Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Salam Fayyad

Palestinian Authority

Middle East

Palestinian

20031203

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Area C will never be part of Israel

2024-05-18

Long. A taste:

[Jpost] The year 2023 will be remembered as the year that witnessed the collapse of two closely related pillars of Israel’s West Bank policy. Together, these policies constitute grave misconceptions that nevertheless have been proudly championed by Israel's ultra-nationalist right-wing government. The first policy pillar is the “divide and rule” strategy, whereby the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were intentionally separated to prevent the establishment of a future Palestinian state and to facilitate the sequestering of the West Bank and its ultimate annexation to Israel. This pillar crumbled to wrack and ruin on October 7th when it became abundantly clear that allowing Hamas to grow at the expense of the Palestinian Authority has grave consequences. The second pillar, the “battle over Area C,” sought to create spatial and demographic conditions permitting the annexation of an area that accounts for 60 percent of the West Bank. This pillar has been disintegrating gradually over several years.

The roots of these failed policies can be found in Israel's abdication of its legal commitments that were ratified in the Oslo Accords.

Given that both the Palestinian Authority/PLO/Fatah and Hamas abdicated their legal commitments from the beginning, it seems unfair and unrealistic to demand Israel stick to them.

In the declaration of principles, the State of Israel accepted the notion of unity of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: “The two sides view the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a single territorial unit, whose integrity will be preserved during the interim period.” With regard to Area C, the agreement stated: “The Parties agree that the area of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, except for the issues that will be negotiated in the permanent status negotiations [Jerusalem, settlements, and military sites] will be gradually transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction, to be completed within 18 months from the inauguration of the Council.” It also stated that: “‘Area C’ means areas of the West Bank outside Areas A and B, which, except for the issues that will be negotiated in the permanent status negotiations, will be gradually transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction in accordance with this Agreement.” In simple terms – all the agreements signed by the State of Israel define the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as a single territorial unit. This principle has guided all negotiations conducted by the two sides. Area C, therefore, has been under an extremely extended temporary status pending its eventual transfer to Palestinian jurisdiction.

Regarding the first failure – the collapse of the “divide and rule” policy – the Palestinians are united in their insistence on a joint future for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Yes, yes. But does that mean Hamas will rule or Fatah/PLO/Palestinian authority? I admit it’s a silly question, as it looks like Hamas is the more popular option in both territories, and the PA demonstrated their inability to hold Gaza in the teeth of Hamas armaments back in 2007.

Similarly, there is overwhelming consensus in the international community on the two-state solution as the only viable solution to the conflict.

So? The international community doesn’t have to worry about Palestinians rampaging over the border with pillage, plunder, rape, torture, and murder in their minds. So it is none of the international community’s business.

Israel has also accepted this principle in all negotiations with the Palestinians, and it is only the stalemate in diplomacy during the Netanyahu years that gave rise to the catastrophic divide and rule strategy. Because the territorial integrity issue is clear and undisputed, we focus on the second failure – the battle over Area C. Our research, conducted as part of the T-Politography project, a project dedicated to empirically monitoring changing levels of Israeli and Palestinian control in the territories in several different domains, examined the period from 2010 through the end of 2023. During these Netanyahu years (with a one-year Bennett-Lapid government), we found clear evidence that Israel is squandering its resources on a lost cause.

Motivated by the idea that it is possible to annex most of the West Bank without its Palestinian population, Israel devoted its full force and all the means at its disposal to shape the political future of Area C. This process included unprecedented budgetary allocations for the expansion of settlements; the establishment of additional government ministries as channels for the indirect transfer of funds; the encouragement and retroactive whitewashing of illegal outposts by the government; the construction of roads such as the Hawara and El-Arub bypasses, each of which cost over 200 million US Dollars; attempting to legislate the Regularization Bill – a bill that would allow the seizure of private Palestinian land; attempting to abolish the grounds of reasonableness clause (both legislation initiatives were canceled by the Israeli Supreme Court); and the absence of an immediate and forceful response to settler violence against the Palestinians. The process reached its peak in 2023 with the transfer of responsibility for the Civil Administration of the West Bank to ultra-nationalist Betzalel Smotrich as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry, which effectively turned him into the de-facto governor of the West Bank.

The Palestinian side did not remain impassive in the face of this Israeli campaign. The Palestinian struggle for Area C was implemented through the Fayyad Plan, a two-year plan formulated by former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in 2009. The plan offered a roadmap for building Palestinian infrastructure and institutions to establish a de facto Palestinian state throughout the West Bank. The plan enjoyed international support and a budget of over half a billion euros from the EU.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Who Will Succeed Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian President?

2022-08-15

Thought-provoking. Key bits:

[AM Thinker] Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, is 86 years old. Against all odds, Abbas has been able to control the PLO and the Palestinian Authority with an iron fist. To this day, he remains "El kol fil kol," an Arabic term for a man in control of everything. Nonetheless, Abbas's health has been failing more rapidly lately.

In addition, Abbas's demeanor has changed. He seems distant from the Palestinian Authority areas. He spends most of his time in Amman, Jordan, under the pretext of receiving medical treatment.

