Division for Palestinian Rights
Chronological Review of Events Relating to the
Question of Palestine
MONTHLY MEDIA MONITORING REVIEW
January 2005
- Israeli tanks kill six members of one family in shell fired onto Beit Lahia. (4 January)
- The Fatah Central Committee calls on Hamas to stop mortar and rocket attacks on Israeli targets. (5 January
- Israel’s Supreme Court rejects a PA petition to allow Palestinian prisoners held by Israel to vote in the presidential election. (6 January)
1
A 10-year-old Palestinian girl, Ibtihal Abu Daher, was killed when a Qassam rocket that militants were trying to fire into Israel hit her house in the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Her 11-year-old brother was also wounded in the explosion. (AFP, AP)
Mohammed Shradi, commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the Tulkarm area in the northern West Bank, escaped an ambush by Israeli special forces in the town’s refugee camp, according to Palestinian security sources. He was touring the camp when Israeli troops disguised as Palestinians opened fire at him. The sources said Mr. Shradi’s aide, Samir Maarek, had been hit although the seriousness of his wounds was unknown. An Israeli army spokesperson said troops had spotted an armed Palestinian approaching and opened fire. (AFP)
2
The Israeli army withdrew from the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis ending a three-day operation against mortar and rocket attacks on settlements from the town, and redeployed to nearby hills overlooking the area. Israeli troops killed at least 11 Palestinians and destroyed 10 homes and a market during the operation. (AFP, Reuters)
Two members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were killed by Israeli gunfire in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, Palestinian security sources said. The two were killed when attempting to carry out a suicide attack against an Israeli army post near the border with Egypt. (Xinhua)
An Israeli helicopter fired missiles and destroyed two launchers near the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip that were being prepared to fire rockets into Israel. (AFP, Ha’aretz)
Two Qassam rockets fired from the northern Gaza Strip landed in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. One resident was lightly wounded and five others suffered from shock. Several cars were hit and one house was damaged. Also, two mortar shells hit the “Erez Industrial Zone”, seriously wounding a 25-year-old Israeli worker and lightly wounding another. Shortly afterwards, the Israeli army launched an incursion into Beit Hanoun and the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip with some 50 tanks and armoured vehicles to act against mortar and rocket attacks. The army withdrew hours later. (AFP, AP, Ha’aretz, Reuters, Xinhua)
At a weekly Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said an additional Cabinet vote needed to authorize the evacuation of 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and 4 in the West Bank under the disengagement plan should be held by the end of January 2005, and not in March 2005 as originally planned. “The goal is to give the settlers formal announcement about the evacuation and give them reasonable time to organize,” Mr. Sharon said. (Ha’aretz, The Jerusalem Post)
Majdi Al-Arabid, a 40-year-old Palestinian cameraman working for Israel’s Channel 10, was wounded in the stomach by Israeli fire while covering the army incursion into the Beit Hanoun area in the northern Gaza Strip. “The Israeli unit knew perfectly well that we were journalists, and that did not stop them from shooting at a time when the area was calm,” Mr. Al-Arabid’s co-worker, Schlomi Eldar, told public radio. The Israeli military said soldiers had not seen “a single journalist in the area” and had only returned fire on Palestinians firing at them. (AFP, AP, Ha’aretz)
At a presidential campaign rally in the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalya, PLO Executive Committee Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called for an end to rocket and mortar attacks against Israelis. “Don’t let your actions be used as an additional pretext and excuse for them to fight us, because this is not the proper time for such actions,” Mr. Abbas said. At a rally in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, Mr. Abbas told thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of gunmen, “We say to our fighting brothers who are wanted by Israel, we will not rest until you can enjoy a life of security, peace, and dignity, so you can live in your country with total freedom.” (AP)
A poll on the presidential election published by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research showed that 65 per cent of voters favoured PLO Executive Committee Chairman Abbas and 22 per cent independent candidate Mustafa Barghouti. The other five candidates had combined support of 5 per cent, and 8 per cent remained undecided. The poll was conducted on 30 and 31 December among 1,319 Palestinians and had a margin error of 3 per cent. (AFP, AP, Reuters, Xinhua)
3
A 24-year-old member of Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades was shot dead on by Israeli troops operating in the Beit Hanoun area in the northern Gaza Strip while he was trying to fire an anti-tank rocket, according to Palestinian medical sources and witnesses. (Ha’aretz, Reuters, Xinhua)
Israeli troops stationed at the borderline between the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah and Egypt opened fire and wounded a 17-year-old Palestinian girl, Iman Seidam, medical sources and witnesses said. She was shot in the abdomen and was in serious conditions, according to the sources. (Xinhua)
During the evacuation of an “illegal” outpost outside the “Yizhar” settlement in the West Bank, hundreds of Israeli police officers and soldiers clashed with some 500 settlers, who were trying to prevent security forces and bulldozers from entering the outpost to remove two caravans. A police officer was lightly wounded, and 15 settlers were detained for questioning. Security forces went to the outpost on foot and destroyed the caravans using hammers and axes. (AP, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
At a campaign rally in Gaza City, PLO Executive Committee Chairman Abbas said, “We will never forget the rights of the refugees, and we will never forget their suffering. They will eventually gain their rights, and the day will come when the refugees return home.” At a meeting with the parents of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, Mr. Abbas said, “We will not agree to sign up to any political accord which does not involve the release of all the prisoners.” (AP)
Israel decided it would not permit the Palestinian presidential candidates except for Mahmoud Abbas to visit Al-Haram Al-Sharif (The Temple Mount) for campaigning. (Ha’aretz)
Six Palestinian groups, including Hamas, issued a statement condemning Chairman Abbas’ description of mortar bomb and rocket attacks on Israeli targets as counter-productive. “We urge Mr. Mahmoud Abbas to make an official apology to our people and their resistance factions. … Rockets of resistance will continue to be a nightmare haunting Zionist settlements until the last occupier leaves our land,” the statement said. (Reuters)
The Palestinian Authority petitioned Israel’s High Court against Prime Minister Sharon’s decision not to allow some 8,000 Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons to vote in the presidential election. “This is a basic human right for prisoners and they should be able to practice this right,” PA Minister for Prisoners Affairs Hisham Abdel-Razik told reporters. (Ha’aretz, Reuters)
4
Seven Palestinians, six of them from the same family, were killed when an Israeli tank fired a shell into an agricultural area in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. The shells slammed into fields as farmers picked potatoes and strawberries, according to witnesses. Before the tank fired, Palestinians had fired several mortar shells at the “Erez Industrial Zone”, one of which landed near a school bus and Qassam rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot. The army said a tank had fired a shell at Palestinian militants who had crept into a strawberry field and fired mortar bombs at a nearby Israeli target. Palestinian witnesses said the militants had fled by the time the tank shell struck the fields. The six members of the Raban family killed in the attack included three brothers aged 13, 14 and 16, and three of their cousins aged 10, 12 and 22, as well as their 20-year-old neighbour. (AFP, AP, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
The Office of the Secretary-General’s Spokesman released the following statement on the killing of seven Palestinians in Beit Lahia:
(UN press release SG/SM/9665)
“We came to you today, while we are praying for the souls of the martyrs who were killed today by the shells of the Zionist enemy in Beit Lahiya,” PLO Executive Committee Chairman Abbas told thousands of supporters during a campaign stop in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said: “Israel is very concerned about Abu Mazen's recent statements which are very militant … and the like of which we haven't heard in a long time.” Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Mr. Abbas’ remarks “intolerable and unacceptable.” In Washington, Ms. Rhonda Shore, spokeswoman for the State Department Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, said: “Obviously, we find such language disturbing … Such rhetoric has no place in the process of resuming dialogue and rebuilding trust and confidence between both sides.” (AP, UPI)
The US was sending an observer delegation to the Palestinian presidential election, the State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. The delegation would be led by Senators John Sununu, a Republican, and Joseph Biden, a Democrat, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (www.state.gov)
The Organization of the Islamic Conference would send a seven-member observer mission to the Palestinian presidential election, the Organization’s secretariat announced in Jeddah. (AFP)
5
An exchange of fire took place at the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The IDF said the incident erupted after a Palestinian set off an explosive charge and threw grenades at an Israeli officer, who shot and killed him. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. (AP, UPI)
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two Qassam rockets into an IDF base near the “Nahal Oz” kibbutz, wounding 12 soldiers, one seriously, the IDF said. The attack would be met with a response on the widest possible scale,” a military source said. (AP)
Two Qassam rockets landed near the southern Israeli town of Sderot and mortar shells landed in the “Gush Katif” settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip without causing damage. (AFP, Ha’aretz)
A Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel died after being shot by gunmen who identified themselves as members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, witnesses and medical sources said. (AFP)
Prime Minister Sharon issued a warning to settlers who tried to thwart his planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, saying the Government would use all its might to carry out the pullout. “Those who raise a hand against a soldier or a police officer or a security officer … we will act against him with all our might,” Mr. Sharon said in remarks to IDF soldiers. “Those who call for defying orders or for forcibly or violently opposing are subversive, mistaken and endanger our actual existence,” he added. (AP, Ha’aretz)
The European Union election observers should not try to intervene in violence expected during the upcoming Palestinian presidential election, the head of an EU team monitoring the Palestinian elections, France’s former Prime Minister Michael Rocard, instructed the members on his mission. (AP)
“If the Palestinians ask us to let Abu Mazen [PLO Executive Committee Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] campaign in the neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem, we will look at it favourably,” said a source in Prime Minister Sharon's office. (AFP)
The Israeli army said it had arrested six wanted Palestinians in the West Bank: 4 Hamas members in Dura, west of Hebron, 1 Hamas member in Rantis, south of Qalqilya, and 1 PFLP member in Karwat Bnei Zide, north-west of Ramallah. (www.idf.il)
The Fatah Central Committee called on Hamas to stop mortar and rocket attacks on Israeli targets and cease incitement against PLO Executive Committee Chairman Abbas. “Israel is carrying out acts of massacre and crimes based on various excuses, among them the armed struggle by the Palestinian organizations in the Al-Aqsa Intifada,” the Committee said in a statement. “The Fatah Central Committee is surprised by the Hamas incitement against Fatah and Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] personally, which is intended to torpedo the elections. … We demand that the brothers in Hamas stop the incitement in order to prevent civil war and confusion and preserve unity in a way that will serve out nation,” the statement said. (Ha’aretz)
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Israel would assure free movement of over 500 international observers during the Palestinian presidential election period. “In close proximity to the date of the elections, IDF forces will leave all Palestinian cities. Checkpoints will be removed from specified positions in the area,” the statement said. (www.idf.il)
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said in an interview that Israel was prepared to hand security responsibility for the Gaza Strip and the main population centres of the West Bank to a newly elected Palestinian leadership. “The moment they can take responsibility over certain areas, I am willing to give them this responsibility. … It could be Gaza, it could be areas in the West Bank, population centres like Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and Hebron,” Mr. Mofaz said. “We’re willing to do it as soon as they are ready,” he added. (www.nytimes.com)
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul met with PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath in Ramallah. At a press conference after the meeting, Mr. Gul said, “The Turkish people will continue to give strong support to the Palestinian cause. … Turkey will expend great efforts to contribute to the peace process and Turkey is also preparing programmes to help in the economic and social needs of the Palestinian people.” Earlier, Mr. Gul said Turkey was ready to assist in the revitalization of the Gaza Strip after Israel’s pullout and a Turkish delegation would arrive in the region on 31 January to discuss concrete assistance. (AFP, AP)
The President of the Security Council for January 2005, Argentine Ambassador to the UN César Mayoral, said the Council hoped restraint would prevail between the Israeli and Palestinian sides so that the Palestinian election on 9 January could be conducted in a free, fair and inclusive manner. Mr. Mayoral was speaking to a news conference after a Council meeting to review the month’s agenda. (UN News Centre, 5 January 2005)
6
