BDS: a Palestinian woman reaction on Isræls Naomi Chazan

By Samah Sabawi

Naomi Chazan, President of the new Israel (NIF) gave a speech in Marrickville NSW during her last Australian tour offers a criticism of the Palestinian civil society call for boycott divestments and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

Although she presented herself as a veteran peace activist, isrælske Chazan's mission was here in Australia allegedly promoting NIF. This is important because everything she said about the BDS should be understood within the framework of her mission – to collect funds and support and convince the Jews of the need to continue to invest in Israel through the NIF in Australia. This clear conflict of interest makes Chazans criticism of BDS far less credible.

Chazan named six reasons why she believed BDS was harmful:

BDS is not effective, because Israel has a very strong economy: South Africa's economy also upturn when the movement a boycott against the regime began in the late 1950s. Decades later the movement succeeded in bringing down the South African apartheid regime.

Many isrælske leaders, including Ehud Barak, Ben-Eliezer, Shimon Peres and others have already said that BDS is a ' strategic threat; ' what they mean of course is that it is a serious threat to the Isræl's system of occupation, legalized racial discrimination (equivalent to the UN definition of apartheid) and Denial of refugee rights. We need only look at millions of dollars the isrælske lobby groups in Western Nations, including Australia spending in efforts to sabotage the movement to know that it is actually effective. The fact that Chazan focused so much on the BDS in her Marrickville speech confirms this.

There is other evidence BDSS efficiency.

Deutsche Bahn withdrawal from isrælske rail project linking Tel Aviv with Jerusalem has been a turning point for the movement. It was the first time that a German Government-owned company withdrew from a isrælske project over concerns for violation of international law. The French company Veolia losses of billions of dollars worth of contracts due to his participation in illegal Jerusalem Light Rail project points also impressive success of BDS campaign, especially in Europe.

The rapidly growing list of superstars and prominent music bands heeding boycott of Israel makes Tel Aviv is very similar to the South African resort of Sun City during apartheid. The city was a key objective of the cultural boycott then.
University Johannesburg severance bond with Ben Gurion University of the latter's complicity in violating Palestinian rights is the most concrete victory to date for an academic boycott campaign.

And who have radical Trade Union support for BDS in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Ireland, South Africa, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Norway, Belgium, India, Turkey and elsewhere.

BDS undermines the existence of the State of Israel: Requirements are clear – full equality in Israel for the Palestinian citizens of the State, an end to the occupation and an achievement of Isræls commitment to the refugees. If these demands are threatening to put a stop to Isræls existence, we have to ask what this really says about Israel?

A State that is truly democratic and built upon a foundation of Justice and equality, would not be threatened by demands for equality and an end to the occupation. Boycott does not put an end to South Africa's existence, they did not destroy it and certainly not ' delegitimize ' white: they only destroyed South Africa's system of injustice, inequality and racial discrimination.

BDS is actually "a code word for the one State solution" who defies isrælerne and Jews the right to self-determination: BDS does not aim for either a one or two State solution, but for Palestinian rights. One of these rights is for the Palestinians to be free in their own country without the yoke of isrælske occupation and system of racial discrimination. Whether it is in one State for two Nations or two sovereign, democratic States side by side has yet to be adopted. The movement is consistently neutral in this, regardless of the different personal political positions held by its various spokespeople.

BDS is counterproductive because it entrenches the victim mentality of those in Israel who believe that the whole world is against them, which inevitably forces right wing in Israel at the same time weakening the left: Right now, fanatical right takes over the entire isrælske society, but when boycott begin damage Isræls carefully nurtured public image, dissenting voices will become much more vocal, as happened in South Africa. Then, the current consensus in support of apartheid and colonial regime crack.

BDS is against academic freedom and singles out isrælske academics: Chazan is deliberately misleading in this respect. Like any relatively well-informed observer will know after seven years of the Palestinian academic boycott campaign and hundreds of articles written on it, the academic boycott is institutional in nature and therefore has never targeted individual isrælske academics. BDS has consistently been aimed against academic institutions because of their persistent and serious complicity in the planning, implementation and justifying Isræls violations of international law.

Chazans claims that isrælske academics are progressive and against the occupation has absolutely no foundation. In 2008, a petition drawn up by the four Jewish-isrælske academics calls the isrælske army to allow access at checkpoints by Palestinian academics and students to reach their educational institutions were distributed to all 9,000 isrælske scholars in the hope that most would sign this minimal expression of respect for academic freedom: only 407 out of 9,000 academic actually did.

BDS singles Israel: This criticism is so often quoted, that one has to ask about Chazan and other contamination in it want more action on other grounds or silence on the Palestinian cause. At least people are rising up against the tyrannical regimes and seeks change in almost every Arab State in the "Isræls neighborhoods." Some of these Governments are now subject to international sanctions, so why not Israel, which has for decades had defied the United Nations and violated international law?

An equally important question to ask here is, why not go for Palestinian rights? Yes, why are the Palestinians will be identified as the only people that can not be defended? We can speak for all other problems, so it is tendentious to propose to speak of Palestinian rights singles Israel unfairly.

The principled isrælske left the camp, which respects the equal rights for all Palestinian refugees to the UN-sanctioned rights and an end to colonial oppression (2004) should – and actually doing — invest his time challenging dets Government apartheid policies and the repression of the Palestinians instead of criticizing the Palestinian non-violent resistance model, which includes the BDS.

Chazans efforts to undermine the BDS must be seen in context. At the end of the day, Chazan going to Israel, where she is a privileged Jewish citizen with all his rights intact. She is part of and an enabler of establishment denies the Palestinians their basic rights and freedoms, and as such, she in a position to dictate to the Palestinians their methods match or act as gatekeeper for the international solidarity movement, do not preach to them what is allowed and what is not in standing with the Palestinians. As in all human struggle for freedom, justice and equality, to the right are those living behind the walls of the prerogatives, hindered by checkpoints and kept in captivity for the siege and military repression.

-Samah Sabawi is public advocate of Australian advocacy group Australians for Palestine. She contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

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Confused strategy: How PA sold out Palestinian unit

By Ramzy Baroud

If you happen to be a Palestinian Government employee, chances are you will receive only half your usual salary this month. The second half will only be available when international donors find it in their hearts to do for the enormous shortage of funds currently facing the Palestinian Authority (PA).

With a deficit standing at around 640 million dollars, Prime minister Salam Fayyad PA Government is experiencing one of its worst ever financial crisis. The Palestinian economy, however, is not a real economy of universally accepted standards. It survives largely on handouts of donor countries. These funds have saved Israel much of its financial responsibility as an occupying power under the stipulations of the Fourth Geneva Convention. They also have hidden up a Palestinian leadership that is trying to ensure its own survival at serving the interests of major donors.

Funds, however, are now drying. This could be attributed to a political attempt to deter PA President Mahmoud Abbas from seeking recognition of a Palestinian State in the UNITED NATIONS next September. PA officials have been very agitated by Shift, blamed donor countries, including Arab countries, not to honour their financial obligations.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, Secretary general of the PLO, spoke of a crisis to voice of Palestine Radio ' unprecedented '. "The situation has become very complicated for the Palestinian Authority because of the failure of the Arab countries to meet their financial commitments."

Fayyad suggested it was ' irony ', the current crisis comes at a time when the PA had reduced its dependence on foreign assistance for nearly half — from 1.8 billion in 2008 to 970 m $ – according to the Jerusalem Post. Now, even this half is cut, as only $ 331 m of the promised $ 970 m has been received.

Top PA officials have yet to join open dots between wrongful retention of funds and the political reality in Palestine. Fayyad insisted that "the crisis does not cause doubts our preparedness for the establishment of the State," while Abed Rabbo alleged that the crisis would not stop the PA's efforts to seek an independent State along the pre-1967 lines.

PA undoubtedly understand the financial costs of any political adventure that is deemed unfavorable to Israel-especially since they are continually are reminded of the ' historical tapes ' and ' shared values ' that unites Israel and the United States.

One such reminder had the huge margin of us House of representatives in July 2007. It was an "overwhelming 406-6 vote," AFP reported, where U.S. legislators, "warned the Palestinians that they risk cuts in U.S. aid if they pursue UN recognition of a future State is not defined in direct negotiations with Israel." The message echoed another vote on a similar resolution in the US Senate.

Such blind support for Israel by u.s. serves to make life much easier for isrælske diplomats. They must now focus less on the United States than in those European countries that have pledged to back PA statehood initiative.

PA is of course very vulnerable to threats, despite their insistence to the contrary. When the United States and the other begins to toss wrongful retention of funds card, swaying any fixed PA political program usually in confusing and even self-destructive political babble. Lack security of pas political language could be attributed to the fear that a single decision to withhold funds combined with a isrælske decision to hold taxes collected on behalf of the PA, the Government would not last more than a mere weeks.

