Israel’s legal adviser halts Gaza power cuts

This entire situation is so sad.  As if it is not enough that the innocent people of Gaza are forced to live in this open-air prison for so long, they have little or no sewage and now the electricity is being cut.  I wrote a story in early 2006 about the failed economy of Gaza – it was hard to believe then that things could get worse.  I always say that and they always do.  There is so much wrong with the situation – and plenty of blame to go around.  What hope is left?  I hope the UN intervenes.

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel’s state prosecutor said Monday that planned punitive cuts in the electricity supply to the Gaza Strip cannot go ahead without taking full account of the possible humanitarian consequences.

Menahem Mazouz said in a statement that “security chiefs must carry out supplementary examinations to take account of the humanitarian obligations before ordering electricity cuts”.

A spokesman for Mazouz’s office, Moshe Cohen, told AFP there was a need to “evaluate the risks that such measures could have on the civilian population”.

Mazouz published his advice following close consultations with officials from the justice, defence and foreign ministries as well as the prime minister’s office and the supreme court.

The supreme court has, meanwhile, given the government until Friday to justify the economic sanctions it is seeking to impose on the Palestinian territory, following legal action taken by 10 human rights groups.

Israel on Sunday began reducing the amount of fuel it supplies to the beleaguered Hamas-run coastal strip, just weeks after it declared the territory a “hostile entity” in response to frequent but rarely lethal rocket attacks.

Amid international criticism of the move as “collective punishment”, it said it intended to impose electricity cuts within the next few days.

Israel rejected international criticism of its decision to cut fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip, after the European Union, the United Nations and Russia condemned the sanctions.

“Israel is continuing to maintain the flow of humanitarian support for the Palestinian people in Gaza – foodstuff, medicine and energy. We do not see the Palestinian people as our enemy,” Mark Regev, a foreign ministry spokesman, told AFP.

“What we are trying to do is find ways to protect our people from these daily attacks of deadly rockets against Israel,” he added. “Our response is proportional and calculated to protect our civilians.”

The decision to cut fuel supplies brought a strong reaction from UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who called the “punitive measures” against the Gaza Strip “unacceptable” and urged the Jewish state to reconsider its actions.

Russia lodged a similar complaint, with the foreign ministry condemning the “isolation” of the Palestinian territory and insisting the measures would do little to combat extremism.

Earlier on Monday a top EU official expressed similar concerns. “I have mentioned these concerns openly in all my discussions,” External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told a news conference following talks with top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem.

“There are indeed real, humanitarian concerns. We do not want the population to suffer,” she said.

1 soldier, 3 Palestinians die in clashes

Three Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in clashes in the Gaza Strip on Monday, Palestinian officials and the Israeli army said.

Israeli forces operating against areas of Gaza used by Palestinians to launch rockets and mortar bombs across the border came under fire in the northern town of Beit Hanoun and near Khan Younis, a built-up refugee camp in the south.

Hamas, Gaza’s ruling Islamist group, said its fighters fired an anti-tank rocket at Israeli troops at Beit Hanoun, killing one.

The army confirmed the death, describing the soldier as a reservist, and said three soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

“We reaffirm that the enemy will never pass through our areas, except over the dead bodies of their soldiers,” Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement.

Israeli tanks and helicopters shelled Beit Hanoun during the clash, killing a gunman and a civilian, Hamas and hospital officials said. At least 12 other Palestinians were wounded.

Hamas said one of its gunmen was killed while fighting Israeli troops in Khan Younis. The Israeli army said its forces there shot two gunmen but had no word on their condition.

Israel quit Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation but has regularly staged commando raids and air strikes against suspected fighter bases and rocket crews.

The soldier killed on Monday was Israel’s third combat fatality in Gaza this year.

In the occupied West Bank, an Israeli soldier was wounded when his patrol was attacked by Palestinian gunmen, the army said.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small leftist group, claimed responsibility for the ambush. Troops detained three Nablus residents.

