Dorothy Shea: "Palestinians should be applauded for largely eliminating the gender gap in education. Unlike in some parts of the Middle East and North Africa, Palestinian girls and young women enjoy equal access to education as their male counterparts."

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=732403

Graduation ceremony at Bethlehem University, 2010. (MaanImages/file)

Analysis: The marathon to close the gender gap in Palestine

By Dorothy Shea

Dorothy Shea is the Deputy Principal Officer at the United States Jerusalem Consulate General.

Secretary John Kerry said that finding a solution to gender inequality is a marathon and not a sprint. I've only recently arrived in Jerusalem but I've already been impressed by how boldly Palestinians are running this marathon.

On Oct. 11, 2014, we celebrate the International Day of the Girl in recognition of girls' rights to education and the unique challenges girls and women continue to face around the world, including women and girls in the Palestinian Territories.

Empowering women throughout the world has been a long-term goal of Secretary Kerry as it was for former Secretary Clinton. Closing the gender gap will take time, but we must steadfastly move towards a more inclusive society if we want peace and prosperity.

Palestinians should be applauded for largely eliminating the gender gap in education. Unlike in some parts of the Middle East and North Africa, Palestinian girls and young women enjoy equal access to education as their male counterparts.

In 2012, girls accounted for half of all students enrolled at Palestinian schools, making up 50 percent of the primary school population and 54 percent of secondary school students. In fact, last year's statistics show an even stronger female presence in higher education, where 58 percent of students were young women. Among graduates, too, women form a clear majority -- around 60 percent in 2012. The literacy rate is 94 percent for women, one of the highest rates in the Middle East.

However, Palestinians still have a gender gap in the workplace, and this is where greater attention is needed.

In 2014, 72 percent of men were employed as opposed to just 19 percent of women, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Paradoxically in Palestinian society, employment opportunity among Palestinian women decreases as their level of education increases.

Palestinian women with 13 years of schooling or more suffer from the highest rate of unemployment, at over 53 percent. As a result, many more women than men with higher-education degrees are forced to accept jobs that are far below their qualifications. Female graduates from Gaza to Jenin to Jericho file away their diplomas and go to work in hair salons or tailor shops. They conclude they have no chance of working in their professional field, but they can contribute to their household income as low-skilled workers.

I've been fortunate in my role at the American Consulate General to witness first-hand the enormous energy, creativity and confidence that girls and young women bring to our public events. Recently, we sent two amazing young Palestinian women to Boston to participate in a leadership conference as part of the Women-2-Women exchange, and our TechGirls program is emboldening young girls to pursue professional and academic careers in science and technology.

Politically, the voice of Palestinian women is also incredibly significant and inspiring; some of the most articulate and compelling arguments regarding the Palestinian cause that I have heard come from women. Palestinians have done a commendable job in embarking on the marathon but as we acknowledge this important day we should also recognize that Palestinian women are ready for the next phase in achieving gender equality.

A whole host of data, from the World Bank and World Economic Forum to the OECD, indicates that when women are gainfully and fully employed, societies tend to function better, are more stable and prosperous. I am convinced that when Palestinian women are more fully integrated into business, journalism, and politics all Palestinians will reap the benefits. I think that the Palestinian leadership understands the transformative power of female employment and is committed to ending discrimination in the workplace and ensuring broader rights for women. Now is the time to realize this noble goal -- in the boardrooms, on the mastheads, at the summits.

Ultimately, Palestinians themselves must choose to invest in their society and better utilize the talents and education of women. Overcoming gender inequality will not come overnight, but we cannot stand still either and let time pass.

As we celebrate the International Day of the Girl, let us consider how far we have come and what is left to be done for a more inclusive society.

The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect Ma'an News Agency's editorial policy.

My letter to Ma'an News RE Salaita & Analysis: On the incivility of Palestinians By Heike Schotten

Palestinian girls walk past the rubble of a building that was destroyed  during the Israeli army summer's military offensive on the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 2, 2014, in Khan Younis (AFP/Said Khatib, File) UNRWA to make biggest ever Gaza aid plea

RE Analysis: On the incivility of Palestinians By Heike Schotten,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=730563

Dear Editor,

No wonder America's mainstream media shies away from more fully covering the Israel-Palestine conflict... as all the world's eyes are on Palestinian statehood, American's loudest activists for Palestine are doing everything but promoting support for Palestinian statehood. 

