Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 1
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 2
Read in this report:
Sharawna resumes hunger strike (P.5) Judaizing landscape around Al-Aqsa (P.6)
Escalation of popular resistance in WB (P.7) An attempt to assassinate Sheikh Salah (P.7)
Netanyahu’s party falls in opinion polls (P.9) Pop fest in UiTM to support Gaza (P.10)
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 3
Contents
NEWS OF PALESTINE
Khudari: 2013 will witness final end to the siege on Gaza ........................................................ 4
Almost 4,000 Palestinians were detained by Israel in 2012 ...................................................... 4
Sharawne resumes hunger strike ................................................................................................ 5
Israeli forces breach truce with Gaza ......................................................................................... 5
Aqsa foundation: Israel plans to Judaize the landscape around the Aqsa Mosque .................... 6
Hebrew reports: Escalation of popular resistance in the West Bank ......................................... 7
Complaint regarding an attempt to assassinate Sheikh Salah .................................................... 7
Israel completes key part of fence with Egypt ........................................................................... 8
850 Palestinians Killed in Syria ................................................................................................. 8
ISRAEL INSIDER
Netanyahu's party falls behind in opinion polls ......................................................................... 9
Netanyahu says Livni will not have role in next government ................................................... 9
MALAYSIA & PALESTINIAN CAUSE
IKIMfm radio collects RM120, 000 for Palestine Muslims .................................................... 10
Pop festival an aspiration of youth to help Palestinians in Gaza ............................................. 10
ARTICLES & ANALYSES
The time is ripe for Palestinian reconciliation, again .............................................................. 11
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 4
Khudari: 2013 will witness
final end to the siege on Gaza
02/01/2013
Independent MP Dr. Jamal Al-Khudari has
opined that 2013 would witness a final end to
the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip that has
been in force for six years.
In a press release on Wednesday, Khudari
called for intensifying efforts by free people of
the world, those who back the Palestine cause,
and layers and segments of the Palestinian
people in order to break the siege once and for
all.
The MP hoped that the new year would bring
about freedom, end of occupation, and
restoration of all usurped rights for the
Palestinian people in the West Bank, Gaza
Strip, Jerusalem, 1948 land, and the diaspora.
Source:PIC
_______________________________________________________________
Almost 4,000 Palestinians were detained by Israel in 2012
28/12/2012
Official statistics issued by the Palestinian
Ministry for Detainees and ex-Detainees have
revealed that almost 4,000 Palestinian men,
women and children have been detained by the
Israelis in 2012. The total number was 3,850, including 880 children.
The ministry noted that 67 women, 11 elected
parliamentarians, nine former prisoners freed
in the latest swap deal between Palestinians
and Israelis, and dozens of academics,
journalists, teachers and community and
political leaders have been arrested by Israel
this year. The average detention rate per
month was 321, breaking down to 11
Palestinians detained every day.
Source: MEMO
NEWS OF PALESTINE
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 5
Sharawne resumes hunger strike
02/01/2013
Detainee Ayman Al-Sharawne, from Dura
town south of al-Khalil, announced on
Wednesday resumption of his hunger strike
until his release.
Sharawne, who had suspended his hunger
strike for a week, has decided to resume his
hunger strike after the Israeli occupation
authorities (IOA) backtracked on earlier
promises to release him on Tuesday.
His brother Jihad told the PIC that Ayman
during the suspension of his hunger strike only
consumed 25 tablets and water, adding that his
health condition was still very delicate because
his body did not respond to the medication.
He quoted the lawyer as saying that
Sharawne’s health condition was very serious
after he reached his 179th day of hunger strike.
The IOA had said that it would release
Sharawne by start of 2013 if he suspended his
strike but nothing happened and he resumed
his strike demanding his release from his
arbitrary administrative detention.
Sharawne was released in the Wafa Al-Ahrar
prisoners’ exchange deal that stipulated among
other conditions that no released prisoner
would be re-arrested.
