issue no 51

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Issue No : 51 8th July, 2013

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Read In This Report

Egyptian authorities close Rafah crossing for an indefinite period

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P 10

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Israel welcomes Egyptian army coup 2 martyrs, 230 arrests, 3, 341 settlement units built during June

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Knesset passes «racist» bill restricting Arab presence in Negev Desert

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Israel and its demographic complex

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CONTENTS

News of Palestine

Articles & Analyses

Israel and its demographic complex 10

Israel Insider

Knesset passes «racist» bill restricting Arab presence in Negev Desert 9

Egyptian authorities close Rafah crossing for an indefinite period 4

Israel welcomes Egyptian army coup 5

2 martyrs, 230 arrests, 3, 341 settlement units built during June 6

Israeli intelligence and female soldiers defile al-Aqsa mosque 7

Gov›t: Kerry›s regional tours are a waste of time 8

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News of Palestine

The Egyptian authorities said it would continue to close the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip due to the events in Sinai until further no-tice.

Director of the crossings authority in Gaza Ma-her Abu Sabha said on Saturday that the Egyp-tian side would close the Rafah border terminal for the second consecutive day because of the security situation in Rafah area and Sinai.

The Egyptian army closed on Friday the Rafah terminal at the pretext of the tension taking place in Al-Arish and Sinai. The closure of the cross-ing rendered thousands of Palestinian passen-gers stranded at international airports around the world and prevented many patients and students from leaving Gaza for their destinations.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces have closed the tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, used for the smuggling of essential goods and fuel to the besieged Strip. Informed sources confirmed that the Egyptian army launched a campaign to demolish the tunnels built under the Egyptian-Palestinian borders.

On the other hand, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza warned on Saturday of the se-riousness of the situation in the health sector in light of the shortage of fuel.

Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra, ministry spokesman, said: «The stifling crisis of fuel in Gaza has a signifi-cant impact on the health services that have been affected since last Saturday.» He explained that the operation rooms, laboratories, intensive care rooms and the preterm infants’ service always

need uninterrupted electricity.

«We are facing now a critical juncture in light of the continued closure of crossings,» Qudra said, add-ing: «We still have only 20 per cent of the diesel stock, and we are trying to exploit it to the optimal use, as part of a plan to reduce consumption.»

For his part, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Hani-yeh confirmed that resistance is the sole option for the Palestinian cause, diminishing fears of its future following the Egyptian recent developments.

«We are not afraid of losing our cause, no fear that our cause will be absent from the Islamic nation›s agenda, despite the difficulties and hard circum-stances that sometimes the Islamic nation faces,» Haniyeh said at Friday prayers.

He said that the Palestinian cause is not linked to the changeable circumstances, but it has three di-mensions. The first dimension is ideological and re-ligious that links the nation to the Palestinian issue. The second is the Arab Islamic dimension of the Palestinian cause, while the third is the humanitar-ian dimension of the Palestinian issue in light the Israeli crimes against Palestinian people, he said.

Source: Agencies

6/07/2013

Egyptian authorities close Rafah crossing for an indefinite period

Gaza runs out of fuel following the Egyptian army coup

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Israel welcomes Egyptian army coup

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Gaza runs out of fuel following the Egyptian army coup

05/07/2013Israeli media has reported that Israeli Likud Knesset member Tzachi Hanegbi said on Friday that the military coup carried out by the Egyptian army in Egypt was good news for Is-rael.

Hanegbi said that Israel is ea-ger to have neighbouring Egypt stable, but close to the USA and away from religious ideology.

In the presence of the French public intellectual and author Bernard-Henri Lévy, the Israeli justice minister Tzipi Livni criticised the Egyptian democ-racy that brought the Muslim Brotherhood to authority.

While speaking with Israeli journalists, she said: «We will not let this go ahead.» What was said in the meeting was published by activists last May.

Several Israeli analysts noted that Israeli authorities have been working to undermine the reign of the Egyptian free-

ly elected President Mohamed Morsi.

The Egyptian army carried out a coup on Wednesday, announced the new constitution is ineffec-tive, Morsi is no longer president,

and assigned a president to run an interim government which will carry out presidential and parliamentary elections.

