issue no 27

Issue No: 27 5th Jan, 2013

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia (PCOM) 1



Read in this report:

Sharawna resumes hunger strike (P.5) Judaizing landscape around Al-Aqsa (P.6)

Escalation of popular resistance in WB (P.7) An attempt to assassinate Sheikh Salah (P.7)

Netanyahu’s party falls in opinion polls (P.9) Pop fest in UiTM to support Gaza (P.10)



Contents

NEWS OF PALESTINE

Khudari: 2013 will witness final end to the siege on Gaza ........................................................ 4

Almost 4,000 Palestinians were detained by Israel in 2012 ...................................................... 4

Sharawne resumes hunger strike ................................................................................................ 5

Israeli forces breach truce with Gaza ......................................................................................... 5

Aqsa foundation: Israel plans to Judaize the landscape around the Aqsa Mosque .................... 6

Hebrew reports: Escalation of popular resistance in the West Bank ......................................... 7

Complaint regarding an attempt to assassinate Sheikh Salah .................................................... 7

Israel completes key part of fence with Egypt ........................................................................... 8

850 Palestinians Killed in Syria ................................................................................................. 8

ISRAEL INSIDER

Netanyahu's party falls behind in opinion polls ......................................................................... 9

Netanyahu says Livni will not have role in next government ................................................... 9

MALAYSIA & PALESTINIAN CAUSE

IKIMfm radio collects RM120, 000 for Palestine Muslims .................................................... 10

Pop festival an aspiration of youth to help Palestinians in Gaza ............................................. 10

ARTICLES & ANALYSES

The time is ripe for Palestinian reconciliation, again .............................................................. 11



Khudari: 2013 will witness

final end to the siege on Gaza

02/01/2013

Independent MP Dr. Jamal Al-Khudari has

opined that 2013 would witness a final end to

the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip that has

been in force for six years.

In a press release on Wednesday, Khudari

called for intensifying efforts by free people of

the world, those who back the Palestine cause,

and layers and segments of the Palestinian

people in order to break the siege once and for

all.

The MP hoped that the new year would bring

about freedom, end of occupation, and

restoration of all usurped rights for the

Palestinian people in the West Bank, Gaza

Strip, Jerusalem, 1948 land, and the diaspora.

Source:PIC

_______________________________________________________________

Almost 4,000 Palestinians were detained by Israel in 2012

28/12/2012

Official statistics issued by the Palestinian

Ministry for Detainees and ex-Detainees have

revealed that almost 4,000 Palestinian men,

women and children have been detained by the

Israelis in 2012. The total number was 3,850, including 880 children.

The ministry noted that 67 women, 11 elected

parliamentarians, nine former prisoners freed

in the latest swap deal between Palestinians

and Israelis, and dozens of academics,

journalists, teachers and community and

political leaders have been arrested by Israel

this year. The average detention rate per

month was 321, breaking down to 11

Palestinians detained every day.

Source: MEMO

NEWS OF PALESTINE



Sharawne resumes hunger strike

02/01/2013

Detainee Ayman Al-Sharawne, from Dura

town south of al-Khalil, announced on

Wednesday resumption of his hunger strike

until his release.

Sharawne, who had suspended his hunger

strike for a week, has decided to resume his

hunger strike after the Israeli occupation

authorities (IOA) backtracked on earlier

promises to release him on Tuesday.

His brother Jihad told the PIC that Ayman

during the suspension of his hunger strike only

consumed 25 tablets and water, adding that his

health condition was still very delicate because

his body did not respond to the medication.

He quoted the lawyer as saying that

Sharawne’s health condition was very serious

after he reached his 179th day of hunger strike.

The IOA had said that it would release

Sharawne by start of 2013 if he suspended his

strike but nothing happened and he resumed

his strike demanding his release from his

arbitrary administrative detention.

Sharawne was released in the Wafa Al-Ahrar

prisoners’ exchange deal that stipulated among

other conditions that no released prisoner

would be re-arrested.

