Palestine-Mandate

The US Consul in Jerusalem Jacob Walles said in an interview with the Palestinian daily paper Al-Ayyam that there has been little observable progress in implementation of Road Map obligations — such as the end to Israeli settlement-building.

But what really caused an uproar was his statement that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice believed that the post-Annapolis direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was — and should be — conducted on the basis of 1967 borders.

This confirms what Israeli sources who follow their government’s settlement activities closely have said in interviews this past week — that there is strong American pressure on Israel concerning certain areas in and around Jerusalem, and to have a solution fast…

UPDATE: The Jerusalem Post has reported that “Israel conveyed its displeasure to Washington on Thursday over remarks reportedly made by US Consul General Jacob Walles that it had agreed to start negotiations with the Palestinians over Jerusalem. The comments prompted a bitter row among Kadima’s would-be leaders. According to government sources, Walles’s comments, which appeared in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, were ‘highly inappropriate’, since there is a US-Palestinian-Israeli agreement not to go public with what is being discussed by the negotiators … Walles said changes to those lines were possible should both sides agree”.

The JPost report added that “Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a Kadima Party meeting at Kfar Hamaccabiah in Ramat Gan on Thursday night that his government was sticking by its position that Jerusalem should be left until the end of the talks. ‘We have achieved significant progress, but we haven’t started the negotiations on Jerusalem yet’, Olmert told a crowd of several hundred party activists and supporters. ‘We said this issue would be handled last, and that is what we’ll do’ … Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in an interview on Channel 1, said in reference to the Walles comments that ‘what was said was not correct’. [But] She refused to answer when asked whether she thought Israel should control the Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. After the problematic nature of Walles comments became clear - they contradict what Olmert has been saying for months, and also put Livni, the head of Israel’s negotiating team, in an uncomfortable position facing next week’s Kadima primary - State Department spokesman Sean McCormack issued a clarification. ‘The US government has not taken a position on borders’, the McCormack statement read. ‘While the discussions between the parties are confidential, we can state that the parties have not in any way prejudiced long-held views on borders. A senior US official who participated in the discussions denies that the Israeli side, led by chief negotiator Foreign Minister Livni, has been willing to negotiate concerning Jerusalem. The secretary participated in the negotiations in a way that respected the Israeli position’. During his interview, Walles said that although the goal of the Bush administration was to have a working agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis by the time US President George W. Bush leaves office in January, should that deadline fail to be achieved, all progress made up until that point would pass over to the next administration … Walles also said that Israel had made little progress in removing settlement outposts, and had increased settlement construction since the Annapolis conference last November”

This JPost article can be read in full here .

Here are exceprts from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s interaction with reporters on board her airplane en route to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ramallah on Monday:

“I’m looking forward to what will unfortunately be a brief visit to the – to Israel and to Ramallah to discuss how we continue to push forward in the negotiations, to talk with people about the situation on the ground. General Fraser is with me and he’s going to stay behind to continue to work on some of the issues on the ground. I think at some point perhaps it’ll be a good thing for him to talk a little bit with you about some of the things that have been going on there.

“But obviously, we keep trying to push all of the tracks of Annapolis forward. And the trilaterals that I’ve had have been useful in helping the two sides to find areas of convergence, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do. Undoubtedly, it will not be my last trip here.

…

“…the way that we’ve been conducting these trilaterals is to help the parties in what has, for the most part to date, been a process that – in which they have not wanted to have public discussion of what they’re doing. They’ve wanted to push forward on these – on sensitive issues and continue to do that. They have an agreement that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. They also have an agreement that they’re not going to go out and talk about what they’re doing in each of the meetings. And so I honor that when we go to the trilaterals, because I think it’s extremely important just to keep making forward progress rather than trying prematurely to come to some set of conclusions.

“We continue to have the same goal, which is to reach agreement by the end of the year; a lot of work ahead to do that, and obviously, it’s a complicated time. But, you know, it’s always complicated out here. And we’ll just continue to do what I’ve done in these trilaterals over the last, I don’t know, four or five that I’ve had
…

“QUESTION: Madame Secretary, Foreign Minister Livni spoke to the press last week and she warned against too much international pressure, too much pressure to try to bridge the gaps. And obviously there’s an election coming up in the Kadima party, so are you mindful of that as you head into this trip?

