17 mar 2016
MK Hotovely reveals that the Foreign Ministry has been taking part in clandestine meetings in Jakarta; Sunday's refusal to facilitate the Indonesian foreign minister's visit to Ramallah was caused by a violation of these secret agreements.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely revealed on Wednesday that Israel and Indonesea are conducting secret negotiations, and that a representative of the Foreign Ministry recently visited the capital, Jakarta.
The statements were made in reply to a question in the Knesset from MK Ahmed Tibi (Joint List) regarding the Israeli decision to prevent Indonesia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi from entering Ramallah on Sunday.
"There were secret communications with Indonesia, with which we have no diplomatic relations, and there were understandings that they crudely violated, and we therefore prevented her from entering," said Hotovely in the Knesset. "It was a violation of diplomatic code, and so the most honorable thing is to honor the code, and when you commit a violation, don't be surprised that you are preventing yourself from visiting the Palestinian Authority."
Hotoveli clarified that the understandings were reached during the Foreign Ministry representative visit to Indonesia, according to which Indonesians could visit the Palestinian Authority only if they also visit Israel. She said that a dialogue exists through various channels, and Israel attaches great importance to relations with Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world.
Marsudi was supposed to inaugurate an honorary Indonesian consulate in Ramallah. She visited Jordan on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive on Sunday in Ramallah, to demonstrate Indonesia's commitment to improving relations with the Palestinians and to support Palestinian independence.
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who chose the Palestinian issue as the central theme of his foreign policy in the presidential election campaign in 2014, promised to open a diplomatic mission in Ramallah. Widodo also announced in his speech at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jakarta last week the appointment of a Palestinian to the position of honorary consul of Indonesia in Palestine. He announced that this role would be to strengthen economic, social and cultural exchanges and to encourage the travel of tourists and businesseople between the two countries, as well as to provide assistance to Indonesian citizens. In the same speech, the president said there should be a boycott of settlement products.
In 2012, Israel refused to allow the former foreign minister of Indonesia Marty Natalegawa to enter the the territories. Natalegawa’s request to enter along with a delegation of 12 ministers from Malaysia, Cuba and Bangladesh was denied.
Although Indonesia has clearly pro-Palestinian views in public, it is confidentially conducting close talks with Israel in a variety of areas, the center of which is tourism. Data from the Population and Immigration Authority show that in 2013 some 30,000 tourists came from Indonesia, compared with just 9,442 in 2009—an increase of more than threefold. Some travel agencies organize trips from Indonesia to Israel and sell packages.
In 2013, then-Israeli economy minister Naftali Bennett visited Indonesia to participate in the World Trade Organization conference in Bali. Former president Shimon Peres visited Indonesia in 2000. Amos Nadai, deputy director of the Foreign Ministry, also visited Indonesia, as well as Yael Rubinstein, then Israel's ambassador to Thailand. At the same time, several delegations from Indonesia arrived in Israel. In 2013, a group of Indonesian officials secretly visited the country and even visited the Knesset. Last year, a delegation from Indonesia participated in a homeland security conference in Tel Aviv.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry operates a website in Indonesia and brings delegations of journalists and opinion makers from Indonesia to Israel every year. Indonesian businessmen are invited to receptions celebrating Israel’s Independence Day, conducted by the Israeli Embassy in Singapore, which is responsible for the relationship with Indonesia. However, whenever reports were published in Indonesia that relations are warming up, they immediately led to demonstrations against Israel and threats from Muslim organizations.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely revealed on Wednesday that Israel and Indonesea are conducting secret negotiations, and that a representative of the Foreign Ministry recently visited the capital, Jakarta.
The statements were made in reply to a question in the Knesset from MK Ahmed Tibi (Joint List) regarding the Israeli decision to prevent Indonesia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi from entering Ramallah on Sunday.
"There were secret communications with Indonesia, with which we have no diplomatic relations, and there were understandings that they crudely violated, and we therefore prevented her from entering," said Hotovely in the Knesset. "It was a violation of diplomatic code, and so the most honorable thing is to honor the code, and when you commit a violation, don't be surprised that you are preventing yourself from visiting the Palestinian Authority."
Hotoveli clarified that the understandings were reached during the Foreign Ministry representative visit to Indonesia, according to which Indonesians could visit the Palestinian Authority only if they also visit Israel. She said that a dialogue exists through various channels, and Israel attaches great importance to relations with Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world.
Marsudi was supposed to inaugurate an honorary Indonesian consulate in Ramallah. She visited Jordan on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive on Sunday in Ramallah, to demonstrate Indonesia's commitment to improving relations with the Palestinians and to support Palestinian independence.