The Israeli army said it had arrested a total of 9 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank, including a Hamas member in Hebron, 3 Palestinians in Beit Lakiya, south-west of Ramallah, 1 Palestinian in Salfit, south-west of Nablus, and 1 Palestinian in Tulkarm. (www.idf.il)
Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian gunman who had infiltrated the “Ganei Tal” settlement in the southern Gaza Strip. “An armed terrorist … reached the hothouses at “Ganei Tal”. He opened fire and threw grenades at an Israeli force on patrol. They returned fire, killing him,” an army spokesperson said. In a statement, Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the gunman as Mohammed Allaham, one of its members from the town of Khan Yunis. (AFP, AP, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
A mortar shell landed in the “Nissanit” settlement in the northern Gaza Strip, damaging a building. One woman was treated for shock. (Ha’aretz)
At a news conference during a campaign stop in Nablus, PLO Executive Committee Chairman Abbas said, “After the elections, we will start negotiations [with Israel] … Ariel Sharon is an elected leader and we will negotiate with him. We will put the Road Map on the table and say that we are ready to implement it completely.” (AP, Reuters)
Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition submitted by the Palestinian Authority to allow some 8,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel to vote in the presidential election, according to a Courts Authority spokesman. “Israel will not be able to prepare for voting by prisoners in so short a time,” the Israeli Ynet news website quoted Chief Justice Aharon Barak as saying in the decision. (AFP, Reuters)
A member of the Israeli Municipal Council in Jerusalem, David Adari, vowed to sabotage the Palestinian presidential election in East Jerusalem by blocking access to the polling stations. “There will be several hundred of us coming to pay bills, buy stamps and thus create long queues inside and outside the post offices,” Mr. Adari told Israel Army Radio. (AFP)
Thirty-four Israeli army reserve officers, all of them settlers in the West Bank, threatened in a letter addressed to their brigade commander, to disobey any order to evacuate settlements under the disengagement plan. “We demand the army not force us to take action that violates our beliefs and conscience. … We believe any order to implement the disengagement is illegal. … A soldier is forbidden from carrying out this kind of order, according to the laws of the land and the Israel Defence Forces code of conduct,” said the
letter published in Yediot Ahronot. In response, IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon summoned the officers for questioning. “Any officer who continues to express the views stated in the letter will be dismissed from his duty and expelled from the Israel Defence Forces,” Mr. Ya’alon said in a statement. (AFP, AP, Reuters)
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan said China would send a six-member observer team, led by former Chinese Ambassador to Turkey, Yao Kuangyi, for the Palestinian presidential election. (Xinhua)
At his monthly news conference, Prime Minister Tony Blair said, “We’re not going to get a peace conference with the Israelis until we do the preparatory work. That’s the reality; it’s not going to happen. … Until there is a clear understanding that the right measures are in place, particularly on the security situation, that conference is not going to happen,” Mr. Blair said. (AFP, AP, Reuters)
7 @
An Israeli settler was killed and three others wounded when two Palestinian gunmen fired at a vehicle driving four kilometres from the “Migdalim” settlement in the direction of the Tapuah junction near Nablus, Israeli sources said. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility. (AP, Ha’aretz, UPI)
The IDF killed a Palestinian in “Ganei Tal” near the settlement of “Gush Katif” in the Gaza Strip, Israel Army Radio said. An investigation of the incident was under way. The IDF opened fire, suspecting the Palestinian of trying to infiltrate the settlement. (Reuters, UPI)
Palestinian militants fired rockets and mortars at Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip and the Negev Desert, Israel Army Radio said. One mortar crashed into a Gaza settlement, damaging a house and causing panic among settlers. No casualties were reported. (Ha’aretz, UPI)
PLO Executive Committee Chairman Abbas canceled a campaign stop in Jerusalem, saying Israeli security arrangements would have embarrassed him. Mr. Abbas had been tentatively scheduled to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City and hold a rally. A senior campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel wanted to provide a large security detail for Mr. Abbas, concerned that Jewish extremists might attack him. Mr. Abbas decided that being surrounded by Israeli security forces during a stop in front of his own people would have been embarrassing, the official said. Instead, Mr. Abbas planned a campaign appearance in the town of Beir Naballah on the outskirts of Jerusalem. (AP)
Palestinian presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti was detained for an hour by Israeli police as he attempted to enter the Old City of Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Mr. Barghouti was escorted to a West Bank checkpoint and released. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Mr. Barghouti took advantage of a permit allowing him to enter the city for a meeting with a team of American election monitors led by former President Jimmy Carter. The Ministry said Mr. Barghouti had violated an agreement not to campaign at the sensitive mosque compound, where thousands pray every Friday. The European Parliament issued a press release regretting Mr. Barghouti’s arrest. (AP)
Former US President Jimmy Carter met with Israeli President Moshe Katsav and afterward said, “My hope is that the Palestinians establish a government that will be committed to the peace process and the abhorrence and prohibition and control of any violence,” Mr. Carter said. He said the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians are the same as in 1996. Mr. Carter and a delegation from the Washington-based National Democratic Institute will be observing the vote at 220 polling stations. (AP, Xinhua)
Israel’s Foreign Minister Shalom said the IDF had already begun to pull troops out of West Bank cities. Soldiers were preparing to redeploy for the 9 January PA presidential elections, so that they would stay away from Palestinian cities, a security source said. An Israeli army spokesman, Captain Yael Hartmann, said for a period of 72 hours surrounding the elections, Israel's military would remove selected checkpoints and roadblocks and curtail patrols within populated Palestinian areas. The army would maintain positions outside towns and cities, entering only in the case of imminent threat of attack. “We have received very strong threats from different terror groups wanting to blame the IDF for disrupting the elections,” said Captain Hartmann. (Deutsche Press-Agentur (DPA), Xinhua)
The PA Central Election Committee said preparations for the elections had been completed. According to data provided by the Committee, 1,757,756 eligible voters would cast their votes in 1,072 centres in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where a total of 2,800 ballot boxes would await them. Around 800 foreign observers representing various countries and non-governmental organizations had arrived to join 20,000 local observers representing the candidates and various Palestinian organizations to monitor the elections. (Xinhua)
The changes in the route of the separation barrier mandated by Israel’s High Court of Justice would cost between NIS80 million and NIS100 million, Deputy Defence Minister Ze'ev Boim said earlier in the week. The changes, which included the construction of several more gates, would increase the total cost of the project to about NIS5.6 billion. The Defense Ministry expected all 560 kilometres of the barrier to be completed by the end of the year, with most of the work being finished by August 2005. Currently, 114 kilometres of the fence were under construction, and construction of another 90 kilometres was due to start the following month. Work on 45 kilometres would be frozen until the High Court ruled on petitions against those sections. (Ha’aretz)
Sheikh Hassan Youssef, a Hamas official, ruled out any possible truce with Israel as long as occupation persisted and Palestinian prisoners were still detained. “Israel should pay a price for the truce … There is no point of talking about any truce as long as the occupation and assassinations continue and as long as more than 9,000 prisoners remain in Israeli jails,” he said in an interview with Al-Hayat. (UPI)
8
IDF troops killed a Palestinian police officer at a checkpoint in the Gaza Strip near the city of Deir Balah, Palestinian medics said. Mahmoud Farra, 61, was struck by two bullets while sitting in his car. Israel Army Radio called Mr. Farra “an armed Palestinian militant”. (UPI)
Palestinian medics said Najah Zo'rob, 12, who was shot and critically wounded in the head two weeks ago by Israeli fire in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis, died. (Xinhua)
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip released unharmed two Spanish journalists working for El Pais after a brief abduction, security sources said. (Reuters)
PA Interim President Rawhi Fattouh issued a decree setting 17 July 2005 as the date of the Palestinian legislative elections. (AP)
Mr. Ahmed Soboh, an official from the PA Ministry of Information, said the Ministry had issued press cards for 1,100 journalists coming from all over the world to cover the presidential election. (Xinhua)
IDF officials said they had stopped most search and arrest operations against Palestinian militants and were easing security restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to allow Palestinians greater freedom to vote for a new president. An Israeli security official, who was not allowed to be quoted by name, said troops would withdraw from all Palestinian cities and towns and not conduct any military operations for 72 hours between
Saturday, 8 January, and Monday, 10 January. A spokeswoman for the Palestinian Central Election Commission said Israel had not sufficiently pulled back. “The checkpoints are still there, the Israeli soldiers are still there, and we still have problems moving from one place to another,” said Ms. Dima Abu Ghoush. (Xinhua, AP)
9
PA presidential elections were held in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. (Xinhua, WAFA)
Five Palestinian gunmen burst into election offices, firing into the air, saying they were upset that some of their relatives' names had been left off voter registration lists in the West Bank, preventing them from participating. After PA officials spoke to the men, they left the office. No injuries were reported. (AP)
International observers and Palestinians complained that large numbers of registered voters had been turned away from East Jerusalem's main polling station. A spokesman for former US President Carter said Mr. Carter had worked out a deal with the Palestinian Central Election Commission and Israeli officials to allow voters registered in East Jerusalem to vote at any of the six post offices there. An Israeli police spokesman said officers had broken up three small demonstrations by Israeli right-wing activists who had tried to march on Palestinian polling stations. (AP)
Seventeen-year-old Nasser Sa'afeen was critically wounded by an Israeli tank shell in the southern Gaza Strip town of Al-Meghraqa, Palestinian security sources said. Meanwhile, security sources said IDF troops stationed around the Rafah refugee camp opened intensive fire at nearby houses. (Xinhua)
Palestinian militants fired at least two rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, witnesses said (Reuters).
President Bush issued a statement which said, inter alia,: “The new Palestinian president and his cabinet face critical tasks ahead, including fighting terrorism, combating corruption, building reformed and democratic institutions, and reviving the Palestinian economy. We look forward to working with him and the Palestinian people to address these challenges and to advance the cause of Middle East peace consistent with the vision I set forth on June 24, 2002, of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security … Israel must help to improve the humanitarian and economic situation in the West Bank and Gaza, and follow through with the Disengagement Plan.” (www.whitehouse.gov)
Prime Minister Blair confirmed that his Government would host a conference on Palestinian reforms in London on 1 and 2 March 2005. “I think it's important that we make sure that the conference is about helping the Palestinians and supporting them in their preparation for a proper State,” Mr. Blair said in an interview with the BBC. (Reuters)
Members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said they would join the PA security apparatus. Well-informed sources said the militants sent a letter to PLO Executive Committee Chairman Abbas, saying they were committed to respecting all the political decisions of the Palestinian leadership. (UPI)
Israel expected PLO Executive Committee Chairman Abbas to win the Palestinian presidential election and was ready to open talks with him, offering to free Palestinian prisoners if Mr. Abbas cracked down on Palestinian rocket attacks, senior Israeli officials said. The Israeli officials stopped short of stipulating a total halt to the Palestinian bombardments. Instead they spoke of “100 per cent effort”. (AP)
The number of Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip had grown by 9 per cent in the past year, Government figures released showed. (Reuters)
10
In a joint leaflet, the Islamic Jihad and PFLP claimed responsibility for firing a rocket on an IDF commander’s jeep near the “Netzarim” settlement in the southern Gaza Strip. (AP)
Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced that they would deal with the newly elected Palestinian leader and discuss internal disagreements through dialogue. (AP)
Prime Minister Sharon's spokesman Ra'anan Gissin said Israel wanted a resumption of security meetings with the Palestinian Authority. It then wanted to coordinate its Gaza withdrawal plan with the new Palestinian leadership, so that it could hand over to the PA the areas to be evacuated in an orderly manner. The PA would also have to begin dismantling Palestinian militant groups, he said. (DPA)
In a press conference in Ramallah, the head of the Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC), Hanna Nasser, announced that PLO Executive Committee Chairman Mahmoud Abbas won the elections for the PA presidency with 62 per cent of the vote. Mr. Nasser said the IDF had placed many obstacles before voters of East Jerusalem, affirming that only 26,365 voters of 120,000 had been able to cast their ballots in the city. He added that about 71 per cent of the registered voters had participated in the elections. The CEC published the initial results of the elections:
(WAFA)
The following statement was issued by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
(UN press release SG/SM/9668-PAL/2019)
The US observer team headed by Senators Joseph R. Biden and John Sununu said in a statement that the Palestinians “have conducted a clean, open and fair election, largely unimpeded and without interference”.