Abbas is on his last legs. Yet he is not preparing any of his sons to be his successor, not even his well educated millionaire businessman son, Mazen, who is also a Canadian citizen.

So the question is, who will replace him?

A number of names come to mind, but there is no one who is a natural, who would command the support of the power brokers or the Palestinians.

Suggested names, with details at the link:

Hussein Al-Sheikh, 62, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the PLO

General Majid Farraj, in his 50s, the head of Palestinian Intelligence.

Jibril Rajoub, the former head of the Palestinian FBI, the Preventive Security Force, and a member of the PLO's Central Committee

Mohammad Dahlan served as Arafat's security chief and remains influential to this day

Other names such as Abbas Zaki, Salam Fayyad, Ahmad Qurai, Nabil Shaath, and Nasser Al Qudwa, Arafat's nephew, come to mind, but none of them has the power, influence, muscle, or popularity to keep the P.A. intact

When Abbas goes, since there is no acceptable heir apparent, chaos will ensue. The P.A. areas will fall into disarray. Hamas will to try to infiltrate the West Bank further, as it has been doing slowly but surely.

To avoid such an outcome, Israel will have to take full control of Oslo-delineated Areas A, B and C. That will mean the end of the Palestinian Authority.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinians Approve 36 Candidate Groups to Run in May Vote

2021-04-06

Assuming the election actually comes off, it will be interesting to see what happens when Hamas wins...

[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Paleostinian election officials announced Sunday that 36 candidate lists had been approved to run in legislative elections set for next month, the first Paleostinian polls in 15 years.

The vote, which precedes a presidential election called for July 31, is part of an effort by the dominant Paleostinian movements -- Fatah secularists and Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede, Islamists -- to boost international support for Paleostinian governance, AFP reported.

Groups had until Wednesday to submit their lists of candidates to contest in the May 22 legislative polls.

Individual names on each list are due to be published Tuesday, but the Paleostinian electoral commission announced on its website that it had approved all 36 applications.

President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
’s Fatah movement, which controls the Paleostinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is contesting the polls, as is Hamas, which has run the Israeli-blockaded Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip since 2007.

Fatah is facing challenges from dissident factions including the Freedom list, led by a nephew of the late Paleostinian icon Yasser Arafat, Nasser al-Kidwa.

Freedom has been endorsed by Marwan Barghouti, a popular leader whom supporters have described as the Paleostinian Mandela.

Barghouti is serving multiple life sentences in Israel for allegedly organizing deadly attacks during the second Paleostinian intifada (uprising) from 2000-2005.

Abbas’s former Gaza security chief, Mohammed Dahlan, is also backing a list of challengers.

Former Paleostinian prime minister Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
, an ex-World Bank official with a track record of fighting corruption, is supporting another.

While Fatah and Hamas have reached an agreement for voting to take place in the West Bank and Gaza, the ability of Paleostinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem to vote remains uncertain.

Israel bans all Paleostinian political activity in Jerusalem, but Paleostinian leaders insist voting be held in the city’s east, which they claim as the capital of a future Paleostinian state.

Link

Iraq

‘They studied in Western universities’

2018-10-14

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] There is a sentence that has been repeated while welcoming Barham Salih as the President of Iraq and Adel Abdul-Mahdi as prime minister-designate and which is "he has studied in Western universities".

The same refrain was made when Omar Razzaz was tasked with forming the current government in Jordan. This sentence works like a double edged sword, as it comes in the backdrop of various revolutionary upheavals and coups over the decades, and implicitly refers to a time of "renaissance" when "education" was described as the pre-requisite for development.

As for the reference in the sentence to the "West", it is part and parcel of the idea of "renaissance". Didn’t the whole renaissance saga began when Rifa’a al-Tahtawi and Ahmad Faris Shidyaq, among others travelled to the West? Their approach implied a tendency that was fought for many decades ‐ the tendency of dealing with the West as a source of knowledge and enlightenment, and not as a source of aggression and colonialism.

In this regard, studying in some of the best Western universities carries with it the tag of having good morals that are regarded as guarantees against corruption and towards protecting public money. The refrain also comes with an air of nostalgia for the times few of us lived in and most of us have only heard or read about. The other face of nostalgia is a protest over a time when the officer, security figure, preacher and suspicious millionaire replaced the graduates of Western universities.

The resumes of Salih, Abdul-Mahdi and Razzaz raise optimism, without serving the theory of optimism in the principle of studying in the West. First, there are still doubts about the real capabilities of these sincere graduates who have become politicians as long as issues of political authority and sharing it is not yet settled in any Arab country. We are aware that many Arab regimes have exaggerated the term "technocrat", where it means holding the capabilities of power but without having any real power. Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
’s experience in Ramallah is probably the best example in this regard.