Palestinian Census First in Decade

Call me a skeptic.  I guess I should be hopeful that a census will be the flame needed to reignite the Middle East peace process – particularly after Condoleeza Rice’s visit last weekend where she told Mahmoud Abbas “It’s time for a Palestinian State.”  Great (huge, sarcastic sigh).  I am currently reading Dennis Ross’s “The Missing Peace.”  It is a detailed account of the build up — and eventual crash and burn — of the Oslo Accords in 1993.  I haven’t gotten very far yet, but judging by the fact that the first chapter is called “The End,” I’m guessing I know how this story ends.

I tend to worry that a census actually exaggerates fault lines within societies.  Consider the situation in Rwanda earlier in the 20^th Century.  Various tribes lived as neighbors harmoniously for several centuries.  When the colonial powers imposed the census, suddenly people were aware of the groups (and their numbers) around them.  They were conscious of their majority/minority status.  Colonial powers teamed up and empowered the minority groups because those were the groups that needed their colonial friends in order to maintain authority.  Majority groups were oppressed.  The rest, if you know anything about the Rwandan genocide, is history.

 Is it a coincidence that the neo-colonial powers are teaming up with Israel?  Israel’s Jewish population stands at approximately 6.5 million.  The UN estimates the number of Palestinians worldwide to be at 10.5 million.  Of course, the majority are refugees living in the Diaspora.  In fact, there are only about 3 million Palestinians living in Israel/Palestinian territories in total (that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem)  But let’s be honest – does it matter how many Palestinians are living in Gaza?  It is the most densely populated area in the WORLD.  Sewage systems are barely functional.  Violence is frequent.  Sonic booms and shellings from the Israeli military are almost an everyday occurrence.  Is a census really going to make that much of a difference?  They are still the minority group and will remain so.    These poor people don’t need a census; they need a miracle. 

By DALIA NAMMARI

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinians are preparing to conduct their first census in a decade, with hopes the results will help them in future peace talks with Israel.

Demographics play a central role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rapid Palestinian growth would bolster Palestinian territorial demands, while Israelis’ fear of being outnumbered in areas they now control might make them more willing to consider a West Bank withdrawal.

Later this week, some 5,000 census-takers will fan out across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, first to count buildings, and, in December, to count people. Results are expected by February.

“We hope we can use these statistics in the negotiations,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, a supporter of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Ramallah-based administration. “It’s not only important for the political process, but also for building the institutions of the state.”

The militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has also said the census results are important and that it will cooperate.

The first Palestinian census, conducted in 1997, counted 2.89 million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. According to estimates by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the figure now stands at 3.9 million.

Some Israeli critics have dismissed the 1997 figures and the current projections as inflated, a charge denied by Palestinian census officials, who say the counts are being conducted under international scrutiny.

Palestinians have one of the highest birth rates in the world, forcing Israel to consider the possibility that Jews, despite ongoing Jewish immigration, will one day be a minority in historic Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.

In December 2006, Israel’s population included 5.4 million Jews, 1.4 million Arabs and 310,000 others, according to Israeli government figures.

Demographic concerns are often cited by those in Israel who want to withdraw from some of the lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War. It also was a key factor in former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s decision to withdraw from Gaza in 2005.

The census will cost $8.6 million, with the Palestinian Authority paying 20 percent. The rest comes from a U.N. agency, Saudi Arabia, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Netherlands and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, census officials said.

Hafedh Chkeir, an official with the U.N. Population Fund, said his agency trusts the work of the Palestinian census agency. He also said the U.N. is trying to bring in some Arab experts based in Jordan, but they have not yet received visas from Israel.

On Saturday, census-takers will start affixing numbers to homes, business and other buildings. In radio and TV ads, Palestinians are being urged to cooperate and not to remove the numbers.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been frozen since a failed summit in 2000, but new momentum has been building. Negotiating teams from both sides are trying to draft a joint statement of principles that is to be presented to a U.S.-hosted peace conference later this fall, possibly the launching pad for new talks.