It’s worth mentioning that several other

Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails are on

hunger strike till their demands are fulfilled;

the prisoners are: Samer Esawi (on hunger

strike since 1/8/2012), Odai Kilani (since

23/10/2012), Tareq Qa’dan, Jaafar Ezzidin,

Saleh Kmail and Yusuf Shaaban (Since

25/11/2012). Most of them are in critical

health situation.

Source: PIC + Agencies

_______________________________________________________________

Israeli forces breach truce with Gaza

04/01/2013

Israel's armed forces appear to have breached

the terms of the truce with Hamas in Gaza

which brought an end to November's massive

offensive against Palestinian civilians. Under

heavy drone cover, Israeli tanks entered the

Gaza Strip on Monday, near the city of Rafah

in the south of the enclave.



Witnesses said that three Israeli Merkava tanks

and six armoured bulldozers entered the

eastern areas about 100m inside the city

boundary. A large lorry loaded with iron boxes

followed the bulldozers.

Palestinian security sources believe that the

latest Israeli incursion is intended to establish

a new Israeli observation post or fortify an

existing one. Similar Israeli moves took place several days ago.

On the other hand, the Israeli occupation

forces bombed the eastern part of Khan

Younis and fishing boats off Rafah, in the

southern Gaza Strip. Local sources told the

PIC correspondent that the occupation forces

positioned in the east of Khan Yunis, opened

fire at farmlands and residential areas east

of the city, on Friday morning, with no casualties reported.

Source: Agencies

_______________________________________________________________

Aqsa foundation: Israel plans to Judaize the landscape around

the Aqsa Mosque

03/01/2012

The Aqsa foundation for endowment and

heritage warned that the Israeli occupation

regime plans to build a cluster of giant

Jewish structures that can change the urban

landscape greatly around the Aqsa Mosque.

In a press report on Thursday, the Aqsa

foundation said that the Israeli occupation

authority and its institutions intensified in

recent days its excavations around the Aqsa

Mosque, especially in its western and

southern sides where Al-Maghariba Gate,

the Umayyad Palaces and the entrance to

Wadi Hilwa district are located.

The foundation noted that these excavations

are taking place concurrently with the

destruction of historical Islamic monuments

and remains as part of Israel's steps to

Judaize the whole area around the Mosque.

Not far from Al-Maghariba Gate,

specifically at the entrance to Wadi Hilwa

district, the Israeli excavations expand

every day, while the Islamic structural

remains from Umayyad and Abbasid eras,

which were discovered during the diggings,

were wiped out, according to the

committee.

Source: PIC



Hebrew reports: Escalation of popular resistance in the West

Bank

04/01/2012

Hebrew media reports confirmed the

escalation of popular resistance operations

carried out by Palestinian citizens against

Israeli targets in the occupied West Bank,

during the past two months.

The reports said that dozens of resistance

operations were carried out by Palestinian

youths including throwing stones and empty

bottles and Molotov "cocktails" on military

sites and settlements of the enemy in different

parts of the occupied West Bank focused in

general in the cities of Jerusalem, al-Khalil,

Ramallah and Qalqilya.

Yesha Hebrew site pointed out that the recent

period has witnessed the innovation of new

types of popular resistance, including the

erecting of barriers and camouflaged

barricades at the entrances to Palestinian

towns and villages to repel the incursions of

the Israeli occupation forces and settlers,

pointing out that this type of barriers spread

dramatically in the villages surrounding the

city of Ramallah, and causing significant

damage to Israeli settlers and soldiers'

vehicles.

Source: PIC

_______________________________________________________________

Complaint regarding an attempt to assassinate Sheikh Salah

03/01/2013

A human rights organization in 1948-occupied

Palestine revealed that the Israeli General

Intelligence "Shabak" had masterminded a

plan to assassinate the head of the Islamic

movement in 1948-occupied Palestine, Sheikh

Raed Salah.

Al-Mezan center for human rights said, in a

press statement on Wednesday, that its lawyer

Mohammed Suleiman Aghbarieh presented a

petition to the Administrative Tribunal in

Jerusalem demanding the Israeli Attorney

General to disclose the Intelligence agency's

plan to assassinate Sheikh Raed Salah.