This optimism which has its reasons points to the naivety of many. Just as a reminder, we belong to societies where rulers believe that they own and inherit the nation. Our half-baked identities stilt our progress and foment civil wars. Battles tear us apart ‐ with their savagery, dissipation of wealth and medieval ideas. Such challenges cannot be confronted just by a bunch of educated and honest people whom optimism pictures as alternatives to much needed popular movements and broad intellectual changes. What is more dangerous is that being sanguine about "education" as the agent for "improving conditions" might end up with having people who are merely optimistic about "working" to reconstruct what "wars have destroyed," similar to what is being said about the "reconstruction" of Syria. We should not forget that Bashir al-Assad almost became the graduate of a Western university.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

In apparent rift with Ramallah, Saudi Arabia halts PA funding

2016-10-26

The dominoes are falling.

[IsraelTimes] Senior Paleostinian officials say around $120 million of financial aid withheld over last 6 months without explanation

Without providing prior warning or an explanation to Ramallah, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
has been holding back financial aid earmarked for the Paleostinian Authority for over six months, senior PA officials say.

Saudi Arabia had been paying $20 million a month to the PA as aid to the cash-strapped Paleostinian government in the West Bank when it suddenly shut the tap.

While there has been no official announcement from either Riyadh or Ramallah, The Times of Israel has learned that the payments stopped over half a year ago with no clear reason given for the cessation.

Paleostinian sources said that several emissaries from the Paleostinian Authority have attempted to find out the reasons for the funding freeze but were not given full answers by the Saudi government.

The Paleostinian Authority is working on the assumption that the freeze is due to an across-the-board cut in Saudi Arabia’s funding of foreign countries based on its own budgetary strains, but some sources assess that Riyadh may be unhappy with PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
In recent weeks, Abbas has locked horns with a number of Arab leaders who have been pressuring him to patch up differences within Fatah and make peace with former Gazoo strongman Mohammad Dahlan, considered a main rival.

Those leaders have included King Salman
...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians....
of Saudi Arabia, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Jordan’s King Abdullah and United Arab Emirates President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Abbas’s fierce opposition to Dahlan’s return is both personal and political.

Dahlan is regarded as close to the UAE’s ruler and the Egyptian president, and his name is mentioned -- mainly by Israeli commentators -- as a contender to replace Abbas when the time comes.

Abbas fell out with Dahlan after the latter made thinly veiled corruption allegations against the PA president’s two businessman sons in 2010. Earlier this year, Abbas countered that Arab leaders should stop meddling in internal Paleostinian affairs -- rare public criticism of Arab allies by a leader whose people depend on Arab financial and diplomatic support.

With around $120 million of Saudi aid having been withheld so far, the freeze in funds threatens to cause serious budgetary problems for the Paleostinian Authority.

Earlier this month the PA lost another key source of funding with a UK government decision to cut a third of its aid to Ramallah because of its payment of stipends to the families convicted terrorist serving time in Israeli prison. The UK Department for International Development ordered a review of the PA’s role in funding salaries to terrorists, effectively freezing some £25 million (roughly $30 million) in the current fiscal year, or about one-third of the UK’s total aid to the PA, according to a report in the Sun daily.

The two developments could spell financial disaster for the PA, which relies heavily on foreign aid. In 2012 Saudi Arabia helped prevent a financial crisis by transferring $100 million to the PA, days after then-prime minister Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
warned of a imminent catastrophe.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Lawfare: Judge Rules PA, PLO To Face US Trial Over Terror Support

2014-11-21

[Ynet] 11 families of US victims of bombings and shootings in Jerusalem seek $1 billion in compensation from Paleostinian leadership for sanctioning and funding terror attacks.

Families of US victims of bombings and shootings in Jerusalem more than a decade ago have cleared a final hurdle to take the Paleostinian Authority and the Paleostine Liberation Organization to trial in New York for supporting the attacks.

US District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan largely denied bids by the Paleostinian Authority and the PLO to dismiss the long-running $1 billion lawsuit ahead of a jury trial scheduled for January 12.

Read the court's decision

At a court hearing on Thursday, Daniels also reaffirmed his decision in 2008 finding that his court had jurisdiction over claims against the Paleostinian Authority and PLO despite changes in law at the appellate level.

Mark Rochon, a lawyer for the Paleostinian Authority, said in court his client was "considering whether to seek appellate relief on that issue." He declined to comment after the hearing on Daniels' other rulings.

Daniel's ruling on the dismissal motion was issued late on Wednesday.

The lawsuit seeks $1 billion on behalf of 11 families who say the PLO and Paleostinian Authority provided material support and resources for seven separate attacks in Israel that killed and injured American citizens.

The families accuse the PLO and PA leadership in funding, planning and executing seven terror attacks and fire at Israelis in Israeli territory between 2001 and January 2004 in and around Jerusalem. These attacks led to the death of hundreds of innocent civilians and to the injury of thousands.

Among the terror attacks included in the lawsuit are the July 2002 bombing of a cafeteria at the Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus that killed 9 people, including American students, and injured about 100; a terror bombing of bus 19 at the Rehavia neighborhood in Jerusalem, which killed 11 people and injured over 40; a shooting on route 443; a suicide kaboom at the Ben Yehuda Midrachov, which killed 5 people, and others.