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who chose the Palestinian issue as the central theme of his foreign policy in the presidential election campaign in 2014, promised to open a diplomatic mission in Ramallah. Widodo also announced in his speech at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jakarta last week the appointment of a Palestinian to the position of honorary consul of Indonesia in Palestine. He announced that this role would be to strengthen economic, social and cultural exchanges and to encourage the travel of tourists and businesseople between the two countries, as well as to provide assistance to Indonesian citizens. In the same speech, the president said there should be a boycott of settlement products.
In 2012, Israel refused to allow the former foreign minister of Indonesia Marty Natalegawa to enter the the territories. Natalegawa’s request to enter along with a delegation of 12 ministers from Malaysia, Cuba and Bangladesh was denied.
Although Indonesia has clearly pro-Palestinian views in public, it is confidentially conducting close talks with Israel in a variety of areas, the center of which is tourism. Data from the Population and Immigration Authority show that in 2013 some 30,000 tourists came from Indonesia, compared with just 9,442 in 2009—an increase of more than threefold. Some travel agencies organize trips from Indonesia to Israel and sell packages.
In 2013, then-Israeli economy minister Naftali Bennett visited Indonesia to participate in the World Trade Organization conference in Bali. Former president Shimon Peres visited Indonesia in 2000. Amos Nadai, deputy director of the Foreign Ministry, also visited Indonesia, as well as Yael Rubinstein, then Israel's ambassador to Thailand. At the same time, several delegations from Indonesia arrived in Israel. In 2013, a group of Indonesian officials secretly visited the country and even visited the Knesset. Last year, a delegation from Indonesia participated in a homeland security conference in Tel Aviv.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry operates a website in Indonesia and brings delegations of journalists and opinion makers from Indonesia to Israel every year. Indonesian businessmen are invited to receptions celebrating Israel’s Independence Day, conducted by the Israeli Embassy in Singapore, which is responsible for the relationship with Indonesia. However, whenever reports were published in Indonesia that relations are warming up, they immediately led to demonstrations against Israel and threats from Muslim organizations.
14 mar 2016
Israeli forces on Monday ended the daily four-hour closure imposed on Friday at a major Israeli military checkpoint between the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah and the southern West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
The ministry said the Jabaa checkpoint, which had been closed between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. for the past three days for maintenance work, was now operating normally and open to traffic at all hours.
On Friday, Israeli forces also closed Zaatara military checkpoint in southern Nablus for maintenance, primarily during rush hour periods, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The Zaatara closure, which is still in effect, affects the movement of the over 200,000 Palestinians living in the Nablus governorate, which includes the city of Nablus, three refugee camps and fifteen villages.
The movement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is heavily controlled, as entrance and exit into every Palestinian district is only possible through permanent Israeli military checkpoints.
Areas across the occupied West Bank have been closed on several occasions during unrest that spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October, often following attacks or attempted attacks carried out by Palestinian individuals on Israeli military forces stationed in the West Bank, particularly at checkpoints.
The ministry said the Jabaa checkpoint, which had been closed between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. for the past three days for maintenance work, was now operating normally and open to traffic at all hours.
On Friday, Israeli forces also closed Zaatara military checkpoint in southern Nablus for maintenance, primarily during rush hour periods, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The Zaatara closure, which is still in effect, affects the movement of the over 200,000 Palestinians living in the Nablus governorate, which includes the city of Nablus, three refugee camps and fifteen villages.
The movement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is heavily controlled, as entrance and exit into every Palestinian district is only possible through permanent Israeli military checkpoints.
Areas across the occupied West Bank have been closed on several occasions during unrest that spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October, often following attacks or attempted attacks carried out by Palestinian individuals on Israeli military forces stationed in the West Bank, particularly at checkpoints.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Monday morning raided several commercial stores and the branch of Bank of Jerusalem in Qabalan town south of Nablus.
Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that Israeli soldiers entered the Bank of Jerusalem in the town and reviewed the records of its security camera system.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army is still imposing a blockade on Qabalan and blocking all the roads linking it with nearby villages.
The IOF only allows students, workmen and residents over 25 years of age to use the road leading to the military checkpoint of Za'atara, according to the sources. In a separate incident, the IOF closed, in the morning of the same day, the western entrance to Bani Na'im town, east of al-Khalil city, and barred Palestinians from entering or leaving it.
The entrance, which is locally known as the entrance of Wadi al-Joz, is located on a bypass road near al-Khalil city, where three young men were killed earlier in the morning by Israeli soldiers in two separate incidents.
Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that Israeli soldiers entered the Bank of Jerusalem in the town and reviewed the records of its security camera system.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army is still imposing a blockade on Qabalan and blocking all the roads linking it with nearby villages.
The IOF only allows students, workmen and residents over 25 years of age to use the road leading to the military checkpoint of Za'atara, according to the sources. In a separate incident, the IOF closed, in the morning of the same day, the western entrance to Bani Na'im town, east of al-Khalil city, and barred Palestinians from entering or leaving it.