Source: MEMO

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2 martyrs, 230 arrests, 3, 341 settlement units built during June

05/07/2013The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed 2 Palestinians and arrested more than 230 Pales-tinians during June throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Tadamum Foundation for Hu-man Rights revealed.

Ahmad Bitawi, a researcher at the Foundation, confirmed that 2 Palestinians were martyred during June namely: Khaled Jamal Khryosh, 27, from Tulkarm refugee camp, and Mohamed al-Azraq, 27, from Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza strip.

The Foundation documented more than 230 ar-rests throughout West Bank and the border area in the Gaza Strip including 40 children and 10 university students.

More than 70 arrests took place in al-Khalil, 45 Palestinians were arrested in Nablus, 35 arrests were documented in Jenin, while 10 Palestinians were arrested in Gaza, Bitawi explained.

Several arrests were carried out at Israeli mili-tary checkpoints erected throughout the West Bank cities and villages. Some other arrests were documented at the Karama border crossing between Jordan and occupied West Bank.

On the other hand, the information center for

wall and settlement affairs in the West Bank said that the Israeli occupation regime had built 3,341 new settlement units and demolished 23 Palestin-ian homes and structures last month.

In its monthly report, the center stated that most of the Israeli demolitions took place in the Jordan Valley and Jenin, adding that Israel also issued during last June 74 demolition orders against Pal-estinian homes and buildings in Al-Khalil, Jeru-salem and Bethlehem.

According to the report, Israel built 3,341 hous-ing units in the settlements of Abu Ghuneim Mount (Har Homa), Gilo, Itamar, Barkan, Ramot and Susia.

The report also covered the Israeli Judaization activities in Jerusalem and pointed out to differ-ent plans to build Jewish buildings, underground corridors and roads in occupied Jerusalem.

The report also said that the Jewish settlers under military protection assaulted more than 14 Pal-estinian citizens in the West Bank, and burnt and damaged more than 30 cars during the reporting month.

Source: Agencies

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Israeli intelligence and female soldiersdefile al-Aqsa mosque

04/07/2013Dozens of Israeli female soldiers under police protection desecrated on Monday morning the courtyard of the Aqsa Mosque.

According to the Aqsa foundation for endow-ment and heritage, about 60 Jewish women in military uniform walked around in the courtyard in a provocative way.

This incident raised the ire of the Palestinian vis-itors and scholars who were inside the Mosque compound and started to shout religious slogans to protest the soldiers› violation of the sanctity of the Islamic holy place.

The Aqsa foundation stated that this violation was part of the comprehensive campaign that was escalated lately by the Israeli government and its institutions to intensify and diversify the daily Jewish break-ins at the Aqsa Mosque.

On Wednesday, 50 elements of the Israeli intel-ligence stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, under the protection of the oc-cupation police.

Media Coordinator of the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage Mahmoud Abu Atta told Safa news agency that three groups of intelligence elements stormed in the early morn-ing hours the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and toured and desecrated the musallas (Prayer rooms).

Meanwhile, 25 settlers stormed the mosque and toured its courtyards, Abu Atta added.

Hundreds of Jerusalemite students were de-ployed in different parts of the Al-Aqsa, while the Israeli police tightened its security measures at the mosque›s gates, especially the Mughrabi Gate.

Media Coordinator of the Al-Aqsa Founda-tion condemned the persistent raids in al-Aqsa Mosque, and called on the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and in the 1948-occu-pied territories to intensify their presence in Al-Aqsa, especially in Ramadan, in order to defend it from all the occupation practices.

Source: Agencies

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03/07/2013

The Palestinian government said that the region-al tours of US secretary of state John Kerry are aimed at replicating the same American policy of wasting time and deceiving the world public opinion.

In a press release following its weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the government stated that the US shuttle diplomacy in the region is intended to provide the Israeli regime with an umbrella to expand its settlement activities and circumvent the Palestinian people›s legitimate rights.

The government demanded the Fatah-controlled Palestinian authority to stop relying on the

American illusions and chasing the mirage of peace, and held it fully responsible for any deci-sion waiving the Palestinian people›s rights.