“The Palestinian people have already demonstrated their commitment to democracy,”' Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told a news conference. “The challenge now is for the new president to use his mandate to lay the foundations for a new Palestinian State.'” French President Jacques Chirac called the election of Mr. Abbas “a new hope for peace” in the region, the president's spokesman said. “There is a new hope for peace that must be supported by the strong involvement of the international community, especially of Europe and the United States,” Mr. Chirac was quoted as saying. Russia’s President Putin said in his message, “I am sure that your example of political experience will permit you to effectively perform the mission entrusted to you by the Palestinian people in the interests of the speedy implementation of its cherished dream of forming an independent State co-existing in peace and security with Israel.” German Chancellor Schroeder said Mr. Mahmoud Abbas had won the Palestinian presidency at a moment when the Middle East peace process had a new chance. “Together with its European partners, Germany will try its best to support you on your way to creating an independent, livable and democratic State within the framework of a comprehensive and justified peace solution,” Mr. Schroeder said. Mr. Schroeder also invited Mr. Abbas to visit Germany in the near future. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the Abbas victory “adds to the credibility of the peace process”. Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa told reporters that the election proved that the Palestinians had institutions capable of running the democratic process. He said the Arab League would continue to work hard to help the Palestinians regain their rights. Egypt’s President Mubarak congratulated Mr. Abbas and called on him to “ensure that Palestinians speak with one voice in future”. Jordanian King Abdullah II congratulated Mr. Abbas and told him Jordan was keen on supporting his efforts to establish an independent State. In a congratulatory cable, Lebanese President Lahoud expressed hope that the confidences given to Mr. Abbas by the Palestinian people “would constitute a new incentive for efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East”. Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said: “I expect Mr. Abbas to make further efforts with Israel to establish peace in the region.” In a statement issued by the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, spokesman of the Ministry Lee Kyun-hyun said the South Korean Government hoped the new Palestinian leader would reactivate the Middle East peace talks and work toward establishing a Palestinian State. (AP, AFP, Reuters, DPA, Xinhua)
British Prime Minister Tony Blair also called PA President Abbas to congratulate him on his election victory. (The Financial Times)
Japan would extend an additional US$ 60 million in financial and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority following the presidential election, Kyodo News reported. That would bring the total amount of Japan's assistance to the PA in fiscal year 2004 to about $90 million, more than double that for fiscal 2003 and matching the previous record high set in fiscal year 1996, the report said. (Xinhua)
Andaleeb Odwan, a Palestinian activist in the area human rights and woman affairs, called on PA President-elect Abbas immediately to interfere to end the drastic suffering of the Palestinians kept by Israelis at the Egyptian side of Rafah crossing. “The Palestinians locked at the crossing go through dire conditions, among those the aged, the children, the women and the students among whom the diseases spread due to water shortage all along the blocking period … such an Israeli blocking deprives the Palestinians of their [basic] human rights, mostly of electing the PA president,” she added. (WAFA)
11
Dr. Hassan Abu Libdeh, President of Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), announced the publication of the First Statistical Atlas of Palestine based on official statistics. The objective of the atlas was to publish statistical indicators such as accurate and high quality maps. (WAFA)
Prime Minister Sharon telephoned PA President-elect Mahmoud Abbas to congratulate him on his election and discuss the possibility of a personal meeting, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Mr. Abbas said a meeting would be possible after he was sworn in. Palestinian sources said the swearing in and formation of a new Government would take about two weeks. (AP, DPA, Reuters, AFP)
PA Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeinah said President-elect Abbas would meet Prime Minister Sharon soon. “Now that the new Israeli coalition Government was formed, there is no objection to meet Sharon and to return to the negotiations table on the basis of the Road Map and commitments by the two sides,” Mr. Rudeinah told reporters in Ramallah. He said President Abbas could not meet Prime Minister Sharon before he was sworn in and had formed the new Palestinian cabinet, which should be accomplished within the next two weeks. (UPI)
In Cairo, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana praised the election of President Abbas and said peace in the Middle East could now progress. “It is very important that [Mr. Abbas] immediately begin to get in touch with the Israeli Government and recuperate the climate that had disappeared,” Solana said after meeting with Egypt’s President Mubarak. (AP)
Israeli military planners sought legal advice to destroy up to 3,000 Palestinian homes in the southern Gaza Strip in order to build a trench meant to halt weapons smuggling across the Egyptian border, officials said. Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials said they had presented three plans for constructing the trench on the “Philadelphi route”, near the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border. (AP)
Egyptian presidential spokesman Soleiman Awad said his Government urged Israel's new Government to carry out its planned Gaza withdrawal, not as a substitute for the Road Map. “We hope that this [Israeli] Government will continue to support implementing the Road Map, starting with Gaza. Gaza first but not last,” he told reporters. “The withdrawal plan from Gaza is an inseparable part of the Road Map,” he said, adding President Mubarak had made the point to visiting European officials. Mr. Awad said any pressure should be put on both sides, not just Palestinians, to fulfill peace commitments set out in the internationally backed Road Map for Palestinian statehood. (Reuters)
Nissim Arbiv, 26, a Jewish settler who was wounded in a Palestinian mortar attack in the “Erez industrial zone” in the northern Gaza Strip nine days ago, died of his wounds, medical sources said. (AFP)
The Palestinian Authority drafted a bill to reduce the number of security services from 11 to 3, a reform promised by newly elected PA President Abbas. Under the terms of the draft legislation, which was expected to be debated by Parliament the following week, the National Security Council would, in the future, be headed by the Prime Minister rather than the PA President. The three security branches would be general security, general intelligence and national security. The legislation was drawn up by interim PA President Rawhi Fattouh. (AFP)
At a meeting with donor nations in Geneva, some 104 aid agencies hoped to generate pledges for the annual funding round covering “forgotten emergencies”. The pledge for the Occupied Palestinian Territory was set at US$ 302,601,889, aimed primarily at the 47 per cent of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory who live in poverty. The figures were based on a consolidated appeal for 2005 launched by the United Nations. The consolidated appeal aimed at raising $1.7 billion for the international aid community's relief operations in 14 crisis situations. (AFP)
The following statement was issued by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General in New York:
(UN press release SG/SM/9671)
Two Palestinians were killed and at least one Israeli police officer was wounded when Palestinians and Israeli security officials exchanged gunfire near Tulkarem in the West Bank. (Ha’aretz)
Five mortar shells hit the “Gush Katif” settlement block in the southern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported. In the West Bank, nine Palestinians were arrested by Israeli authorities. (Ha’aretz)
The US State Department encouraged PA President-elect Abbas to strengthen security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as it pledged to help bridge gaps with Israel. Secretary of State Colin Powell called Israel’s Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, and then telephoned Mr. Abbas. “We will continue to encourage progress between the two parties,” spokesman Richard Boucher said. “We will continue to encourage progress by the Palestinians in controlling the security situation in the territories,” he added. (AP)
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said, “I am very happy that the election in Palestine has taken place and a new leader has been elected … Mahmoud Abbas faces a huge challenge. I believe he will be able to forge good ties that will help him bring peace to Palestine and in their relationship with Israel,” he said. Asked if the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), with Malaysia as current Chair, accepted the election of Mr. Abbas, he said, “I trust all OIC member countries will accept his election.” (AFP)
PA National Security Adviser Jibril Rajoub has resigned. (Ha’aretz)
Israel’s President Moshe Katsav called PA President-elect Abbas to congratulate him on his election victory. Sources said the conversation between them was positive, and both leaders agreed to maintain contact. (Ha’aretz)
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The Palestinian Central Elections Commission released the final results of the PA presidential election putting Mahmoud Abbas’ share of the vote at 62.52 per cent. (www.elections.ps)
Four Palestinians and an Israeli settler were killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. An Israeli, identified as a resident of the “Ganei Tal” settlement, was killed and four Israeli soldiers wounded when an explosive device went off along a patrol route near the settlement of “Morag” in the southern Gaza Strip. The blast was believed to have been caused by a bomb planted in a tunnel dug under the patrolling route. Two Islamic Jihad members were killed by IDF gunfire following the blast. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. Near Ramallah, two Hamas members were killed in a shootout. Palestinian security officials said the two died when Israeli troops raided a house in Qarawat Banizeid village. Near the settlement of “Nisanit” in the northern Gaza Strip, IDF troops arrested four Palestinians, including a Hamas member. (AFP, Albawaba.com, AP, BBC, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
Israeli helicopters fired two missiles at a target south of Gaza City, and Israeli tanks moved into the city. Israeli military officials said a “limited operation” was under way, involving the air force and tanks. They did not say what the object of the raid was. Residents said that after firing the missiles, the helicopters raked the area with machine gunfire, and Israeli tanks left the “Netzarim” settlement nearby, entering Gaza City. (Albawaba.com, AP)
EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana toured the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Coming from a meeting with PA President-elect Abbas, Mr. Solana said he was “moved” by the plight of poverty-stricken residents and said the new leadership would do its utmost to revive the peace process. Aides said he was on a fact-finding mission to see the situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip and to meet PLC members and civil society representatives. (AFP)
Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged support for PA President-elect Abbas and said Beijing would do all it could to help solve the Middle East problem. “Hu expressed confidence that under Abbas’ leadership, the Palestinian people will be more united and will make new headways in regaining legitimate national rights,” according to the Xinhua news agency. (AFP, Xinhua)
Israeli police and the IDF announced they had finalized operative plans for the evacuation of settlements in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the disengagement plan, Israel Radio reported. According to the report, the three-month-long pullout would begin in July 2005 with the evacuation of one settlement in the Gaza Strip to evaluate the degree of settlers’ resistance. The evacuation of West Bank settlements would begin in September 2005 and take about two weeks. Over 5,000 police officers and soldiers would take part in the operation, accompanied by medical staff to help in the event of any clashes. (Ha’aretz)
The US Agency for International Development said in a statement it was allocating nearly $2 million for construction of a water pipeline from Israel to the Gaza Strip to provide water for 150,000 Palestinians. The pipeline would link the Israeli national water carrier at “Nahal Oz”, a village just outside the Gaza Strip, with the main Gaza water reservoir. The statement did not give a detailed schedule of the project but said the pipeline would carry five million cubic metres of water a year and the flow could be increased if needed. (AP)
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The ITIM news agency reported Israeli forces had arrested 18 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank and 5 in the Gaza Strip. (Ha’aretz)
Israeli troops shot at a car carrying a pregnant Palestinian woman who had gone into labour, killing the driver, during an arrest raid in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. The car was speeding towards the troops and ignored repeated calls to stop, and the soldiers opened fire when it was deemed a “clear and immediate danger,” the Israeli military said. The driver was taking the pregnant woman and her husband to a hospital, according to medical sources. The husband was moderately injured with a gunshot wound to the shoulder, and the woman gave birth after another neighbour brought her to the hospital, the sources added. (AFP, AP, Reuters)
Israeli troops shot dead a 22-year-old Palestinian, Said Abdesalaam, during an arrest operation in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medical sources. Several others were wounded during the raid. An Israeli army spokesperson said there had been an overnight arrest operation just east of the camp, during which an armed Palestinian had approached the troops and opened fire. “They returned fire and identified a hit,” the spokesperson said. (AFP)
An Israeli helicopter fired missiles at a Palestinian car in the Gaza Strip. “We attacked a suspicious car in an open area south of (the settlement of) “Kfar Darom” and identified a hit,” an Israeli military source said. Palestinian medical sources said no one had been hurt. Israel Radio said the missile strike had not been an assassination attempt against Palestinian militants but an attack on a suspected car bomb. (Ha’aretz, Reuters)
Israeli troops detained two wanted Fatah members travelling in a car near Tulkarm, according to Israel Radio. One of the two was holding a rifle set on automatic, and the other one was holding a gun set to fire. (Ha’aretz)