The first census was conducted at a relatively quiet time, with hopes still running high that the two sides were on their way to a final peace deal. However, since then, years of bloody fighting have reshaped the area.

The Palestinians now have two rival governments, one run by Hamas in Gaza and the other by Western-backed moderates in the West Bank.

During the last census, Israel did not permit a head count in the Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians as a future capital, prompting census-takers to draw estimates for that area using 1995 Israeli figures. Israel said at the time that a Palestinian census there was a challenge to its sovereignty in the city.

It was not clear whether Israel would permit a census in east Jerusalem this year. Israeli officials did not return repeated messages seeking comment on the matter.

Majority of Israeli settlements beyond boundaries, report says

This shouldn’t be of any surprise.  If there is one thing many US politicians agree on, it is that Israel never stayed true to its promise to decrease its settlements in the Palestinian territories (specifically, the West Bank) since it had originally agreed to do so under the Camp David Accords.  Certainly, we can play devil’s advocate and say that they completely withdrew from Gaza which is a sign of progress (though certainly no one in their right mind would call the situation in Gaza today PROGRESS), settlements continue to spring up in the West Bank and Ehud Olmert’s plans of permanent borders are virtually moot since the war with Lebanon/Hezballah last summer.  Incidentally, this was former President Jimmy Carter’s biggest gripe in his book Palestine: Peace or Apartheid. 

Majority of Israeli settlements beyond boundaries, report says

International Herald Tribune

By Steven Erlanger

July 7, 2007

JERUSALEM: Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank use only 12 percent of the land allocated to them, but one-third of the territory they do use lies outside their official jurisdictions, according to a report released Friday by Peace Now, an Israeli group that advocates Palestinian self-determination.

According to the report, based on official data released by the Israeli government following a court order, 90 percent of the settlements sprawl beyond their official boundaries despite the large amount of unused land already allocated to them.

Bush urges patience on Iraq; cites Israel as example of working Mideast democracy

The Associated Press

Published: June 28, 2007

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/28/america/NA-GEN-US-Bush-Mideast.php?page=2

NEWPORT, Rhode Island: President George W. Bush held up Israel as a model for defining success in Iraq, saying Thursday that the goal of the U.S. mission in the war-ravaged Arab nation is not eliminating attacks but enabling a democracy that can function despite continuing violence.

With his Iraq policies under increasing fire from the American public and lawmakers from both parties, Bush went to the U.S. Naval War College here to declare progress. As he pleaded for patience, his top national security aide went to Capitol Hill to meet with Republican critics.

Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, delivered a lengthy floor speech earlier this week contending that Bush’s war strategy will not have time to work and that U.S. troops should start leaving now.

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley met with Lugar and others including Republican Senator John Warner. Hadley would not discuss the meetings, but Warner said a defense policy bill that is expected to attract several war-related amendments in July was a main topic.

The White House thought it had until an expected September assessment by military commanders to deal with political fallout on the unpopular war.

But a majority of senators now believes troops should start coming home in the next few months. House Republicans want to revive the independent Iraq Study Group to get new options.

Bush sought in his speech to put the brakes on these efforts.

He characterized the fight in Iraq, where tensions between Shiite and Sunni factions have kept the country in a cycle of violence, as primarily against al-Qaida forces and their use of grisly suicide attacks and car bombings.

“They understand that sensational images are the best way to overwhelm the quiet progress on the ground,” Bush said.

The president laid out in some of his plainest terms yet how to determine when the U.S. presence in Iraq has achieved its goals. This, Bush said, is “the rise of a government that can protect its people, deliver basic services for all its citizens and function as a democracy even amid violence.”

“Our success in Iraq must not be measured by the enemy’s ability to get a car bombing in the evening news,” he said. “No matter how good the security, terrorists will always be able to explode a bomb on a crowded street.”

He suggested Israel, the frequent target of terrorist attacks and a country in a decades-long, intractable and often violent dispute with Palestinians, as a standard to strive for.