We should remember that the West Bank and East Jerusalem is occupied. Deprived of even a hint of territorial sovereignty and presiding over a donation-based national economy, the PA has no political independence outside the allowable margins allowed by the United States and Israel, countries that are determined to defeat the Palestinian national project.

The Palestinian Authority has to contend with this strange situation since its inception in 1994. Become a guardian of the Palestinian national interest and simultaneously fulfils the Isræls political interests and U.S. expectations is an impossible feat. That enigma will be determined almost always at the expense of the Palestinians themselves. The latest accident has been the unit signed between Hamas and pas ruling party, Fatah, in Egypt on April 27.

Unit was crucial to a coherent political programme to be formed against Palestinian rights and possible statehood. When the agreement was officially signed the beginning of may, it was assumed that the various committees would be able to quickly end the process with a view to setting a date for future elections and bringing a complete end four-year feud between the two factions.

A counter isrælske strategy, however, was soon counterfeited. May 4, as Palestinians celebrated their unit, led isrælske prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu counter campaign from London. "What happened today in Cairo is a huge blow to the peace and a great victory for terrorism," he told journalists (as reported by Reuters). United States echoed Netanyahu's helm words, EU countries reacted ' gently ', and arm-twisting began.

Once again stood Abbas and PA with a dilemma about priorities. Government of national unity in Palestine was to suffer a further blow. "The Palestinian President would not want to lead two diplomatic battle for the recognition of an alliance with the Islamic militants and a UN nod to State at the same time," said an official in the PLO (as quoted by the Associated Press and Håretz).

The vote in the UN would "be a largely symbolic step that Palestinians hope nevertheless want to improve their leverage against Israel," according to the report AP. ' Symbolic ' maybe, but it is a priority, Abbas feels comes ahead of much-needed national unity and a unified political program.

In the meantime arrested PA forces — trained and armed by the United States and in constant coordination with the isrælske army – reportedly 68 Hamas members in recent weeks, according to a report by Maan News Agency, quoting a Hamas statement.

While Abbas is now pursuing a diplomatic mission to drum up support for his UN initiative, try Fayyad to collect funds to prop up PA economy some more months. In the meantime, Palestinian national unity, without which the Palestinians remain hopelessly fragmented and vulnerable to external pressure and foreign priorities – will remain merely ink on paper.

-Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally syndicated columnist and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book, my father was a freedom fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London), available on Amazon.com.

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Israel and the Palestinian territories

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The division of the former British mandate of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel in the years after the end of World War II have been at the heart of Middle Eastern conflicts for the past half century.

The creation of Israel was the culmination of the Zionist movement, whose aim was a homeland for Jews scattered all over the world following the Diaspora. After the Nazi Holocaust, pressure grew for the international recognition of a Jewish state, and in 1948 Israel came into being.

Much of the history of the region since that time has been one of conflict between Israel on one side and Palestinians, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and Israel's Arab neighbours, on the other. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced, and several wars were fought involving Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Palestinians in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967. The settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank are home to around 400,000 people and are deemed to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

Israel evacuated its settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and withdrew its forces, ending almost four decades of military occupation. However, after the militant Islamic group Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, Israel intensified its economic blockade of the Strip.

In 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement, but it wasn't until the early 1990s, after years of an uprising known as the intifada, that a peace process began with the Palestinians. Despite the handover of Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control, a "final status" agreement has yet to be reached.

The main stumbling blocks include the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements.

ISRAEL FACTS

Full name: State of Israel Population: 7.3 million (UN, 2010) Seat of government: Jerusalem, though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv Area: Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics cites 22,072 sq km (8,522 sq miles), including Jerusalem and Golan Major languages: Hebrew, Arabic Major religions: Judaism, Islam Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 83 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot Main exports: Computer software, military equipment, chemicals, agricultural products GNI per capita (Israel only): US $25,740 (World Bank, 2009)Internet domain: .il International dialling code: +972

PALESTINIAN FACTS

Population: 4.4 million (UN, 2010) Intended seat of government: East Jerusalem Area: Palestinian Ministry of Information cites 5,970 sq km (2,305 sq miles) for West Bank territories and 365 sq km (141 sq miles) for Gaza Major language: Arabic Major religion: Islam Life expectancy: 73 years (men), 76 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 Jordan dinar = 1,000 fils, 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot Main exports: Citrus GNI per capita: US $1,230 (estimated, World Bank, 2007) Internet domain: .ps International dialling code: +970

Israeli president: Shimon Peres

The Israeli president has a mainly ceremonial role; executive power is vested in the cabinet, headed by the prime minister.

Israel's elder statesman: Shimon Peres

On 13 June 2007, the Israeli parliament chose the veteran politician Shimon Peres to succeed Moshe Katsav, who had taken leave of absence from the presidency earlier in the year after being accused of various sexual offences.

Mr Katsav formally resigned on 29 June after agreeing to plead guilty to several of the offences as part of a plea bargain that removed two rape charges against him.

Though the post is largely ceremonial, the president has in the past been seen by many Israelis as the nation's moral compass, and many hoped that Mr Peres would restore dignity to what they saw as a tarnished office.

Mr Peres was a leading member of the Labour party for decades, but left in 2005 and later joined the centrist Kadima party.

He has twice been prime minister, and in 1994 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his role in bringing about the signing of Israel's first interim peace accord with the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Oslo the previous year.

Israeli prime minister: Binyamin Netanyahu

Binyamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud party, became prime minister after an inconclusive early election in February 2009, a decade after holding the office once before.

Mr Netanyahu campaigned on a policy of toughness towards Palestinian militancy

The vote was called when his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, of the centrist Kadima party, resigned amid corruption allegations, and Mr Olmert's designated successor, Tzipi Livni, failed to put together a new centre-left coalition.

Mrs Livni and Kadima actually won one more seat in the Knesset (parliament) than Likud, but right-wing parties emerged stronger than the left overall.

Mr Netanyahu, widely seen as one of Likud's most right-wing leaders, formed a coalition with the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, various religious parties, as well as the centre-left Labour party.

Despite Labour's inclusion, the coalition's composition sparked fears that it would be too hard-line on the peace process with the Palestinians.

During the election campaign, Mr Netanyahu stressed his longstanding opposition to handing back land occupied by Israel in return for peace.

But several months after coming to power, Mr Netanyahu said he would accept the creation of Palestinian state, but only on the condition that it is completely demilitarised. Palestinian leaders said the conditions were unjust and the policy change insincere.

The prime minister continued to resist pressure from US President Barack Obama's administration for a complete suspension of Israeli settlement activity - a key Palestinian condition for a return to stalled peace talks.

However, the PM in December 2009 announced a 10-month lull in permits for new settlements, sparking angry protests by settlers.

Mr Netanyahu promised to make the perceived threat of Iran's nuclear programme a priority in security policy.

During his previous term as prime minister, from 1996, Mr Netanyahu was hostile towards the Palestinian Authority created by the peace process, but also showed flexibility: In 1997, he agreed to cede most of the West Bank town of Hebron.

Defeated by Labour leader Ehud Barak in 1999, he later served as finance minister under Likud PM Ariel Sharon, pushing through a series of market-oriented reforms before resigning in 2005 in protest at Mr Sharon's decision to pull out from Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, spending part of his childhood in the United States. During his five years in Israel's army, he served as captain of an elite commando unit.

A fluent English-speaker, Mr Netanyahu has been a prominent advocate for Israel in the international media.

Palestinian leader: Mahmoud Abbas

Former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, the candidate of the Fatah faction, won the January 2005 poll to replace the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

President Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat as PLO leader

Mr Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, had already succeeded Yasser Arafat as leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), having been Mr Arafat's deputy since 1969.

The surprise victory of the militant Islamic movement Hamas in parliamentary polls in January 2006 led to heightened tension between the Palestinian factions. There were recurring bouts of violence between Hamas and Mr Abbas's Fatah faction, raising fears of civil war. In February 2007, Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a government of national unity.

However, in June 2007 Hamas took control of the Gaza strip, seriously challenging the concept of a coalition, which Abbas subsequently dissolved.

Mr Abbas's current term was set to have ended in January 2009, but in 2008 announced he was extending his term by another year, in order to allow presidential and parliamentary elections to be held at the same time. The move was denounced by Hamas.

In November 2009, Mr Abbas said he would not stand again in elections scheduled for 24 January 2010, in protest against the continuing impasse in attempts to resurrect peace talks with Israel.

Many analysts regard Mahmoud Abbas as a moderate. He has condemned the armed Palestinian uprising and favours the resumption of negotiations with Israel. But he faces the challenge of persuading armed groups to stop their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks.

