Issue no 77

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Issue No : 77 13th January, 2014

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia | 1


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Haniyeh takes core decisions paving the way for national reconciliation

FEATURED STORY

ARTICLE

Events in Yarmouk camp represent a second Nakba, Says Barghouthi

Resistance fighter killed, child wounded in IOF artillery shelling

Hamas, Gaza and a double confrontation

Former Israeli PM “Ariel Sharon” dies after 8 years in a coma

Hamas: Death of Sharon lesson for all tyrants

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CONTENTS

News of Palestine

Haniyeh takes core decisions paving the way for national reconciliation 4

Events in Yarmouk camp represent a second Nakba, Says Barghouthi 5

Resistance fighter killed, child wounded in IOF artillery shelling 6

Israeli plans for new settlement on the outskirts of Ramallah 7

Kerry asks Jordan, Saudi Arabia, to support Palestinian recognition

of “Jewish State” 8

Hamas: Palestinian people will not accept 2nd Oslo accord 9

Peres praises the ‹Egyptian war› against Hamas 9

Report: Nine thousand settlers stormed al-Aqsa Mosque in 2013 10

Miles of Smiles 24 arrives in Gaza 11

Israel Insider

Former Israeli PM “Ariel Sharon” dies after 8 years in a coma 12

Articles & Analyses

Hamas, Gaza and a double confrontation 13

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Palestinian Cultural

Organization Malaysia

News of Palestine

07/01/2014

Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh has tak-en several core decisions re-garding the rival Fatah move-ment, paving the way for Palestinian national reconcil-iation. In a press conference held on Monday, Mr Haniyeh pardoned all Fatah members who fled the Gaza Strip in the wake of the clashes with Hamas in 2007. He excluded «a very few» of them from the pardon, mainly because

their court files were incomplete.The prime minister also decided to allow all Fatah parliamentar-ians to visit Gaza without any re-striction «in order to unite with their families and their people». He said that his government is ready to offer what is needed to facilitate national reconciliation by dealing directly with Fatah, not through mediators. However, Mr Haniyeh reiterated that the reconciliation file is to remain

brokered by the «Egyptian brothers», of whom «we are proud».On a separate issue, Prime Minister Haniyeh waived fees for access to essential govern-ment services to Gazans unable to pay. «This is a considerable contribution to assisting our people who have been living under the Israel siege,» he told reporters.

Source: Alresalah

Haniyeh takes core decisions paving the way for national reconciliation

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Events in Yarmouk camp represent a second Nakba, Says Barghouthi

11/01/2013

Palestinian MP Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary Gener-al of the Palestinian National Initiative movement, said that the events taking place in the Yarmouk refugee camp represent «a second Nakba and cannot be tolerated.»Barghouthi stressed that the suffering of the Palestin-ian refugees in the Yarmouk camp reminds of what they had experienced during the

crime of the Nakba committed by the Israeli gangs in 1948.He called for putting an end to the suffering of the Palestinians in Syria, especially in the Yar-mouk refugee camp, and keep-ing them away from the ravages of war and conflict.The deputy said: «Our people in the Yarmouk refugee camp are exposed to a real tragedy that includes killing, displacement, and siege, which threatens their

lives.»He called upon all parties to assume their responsibilities and save the lives of the people who are dying of hunger and cold, pointing out that more than 150 thousand Palestin-ians have been displaced from the Yarmouk camp while about two thousand others were killed there during the ongoing events.Source: PIC

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Resistance fighter killed, child wounded in IOF artillery shelling

08/01/2014

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired an artillery shell on a group of citizens east of Gaza city on Wednesday morning killing a resistance fighter and critically wounding a 9-year-old child.Palestinian security sources said that the shell exploded near a petrol station east of Gaza city killing Mohammed Al-Ajala, a member of the Quds Brigades the armed wing of Islamic Jihad movement, and seriously wounding the child.They pointed out that intensified flights of Israeli warplanes and reconnaissance planes were noticed over the area at the time of the shelling.Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that IOF soldiers opened fire east of Breij refugee camp, in central Gaza Strip, in line with military exercises.

Source: PIC

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11/01/2014

Director General of Israel Land Fund, Arieh King, is preparing to launch a new settlement project in Kufr Aqab in East Jerusalem, Is-raeli weekly newsletter Or-shalim revealed on Friday.