The entrance, which is locally known as the entrance of Wadi al-Joz, is located on a bypass road near al-Khalil city, where three young men were killed earlier in the morning by Israeli soldiers in two separate incidents.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday evening reclosed all entrances to Qabalan town, southeast of Nablus, amid intensive military presence in nearby areas.
Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (IOF) that the IOF tightened the closure of Qabalan's entrances with mounds of dirt and rocks after the residents removed some roadblocks for the movement of cars.
They added that area had seen intensive military overflights and activities in the evening. The IOF also established roadblocks in nearby areas, which made it difficult for the Palestinians to leave and enter the villages of Yatma, Talfit, Jalud and Qaryout.
At dawn Saturday, the IOF raided several homes in Qabalan town and interrogated residents on site. The IOF closed the roads leading to Qabalan town as mass punishment against the residents after one of them carried out a stabbing attack in Occupied Jerusalem on Saturday.
In a separate incident, the IOF on Sunday night set up military barriers on roads west and south of Jenin city and intercepted Palestinian vehicles and citizens.
Local sources told the PIC that Israeli soldiers erected barriers on the Jenin-Haifa road near the entrance to Zabuba town and the road leading to Barta'a town, south of Jenin, and embarked on searching passing cars and interrogating passengers.
Local sources told the Palestinian Information Center (IOF) that the IOF tightened the closure of Qabalan's entrances with mounds of dirt and rocks after the residents removed some roadblocks for the movement of cars.
They added that area had seen intensive military overflights and activities in the evening. The IOF also established roadblocks in nearby areas, which made it difficult for the Palestinians to leave and enter the villages of Yatma, Talfit, Jalud and Qaryout.
At dawn Saturday, the IOF raided several homes in Qabalan town and interrogated residents on site. The IOF closed the roads leading to Qabalan town as mass punishment against the residents after one of them carried out a stabbing attack in Occupied Jerusalem on Saturday.
In a separate incident, the IOF on Sunday night set up military barriers on roads west and south of Jenin city and intercepted Palestinian vehicles and citizens.
Local sources told the PIC that Israeli soldiers erected barriers on the Jenin-Haifa road near the entrance to Zabuba town and the road leading to Barta'a town, south of Jenin, and embarked on searching passing cars and interrogating passengers.
13 mar 2016
Israeli authorities denied entrance, to the occupied West Bank, to an Indonesian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, on Sunday morning.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, in a statement, that Marsudi was scheduled to visit the occupied Palestinian territory and meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in Ramallah.
Matsudi, according to Ma'an, was also scheduled to inaugurate an honorary consulate of Indonesia in Ramallah.
The Palestinian Authority statement added that al-Maliki traveled to Jordan on Sunday morning in order to meet with her in Amman instead.
The two will discuss issues of importance to both countries and the how to improve bilateral relations, the statement said.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on the incident.
However, Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" reported that Marsudi was turned away due to her refusal to also meet with Israeli political figures, during her trip.
Israel controls access to the West Bank, which can be reached via the main checkpoint outside Jerusalem, on the road coming up from Ben Gurion International Airport, or at the Allenby Bridge over the Jordan River, on the road from Amman.
Israel has denied foreign diplomats entry to Palestinian territory numerous times, over the years. Earlier this month, Israeli authorities denied a delegation of Belgian lawmakers entry into the blockaded Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, in a statement, that Marsudi was scheduled to visit the occupied Palestinian territory and meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in Ramallah.
Matsudi, according to Ma'an, was also scheduled to inaugurate an honorary consulate of Indonesia in Ramallah.
The Palestinian Authority statement added that al-Maliki traveled to Jordan on Sunday morning in order to meet with her in Amman instead.
The two will discuss issues of importance to both countries and the how to improve bilateral relations, the statement said.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on the incident.
However, Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" reported that Marsudi was turned away due to her refusal to also meet with Israeli political figures, during her trip.
Israel controls access to the West Bank, which can be reached via the main checkpoint outside Jerusalem, on the road coming up from Ben Gurion International Airport, or at the Allenby Bridge over the Jordan River, on the road from Amman.
Israel has denied foreign diplomats entry to Palestinian territory numerous times, over the years. Earlier this month, Israeli authorities denied a delegation of Belgian lawmakers entry into the blockaded Gaza Strip.
The Israeli occupation army on Saturday evening imposed a security cordon on Beit Ur al-Tahta village west of Ramallah city after two soldiers were slightly injured in a shooting attack.
The Israeli army imposed on Saturday night a partial siege on Beit Ur al-Tahta, where the gunman who attacked a military checkpoint on Friday was believed to have fled to following the incident, according to the Hebrew radio.
The army claimed it was only permitting residents to enter and exit the central West Bank village for humanitarian purposes.
The Israeli army uses the policy of blockade against the residents of Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank if any one of them has been suspected of attacking Israelis.