After a meeting with local and international Christian leaders at the muqataa in Ramallah, PA President-elect Abbas said, “We emphasize before you that we are committed to the Road Map.… As you know, this plan starts with security commitments and eventually deals with the final status issues, like borders and Jerusalem. We are ready to implement our commitments. We hope the Israeli side will do the same.” (AP, Reuters)
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast briefed the UN Security Council on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.” The President of the Council issued a statement welcoming the Palestinian presidential election. (UN press release SC/8292)
Palestinian militants killed 6 Israeli civilians and wounded 5, 2 seriously, in a bombing and shooting attack at the Al-Muntar (Karni) crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The Israeli army said 3 Palestinians had activated an explosive device placed near the door on the Palestinian side of the crossing, blasting a hole. The Palestinians had then infiltrated the Israeli side of the crossing and opened fire at Israeli civilians. Israeli troops killed the three gunmen in an ensuing exchange of fire, the army said. Hamas, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees jointly claimed responsibility for the attack. “We will continue to chase you and disrupt your sleep until you leave the land you occupied. … (The attack) affirms the consensus of the resistance factions on the choice of Jihad,” the groups said in a statement. (AFP, AP, Reuters, www.idf.il)
PA officials told The Jerusalem Post some 10,000 Palestinians had been stranded in Egypt for a month due to the closure of the Rafah crossing following a Palestinian attack on an Israeli army post on 12 December 2004. “Many people have run out of money and have been forced to beg in the streets,” one official said. Another official said, “Many people have been forced to share hotel rooms. … In some cases, there are at least seven people, including women and children, staying in one room.” (The Jerusalem Post)
Israel’s High Court ordered a halt to construction of the separation fence between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory area north-west of Jerusalem, following a petition filed by Palestinians from the village of Beit Surik against the altered route of the fence in their area. The petitioners claimed the altered route did not conform to the Court’s June 2004 order to minimize hardship for the Palestinians resulting from the construction of the fence. (Ha’aretz)
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An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a building belonging to Islamic Jihad in the southern Gaza Strip, wounding one person and severely damaging the building, according to Palestinian security sources. No one was inside the building at the time of the attack. The Israeli army confirmed the attack and said the targeted building had been used by Islamic Jihad members for meetings to plan anti-Israeli attacks. (AFP, AP)
In response to the attack at the Al-Muntar (Karni) crossing, the Israeli Defence Ministry said all three border crossings connecting the Gaza Strip with Israel and Egypt, Al-Muntar (Karni), Beit Hanoun (Erez) and Rafah, would remain closed until further notice. “These three crossings will remain closed as long as Palestinians do not take the necessary measures to ensure their protection,” the Ministry said in a statement. (AFP, AP, Ha’aretz)
The Presidency of the European Union issued a statement condemning the attack at the Al-Muntar (Karni) crossing. (www.eu2005.lu)
Palestinian security chief General Abdel Razeq Al-Majaideh announced the formation of an elite unit of 750 officers to fight crime in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Majaideh said the officers would disarm criminals but would not go after militants involved in attacks on Israelis. The 750 officers had been selected from all security branches and had been training for the past three months, he added. (AFP, AP)
A 30-year-old Palestinian, Mohammed Al-Qastaz, was killed when he was shot in the chest by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis. (AFP, www.ipc.gov.ps)
An 11-year-old Palestinian, Omar Al Qrenawi, who had been injured during an Israeli incursion in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip a day earlier, was pronounced dead, according to medical sources. A 33-year-old Palestinian civilian, Adel Sharaf, was also pronounced dead of wounds he had sustained during an Israeli incursion in the northern Gaza Strip in September 2004, according to the WAFA news agency. (www.ipc.gov.ps)
Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned in a statement a Palestinian attack on 13 January at the Al-Muntar (Karni) crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel that had killed six Israeli civilians. (UN press release SG/SM/9676)
Prime Minister Sharon ordered a halt to all contacts with the Palestinian Authority after the Palestinian attack at the Al-Muntar (Karni) crossing. (AFP, AP, Reuters)
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A mortar shell fired by Palestinians landed on a synagogue in the “Netzarim” settlement in the northern Gaza Strip, wounding two Israeli children. One of the children, a 10-year-old boy, almost lost his forearm, but it was reattached in an operation. (AFP, AP, Ha’aretz)
A 17-year-old Israeli girl was wounded seriously and her 10-year-old brother moderately when a Qassam rocket landed in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. (Ha’aretz)
Israeli troops killed a 20-year-old Islamic Jihad member, Abdel Rauf Abu Namus, after he had opened fire at an Israeli outpost near a settlement in the Gaza Strip. (www.ipc.gov.ps)
Israeli troops, backed by tanks and bulldozers, moved into the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City in an operation to stop Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli targets. The troops killed five Palestinians, including a police officer, and wounded 14 during the raid. Medical sources said a three-year-old girl was among the wounded. (AFP, AP, Reuters, Xinhua)
In the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, an Israeli tank fired bullets at Palestinians near the border with Egypt, killing 2 and wounding 10, according to hospital officials. Among the wounded were 4 children under 16, 2 of them in critical condition, doctors said. The army said troops had opened fire after dozens of Palestinians had entered a forbidden area next to a patrol road on the border with Egypt, trying to place a Palestinian flag on an army watch tower. The army also said three gunmen had been in the crowd. (AFP, AP, Reuters, Xinhua)
Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in as the President of the Palestinian Authority. “I say to the Israeli leadership and to the Israeli people: We are two people destined to live side by side, and to share this land between us. The only alternative to peace is the continuation of the occupation and the conflict. … Let us start implementing the Road Map, and in parallel let us start discussing the permanent status issues so that we can end, once and for all, the historic conflict between us,” Mr. Abbas said at an inauguration ceremony in Ramallah. He also said, “I repeat my confidence in Abu Alah (Ahmed Qureia) and I want to consult with him on forming the Government according to the law.” (AFP, AP, Reuters, www.ipc.gov.ps)
Two senior members of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, Ammar Dwaik and Baha’ Al Bakri, resigned, saying they had been pressured by Mahmoud Abbas’ campaign and intelligence officials to abruptly change voting procedures during the presidential election on 9 January. The officials later announced the resignations of 44 more members. (AP, Reuters)
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An Israeli helicopter pounded a building to the north of Gaza City with rockets. An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the air force attack, saying it had been aimed at a building in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip used as a workshop for making rockets and mortar shells. There were no casualties. (AFP, DPA, Reuters)
A 45-year-old Palestinian woman, Fada Aram, and her 28-year-old son, Abdullah, were killed by Israeli tank fire in their house in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medical sources. Ms. Aram’s husband, Suleiman, 54, was also wounded in the incident. An Israeli military source confirmed that tanks in the area had opened fire on suspects for “digging a hole, with the apparent intention of planting a bomb” and on others for “observing” troops. (AFP, DPA, Reuters)
The PLO Executive Committee issued a statement calling on Palestinian militants to halt attacks against Israel. The statement called on militants to “stop all the military action that might harm [Palestinians’] national goals and give the Israelis an excuse to obstruct Palestinian stability.” (AP, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
Prime Minister Sharon said at a weekly Cabinet meeting: “Regrettably, despite the change in the Palestinian leadership, we note that those at the top have not begun any action whatsoever to halt the terrorism. This situation cannot continue. The IDF and the security forces have been instructed to step up operational activity against terrorism and they will continue to do so without restrictions, I emphasize, without restrictions, as long as the Palestinians are not lifting a finger.” (www.pmo.gov.il)
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura met with PA President Abbas and Foreign Minister Sha’ath. Mr. Machimura told President Abbas Japan fully supported the new Palestinian leadership and unveiled a new US$ 60 million aid package to the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Machimura later met with Israel’s Prime Minister Sharon and Foreign Minister Shalom. (Kyodo, Xinhua, www.pmo.gov.il, www.mopic.gov.ps)
Spokesman for France’s President Chirac, Jerôme Bannafont, said the President had telephoned PA President Abbas and invited him to Paris for talks “as soon as possible.” “France will do everything possible to help you in carrying out your mission,” President Chirac told Mr. Abbas. Mr. Bannafont said France’s Foreign Minister Michel Barnier would visit Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory “probably in early February.” (AFP, AP, Reuters)
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Israeli troops shot dead two Islamic Jihad members, Ahmed Ashur, 21, and Nidal Saadaq, 22, near the “Kissufim” border crossing between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli military sources said troops had opened fire at the two after they had been spotted carrying an anti-tank rocket launcher near the crossing. Troops initially identified and hit one of the militants, but as they went to retrieve his body, they then came under fire from the second man, who was then killed as well. (AFP, DPA, Reuters)
The Israeli army said it had arrested 18 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank, including 5 Hamas members, 5 Fatah members, and 1 PFLP member. (www.idf.il)
Israeli troops arrested Moneer Abu Dakka, a senior leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, according to Palestinian security sources. (Xinhua)
PA President Abbas gave orders for members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to be incorporated into the PA security services. (AFP, Xinhua)
The Palestinian Cabinet requested PA security forces to prevent attacks against Israel and ordered an investigation into a shooting at the Al-Muntar (Karni) crossing that had killed six Israeli civilians on 13 January. “A decision was taken that we will handle our obligation to stop violence against Israelis anywhere,” said Cabinet Minister Saeb Erakat. He did not provide details. (AP, Reuters)
Israel Army Radio reported that IDF Chief of Staff Ya’alon had given orders to plan for a large-scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip unless the PA put a rapid end to attacks by militants. (AFP)
Israel’s Deputy Defence Minister Ze'ev Boim said that Israeli officials were weighing the future use of artillery in response to Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks. (Ha’aretz)
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Hamas said its militants had fired mortars at the Gaza Strip settlements of “Kfar Darom” and “Kisovim”, attacked an IDF position near Rafah with mortars and detonated an explosive charge under an IDF bulldozer near Khan Yunis. Islamic Jihad said gunmen had fired rockets at the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel. IDF forces stationed in “Kfar Darom” opened intensive fire on residential houses, critically wounding Abdullah Hassan, 15. Meanwhile, Palestinian militants attacked the settlement of “Nahal Oz”, east of Gaza City, by mortar shells, Palestinian security sources said. (AFP, Xinhua)
PA President Abbas told reporters his decision to stop violence against Israel had not been made under pressure. Mr. Abbas said the decision came as part of efforts to address internal Palestinian affairs for the sake of the Palestinian people. (Xinhua)
Prime Minister Sharon met with IDF chiefs in the Gaza Strip and was briefed on plans to put a halt to rocket attacks by Palestinians, officials said. “We must make the strongest possible effort to prevent the firing [of rockets and mortars] at Israeli communities,” Mr. Sharon told troops in Gaza after the meeting, which included Defence Minister Mofaz and Chief of Staff Ya’alon. “Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] doesn't need a period of adjustment; it's not like he doesn't know what's happening in the field. He knows the commanders and he knows the people,” Mr. Sharon added. (AFP)
Hundreds of Israelis marched to the fenced border with the Gaza Strip to demand stronger military action against Palestinian militants who have fired hundreds of rockets at the town of Sderot. The town had staged a one-day strike, closing municipal offices and schools, to demand a tougher military response to rocket fire. (Reuters)
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the European Union Presidency, said, “We have to say to the Israelis that they must give [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] a chance. He is a man who has always refused violence and the use of force,” he said. “We have to give him a chance, the time and means to organize things so that he can take adequate steps to ensure that violence disappears in Gaza,” he told the European Parliament. (AFP)
Jordan called on Israel to allow PA President Abbas an “adequate opportunity” to control Palestinian militants, an official statement said. The call came in a telephone conversation initiated by Jordan’s Foreign Minister Hani Mulki with his Israeli counterpart Sylvan Shalom. He also urged Israel to “calm down the situation with a view to going back to the negotiating table and refraining from putting burdens on Abbas' shoulders that are beyond his capacity.” (DPA)
PA President Abbas issued orders for Palestinian security services in the Gaza Strip to deploy in the area from which rockets and mortars were being launched at Israeli targets, with a special intervention force of 500 to 700 officers from the security forces to be formed for the purpose. The new force was supposed to be deployed in the Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas to prevent Qassam rocket fire at Sderot in Israel and in the Khan Yunis area to prevent mortar fire at the “Gush Katif” settlement bloc. (Ha’aretz)