According to the statement of claims, the Paleostinian Authority "planned and carried out terrorist attacks against civilians through their officials, agents and employees."

These attacks were planned and carried out by individuals "acting as agents and employees of the PLO and PA and within the scope of their agency and employment, pursuant to the prior authorization, instructions, solicitations and directives of defendants PLO and PA, in furtherance of the goals and policies of defendants PLO and PA, and using funds, weapons, means of transportation and communications and other material support and resources supplied by defendants PLO and PA for the express purpose of carrying out (these) attack(s) and terrorist attacks of this type."

For the first time, the trial will be open to the public and to media reports in real time and evidence that have so far been confidential will be exposed. The plaintiffs claim this evidence is enough to prove the Paleostinian Authority supports terror activity to this very day.

"We are looking forward to presenting the evidence to the jury," said Kent Yalowitz, a lawyer for the families.

The Paleostinian Authority demanded to reject the suit due to lack of sufficient evidence, but the New York District judge ruled that the evidence brought before him were sufficient to call in a jury and issue a ruling.

Prosecutors interrogated a list of Paleostinian Authority officials during the preliminary procedures, including Ahmed Qurei (also know as Abu Alaa), Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
, Hussein al-Sheikh and many others.

Should the case go to a jury, it would mark a rare trial in a lawsuit under the US Anti-Terrorism Act. A federal jury in Brooklyn in September found Arab Bank Plc liable under the law for providing material support to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.

The judge's decision allowing the case to go forward comes amid continued unrest in recent weeks in Jerusalem. On Tuesday, two Paleostinians killed five people at a Jerusalem synagogue during morning services, the worst attack in the city since 2008.

The lawsuit, filed in 2004, accused the PLO and the Paleostinian Authority of violating the US Anti-Terrorism Act through support of Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which the US government deems terrorist organizations.

The Paleostinian Authority has been battling the lawsuit since 2004 using prominent American attorneys.

In his ruling, Daniels said the plaintiffs had presented triable issues over whether the PLO and the Paleostinian Authority directly supported Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades with money, weapons and personnel, as well as by harboring purported terrorists.

The judge also said most of the plaintiffs could pursue claims that the Paleostinian Authority was vicariously liable for its employees' alleged participation in attacks in 2001 and 2002.

Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder of Shurat HaDin, which is leading this lawsuit and representing the families, said: "This is a precedent and a historical decision of the court. We've sued the Paleostinian Authority in the past, and these suits were heard by different federal judges who ruled in them, but this is the first time a trial will be heard by an American jury, a trial that is open to the public and the world media. This is a historic opportunity to call to the stand many PLO and PA officials for an in-depth interrogation about their actions. The PA, the PLO and Abbas will have to answer to these actions."

The case is Sokolow v. Paleostine Liberation Organization, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 04-00397.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

PA Security Questions Employees Of Abbas Rival

2014-08-27

[IsraelTimes] Two employees at an aid organization run by former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad were questioned by Palestinian Authority security services, apparently under instructions from PA leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The recent questioning of workers at the Future for Palestine fund, which aims to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged Palestinians, was carried out by the Palestinian Preventative Security Service, rather than the regular PA police, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

Western officials noted that the use of the security service rather than the police indicated that Abbas, a long-time rival of Fayyad, was fully aware of the development.

"There's no doubt that this process was initiated by orders from above," said a Western diplomat. "Such things don't happen just like that."

According to the Jordanian Jafra News website, PA security agents are looking at Fayyad's possible involvement in an alleged coup to overthrow the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Possibly looking for a scapegoat rather than finding scary culprits? Mr. Fayyad always struck me as a technocratic type interested in creating solutions rather than playing local politics.

Two other officials, senior PLO executive committee member Yasser Abed Rabbo and former head of intelligence Tawfiq al Tirawi were also said to face having their bank accounts, personal files, and phone calls "audited."

Last week Abbas ordered his security services to probe Israeli claims that it had uncovered a Hamas plot to topple him and start a third intifada against Israel.

Abbas indicated the report could severely impact the national reconciliation deal signed between Fatah and Hamas in June, saying it represents "a grave threat to the unity of the Palestinian people and its future," the Palestinian news Agency Wafa reported at the time.

Since resigning his position in 2013 over disagreements with Abbas, Fayyad has put his efforts into social activism that has reinforced his status with Western officials.

While the questioning of Fayyad's workers initially looked at the group's funding, much of which is said to come from the United Arab Emirates -- which has poor relations with Abbas -- investigators also grilled the employees about the organization's political aspirations.

The Future for Palestine charity fund was formed several months ago and recently launched a public campaign asking West Bank Palestinians to donate drinking water and equipment on behalf of residents of the war-torn Gaza Strip. The donations were to be delivered to Gaza by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Fayyad played down the significance of the investigation.

"There has been no police search of my office or home," Fayyad said in a statement to Haaretz. "There has been some activity which I am told is part of an effort on the part of the PA to verify compliance with rules and regulations. In the case of the organization I head, Future for Palestine, I am perfectly comfortable that we are in full compliance and with substantial margin to spare."