I feel deep sorrow for all the children of Palestine, not just the ones killed in and by the Israel-Palestine conflict, but also the ones stuck living in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict with all its many dangers and negative ramifications.

Salaita is not stuck in stateless limbo. 

Salaita has the freedom to find another job, whereas countless Palestinians do not have that freedom.

Salaita is free to travel, and free to keep his own children safe from Israeli bullets and bombs, whereas countless Palestinians do not have that freedom.

Salaita is a grown man making his own choices, living in a safe and secure, fully sovereign nation state where you are free to speak out, but so is everyone else:

MAYBE Zionists once 'owned' the conversation, and MAYBE Zionists did help prod the university to reconsider the wisdom of hiring Salaita, but in the age of the internet with blogs, online journals, comment sections, facebook, tweets, and forwards Zionists most certainly do not own the conversation, although they do tend to make many intelligent and diplomatic contributions in many forums.

I think Ma'an news, which is supposed to be about and for Palestine, should look for and publish pro-Palestine writers who actually support statehood and diplomacy for Palestine. 

My personal favorites to follow are the folks at ATFP - the American Task Force on Palestine.  As Hussein Ibish says in his most recent article: Hisham, Hope and Despair..."The crucial point is that the one thing that is certain is that the choices that we make individually and collectively will have a direct and profound impact on the short, medium and long-term outcomes. And, therefore, our choices must be carefully considered, deliberate and purposive, while apathy and inaction are not options." 
 https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/564209-hisham-hope-and-despair

And as ATFP's (born in Jerusalem) founder Ziad Asali wisely points out with a pertinent twitter retweet on the same basic topic: To promote the values of dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect, among religions and cultures... Let’s teach our youth to build, not destroy

 http://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/2014/10/to-promote-values-of-dialogue-tolerance.html

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab,
American homemaker & poet

Abbas: Israel wants PA without authority: " “Israel’s acts in the West Bank are unjustified, their ways of searching the houses, assaulting locals and killing innocent people are rejected. Israel has taken away all authority from the Palestinian Authority..."

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=707404

Published yesterday (updated) 25/06/2014

CAIRO (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas says Israel wants the “Palestinian Authority without authority or power, which is unacceptable,” in remarks published Tuesday.

“We're living a real crisis in Hebron and all over the West Bank. Such acts (kidnapping) could happen anywhere; we completely reject it and are sorry it happened," he told Egypt's al-Watan newspaper.

"We hope to bring them back but we also hope that Israel would think of us as humans too."

"When three Palestinians are killed we do not hear any reactions from the Israeli government that they are sorry, yet we are working to bring those kids back to their families,” Abbas said.

When asked if Israel was attempting to bring down the PA and obstruct the new government’s job, Abbas’ responded that “Israel’s acts in the West Bank are unjustified, their ways of searching the houses, assaulting locals and killing innocent people are rejected. Israel has taken away all authority from the Palestinian Authority.

"We are well aware of that and that is why we demanded that occupation would end immediately, and that is why we went to international organizations ... We want to have our rights and an independent Palestinian state next to the Israeli state; we refuse a one-state solution."

Analysis: Presbyterian church shows Israel tough love

"Presbyterians can use this opportunity to straighten the White House's spine based on what the administration already knows: Israel is intentionally blocking progress in the peace talks while jeopardizing US strategic interests in the region, not to mention the fate of Palestinians and Israelis alike."

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-bahour/the-presbyterian-churchs-_b_5505929.html

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=704941

By Sam Bahour

 Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American business consultant in Ramallah and blogs at epalestine.com.

The two million-member Presbyterian Church (USA) is about to make history in the Middle East, yet again.

In the coming days, local delegates from the Church will travel to Detroit to attend the 221st Presbyterian General Assembly to consider a set of eight overtures that ask church leaders to review support of two states for Palestine and Israel in light of unfolding facts on the ground.

Other issues to be considered are backing of equal rights and unblocked economic development for all inhabitants of Israel, and divesting from the likes of Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions. The church is clearly stepping up to the plate and realigning its policies with its values.