“SECRETARY RICE: The internal politics of Israel are the internal politics of Israel. But I don’t think that anyone has been trying to bring pressure to bridge the gaps. What we’ve been trying to do is to help the parties to see how their own conversations might converge. And we’re going to continue to do that. And I think if you look back, you will have seen – you will have seen comments like that several times before.
…

“QUESTION: What is your assessment now of where Israel is in terms of respecting its Roadmap commitments and in terms of the quality of the roadblocks that it has removed?

“SECRETARY RICE: Well, I think that – let me start by saying both sides continue to have work to do on the Roadmap. And General Fraser and I have been talking on this trip about the importance of both sides accelerating their progress. I will say that there have been a couple of major – well, let me call – use the word “significant” checkpoints that have been lifted. That’s a good sign. Obviously, there is more that needs to be done. But that’s a good sign. And I think the Jenin project continues to mature. That’s also a good sign. But on both sides, in terms of Palestinian security and judicial reform, and in terms of movement and access, the Israelis and the Palestinians have work to do.
….

“…we said early on that if there – that calm in Gaza would be a useful thing because it – the Egyptians, who – with whom we worked, have managed to keep what is a very fragile situation at least stable, and that’s certainly a help to any process of trying to move forward on the peace process.

“Ultimately, though, Gaza has to be resolved and it has to be resolved on the basis of the – Abu Mazen’s program for it, which is that legitimate Palestinian Authority institutions have to be reinstated. I think we want to continue to look at what can be done at the crossings for regularization of those ultimately along the lines of the November 2005 agreement. So this is not, I think, a metastable situation, but it’s a situation that for now has seemed to allow at least people to – you know, the levels of violence to stay low, and that’s welcome.

“QUESTION: Do you see Hamas wanting a political role? Do you see Hamas wanting a political role and that’s why it’s calm?

“SECRETARY RICE: I think there are multiple incentives and motivations for the calm that is there. But Abu Mazen himself has laid out how a political “reconciliation” could take place. But obviously, a return to the status quo ante and a number of other steps will have to be taken, including continuing – including accepting the agreements that Palestinians have signed decades ago.
…
“There’s no doubt that the prisoner exchange is extremely important to – very important to the Palestinians. It’s something that Abu Mazen brings up each time we meet. And I don’t know whether or not it’s taken place, but if, in fact, it does, it would be a very good step. This is something that matters a lot to the Palestinians. It matters a lot to the Palestinian people. And it obviously is a sign of goodwill, particularly because it’s my understanding that some of these are pre-Oslo prisoners, which has been particularly of concern”…

One of Israel’s “new historians” Ilan Pappe has written a piece entitled The mega prison of Palestine that has been published in The Electronic Intifada on 5 March 2008, in which he writes: “It transpires that not even the most cooperative members of the PA are willing to accept the mega prison reality as ‘peace’ or even as a ‘two state settlement’.”

Pappe, who has written in favor of a one-state solution, left Haifa last year and is now teaching at Exeter University in the U.K.

His analysis continues: “So the model of the most dangerous ward developed: the leading strategists in the army and the government embrace themselves for a very long-term ‘management’ of the system they have built, while pledging commitment to a vacuous ‘peace process,’ with very little global interest in it, and a continued struggle from within, against it. The Gaza Strip is now seen as the most dangerous ward in this complex and thus the one against which the most brutal punitive means have to be employed. Killing the ‘inmates’ by aerial or artillery bombing, or by economic strangulation, are not just inevitable results of the punitive action chosen, but also desirable ones …  Downsizing the number of ‘inmates’ in both mega prisons [the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip] would be still a very high priority in this strategy by means of ethnic cleansing, systematic killings and economic strangulation. But there are wedges that prevent the destructive machine from rolling. It seems that a growing number of Jews in Israel (a majority according to a recent CNN poll) wish their government to begin negotiations with Hamas. A mega prison is fine, but if the wardens’ residential areas are likely to come under fire in the future then the system fails. Alas, I doubt whether the CNN poll represents accurately the present Israeli mood; but it does indicate a hopeful trend that vindicates the Hamas insistence that Israel only understands the language of force. But it may not be enough and the perfection of the mega prison system in the meantime continues unabated and the punitive measures of its authority are claiming the lives of many more children, women and men in the Gaza Strip. As always it is important to be reminded that the west can put an end to this unprecedented inhumanity and criminality, tomorrow. But so far this is not happening”.  Ilan Pappe’s piece can be read in full here.