PA President Abbas met militant leaders for ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip and said he was hopeful he could persuade them to halt attacks on Israel. He also said in an interview that Israel must do its part by halting military operations. Mr. Abbas also met with David Pearce, the US Consul-General in Jerusalem, and said that he was serious about dealing with the militants, but needed time to reach an agreement, according to a top Palestinian official. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Abbas had asked the Americans to pressure Israel to be patient. But Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri told AFP the group would tell Abbas it had no intention of halting attacks against Israel. “We will ask Abu Mazen about his call to stop attacks and we will confirm our refusal to heed this call.” Mr. Mohamed Al-Hindi, a leader of Islamic Jihad, said his organization intended to “confirm our right to resistance” in talks with Abbas. “We will listen to Abu Mazen and hear what he wants from us. We will listen to what he has to say about any truce before we announce our position,” he added. (AP, AFP)
The Palestinian National Security Council ordered the formation of a fact-finding committee to investigate the attack of the previous week on Al-Muntar (Karni) crossing in central Gaza Strip, a senior Palestinian official said. The official added that the Council had decided to deploy forces in the areas on the northern Gaza Strip border, from which rockets and mortars were being launched at Israeli targets. (DPA)
Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice told Congress that she saw a critical “moment of opportunity” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and vowed to make the most of it. “I look forward to personally working with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, and bringing American diplomacy to bear on this difficult but crucial issue,” she said during her confirmation hearing. (AFP)
The latest poll done jointly by Jerusalem's Hebrew University and the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Research in Ramallah found 46 per cent of Palestinians would accept a solution that would allow Israel to decide how many refugees to take back. Fifty per cent of the Palestinians opposed the refugee compromise, compared with 72 per cent in December 2003. Among Israelis, support for the refugee solution rose to 44 per cent from 35 per cent. Some 54 per cent of the Palestinians support a two-State solution on the basis of the 1967 lines, with border corrections, while 44 per cent were in favour and 54 per cent were opposed to an agreement in which Jerusalem would be the capital of two States. (AP, Ha’aretz)
Palestinians stranded at the Rafah terminal between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, due to its closure by Israel, managed to return to Gaza via Jordan as a result of the intervention of the European Union. Israel had imposed full closure on the Rafah terminal for 37 consecutive days. Palestinian official sources said more than 7,000 Palestinians had been stranded on the Egyptian side. (Xinhua)
A Hamas suicide bomber killed a Shin Bet agent and wounded eight security officials at the “Gush Katif” junction in the southern Gaza Strip. (AP, Reuters, Ha’aretz)
Mr. Bashir Nafe, commander of PA Special Forces said, “The instructions are clear … Weapons that don't belong to the Palestinian police are illegal. So wherever illegal weapons are found, we will collect them … There is no leadership in the world that gets elected on a peaceful programme and leaves arms in the hands of militias and other groups,” he said. (Reuters)
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Two IDF soldiers were injured when Palestinians fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF bulldozer operating in the northern Gaza Strip. (AP, Ha’aretz)
Two Palestinians were killed in the northern Gaza Strip in an exchange of fire with IDF troops, Israel Radio reported. The Palestinians were apparently attempting to plant a bomb in the area, the radio said. In central Gaza Strip, IDF troops fired at a Palestinian car approaching troops stationed near the “Netzarim” settlement. Three passengers fled the vehicle. An RPG launcher and grenades were discovered during a search of the
vehicle, the radio said. Near Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the radio said security forces found two large explosive devices, which sappers defused. Palestinians opened fire on IDF troops on the “Karni-Netzarim” road in the Gaza Strip, for use of Israelis only, and fired a mortar shell at a Gaza settlement. There were no injuries in either incident. (Ha’aretz)
IDF troops, accompanied by at least four tanks and dozens of military vehicles, arrested 13 Hamas members in the West Bank city of Nablus. A Palestinian man was reported lightly wounded by IDF fire. The troops demolished a four-storey house, and another house burst into flames after it was hit by a tank shell, witnesses said. The IDF imposed a curfew on two neighbourhoods in the city. Elsewhere in the West Bank, IDF troops arrested a Hamas activist in a village west of Ramallah and a militant from the PFLP in central Ramallah, according to Israel Radio. (Ha’aretz)
The IDF was considering three options in the Gaza Strip: pinpoint operations, a larger but limited incursion, or a major offensive. For now, Defence Minister Mofaz opposed the last option, senior officials said. (AP)
Hamas proposed a pact of honour to serve as a basis for dialogue among Palestinian factions. The pact presents Israel as the Palestinians' main enemy and calls for continued resistance by any means “be they military, security, political and economic.” The document calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital, and underscored the legitimacy of the armed resistance. It bans any cooperation, security coordination and contacts with Israeli occupation forces as a crime subject to severe punishment. “The issue of liberating the prisoners and detainees in Israel is a priority in the Palestinian struggle and part of Palestinian sovereignty and liberation,” the document said. (UPI, Xinhua)
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Asselborn told reporters at the beginning of his visit to the Middle East, “For Europe this issue here, the peace process, is one of the most important issues in our [European Union] presidency.” (AP, www.eu2005.lu)
PA Cabinet Minister Kadoura Fares said he believed a ceasefire agreement with Israel could be reached within two weeks. “There is no choice but to reach an internal Palestinian agreement and reach an agreement with Israel on a full and comprehensive ceasefire,” he told Israel Army Radio. “When there is good will, I think this can happen within two weeks.” (AP, Ha’aretz)
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader Zachariah Zubeidi said the militants would stop attacks in Israel as a gesture to PA President Abbas. Mr. Zubeidi did not say if attacks against soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would be halted. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told reporters, “The atmosphere of the meeting [with PA President Abbas] was positive. We exchanged views of common concerns to serve the interests of our people and keep national unity.” He said the two sides agreed to continue dialogues within the coming few days. On the ceasefire, Mr. Abu Zuhri said “these points were raised in the meeting and will be addressed within the framework of rearranging the internal Palestinian situation … We listened to Abu Mazen and told him that we will study these points in Hamas' official institutions, and he would soon get an answer,” he added. Another Hamas spokesman, Mr. Musheer Al-Masri, told reporters Palestinian resistance forces “have a consensus that the choice of jihad and resistance are the only choices, and any other choice is rejected.” “There is no free truce that can be given to the Israeli side,” said Mr. Khader Habib of Islamic Jihad. “There must be a price for a truce, first of all stopping the incursions and Israeli aggression.” (AP, UPI, Xinhua)
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit urged Israel to end military operations against the Palestinians to help restore the Middle East peace process, Egypt's newspaper Al-Akhbar reported. (Xinhua)
Mr. Abdel Razeq Al-Majaideh, head of Palestinian national security, told reporters that security forces would redeploy within the coming few days on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. “We are executing instructions presented by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership to restore calm and implement law and discipline,” he said. Israel Army Radio, citing Palestinian security sources, reported that a special Palestinian unit, consisting of 750 special security officers, would start work in the Gaza Strip soon. (UPI)
Gen. Al-Majaideh said Palestinian forces would be deployed near the Gaza Strip border with Israel within two days to prevent rocket attacks against Israel. “Preparations are under way to deploy Palestinian national security soldiers along the borders to stop any sort of violation,” he said in a radio interview. Later in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon decided to resume security talks with the Palestinians. Mr. Sharon’s office emphasized that contacts would involve only security officials for now and there would be none with President Abbas himself on diplomatic issues until after “Palestinians take real steps to stop terrorist operations and rocket and mortar fire.” The Israeli Security Cabinet agreed to resume security contacts with the Palestinians, but also approved tough military measures if the effort failed. (AP, DPA, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
At a security meeting between Palestinian and Israeli security officials, a plan was presented to Israel for the deployment in the Gaza Strip of security forces to halt attacks on Israel. Maj.-Gen. Moussa Arafat, Palestinian security chief in the Gaza Strip, said, “In the first stage, it will be in the north, and then we will move into the south.” The force, 500 to 700 strong, was to take over cities and towns in the Gaza Strip located close to where Qassam rockets were typically launched, and would take place no later than 23 January. The Palestinian delegation was led by Maj. Gen. Arafat, while Israel was represented by Brig. Gen. Aviv Kokhavi, commander of the Israeli army’s Gaza Division, and Col. Yoav Mordekhai, head of district coordination and co-operation office. (AP, BBC, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
PA President Abbas, who had been in talks with representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip since 18 January, reportedly said that he would not return to the West Bank until he reached an agreement with the factions. PA Foreign Affairs Minister Sha’ath said, “I have realistic optimism that ceasefire can be reached in a fairly short time.” (AFP, AP, Ha’aretz)
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Israeli soldiers killed a 14-year-old Palestinian in the village of Tubas, south of Jenin, who witnesses said had joined other youths in throwing stones at the troops. An Israeli military source said soldiers had spotted a gunman in the crowd and opened fire but Palestinians later told the army that Salahudin Abu Mohsen, the youngster killed in the incident, had been playing with a toy rifle. (AFP, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
IDF forces arrested a Hamas member at the checkpoint north of Ramallah in the West Bank. (Ha’aretz)
Israel agreed, after a six-week closure, to reopen the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on 21 January, a senior Palestinian security source said. “The Israeli army will reopen the Rafah crossing for Palestinians to enter Gaza tomorrow. After this, it will be opened for all Palestinians on both sides.” Israel confirmed that it would reopen the border on 21 January, allowing thousands of Palestinians trapped in Egypt since 12 December. (AFP, Ha’aretz)
The Israeli Government reportedly had decided to implement its Absentee Property Law of 1950 in East Jerusalem, occupied and expanded in June 1967. That would mean that possibly thousands of Palestinians who live in the West Bank would lose ownership of their property in East Jerusalem. The decision was approved by Prime Minister Sharon in July 2004 but was not publicized until now. Israeli Government officials estimated the land assets to amount to thousands of dunams, and other estimates said they could add up to about half of all East Jerusalem property. (Ha’aretz)
Mr. Jean Asselborn, President of the Council of the European Union and Luxembourg’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, met with PA President Abbas and Foreign Minister Sha’ath in the Gaza Strip. In a statement following those meetings, Mr. Asselborn welcomed President Abbas’ decision to deploy Palestinian security forces in the border area of the Gaza Strip. He also said the relationship between the EU and the Palestinians had a great potential and should be further developed, notably in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy. He expressed the readiness of the EU to work with both sides on creating conditions to make the Gaza Strip disengagement plan a success. (www.eu2005.lu)
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Israeli armoured cars moved into Ramallah in the West Bank, the first of such incursion in several months, according to Palestinian security officials. Twenty armoured cars and jeeps arrived from the neighbouring settlements of “Beit El” and “Psagot.” Troops surrounded a building in the town centre and then used explosives to force an entry before mounting a search, sources said. At the same time, ten other military vehicles took up positions around the muqataa, the headquarters of PA President Abbas. “It’s a routine operation aimed at apprehending wanted Palestinians, and the army did not use explosives,” a military source said. (AFP)
A 17-year-old Israeli girl who was wounded in a Palestinian rocket attack on Sderot in Israel a week earlier died of her injuries, according to medical sources. Ella Aboukassis died in hospital in Beersheva, six days after being wounded by a rocket launched from over the border in the northern Gaza Strip. (AFP)
A first busload of Palestinians crossed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip after the terminal was reopened for the first time in six weeks. The reopening of the crossing had been approved by Israeli security officials after a meeting with their Palestinian counterparts. (AFP)
Israel’s Vice Premier Shimon Peres said he was very impressed by PA President Abbas’ efforts to put a halt to attacks by militant groups. “The first steps by Abu Mazen [Mr. Abbas] are really impressive, not only in what he has been saying but also with the actions on the ground,” Mr. Peres said on public radio. “It is better than we expected but it doesn’t mean that there will be no problems … We are hopeful that this activity will be durable,” he said. (AFP, AP)