It’s worth mentioning that several other
Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails are on
hunger strike till their demands are fulfilled;
the prisoners are: Samer Esawi (on hunger
strike since 1/8/2012), Odai Kilani (since
23/10/2012), Tareq Qa’dan, Jaafar Ezzidin,
Saleh Kmail and Yusuf Shaaban (Since
25/11/2012). Most of them are in critical
health situation.
Source: PIC + Agencies
_______________________________________________________________
Israeli forces breach truce with Gaza
04/01/2013
Israel's armed forces appear to have breached
the terms of the truce with Hamas in Gaza
which brought an end to November's massive
offensive against Palestinian civilians. Under
heavy drone cover, Israeli tanks entered the
Gaza Strip on Monday, near the city of Rafah
in the south of the enclave.
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Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 6
Witnesses said that three Israeli Merkava tanks
and six armoured bulldozers entered the
eastern areas about 100m inside the city
boundary. A large lorry loaded with iron boxes
followed the bulldozers.
Palestinian security sources believe that the
latest Israeli incursion is intended to establish
a new Israeli observation post or fortify an
existing one. Similar Israeli moves took place several days ago.
On the other hand, the Israeli occupation
forces bombed the eastern part of Khan
Younis and fishing boats off Rafah, in the
southern Gaza Strip. Local sources told the
PIC correspondent that the occupation forces
positioned in the east of Khan Yunis, opened
fire at farmlands and residential areas east
of the city, on Friday morning, with no casualties reported.
Source: Agencies
_______________________________________________________________
Aqsa foundation: Israel plans to Judaize the landscape around
the Aqsa Mosque
03/01/2012
The Aqsa foundation for endowment and
heritage warned that the Israeli occupation
regime plans to build a cluster of giant
Jewish structures that can change the urban
landscape greatly around the Aqsa Mosque.
In a press report on Thursday, the Aqsa
foundation said that the Israeli occupation
authority and its institutions intensified in
recent days its excavations around the Aqsa
Mosque, especially in its western and
southern sides where Al-Maghariba Gate,
the Umayyad Palaces and the entrance to
Wadi Hilwa district are located.
The foundation noted that these excavations
are taking place concurrently with the
destruction of historical Islamic monuments
and remains as part of Israel's steps to
Judaize the whole area around the Mosque.
Not far from Al-Maghariba Gate,
specifically at the entrance to Wadi Hilwa
district, the Israeli excavations expand
every day, while the Islamic structural
remains from Umayyad and Abbasid eras,
which were discovered during the diggings,
were wiped out, according to the
committee.
Source: PIC
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Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 7
Hebrew reports: Escalation of popular resistance in the West
Bank
04/01/2012
Hebrew media reports confirmed the
escalation of popular resistance operations
carried out by Palestinian citizens against
Israeli targets in the occupied West Bank,
during the past two months.
The reports said that dozens of resistance
operations were carried out by Palestinian
youths including throwing stones and empty
bottles and Molotov "cocktails" on military
sites and settlements of the enemy in different
parts of the occupied West Bank focused in
general in the cities of Jerusalem, al-Khalil,
Ramallah and Qalqilya.
Yesha Hebrew site pointed out that the recent
period has witnessed the innovation of new
types of popular resistance, including the
erecting of barriers and camouflaged
barricades at the entrances to Palestinian
towns and villages to repel the incursions of
the Israeli occupation forces and settlers,
pointing out that this type of barriers spread
dramatically in the villages surrounding the
city of Ramallah, and causing significant
damage to Israeli settlers and soldiers'
vehicles.
Source: PIC
_______________________________________________________________
Complaint regarding an attempt to assassinate Sheikh Salah
03/01/2013
A human rights organization in 1948-occupied
Palestine revealed that the Israeli General
Intelligence "Shabak" had masterminded a
plan to assassinate the head of the Islamic
movement in 1948-occupied Palestine, Sheikh
Raed Salah.
Al-Mezan center for human rights said, in a
press statement on Wednesday, that its lawyer
Mohammed Suleiman Aghbarieh presented a
petition to the Administrative Tribunal in
Jerusalem demanding the Israeli Attorney
General to disclose the Intelligence agency's
plan to assassinate Sheikh Raed Salah.