The planned settlement project is located inside the borders of Jerusalem, but it is situated outside the apartheid wall, on the Pal-estinian side.

King, who is a member in the Municipality of Jeru-salem, is planning to build the new settlement as 40 one-story buildings with a separate garden for each. They are to be built in an area of 22 dunams in Kufr Aqab, which is very close

to the Palestinian city of Ra-mallah.

Orshalim has said that right-wingers bought the land about ten years ago. But activists have accused King of sub-sidising the purchase of this land as the main activity of his Israel Land Fund is help-ing the Jewish community buy property in Jerusalem.

According to the newsletter, King said: «There is a queue of people who want to live in the new neighbourhood.» King pointed out that there are plans to move the apartheid wall in the area to include the new settlement under sover-eignty of the Municipality of Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence

Minister Moshe Ya›alon has said that the current negotiations between Is-rael and the Palestinian Authority aim to create a framework for more talks. They are not, he claimed, intended to reach a perma-nent agreement.

«We are attempting to achieve a framework for a continuation of negotia-tions for a period exceeding the original nine months time-frame in which some thought that we would be able to reach a permanent agreement,» he said. «It is clear that there are big gaps, which are not new, but it is definitely in our interest to continue the talks.»

Source: Agencies

Israeli plans for new settlement on the outskirts of Ramallah

Negotiations do not aim to reach permanent agreement, claims defence minister

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Kerry asks Jordan, Saudi Arabia, to support Palestinian recognition of “Jewish State”

09/01/2014

Kerry was relaying a message from Israel to the Arab leaders, as Tel Aviv insists that the Palestinians recognize the coun-try, built on their homeland in 1948, as a Jewish State, the Arabs48 news website has reported.

The Israeli official did not comment on the response of Jordan and Saudi Arabia to this demand.

According to Israel’s daily, Haaretz, Kerry asked the two kings to help him in achiev-ing an official Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish State, and to assist Pal-estinian President Mahmoud Abbas in this recognition or at least refraining from trying to topple the Israeli demand�.

Talking to Haaretz, the Israeli official said Kerry is hoping to find a positive “atti-tude” towards the issue during his upcom-ing meeting with Arab Foreign Ministers

in Paris.

The official added that Kerry adopted the Israeli demand, and is working on making sure this demand is part of a framework peace agreement, and added that without this recognition, “he will be unable to talk Tel Aviv into mak-ing concessions during talks on establishing a Palestin-ian state.»

U.S. Ambassador to Tel Aviv, Dan Shapiro, told the Is-raeli radio that Kerry is hoping to achieve a framework agreement within a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, said that the main focus of Kerry right now is to extend the time frame of direct talks, and added that Tel Aviv wants a continuation of extended talks.

On his part, Israeli Economy Minister, head of the Jew-ish Home Party Naftali Bennet threatened to withdraw from the coalition government of Benjamin Netanyahu should Israel hold talks with the Palestinians regarding a withdrawal to the 1967 border.

Source: IMEMC

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Hamas: Palestinian people will not

accept 2nd Oslo accord

Peres praises the ‹Egyptian war› against Hamas

09/01/2013

Hossam Badran, the spokesman of Hamas Movement, confirmed that the current round of talks between Israeli and Palestinian authori-ties has no legal basis nor popular support, stressing that the Palestinian people will never accept a second Oslo Accord.

In an exclusive interview with Quds Press on Wednesday, Badran pointed out that the Palestinian negotiating team itself admitted the failure of negotiation option, while the Is-raeli position towards central issues has not changed but rather is getting more extreme in light of the US biased policy.

US Secretary of State John Kerry›s sugges-tions concerning core issues including Jeru-salem and right of return do not live up to the aspirations of Palestinian people who are not committed to any agreement that might result from the ongoing negotiations, he said.

The Hamas› spokesman renewed his movement›s rejection to land and population swap that came in total contradiction to the Palestinian constants especially the right of return, stressing that the Palestinian people will never accept another Oslo Accord.

Source: PIC

06/01/2014

Israeli President Shimon Peres has praised what he describes as «the war» being waged by the Egyptian authorities against the Islamic resistance movement Hamas.

Peres also celebrated, in statements during a meet-ing held on 5 January with foreign ministry repre-sentatives, the incitement campaigns being waged by some of the Egyptian authorities against the Pal-estinian resistance factions, particularly Hamas.