In a message marking Eid Al-Adha, Prime Minister Sharon told PA President Abbas he hoped they could work towards peace, according to PA Negotiations Affairs Minister Erakat. “Mr. Sharon sent a letter of congratulations to both Abu Mazen (Mr. Abbas) and Abu Ala (Prime Minister Qureia) for a happy Eid and said we can achieve peace in the region,” Mr. Erakat said. Both Messrs. Abbas and Qureia thanked Mr. Sharon for the letter and said they could work together to achieve a comprehensive and just peace, Mr. Erakat added. (AFP. BBC)
The US State Department said it was encouraged by a Palestinian decision to begin deploying a security force to the Gaza Strip. “We are encouraged by the steps that President Mahmoud Abbas has taken to gain control of the security situation in Gaza,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. “We have always stressed how important it is for the Palestinians to organize themselves to end the violence, and we welcome steps that are being taken in that direction,” he said. Meanwhile, the State Department announced it would send Assistant Secretary of State William Burns to Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Egypt. (AP, DPA)
22
Israeli troops shot to death a Palestinian man near the wall structures in the West Bank. The man had allegedly been spotted trying to cut through the fence near Qalqilya. Israeli soldiers ordered him to surrender several times and were ignored before opening fire, according to Israeli sources. No weapons were found on his body. In the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinians fired mortars on an Israel army outpost near the settlement of “Kfar Darom.” No casualties were reported in either incident. (AFP, DPA)
Israeli forces arrested in Ramallah Muhanad Salah Hussein, a member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (Ha’aretz)
23
Palestinian police checkpoints were established around Beit Hanoun, near the Israeli border, with officers patrolling main roads and guarding orange groves to stop militants from firing rockets into southern Israel. Residents of the area expressed relief at the massive police presence. The policemen said they were happy to be back on the job after more than four years of conflict with Israel. Several busloads of Palestinians travelled to the northern Gaza to welcome the forces, shaking hands, distributing packets of sweets and warmly embracing the officers. (AP)
At a cabinet meeting at Sderot, Prime Minister Sharon praised the present calm as a “positive” development, but warned of tough response if attacks resumed. “I hope that perhaps the quiet will continue and if not, then the army and the security forces will continue to do whatever is necessary in order to remove the threat,” he said. (Ha’aretz)
Former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin criticized the Government’s plan to expropriate Palestinian land in East Jerusalem. The plan was equivalent to a land grab and was undemocratic, he was quoted as saying. He also announced that his party, the Yahad Party, of which he was chairman, would try to halt Prime Minister Sharon’s plans. The plan would affect up to half of East Jerusalem, occupied and expanded by Israel in June 1967. (DPA, Ha’aretz)
EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana lauded Palestinian efforts on progress towards peace efforts. “Palestinians, both citizens and leaders, showed extraordinary maturity in such a difficult period following the death of Yasser Arafat and through to the election” of his successor, Mahmoud Abbas two weeks ago, he told Catalunya Radio. He voiced his hope that it would in due course prove possible for the Palestinian people “to obtain what they desire, which is peace.” (AFP)
The Bertelsmann Foundation’s IX Kronberg Talks on the Middle East, held from 23 to 25 January 2005 in Kronberg/Ts., just north of Frankfurt, Germany, provided an opportunity for the Quartet envoys to meet, including US Assistant Secretary of State Williams Burns and European Union Middle East Envoy Marc Otte. (www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de)
Mrs. Fathiya Barghouti (no relation to Marwan or Mustafa), 30, became the first woman to be elected to the office of Mayor in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. She arrived at her new office where she signed documents giving her power of attorney to sign checks for the West Beni Zaid municipality, which includes the villages of Beit Rima and Dir Ghassaneh, north of Ramallah. Mrs. Barghouti trained as an Arabic teacher and once held a managerial position in the Education Ministry. She was giving herself two months to understand how the municipality worked and promised that her sole objective as mayor would be to improve municipal services for the two villages’ 6,000 residents. (Ha’aretz)
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A Qassam rocket was fired overnight at the greenhouse in the “Ganei Tal” settlement, which is part of the “Gush Katif” bloc. (Ha’aretz)
The IDF renewed construction work on the separation wall route near “Ariel,” which had been suspended earlier, provoking Palestinian protests. (Ha’aretz)
Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have temporarily suspended attacks against Israel as they approached a fuller truce deal with PA President Abbas and awaited Israel’s response, according to a senior Palestinian official. Palestinian negotiator and former PA Minister Ziad Abu Amr said the groups had promised to suspend attacks on Israel, with Hamas insisting that Israel agree to halt military activities inside the Gaza Strip and to stop killing Hamas leaders. President Abbas would not formally declare a truce until after he had obtained Israeli guarantees. Mr. Abbas had also reached an understanding with Hamas and Islamic Jihad on the terms of their political participation and would regularly brief the leaders of those groups in the coming months, particularly on decisions regarding the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip that summer, negotiators said. The groups also declared that they would participate in parliamentary and municipal elections to be held in July. About 3,000 Palestinian police patrolled parts of the Gaza Strip near the Israeli border for a fourth day to prevent Palestinian militants from firing rockets. (AFP, AP, Albawaba.com, BBC)
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told listeners at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Middle East peace plan from which late PA President Yasser Arafat walked away in 2000 remained the most practical basis for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “At Camp David we basically shaped the parameters of any future agreement, whether we take five or 10 years to reach one,” he said. There would be peace when there was a Palestinian leader “with the character of President Sadat of Egypt or King Hussein of Jordan,” he added. Mr. Barak said Israel’s silent majority was ripe for peace but it did not want to be manipulated. “There will be a peace agreement, and you would need a magnifying glass to identify the difference between the agreement that will be achieved and the work of Camp David,” he said. (AP)
Al-Quds Brigades, military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for firing two Quds-1 missiles at the “Jan Tal” settlement, west of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. (The Palestinian Information Centre)
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Several hundred Palestinian and foreign protestors were involved in scuffles with Israeli troops on Tuesday as they tried to stop work on the barrier in the village of Iskaka, close to “Ariel”, witnesses said. (AFP, AP)
PA Prime Minister Qureia accused Israel of bad faith for resuming construction on a section of the West Bank barrier, casting a shadow over coordinated efforts to put a halt to attacks by militants. “We are making 100 per cent efforts to bring about a ceasefire but Israel is sending us an ugly message by working on the wall,” Qureia told reporters. He added, “This is going to lead to the confiscation of large amount of land. The world should be aware of what Israel is doing.” Mr. Qureia said the Palestinians would make US envoy William Burns “aware of the situation on the ground” when he held talks with the new Palestinian leadership on a visit to the West Bank later that week. (AFP)
Sheikh Hassan Yousef, spokesman for Hamas, said in a leaflet that the group condemned the Israeli incursions into the West Bank, especially in Jenin and Tulkarm. He asserted that the Israeli operations were aimed at breaking the hard-won calm that had prevailed in recent days. (Xinhua)
Gen. Moussa Arafat told reporters an agreement had been reached following his meeting with the IDF commander in the Gaza Strip, Gen. Aviv Kokhavi, on the redeployment of PA security forces near hot spots in the southern Gaza Strip, mainly near Khan Yunis and Rafah. (UPI)
In an interview published in Al-Hayat, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said recent truce talks with PA President Abbas had produced “positive results.” Mr. Mashaal said Hamas would agree to stop attacks if Israel ended “aggression, invasion, assassination, killings” and agreed to release all Palestinian prisoners. “If the enemy abides by these conditions, we, in Hamas, and other resistance forces in general, are ready to deal positively with the issue of pacification or temporary truce,” Mr. Mashaal said. (AP)
PA workers protected by police tore down illegal buildings along Gaza City's beachfront in a step by President Abbas to restore law and order in Gaza. “We are in a new era now. We must respect the law,” said Police commander Moussa Allaian, in charge of the demolitions. (AP, Ha’aretz)
The body of a 17 year-old Palestinian teenager, who had been shot dead by Israeli troops on 24 January, was recovered on the outskirts of Gaza City, said Palestinian and Israeli medical sources. The victim, whose identity was not known, had been shot in a closed military zone around the settlement of “Netzarim”, just south of Gaza City, the Palestinian sources said. An Israeli military spokesman said that troops had opened fire after the victim had been spotted in a prohibited zone on suspicion he was planning an attack. His death brings the overall toll since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian uprising to 4,717, including 3,662 Palestinians and 981 Israelis. (AFP)
Israel and the World Bank were considering linking the Gaza Strip to Israel's Ashdod port by rail after Israel withdrew from the coastal area that summer, officials said. The 20-kilometre Gaza-Ashdod train line would cost up to US$ 30 million and provide a lifeline for the isolated coastal strip, said Yoram Dori, an aide to Israel’s Vice Premier Shimon Peres. Tracks had already been laid along most of the route, from Ashdod to the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing into Gaza. Mr. Peres wanted the trains to start running shortly after the withdrawal was completed, Mr. Dori said. Mr. Peres would meet the regional representative of the World Bank, Nigel Roberts, to discuss the Gaza withdrawal plan. Stefano Mocci, spokesman for the World Bank's local office, said a series of meetings were scheduled in coming weeks between Israeli officials and bank managers. Israel had proposed a Gaza-Ashdod train line and also suggested a rail link between Gaza and the West Bank first for cargo, Mr. Mocci said. In the future, a Gaza-West Bank train might also carry passengers, he said. (AP)
PA Legislative Council Member Hanan Ashrawi complained to the United States about the Israeli decision to implement the Absentee Property Law, under which lands of thousands of Palestinians in East Jerusalem could be seized by Israel without compensation, Palestinian sources said. Mrs. Ashrawi had presented her complaint through the US Consul-General in East Jerusalem, in which she stressed that the law violated the international law that prohibits occupying forces from confiscating lands of the people in the occupied areas. (Xinhua)
Israel’s Maj. Gen. Elazar Stern, head of the IDF's manpower division, announced the army was phasing out units comprised solely of religious Jews from paramilitary seminaries, bastions of support for settlements, ahead of the Gaza pullout. Maj.-Gen. Stern said he feared “the initial sentiment” among some of the soldiers in the religious units was “not to participate” in the evacuation of settlers. But he said he believed they would change their minds and denied Israeli media speculation the decision to phase out the Orthodox contingents was linked to the planned removal of all 21 settlements in Gaza and 4 in the West Bank that summer. “We never wanted ideological contingents in the army,” Mr. Stern told the Israel Army Radio. (Ha’aretz, Reuters)
PA Minister without portfolio Qadoura Faris told reporters that the separation barrier being built around the settlement of “Ariel” was on the lands of the West Bank town of Salfeet. “Israeli bulldozers started two days ago to pave the way for the building of the wall despite an Israeli court decision to stop building the barrier and the US objection,” he said. Meanwhile, Negotiations Affairs Minister Erakat said efforts by the PA to achieve a ceasefire and stop violence were aimed at obliging Israel to honor its commitments “to stopping the construction of the wall and the expansion of settlements.” (Xinhua)
The IDF fired a number of tank shells onto a farmland to the east of Shujaiah suburb in Gaza City. No casualties were reported. Meanwhile, Israeli sources said the IDF fired at a Palestinian when he was seen near the separation barrier to the south of the Al-Muntar (Karni) Crossing, east of Gaza City, saying he was trying to detonate an explosive device. (The Palestinian Information Centre)
Palestinian security forces announced they had foiled three attempts to fire Qassam rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot. (UPI)
PA President Abbas had reached an agreement in principle with Hamas leaders in Gaza on the organization's participation in PA diplomatic decision making and in a future Palestinian government, sources involved in Mr. Abbas' talks with Hamas reported. The focus of the talks, the sources said, was the establishment of a “supreme diplomatic authority” as the body responsible for approving any diplomatic agreements with Israel. This authority would include all the Palestinian organizations, both in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and abroad. According to the sources, Hamas had agreed to accept the principle of a Palestinian State, with the 1967 borders and its capital in Jerusalem, as a basis for talks with Israel, as well as that any ceasefire with Israel must include international guarantees, either Egyptian or American, of a halt to all Israeli military operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including targeted killings, incursions into Palestinian areas, arrests and house demolitions. (Ha’aretz)
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Palestinian militants shot two Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel without causing damage or casualty. (Ha’aretz)
A three-year-old Palestinian girl died after IDF soldiers guarding a settlement fired into Deir Al-Balah in south-central Gaza Strip, witnesses said. IDF sources said soldiers opened fire after militants launched mortar bombs or rockets at the settlement. (DPA)