Political America and Corporate America should be taking note.

Reminiscent of the struggle against Apartheid South Africa, the church is poised to step in where successive US administrations have failed to hold Israel accountable to international and humanitarian law, not to mention sheer common sense.

The US has paid never-ending lip service to the need to end Israel's 47-year military occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. During the past two decades, the US has coupled lip service with the monopolizing of a peace process that has led the international community to a dead end; not to mention leaving Muslim and Christian Palestinians on the ground, in the occupied territory as well as in Israel, standing naked in front of a state bent on militarily controlling another people and discriminating against over 20 percent of their own non-Jewish population.

Presbyterians have had enough and are taking the lead to change the equation and stop the damage being perpetrated by Israel.

Political America should not take lightly the new reality that mainstream churches and civil society have reached a point where they can no longer blindly repeat calls for a resolution based on "two states" when Israeli actions on the ground, by way of continued illegal settlement building and much more, have created a single state reality between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River.

Secretary of State Kerry alluded to exactly this at the outset of the last failed round of US-led negotiations when he testified to the House Foreign Affairs Committee in April 2013 and noted, "I believe the window for a two-state solution is shutting, I think we have some period of time -- a year to year-and-a-half to two years, or it's over."

The Presbyterian Church is crying out from the highest mountain it can that for a two-state solution not to be "over" immediate action must be taken. They are calling for the Church to review this core issue over the next two years.

Corporate America should also be closely following the Presbyterian General Assembly's proceedings.

In the 2012 Assembly, delegates addressed the issue of divesting from firms that benefit from or contribute to Israel's military occupation by attempting to pass a resolution calling for divestment from Israel. When the so-called pro-Israel lobby got word of this, they mobilized to introduce and pass a counter overture that promotes "positive investment" instead of divestment.

In a perfected Orwellian move, these lobbyists publicly promote investment in Palestine, while simultaneously turning a blind eye to the systematic Israeli polices strangling the Palestinian economy.

Investment in Palestine -- without divestment from the Israeli occupation -- only continues to underwrite the status quo of military occupation. For investment to be successful occupation must be dismantled and sovereign control of Palestine's economic resources passed to the Palestinians.

In this month's assembly, the divestment resolution will be brought to the floor once again for a vote. Now it comes at the heels of Secretary Kerry's failed blitz to resolve the conflict and a momentous trip by the Pope to Bethlehem where he prayed at the illegal Separation Wall. The US-based organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, recently noted that the Israel lobby's efforts have included offering Presbyterian leaders all-expense-paid trips to Israel.

Presbyterians can use this opportunity to straighten the White House's spine based on what the administration already knows: Israel is intentionally blocking progress in the peace talks while jeopardizing US strategic interests in the region, not to mention the fate of Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Palestinian civil society and Palestinians -- Christians and Muslims -- have urged everyone interested in seeing peace with justice to divest from the occupation and to invest only where the occupation does not benefit. We struggle to remain hopeful while a cement wall as high as 24 feet tall snakes through our homeland.

After all, we do not seek a beautified prison. We want the prison walls dividing Palestinians from Palestinians to come tumbling down, and that will not happen unless economic pressure is placed on Israel to end the occupation. Thus, the upcoming Assembly's overture that calls for divestment from firms benefiting from the occupation, while affirming "Occupation-free Investment in Palestine," is spot on.

Palestinians did not invent the non-violent tool of divestment. After unsuccessfully trying to secure their rights using a multitude of other means, Palestinians have focused their efforts on non-violent methods of resisting military occupation that have been used throughout history by others: boycott, divestment, sanction, international law, civil disobedience, diplomatic efforts, economic resistance, and the like. Supporting these tools is supporting non-violence; the alternative is to push Palestinians into using violent means of resistance. If nonviolence is deemed unacceptable then violence becomes that much more likely.

The upcoming Presbyterian votes provides an important opportunity to say yes to nonviolence as the means to overcoming Israeli occupation and discrimination.

"Palestine has recognized Israel's right to exist since 1988. We are not asking for Hebrew not to be an official language or Jewish holidays not to be official holidays. The character of Israel is not for us to define." Saeb Erekat

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15/05/2014

"We will not be complicit in the notion that any ethnic-religious group should have dominance over any other. We will not accept the denial of basic human rights to which all are entitled." Saeb Erakat

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=697566

'Israel can't erase the Nakba from history'

By Saeb Erekat

Saeb Erekat is chief Palestinian negotiator for the PLO.