The Israeli foreign ministry reported that “Vice Prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni met this morning (Monday, 28 January 2008) with General William M. Fraser III, the US envoy appointed by President Bush to monitor the implementation of the Road Map peace plan.  FM Livni presented the central principal that guides the political process to General Fraser, stating that ‘Implementation of the Road Map is critical to the success of the process, and is a basic, accepted condition for the implementation the understandings the two sides will reach during negotiations, as the pathway to the creation of a Palestinian state must ensure a secure Israel’.  FM Livni briefed the General on the current security situation and emphasized that the implementation of the Road Map must be applied on the Gaza Strip as well.  ‘We are sincere in our wish to reach an agreement, and there are security parameters upon which we cannot compromise. The world cannot permit another terror state, and complete implementation of the Road Map is the main element that will prevent its establishment’.”

Here is a probably correct comment from a rueful Palestinian interviewed by The Guardian in Al-Arish, the northern Sinai: ” ‘We were hoping that opening the borders with Egypt would bring us relief’, he said. ‘But it doesn’t solve the problem. It’s only going to be temporary and things are likely to get worse again’.” Comment from an article in The Guardian here.

At the end of a week’s visit to the oPt (0ccupied Palestinian territory) the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Asma Jahangir, made a statement, from which here are extended excerpts:

“The visit has been both fascinating and disturbing for me. This is a land blessed with a rich diversity and important holy sites of many religions. Yet, this very diversity, which should have been a blessing, tragically has polarized people on the lines of religion. Indeed, the conflict has an adverse impact on the right of individuals and communities to worship freely and to attend religious services at their respective holy places. I have noticed that people of all religions have the will and aspiration to live side by side in peace. There are outstanding examples where despite conflict and religious polarization people have been able to extend respect and tolerance to each other’s religions and beliefs. There have been encouraging instances of inter-faith and intra-faith dialogue on various levels. At the same time I have also met individuals who bear resentments against other religions and their adherents.

“A major issue of concern for my mandate is the restricted access to holy places. Muslims and Christians are impeded from worshipping at some of their most holy places in the world due to an elaborate system of permits, visas, checkpoints and the Barrier. While the Israeli Government informed me that these restrictions are necessary for security reasons, I would like to emphasize that any measure taken to combat terrorism must comply with the States’ obligations under international law, including freedom of religion or belief. These intrusive restrictions strike me as disproportionate to their aim as well as discriminatory and arbitrary in their implementation. My concern also extends to problems of access to holy places revered by Jews.
In addition, I was more than surprised to learn about the subtle differences with regard to indicating religious affiliation on official ID cards. While Israeli citizens’ ID cards no longer state the holder’s ethnicity, those of Palestinians residents of the oPt do disclose their religion. In my opinion, to indicate the religious affiliation on official ID cards carries a serious risk of abuse, which has to be weighed against the possible reasons for disclosing the holder’s religion.

“During my talks with members of religious minorities in Israel, my interlocutors have by and large acknowledged that there is no religious persecution by the State. Within the Israeli democracy, I would like to emphasize the important role that the Supreme Court has played in the past and can play for safeguarding freedom of religion or belief.   However, strands within the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths have experienced different forms of discrimination. There are concerns that the State gives preferential treatment to the Orthodox Jewish majority in Israel to the detriment not only of other religious or belief communities but also of other strands of Judaism. For example, conversion to Judaism within Israel is only recognised if performed by the Orthodox Rabbinate. Another concern is the urgent need to preserve and protect Christian and Muslim holy sites; many of those have been made inaccessible or neglected since decades, while Jewish places have appropriately been designated as holy sites and hence protected. Further concerns have been raised with regard to unfair allocation of subsidies at the expense of religious minorities and strands. I have also received reports that the religious rights of detainees are not fully respected. I will be dealing with these issues in more depth in my report to the Human Rights Council.

“Personal status questions in both Israel and the oPt show the delicate relationship between State and religion. Even though the various religious courts for historical reasons have the jurisdiction for issues such as marriage and divorce this does not absolve the authorities from their responsibility to ensure equal treatment and the implementation of human rights for all individuals. I find it difficult to understand that under domestic law persons can be deemed to be ‘unmarriagable’; in this regard I was informed that more than 200.000 Israeli citizens and residents with no official religious designation are barred from marrying in Israel. I wish to emphasize that freedom of religion or belief also includes the right not to believe.