The Israeli army imposed on Saturday night a partial siege on Beit Ur al-Tahta, where the gunman who attacked a military checkpoint on Friday was believed to have fled to following the incident, according to the Hebrew radio.
The army claimed it was only permitting residents to enter and exit the central West Bank village for humanitarian purposes.
The Israeli army uses the policy of blockade against the residents of Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank if any one of them has been suspected of attacking Israelis.
11 mar 2016
Israeli Minister of Construction and Housing Yoav Galant has expressed support for the idea of constructing a seaport for Gaza, explaining that it would release pressure on the Strip, which suffers due to ongoing economic siege.
Galant, the former commander of the Southern Command explained, in a speech to Israeli Channel 10, that the siege and heightened security between Egypt and Gaza, has turned the Gaza Strip into an isolated island without the necessities of life. He expressed his opinion that the construction of a seaport would solve this problem.
He said, according to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, that Israel has three contradictory interests in establishing the port, as Israel seeks to realize calm in the south , not holding any responsibilities towards the people of Gaza and disarming the Strip.
He supported the army's request for establishing the port, explaining that it will be an outlet for Gazans, whom Israel exerts ongoing control over. Furthermore, constructing an artificial island, to act as port under Israeli supervision, would give Israel the ability to isolate the besieged coastal enclave whenever it wishes.
"I think it is a reasonable solution, and the world will be happy with it," he said.
Galant added that the best solution is to hold the people of Gaza to their own responsibilities, since any future humanitarian crisis, or any other, would not find its way to Israeli land.
Galant, the former commander of the Southern Command explained, in a speech to Israeli Channel 10, that the siege and heightened security between Egypt and Gaza, has turned the Gaza Strip into an isolated island without the necessities of life. He expressed his opinion that the construction of a seaport would solve this problem.
He said, according to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, that Israel has three contradictory interests in establishing the port, as Israel seeks to realize calm in the south , not holding any responsibilities towards the people of Gaza and disarming the Strip.
He supported the army's request for establishing the port, explaining that it will be an outlet for Gazans, whom Israel exerts ongoing control over. Furthermore, constructing an artificial island, to act as port under Israeli supervision, would give Israel the ability to isolate the besieged coastal enclave whenever it wishes.
"I think it is a reasonable solution, and the world will be happy with it," he said.
Galant added that the best solution is to hold the people of Gaza to their own responsibilities, since any future humanitarian crisis, or any other, would not find its way to Israeli land.
10 mar 2016
The Israeli government will permit residents of the Gaza Strip to go abroad through the Allenby border crossing with Jordan under prohibitive conditions, according to an announcement released recently by the office of the coordinator of government activities in the Palestinian territories.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz republished this announcement, which appears to be an attempt to embellish the image of Israel's blockade on Gaza.
One travel condition reads on the office's website that "as a rule, any resident of the Gaza Strip who wishes to enter Israel and the West Bank for the sake of going abroad for various private purposes, if he gives a written commitment not to return to the Gaza Strip via Israel and the West Bank for one year, his request will be approved, subject to a detailed security assessment."
In addition, no more than 100 exit permits via Allenby will be issued every week for Gazan applicants who fall under the categories of needing special medical treatment, attending special conferences and students pursuing advanced degrees abroad, according to the announcement. The applicants are also demanded to obtain approval from Jordan to cross into its territory.
The passengers, who meet the conditions, will travel in groups and provided with an escort by the Israeli army or the Palestinian Authority during their trip to the Allenby Bridge. Until 1991, Israel allowed all Palestinians (except those who were restricted for security reasons) from Gaza and the West Bank to enter the 1948 occupied territories and move freely between the two areas.
West Bank residents and Gazans used to travel abroad (subject to a security permit) via Rafah, Allenby and Ben-Gurion Airport, according to Haaretz.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz republished this announcement, which appears to be an attempt to embellish the image of Israel's blockade on Gaza.
One travel condition reads on the office's website that "as a rule, any resident of the Gaza Strip who wishes to enter Israel and the West Bank for the sake of going abroad for various private purposes, if he gives a written commitment not to return to the Gaza Strip via Israel and the West Bank for one year, his request will be approved, subject to a detailed security assessment."
In addition, no more than 100 exit permits via Allenby will be issued every week for Gazan applicants who fall under the categories of needing special medical treatment, attending special conferences and students pursuing advanced degrees abroad, according to the announcement. The applicants are also demanded to obtain approval from Jordan to cross into its territory.
The passengers, who meet the conditions, will travel in groups and provided with an escort by the Israeli army or the Palestinian Authority during their trip to the Allenby Bridge. Until 1991, Israel allowed all Palestinians (except those who were restricted for security reasons) from Gaza and the West Bank to enter the 1948 occupied territories and move freely between the two areas.
West Bank residents and Gazans used to travel abroad (subject to a security permit) via Rafah, Allenby and Ben-Gurion Airport, according to Haaretz.