At least one Palestinian militant was shot dead by undercover Israeli troops operating in Qalqilya, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said. Palestinian sources said three men were killed while sitting in their car by a group of undercover Israelis dressed as Palestinians. Their identities were not immediately known, but all three belonged to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Medical sources said a 14-year-old boy, also wounded in the raid, was being treated for gunshot wounds in Qalqilya hospital. An IDF source, however, said only one Palestinian had been killed and two wounded in an operation to arrest wanted militants in the city. (AP, Ha’aretz)
Israeli and Palestinian security officials have reached agreement for the deployment of Palestinian forces from the centre of the Gaza Strip to the border with Egypt, a senior Palestinian security source said. “The Israelis have agreed to the deployments which will take place in the coming 24 hours,” the official said, following a two-hour meeting at the “Gush Katif” settlement bloc in southern Gaza Strip. “The Israelis agreed to our plan and where our men will be,” the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity. About 100 settlers briefly disrupted the meeting, throwing stones and cutting tires of participants' vehicles, Israeli police said. Five settlers were detained for questioning. (AP, AFP)
Vice Premier Peres said Israel could suspend its policy of extrajudicial killings if the calm held. A source close to Prime Minister Sharon said on condition of anonymity, “We will not launch any liquidation operations in the area where the Palestinian police can ensure calm and security by preventing attacks by terrorist groups. On the other hand, the Israeli army will continue to do everything possible to intercept anyone who is regarded as a ticking bomb, who is on the verge of carrying out an attacks, if the Palestinians do nothing to arrest them,” he added. (AFP, CNN, Reuters)
Prime Minister Sharon's special adviser Dov Weissglas, Military Secretary Shalom Turgeman and Media Adviser Assaf Shariv met with PA Negotiations Affairs Minister Erakat, [PA Cabinet Secretary] Hassan Abu Libdeh and [former PA Minister of State for Security Affairs] Mohammed Dahlan in Jerusalem, Israel Radio reported. The talks, which were meant to prepare a future meeting between Mr. Sharon and Mr. Abbas, were held in a “positive” atmosphere, the radio said. However, Mr. Erakat and Mr. Weissglas failed to reach agreement on a summit agenda, participants said. Israel wants to focus on security issues, while the Palestinians want to raise other issues, including the release of Palestinian prisoners and the separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. The meeting followed the decision by Prime Minister Sharon earlier in the day to lift the ban on political dialogue with the PA. (DPA, Ha’aretz, IMRA)
Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Burns told reporters after meeting Egypt’s President Mubarak: “The US government, together with regional powers like Egypt, is trying to do everything it can to help the Palestinians and Israelis to move forward.” Speaking of his regional tour, which will also take him to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, Burns said the visit was aimed at showing “strong support” to the Palestinians. “We'll do whatever we can to help the Palestinians rebuild their security forces and engage in talks with Israel,” he said, adding Washington was also seeking “additional assistance” for the Palestinians. “I think it's very important not only for Syria, but for other States to do everything they can to encourage and facilitate the opportunity before us,” he added. (AP)
PA President Abbas told his security chiefs to get ready for assuming control of five West Bank cities within ten days, participants in the meeting said. The cities were Ramallah, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Jericho and Bethlehem, the commanders said. Israeli officials said the issue had not yet been conclusively discussed. (AP)
In meetings with Palestinian security officials, Israel agreed to open the Rafah crossing to two-way traffic on 27 January, Palestinian officials said. (AP)
The IDF asked Israel’s Attorney General Menachem Mazuz for permission to clear completely a 300-meter-wide strip along the Gazan-Egyptian border. That would require the demolition of hundreds of Palestinian houses in Rafah. (Ha’aretz)
The European Commission was preparing a €70 million (US$ 91 million) aid package for the Palestinian Authority to immediately support PA President Abbas’ peace and reform efforts, an EU source said. (Reuters)
A 32-year-old Palestinian shepherd, Mustafa Yassin, was killed near the West Bank village of Tamoun when a discarded Israeli army ordinance exploded, according to witnesses. (AP)
After undercover Israeli police troops shot dead a Hamas member and wounded two Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members in Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, a spokesman for the Brigades, Abu Mohammed, told a news conference in Gaza City: “We demand that all killings, liquidations and incursions into Palestinian cities stop within the coming 24 hours. … If not, … we will find ourselves free of any commitment and will then respond to Zionist crimes by striking anywhere and at any time of our choosing.” (Ha’aretz)
An explosive device weighing 30 kilograms was uncovered by Israeli forces along the Israeli-Egyptian border near Rafah. The device was detonated in a controlled manner. (www.idf.il)
Israeli defence officials said Israel would require Palestinians living in Jerusalem to get special permits when crossing into the West Bank once the construction of the separation barrier was finished in July 2005. An army roadblock at Kalandia between Jerusalem and Ramallah would become a fully-fledged crossing terminal similar to those on the Israel-Gaza border, the officials added. PA Prime Minister Qureia said in a statement, “The Israeli decision to implement the absentee law in Jerusalem and forthcoming steps not to allow Palestinians to enter Palestinian territories except after getting permission from Israeli authorities are … the bad Israeli response to the serious Palestinian efforts to calm the situation and to pave the way to serious negotiations.” (AP)
The first municipal elections in the Gaza Strip were held in ten towns. More than 90,000 people were eligible to cast their ballots for 414 candidates running for 118 council seats. One hundred sixty-eight of the candidates were women. (AFP, AP, Reuters)
USAID said in a statement the US Government was allocating nearly US$ 30 million for the construction of a water supply system that would provide fresh drinking water to 200,000 people in Hebron. The statement said the project was part of a larger plan that would improve water services for 500,000 people. Construction is scheduled to end by June 2006, when responsibility will be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, according to the statement. (AP)
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said in a report Israel’s disengagement plan would cause a humanitarian disaster if Israel and donor countries failed to make preparations for rehabilitating the Palestinian health system in the Gaza Strip. The organization warned that Israel must continue after the pullout to allow Palestinians to leave Gaza for life-saving treatments either in Israel or abroad, and said Israel was obliged to plan and implement the rehabilitation of the Palestinian health system. (Ha’aretz)
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Israeli troops shot dead 30-year-old Sayed Zaker, a mentally-handicapped Palestinian in an off-limits area just south of Gaza City, according to a Palestinian medical official. An Israeli military source said, “Soldiers on the “Karni-Netzarim” road, which is for use by Israelis only, spotted a suspect figure running towards an army post. They fired warning shots but he didn’t stop so they shot towards him and identified a hit.” (AFP, DPA, Xinhua)
The Israeli army said it had arrested 14 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank. (www.idf.il)
The deployment of Palestinian police in the central and southern Gaza Strip scheduled for 27 January was postponed. Palestinian commanders said the deployment had been delayed because of technical reasons and that it would begin the following day, 28 January. (AP)
US Assistant Secretary of State Burns held talks with PA President Abbas and Prime Minister Qureia. After talks with Prime Minister Qureia, Mr. Burns said he was encouraged by the steps taken by the Palestinians to halt violence and Israel’s response to those moves. “We have no illusions that such a moment of opportunity is fragile. … The United States is determined to do everything it can to help,” he said. Mr. Burns was to meet with Prime Minister Sharon later in the day. (AP)
PA Negotiations Affairs Minister Erakat said Palestinian negotiators had proposed a joint cease-fire declaration with Israel at the previous day’s meeting with Israeli officials. “They did not reject this. They will give us the final answer next week,” Mr. Erakat said. The meeting was attended by Mr. Erakat, Mohammed Dahlan, and Prime Minister Qureia’s bureau chief Hassan Abu Libdeh on the Palestinian side, and Prime Minister Sharon’s adviser, Dov Weissglas, Military Secretary Shalom Turgerman, and Media Adviser Assaf Shariv on the Israeli side. Mr. Dahlan said Israel had agreed in principle to stop pursuing militants and halt targetted killings. Israel also promised in the meeting to release about 900 prisoners, according to a senior official. PA President Abbas told reporters, “We are willing to have a cease-fire and we have informed the Israelis of this, and we are waiting for an answer from them as soon as possible.” Mr. Sharon’s spokesman Asaf Shariv said Israel was examining the Palestinian proposals. “I don’t know if a cease-fire is the right wording. … If there is quiet on the Palestinian side, Israel will respond with quiet.” (AP, Ha’aretz)
PA President Abbas and Prime Minister Qureia decided to name Nasser Yousef, who had been in charge of dealing with the militants in the 1990s, as the new Palestinian Interior Minister, a senior Palestinian official said. (AP)
Prime Minister Sharon said in an interview with Yediot Ahronot: “There is no doubt that Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] has begun to work. … I am very satisfied with what I hear is happening on the Palestinian side, and I have a serious interest in advancing the process with him. … I intend to advance the chance of a settlement with the Palestinians. … I intend to be accommodating towards Abu Mazen while at the same time remaining vigilant and assessing the situation on their side.” (AP, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
The UNICEF Special Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Dan Rohrman, released a statement expressing his sadness over the killing of a three-year-old Palestinian girl by Israeli fire in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir Al-Balah the previous day. (www.unicef.org)
Foreign Minister Shalom said in an interview with Israel Army Radio, “A cease-fire is a ticking bomb which will blow up in our faces,” referring to the cease-fire forged by PA President Abbas. He added, “You cannot take a cease-fire as a long-range goal, while they are still preserving their infrastructure. The extremist organizations can rebuild them and bring about a situation in which at a time they choose they can carry out one terrorist attack or a series of terror attacks, which will bring down this whole process and send it to hell.” (AFP, Ha’aretz)
PA Local Government Minister Jamal Shobaki said elections would take place on 28 April 2005 in and around 100 Palestinian municipalities including, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Tulkarm and Salfit. (AFP)
In his annual report to the UN Commission on Human Rights, Special Rapporteur John Dugard said Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip under the disengagement plan did not mean it would cease to be subject to the obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, because Israel would retain ultimate power over Gaza by controlling its borders, as well as access by sea and air. He also said Israel’s house demolitions probably constituted serious war crimes. (www.ohchr.org)
Mohammed Dahlan, a former PA security chief, said, “Israel has agreed in principle to renew the understandings that were reached when PA President Abbas was Prime Minister.” Mr. Dahlan said the understandings had been reached at a meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz in July 2003, after the launching of the Road Map that sought the establishment of a Palestinian State. Mr. Dahlan said there was no final deal made on the Israeli pullback from Palestinian cities in the territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war, but that the details would likely be decided in a meeting the following week. Israeli Radio reported that Mr. Mofaz met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London and informed him of plans to meet with Mr. Dahlan on the possibility that security arrangements could be completed in time to initiate the transfer of West Bank towns to Palestinian security control. (Ha’aretz, Reuters)
At a National Security Council meeting, PA Prime Minister Qureia issued a decree banning civilians from carrying unlicensed weapons. The decree emphasized the law and order issue, noting “the increase in the number of violent crimes in all the governorates because of the chaos of weapons.” At the same meeting, the retirement of more than 1,000 members of the security forces was announced. (AP, Reuters)
Speaking at a meeting of the Contractors Association, Prime Minister Sharon said he believed conditions were right for a “historic breakthrough” with the Palestinians. “I believe the conditions have been created to permit us and the Palestinians to reach a historic breakthrough, a breakthrough that will lead us to security and peace,” Mr. Sharon said in a speech to a business group. He said that if the Palestinians worked to “end terrorism, incitement and violence,” Israel could be ready to move forward with contacts under the Road Map that would lead to a Palestinian State. (Reuters)
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Hamas won in seven of the ten municipal councils for which elections were held in the Gaza Strip, including the three largest ones─Deir al-Balah, Bani Suhayleh, and Beit Hanoun─election officials said. Fatah won the remaining three councils. Hamas supporters took to the streets chanting “Hamas is the real way for reform and rebuilding.” According to an Associated Press analysis based on lists provided by the competing factions, Hamas won 76 council seats in the 10 electoral districts, while Fatah won 39. PA Local Government Minister Jamal Shobaki said the overall turnout was 85 per cent and that among the 118 winners were 20 women (of initial 68 women candidates). Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, “We consider this victory a victory of the Palestinian people … it's not the victory of somebody against somebody, the competition was to serve our people's interests.” Another Hamas spokesman, Mushir Al-Masri, said, “This is a big victory for the resistance; it seems that resistance and Qassam [rockets] that used to be fired … have won.” A US State Department official had no immediate comment on the poll but said, “We'll follow this situation and see if it has any effect on President Abbas' moves to control the security situation and to eliminate violence.” (AP, BBC, Ha’aretz, Palestinian Information Centre)