Aghbarieh explained that in July 2010 the
Israeli media revealed that the Israeli
Intelligence arrested an Israeli citizen named
"Haim Verlman" on suspicion of killing
Palestinians, and during interrogation, he
admitted that an Israeli intelligence officer
asked him to assassinate Sheikh Raed Salah.
The lawyer Aghbarieh added that "the recently
discovered information constitute a definite
risk on Sheikh Raed Salah's life, however
recommendations to the government's legal
adviser fell on deaf ears."
Source: PIC
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
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Israel completes key part of fence with Egypt
02/01/2013
Israel has completed the main segment of a
razor-wire fence along its border with Egypt.
The five-metre high fence, bolstered by
military surveillance equipment, is touted by
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as proof
of his commitment to Israel's security as he
campaigns for a national election on January
22.
Israel says the barrier has been built to
deter illegal migrants and Islamist fighters
hiding out in Egypt's lawless Sinai region.
The final 14km section will be completed
within the next three months, leaving the
fence stretching from Israel's Red Sea port of
Eilat to the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean.
Source: Aljazeera
_______________________________________________________________
850 Palestinians killed in
Syria
02/01/2012
Five Palestinians have been killed on Monday
in shelling by Syrian forces loyal to Syrian
regime on the camps of Husseiniya and
Yarmouk.
Syrian forces launched dozens of mortar
missiles at buildings of Palestinians in the
camps. The last victims' toll of Palestinians
reached 850 martyrs.
"Working group for Palestinians in Syria,"
reported on Monday that al-Thalathin street in
Yarmouk exposed to heavy fire and shelling ,
whereas many shells landed in districts of
Oroba, Madina and Maryters Cemetery. Syrian
forces also prevented vehicles carrying food
and other materials to get into the camp.
In Husseiniya camp, Syrian MIG warplanes
bombed buildings in the street of the 17,
killing a number of Palestinian refugees and
leaving large material damage.
Source: drah.ps
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 9
Netanyahu's party falls behind in opinion polls
02/01/2013
The latest opinion poll in Israel suggests that
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud
Party will lose five seats to new party "Jewish
Home", Haaretz newspaper said on
Wednesday. The new party is headed by
Naftali Bennett and would be expected to win
14 seats, the poll indicated, making it the third largest party in the Knesset.
Conducted by the Dialogue Institute at Tel-
Aviv University, for Haaretz, the poll shows
that the Likud-Yisrael Beiteinau coalition
could win 34 seats in the Israeli parliament,
the Knesset. that's five fewer than shown by an identical poll conducted one month ago.
However, if, as expected, Netanyahu forms a
broader coalition with other extreme right-
wing and religious parties, he can expect to
command 67 seats. The centre-left bloc,
according to the poll, would win 53 seats, with
little change between Tzipi Livni's party and
Yair Lapid's. The Labour Party would lose one
seat, leaving it with 16, making it the second
largest in parliament, although Haaretz noted
that given current trends, the Jewish Home
party could possibly replace Labour in that
position.
Source: MEMO
_______________________________________________________________
Netanyahu says Livni will not have role in next government
27/12/2012
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
insisted on Wednesday that he will not allow
former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to have
any foreign affairs role in a prospective
government under his leadership. Netanyahu
was responding to what he called "rumours"
that Livni would get a senior role in exchange
for joining his coalition after the forthcoming general election.
"She will not get the foreign affairs portfolio
or even be allowed anywhere in the diplomatic
realm or be involved in talks with the
Palestinians," Israeli newspaper Haaretz
quoted him as telling Likud Party ministers on Wednesday.
Livni, who formed a new party called Hatuna
recently, criticised Netanyahu's remarks. She
told Yedioth Ahronoth. "He is trying to spread
despair among those who oppose his policies."
She accused Netanyahu of evading issues of
substance and pretending that he has already
won the election.
Netanyahu would prefer, it is claimed, to give
the foreign affairs portfolio back to Yisrael
Beiteinu's Avigdor Lieberman once he has
resolved the legal issues which pushed him to resign as Foreign Minister recently.