“In places like Israel, terrorists have taken innocent human life for years in suicide attacks,” Bush said. “The difference is that Israel is a functioning democracy and it’s not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that’s a good indicator of success that we’re looking for in Iraq.”

It was likely to be controversial — and possibly even explosive — for Bush to set out Israel as a model for a Muslim Middle Eastern nation.

Aside from Israel’s security problems, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is such a sensitive issue in the Muslim world that it has become a rallying cry for many and major recruiting tool for Islamic extremist groups such as al-Qaida.

The president ordered 21,500 additional U.S. combat troops to Iraq in January. With those troops finally all deployed, Bush ticked through the details of operations in several areas, declaring with the aid of maps and charts on screens that flanked him that progress already is being made in many places.

He said sectarian murders, after spiking in May, are now down substantially from January levels. Car bombings and suicide attacks continue, but declined in May and June. He cited “astonishing signs of normalcy” such as soccer matches and crowded markets.

“Even as our troops are showing some success in cornering and trapping al-Qaida, they face a lot of challenges,” Bush said.

The president asked lawmakers and the public to give more of a chance to his effort to create breathing room for Iraqi leaders to achieve political reconciliation.

“It’s a well-conceived plan by smart military people,” he said. “And we owe them the time, and we own them the support they need to succeed.”

Afterward, Bush took a few questions. A woman asked “with all due respect” how much the president listens to military officers when making decisions about the war. “A lot,” he replied.

Outside, about 150 anti-war protesters held signs saying “Shame,” “Impeach,” and “War is never the answer.” It was Bush’s first presidential visit to Rhode Island, a heavily Democratic state where opinion polls show he is unpopular.

The president spent about two hours later meeting privately with families of soldiers killed in Iraq. He then traveled to his family’s summer home in Maine, where he is spending the weekend and meeting on Sunday and Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Senate, meanwhile, confirmed Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute on Thursday to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the White House.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this story.

Hamas butts heads with local media

Vivian Salama
Middle East Times

 

RAMALLAH –  At least seven Palestinian journalists have reported receiving alleged death threats for their scrutinizing coverage of the Hamas government. According to the Palestinian Journalists’ Union, the threats – received by telephone, e-mail and fax – were said to be signed by Hamas.In the embattled Palestinian territories, leeway for journalists to report has been impeded in the past. A number of reporters were reportedly beaten for reproachful coverage in the past, and in 2004, a journalist who ran a government-funded magazine was killed.Parliamentarians say that further development of the Palestinian owned-and-operated media is a priority as it serves as the mouthpiece for the ruling party and a barometer for the political struggle with Israel.

Under Palestinian law the president remains the highest authority over the public media. Fatah officials are concerned, however, that when President Mahmoud Abbas must go through parliament to pass any legislation related to the media, his minority faction will not be able to get a word in edgewise.“There will probably be a struggle,” admits Palestine’s former deputy prime minister and minister of information Nabil Shaath. “I think Hamas will try to take over the radio and television from the president. Even when the president tries to implement laws, these will be stopped by parliament if Hamas doesn’t like them.”“There is really a great deal of uncertainty thus far,” says Ziad Abu Amr, an independent MP from Gaza. “The media is a tool in the struggle. This is a national struggle and so we mustn’t air just any programming in haste.”The Hamas-run parliament is currently forced to convene in split sessions. Prime Minister Ismail Haniya had to address his Ramallah-based cabinet from Gaza via satellite uplink. Resembling a businessman more than militant leader, Haniya admits that a cut in aid will be detrimental to the prosperity of Palestine, but emphasizes that the new government will not bow to foreign pressure.The victory of Hamas, deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel, instantly threatened Palestine’s flow of financial aid. Nearly $2 billion of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA’s) annual budget comes from overseas sources, the majority from the European Union (EU).In April the US agreed to provide some $245 million in response to the growing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories – the money would be distributed through the United Nations and other non-Palestinian NGOs. Most surprising, however, was an undertaking by the EU to send $143 million in emergency aid to the PA.