Mahmoud Abbas was born in 1935 in Safed, a town in present-day northern Israel. He co-founded Fatah - the main political grouping within the PLO - with Yasser Arafat in the late 1950s.

He established contacts with left-wing Israelis in the 1970s and was the main Palestinian architect of the 1993 Oslo accords, which led to the foundation of the Palestinian Authority.

His brief stint as premier was plagued by power struggles with Mr Arafat over the control of the Palestinian security apparatus and over planned reforms. Mr Abbas resigned in September 2003.

The former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in a French hospital on 11 November 2004, aged 75.

ISRAELI MEDIA

Israel's press and broadcasters are many and varied, and account for differences in language, political viewpoint and religious outlook.

The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), set up along the lines of the BBC, operates public radio and TV services and is funded mainly by licence fees on TV sets.

Channel 2 and Israel 10 are the main commercial TV networks. Most Israeli households subscribe to cable or satellite packages. HOT cable and YES satellite TV are the main multichannel providers.

Commercial radio arrived in 1995, but faces competition from unlicensed radio stations, some of which carry ultra-Orthodox programming.

Israel has 13 daily newspapers and at least 90 weeklies. All titles are privately-owned; many are available on the internet.

In the view of watchdog Reporters Without Borders, "the Israeli authorities are capable of both best and worst practice when it comes to respect for press freedom. Despite military censorship, its press still enjoys latitude that is unequalled in the region."

Israel has a large IT industry and one of the world's most technologically-literate populations. Around 5.3 million people - around 71% of the population - had internet access by May 2008 (InternetWorldStats).

The press

Television

Radio

Israel Broadcasting Authority - operates public radios, including speech-based Reshet Aleph, news-based Reshet Bet, music-based Reshet Gimmel, Arabic-language Reshet Dalet Galei Zahal - Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Radio, broadcasts news and music to mostly-civilian audience; also operates music and traffic news network Galgalatz

PALESTINIAN MEDIA

Television is the key source for news and information in the Palestinian areas.

The Palestinian media environment reflects the struggle between Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

The key broadcasting outlets are the Palestinian Authority's PBC and Hamas's Al-Aqsa Media Network, each of which has its own satellite TV, terrestrial TV and radio station. There are 30 private terrestrial TV channels and at least 35 radio stations. Newspapers include pro-Palestinian Authority titles and a pro-Hamas daily. Pan-Arab satellite TVs, including Qatar's Al-Jazeera, are popular.

The Fatah-Hamas conflict has complicated an already-difficult environment for journalists, making the Palestinian territories among the most dangerous places to work. Attacks on journalists are commonplace. Journalists are subject to intimidation by the Israeli military, though to a lesser degree than by Fatah and Hamas. Self-censorship is widespread. Reporters Without Borders ranked the Palestinian Territories 163 out of 173 countries in its 2008 Press Freedom Index.

In 2008, internet penetration stood at 14.8%. The web has largely been spared the harassment suffered by other media outlets. Tests by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) showed no evidence of technical filtering.

The press

Al-Quds - private, Jerusalem-based, largest-circulation Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam - private, Ramallah-based daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah - Palestinian National Authority daily Filastin - Hamas-affiliated daily

Radio

Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) - controlled by Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, operates Voice of Palestine Al Aqsa radio - Hamas-run station in Gaza

Television

Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) - controlled by Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, operates Palestine TV and Palestine Satellite Channel Al-Aqsa TV - Hamas-run station in Gaza, terrestrial and via satellite Private stations include Al-Quds Educational TV, Al-Mahd TV, Al-Majd TV, Al-Nawras TV, Watan TV

News agencies

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Palestinian leaders end four years ended up (AFP)

CAIRO (AFP)-Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Ray buried hatchet at a Cairo reconciliation ceremony on Wednesday, ending a nearly four-year feud, but has angered Israel.

The Palestinians gathered in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip to celebrate the long-awaited agreement to put an end to rival administrations in the West Bank and Gaza, and restore the shattered unity by deadly battles in June 2007.

But in London, isrælske prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in the first stage of the tour is aimed convincing European leaders that agreement between Abbass secular Fatah faction and the Islamic Hamas as the Jewish State is boycotting as a terrorist organisation will be disastrous for the Middle East peace.

Abbas said the Palestinians had decided to "turn black since division forever," as he joined Ray and leaders of other Palestinian factions in completing the long-awaited agreement pressed on Tuesday.

"We are certain of success as long as we are United ... Reconciliation clears the way not only to put the Palestinian house in order, but also to a fair peace, "he added.

The Palestinian President said the isrælske prime minister must now "choose between (building) settlements and peace," and accused Israel of opposing Palestinian reconciliation accord as "a pretext to avoid peace negotiations."

He VAT collection Netanyahu's insistence that his Palestinian Authority must choose between unity with Hamas, which does not recognise Israel and peace with the Jewish State.

Abbas has refused to resume peace talks with Israel until it restores a moratorium on all settlement construction in the occupied territory, which the Palestinians want for their promised State.

Reconciliation agreement contains provisions on the formation of an interim Government of Nations to lay the foundations for the presidential elections and parliamentary elections within a year.

Negotiations on the new Government line-up was due to start immediately after the Wednesday ceremony.

The surprise deal, which was announced last week, comes after 18 months of fruitless negotiations.

In Gaza City gathered around 300 people waving Palestinian flags in a festive atmosphere to celebrate the deal, dancing and hiring from four crackers.

"The Palestinians want to end the Division," said a banner held aloft the crowd.

Many participants waved green Hamas flags, and have also raised the flag yellow Fatah movement which has been banned in Gaza since the Islamists ousted Abbas loyalists from the area four years ago.

"This is the day we have all been waiting for," shouted an announcer to klakører crowd.

Support rallies were also planned in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where Abbas has his headquarters.

But Israel reacted angrily, threatening to withhold the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues until it could be sure that no money would go to Hamas.

Next his London talks, Netanyahu told Britain's former premier Tony Blair, now the Middle East peace envoy for the great diplomatic players that Abbas must "completely cancel" reconciliation deal, which he said had a "hard blow to the peace process."

Isræls home front defense minister, Matan Vilnai, told public radio Wednesday, Abbas had "made a mistake in agreeing to this agreement, when Hamas is in a situation of vulnerability, which explains why it made moves towards reconciliation."

The Minister said Abbas should have insisted on a "clear statement from Hamas recognises Israel and condemn the terrorism before the signing."

But the Palestinian President made clear Tuesday that Hamas would not have to amend its charter to recognise Israel under reconciliation deal.

"It is not required by Hamas to recognise Israel. We want to form a Government of technocrats, and we will not ask Hamas to recognise Israel, "he said.

Palestinian officials have said the new Government's role will be to manage Affairs in the Palestinian territories, while the Palestine Liberation Organization, as Hamas is not a member, will remain responsible for peace negotiations with Israel.

Among the first tasks to be solved, is the creation of a higher Security Council with the task to examine ways to integrate Hamas and Fatah rival security forces and create a "professional" security service.

The agreement also calls for the establishment of an Electoral Commission Court and for the release of a number of prisoners held by the rival movements in prisons in the West Bank and in Gaza.

Reconciliation fix marks a diplomatic coup for Egypt's new Government, 11 weeks after President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising.

Cairo had tried for more than a year to mediate between Fatah and Hamas, but the effort fell flat.

 

Palestinian officials put on half pay: Fayyad (AFP)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian territories (AFP)-Palestinian Authority staff will receive only half their salaries this month as donors continue to provide less money than promised, said the Palestinian Prime minister on Sunday.

Salam Fayyad, warned at a press conference in the West Bank town of Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority (PA) deals with a "financial crisis", because the promised donor funds were behind schedule.

"The Government has decided to pay employees half their wages due to the financial crisis that the Palestinian Authority is experiencing due to the failure of donors, including our Arab brothers, to fulfil their promises," he said.

He said employees would receive between 1,400 shekels ($ 413) and 4,500 shekels ($ 1,330) when monthly salaries paid for July, but warned that they would only receive the rest, "If the promised funds arrive."

"If this crisis continues, the Government will have to take further austerity measures," he added.

Fayyad said donors ' failure to provide promised funding had left the PA with a monthly shortfall of $ 30 million, adding that the aid has been received covers only about a third of the Government's costs.

He stressed that the economic situation will become passports increasingly precarious, and efforts to seek private funding ran aground.

"We tried to tackle the financial crisis of loans from banks and we could alleviate this problem somewhat by taking loans, but the deficits, which are accumulating from month to month, has been to the point that is can no longer be treated with bank loans," Fayyad warned.