 

Today is the anniversary of what we Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, our catastrophe – although a single word cannot begin to explain it, and a single day cannot begin to commemorate it.

More than ever before, Israel needs come to terms with the horrors it has caused since 1948, by ending its subjugation of millions rather than intensifying its denial and trying to legitimize its persecution. Peace can only come through justice and reconciliation.

This day, in 1948, marks the forced exile of over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands. Some were subjected to brutal massacres, many fled for fear of their lives. A few managed to stay in what would become Israel. All suffered. Sixty-six years later, all continue to suffer.

The Nakba is a story of fear and intimidation, of denial and persecution, a cruel, unending reality.

Today in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian families are evicted from their homes due to claims that their property belonged to Jews before 1948, while being forbidden from returning to their pre-1948 homes in West Jerusalem.

In Gaza – one of the most densely populated areas in the world – 1.2 million refugees overlook the open areas of what is now southern Israel. In my own home town, Jericho, there are two refugee camps where thousands continue to live in miserable conditions. In 2014, Palestinian children died of starvation at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria.

 

 

Israel, which claims to be a democracy for all its citizens, continues to ban the villagers of Iqrit and Kufr Birem, two Christian villages in the Galilee, from returning to their lands, despite a ruling from the Israeli High Court of Justice on the matter.

This is not the only example of persecution within Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promotion of the "nationality bill," determining Israel as the Jewish nation-state, is one more in a long line of discriminatory laws against a fifth of Israel’s own population, the original inhabitants of the land.

A list of laws which make it not only acceptable, but legally admissible, to discriminate against Israel's own citizens for belonging to a different ethnic-religious group.

Meanwhile, in the land which Israel has illegally occupied since 1967, settlers and soldiers use similar methods of intimidation and fear to force Palestinians from their homes.

The reality in the West Bank is no less than apartheid, and, in Gaza, out and out siege. Both within occupied Palestine and further afield, those who have been waiting 66 years, with their keys in hand, continue to wait.

Palestine has recognized Israel's right to exist since 1988. We are not asking for Hebrew not to be an official language or Jewish holidays not to be official holidays. The character of Israel is not for us to define.

 

 

But we will not allow any Palestinian to be portrayed as the immigrant or intruder in his or her own land. We were here in 1948: We were here for centuries before that – Muslims, Christians and Jews – all Palestinians. The concept of an exclusively Jewish state naturally entails the denial of the Nakba. It tells us: "This is our land. You were on it illegally, temporarily, by mistake." It is a way of asking us to deny the existence of our people and the horrors that befell them in 1948. No people should be asked to do that.

We will not be complicit in the notion that any ethnic-religious group should have dominance over any other. We will not accept the denial of basic human rights to which all are entitled.

Rather than accepting historical responsibility, rather than acknowledging a painful truth about the birth of Israel and addressing it, as a step toward peace, the Israeli government attempts to wipe the event from history.

In Israel, it is forbidden by law to even commemorate the Nakba. If you can erase the narrative, it is much easier to erase the people. This Israeli government, in particular, is taking extraordinary measures to achieve this. Is it any wonder that we have not managed to reach an agreement at this time?

Today, we remember those who have lost their lives, at the hands of their oppressors, in their quest for freedom and dignity. Despite this, we are ready to live side by side in peace with our Israeli neighbors. We hope Israelis, if not their current government, will move in that direction.

At this point we do not know what the future will look like in terms of a solution, or when it will come. What we know for certain is that we will remain.

 

 

  (UNRWA/Archive)

Tel Aviv conference plans for Palestinian return

Israel is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians who were displaced from their villages in 1948 but remained inside the new state’s borders. Many of these communities ended up as refugees only mere miles from their original villages but were forbidden to return by the State of Israel.

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=635888

Published 04/10/201 
By Alex Shams

TEL AVIV (Ma'an) -- There are few topics that scare the Israeli public more than the potential realization of the Palestinian Right of Return. Israel’s New Historians increasingly acknowledge that Israel’s creation in 1948 was a direct result of a planned ethnic cleansing that led to the displacement of 800,000 Palestinians from 530 villages.