A portion of the EU aid package to Palestine goes to funding its state-run media. A far cry from the often militant programming that defined Palestinian media in the days of the Intifada, today’s Palestinian media – made up of some 80 networks – risks being silenced more so by financial loses than by the bullets that continue to be exchanged with the state of Israel.

“From the first days of the intifada in October 2000, Palestinian TV canceled all regular programming,” recalls Itamar Marcus, director of the ringwing Israeli group Palestinian Media Watch. “It was a nonstop war atmosphere with one-two-three clips encouraging young kid to be shaheed [martyrs]. Since the elections, we’ve seen a rise in violent clips – clips with a little more hatred in the messages being broadcast.”

During the second intifada Palestinian media centers in Gaza and the West Bank often served as targets for the Israeli military. In February 2002, for example, Israeli soldiers left retaliatory explosives in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Broadcasting Company (PBC) headquarters following a deadly massacre on Jewish guests at a Bat Mitzvah in Hadera. Several floors of the building were destroyed and the PBC was blown off the air.

One week after the attack, PBC’s deputy coordinator Maher Al Rayyes was the first to broadcast a message during experimental transmissions.

“Sons of Arafat know very well how to start from nothing; no one will mute the Palestinian voice,” he said.

Palestinians would go a step further, substituting regular programming with public service announcements promoting the glories of martyrdom. Commercials called out to children to, in one instance, “drop your toys; pick up rocks”. Such messages would peter out by the end of 2004, though critics believe that they have the potential to resurrect with the succession of the Hamas-run government.

“By the time of the elections, Palestinian television was showing more variety – children’s programs, sports,” says Marcus. “Now so-called education programs dealing with ‘historical’ [issues] are bringing academics talking about why Israel has no right to the land, about the delegitimization of Israel.”

“We want to establish a framework that television is not just entertainment, but to educate the people,” says Ghazi Hamed, editor-in-chief for Hamas’s Al Resala (the Message) newspaper and spokesman for the Islamic resistance movement.

“It’s a cultural weapon. It talks of our morals, of our national struggle against Israel.”

Meanwhile, just as the PA under Fatah was plagued by corruption, rumors of wrong-doing behind the scenes of the state-run media have long cast a shadow of doubt over its integrity.With the chairs in parliament still warm from the former government, Hamas is already butting heads with the local media. This week, a number of Palestinian journalists complained of alleged death threats for reporting critical evaluations of the new government since it assumed power in March.Previously known more for its militant calls for the destruction of Israel, Hamas must urgently seek a balance between its hardliner political agenda and its social responsibility to the people of Palestine. Officials with the new government believe that it is by well-equipping Palestine’s media arsenal that it will gain an advantage in their struggle to create a nation.

“It is not to our advantage to broadcast messages against Israel or America,” notes Youssef Rezqa, Palestine’s new minister of information under Hamas. “We want to correct the international image of Hamas through the media. There is so much about Hamas that has been forgotten because of this political panic.”

Hamas TV: Palestinian Media in Transition

From the TBS Academic Journal 

By Vivian Salama

EXCERPT: In late January 2006, the Fatah-controlled Palestinian government announced the closure of Hamas’ new Al Aqsa television network. The station’s demise after only a few weeks on air came as no surprise to those familiar with the tug-of-war that is Palestinian politics. Named in honor of the famous Jerusalem mosque of the same name, Al Aqsa TV had sought to reflect a softer, more civilly responsible side of Hamas, the militant Islamist group that is considered a terrorist organization by the US and Israel. In the months leading up to its January 9 launch, Al Aqsa TV already had sparked considerable controversy, and the Fatah-led government’s move to silence Al Aqsa after less than three weeks on the air ignited a firestorm of anger among Islamists in the West Bank and Gaza. Rael Abu Deir, head of the controversial network, admitted the station did not have a license but complained that he had not been notified of the decision prior to the announcement. “We have been trying for a year (to receive a license),” he told Al Jazeera. “But the information minister told us he was not yet taking applications.” With just three days left before the Palestinian territories’ first parliamentary election in a decade, it seemed that Hamas and the future of Al Aqsa were at the mercy of the ruling Fatah party.