At the end of may said Fayyad already of PA does not receive aid quickly enough to meet its spending needs and pointed fingers in particular Arab Nations, without naming them.

PA is largely dependent on foreign donors to catch up with its annual budget. It will also receive tax and customs revenues collected by Israel and delivered on a regular basis.

In may Israel temporarily halted payments in response to a lot of unity between the Fatah party, which dominates the PA and the rival Islamic movement Hamas, which runs Gaza.

Move which violated international accords signed by Israel, provoked international criticism and the Jewish State agreed shortly afterwards to resume fund transfers.

 

Netanyahu to lobby the UK, France over Palestinian State (AFP)

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Isræls Benjamin Netanyahu visits the United Kingdom and France this week, he will point to a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal as part of its fight to stave off UN recognition of a Palestinian State.

Hours before arriving in the United Kingdom, Netanyahu urged Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas "totally cancel the" the agreement, which seeks to end years of bad blood between the secular Fatah movement and its Islamist Hamas rivals.

Agreement signed on Tuesday, will see the two fractions work together to build a transitional Government of independent candidates, while the issue of peace talks in the hands of the Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Abbas.

But Netanyahu will tell its French and British colleagues that Israel cannot negotiate with the agreement in place, pointing in particular at Hamass unreservedly the condemnation of the killing of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by US forces on Sunday.

"The agreement between Abu Mazen (Abbas) and Hamas deals a harsh blow for the peace process," said Netanyahu shortly before leaving.

"How can we make peace with the Government, when half of it calls for the destruction of Israel and glorify murderous Osama bin Laden?"

Hamas's reference to bin Laden as "a Holy warrior" on Tuesday triggered a sharp response from London, as well as from the US State Department, which described the Islamists answers as "scandalous."

But in Israel, comments--described by one paper as "inconceivable stupidity" of Hamas--were seen as entirely to play Netanyahu's hands.

"Response of Hamas, who condemned bin Laden? s assassination, Israel forces were only? s position and sends responsibility rolling against Abu Mazen, "a political official told the newspaper, Israel Hayom.

Even as Netanyahu looks set to face a skeptical audience in London and Paris, with President Nicolas Sarkozy gives the clearest indication yet that France recognise an independent Palestinian State if peace talks do not resume soon.

"If the peace process are still died in September, France will live up to its responsibilities on the key issue of recognition of a Palestinian State," he said in an interview with L'Express magazine.

Analysts expect British Prime minister David Cameron, whom Netanyahu meet Wednesday, and Sarkozy, whom he meets on Thursday to listen politely, but reserve the right to immediate assessment.

"There is so much happening in the Middle East truly dramatic Import, the endless dance of isrælerne and the Palestinians are struggling a bit to get the attention it deserves a time perhaps," said Jonathan Spyer, a political analyst at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center.

Netanyahu has said he will outline a new political initiative, when he addresses a joint meeting of the US Congress in may, but so far he has kept his cards close to his chest.

In the meantime, he tries to fend off European support for a Palestinian bid to win UN recognition for a State within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital in a Move expected to take place in September's annual general meeting.

Israel and the United States against such a step to say a Palestinian State can only be achieved through negotiation.

But the United Kingdom and France see things differently, with their UN envoys indicates last month they can back the Palestinian campaign as a way to resume the peace process.

Spyer sees no breakthrough for Netanyahu on this trip, but he believes that this drawing the attention of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority's new relationship with Hamas--which is blacklisted by the European Union as a terrorist organisation--will carry some weight.

"Israel will have a case to say:" as long as these guys are on board what you expect us to do? " That the matter will be challenged, but the case is makeable, ' he says.

But the Jerusalem Post suggested that many Europeans would see unity deal between the rival Palestinian movements as a sign of weakening its position by Hamas.

"Months votes proclaimed ... Hamas can be brought into the pirates by political tent "diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in the weekend.

"Rather than postponing, like most isrælerne were aware that the Palestinian Authority is on the verge to integrate in its coalition Government an organisation, which calls for Isræls destruction, for many people in Europe want to see this move as an indication, Hamas has been pragmatic and more ' moderate ' as a result of the apparent loss of his patron in Syria."

 

Palestinian Unity Pact is a blow to peace: Israel PM (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – isrælske prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday condemned a new device Pact between Hamas and Fatah Palestinian factions.

"What happened today in Cairo is a huge blow to the peace and a great victory for terrorism," he told journalists during a visit to London.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft: editing by Stefano Ambrogi)

 

Palestinian leaders in Cairo too much face hitch (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) – the Palestinian President who heads Fatah and the leader of the Islamic group Hamas was in Cairo on Wednesday to endorse a deal to end four years of Division, but last-minute hitch cast doubt on the durability of the agreement.

The Egyptian-brokered deal, denounced by Israel, calls for forming an interim Government to run the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip and prepare for a general election within a year.

The Palestinians see this vote as crucial for their drive to establish an independent State in the areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

But the ceremony was delayed by a disagreement over the protocol shortly before it began over whether Hamas leader Khaled Ray should sit on the podium with President Mahmoud Abbas or down among other Palestinian delegates in the Hall.

"There is a dispute in the Protocol of seating of the leaders," said a Palestinian source, who declined to be named.

"The difference is on how Ray would sit, whether he should be on the scene or among the leaders of the factions."

Officials from all the Palestinian factions had previously signed it to Ray and Abbas were expected to join the ceremony. It was not immediately clear why they would not put their own signatures.

"The signing is done, all signed. Today is the coronation of this result, ' said senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath, speaking shortly before the ceremony.

ISRAEL ANGRY, WASHINGTON COOL

A spokesman for Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said the deal was signed on behalf of Fatah of Azzam al-Ahmad and of Hamas by Mousa Abu Marzouk. Palestinian officials said on Wednesday the ceremony was a "feast".

Isrælske prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the deal and stopped transfers Palestinian tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, said Fatah must choose between Israel and the Islamic Group, which he says is an enemy of peace.

United States has reacted coolly reconciliation agreement. State Department spokesman said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke Monday with Netanyahu and Palestinian Prime minister Salam Fayyad on trade.

Mark Toner told a news briefing in Washington, as the United States would look at the formation of a new Palestinian Government before step on future assistance.

"If a new Palestinian Government is announced, we will assess, based on its composition," Toner said. "Hamas needs to comply with the principles of the Quartet to play a role in the political process".

Egypt has set up a Committee to monitor the implementation of the agreement, which calls for the creation of an intermediate unit Government for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip instead of the administrations led by Fatah and Hamas, which currently running each area.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ali Sawaftah in Ramallah; Writing by Sami Aboudi and Edmund Blair; Editing of Crispian Balmer)

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Court win for Palestinian plotter

on 1 April 2011, last updated at 07 : 13 ET al-Hindawi timer on the bomb planted in his pregnant girlfriend hand luggage (a) a man imprisoned in 45 years for plotting to carry out verification visits at the Israeli Airliner Invaders by UK has won the Government's refusal to Allow her against an early version.

Nezar Hindawi Jordanian was jailed in 1986 for his fiancee bomb in hand luggage London Heathrow flight to Tel Aviv after planting.

Parole Board is the recommended version but the successive Governments have rejected the advice.

The High Court, means al-Hindawi shall be released immediately.

A new hearing will be held to decide whether the Supreme Court should now make a final decision in, or whether the legal Secretary, should be obliged to reconsider its decision.

Al-Hindawi's 45-year sentence imposed by the judgment of the Court of Justice of England, is believed to be the longest special jail term.

Hand Luggage

Friday's hearing, two senior judges quashed law Secretary Ken Clarke and his predecessor, Jack Straw, who refused to accept the advice of the Parole Board decisions.

The judges ruled that al-Hindawi, 56, was "in the investigation procedure and unfair" decision making.

Continue to be added to the main story

, The Secretary of state was therefore not put in the position where he could properly take the decision "

Al-offer the Lord Justice Thomas Hindawi was sentenced to the old Bailey for attempting to El Al plane carrying 375 people Invaders.

He planted the bomb timer for his pregnant Irish fiancee n unconsciously his hand luggage, but the plot was discovered, and the explosive was foiled.

BBC: Danny Shaw says, in this case, it seems to pave the way for al-Hindawi's version, and the potential expulsion back to Jordan and is still the legal opinions on a case-by-case next week.

He said the Government considered that the Parole of the al-Hindawi was shown the inside of his offending behaviour and remorse for his intended victims, in particular, his girlfriend and her daughter.

He added that the plot has caused a diplomatic row, when it became clear that the al-Hindawi was Syrian intelligence information, which was also provided, trained by the bombing.

Implacably against the

Al-Hindawi became eligible for parole in 2001, after the place of secondment is the third of his sentence and be released no later than 2016 in the condition.