And yet there continues to be a wide-reaching, unspoken consensus across Israeli society that the return of the displaced indigenous Palestinian inhabitants of what became Israel and their descendants, today numbering around 4.5 million around the world, is not up for discussion.

As prominent Israeli columnist Gideon Levy asserted last Sunday in Tel Aviv, "Organizing a conference on the Right of Return is considered to be illegitimate by most Israelis. But we shouldn’t be afraid of that ... Let me remind all of us that we had demons in our past just as scary that evaporated over the years … Now that we have gotten rid of earlier demons, we’re left with this demon that no one deals with: the Right of Return."

It is precisely for this reason that the conference organized by Israeli organization Zochrot Sept. 29-30 at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv was so ground-breaking. Entitled, “From Truth to Redress: Realizing the Return of the Palestinian Refugees,” it was one of the largest conferences to take place to date inside of Israel addressing the Palestinian Right of Return.

The conference aimed not merely to insist upon the legitimacy of the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, but also to examine in practice how such a return would take place. Because of Israel’s refusal to accept this right, a great deal of Palestinian discourse until recently has focused exclusively on insisting upon the legitimacy and necessity of return.

But if we accept the right as legitimate, a whole other host of questions emerge: Where will the refugees live? What kind of state will emerge? How will Palestinian society-in-exile re-emerge within the homeland? And finally, how will Jewish Israeli society come to terms with their new position in a state where they do not have a position of ethnic supremacy?

The conference builds on increasing momentum within Israel’s borders by Palestinian activists actively materializing the Right of Return. Israel is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians who were displaced from their villages in 1948 but remained inside the new state’s borders. Many of these communities ended up as refugees only mere miles from their original villages but were forbidden to return by the State of Israel.

In summer 2012, young Palestinian refugees originally from Iqrit returned to their mostly destroyed village and set up permanent residence. In response, Palestinians within Israel from other villages have also begun returning to their villages. Despite intense pressure from the Israeli state they have remained steadfast and present, refusing to be displaced from their ancestral lands yet again.

As Khulood Badawi, a Palestinian activist inside Israel, argued, “We need to take the model of Iqrit to other areas. We need to raise awareness by saying that we cannot just talk about the global Right of Return if we are not implementing Right of Return within Israel, while there are still displaced Palestinians here within Israel.”

Badawi stressed that the displaced Palestinians within Israel must use the advantages at their disposal, primarily citizenship rights and the ability to return to their displaced villages, to lead the way by showing Israelis, Palestinians, and the whole world that in fact return is possible. As she argued, “We cannot realize the global Right of Return without achieving the Right of Return of those displaced Palestinians within Israel.”

Zochrot director Liat Rosenberg told attendees that, “Return is a long and ongoing multifaceted process that includes not only physical return of refugees, but also the establishment of an actual society. It begins long before they come, and it will continue long after.” The conference thus addressed not only how return would take place, but also how Jewish Israeli society would come to accept it.

Zochrot has long been actively committed to challenging the collective, willed amnesia of many Jewish Israelis toward 1948. As conference organizers prominently reminded the audience throughout, the Eretz Israel Museum where the conference took place sits atop the destroyed Palestinian village of Sheikh Muwannis, official recognition for which Zochrot continues to fight. At the same time, as various panelists noted, Israeli Jewish society needs to understand that Palestinian return and decolonization does not entail Jewish ethnic cleansing.

The conference challenged both Israelis and Palestinians to rethink their ideas of return, offering complex visions of possibilities rarely discussed or even imagined. As some speakers noted, “return” means something different for every Palestinian refugee. While some may actually desire to return to their physical homes, others desire the ability to live anywhere in their homeland free from Israeli discrimination. Others crave merely the recognition of the historical crimes committed against them.

Palestinian architect and activist Shadi Habib Allah stressed that many Palestinians do want to return to their villages, and planning the geography of that return is of the utmost necessity. He presented architectural plans for the village center of al Lajun, offering a physical vision of return that “honored emotions,” as he explained through its innovative use of traditional Palestinian village design and notions of communal living. At the same time, the village offered a modern vision that would not insist upon a return to the path but hinted instead at a brighter future.