6 mar 2016
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Saturday evening pitched a military checkpoint in southern Jenin, at the same time as they cordoned off Palestinian neighborhoods in Occupied Jerusalem.
A PIC journalist quoted local sources as stating that the IOF set up a military checkpoint at the Jarba crossroads, in southern Jenin, where Palestinian vehicles and civilians were provocatively inspected.
Meanwhile, IOF troops were deployed across Palestinian neighborhoods in Occupied Jerusalem, most notably in al-Issawiya and Silwan, to the east.
Special Israeli forces, border policemen, and mounted police units were stationed across Bab al-Amoud area, where Palestinian youths were searched and questioned.
The IOF also cracked down on Palestinian civilians at the entrances to al-Issawiya village and arrested the youngster Wadi Dari.
According to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, the occupation troops rolled into Silwan and pitched makeshift roadblocks across its residential neighborhoods. The IOF further ordered Palestinian shopkeepers in al-Issawiya to shut down their stores without prior notifications.
A PIC journalist quoted local sources as stating that the IOF set up a military checkpoint at the Jarba crossroads, in southern Jenin, where Palestinian vehicles and civilians were provocatively inspected.
Meanwhile, IOF troops were deployed across Palestinian neighborhoods in Occupied Jerusalem, most notably in al-Issawiya and Silwan, to the east.
Special Israeli forces, border policemen, and mounted police units were stationed across Bab al-Amoud area, where Palestinian youths were searched and questioned.
The IOF also cracked down on Palestinian civilians at the entrances to al-Issawiya village and arrested the youngster Wadi Dari.
According to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, the occupation troops rolled into Silwan and pitched makeshift roadblocks across its residential neighborhoods. The IOF further ordered Palestinian shopkeepers in al-Issawiya to shut down their stores without prior notifications.
4 mar 2016
Israeli authorities have denied a delegation of six Belgian MPs entry into the blockaded Gaza Strip to visit local NGOs, this week.
The delegation, which represents different political parties in Belgium, said in a statement, on Wednesday, that they had arranged the visit for the day before with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
They had hoped to meet with civil society organizations and take field tours across the beleaguered enclave at the request of the Belgian parliament.
After being denied, the MPs criticised the “illegal” Israel measure and said it contravened international conventions. They also suggested that Israel might be attempting “to hide something,” and said they had informed the Belgian government of “the unacceptable situation.”
“Israel has no right to act in such way which violates international conventions,” the MPs said in their statement.
Earlier this year, Belgium pledged €2.45 million ($2.6 million) to UNRWA “in support of the agency’s services for Palestine refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
It adds, according to the PNN, to some $90 million Belgium has donated to the agency since 2007.
The delegation was lead by Gunel Grufenis of the Belgium Socialist party, and included Van Kwecenuorn, representative of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats party, Jean Marc Noly, representative of the Belgian Green party, David Clarnival, representative of the Reform Movement party, Brydia Frogovils, representative of Christian Democratic and Flemish party and Beit Dobren, representative of the New Flemish Alliance party.
The Palestinian MP and head of the popular committee against the Gaza siege, Jamal Khudari strongly condemned the Israeli ban. He described Israel’s decision as part of its siege on the Strip that deepens the suffering of Gaza people.
Khudari also called on the international community and the European parliaments to exert more pressures on Israel to end Gaza siege.
The delegation, which represents different political parties in Belgium, said in a statement, on Wednesday, that they had arranged the visit for the day before with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
They had hoped to meet with civil society organizations and take field tours across the beleaguered enclave at the request of the Belgian parliament.
After being denied, the MPs criticised the “illegal” Israel measure and said it contravened international conventions. They also suggested that Israel might be attempting “to hide something,” and said they had informed the Belgian government of “the unacceptable situation.”
“Israel has no right to act in such way which violates international conventions,” the MPs said in their statement.
Earlier this year, Belgium pledged €2.45 million ($2.6 million) to UNRWA “in support of the agency’s services for Palestine refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
It adds, according to the PNN, to some $90 million Belgium has donated to the agency since 2007.
The delegation was lead by Gunel Grufenis of the Belgium Socialist party, and included Van Kwecenuorn, representative of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats party, Jean Marc Noly, representative of the Belgian Green party, David Clarnival, representative of the Reform Movement party, Brydia Frogovils, representative of Christian Democratic and Flemish party and Beit Dobren, representative of the New Flemish Alliance party.
The Palestinian MP and head of the popular committee against the Gaza siege, Jamal Khudari strongly condemned the Israeli ban. He described Israel’s decision as part of its siege on the Strip that deepens the suffering of Gaza people.
Khudari also called on the international community and the European parliaments to exert more pressures on Israel to end Gaza siege.
3 mar 2016
The Israeli occupation army on Wednesday night imposed a tight blockade on Madama village, south of Nablus city.