Source: MEMO
ISRAEL INSIDER
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 10
IKIMfm radio collects RM120, 000 for Palestine Muslims
31/12/2012
The IKIMfm Radio in collaboration with the
Asy-Syakirin Mosque, KLCC has raised
RM120, 000 for the Palestinian Fund to help
the people of Gaza.
The collection was made through the
IKIMfm@Asy-Syakirin Mosque Mahabbah
Carnival, a programme that implemented a
'dakwah turun padang' (missionary on the
field) concept, to provide an insight into the
brutality of the Zionist regime against
Muslims in Palestine.
When approached by Bernama at the carnival
here Monday, Fairuz who is also IKIMfm
Senior Producer hoped that the carnival would
act as an important platform to spread the
beauty of Islam, especially through the
'dakwah' approach in creating a society with a
high level of awareness on universal issues.
Source: Bernama
_______________________________________________________________
Pop festival an aspiration of youth to help Palestinians in Gaza
25/12/2012
The two-day Save Gaza Pop Festival held in
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) has
showcased the aspiration of 250 youths to
offer their help and assistance to the Muslims
in Gaza, Palestine.
Selangor Youth Council (MBS) president
Datuk Irmohizam Ibrahim said the festival
also saw various activities and 110 sales
booths being mounted with the aim of raising
funds for Gaza.
"MBS, as well as these youths just want to
express our support and concerns about the
sufferings of the Palestinians in Gaza by
organising exhibitions, stage performance and
sharing our experience in Palestine during the
two-day festival," he said when contacted here
Sunday.
Source: Bernama
MALAYSIA & PALESTINIAN CAUSE
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 11
The time is ripe for Palestinian reconciliation, again
By: Yaser AlZaatra
After the victory of the Palestinian resistance
in Gaza against the Israeli offensive and the
relative success at the United Nations, there is
a positive atmosphere with regards to
reconciliation; the time, surely, is ripe for it.
However, when we ask questions about it, it
looks as if we're sabotaging the coming
together which is going to solve Palestine's
complicated issues. Of course, Hamas and
Fatah leaders are now meeting to achieve the
hoped-for reconciliation, which they have used
as an excuse for all disasters that have befallen
the people of Palestine. That list includes the
failed negotiations, even though they have
been negotiating for much longer than the division without actually achieving anything.
The reality is that all the positive atmospheres
in the world can't guarantee reconciliation, as
the devil lies in the details, which will still be
there to sabotage the process at any moment.
Even so, let's assume that things will be alright
and ask about the nature of this reconciliation
and how it will benefit what is called the
"Palestinian national project". Keep in mind
the "principles" of the Palestinian Authority
whose leader splits his time between the
leadership of the PLO, Palestine and the
Palestinian Revolution Forces.
What scenario does reconciliation promise,
and what will be the consequences for the
liberation project? Can we truly "liberate" the
land on the borders of 1967 if the president
gives up 78 per cent of historic Palestine
without even getting any recognition of
Palestinians' right to the remaining 22 per
cent?
We will simply go back to what we had before
the 2006 elections, and the focus will be on
presidential and parliamentarian elections as a
theme for unity, although it is not clear
whether elections increase or decrease
divisions! Fatah and leftist parties will
probably win a small majority because of the
proportional list system, as opposed to the
individual seats system through which Hamas
won last time. In any case, if Hamas wins
again, the now familiar blockade and
blackmail scenario will ensue.
A victory for Fatah and its allies with a small
majority will probably lead to a national unity
government if Hamas agrees to participate in
it. This will govern as if there is a real nation
state, which of course there isn't. The situation
on the ground will remain the same, and the
"government" will have to negotiate with the
Israeli occupation, which leads nowhere
except to security cooperation for Israel's benefit.
Veteran negotiator Sa'eb Erakat said a few
days back that there are efforts to resume
negotiations with Netanyahu's government,
even though the Israeli election is imminent.