Investors hesitate to put money into Gaza Strip

Vivian Salama
Middle East Times
February 2, 2006

 RAMALLAH, West Bank –  In the shanty villages of the West Bank and Gaza, since    

 well before talk of elections or Hamas were making headlines, Palestinians have been faced with a crisis more threatening than war or fundamentalism. “I worry every day about how I am going to feed my four children,” says Ragad Al Shawey, a taxi driver in Ramallah. “It is so difficult to find a job – I am lucky, but some people here stay months and years without working. This is why Hamas won, I think, because they will give people some new opportunities.”

While community services provided by a number of domestic groups, Hamas included, are welcomed by the poorest of Palestinians, they do not meet the demand for daily basic needs, especially in Gaza.

The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with an estimated 25,400 persons per kilometer, according to the Israeli ministry of planning, and so the pressure is on to rebuild both the infrastructure and the lives of its residents.

“Gaza has its own unique environment, circumstances and players,” explains Khaled Dozdar, head of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information in Jerusalem. “Violence will be concentrated in Gaza, because there, everyone is armed now. That said, entrance into Gaza, politically or economically, is equally a challenge.”

Experts agree that foreign direct investment in the Gaza Strip is crucial for ensuring the revitalization of the territory. According to Palestine’s former minister of economy, Mazen Sonnoqrot, $1.5 billion to $2 billion is needed annually for the first three years following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza last August.

Sonnoqrot added that the Palestinian Authority (PA) was willing to give complete ownership rights to foreign firms looking to invest, emphasizing its commitment to eliminate any red tape that might interfere in the process.

“Certainly, there are advantages of investing in Gaza,” explains Ashraf Gamal, a senior advisor to Egypt’s minister of investment. “Being the first into a virgin market, improving relations between the two peoples.”

While eager to assist in the economic rebuilding of Gaza, Egyptian officials are trepid to encourage their nationals to put money in the war-torn territory, given the skyrocketing costs.

In Washington last November, just ahead of the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund conference, Egyptian minister of finance Youssef Boutros-Ghali said that Egypt faced a continuous challenge convincing investors to set their sights on Gaza.

“The costs are higher than in India,” Ghali said. “Anyone who wants to invest there faces this problem. We have difficulties to convince investors because the costs of business are too high and the market is too small.”

“I do not think that Egyptians will start to invest in Gaza seriously now,” says Gamal. “First, the Egyptian market now is very lucrative and promising. The lack of stability, both political and militarily in Gaza is another reason. Capital usually flies away from such high risks. So, despite the high emotions by many Egyptians, this will not be enough to invest a lot of money, maybe small investments either for trial purposes or for emotional reasons.”

Further, economists stress that progress – or lack thereof – in redeveloping some of the major passages for goods, services and people in Gaza is not encouraging to investors who will desire a safe and efficient portal in and out of the territory.

Prior to the withdrawal, this had been a major point of contention for Palestinian authorities who constantly condemned what they considered suppressive security from the Israelis preventing both laborers and goods from flowing freely between Egypt and Gaza, particularly following the closure of Ashdod Harbor and Yasser Arafat International Airport.

Now, Israel says that it is willing to invest millions of dollars to reinforce border stability and promote easy accessibility for developing industries on both sides.

However, with last week’s resignation of Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei and his administration, the lives of Gazans struggling to make ends-meet and rebuild their tiny territory will ultimately be put on hold for the time being.

“We are trying to find a solution for everyone, but most important are the Palestinians,” says an Egyptian delegate in Ramallah who requested anonymity. “As much as Egyptians can benefit from investing in Gaza, I don’t think we can even discuss this seriously until there is a safe passage in and out of Gaza, a free passage to the West Bank and the marina and airport is fully functional.”