Successive ministers rejected an early version of his applications, a series of legal battles will lead.

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, even if refused, in 2003, to present its case to refer to the Parole Board.

Then, in November 2009, the former Justice Secretary, Jack Straw did not accept that the released of al-Hindawi, on the recommendation of the Parole Board, his successor Ken Clarke confirmed the decision.

In 2010, the law was passed, the power to remove Government Ministers in the future, but it is not affected by the decision of the al-Hindawi.

The latest legal battle against Tim Owen QC, will appear on al-Hindawi, told Lord Justice Thomas and Mrs Justice Nicola Davies that the legal Secretary, was "implacably opposed" to the al-Hindawi n Release parole during the process.

Lord Justice Thomas close put before Justice Secretary of State, he can make this decision "to put a balanced case".

"They only use reject, why he should be approved by the Parole Board, and in any event, the decision on the matter," he said.

"In addition, as regards the rejection of the essence, the official, drew up, which was at the front of the Parole Board had, in the case of the monitoring procedure and lost.

"The Secretary of state was therefore not put in the position where he could properly take the decision."

He said this was "contrary to the principles of Justice, that we always applied, however, the most serious cases of crime may be".

 

A Palestinian wrong way to peace

By Nicola Nasser

When allowed to turn freely, the metaphorical Palestinian compass points in one direction--struggle, Palestinian. But for the most part a person disturbs this compass rigging it to other directions, as in the context of the ongoing lack of the peace process.

Now, how much of the Arab world up in arms against its autocratic rulers Palestinian compass is given another nudge, also in the wrong direction. The Palestinian public organization type, and even Palestine Liberation organisation (PLO) officials tell us, the only way forward is through negotiations more. "The peace process", we want to know, is the only one worth saving from the current sea of Arab dissatisfaction.

It is all reverse in soil of dissatisfaction. A day of dignity has been called probably restore unity in the Palestinian ranks. This will probably lead to further fragmentation. Allow me to elaborate.

Dignity day, held on 11 February, it was not meant to end the occupation, but to lift Gaza's spirit of civilian defiance. "Say no to the division and occupation and in favour of the Government of national unity" is the slogan a second group of organizers have chosen for planned protests on 15 March. The day the PLO plans to call for new presidential elections, legislative and local elections in the hope of regaining enough credibility to pursue its preferred goal to negotiate peace. Organizers tell us that they want a Palestinian State by next September. How many times have we heard this before?

WAFA News Agency, the PLO-Run try to give the impression that this is the only way to the nation. We are either will negotiate peace, or we protest and then negotiate for peace. If there is a point to this argument, I don't see it.

All remember why the current split in Palestinian rows happened? It all began when PLO officials, the endemic trønde in peace, refused to respect the outcome of democratic elections held in 2006. So much of the current dilemma is caused by the PLO simple inability to reconcile peace with democracy.

So far, we have had a peace process, was not so much about ending the conflict, as it was about managing it.
Kind of debates we have had as Rashid Khalidi, the prominent Columbia University professor said was never on self-determination or whether the occupation ends, but to allow Israel to impose its point of view with us blessing every step of the way. This has been the case since the Madrid Conference in 1991. Only practical application of the peace process was to give Israel time to build more settlements, with U.S. approval. The U.S. veto should only a few days ago, on 18 February, put to rest doubts hanging in this respect.

But US officials still leads "quiet" talks with both sides, as Dennis Ross told 2011 J Street Conference. Abbas believes this is the only way forward, but some isrælere is not so sure.

URI Avnery, a long time peace activist and founder of peace movement Gush Shalom (peace bloc), said that the Palestinians have other options. "What will happen if hundreds of thousands of Palestinians started walking to the separation wall and dragged it? What would happen if a quarter of a million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to gather about our northern borders? What will happen if protesters gathered in numbers on the Al-Manara Square in Ramallah and Al-Baladiya Square in Nablus challenge the occupation? "He asked.

Isrælske peace activist does not say that this can happen today or tomorrow. But the assessment of the way it goes, it cannot be ruled out. Perhaps this is why Obama Senior Middle East Adviser, Dennis Ross admitted that the current situation was "untenable".

And yet the PLO negotiators is to help prolong the situation isrælerne, which gives the false impression that something will happen when everyone else know that things will remain the same. The PLO appears to be holding for the day when the United States or the EUROPEAN UNION made their foot and disseminate a just peace. It will not happen.

In the meantime the PLO continues to suppress they could turn things only two forces: national resistance and a citizen-led Uprising. The PLO is blocking any chance of forward movement, at the same time, give all the impression that it is doing something for people. All it does is to help isrælerne perpetuate a basic untenable situation.

The newspaper Haaretz reported on 2 March, Prime minister Binyamin region Netanyahu worked on a plan for the creation of a Palestinian State with provisional borders as part of interim peace arrangements. We have heard it all before.

Netanyahu plan is nothing new. It is a reproduction of the earlier plans, all with the aim to give the Palestinians a reduced version of the West Bank. Former defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, who is now President of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, came up with a similar idea, which would have given the Palestinians back about half of the West Bank.

An earlier version of Netanyahu strategy was tried of labour when Ehud Barak was Prime minister. Barak, not complete a promised three-phase withdrawal from the West Bank, pulled the PLO negotiators to a Summit at Camp David in 2000, and then ensured that the Summit would lead to something.

Kadima tried the same, when Ariel Sharon was Prime minister. Arafat snubbed him and was subjected to a cruel siege, which ended in his death. Grab the Netanyahu was Abbas, can he get a similar fate. But Abbas does not seem too eager to take a position.
Arafat stood firm, even when he ran out of options. He told his people the truth. He told them that he cannot give up their rights, froze PLOS participation in negotiations and told the Palestinians that they would have to live and die for their rights. "Millions of martyrs will go to Jerusalem," was his famous last words.

You cannot have a national unity Government, without the need to have credibility. The most Abbas and Prime minister Fayyad has so far suggested is a Government of technocrats. How can the technocrats resolve an issue that is so politically Central? Reconciliation is a political quest and the concessions, it requires no "technocratic" in nature.

The PLO does not partner with Hamas before reconciliation is achieved, told the Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Moheisen Golf news on 28 February. This makes good sense, but reconciliation comes at a price. And so far I do not believe that the PLO is willing to pay that price. The way I see it, the PLO worries more for the peace negotiations than for national unity.

You can not negotiations without resistance, just as you might have democracy without fighting for it, we have always known it, and we have to prove the Intifada. We cannot be United until we are willing to fight against occupation. And we cannot be democratic, until we have learned how to share. So far, neither the sharing or fighting the PLO, and its quest for peace is doomed.

-Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Birzeit, in the West Bank of the isrælsk-occupied Palestinian territories. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. (This article was translated from Arabic and published by Al-Ahram Weekly 10-16 March 2011.)

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The history of Chile's Palestinian refugee COMMUNITY, past and present

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By Douglas Smith

From the outset, Chile is probably one of the last countries one would consider when trying to understand the effects of the Nakba and the depth of the ongoing Palestinian refugee crisis. Geopolitically, it could not be any farther away from the conflict and the displacement imposed on Palestinian refugees. However, recent events, as well as a long history of the world’s largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East, tell a different story.

In the Spring of 2008, 117 Palestinian refugees arrived in Chile, fleeing the horrors of the US invasion in Iraq, where they lived as refugees, having been expelled by Israeli forces during the 1948 Nakba. After the completion of their two-year resettlement program, the question of Chile’s significance in the Palestinian refugee community worldwide, their struggle for the right to return and for fair treatment before its implementation, is ever more relevant and present.

Al-Tanf Refugee Camp: Endless Displacement

With frequent sandstorms, sub-zero temperatures by night, scorching heat by day, constant threat from scorpions and nearby freight traffic, it was no surprise that Al-Tanf refugee camp made it to the “top five worst situated refugee camps in the world,” according to Refugees International. (1) However, it was not poor planning that lead to the conditions of this camp, but rather the ongoing policies of foreign intervention in the Middle East and the refusal to allow certain refugees, displaced as a result of this violence, the freedom to cross international borders to get to safety. Many of these refugees are stateless Palestinians who were expelled from their homes in 1948 by Zionist militias. Around 5,000 of them from Haifa and its surrounding villages fled to Baghdad and now find themselves once again having to start a new life, in new countries, even farther from the place they identify as home.