Aghbarieh explained that in July 2010 the

Israeli media revealed that the Israeli

Intelligence arrested an Israeli citizen named

"Haim Verlman" on suspicion of killing

Palestinians, and during interrogation, he

admitted that an Israeli intelligence officer

asked him to assassinate Sheikh Raed Salah.

The lawyer Aghbarieh added that "the recently

discovered information constitute a definite

risk on Sheikh Raed Salah's life, however

recommendations to the government's legal

adviser fell on deaf ears."

Source: PIC



Israel completes key part of fence with Egypt

02/01/2013

Israel has completed the main segment of a

razor-wire fence along its border with Egypt.

The five-metre high fence, bolstered by

military surveillance equipment, is touted by

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as proof

of his commitment to Israel's security as he

campaigns for a national election on January

22.

Israel says the barrier has been built to

deter illegal migrants and Islamist fighters

hiding out in Egypt's lawless Sinai region.

The final 14km section will be completed

within the next three months, leaving the

fence stretching from Israel's Red Sea port of

Eilat to the Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean.

Source: Aljazeera

_______________________________________________________________

850 Palestinians killed in

Syria

02/01/2012

Five Palestinians have been killed on Monday

in shelling by Syrian forces loyal to Syrian

regime on the camps of Husseiniya and

Yarmouk.

Syrian forces launched dozens of mortar

missiles at buildings of Palestinians in the

camps. The last victims' toll of Palestinians

reached 850 martyrs.

"Working group for Palestinians in Syria,"

reported on Monday that al-Thalathin street in

Yarmouk exposed to heavy fire and shelling ,

whereas many shells landed in districts of

Oroba, Madina and Maryters Cemetery. Syrian

forces also prevented vehicles carrying food

and other materials to get into the camp.

In Husseiniya camp, Syrian MIG warplanes

bombed buildings in the street of the 17,

killing a number of Palestinian refugees and

leaving large material damage.

Source: drah.ps



Netanyahu's party falls behind in opinion polls

02/01/2013

The latest opinion poll in Israel suggests that

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud

Party will lose five seats to new party "Jewish

Home", Haaretz newspaper said on

Wednesday. The new party is headed by

Naftali Bennett and would be expected to win

14 seats, the poll indicated, making it the third largest party in the Knesset.

Conducted by the Dialogue Institute at Tel-

Aviv University, for Haaretz, the poll shows

that the Likud-Yisrael Beiteinau coalition

could win 34 seats in the Israeli parliament,

the Knesset. that's five fewer than shown by an identical poll conducted one month ago.

However, if, as expected, Netanyahu forms a

broader coalition with other extreme right-

wing and religious parties, he can expect to

command 67 seats. The centre-left bloc,

according to the poll, would win 53 seats, with

little change between Tzipi Livni's party and

Yair Lapid's. The Labour Party would lose one

seat, leaving it with 16, making it the second

largest in parliament, although Haaretz noted

that given current trends, the Jewish Home

party could possibly replace Labour in that

position.

Source: MEMO

_______________________________________________________________

Netanyahu says Livni will not have role in next government

27/12/2012

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

insisted on Wednesday that he will not allow

former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to have

any foreign affairs role in a prospective

government under his leadership. Netanyahu

was responding to what he called "rumours"

that Livni would get a senior role in exchange

for joining his coalition after the forthcoming general election.

"She will not get the foreign affairs portfolio

or even be allowed anywhere in the diplomatic

realm or be involved in talks with the

Palestinians," Israeli newspaper Haaretz

quoted him as telling Likud Party ministers on Wednesday.

Livni, who formed a new party called Hatuna

recently, criticised Netanyahu's remarks. She

told Yedioth Ahronoth. "He is trying to spread

despair among those who oppose his policies."

She accused Netanyahu of evading issues of

substance and pretending that he has already

won the election.

Netanyahu would prefer, it is claimed, to give

the foreign affairs portfolio back to Yisrael

Beiteinu's Avigdor Lieberman once he has

resolved the legal issues which pushed him to resign as Foreign Minister recently.