There are as many ideas of return as there are Palestinian refugees, a flexibility conference attendees frequently acknowledged. The decolonization of Israeli space through imagining Palestinian return means not returning to what was, but instead building a shared geographic future. And while the Israeli taboo on discussing the Palestinian Right of Return may not have been definitively shattered in these two days, that the conference even took place is a hopeful sign for the future.

As Israeli journalist Gideon Levy reminded the audience, "Treating (return) as something that should not be mentioned only exacerbates the problem … the only way to deal with it is first and foremost to talk about it."

Grape festival begins in Hebron area

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=634082
Published Sunday 29/09/2013

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Interim Palestinian Authority prime minister Rami Hamdallah will participate Sunday in the opening of the 2013 Palestinian Grape festival in Halhoul, a town just north of Hebron.

The Festival committee announced that it had finished preparations for the festival which will last three days, beginning Sunday.

Many different types of grapes will be displayed during the festival as well as the products of women's collective organizations such as embroideries, handicrafts and food.

The Festival will also include popular and folkloric dances as well as other kinds of cultural performances.

Hebron is famous for its grapes, and each year following the August harvest a large Grape Festival takes place in the area.

Israelis uproot over 40 Palestinian olive trees in south Hebron hills late Sunday

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=628148
[Israeli] Settlers uproot over 40 olive trees in south Hebron hills
Published Monday 09/09/2013

 HEBRON (Ma'an) -- A group of settlers uprooted over 40 olive trees in the south Hebron hills late Sunday, a local official said.

Ratib al-Jabour, coordinator of the popular committee against the wall and settlements, said that settlers from Maon destroyed olive trees in the neighboring village of al-Tuwani.

The trees belong to the al-Rabai family.

Settlers routinely attack Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank with impunity.

Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown that nine out of 10 police investigations about settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.

Leaders must seize opportunity for peace and security... "The Arab League's peace initiative has regained relevance. The initial position between the parties is bleak, but the status quo is not an alternative. The Israelis and the Palestinians must now seize what is perhaps the last opportunity to create peace and security."

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=603808

Gunilla Carlsson is Sweden's Minister for International
Development Cooperation.

By Gunilla Carlsson

As I now return to Palestine and Israel, I do so with increasing frustration that the chance of a two-state solution risks being squandered.

Developments on the ground speak for themselves. The illegal settlements are expanding and displacing Palestinians who are forced to endure daily harassment and blockades. Many people have to spend hours at checkpoints on their way to school or work. Some are plagued by the fear of being thrown out of house and home. In Gaza, almost total isolation continues.

Every year, the Palestinians' internal political divisions are growing, as is the violence. And on the other side of the barbed wire, the Israelis are living in growing insecurity and isolation, in a region in a process of rapid change.

There is a risk that this frustration will grow and that the world will turn its back on the Israelis and Palestinians. We have a joint responsibility for, and self-interest in, continuing to fight for peace in the Middle East. Twenty years after the Oslo Accords there is still a chance to reach a two-state solution. The United States is currently making significant efforts to enable the parties to return to the negotiating table. The EU is ready to support these negotiations.

The Arab League's peace initiative has regained relevance. The initial position between the parties is bleak, but the status quo is not an alternative. The Israelis and the Palestinians must now seize what is perhaps the last opportunity to create peace and security. Time is running out, and it is not a day too early.

Despite continued occupation and a lack of political progress, Palestinian state-building has advanced. The international community shares the assessment of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that the Palestinian institutions live up to the demands that can be made of a functioning state. Today there is a basis -- albeit a fragile one -- for a Palestinian state.

A new strategy will soon be drafted for Sweden’s development cooperation with our Palestinian partners. Sweden will continue to take its responsibility. We will continue our commitment to the whole of the Palestinian territories -- the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

We will focus on contributing to Palestinian state-building efforts. At the same time, we will take the lead in combating the negative development in "Area C" of the West Bank, where the Palestinian institutions are not allowed to operate and where the settlements are displacing the local population.

Sweden's development assistance should make a difference where it is most urgently needed. The Palestinians have become the most aid-dependent people in the world. Development assistance to Palestine is associated with very major risks and the challenges are considerable.