“People in Gaza have to have something that they want to keep – that they will be afraid to lose,” adds Mohammed Assem Ibrahim, Egypt’s ambassador to Israel. “But they don’t want it to be destroyed again. In this regard, I will venture to say Israel has interests to do the same, not necessarily to invest directly, but to facilitate and encourage the international community to come and to take part.”

Islam is the Solution

Hamas gains ground in historic Palestinian vote

By Vivian Salama

Daily Star Egypt

January 26, 2006

EAST JERUSALEM:  Across from the Damascus Wall on Salah El Din Street in East Jerusalem – the city’s Arab section – journalists and television cameras surround a young man as he professes in broken English his desire for peace, and greater opportunity for the Palestinians. 

            “I hope one day we live together – peace, no killing,” said Atef Badran, 22, outside the main polling station in East Jerusalem. 

            After getting their soundbite, the cameras leave.  Realizing that I speak Arabic, Badran looks around as though to ensure that they’d all gone away.  Then he continues.

            “The only answer for peace, for change for the Palestinians, is for Hamas to take control,” he says, almost whispering.  “They are not criminals.  They are not warriors.  We’ve seen what Fatah can and cannot do.  Hamas is the best representation of the Palestinians and the only ones who can make a difference in the lives of those who need in the most.”     

            Early opinion polls leading up to yesterday’s historic election – the first in which Hamas participates – indicated that the militant Islamic group might walk away with as much as 40 percent of the newly-expanded 132-seat legislature, on the tail of the ruling Fatah party, under Abbas.  Concerns are high among Israelis, as well as neighboring countries with moderate, secular governments – such as Egypt and Jordan – that an Islamic stronghold in the Palestinian parliament might further aggravate decades of tension. 

            Voting in East Jerusalem has been a point of contention between Palestinian and Israeli authorities as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to postpone elections should the city’s 3 million Palestinians be barred from voting.  Last week, Israel’s cabinet, under acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, voted unanimously to allow voting in East Jerusalem, though Hamas was banned from campaigning there. 

“Don’t think that just because they prohibited Hamas from campaigning here that they have no representation – on the contrary, the Arabs of Jerusalem support Hamas,” added Badran.  “People around the Arab world are realizing the benefits of having Islamists in control.”   

            Indeed, the campaign slogan “Islam is the Solution” has gained ground outside of the Palestinian territories as well.  Just over a month ago, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood saw unprecedented gains in parliamentary elections, winning 88 of Egypt’s 144-elected seats.  Running under the slogan “Islam is the solution,” independent candidates supported by a reformed Muslim Brotherhood, relied less on touting Islamic ideologies of shar’ia law, and more on the basic principles of government and humanity. 

            “The major concern now is that the gains of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the first time participation by Hamas might enhance other Islamic movements,” explains Khaled Dozdar, head of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information in Jerusalem.  “The whole region is experiencing this.  They are bringing dogmatism to the region via another form of tyranny – dogma, not just to the peace process, but to the socio-economic level.  The only side to blame for this is the authorities because this is the complete result of years of neglect and misuse of power.”

            “For me, it isn’t about voting for Hamas, it’s about a change of power,” says Adel Adwayat, a native of Jerusalem.  “I think that just like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas will grow in strength because they are working a real political campaign, not a campaign of fear as they have done in the past.”

            During the first intifadad, Hamas was founded in the Gaza Strip in 1987 as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.  The group’s military wing dedicated itself to the destruction of the State of Israel.  When the group rejected the Oslo Accords, however, it opened the door for Fatah to engage in dialogue with the West.  It is the rejection of the Oslo Accords and firm stance against Israel that some experts believed actually boosted Hamas’s support in the region.

            “The people are comforted knowing that Hamas is political active,” says Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Essam Al-Arian.  “We support all the Palestinian people.  This is not an ordinary election because it will decide the fate of this conflict.  Everyone will see that the Palestinians support the Resistance Group, not the corrupted one.  The people are comforted knowing that Hamas is politically active.” 