Source: MEMO

ISRAEL INSIDER



IKIMfm radio collects RM120, 000 for Palestine Muslims

31/12/2012

The IKIMfm Radio in collaboration with the

Asy-Syakirin Mosque, KLCC has raised

RM120, 000 for the Palestinian Fund to help

the people of Gaza.

The collection was made through the

IKIMfm@Asy-Syakirin Mosque Mahabbah

Carnival, a programme that implemented a

'dakwah turun padang' (missionary on the

field) concept, to provide an insight into the

brutality of the Zionist regime against

Muslims in Palestine.

When approached by Bernama at the carnival

here Monday, Fairuz who is also IKIMfm

Senior Producer hoped that the carnival would

act as an important platform to spread the

beauty of Islam, especially through the

'dakwah' approach in creating a society with a

high level of awareness on universal issues.

Source: Bernama

_______________________________________________________________

Pop festival an aspiration of youth to help Palestinians in Gaza

25/12/2012

The two-day Save Gaza Pop Festival held in

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) has

showcased the aspiration of 250 youths to

offer their help and assistance to the Muslims

in Gaza, Palestine.

Selangor Youth Council (MBS) president

Datuk Irmohizam Ibrahim said the festival

also saw various activities and 110 sales

booths being mounted with the aim of raising

funds for Gaza.

"MBS, as well as these youths just want to

express our support and concerns about the

sufferings of the Palestinians in Gaza by

organising exhibitions, stage performance and

sharing our experience in Palestine during the

two-day festival," he said when contacted here

Sunday.

Source: Bernama

MALAYSIA & PALESTINIAN CAUSE



The time is ripe for Palestinian reconciliation, again

By: Yaser AlZaatra

After the victory of the Palestinian resistance

in Gaza against the Israeli offensive and the

relative success at the United Nations, there is

a positive atmosphere with regards to

reconciliation; the time, surely, is ripe for it.

However, when we ask questions about it, it

looks as if we're sabotaging the coming

together which is going to solve Palestine's

complicated issues. Of course, Hamas and

Fatah leaders are now meeting to achieve the

hoped-for reconciliation, which they have used

as an excuse for all disasters that have befallen

the people of Palestine. That list includes the

failed negotiations, even though they have

been negotiating for much longer than the division without actually achieving anything.

The reality is that all the positive atmospheres

in the world can't guarantee reconciliation, as

the devil lies in the details, which will still be

there to sabotage the process at any moment.

Even so, let's assume that things will be alright

and ask about the nature of this reconciliation

and how it will benefit what is called the

"Palestinian national project". Keep in mind

the "principles" of the Palestinian Authority

whose leader splits his time between the

leadership of the PLO, Palestine and the

Palestinian Revolution Forces.

What scenario does reconciliation promise,

and what will be the consequences for the

liberation project? Can we truly "liberate" the

land on the borders of 1967 if the president

gives up 78 per cent of historic Palestine

without even getting any recognition of

Palestinians' right to the remaining 22 per

cent?

We will simply go back to what we had before

the 2006 elections, and the focus will be on

presidential and parliamentarian elections as a

theme for unity, although it is not clear

whether elections increase or decrease

divisions! Fatah and leftist parties will

probably win a small majority because of the

proportional list system, as opposed to the

individual seats system through which Hamas

won last time. In any case, if Hamas wins

again, the now familiar blockade and

blackmail scenario will ensue.

A victory for Fatah and its allies with a small

majority will probably lead to a national unity

government if Hamas agrees to participate in

it. This will govern as if there is a real nation

state, which of course there isn't. The situation

on the ground will remain the same, and the

"government" will have to negotiate with the

Israeli occupation, which leads nowhere

except to security cooperation for Israel's benefit.

Veteran negotiator Sa'eb Erakat said a few

days back that there are efforts to resume

negotiations with Netanyahu's government,

even though the Israeli election is imminent.