The government also denounced Israel›s ongoing violations against the Palestinian and Jordanian prisoners and hunger strikers as well as the daily violations and break-ins by the Jewish settlers and soldiers at the Aqsa Mosque.

The government discussed during its meeting the escalating fuel crisis in Gaza and the measures to be taken to address this problem in addition to miscellaneous issues concerning the citizens› vi-tal needs.

Source: PIC

Gov›t: Kerry›s regional tours are a waste of time

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01/07/2013

The Knesset, Israel›s parlia-ment, has approved a «racist» bill which will lead to the evic-tion of «illegal» Palestinian Bedouin communities from the Negev Desert occupied in 1948 by Israel, newspaper Ye-dioth Ahronoth has reported. Known as the «Praver Bill», the new legislation will allow the Israeli authorities to «re-locate» around 200,000 Pal-estinians from their historic lands.

Although the Bedouins are not to be expelled from the Negev, they are to be con-centrated in designated areas. Such nomadic communities depend mainly on breeding animals and the new law de-prives them of access to graz-ing lands.

The bill was passed at the first reading by 43 to 40 votes, despite verbal clashes be-tween Arab and Jewish MKs. Mohammed Barakeh MK slammed the bill, calling it «racist and obscene». His fel-low MK Ibrahim Sarsour said that he hoped that such a bill would not be approved. «This

Knesset passes «racist» bill restricting Arab presence in Negev Desert

ed, «This will not pass. You are liars, frauds and thieves.»

Other Arab MKs were also scathing about the new law; some poured water on the draft on the podium, declaring that it «belongs to the rubbish bin of history». They too were re-moved by the Knesset Speaker, who only allowed them back in after the vote had been taken.

Yedioth Ahronoth said that the bill was submitted by the government based on conclu-sions drawn from a commit-tee headed by retired Justice Eliezer Goldberg, following an examination by former minis-ter Benny Begin.

Source: MEMO

bill is unfair, immoral, unjust and inhumane,» he told the Knesset. «It is a bill that treats a large sec-tion of the population as num-bers and does not consider their opinion. It is a bill that declares war on the Arab public.» When he tore up a draft of the bill in the Knesset chamber, Sarsour was removed by security officials. As he was being taken out, he shout-

the new legislation will allow the Israeli authorities to «relo-cate» around 200,000 Palestinians from their historic lands.

Israel Insider

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Israel and its demographic complex

By: Nabil Al-Sahli*

In August the Zionist move-ment will celebrate its 116th anniversary. What are its achievements in the context of the demographic conflict between the Arabs and Jews in Palestine since the First Zi-onist Congress of 1897? What are the future prospects of this conflict?

Israeli research centres hold dozens of seminars on this subject producing recommen-dations for creating the right conditions for the demographic

balance to tip in favour of Jewish settlers.

It is obvious that the Netanyahu government is racing against time to consolidate the idea of a «Jewish state» on the ground by Judaising time and place across historic Palestine. At the same time, the Israeli negotiators are trying to get the Palestinians to agree on the idea as part of a peace agreement.

The Zionist movement adopted two methods to achieve its goals in Palestine. The first was to at-tract the Jewish people world-

wide to Palestine through vari-ous means; the second was to attack the owners of the land they coveted, committing nu-merous massacres against the indigenous Palestinians with the intention of driving them away from their homeland of Palestine. It was through these means that the Jewish people were the most important pillar for the establishment of a state at the expense of Palestinian land and its Arab population.

In 1948, Zionist militias and terrorist gangs created the

Articles & Analyses

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conditions for the expulsion of around 750,000 Palestinians, or 53.6 per cent of the total Palestinian population. This is what Palestinians call the Na-kba (Catastrophe). Most of the refugees, 80.5 per cent in fact, were driven to the areas which were saved from Israeli occu-pation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The remaining 19.5 per cent fled to neighbouring countries such as Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq. Many went eventually to other Arab countries, Europe and America in search of employment and education.

Nearly 151,000 Palestinians remained in the part of historic Palestine on which Israel was established; the nascent state covered 78 per cent of the land. Most of them lived in Galilee and by 2013 they numbered 1.4 million citizens of the “Israeli state”.