After the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, sectarian violence soared in the instability of the newly installed Iraqi government. In this climate, Palestinian refugees in Iraq became targets of sectarian violence as they were, often erroneously, considered sympathizers of Saddam Hussein. They soon found themselves in a situation, like many other communities in Iraq at that time, in which their neighbourhood was being shelled, their family members and friends kidnapped, tortured and killed. Much of the torture was carried out by government authorities.
Under Hussein’s regime, Palestinians living in Iraq were often used as political capital in the Iraqi regime's discourse on wider Middle East politics, as well as internal unrest. Essentially, soon after Hussein came to power, he voiced public support for Palestinian resistance and granted Palestinians living in Iraq nearly the same rights as Iraqi citizens. But their acceptance into Iraqi society only fueled resentment, especially amongst the Shi’a majority who, like many other marginalized ethnic and religious groups, were often the target of brutal government repression.
However, in spite of the support and recognition that Palestinians had received, the travel documents issued to Palestinians by the Hussein regime during that period were never recognized by any other state, including the new Iraqi government. So, when they tried to flee to neighboring countries, along with so many other Iraqis, they were turned down at both the Jordanian and Syrian borders. And thus refugee camps such as Al Tanf, where the 117 Palestinians now resettled in Chile were living, were spontaneously established by the refugees in the “no man’s land” between Iraq and Syria, in which over 1300 of the refugees ended up languishing for years until its closure in February 2010.
In essence, although the community was mostly comprised of refugees from the 1948 Nakba, due to its establishment, smaller numbers of Palestinians fleeing the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, and the 1991 expulsion of Palestinians from Kuwait, meaning that some families had experienced forced displacement for the third or fourth time in less than 60 years.

Local and International Solidarity

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which maintained the isolated camp by trucking in all its supplies of water and food, set out to try to find host countries for the Palestinian refugees ex-Iraq in Al Tanf. It was at that point that Palestine solidarity activist and documentary filmmaker, Adam Shapiro, got involved and started to communicate with people in potential host countries to help facilitate their resettlement. One of those countries was Chile, where there was more support than initially expected.

In Chile, a country which had suffered waves of displacement, after thousands of its citizens were exiled during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, which took power in a western-backed military coup in 1973, the UNHCR found genuine sympathy and understanding among the then recently elected socialist government of President Michel Bachelet. “A lot of people in the Bachelet government [including the President] had also experienced exile and torture under the Pinochet regime,” said Shapiro, having spoken to people in the Chilean government. (2) One prominent example was leftist Senator, Alejandro Navarro, who had a track record of fighting for systematically oppressed people, such as the indigenous Mapuches in Chile.

Finally, after months of organizational meetings, 117 Palestinians from the Tanf refugee camp landed in Santiago, Chile - the first half in April and the second in May 2008 -  to a series of  huge, welcoming celebrations all throughout the center of the country, marking Chile’s very first state sponsored resettlement program.

In an interview with Yasna Mussa, journalist with the Federaci?n Palestina de Chile (Palestinian Federation of Chile), when asked what Chile’s recent resettlement program meant to her, she said that, on the one hand, the Palestinian community appreciates the government’s solidarity, but also explained that, “it’s not enough; it’s not enough when they continue signing trade and even security accords with the state of Israel, while Chilean citizens (of Palestinian origin) are being mistreated at the border and not being allowed to enter into Palestine, solely because of their Arab background. This is racism.” (3)

Long History of the Chilean Palestinian Community

Palestinians first started to immigrate to Chile in the late 1800s. Many of the first migrants were motivated by economic interests that ranged from business interests for some, to a way out of poverty for others. Since that time, Palestinians have become an integral part of Chilean society, in which many now hold influential business and political positions.

Although most of the Palestinian community in Chile hails from this era, the fact that an established community already existed in Chile encouraged many Palestinians to seek refuge there. The community can be traced back to Palestinians who fled the forced Ottoman military conscriptions of World War I. Two more waves of immigrants came after the 1948 Nakba and the subsequent 1967 occupation, during which Israel took control of all of mandatory Palestine.

The total number of Palestinians in Chile is from anywhere around 250,000 to 400,000, depending on the source. The vast majority of those within the Palestinian community in Chile are Orthodox Christians who come from Beit Jala, and other towns and villages in the Bethlehem district. Even less is known about the number of Palestinians who came as refugees; it would, however, be safe to say it is in the thousands.

Life as a Refugee in Chile

Walking along the side street Rio de Janeiro in the Barrio Patronato, one is surrounded by Palestinian businesses including a Falafel restaurant, an Arab sweet shop and a café called Café Hamule. It was here that one of the Palestinians from the group that arrived from Iraq, in 2008, named Bassem, was working behind the counter. Many others have also found work in similar establishments, providing ready-made desserts and foods to other community restaurants that wanted to bring them into the fold via would- be familiar trades for some. But, for others, finding a source of livelihood was not so simple. Although nearly everyone in this new addition to the Palestinian community could trace their roots to Haifa and its environs, their professional and educational backgrounds ranged from those who were university professors to others who were barely literate.

The resettlement program that was worked out between the Chilean government and the UNHCR consisted of monthly financial support for living expenses, according to the needs and size of the family and housing and other programs aimed at helping them settle into their new surroundings. Initially, although many of them have since found more permanent accommodations, they were given housing in four different neighborhoods: two in Santiago’s Recoleta and Ñuñoa districts, and two in the smaller cities of La Calera and San Felipe.
However, on the ground, the actual support was carried out by an institution called the Vicar?a de la Solidaridad (Vicariate of Solidarity). This is a community organization, founded by, and linked to, the Catholic Church, that is unique to Chile. It was born out of the tough situation Chileans faced during the dictatorship, in which most other organizations that were able to help with human rights cases were disbanded or worked clandestinely. Since that time, the Vicariate has been instrumental in giving day to day support to refugees in Chile and was consequently chosen to run part of the resettlement program on behalf of the UNHCR.
One of the Vicariate’s interpreters who worked directly with the refugees, Ishaq El-Masou, who is also Palestinian and came to Chile after 1967, spoke at length about the hardships they faced upon arrival. Even the support from the Palestinian community in Chile, who at first came out in great numbers to welcome them and lend a hand, he explained, was as if “a honeymoon had came to an end,” due to how it dwindled shortly thereafter down to a core group of dedicated individuals. He also added that, although the governmental subsidy ended as of 31 May 2010, the Vicariate will continue their assistance in every way possible, especially in severe cases such as one family whose father passed away, leaving behind a wife and four children.

However, perhaps the biggest challenge facing the newly arrived Palestinians, who often do not share the same religion or speak the same language, has more to do with social class than anything else, especially among members of the well-established Palestinian community. Marcelo Devilat Marzouka, from the Uni?n General de Estudiantes Palestinos (General Union of Palestinian Students), recounted the situation of a 15 year old teenager named Ahmad, who began to participate in cultural events, above all with the Dabke troupe, after their arrival in 2008. Although there was definitely a language barrier, (as Marcelo himself was one of the only Arabic speakers) it had more to do with the fact that the commute was too much for Ahmad, because the other Palestinian youth, from third and fourth generation  well-established families, held the Dabke practices in neighbourhoods that were not easily accessible by public transportation, which eventually lead him to stop coming. However, it is people like Ahmad who will likely be decisive in Chile’s role in solidarity in general, as it seems that, in a country where not all Palestinians share the same consciousness of the displacement and exile, the Nakba and its memory in itself has proven to be a form of politicization.

- Douglas Smith is an activist, researcher and graduate student based out of Monterial. (This article was originally published in al-Majdal - http://www.badil.org/al-majdal - the English language quarterly magazine of the Badil Resource Center, Bethlehem, Palestine)

Endnotes:

1. “No Man's Land: Iraqi-Palestinians in Al Tanf Camp” World Bridge Blog. (17 Nov. 2008).

2. Interview with Adam Shapiro, 21 Apr. 2010.

3. Interview with Yasna Mussa, Valparaiso, Chile 23 Feb. 2010.

Update – Where are the Palestinian refugees in/from Iraq?

(December 2010)

At the onset of the U.S.-led war on Iraq in 2003, there were at least 34,000 Palestinian refugees living in Iraq (although the true figure could well be tens of thousands more); their exact number and whereabouts were unknown. In 2003 UNHCR registered 23,000 Palestinian refugees in Iraq, however the process was interrupted for security reasons. Four temporary camps were established in no-mans-land and border areas with Jordan and Syria for Palestinian refugees fleeing persecution but not having access to a country that would provide protection to them (see: “Searching for Solutions for Palestinian Refugees Stuck in and Fleeing Iraq”, al Majdal, issue No.33, Spring 2007).

By the end of 2010, fewer than 15,000 Palestinian refugees have remained in Iraq; 12,000 of them were registered in Baghdad in 2008. Two of the temporary camps have been closed, and a total of 18 countries have accepted Palestinians refugees from Iraq, mostly from the border camps (Al Waleed, Al Tanf and Al Hol) but also a small number from Baghdad.