The Palestinian Authority liaison office had informed the council of the village of the Israeli intention to block all entrances to the village and declare all areas around it a closed military zone.
Chief of the village Talat Ziyadah told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that those who entered the village and became unable to leave would spend the night in places prepared for them by the local residents.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told the PIC that scores of Jewish settlers deployed themselves along Yitzhar road and near the bridge linking the villages of Burin and Madama and embarked on attacking Palestinian homes near the area.
The Israeli army intensified its presence at the entrances to most of the Palestinian villages and towns south of Nablus in the wake of the evening stabbing attack that led to the injury of two soldiers in the nearby settlement of Har Bracha.
The Palestinian Authority liaison office had informed the council of the village of the Israeli intention to block all entrances to the village and declare all areas around it a closed military zone.
Chief of the village Talat Ziyadah told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that those who entered the village and became unable to leave would spend the night in places prepared for them by the local residents.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told the PIC that scores of Jewish settlers deployed themselves along Yitzhar road and near the bridge linking the villages of Burin and Madama and embarked on attacking Palestinian homes near the area.
The Israeli army intensified its presence at the entrances to most of the Palestinian villages and towns south of Nablus in the wake of the evening stabbing attack that led to the injury of two soldiers in the nearby settlement of Har Bracha.
28 feb 2016
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dreams of surrounding Palestinians and Israelis with walls.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to construct walls and a barbed wire fence on the border with Jordan, as an addition to the walls the occupation has already raised in the West Bank and along its borders with Egypt and Gaza.
"In the state of Israel as I see it, there'll be a fence around all of it. We're surrounded by predators and we need to protect ourselves," Netanyahu said at the construction site of the upcoming wall.
Tracing the emergence of the concept of the Jewish ghetto in “Ghetto” by Joshua Sobol, “the Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare and “the Pianist” by Roman Polanski reveals the Zionist interpretation of the Jewish ghetto at work in Netanyahu’s call for more walls. This Zionist articulation of the Jewish ghetto relies on the overly simplistic and destructive assumption that Jews and non-Jews are always, already in fundamental opposition to one another.
“Ghetto,” a play written by Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol, premièred at the Haifa Municipal Theatre in Israel and the Freie Volksbühne, Berlin, in 1984. It is about the experiences of the Jews in the Vilna Ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Germany. Only several hundred people survived Vilna Ghetto's short two years of existence. Starvation, disease, street executions, and deportations to concentration and extermination camps decimated its 40,000 population. Its few survivors hid in the surrounding forests where Soviet partisans and sympathetic villagers provided help.
Sobol's play depicts Jews living in a ghetto controlled by Jewish police and Jewish councils working with the occupier. The play includes historical figures like Jacob Gens, the chief of the Jewish Police, who collaborated with the Nazis and later was appointed as the head of the ghetto’s Jewish Council. In the play, it is clear that Jews in the Vilna Ghetto lived a hard life, separated from non-Jews and unable to avoid collaborators. In exploring this reality, the play brings up the moral question of collaboration and assisting your occupier.
Sobol's isolationist reconstruction of Vilna Ghetto is rooted in the Zionist narrative of “a people who live apart.” The perspective that Jews have always been treated as at least separate from, if not in opposition to, non-Jewish society echoes Balaam’s prophecies anticipating Netanyahu's hidden desire: to be the builder of the last Jewish Ghetto.
In addressing the issue of Jewish ghettos, Sobol's play is also in dialogue with the first ghetto: the Ghetto of Venice, as explored by William Shakespeare in “the Merchant of Venice.”
The Ghetto of Venice was instituted in 1516. Jews had to live in the confines of the ghetto under the Venetian Republic. Frankfurt, Rome and Prague adopted the Venetian example of the Jewish ghetto, and in height of the Nazi barbarism, these ghettoes were rebuilt and subsequently wiped out. The structures that remain stand as memories of atrocity, but also examples of resilience, resistance and the victory of the human spirit over the worst brutalities.
After shifting from its Venetian articulation to the now widespread Italian version of the term, “ghetto,” the word became understood throughout the world to refer to areas of Jewish seclusion as well as the insidious combination of social segregation and political persecution.
In these plays, Shakespeare and Sobol deal with a most difficult question: that of collaborators. Both authors do not represent treason as an individual attitude or a factor of one’s character, but as a social phenomenon to be dealt with.
Roman Polanski's 2002 film "the Pianist," also takes us back to the Jewish ghetto, but in a depolitized fashion. In the film, beauty and pain mix into a sadistic relationship between two men, where passionate sounds of the piano become a guaranty for survival and ultimately exceed the terms of collaboration.
The historical drama is based on the autobiography of the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer, Władysław Szpilman. After going to Berlin to play piano, Szpilman returned to Warsaw in 1933, where he had previously studied at the Chopin Academy of Music. In Warsaw, he became a celebrated pianist and composer of both classical and popular music. In 1935, he joined the Polish Radio to work as a pianist.