Armed Palestinian policemen were deployed in the refugee camps of Khan Yunis and Rafah. Hundreds of Palestinians lined the streets to watch the police convoy of jeeps and buses moving through the roads of Khan Yunis. An additional 600 officers were deployed in central Gaza. The troops' commander, Maj. Hamza Shehadeh, said, “This decision was taken by the Palestinian leadership in order to secure the Palestinian people and to secure our land. We will protect security in our area, and along the borders.” (Ha’aretz)
IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon instructed commanders to minimize offensive operations in all Palestinian areas, but especially in the Gaza Strip, where the deployment of Palestinian security forces had been completed. Hundreds of Palestinian police officers were deployed in the central and southern Gaza Strip, a day after the Palestinian leadership banned civilians from carrying weapons. Starting the following week, if the quiet continued, the IDF would open the Beit Hanoun (Erez), Al-Muntar (Karni) and Rafah crossings, which connect Gaza to Israel and Egypt. The Al-Muntar (Karni) crossing was opened Friday for four hours to allow fruit deliveries to the Gaza Strip. The reduced military activity in Gaza was intended to allow Palestinian forces to take security responsibility. “The intention here is to let the Palestinian forces operate in an efficient manner and to allow them to do their job and maintain order,” said David Baker, an official [Senior Foreign Press Coordinator] in the Prime Minister’s Office. (Ha’aretz)
Referring to Hamas’ victory in the municipal elections in the Gaza Strip held on 26 January, US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said in a press briefing, “We continue to view Hamas as a terrorist organization. I think what I would say about these elections is that it’s not really about the results, it’s about the process; that the municipal elections that were held in Gaza were peaceful, there was a large voter turnout, and they were conducted on the basis of some excellent cooperation between the Israelis and Palestinians on issues like freedom of movement. … Winning an election doesn’t mean you stop your violence. You stop your violence because you’ve abandoned violence as a goal. And that has to be the criteria of judging any particular organization or individual.” (www.state.gov)
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Palestinian leaders called for the resumption of negotiations with Israel, warning that the new spirit of cooperation would not endure due to the withdrawal from Gaza alone. Yasser Abed Rabbo, former PA Information Minister, addressing a special session on the political process between Israel and the Palestinians, said, “We cannot be sub-contractors for unilateral Israeli moves.” He also said the dream of a new partnership could be destroyed if Israel continued expanding West Bank settlements and building the West Bank separation barrier. Vice Premier Peres, addressing the Forum, hailed the efforts of PA President Abbas towards ending attacks on Israelis. “This is the first time someone has taken on leadership and in a few days changed the entire atmosphere … All of a sudden there is a meeting of minds and moods.” However, Israel’s Foreign Minister Shalom told the Forum the Palestinians must do more to dismantle the infrastructure of armed groups, otherwise fresh attacks could undermine any progress towards peace. Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to start immediate talks with the PA on handing over control of the “Erez Industrial Zone” on the Israel-Gaza border, which he said could be the nucleus of an independent Gaza economy. PA Finance Minister Salam Fayyad cautioned the Forum: “Important though it is, economic development is no substitute for a credible, durable progress on the political track.” Outside the Forum, Messrs. Peres and Fayyad met privately and agreed on the need to implement a plan to upgrade the crossings at the separation barrier between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel plans to upgrade the crossings in the separation barrier, in order to reduce the friction between the IDF and Palestinian residents, and to ease the passage of people and goods. World Economic Forum sources said PA President Abbas was expected to arrive in Davos on 29 January. (Ha’aretz)
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A 35-year-old Palestinian believed to be mentally handicapped, Ibrahim Al-Shawaf, died after being shot in the head a day earlier by Israeli soldiers near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, according to medical sources. Israeli sources reported soldiers stationed in the area had opened fire on a Palestinian attempting to approach the border fence, adding that they had thought the man was attempting to carry out an attack. Mr. Al-Shawaf was allegedly the second mentally handicapped Palestinian shot dead by Israeli troops within less than a week. (AFP, DPA, Reuters, Xinhua)
Ahmed Abu Mustafa, a Palestinian man who had been seriously wounded in an Israeli incursion into the Khan Yunis refugee camp on 22 December 2004, died of his injuries, according to medical sources. (AFP)
In Cairo, PA President Abbas held talks with Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak. The talks focused on efforts to revive the peace process and economic aid needed by the Palestinians to restore security in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, according to an Egyptian source. Also, officials said around 40 Palestinian policemen had arrived in Egypt for training. Egypt had declared its readiness to train 30,000 Palestinian policemen. (AFP, Reuters)
PA Foreign Minister Sha’ath said all Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, had agreed with the Palestinian Authority on a temporary ceasefire with Israel on the condition Israel halted its attacks on Palestinian areas and released Palestinian prisoners. “There is a temporary ceasefire and we are waiting for an Israeli response. … If Israel reciprocated, the ceasefire [would] turn from a temporary [one] into a permanent one,” Mr. Sha’ath told The Associated Press by telephone from Damascus, where he had held a meeting with his Syrian counterpart to brief him on the ceasefire agreement. “What is required from Israel is to cease its fire, aggression and siege against the Palestinian people and release all prisoners,” he added. Mr. Sha’ath later met with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus. (AP)
Referring to recent talks between the PA and Palestinian factions, PA Prime Minister Qureia said, “The dialogues made great, real and excellent achievements, and then there will be dialogues in Cairo within the coming four days on the level of the leaders of the Palestinian factions who live abroad.” (DPA)
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A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops manning the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources identified the victim as 55-year-old Eid Abu Rubeiha. A military spokesperson said the man had ventured a few hundred metres into a restricted area, some 15 metres close to a military position and soldiers, who had felt threatened, had shot him. (AFP, UPI)
After a meeting with Palestinian senior security official Dahlan a day earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Mofaz told Israel Radio: “The transfer of control of some towns in the West Bank should take place in the next few days. … We are finalizing the details on the choice of towns and an exact date for their transfer.” The agreement was reported to cover Ramallah, Qalqilya, Tulkarm, Jericho and possibly Bethlehem. (AFP, AP, Reuters)
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A 10-year-old Palestinian girl, Noran Iyad Deeb, was killed when she was shot in the face while she was at a school administered by UNRWA in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. Another girl, Aysha Isam El-Khatib, was shot in the hand. UNRWA said firing had been heard at the time of the incident from the direction of the Israeli-controlled border area. An Israeli military source said the army was not aware of any shooting by its forces near the position and was planning to investigate the incident in cooperation with the Palestinians. (AFP, AP, Reuters, UNRWA press release HQ/G/01/2005)
Hamas militants launched mortar bombs at the “Neve Dekalim” settlement in the southern Gaza Strip after the fatal shooting of a 10-year-old Palestinian girl in Rafah, causing no casualties. The armed wing of Hamas, Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a leaflet its militants had fired five mortar shells at the settlement in retaliation for the killing of the girl. (AFP, Reuters, Xinhua)
Israeli troops discovered and safely defused a 50-kilogramme explosive device south of the “Kissufim” border crossing between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip. (Ha’aretz, www.idf.il)
An Israeli police spokesman, Gil Kleiman, said Israel was planning to clear a 500-metre strip around a wire section of the separation barrier in an Arab village on Jerusalem’s outskirts to prevent infiltrations by Palestinian militants. “We need protection for the fence and to make sure infiltration into Jerusalem is difficult,” Mr. Kleiman said. He said tens of houses would be destroyed. “It doesn’t matter how many it is. The question is: are they legal or illegal … In areas where the buildings are illegal, we want full protection.” (Reuters)
PA President Abbas met with Russian President Putin in Moscow. President Putin told Mr. Abbas, “We strongly hope that you, Mr. Chairman, will be able to take steps toward improving the situation in respect to Israel as well as the socio-economic situation in Palestine. We are ready to work actively, as before, together with the international community to help solve all these problems.” Mr. Abbas said, “We hope that the position of Russia, the support and help given both on the bilateral basis and as part of the Quartet of international mediators, will have a decisive importance for reaching a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East.” The two sides issued a press statement saying the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank should be “the first step toward a full and final cessation of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.” Earlier, Mr. Abbas had met with Foreign Minister Lavrov. (AFP, AP)
France’s Foreign Minister Barnier said in an interview with Europe 1 radio: “I see a new state of mind, a new positive environment which allows me to say that 2005 can and must be the year of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. … It is a central conflict which we can get out of if there is a common will between the Americans, Europeans, Russians and United Nations.” Mr. Barnier said he would meet Prime Minister Sharon and PA President Abbas during a visit to the region on 7 and 8 February. “I will express the support of France and the European Union for this new state of mind that one can really feel between the Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. (Reuters)
At a meeting in Herzliya, Israeli Defence Minister Mofaz told PA Senior Security Adviser Mohammed Dahlan there would be no transfer of West Bank cities to the PA without a total cessation of mortar fire into the settlements of “Gush Katif”. The meeting was to focus on the transfer of five West Bank cities (Bethlehem, Jericho, Qalqilya, Ramallah, and Tulkarem). Areas of militant activity (Hebron, Jenin and Nablus) were to remain under Israeli military control. However, after mortar fire in the Gaza Strip, Mr. Mofaz demanded that the PA take more aggressive action against militants. Mr. Mofaz made several demands, including a total halt to all attacks in the Gaza Strip; commitment by all Palestinian groups to cease terror activity; a thorough PA investigation into the mortar fire and suicide bombing two weeks earlier at the Al-Muntar (Karni) crossing; and more deployment of Palestinian troops into the southern Gaza Strip, as well as a Palestinian campaign against the smuggling tunnels. Mr. Dahlan demanded the immediate opening of the Beit Hanoun (Erez), Al-Muntar (Karni) and Rafah crossings of the Gaza Strip. Mr. Mofaz agreed to open Beit Hanoun (Erez) and Rafah. (AP, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there cannot be peace in the Middle East unless the Palestinians attain a State that satisfies their aspirations. She said Israel must also recognize that the Palestinian State, which she said was “within our grasp,” must be viable and contiguous – meaning enough land to function well. (Ha’aretz)
Israel’s Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz, ordered an urgent review of a recent government decision to apply the 1950 Absentee Property Law to Palestinian property in Jerusalem. Mr. Mazuz said he had never been consulted about the policy, which had been secretly approved by Cabinet ministers in 2004. “The issue is currently under urgent review, and in the coming days I will express my opinion on the matter,” he said. The spokesman of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, Paul Patin, said, “We strongly urge all parties to refrain from unilateral steps that change the status quo in Jerusalem, including measures pursuant to the Absentee Property Law. … As we have stated consistently, direct negotiations and mutual agreement between the parties are required for final status issues, including the status of Jerusalem.” Later on, Mr. Mazuz overturned a Government decision to enforce the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem. In a letter sent to Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is responsible for the law’s enactment, Mr. Mazuz said it was not within the power of the Ministerial Committee on Jerusalem, which had decided to apply the law, to interpret the extent of the authority of the Absentee Property Custodian. Mr. Mazuz also said applying the Committee’s decision “could also have grave diplomatic repercussions on the separation fence, which has drawn strong criticism from the International Court of Justice at The Hague.” (AP, BBC, Ha’aretz, Reuters)
At a press briefing, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the EU, Jean Asselborn said the EU welcomed the announcement of the upcoming meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. He affirmed the EU’s “support for the creation of an environment conducive to these efforts.” (http://www.eu2005.lu)
At its meeting, the Council of the EU adopted conclusions on the Middle East peace process. The Council encouraged the efforts of the two parties to relaunch political contacts at all levels. It also “reaffirmed that the EU, in cooperation with the other members of the Quartet and Egypt, will support the implementation of withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and certain areas of the north of the West Bank as a first stage in the overall process, in accordance with the conditions defined by the European Council in March 2004.” (http://www.eu2005.lu)
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Document Type: Chronology, Publication
Document Sources: Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR)
Subject: Palestine question
Publication Date: 31/01/2005