No records exist about the whereabouts of more than 10,000 additional Palestinian refugees who were living in Iraq prior to the onset of the war in 2003. They are likely to have fled Iraq without assistance and protection provided by any country or UN agency.

- Ruweished camp: closed in October 2007.
- Al Tanf camp: closed in February 2010.
- Al Waleed camp (Iraq): 264 Palestinian refugees (down from 1,367 end of December 2008).
- Al Hol camp (Syria): 441 Palestinian refugees from Iraq. (includes Palestinian refugees from Iraq moved from Al Tanf camp upon its closure)

Palestinian refugees from Iraq Estimated Populations:

- Syria: up to 2,500-3,000 Palestinian refugees from Iraq in the country.
- Jordan: 500 Palestinian refugees from Iraq who have a Jordanian spouse, but the number is probably higher.
- Lebanon: 300-400 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
- Turkey: Probably a few hundred.
- India: 70 Palestinian refugees from Iraq (unclear).

Resettled Palestinian refugees from Iraq since 2007:

USA: 1,125 Palestinian refugees from Iraq (almost all from al Waleed camp).
Canada: 198 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Brazil: 117 Palestinian refugees from Iraq (from Ruweished camp).
Chile: 116 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
New Zealand: 22 Palestinian refugees from Iraq (from Ruweished camp).
Italy: 168 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Norway: 400 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Australia: 63 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Great Britain: 80 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Finland: 34 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Denmark: 46 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
France: 115 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Switzerland: 12 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Belgium: 10 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Sweden: 613 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
Netherlands: 29 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.

(For previous estimates of Palestinian refugees in and fleeing Iraq see “When Solutions are not Solutions: Palestinian Refugees stranded in and fleeing from Iraq”, al Majdal, issue No. 35, Autumn 2007.)

United Kingdom upgrades status of Palestinian diplomats (AP)

LONDON — Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague announced Monday U.K. want to upgrade the status of Palestinian representatives in London, ahead of talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Håg is scheduled to meet with Abbas in London Tuesday and said he would also increase its concern about the lack of progress on resuming negotiations on the peace process in the Middle East.

"It is still more crucial than ever that we press for a just and lasting solution to the isrælsk-Palestinian conflict. We want to see a quick return to negotiations, based on clear parameters, including the 1967 borders, "said Håg.

He told lawmakers that the Palestinian representation would be recognised as full diplomatic, rather to its former status as a delegation.

The change is largely symbolic and representatives do not have diplomatic immunity or other privileges and immunities to those working on behalf of the United Kingdom recognizes as independent Nations.

Members of the Palestinian mission has, however, a simplified visa regime.

"In view of the extent of our support for the Palestinian Authority and our work with them, we want to join the many other countries in upgrading the status of the Palestinian delegation to London for the level of mission" Håg said.

After the peace negotiations with Israel broke last year, the Palestinians have embarked on a campaign to win international recognition for a State in all the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem — Israel captured the territories in the 1967 war. So far 10 countries have met, all of them in Latin America.

In January, the Irish Government announced it would upgrade the Palestinian diplomatic status as an official Embassy. France and Spain have also made similar gestures.

Recognition of Palestinian State will not change the situation on the ground. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but still controls the West Bank, where Palestinians have limited self rule in populated areas. The Palestinians hope widespread recognition would increase pressure on Israel.

Israel rejects the unilateral Palestinian approach, insisting that the only way to peace is through direct negotiations.

The British Foreign Ministry said it planned to inform other Nations, including Israel, of the amendment.

Isræls London Embassy welcomed the Hågs appeal for a quick return to negotiations, but said "convinced" the upgrade will not encourage the Palestinians to return to the table.

"Real upgrade is missing is in the Palestinian willingness to talk peace," said an Embassy spokesman.

In recent weeks have called isrælske leaders and Håg United States do more to restart peace talks.

Peace talks collapsed in September and the Palestinians argue discussions cannot resume text wrapping feature continued isrælsk settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"We want to work with all parties to press for a decisive breakthrough in the year," told the Håg House.

___

Associated Press Writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, the West Bank has contributed to this report.

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Palestinian vote may not be limited to the w. Bank: Abbas (AFP)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian territories (AFP) – Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said Thursday it would be "unacceptable" planned elections will be held only in the West Bank, with Gazans to left out of opinion polls.

"Presidential and parliamentary elections will take place in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip and East he said at a news conference with visiting East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta.

"It would be unacceptable for them to be incurred only in the West Bank and not in Gaza. Without that it would not be possible to keep them, "he said, indicating the rejection of Gaza's Hamas rulers to participate could weaken the entire vote.

"Internal division of powers is the greatest danger, as are we, and our first concern is to restore national unity, which is why we have called the presidential and legislative elections, so that people settle this issue".

Last week announced the Palestinian leadership it would hold presidential and parliamentary elections in September. A local elections are also scheduled to take place on 9. July.

But the Islamic movement Hamas, a sworn enemy of Abbass secular Fatah faction, which dominates the Palestinian Authority has rejected calls to elections.

It says Hamas not to participate without a lot of reconciliation between the two warring parties.

"Abbass statement that there would be no elections without Gaza, despite the fact that several days ago, said the elections would take place in any event to prove that they were in a State of confusion," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the movement.

The issue of reconciliation dialogue needed to be fully examined, he said, but the choice "would be the result of any solution and not the cause of a."

Rivalries between Hamas and Fatah dates back to s. The situation deteriorated dramatically after the Islamic movement won the elections in 2006 and a year later, seized control of Gaza after deadly street battles with Fatah.

The Palestinian territories has since been effectively split in two with Abbass rule limited to the West Bank.

Repeated attempts to get the two parties to reconcile their differences have led nowhere, and the Mubarak regime, which played a key role in efforts at reconciliation, is now fast out of the picture.

Palestinian house inside the cage in Jewish settlement (AP)

 al-West Bank – Ghirayib family life in foreign manifestations of Isræls 43-year-old occupation of West Bank: a Palestinian house inside a metal cage inside an isræls settlement.

10 family members, four of them children, can only achieve this House through a 40-yard (m) time connecting them to the Arab village of Beit Ijza longer down a hill. Time passes through a road used by the isrælske Army jeeps and is lined on both sides with a 24-foot-high (8-meter) heavy metal fences.

The same fence rings simple one-story house, to distinguish it from the surrounding settlement houses. Some of these homes are so close that the family can hear shouted insults at a nearby Jewish neighbor.

While all Ghirayibs the situation is unusual, to say the Palestinians it reflects the pressure put on their society of Israel's more than 120 West Bank settlements.

The Palestinian Authority has refused to hold peace talks with Israel, while settlement construction continues. The latest round of negotiations collapsed to the settlement issue in September, only three weeks after the start.

Some 500,000 Isrælies live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem occupied territories claimed Palestinians for a future State.

This week directed the Palestinians their anger against the United States after the vetoed a resolution before the UNITED NATIONS Security Council condemns the settlements as "illegal."

United States said it opposes settlements, but that peace negotiations is the only way to solve such problems. The Council's 14 other members voted for the measure.

"The Americans have chosen to be alone in interfering with the internationally supported Palestinian efforts," said Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Ahead of the vote, Fayyad visited home page with the United Nations High Commissioner for human rights Navi for, who commented: "This is an inhuman life they have".

El Sadat al-Ghirayib, 30, said his father built the House in 1978 of about 27 acres family land, where he planted fruit trees. Isræls army confiscated soon as part of the land, he said.

Settlement of Givon HaHadasha was founded in the early 1980s. Al-Ghirayib said the army confiscated several Earth as settlement spread. Today is the home of some 1,100 Jewish settlers, some of their home not more than two dozen steps from home al-Ghirayib. Only a handful of trees remain.

The army built in 2005, a section of its West Bank separation barrier near the settlement. Israel says the barrier keeps out the invaders. Palestinians say it steals land by cutting deep into the West Bank in some places.

The home was the only one in the village of approximately 700 people in the settlement side of the barrier.

Al-Ghirayib, who works in a local metal shop, said he and his family attempted to stop the construction crews and the army detained them. When they were released, the cage was in place, he said. Security cameras on heavy metal gate at the end on the inner side of time monitor all that come and go.

He said army officers have recently threatened to close the gate, says village children come to cast stones at the settlement.

"They have cameras. If they see kids throw stones, they may shoot them, "said the father, 74-year-old, Sabri. "I had to guard the entrance?"

The isrælske army does not comment on whether the country was confiscated, how the fence was built, or if there are plans to close the gate.

It said in a statement, the Supreme Court shall examine the question of isrælske of the family land, and that the army had "invested" tens of thousands of dollars in order to ensure your family can leave home without coordinating with the army.

