians from the West Bank within Palestine ’48 is entirely illegitimate under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Haaretz Editorial//Listen to Mahmoud Abbas
Netanyahu knows that the moderates on both sides want peace and that they understand there is no solution other than the two-state solution
“There’s no stronger voice than the voice of a just and comprehensive peace, just as there is no stronger voice than that of the right of people to self-determination and freedom from the yoke of occupation. The time has come to live, you and us, in peace, harmony, security and stability.
“The only way to end the dispute and the struggle against terror in the region and in the world is the two-state solution based on the June 1967 lines, Palestine alongside Israel. We have accepted the UN resolutions; we have recognized the State of Israel and agreed to the two-state solution, and the world has also recognized the Palestinian state. The time has come for the State of Israel to recognize our state and end the occupation. We are still extending our hand in peace.”
This was the message that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered to the Israeli public at the demonstration Saturday night in Tel Aviv organized by Peace Now to mark 50 years of the occupation and call for implementing the two-state solution. These are remarks that cannot be ignored; in the clearest, sharpest and most precise terms, they express not only the Palestinian people’s desire for peace, but that of every peace-seeking Israeli citizen who wants to live in a normal country.
Although the demonstrators were identified with the left side of Israel’s political map, support for the two-state solution is considerably broader than that, with people on the right also supporting it. That, at least, is what emerges from a survey released Friday by Channel 2 News. Half of those questioned said they support a peace agreement based on a two-state solution along the 1967 lines.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed all along that he seeks an agreement with the Palestinians. During the visit by U.S. President Donald Trump, he even said, “For the first time in my lifetime I see a real hope for change.”
If this is really the case, Netanyahu cannot ignore Abbas’ important statement. He must initiate a meeting with the Palestinian president and stop setting preconditions for negotiations that are meant to scuttle them, whether it’s the old demand of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state or the new demand to stop the PA’s payments to the families of terrorists.
Netanyahu knows that the moderates on both sides want peace and that they understand there is no solution other than the two-state solution. Given the latest remarks by Abbas, every Israeli must ask himself why, rather than extending our hand in return to the moderate Palestinian in an effort to put an end to 50 years of controlling another people, Netanyahu and his government prefer to continue the policy of refusal, whose price continues to soar.
The above article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.
Source: Haaretz
Newspapers review: Israeli approval of Jerusalem cable car project focus of dailies
RAMALLAH, May 29, 2017 (WAFA) – The Israeli government’s approval of a plan to install a cable car to Jerusalem’s Old City hit the front page headlines in local Palestinian dailies.
Al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida reported the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to “Judaize” Jerusalem’s Old City.
They added the cabinet approved the plan after it held the weekly meeting in tunnels located underneath the Western Wall, known to Muslims as al-Buraq Wall.
Al-Ayyam explained the approved plan involves the installation of a cable car that would link a former railway station in West Jerusalem to the Moroccan (Dung) Gates of Jerusalem’s Old City, located near the Western Wall and Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
The dailies added the Israeli cabinet has also approved the construction of a new settlement near Nablus city in the occupied West Bank.
The dailies also highlighted the decision of Palestinian prisoners to suspend their 41-day mass hungers strike following an agreement between leaders of hunger strikers and Israeli Prison Service (IPS).
They reported head of the Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Qaraqe announcing 80 percent of hunger strikers’ demands were met.
Al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said the Palestinian cabinet slammed new steps taken by the Hamas movement in the besieged Gaza Strip as a further entrenchment of the Palestinian division.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida highlighted the public funeral of late Palestinian ambassador to Poland Azmi Daqqa in Jericho.
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