The PA declined to comment on the investigation but officials indicated that the move was related to a reports at the beginning of the week of a special committee that has been formed to look into the activities of civic action groups in the West Bank and Gaza.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Fatah Official Threatens Settlers With Death

2014-08-06

[IsraelTimes] A senior Fatah official tacitly threatened the lives of Israelis travelling through the West Bank, also warning Paleostinian merchants to rid their shops of "occupation" products or have them smashed.

Speaking at a rally in Nablus organized by Fatah — in solidarity with Gazoo — Monday evening, Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Muheisen warned Israel "not to forget that its settlers wander the streets among us and are an easy target for [Fatah's] al-Aqsa Brigades in the West Bank," the movement's official website and Facebook page reported.

Muheisen's comments came amid a chain of terror attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank, apparently carried out by lone-wolf assailants. On Monday, a Paleostinian excavator driver killed a pedestrian and injured five others in an attack against a bus in Jerusalem. A few hours later, a soldier was shot in the stomach and seriously injured by an attacker on a cycle of violence. On Tuesday, a security guard was stabbed by an unknown assailant near the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim.

But Muheisen did not limit his threats to Israelis. He also told West Bank store owners that they had two weeks to empty their shops of "occupation products."

"After this time, any shop containing Israeli occupation merchandise will be attacked and smashed," he told the crowd.

Paleostinian Authority officials have called for the boycott of merchandise produced in Israeli settlements in the past. Former PA prime minister Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
even took part in a public burning ceremony of such products in 2010.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Boosting Palestinian Economy At Allenby Bridge

2014-05-21

[Ynet] The upgrade of the commercial crossing will mean a 30% increase in the goods passing through it, boosting the Paleostinian economy.

This week, the Office of the

Quartet
... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy....
(of Middle East peacemakers) Representative will visit Amman to further discussions with the Jordanian government on the upgrade of the commercial crossing at Allenby Bridge between Jordan and the West Bank, aiming to increase the volume of containers passing through it.

The vast majority of the Paleostinian export market is with Israel. According to the Paleostinian Bureau of Statistics, some 70% of imports (worth some $4.7 billion) and 80% of exports (worth around $800 million) come from Israel or through it each year.

These figures have long troubled Paleostinian economic leaders, and they are looking for ways to diversify the Paleostinian export market and open up other markets.

Israel is also unhappy with these figures. Research carried out by the Office of the Quartet Representative and the Ministry for Regional Cooperation in Jerusalem found that if Allenby Bridge was equipped with a scanner capable of checking containers, it would see a 30% increase in the goods bring processed. Similar scanners are now being used in Haifa and Ashdod ports.

But Allenby Bridge is more important to the Paleostinians than Ashdod or Haifa, as this is the passing point for their exports to the Arab states to the east, mainly the rich Gulf states and Jordan.

There is no passage for Israeli goods at Allenby - it serves only the Paleostinians. There is currently no scanner at the bridge, and so no containers pass through, only trucks carrying crates of goods. This creates a problem as international companies, particularly in the Gulf, demand modern standards for goods and container packaging to make the transfers much more efficient.

At present, 1,400 trucks pass through Allenby each month. The vast majority of them are for import (raw materials, household items and food) and very few are used for export (such as agricultural produce and building materials). Furthermore, the Paleostinians import used cars, which are in high demand in the West Bank, via a special terminal at the bridge.

Some two years ago, the Quartet Representative Tony Blair and the Dutch foreign minister visited the bridge. Following a recommendation and encouragement by then-Paleostinian prime minister Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
, the Dutch government announced that it would donate 8 million shekels to purchase a container scanner for the bridge.

In order to install and operate the system, a further investment of NIS 35 million was needed. In October 2013, Israel, at the initiative of Minister Silvan Shalom, took the decision to fund and carry out the infrastructure work needed to install the system. The scanner will be owned by the PA, but operated by Israel.

Those responsible for installing the container scanner and the necessary work on the Allenby Bridge will complete the project within approximately two years. At the same time, the Office of the Quartet Representative is working with the Jordanian authorities to upgrade the arrangements on the Jordanian side of the bridge, as well as at the port of Aqaba, which is vital for the passage of the goods.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

PA tells Kerry no to framework deal

2014-02-15

The ~~Ineffectual~~ Palestinian Authority has informed US Secretary of State John Kerry that it will not accept his framework peace proposal as it currently stands, PA officials told The Times of Israel.

The officials claimed that the Obama administration's current proposal, which is intended to serve as the basis for continued talks on a two-state solution, includes pretty much everything Israel demanded -- almost down to the last detail -- but does not address vital requirements from the Palestinian side. (Israeli officials have voiced numerous objections of their own to the reported terms, with Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon quoted as describing the security aspect of the document, for instance, as "not worth the paper it's printed on.")

The Palestinian officials detailed to The Times of Israel what they said were the main clauses of the framework proposal.

Israeli officials have indicated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is inclined to accept the framework terms, on the basis that they are non-binding and that he can express objections to them, though this has not been confirmed. Netanyahu is to meet with President Barack Obama in Washington on March 3.