Neighbours is very close. A recent afternoon walked Gary Bar Dov, 15, who live in a third-floor apartment with views of the Parliament, while the children inside caught the fence and monitored.

' It is very strange to live in this way, ' he said. "It is strange, but you get used to it".

Palestinian September 2011 Deadline sentenced

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By Nicola Nasser

The international Quartet of the US, EU, UN and Russia on Middle East peace and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) seem set on an agenda that perceives September 2011 as an historical political watershed deadline. Among the partners to the Quartet – sponsored Palestinian – Israeli “peace process,” practically deadlocked since the collapse of the US, Palestinian and Israeli trilateral summit in Camp David in 2000, only the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu seems adamant to set a completely different agenda that renders any endeavor by the Quartet to revive the process a non – starter, thus dooming the September deadline beforehand as another missed opportunity for peace making.

Denying they are containment measures aimed at political survival to avert potential Palestinian simulation in the aftermath of the regime changes in Egypt and Tunisia, the PLO is bracing for what it declares as indeed “the” watershed deadline in September 2011 that would make or break its decision to resume as a partner to the “peace process.” The PLO is reshuffling its negotiations department as well as the cabinet of the self-ruled Palestinian Authority (PA) and has called for presidential, legislative and local elections by next September to empower itself with electoral legitimacy ahead of that deadline, encouraged by what the Quartet perceives as a “really important moment of opportunity,” in the words of the Quartet’s representative the former UK prime minister Tony Blair, which is an “opportunity” created by the Arab popular uprisings that so far have swept to the dustbin of history the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes, both considered for decades major pillars of the Middle East “peace process.”

Blair’s “moment of opportunity” (Sky News on Feb. 14) was voiced also the next day by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who told the London School of Economics that, “Time is a factor, and urgent progress in the Palestinian-Israeli settlement is necessary.” On the same day while on a visit in Israel and the PA, the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, citing the “significant changes in Tunisia and of course in Egypt,” said “there is an opportunity for us to try and engage better and more quickly on resolving the issue” of the peace process. On Feb. 12 the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, citing the “one of the good things that might come from the events in Egypt and Tunisia,” joined the “peace opportunity” choir to urge that “it is vital now to take this (the peace process) forward” because “in a few years time a two – state solution will be much, much more difficult to achieve.” Citing the same “changes,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy told the annual dinner of the Jewish organizations (CRIF) in Paris on Feb. 9 that “it is urgent to revive direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.” Three days earlier, on Feb. 6, even the Israeli President, Shimon Peres, addressing the 11th annual Herzliya security conference and similarly citing the regional “dramatic events of the recent period” which make it “necessary for us to take the Israeli – Palestinian conflict off the regional agenda,” urged Netanyahu that it is a “must” Israel does “this as soon as possible.” It was also noteworthy that the secretary-general of the NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, found it necessary to contradict the official Israeli statements that the recent change in Egypt and Tunisia proves that Arab – Israeli conflict is NOT the source of instability in the Middle East. “The lack of a solution to the Israel - Palestinian conflict continues to undermine the stability of the region,” he told the Herzliya security conference.

Timetable

To “do this,” it seems that all those who see in the collapse of the Hosni Mubarak regime in Egypt a “moment of opportunity” have set a timetable throughout the September deadline. In addition to the PLO’s measures, the UN Secretary General, in a press conference on Feb. 8, reminded that the Quartet will meet at the ministerial level in mid – March and decided at its latest meeting in Munich earlier this month “to step up its search for comprehensive Middle East peace,” adding the Quartet “expects to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials separately in Brussels at the beginning of March.” Meanwhile, Paris will host a new international donor conference in June. Ahead of her meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the week, the EU’s Ashton sounded affirmative on the Palestinian make – it – or – break – it September deadline, thus raising Palestinian expectations to the highest level possible without revealing whatever she might conceal of Israeli forthcoming to vindicate it. “It is a timeframe that everybody has signed up to,” she said, and while admitting it would be “challenging,” she added: “I think we have to try and reach it.” In Munich, the Quartet’s statement on Feb. 5 similarly reiterated its support for “concluding these (Palestinian – Israeli) negotiations by September 2011,” when the PLO negotiators hope to see international recognition of their aspired state come true.

This deadline was initially set by U.S. President Barak Obama when he, on last September 2, re-launched Palestinian – Israeli “direct” talks declaring they should be concluded a year later and, in his speech delivered to the UN General Assembly later that month expressed his hope that, “when we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations — an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel.”

In spite of their bitter “disappointment,” which was expressed on record by Abbas, with U.S. and European repeatedly broken past promises, PLO presidency and negotiators wishfully continue to make believe and insistently opt to being held hostage to renewed similar promises, hoping their “peace partners” would, by a miracle, commit to their words. Building on these “promises,” the PLO mandated its Palestinian Authority’s cabinet of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad with a two – year plan for building the institutions of a “state” that is scheduled to be completed by September.

However, Obama’s re-launched “direct” talks were suspended three weeks later, collapsing on Obama’s helplessness vis – a – vis Israel’s challenge to his on record call for the extension of the suspension of the ongoing expansion of the Israeli illegal colonial settlements on the area designated for a Palestinian state. Accordingly there are no negotiations to be “concluded” by September.

What 'Moment of Opportunity'

Suddenly, the Quartet sees a “moment of opportunity” to re–launch the negotiations and possibly to meet the September deadline. Ironically, the opportunity is found in the demise of the regional pivotal Egyptian pillar of the “peace process,” which could not help the process out while it was still in power. The reader is owed an explanation.

True the post – Mubarak military transitional regime had already pronounced its commitment to the treaties signed by its predecessor “regionally and internationally,” implicitly including the peace treaty with Israel, but committing to this treaty is one thing and committing to the previous active Egyptian role in the “peace process” is another. At least for a year and for the near future thereafter the new regime will be too preoccupied internally to spare time for a role in a process that has proved futile over the past two decades, let alone that the foreign policy of the new emerging regime, especially in the regional arena, is still a guess.

Both Israel and the PLO are obvious losers of the absence of the Egyptian role in the process, and consequently weaker. Obviously, the Quartet perceives a weaker PLO - - which has just lost its Egyptian major Arab backer, and saw its U.S. backer renege on its promises and its European advocates of a two – state solution helplessly following in the footsteps of their U.S. leader - - would be in a position to be more receptive of a Quartet pressure to resume direct negotiations with its Israeli protagonist, which the Quartet failed to influence.

Readers may be reminded that a weaker PLO which lost its Iraqi backer following the Kuwait war in 1991 was unmercifully pressured to accept the historical concession of recognizing Israel on four fifths of its historical homeland, which in turn paved the way for convening the 1991 Madrid Middle East peace conference and later the Oslo accords to which the PLO has been held hostage ever since, wishfully believing that the international community which sponsored both events would ultimately deliver on its promises on a Palestinian state in return.

PLO peace credentials could only be challenged by its own people. 1600 documents revealed recently by Aljazeera satellite TV station and British The Guardian show how far the PLO negotiators have gone in their concessions for peace; Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has resigned in consequence, his department is now being reshuffled and he went on record to say that the leaked documents endangered his life. Never in PLO history its leadership was so isolated and its legitimacy and credibility challenged internally as it is now, thanks to the broken promises of the U.S. – led sponsors of the “peace process.”

Obviously, next September is the moment of truth for the PLO. Then, it has no choice but to deliver on its own promises to its people or face Palestinian waves of the Tsunami of the revolt of Arab masses against the status quo, which would become impossible to sustain even for the shortest period of time unless the PLO is empowered with the long promised and long awaited Palestinian state. The PLO has no interest whatsoever in sustaining the status quo; Israel is the only beneficiary. This unbalanced political equation is a recipe for disaster, not for peace making.

The alternative was predicted by the Arab – Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, Hanin Zoubi, who declared recently that “maybe we can free ourselves of (Israeli) occupation as well,” citing the example of the Egyptian Intifada and noting: “Israel has been relying on the weakness of the Arab people, but now this has been changed.”

Taken by the overwhelming surprise of the Intifada of the Arab masses in Tunisia and Egypt, the world public opinion seems to forget that “Intifada” is an Arab word coined for the first time in a Palestinian context to describe a civil and peaceful revolt and uprising against the Israeli military occupation that brought the PLO officially into the occupied territories and the “peace process.”

The current status quo is ripe for another Intifida that would certainly take the PLO out of both, unless the Quartet takes immediate action to avert such a drastic shift of events, but the Quartet action is no more urgent than in Israel. Squeezed between external and internal pressures, the PLO as a peace partner is at its weakest breaking point and could not afford the slightest additional pressure.

- Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Bir Zeit, West Bank of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

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