“This brings me to the contentious question of conversion, which socially speaking is considered a taboo and is restricted by religious laws. In Israel, offering or receiving inducements for conversion is also prohibited by the domestic law. Hence, some small communities in Israel have refrained from proselytising. In the oPt, the few conversions which have taken place, particularly when involving interfaith relationships, have been followed by serious tensions and in some cases violence.

“Women seem to be in a particularly vulnerable situation and bear the brunt of religious zeal. I was informed about cases of honour killings carried out with impunity in the oPt in the name of religion. Reportedly some women in Gaza have recently felt coerced to cover their heads not out of religious conviction but out of fear.

“Further apprehensions concerning the situation in the oPt have been expressed by minority communities, including some small Christian groups, who fear a rising level of religious intolerance. In October 2007, a Christian librarian in Gaza city was threatened and subsequently kidnapped and killed. The question whether he was engaging in missionary activities or not is entirely irrelevant. This was a hideous crime and also a violation of his right to manifest his religion or belief. I welcome that the representatives of the Palestinian Authority who I met expressed concern and had taken note of these incidents … In my report I will recommend that all parties to a possible peace agreement bind themselves legally to protect the rights of religious minorities. Particular attention should be paid to include guarantees for equality and non-discrimination based on religion as well as for the preservation and peaceful access to holy sites.

“A major challenge, which needs to be addressed immediately, if we are to avoid deterioration, is to effectively prohibit and sanction incitement to religious hatred. Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights clearly states that any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law. However, impunity for incitement is a concern. Any violence committed in the name of religion, whether violent acts by zealous settlers or even worse in the form of suicide bombings by militant Islamists, should be denounced, investigated and sanctioned. Furthermore, it is particularly worrying when children are being incited to express hatred toward those with a different religious affiliation.

“Today is a sobering day. We solemnly mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. I join the United Nations Secretary-General in saying: ‘We remember those whose rights were brutally desecrated at Auschwitz and elsewhere, and in genocides and atrocities since. We vow to apply the lessons of the Holocaust to our lives and to those of succeeding generations’.”

More “What does this mean?” –

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said this at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, according to the Israeli Government Press Office:

“We certainly support the strengthening of the PA and the appropriate international mobilization in order to bring about an improvement of the Palestinian residents’ daily lives, especially by upgrading their own economic infrastructure that will not be dependent on the State of Israel once the appropriate administrative institutions are established. As I have said, this includes - first and foremost - proper law-enforcement organizations and systematic action against the terrorist organizations.  We are cooperating with the International Quartet Envoy, former UK
Prime Minister Tony Blair. We will continue to cooperate with him and will help him in strengthening projects on the agenda”.

From Ghaleb, who I thank for this, I have learned of this review (written by Amira Howeidy in Al-Ahram) of this electrifying Palestinian* poet’s reappearance in Cairo in 2005: “The last time his name was seen in the news — March 2003 — it was in connection with being arrested and deported to Amman for participating in the anti-war protests on the eve of the US/ UK-led war on Iraq. A week later, Al-Barghouti wrote a poem in colloquial Egyptian Arabic with the intriguing title ‘Alluli betheb Masr‘ (They asked me, do you love Egypt), which circulated rapidly and widely on the Internet before appearing in Akhbar Al-Adab, Cairo’s best known literary journal. The poem was in a sense typical. Then 26 years old, a PhD candidate, Al-Barghouti, the son of Egyptian novelist Radwa Ashour and Palestinian poet Mourid Al-Barghouti, expresses his complex emotions about Egypt, his birthplace and the country where he grew up, often separated from his father (Mourid Al- Barghouti was deported the year his only son was born, and for 15 years, this small family could only meet on holidays), and out of which he was suddenly and unjustly evicted. Images of fear, love, passion and nostalgia alternate with bitter sarcasm and angry political critique. To many the poem marked the beginning of a shift in Egypt’s political climate: it reflected much of what Al-Barghouti calls ‘the collective consciousness” of a new and unusually politically engaged generation. Ironically, on his deportation, the poem sealed his claim to fame … Fascination with his father’s poetry formed only part of the drive to study ‘the language of heroes’, as the seven-year-old Tamim attempted to write his first poem. Of the next 20 years’ yield of poetry — and Al- Barghouti is remarkably prolific — the Egypt and Iraq diwans seem to stand out. Since his first and second collections of poems — Mijana, written in Palestinian colloquial and published in 1999 in Ramallah and El-Manzar (The Scene), in Egyptian colloquial, published by Dar El-Sherouk in 2000, Al-Barghouti has established himself as a master of Arabic language and history — an achievement unmatched in his generation of literati. The poet, who at the age of 28 also teaches political science the American University in Cairo, strives to counter the collective Arab depression, according to which ‘nothing matters’ — a mood that robs people of confidence and concern. (In this sense, indeed, he is a breath of fresh air to many Arab nationalists and others concerned about the gradual extinction of political as much as poetic identity.) The depression, he says, ‘has reached language — we think our language and moral codes are not good enough, men think girls are not pretty enough, girls think men are not men enough’. He pauses, laughing…We do not have that luxury because we do have something worth fighting for. The Arabic language is beautiful, girls are pretty, men are men — and the land is the land. And, yes, a million shoes are stepping on us but the feeling that we deserve this is completely useless. Despite all our failures, we don’t deserve it.” Amira Howeidy’s profile of Tamim Barghouthi was published in Al-Ahram Weekly here.