Development assistance requires political progress to yield long-term sustainable results. The occupation and the expanding Israeli settlements are the main obstacles to a two-state solution and also explain the aid dependency. Freedom of movement for people and goods within and out of the Palestinian territories must improve dramatically if the economy is to take off and unemployment is to be reduced. This applies in particular to Gaza, where Israel must do a great deal more. Its isolation is morally reprehensible and politically counterproductive and makes development assistance more expensive.

As for the Palestinians, they must deepen their reform policies, combat all forms of violence and fully respect human rights. The political divisions must end and democratic elections must be held.

Sweden is also an important donor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, having contributed approximately $56 million last year. UNRWA has been in existence since 1949 and currently supports five million refugees in the region. We will continue to help alleviate suffering by financing homes, medical care and education. But in the long run this is unsustainable, including from a donor perspective.

In Israel in particular, there are many people who claim that now is not the time to make peace with the Palestinians. When the region is in flames, there is a danger of short-sightedness taking over. And in a cruel twist of fate, the Syrian conflict is forcing Palestinian refugees to move again. They have become the refugees of refugees in the Middle East.

Growing regional instability means that the window of opportunity for a two-state solution is closing. But history will condemn those who do not see the opportunity to find a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before it is too late.

Israel must realize that occupation is an unsustainable policy in the long run -- for its own sake and for international, regional and economic reasons. Cooperating with the Palestinians is where the opportunities lie -- not in threatening the country’s democracy and security.

The Palestinians must come together in a shared vision of democracy and use peaceful means to achieve recognition from and coexistence with their neighboring country Israel. And this must be followed up with resolute leadership for a united Palestine – for and with all Palestinians.

Frustration must not be allowed to prevail. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders must seize this opportunity for peace and security now.

Jerusalem man forced to demolish his own home

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=571247

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- A Palestinian was forced to demolish his own home in East Jerusalem on Monday after Israel issued a demolition order for his property.

Daoud Eseid demolished his home to avoid paying the fees charged by Israeli authorities if Israeli forces had carried out the demolition, he told Ma'an.

"I am unemployed at the moment and have seven children. We suffer daily from Israeli brutality," the Old City resident told Ma'an.

Since 2004, Israel has demolished 436 Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem, leaving 1,708 people homeless, according to the Israeli rights group B'Tselem.

Israeli authorities have also revoked the status of 14,084 Palestinian Jerusalemites since 1967, no longer permitting them to live in the city.

There are around 360,882 Palestinians in Jerusalem, or 38 percent of the city's population.

Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967 and formally annexed the area in 1980 after passing the 'Jerusalem Law'.

Jerusalem is one of the key final status issues in any future peace agreement.

Palestinian children and teachers at Qurtuba school in Hebron say getting to class past Israeli soldiers and settlers is like navigating a minefield every day.