This is futile. Everyone knows that neither

Netanyahu, who responded to the UN

recognition of Palestine as a non-member

observer state by announcing more

settlements, nor Barack, nor even Olmert

could or would give Palestinians a fully

sovereign state on the 1967 borders, including

east Jerusalem. The stark evidence for this is

the Camp David dead end in 2000 and, more

importantly, the Abbas-Olmert negotiations

whose details were exposed in the leaked

Palestine Papers; Abbas gave huge

concessions regarding Jerusalem and land

exchange. They would have led to massive

settlement blocs remaining deep inside the

West Bank and giving up refugees' right of

return, but this was still insufficient for the

Israelis.

The question to which there is no clear answer

is simple: what will be the consequences of

Israeli refusals during negotiations? The

answer is equally simple: nothing. Security

coordination will continue and the Palestinian

Authority's rule over the localities the "Separation Wall" leaves behind will continue.

This is the temporary state of affairs which no

one will acknowledge; it is also Netanyahu's

ARTICLES & ANALYSES



"economic peace". Palestine's leaders will

keep on saying that they will adhere to

principles and that they will not give up on

them (even though the Abbas-Olmert papers

suggest otherwise), and they will demand their

legitimate rights in all international arenas. As

for peaceful resistance, it will be limited to one

weekly protest while everyone knows that

effective resistance is one that has a cost for

the occupation authorities. Resistance should

challenge robustly, to the point of civil

disobedience, Israeli checkpoints and settlers.

We don't see this kind of resistance, though,

because it obstructs "development" and

perhaps the "business" of senior officials' sons

and relatives; so-called VIP identity cards for

the PA may also be withdrawn by the Israelis.

Armed resistance, the most effective resistance

of all, is off the agenda and cannot be

considered because it is "absurd" and "destructive".

If Hamas accepts all of this, it would be a

disaster, but if the reconciliation takes a

different path, then it should be welcomed. At

this point it should be remembered that I am

not questioning the integrity of all Fatah's

activists who, just like us, talk about the

absurdity of negotiations. Like most

Palestinians, they are looking forward to

standing up to Israeli tyranny with the rest of

the people as they did during the great Al-

Aqsa Intifada.

The worthy reconciliation path would create a

civil authority in the West Bank and Gaza

Strip which provides public services to the

people. Elections, meanwhile, should be held

across Palestine and in the Diaspora to choose

a unified leadership through reformation of the

PLO. At that stage, a new stage of the liberation struggle can be agreed upon.

The problem is that the state's recognition by

the UN will marginalise the PLO; what's

worse is that the PLO leadership will not agree

to it being reformed in a manner that will give

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and those who

support resistance - which includes many

people from Fatah as well more than half of

the membership. That would see resistance

adopted as a means of liberation.

If just and honest reform of the PLO is

accepted and forms the basis of reconciliation

it will be positive for the liberation movement.

The current impasse looks too hard to break

without another Intifada in the West Bank in

response to Israeli settlements, Judaisation

policies, checkpoints and humiliation. The

objective would be to remove Israel from all

land occupied in 1967, similar to its

withdrawal from South Lebanon; no

"negotiations" would be necessary. If Hamas

uses the present goodwill following Israel's

recent offensive against Gaza to present the

project in the form of a civil administration for

the West Bank and Gaza, with a complete

Intifada against the Israeli occupation, it will

get most of the factions on board, including

members of Fatah.

The main choice, therefore, appears to be

between the current maze with no

reconciliation or a new Intifada. That could

lead to the West Bank and Gaza Strip going

their separate ways, which the Israelis would

no doubt like to see, with a blockade in one and security cooperation from the other.

The PA knows that a settlement according to

what it calls "historical principles" which

excludes 78 per cent of Palestine, is still not

accepted by Netanyahu, Lieberman or anyone

else. PA officials ignore that fact completely

and talk about negotiations as if everything is in order.

The time is indeed ripe for Palestine to get out

of this mess and to use the atmosphere of the

Arab Spring to move one step ahead on the

path of resistance and real liberty, instead of

begging and accepting the crumbs offered by

the Israelis. This needs a unified and united

leadership for the Palestinian people inside

and outside historic Palestine. If this is not

forthcoming, then the only option is an Intifada to impose unity in the field.

issue no 27

Documents

palestinian people

palestinian ministry

palestinian reconciliation

gaza strip

final end

palestine cause

end of occupation

jamal alkhudari