Central clauses of the framework deal as presented by Kerry, and rejected by the PA, the Palestinian officials said, are as follows:

Borders: The peace agreement is to be based on pre-1967 lines, but will take into consideration changes on the ground in the decades since.

Settlements: There will be no massive evacuation of "residents."

Refugees: Palestinian refugees will be able to return to Palestine or remain where they currently live. In addition, it is possible that a limited number of refugees could be allowed into pre-1967 Israel as a humanitarian gesture, and only with Israeli acquiescence. Nowhere is it written that Israel bears responsibility for suffering caused to the refugees.

Capital: The Palestinian capital will be in Jerusalem.

Security: Israel has the right to defend itself, by itself.

The Jordan Valley: The IDF will retain a presence in the Jordan Valley. The length of time the IDF will remain will depend on the abilities of the Palestinian security forces.

Border crossings: Israel will continue to control border crossings into Jordan.

Definition of the countries: Two states will result, "a national state of the Jewish people and a national state of the Palestinian people."

Senior Palestinian sources told The Times of Israel that many of the above clauses are unacceptable to the PA for several reasons.

The biggest reason being that the framework allows Israel to survive...

For a start, the references to the borders and settlements leave too much room for Israeli interpretation. "What does 'There will be no widespread evacuation of residents' mean?" asked one official. "This means that Israel will want to keep a bigger percentage of the West Bank and this point is not acceptable to us. What does 'Taking into consideration changes on the ground since then' mean? I mean, Israel continues to build settlements."

The official continued: "The same with the refugee issue; there is no recognition of Palestinian suffering. We want an expression of regret, an Israeli admission of the suffering caused to us. Where did it disappear to? And the humanitarian gesture [for a limited entry of Palestinian refugees into Israel] that depends on Israel's consent doesn't leave much to the imagination," the official said, indicating that Israel would not likely be generous on this issue.

Since they know the trouble the returning refugees will certainly cause, no, the Israelis won't be generous...

The official added that a still more problematic issue for the PA is Jerusalem.

"When the Palestinian capital is defined as 'in Jerusalem,' what does it mean? In Shuafat? In Issawiya? We demanded that the Palestinian capital would be al-Quds a-Sharqiya (East Jerusalem). But Netanyahu refused firmly, and the US administration accepted his position.

Israel has claimed the entirety of Jerusalem since the end of the Six Day War. If you want it back you'll have to fight for it.

"What about security and the Jordan Valley? What does it mean that Israel has the right to defend itself, by itself? We will not agree to the entry of Israeli troops into the PA territory. And as for the ongoing presence of the army in the Jordan Valley, it's ridiculous to set the timeline [for the IDF's exit] according to 'the abilities of the PA security forces.' Who will determine that ability? And who will say, 'That's it, the PA is ready to assume responsibility for the Valley'?"

For its part, Israel would likely have significant objections to the Kerry framework terms if they are drafted as claimed by the Palestinians. Israel has indicated that the relatively minor alterations to the pre-1967 lines envisaged by the PA are inadequate, and that there will have to be larger land swaps to accommodate most of the settlers. Netanyahu further wants any Jews whose settlements are on the Palestinian side of an agreed border to be given the option of staying on under Palestinian rule, an official in his office told The Times of Israel last month -- a stance rejected by Abbas. Israel is adamantly opposed to any "return" for any Palestinian refugees to today's Israel. Netanyahu has reportedly insisted that there be no suggestion of legitimate Palestinian claims to Jerusalem in the framework document. And he has insisted that the IDF secure the West Bank-Jordan border even after Palestinian statehood.

On Tuesday, when Nabil Abu Rudeineh, PA President Mahmoud Abbas's official spokesman, referred to Kerry's framework agreement, he surprised observers by saying that if both sides get to raise objections to its content, as Kerry has said they will be permitted to, it would empty the agreement of all its content.

That's a correct statement...

Rudeineh's statement was hard to fathom, given the significant reservations the Palestinians have with the current version. Almost all senior Palestinian officials with whom The Times of Israel has spoken in recent days made clear that the PA does not have the legitimacy, in the eyes of the public, to accept the Kerry proposals.

"We said 'No' to him in the past, and we will say it again in the future," a senior PA administrator said. According to this official, accepting the current version of the framework accord is unthinkable for the PA. The official did not hide his anger toward the US administration, and of course, toward Israel.

Well of course...

"We have reached many achievements in recent years.

Name one.

We have attained stability and quiet [in the West Bank]," he said this week in Ramallah.

No, that's not one. Israel did that.

"But you [the Israelis] are now allowing the situation deteriorate. Your security echelon understands the problems and the difficulties. But the political leadership does not care at all. Everyone is acting on the basis of his or her own political interests. [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Liberman is winking at the center; Netanyahu is afraid of the right; the Jewish Home party is hardening its position; and [Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi] Livni is too weak. So you ask me if there is a partner for peace? The answer is 'No.'"