This is futile. Everyone knows that neither
Netanyahu, who responded to the UN
recognition of Palestine as a non-member
observer state by announcing more
settlements, nor Barack, nor even Olmert
could or would give Palestinians a fully
sovereign state on the 1967 borders, including
east Jerusalem. The stark evidence for this is
the Camp David dead end in 2000 and, more
importantly, the Abbas-Olmert negotiations
whose details were exposed in the leaked
Palestine Papers; Abbas gave huge
concessions regarding Jerusalem and land
exchange. They would have led to massive
settlement blocs remaining deep inside the
West Bank and giving up refugees' right of
return, but this was still insufficient for the
Israelis.
The question to which there is no clear answer
is simple: what will be the consequences of
Israeli refusals during negotiations? The
answer is equally simple: nothing. Security
coordination will continue and the Palestinian
Authority's rule over the localities the "Separation Wall" leaves behind will continue.
This is the temporary state of affairs which no
one will acknowledge; it is also Netanyahu's
ARTICLES & ANALYSES
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 12
"economic peace". Palestine's leaders will
keep on saying that they will adhere to
principles and that they will not give up on
them (even though the Abbas-Olmert papers
suggest otherwise), and they will demand their
legitimate rights in all international arenas. As
for peaceful resistance, it will be limited to one
weekly protest while everyone knows that
effective resistance is one that has a cost for
the occupation authorities. Resistance should
challenge robustly, to the point of civil
disobedience, Israeli checkpoints and settlers.
We don't see this kind of resistance, though,
because it obstructs "development" and
perhaps the "business" of senior officials' sons
and relatives; so-called VIP identity cards for
the PA may also be withdrawn by the Israelis.
Armed resistance, the most effective resistance
of all, is off the agenda and cannot be
considered because it is "absurd" and "destructive".
If Hamas accepts all of this, it would be a
disaster, but if the reconciliation takes a
different path, then it should be welcomed. At
this point it should be remembered that I am
not questioning the integrity of all Fatah's
activists who, just like us, talk about the
absurdity of negotiations. Like most
Palestinians, they are looking forward to
standing up to Israeli tyranny with the rest of
the people as they did during the great Al-
Aqsa Intifada.
The worthy reconciliation path would create a
civil authority in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip which provides public services to the
people. Elections, meanwhile, should be held
across Palestine and in the Diaspora to choose
a unified leadership through reformation of the
PLO. At that stage, a new stage of the liberation struggle can be agreed upon.
The problem is that the state's recognition by
the UN will marginalise the PLO; what's
worse is that the PLO leadership will not agree
to it being reformed in a manner that will give
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and those who
support resistance - which includes many
people from Fatah as well more than half of
the membership. That would see resistance
adopted as a means of liberation.
If just and honest reform of the PLO is
accepted and forms the basis of reconciliation
it will be positive for the liberation movement.
The current impasse looks too hard to break
without another Intifada in the West Bank in
response to Israeli settlements, Judaisation
policies, checkpoints and humiliation. The
objective would be to remove Israel from all
land occupied in 1967, similar to its
withdrawal from South Lebanon; no
"negotiations" would be necessary. If Hamas
uses the present goodwill following Israel's
recent offensive against Gaza to present the
project in the form of a civil administration for
the West Bank and Gaza, with a complete
Intifada against the Israeli occupation, it will
get most of the factions on board, including
members of Fatah.
The main choice, therefore, appears to be
between the current maze with no
reconciliation or a new Intifada. That could
lead to the West Bank and Gaza Strip going
their separate ways, which the Israelis would
no doubt like to see, with a blockade in one and security cooperation from the other.
The PA knows that a settlement according to
what it calls "historical principles" which
excludes 78 per cent of Palestine, is still not
accepted by Netanyahu, Lieberman or anyone
else. PA officials ignore that fact completely
and talk about negotiations as if everything is in order.
The time is indeed ripe for Palestine to get out
of this mess and to use the atmosphere of the
Arab Spring to move one step ahead on the
path of resistance and real liberty, instead of
begging and accepting the crumbs offered by
the Israelis. This needs a unified and united
leadership for the Palestinian people inside
and outside historic Palestine. If this is not
forthcoming, then the only option is an Intifada to impose unity in the field.
Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013
Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 13