* I write that Tamim Barghouti is Palestinian, knowing that his father is Palestinian and his mother is Egyptian. From Sameh, who is of exactly the same origins, I have learned that while Egyptian mothers can normally give their nationality to their children — unless the father is Palestinian, in which case, the children must remain Palestinian only…in order not to dilute their wish to return…

As explained in Al-Ahram weekly in August 2006, “Since the groundbreaking decision by President Hosni Mubarak in September 2003 to amend the nationality law to allow the offspring of Egyptian mothers and foreign fathers to become Egyptian citizens (thousands of individuals became citizens) … Still, the nationality law prohibits children of Egyptian mothers and foreign fathers from joining either the Egyptian army or police, or filling certain governmental posts. Also, children of Palestinian fathers are not eligible for Egyptian citizenship. While this seems unfair … it is in accordance with Arab League Decree 1547 for 1959. The decree calls for the preservation of the Palestinian identity as an integral part of the Palestinian cause, and prevents it from assimilating into the identity of the host country“.  This explanation is published here.

To see and hear Tamim Barghouti recite his poem on Jerusalem, click here.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the Annapolis conference just now that the duty of all present was to spread hope where there is now an absence of hope — among the Palestinian people.

Palestinian President Mahmoud then spent a large part of his speech to address his own people. In summary paraphrase, that the duty of the conference was to spread hope: “To those Palestinians in the refugee camps, and in the in the diaspora, he said, I do recognize that each one of you has lived through his (or her) own pain, through years of tragedy and occupation: Please don’t be depressed. Don’t lose hope. The whole world is stretching its hand to us, to help us overcome our tragedy and holocaust“.

To the people in Gaza, he said, “You are at the core of my heart”. He promised that he would work to end their suffering … soon.

Abbas also said: “I have the right here to defend openly and with no hesitation the right of my people to see a new dawn, with no occupation, no settlement, no separation wall, no prisons with thousands of prisoners, no assassinations, no siege, and no roadblocks around villages and cities”.

Jerusalem is one of the major “core issues” that is supposed to be dealt with in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, if they ever get off the ground. Is Israel about to definitively pre-judge the question?

The Israeli Government Press Office has alerted journalists to a major press conference on Wednesday, in which “The Mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski, will reveal tomorrow a comprehensive ‘Marshall Plan’ to upgrade the main business center of eastern Jerusalem. In addition, plans for massive building in eastern Jerusalem and for developing the Muslim Quarter in the Old City will be presented. This is the most comprehensive plan concerning the eastern part of the city since the reunification of Jerusalem. The press conference will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, November 21st, 10:00, at the Jerusalem city hall”…

Israel has declared that Jerusalem is its “eternal and undivided” capital. The Palestinians say that East Jerusalem — the part not occupied by Israel in 1948, but then seized by the IDF in June 1967 — will be the capital of the Palestinian State. Recent Israeli talk about giving back some of those areas of East Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority has been extremely upsetting to Palestinian residents, whose lives may be about to be disrupted yet again. The offer to return some of these areas, however, appears to be motivated more by “demographic” concerns than by any desire to find a real and workable peaceful solution — the idea seems to be to get rid of as many Palestinians as possible…