Likewise, Mahmoud Abbas is ineffectual, Hamas is in a box of their own making, the smaller Paleo terrorist groups are too weak, and the Paleo 'moderates' are trying not to get killed. There's no Palestinian partner for peace.

Asked how events would play out if the PA rejects the framework proposal when Kerry presents it, the official said, "All options are open to us, whether contacting international institutions [to seek to advance Palestinian statehood unilaterally] or in other ways.

But, he warned, "I have no doubt that the situation on the ground will get worse. For both sides. The stability we have grown used to will start to crack."

That might be what has to happen. The Paleos continue to delude themselves into thinking they haven't been beaten yet. The Israelis are going to have to thump them hard, perhaps to the point of what happened to Germany in 1945. Then perhaps we can talk about 'peace'...

There are a number of reasons for this, he went on, and listed a litany of grievances. "One, the steps of the Israeli occupation and the settlers. The arrest, land confiscations, house demolitions, and of course violence against settlers. Two, the high youth unemployment rate. There are no economic opportunities for young Palestinians and one of the central reasons for this is lack of land for development. Area C -- 60% of the West Bank -- is under full Israeli control, and we are not allowed to build there or invest in various projects. Three, the stopping of international aid programs. I include here UNRWA budget cuts. This leads to a sharp increase in poverty and unemployment, specifically in the poorest places like the refugee camps.

Three point five, no industrious Paleo wants to invest in Areas A and B because he'll lose everything he invests to the crooks, thugs and clowns in the PA. Three point eight, there's no such thing as an industrious people who sit around waiting for the UNRWA to line their pockets.

"Four," he continued, "Hamas and the extremist factions don't want the situation to stabilize, and are doing a lot in order to undermine it. I'm talking about dozens of cells that have been detained in the past year by Palestinian security forces, which planned attacks against Israelis and against the PA. They are also initiating demonstrations and popular protests, and are using the settlers' crimes in order to attack the PA. Five, Jerusalem and al-Aqsa. Your actions there, such as the visits of right-wing politicians to the mount, hurt the feelings of every Arab and Palestinian."

Oh, the poor bruised feelings of Arabs and Paleos. You might wish to consider the feelings of Americans on September 12th: we weren't "bruised", we were mad as hell, and we did something about it.

The PA is also having trouble digesting the Israeli insistence on the Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, he noted.

Why: you want everyone to recognize 'Palestine' as an Islamic state. But you could prove otherwise by allowing churches, synagogues and Buddhist temples to be built on the West Bank...

"We have no intention of dragging this conflict in a religious direction. Every sensible person in the Middle East is trying to keep religion away from the various conflicts, except for you. What's in it for you? The conflict between us is not religious.

It most certainly is...

So why do you need our recognition that your state is Jewish? In your ID cards, your nationality is listed as 'Israeli' and not as 'Jewish.' You never asked such a thing of Egypt or Jordan. What is your concern? We are telling you outright: the peace agreement will bring about the end of the conflict and the end of all claims. So what is all this nonsense you are saying that this proves we won't accept the state of Israel? The whole world recognizes you.

No, the Arab states do not...

These are not the days of the founding, when the world didn't accept you. But you're still stuck in that mindset."

Netanyahu has called Palestinian recognition of Israel as the "Jewish state" his "first and most unshakable demand." "Recognizing Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people means completely abandoning the 'right of return' and ending any other national demands over the land and sovereignty of the State of Israel," he said last October. "This is a crucial component for a genuine reconciliation and stable and durable peace."

And that's why there won't be a peace agreement: the Paleos want to use the 'right of return' to destroy Israel, and the Israelis know it. Anyone who understands the conflict knows that the 'right of return' is the most key, most essential issue on which neither side will ever concede. If Israel accepts it then it's the end of Israel, if the Paleos give it away the leadership will be assassinated.

The disaffection with Israel, as expressed by the Palestinian Authority leadership, is not confined to the dispute over the framework document and the terms of a final-status agreement. Abbas's associates have a growing sense that the Israeli government is working behind the Palestinian scenes to corner him politically and force him to compromise. They claim to have proof of a direct link between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, as well as with out-of-favor former Abbas confidant Mohammad Dahlan, despite Israeli officials' denials.

Dahlan: snicker...

According to Abbas's affiliates, secretive talks between Hamas and Israel are being mediated by Qatar, and not Egypt, which views Hamas as a serious threat to regional stability.

"We see what Israel is trying to do here -- to undermine our internal affairs and to force Abbas to compromise," said a PA official. "But this leads us to harden our positions rather than show any will to concede. You need to understand, the overthrow Hamas carried out in Gaza will not repeat itself in the West Bank. Instead of strengthening moderates, Israel is trying to weaken us. The entire region currently suffers from a rise of extremism and terror activities. You must ~~give us everything we want~~ cooperate with us in order to achieve peace, not fight with us."

It may be that the warnings about a likely deteriorating security situation, and even the pledge to say no to the Americans, some Palestinians analysts said this week, are empty threats by the PA. These analysts estimate that Abbas would prefer not to get into a direct confrontation with the US administration, and that, therefore, he is more likely to give Kerry a "Yes, but," rather than an outright "No."