In 1942, Szpilman lost his entire family from the ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp. Szpilman’s fate, however, was different: when Szpilman stood in a line with his family, waiting to be loaded onto a train and taken to the Treblinka extermination camp, a Jewish Police officer pulled him out, recognizing him from a concert.
Subsequently, Szpilman stayed in the Warsaw ghetto as a laborer and helped smuggle in weapons for the Jewish resistance. Later, he escaped the ghetto and survived in “Aryan” Warsaw with the help of past colleagues from the Polish Radio as well as fellow musicians. In other words: Szpilman survived thanks to human solidarity – thanks to people who risked their lives to give him the opportunity to survive in the hostile environment of occupation.
In this sense, the depoliticized but somewhat sadistic relationship between Szpilman and the Germans he lived with harbors a human story of solidarity – one that is deeply political and that stands radically opposed to the fundamentals of Zionism. Szpilman's choice to remain in Poland, which is the graveyard of his family but also a source of solidarity that gave him life, stands in profound tension with morals espoused by Zionism – that is, that the Jew is alienated, alone in the world, unable to rely on or relate to non-Jews, and thus forever yearning for a Zionist state.
The Israeli government has built large ghettos by lining the West Bank, the border with Egypt, and the Gaza Strip with fences and walls. Of course, Gaza is the most complete Israeli “ghetto.” The vast majority of Jews somehow fail to connect the situation of Gazans, and all other Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, to their own history of resistance and survival under occupation. This elision has created a twisted drama where Palestinians are sentenced to a Jewish fate.
However, the walls and fences also built another ghetto: Israel. Israeli society, with its fences and coldness has, for the most part, created its own isolation. And Netanyahu’s recent vision to complete this ghetto signals both his own and the Israeli public's ongoing support of the ghettoization of Israel.
The Arab East never saw the walls of a ghetto before and hopefully will never see them again, once we awake from the nightmare of Netanyahu. The Jews of Palestine, along the Jews of Syria, Iraq and Morocco are a part of our Arab heritage and our Arab future.
May the songs of resistance sung by Vilna partisans continue to be sung and to remind us to declare: never say this is my last path.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to construct walls and a barbed wire fence on the border with Jordan, as an addition to the walls the occupation has already raised in the West Bank and along its borders with Egypt and Gaza.
"In the state of Israel as I see it, there'll be a fence around all of it. We're surrounded by predators and we need to protect ourselves," Netanyahu said at the construction site of the upcoming wall.
Tracing the emergence of the concept of the Jewish ghetto in “Ghetto” by Joshua Sobol, “the Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare and “the Pianist” by Roman Polanski reveals the Zionist interpretation of the Jewish ghetto at work in Netanyahu’s call for more walls. This Zionist articulation of the Jewish ghetto relies on the overly simplistic and destructive assumption that Jews and non-Jews are always, already in fundamental opposition to one another.
“Ghetto,” a play written by Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol, premièred at the Haifa Municipal Theatre in Israel and the Freie Volksbühne, Berlin, in 1984. It is about the experiences of the Jews in the Vilna Ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Germany. Only several hundred people survived Vilna Ghetto's short two years of existence. Starvation, disease, street executions, and deportations to concentration and extermination camps decimated its 40,000 population. Its few survivors hid in the surrounding forests where Soviet partisans and sympathetic villagers provided help.
Sobol's play depicts Jews living in a ghetto controlled by Jewish police and Jewish councils working with the occupier. The play includes historical figures like Jacob Gens, the chief of the Jewish Police, who collaborated with the Nazis and later was appointed as the head of the ghetto’s Jewish Council. In the play, it is clear that Jews in the Vilna Ghetto lived a hard life, separated from non-Jews and unable to avoid collaborators. In exploring this reality, the play brings up the moral question of collaboration and assisting your occupier.
Sobol's isolationist reconstruction of Vilna Ghetto is rooted in the Zionist narrative of “a people who live apart.” The perspective that Jews have always been treated as at least separate from, if not in opposition to, non-Jewish society echoes Balaam’s prophecies anticipating Netanyahu's hidden desire: to be the builder of the last Jewish Ghetto.
In addressing the issue of Jewish ghettos, Sobol's play is also in dialogue with the first ghetto: the Ghetto of Venice, as explored by William Shakespeare in “the Merchant of Venice.”
The Ghetto of Venice was instituted in 1516. Jews had to live in the confines of the ghetto under the Venetian Republic. Frankfurt, Rome and Prague adopted the Venetian example of the Jewish ghetto, and in height of the Nazi barbarism, these ghettoes were rebuilt and subsequently wiped out. The structures that remain stand as memories of atrocity, but also examples of resilience, resistance and the victory of the human spirit over the worst brutalities.