            Despite their reputation for militant activity, Hamas is active on the community level, running preschools, youth clubs, and health clinics.  It has regularly provided financial assistance to the needy people of Palestine.  Despite their civic contributions, however, Egyptian officials have adamantly supported the ruling Fatah party as some fear Hamas might benefit from the vulnerability of the Gaza Strip following the withdrawal of the Israeli military last August. 

“Total chaos will equally affect the two neighboring countries – Egypt and Jordan, as well as Israel,” says Dozdar.

“Hamas was not born yesterday – Israel is showing they are afraid for nothing,” insists Mohammed Asem Ibrahim, Egypt’s Ambassador to Israel.  “At the same time, if Hamas does interfere in the process taking place these coming days, then of course, Israel has a point to say that there are no partners for peace here.  And it is the responsibility of Egypt and Jordan, given their peace treaties with Israel, that they play a role in this process.”

More than 35 delegates have been sent from Egypt to monitor the electoral process in the West Bank and Gaza.  Last year, some 500 international monitors traveled to the Palestinian territories to monitor the first presidential elections since the death of longtime leader, Yasser Arafat.  Egyptians hold a stake in overseeing the withdrawal and rebuilding of the Gaza Strip, as lax security and governing could expose the Sinai to exported fundamentalism.  Still, with poverty and lagging revitalization in Gaza, many believe it will boost Hamas’s reputation among Palestinians as the people’s party.          

“Remember, the enemy of our enemy is our friend,” notes Al-Arian.  “I think Israel’s restriction against Hamas will only add to their power and popularity.”

      

           

Egyptians seek to boost military presence in Rafah

By Vivian Salama

Daily Star Egypt Staff

 

CAIRO:  Egyptian officials are reportedly seeking to send more troops to the Sinai.  Talks come following a security breech at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing last month when Palestinians bulldozed through the security wall, killing two Egyptian border police. 

  

Under the Gaza disengagement agreement signed last August, it was agreed that Egypt would send 750 troops to Rafah, thereby permitting Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to withdraw from the Philadelphi Route.  The recent chaos that ensued along the border crossing, Egypt has taken a stand on the matter, saying 750 troops is insufficient to properly secure the 14 kilometer crossing, and is now looking to expand the patrolling ground from Karem Shalom to Taba.

            Under the Camp David Accord, Sinai is divided into three zones – A, B and C.  Each zone has its own restriction on Egyptian military presence.  Prior to the disengagement agreement, only border police were allowed in Zone B, along the Israeli border.  Military presence was strictly forbidden.  Zone A only allows for police presence, whereas in Zone C, which includes the Suez Canal, 22,000 soldiers are permitted.

            “The Egyptians are now saying that if Israel is insistent that we are to secure the border and prevent terrorists, then they must agree to change the restrictions of the Camp David Accord, because it restricts the number of Egyptian soldiers in Sinai at all,” says Emad Gad, senior researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies and head of the organization Arabs Against Discrimination.  “The Egyptians want to change this so to allow Egyptian soldiers.  Camp David prohibits it.”   

The disengagement plan drew its share of skeptics who felt Egypt is incapable of adequately securing the border crossing, particularly from the smuggling of weapons and terrorist propaganda.  It has long been believed that tunnels for smuggling still exist underneath the Philadelphi Route connecting the Palestinian and Egyptian sides of Rafah. 

The recent victory of Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary election is drawing equal concerns for both sides as the group, famed for its militant activity, climbs the ranks of governance.  President Hosni Mubarak met with a Hamas delegation earlier this week in an attempt to broker an understanding between the Israelis and new Palestinian government.  Still, it is Israel Egypt must systemize with, and experts agree the question of boosting Egypt’s military presence along the Gaza border is off of Israel’s radar until after their general elections at the end of March.  

            “They will not allow it,” says Gad.  “But if Egypt is to efficiently protect its borders, than 750 soldiers is nothing.  Of course, this goes against the wishes of the Israelis and I think it’s safe to say they will not even take this request into consideration.  Even if they did, the move would require a lengthy new protocol before it can happen.”