Yet the sensitivity of Abbas's political situation, and the deteriorating reality on the ground, cannot be ignored. Criticism of the PA's governance is widely heard in the Palestinian street. More and more allegations of corruption are emerging, after years in which it seemed that the level of such abuse was receding.

'Seemed' being the operative word. 'Seemed' as in 'not reported by the MSM'...

Law and order in the West Bank is also said to be weakening. Residents of Ramallah-area refugee camps like Jalazun and Qalandiya, and those near Nablus and Jenin, increasingly speak of armed men moving around at night, worsening violence, and even a rise in drug use. PA policemen are involved in selling weapons in some cases, PA officials have acknowledged.

Some of the reasons for the decline in the PA's functioning are likely related to the departure of prime minister Salam Fayyad, and his replacement by Rami Hamdallah. Hamdallah is more focused on political confrontation with Israel and less on building a state, according to some Palestinian commentators. This is also seen in the significant weakening of the Palestinian court system, they said, and in the dwindling funds in the state treasury.

Of late monthly salaries to PA officials were paid without a reliance on foreign donations, PA Finance Minister Shukri Bishara recently announced. But Palestinian officials predicted that by next month, funds in the PA coffers will have dwindled again to the point where it would once again struggle to pay its employees.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinian PM Hamdallah reverses decision to step down

2013-06-22

[Al Ahram] Paleostinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah on Friday withdrew an offer to quit a day after presenting it to president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
, a high-ranking government official said.
"Hamdallah met Abbas for two hours in the president's headquarters in Ramallah and informed him he had decided to withdraw his resignation," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Paleostinian officials and media had reported a "power struggle" as being the reason for Hamdallah's offer to quit, with the premier incensed by Abbas's decision to appoint two deputy prime ministers in a government that was formed on June 6.

"Hamdallah wants clear and defined powers as prime minister and for his deputies, based on the law, so his authority is not encroached on," the official said, adding that the meeting had been "positive."

The prime minister left the president's headquarters in a government convoy, an AFP correspondent said.

Hamdallah presented his resignation on Thursday, only two weeks after taking office, in the latest crisis for the Paleostinian Authority.

His appointment on June 2 had followed the resignation of his predecessor Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
, a Western-backed economist who quit after a spat with the Paleostinian president.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinian Authority PM Hamdallah Resigns

2013-06-21

[Jpost] PA source: Abbas wants a yes-man with no powers; Dahlan predicts any new PM will also fail if Abbas refuses to share powers.

Less than a month after he was sworn in, Paleostinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Thursday abruptly submitted his resignation to President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
PA officials in Ramallah said Abbas would decide in the coming hours whether to accept the resignation.

Hamdallah, who until recently was president of An- Najah University in Nablus, offered his resignation even though Paleostinians were still publishing advertisements in the media congratulating him and his new ministers.

A source close to Hamdallah said he submitted his letter of resignation to Hussein al- A'raj, director of the PA president's bureau.

The source attributed the move to a power struggle between Hamdallah and his two deputies -- Muhammad Mustafa and Ziad Abu Amr -- who were appointed by Abbas.

"The prime minister feels that his deputies have been encroaching on his powers," the source said.

After submitting his resignation Hamdallah left his office in Ramallah alone and drove in his private car to his home in the village of Anabta, east of Tulkarm.

A senior PA official told the Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency that Hamdallah had not clashed with Abbas. The real dispute was between Hamdallah and his two deputies, the official said.

On Thursday evening, senior PA officials headed from Ramallah to Hamdallah's home to persuade him to withdraw his resignation.

Another PA source said that Hamdallah, whom Abbas appointed on June 2, quickly found himself in the same situation as his predecessor Salam Fayyad
...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either...
"Hamdallah discovered that the Paleostinian Authority president wants him to serve as a yes-man with no powers," the source explained. "Abbas wanted a prime minister who would play no role and only carry out orders from the president's office."

Abbas's decision to appoint two deputy prime ministers with expanded powers to the new government was the first sign of the PA president's intention to curtail the powers of Hamdallah.

Some Paleostinians pointed out that the real prime minister was Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Muhammad Mustafa, who also serves as the director of the PLO's Paleostine Investment Fund.

Mustafa was initially reported to be Abbas's favored candidate to replace Fayyad. It remains unclear why Abbas finally preferred Hamdallah over Mustafa.

"Hamdallah quit because he was lacking any authority," said Paleostinian political analyst Hani al-Masri. "He discovered that he was just another employee with the rank of prime minister. He had two deputies who were in charge of the political and economic portfolios."

Masri said the swift resignation was an indication of the deep crisis plaguing the PA's political system.

Muhammad Dahlan, a member of the Paleostinian Legislative Council and a former PA security commander, said he was not surprised by Hamdallah's decision to resign.

Dahlan, often described as an arch-enemy of Abbas, said the resignation showed that the PA leadership in Ramallah was determined to "reproduce the same mistakes."

Dahlan predicted that any new prime minister would also fail as long as Abbas refused to share powers with anyone.

Link

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