Worldwide there are now 11.6 million Palestinians, accord-ing to statistics produced by the Palestinian Authority›s Central Bureau of Statistics. Despite Israel›s ongoing ethnic cleans-ing of Palestine, the majority of Palestinians are concentrated within the borders of their his-toric homeland and the neigh-bouring Arab states. The statis-tics show that 45.6 per cent are in historic Palestine (Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip), and 54.4 per cent are abroad in near and distant exile. Of the latter 20

per cent live in Europe, the USA and Arab countries which do not share borders with Palestine.

The number of Palestinian refu-gees registered with the UN Re-lief and Works Agency for Pal-estine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) stands at 5.3 million, or around 88 per cent of the to-tal refugee population. Thus the total percentage of refugees in 2013 is around 55 per cent of the total Palestinian population around the world.

The refugees are distributed in five areas within the UNRWA framework, and two areas beyond the remit of the UN agency in the Arab world, specifically Iraq and Egypt. Jordan hosts 41 per cent of the total refugee population; 22 per cent live in the Gaza Strip; 16 per cent are in the West Bank; and Syria and Lebanon each host 10.5 per cent of those registered with UNRWA.

Demography researchers con-firm that the Palestinian popula-tion more or less doubles every

twenty years, so it is expected that the figure will reach 23.1 million by 2033; the average growth rate is 3 per cent per year. In contrast, the Jewish population in Israel only dou-bles every 47 years based on the base year 2013. The num-ber of Jews in “Israel” is 5.9 million and the growth rate, not including immigration (which has declined since the early nineties), is 1.5 per cent.

The most important character-istic of the Palestinian demo-graphic is youth, which is due to the expansion of the base of the Palestinian population pyramid. More than 50 per cent of the Palestinian population is under the age of 15, due to high fertility rates. The average number of children per Pales-tinian mother is 5; the figure is highest in the Gaza Strip. The

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Worldwide there are now 11.6 million Palestinians, according to statistics produced by the Pales-tinian Authority›s Cen-tral Bureau of Statistics.

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it is expected that the figure will reach 23.1 million by 2033; the av-erage growth rate is 3 per cent per year.

Demography researchers

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reasons put forward for this include local traditions as well as social and economic condi-tions.

Using the growth rates noted above, we can see that, on av-erage, 683 Palestinian children are born every day, or 28.5 ev-ery hour. That is 4 times the rate for Jews in Israel, with 177 children a day and 7.4 per hour.

It is obvious that the demo-graphic conflict between the Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews in Israel is in favour of the former, especially if we take into account the high popula-tion growth rates of the Arabs compared to the Jews, as well as the decline in the number of Jewish immigrants to occupied Palestine. Moreover, there are no longer any pressing social or physical factors forcing the Jews of Europe and the Unit-ed States to migrate to Israel. More than half of all Jews in the world live in countries that

means of achieving a demo-graphic edge in the long run.

It is clear that there is an im-portant half-hidden conflict between the Arabs and Jews in Palestine that is now in favour of the Palestinians. However, expulsions are ongoing and the Zionists are still pushing to tip the demographic balance in favour of Israeli Jews who continue to occupy ever more Palestinian land. This makes the need for a just and lasting peace to be achieved as a mat-ter of urgency before the Pal-estinians become a footnote in the history of their own land.

* The author is a Palestinian writer. This article is a transla-tion from the Arabic which first appeared on Al Jazeera net, 7 July, 2013

on average, 683 Pales-tinian children are born every day, or 28.5 every hour. That is 4 times the rate for Jews in Is-rael, with 177 children a day and 7.4 per hour.

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”” ”5.6 million live in the US and there are around 600,000 in France.

are more attractive economically than Israel; 5.6 million live in the US and there are around 600,000 in France.

Furthermore, the determination of the Palestinians to stay on their land cannot be ruled out as an important factor in all of this, especially since the Zionist movement and Israel adopted the idea of «silent transfer» of the Palestinian Arabs (making their life so miserable that they will leave «voluntarily») as the main

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