In the same context, Peres noted, «We may be in isolation, but we are not alone», adding that: «the Arabs wanted to uproot Israel during its establish-ment; however, they have become convinced that Israel is not the problem, and they are utterly aware that terrorism is their first enemy.»

Last week, Egypt›s Interior Minister Mohammad Ibra-him claimed that Hamas had provided military training in the Gaza Strip for members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian authorities have now designated a terrorist organisation.

Former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan also praised Egypt›s campaign against Hamas ever since the military coup that deposed the former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi. He remarked that: «We don›t need to destroy Hamas, as Egypt is playing that role already.»

Attending the Majdi Forum in Kfar Saba, Dagan ex-plained: «Israel has no interest in destroying Hamas, and the reason is the important efforts made by Egypt to dwarf Hamas›s power. And I also see a similar ef-fort exerted by the Gulf countries. The State of Israel is not involved in these efforts.». Source: MEMO

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06/01/2014

More than nine thousand Israeli settlers stormed al-Aqsa Mosque dur-ing 2013, a Jerusalemite human rights center re-vealed.

In its annual report, Wadi Hilweh Information Center confirmed that Israeli break-ins into al-Aqsa Mosque have noticeably escalated dur-ing 2013 in light the Israeli government and Knesset›s frequent calls to divide the Mosque between Muslims

and Jews as what happened to the Ibrahimi mosque, in addition to the revelation of plots aimed to establish the alleged Temple inside it.

During 2013, more than 9,050 Israelis stormed al-Aqsa mosque including ministers, MKs and political figures, and 2,342 soldiers, in addition to 1,876 policemen, according to a documented report by the Islamic Endowment Department in Jerusalem.

The report pointed out that September had witnessed the largest number of Israeli intruders, where 1,595 settlers stormed al-Aqsa Mosque during the so-called Yom Kippur festival.

The occupation authorities deported during 2013 more than 350 Jerusalemites from al-Aqsa Mosque for different periods starting from one week and up to six months.

Source: PIC

Report: Nine thousand settlers stormed al-Aqsa Mosque in 2013

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Miles of Smiles 24 arrives in Gaza

08/01/2014

The “Miles Of Smile 24” humanitarian convoy arrived in the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Border Terminal between the besieged Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The Governmental Committee against the Siege on Gaza, said that Palestinian officials, including officials of the Foreign Ministry, welcomed convoy members, and thanked them for their ongoing humanitarian support.

The Committee added that the convoy brought to Gaza urgently needed medical and humanitarian supplies, including medical equipment, especially since the recent snowstorm in Palestine caused damage to medical equipment, and medical centers, in addition to severe damages to property and infrastructure.

It said that only seven members of the convoy were allowed into Gaza as Egypt refused to allow access to the remaining convoy members, and called on Egypt to allow convoys, and urgently needed supplies into the Gaza Strip.

Source: IMEMC

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11/01/2014

Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has died, follow-ing a long illness. The 85-year-old›s son was quoted as saying that he had died, at the height of his power, eight years fol-lowing a stroke which left him in a coma.

Nicknamed «the Bulldozer,» Sharon is remembered by Pal-

estinians and many other Arabs for his involvement in and lead-ership over massacres in sev-eral countries and his role in re-pressing the Palestinian national movement over the course of decades.

Hamas movement said that the death of former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon constituted “a les-

son for all tyrants”.

Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said that the Pal-estinian people were happy at the death of that “criminal” whose hands were smeared with Palestinian blood.

“We are now more confident of victory with the departure of such tyrants”, he added.

Source: Agencies

Israel Insider

Former Israeli PM “Ariel Sharon” dies after 8 years in a coma

Hamas: Death of Sharon lesson for all tyrants

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Articles & Analyses

Hamas, Gaza and a double confrontation

When the Israelis finally com-plete their «Iron Dome» mis-sile defence system they are more likely to consider an-other attack against the people of the Gaza Strip. Once again, the likely pretext will be «mis-siles» launched from Gaza at 1948-occupied Palestine.

Israel says explicitly that Hamas is not interested in a new confrontation at the mo-ment. However, some promi-nent security and military analysts (such as Amos Harel and Alex Fishman) say that the Islamic Resistance Move-ment is using the current calm to prepare for a new assault by the occupation authorities.