After shifting from its Venetian articulation to the now widespread Italian version of the term, “ghetto,” the word became understood throughout the world to refer to areas of Jewish seclusion as well as the insidious combination of social segregation and political persecution.
In these plays, Shakespeare and Sobol deal with a most difficult question: that of collaborators. Both authors do not represent treason as an individual attitude or a factor of one’s character, but as a social phenomenon to be dealt with.
Roman Polanski's 2002 film "the Pianist," also takes us back to the Jewish ghetto, but in a depolitized fashion. In the film, beauty and pain mix into a sadistic relationship between two men, where passionate sounds of the piano become a guaranty for survival and ultimately exceed the terms of collaboration.
The historical drama is based on the autobiography of the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer, Władysław Szpilman. After going to Berlin to play piano, Szpilman returned to Warsaw in 1933, where he had previously studied at the Chopin Academy of Music. In Warsaw, he became a celebrated pianist and composer of both classical and popular music. In 1935, he joined the Polish Radio to work as a pianist.
In 1942, Szpilman lost his entire family from the ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp. Szpilman’s fate, however, was different: when Szpilman stood in a line with his family, waiting to be loaded onto a train and taken to the Treblinka extermination camp, a Jewish Police officer pulled him out, recognizing him from a concert.
Subsequently, Szpilman stayed in the Warsaw ghetto as a laborer and helped smuggle in weapons for the Jewish resistance. Later, he escaped the ghetto and survived in “Aryan” Warsaw with the help of past colleagues from the Polish Radio as well as fellow musicians. In other words: Szpilman survived thanks to human solidarity – thanks to people who risked their lives to give him the opportunity to survive in the hostile environment of occupation.
In this sense, the depoliticized but somewhat sadistic relationship between Szpilman and the Germans he lived with harbors a human story of solidarity – one that is deeply political and that stands radically opposed to the fundamentals of Zionism. Szpilman's choice to remain in Poland, which is the graveyard of his family but also a source of solidarity that gave him life, stands in profound tension with morals espoused by Zionism – that is, that the Jew is alienated, alone in the world, unable to rely on or relate to non-Jews, and thus forever yearning for a Zionist state.
The Israeli government has built large ghettos by lining the West Bank, the border with Egypt, and the Gaza Strip with fences and walls. Of course, Gaza is the most complete Israeli “ghetto.” The vast majority of Jews somehow fail to connect the situation of Gazans, and all other Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, to their own history of resistance and survival under occupation. This elision has created a twisted drama where Palestinians are sentenced to a Jewish fate.
However, the walls and fences also built another ghetto: Israel. Israeli society, with its fences and coldness has, for the most part, created its own isolation. And Netanyahu’s recent vision to complete this ghetto signals both his own and the Israeli public's ongoing support of the ghettoization of Israel.
The Arab East never saw the walls of a ghetto before and hopefully will never see them again, once we awake from the nightmare of Netanyahu. The Jews of Palestine, along the Jews of Syria, Iraq and Morocco are a part of our Arab heritage and our Arab future.
May the songs of resistance sung by Vilna partisans continue to be sung and to remind us to declare: never say this is my last path.
24 feb 2016
Unless the economic situation in the blockaded Gaza Strip improves, tensions with Israel are likely to escalate, the head of the Israeli military intelligence directorate told a Knesset committee on Tuesday evening.
Addressing the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee, Herzl Halevi quoted statistics from a United Nations report which warned of an economic breakdown to rock Gaza within four years if the situation is not improved and the blockade is not lifted.
According to the UN report, the blockade may render Gaza unlivable by 2020.
The military intelligence chief said that the situation in Gaza is deteriorating and that the United Nations report forecasts a catastrophe. He added that if there won’t be improvement, Israel will be the first to feel it when things explode.
The Israeli official, meanwhile, called for bringing more Palestinians from the West Bank to work inside Israel as a means to snuff out the flames of escalating tensions. He added that security coordination with the Palestinian Authority apparatuses is going on.
A tough blockade has been imposed by the Israeli occupation since 2006 on the Gaza Strip, a home to over 1.9 million Palestinians.
Addressing the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee, Herzl Halevi quoted statistics from a United Nations report which warned of an economic breakdown to rock Gaza within four years if the situation is not improved and the blockade is not lifted.
According to the UN report, the blockade may render Gaza unlivable by 2020.
The military intelligence chief said that the situation in Gaza is deteriorating and that the United Nations report forecasts a catastrophe. He added that if there won’t be improvement, Israel will be the first to feel it when things explode.
The Israeli official, meanwhile, called for bringing more Palestinians from the West Bank to work inside Israel as a means to snuff out the flames of escalating tensions. He added that security coordination with the Palestinian Authority apparatuses is going on.
A tough blockade has been imposed by the Israeli occupation since 2006 on the Gaza Strip, a home to over 1.9 million Palestinians.