It is certain that the military wing of Hamas works day and night to get so prepared; its men have never put down their weapons, nor have they abandoned resistance as an option against Israel›s mili-tary occupation. Nevertheless, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip cannot engage in war with Israel on their own. They are besieged by land, sea and air, and no matter how well equipped they are this is al-

ways going to be an asymmetric conflict; everything at the mo-ment is in favour of the Israeli occupation, including the atti-tude and positions taken by the Palestinian Authority and Arab world. Regional conditions are not conducive to any concerted effort against Israel. The best that Hamas can do is to be pre-pared to defend the people as best it can against Israeli aggres-sion.

The situation is not only depen-dent on what is happening in Egypt but also to other develop-ments in the region, where ev-erything that is happening seems to be in the best interests of the enemy. This is not because the Arab Spring proved to be a con-spiracy as many would like us to

believe, but because anti-rev-olution regimes managed to abort the most important part of the uprising in Egypt, and because Bashar Al-Assad›s regime has been able, in col-laboration with Iran, to make the conflict there a black hole that drains all powers, includ-ing Iran, Hezbollah, the Arab Spring and Turkey, while de-stroying Syria in the process. All of this is so that Iran can preserve its strategic niche in Syria and so that Assad can stay in power, even at the cost of Syrian integrity and its peo-ple.

Hamas is now being targeted by the regime in Egypt at the behest of Cairo›s Gulf State fi-nanciers, at the same time that

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the latter won›t allow Hamas to get them involved in a confron-tation with the Israelis. Such a move would embarrass the Gulf leaders in front of their people, as they have already lost a lot of public support due to their posi-tions towards the coup in Egypt.

The Islamic Resistance Move-ment is now facing a difficult situation on all fronts; while it is losing support everyone is try-ing to be on the good side of the Israelis. This includes those in the «axis of moderation», at the forefront of whom are the coup organisers in Egypt, who need Netanyahu›s help to achieve their objectives. It even affects those in the «axis of resistance», one of whose members has giv-en up its chemical weapons in exchange for staying in power, while another gave up on its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions and preserv-ing the regime in Damascus. These moves will lead eventu-ally to pushes for a new policy regarding the conflict in Pales-tine, with everyone making al-lies against the so-called «ter-rorist» camp.

What›s worse is that Hamas›s position within the framework of the Muslim Brotherhood in particular, and political Islam in general, makes it a target for the counter-revolution in the Arab world, which no longer hides its appetite for uprooting political

Islam from the entire region. It is pushing the coup organisers in Egypt to tighten the siege of Gaza in the hope that this will make the Palestinians rebel against the movement or make life even more difficult and humiliating than it is at present. The escala-tion of this was made clear by the Egyptian regime›s designa-tion of the Muslim Brotherhood as a «terrorist» group and the ongoing insistence that Hamas is responsible for unrest within Egypt. It is a crazy suggestion because it is not in the Palestin-ians› interests to provoke Cairo into tightening the siege; the Hamas leadership continues to show goodwill towards Egypt in the hope that the blockade will ease, but it does no good.

The PA on the other hand looks comfortable about all that is happening and it is contributing to the blockade of Gaza instead of working to ease it. If it didn›t fear a negative public response it would be even more hostile as it hopes to see the Hamas gov-ernment in Gaza collapse. One senior official said a few months ago that he would like to see the Egyptian army take over the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has no other option but to be patient and resilient, in ad-dition to counting on the limited support it receives from here and there. A more important option

is represented in a comprehen-sive intifada in the West Bank and all Palestinian land that can reunite the people on the basis of resistance, and not on the basis of preserving an au-thority that has been designed to serve the occupation.

Only such an uprising can save Hamas and Fatah, but more important than saving those two factions is the need to save the entire Palestinian cause, because everyone is in a fix. While Abbas negotiates secretly with Netanyahu in London it is possible that he will come up with a disastrous agreement similar to what was done in Oslo. All of the possi-bilities look disastrous, wheth-er they are «final status» so-lutions, intermediate deals or simply keeping the status quo with all the confusion inherent therein.

What is left is the huge gap between those who work day and night to prepare for a con-frontation with the enemy, and those who are deep into securi-ty coordination with Israel. No matter what the outcome of the new developments is.

This is a translation by MEMO of the Arabic text published by Ad Dustour newspaper on 31 December, 2013

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Issue no 77

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Transcript of Issue no 77