Stranded in Shuhada: Hebron's Qurtuba school

Published Friday 15/02/2013 http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=564692 Vandals scrawled racist graffiti on a mural on Qurtuba school, in the West Bank city of Hebron. (MaanImages/Salam Muharam) By Salam Muharam HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Children and teachers at Qurtuba school in Hebron say getting to class past Israeli soldiers and settlers is like navigating a minefield every day. The school, for children aged 7 to 16, is adjacent to the illegal Jewish settlement of Beit Hadassah in the center of the West Bank city. Israeli forces fenced off the school's stairs with barbed wire in 2002. Now the only route to the school is a muddy path up a steep hill. Some pupils live beside the school, but have to walk two kilometers around a circuit to reach the entrance, Najah Abu Munshar, a teacher in the school told Ma'an. Across the street from the school, "Gas the Arabs" has been scrawled on a door. Next to the school gates, a mural of a girl holding a book, painted by a French activist, has been covered by racist graffiti. A gallery in a school corridor shows photos of Israeli soldiers and settlers assaulting students. International volunteers escort children to and from school as a protective measure, but pupils and teachers are still frequently harassed and assaulted on their way to the school, which has been vandalized and set on fire. "School students start their day by crossing the checkpoint of Shuhada street. I can only describe daily life at Qurtuba school as suffering and struggle," school principal Noura Nasser told Ma'an. Teachers must also pass an Israeli checkpoint and metal detectors to get to work, and Israeli soldiers decide whether to let them pass each day. Pupil Yasmeen Ghareb, 12, says settlers have assaulted her and her siblings. "Sometimes they say bad words to me, and sometimes they throw fluids at me on my way to school."   Yasmeen Ghareb stands in front of a checkpoint on her way to school (MaanImages/Salam Muharam)  Other students told Ma'an that settlers have attacked them with stones, water and rotten vegetables. Najah Abu Munshar has taught at Qurtaba school for 15 years. "The settlers used to let their dogs attack the students, and when settlers attack a student, I try my best to calm him or her down, and if he or she has any wounds, I provide first aid," she told Ma'an. The Ministry of Education hired a psychological counselor for the school, to work with children suffering psychological trauma which often manifests as bed wetting, Nasser, the school principal, told Ma'an. "The school focuses on the extracurricular activities and days of joy." Nasser said settler attacks were usually heightened during periods of political instability. A grid of walls, fences and checkpoints divides Jewish settlers and Palestinians who live in close proximity to each other in Hebron, which was divided into two sections in the 1997 Hebron Agreement. The Palestinian Authority controls the larger area, while Israeli forces control the city center, including the old market, the Ibrahimi Mosque and the historic Old City. Qurtaba school lies on Shuhada street, a once-bustling thoroughfare and now a shuttered ghost town, with a military checkpoint restricting Palestinians' access to this part of the city. Israel started restricting access to Shuhada street after an Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein broke into the Ibrahimi Mosque and shot dead 29 Palestinians. During the second intifada, Israel closed the street to traffic and many traders were not even able to collect their goods before their shops were welded shut. Palestinian families who remained on Shuhada street must climb through side doors and across rooftops to get to their homes. Waed Zeidan al-Sharabati, a 9-year-old pupil at Qurtuba school who lives on Shuhada street, recounted to Ma'an how settlers assaulted her and her cousin in 2011 when they were harvesting almonds nearby. "They threw stones on us... The settler kidnapped my cousin, and I called the neighbor to come check the situation. My neighbor talked to the settlers, and after a long argument, my cousin was returned. One settler threw a stone on my leg. They tried to take me another time, but I escaped to my neighbor's wife, and she hid my inside her home, and closed the door." "I got used to it, and at the beginning I used to be scared, but now I am not scared of them," she told Ma'an. Ward al-Sharabati, 9, lives on Shuhada street, a hub of settler violence in the West Bank (MaanImages/Salam Muharam)

In photos: Palestinian children growing up under the shadow of expulsion & the threat of more Israeli firing zones

(MaanImages/Eva Pilipp) IN PHOTOS

SEE MORE In photos: Growing up in Firing Zone 918

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In Khirbet al-Tabban, a village in the south Hebron hills, four-year-old Rimas Obeid is growing up under the shadow of expulsion.

Last year, the Israeli government said it intends to move the Palestinian residents of Tabban and seven other villages to make way for an army training ground it calls Firing Zone 918. The case is pending in the High Court.

Rimas, her three sisters, two brothers, and the two older generations of her family know no other life than farming and herding.

Available records date the Palestinian communities of the south Hebron hills to the early 19th century. Once semi-nomadic, moving between seasonal homes during the agricultural cycle, many families then settled in the caves that dot the landscape.

Rimas' father Nasser, who was born in the family's cave in Tabban, vows: "We are not going anywhere."

Doted on by her father, Rimas bounces around the village helping her brothers with the sheep, playing with the family dogs, and getting in her mother's way.

Not long ago, she slipped out from under her mother's gaze and walked through the desert to find her father, who was drinking tea in a village on a neighboring hill.

She startled the gathering of men, Nasser chuckles. But Rimas already knows these hills far too well.

Aid agencies tread gingerly in Area C... Palestinian communities here, among the poorest and most vulnerable in oPt, desperately need access to water, electricity, sanitation and other basic infrastructure.

A farmer pictured on his land near Yatta.(MaanImages/file)

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=555337
RAMALLAH/AL-JIFTLIK (IRIN) -- As night descends in the Jordan Valley in the occupied Palestinian territory, a family in the village of Ras Al-Ahmar lights a small paraffin lamp in the tent they call home.

There is no electricity here and the nearby Palestinian villages are enveloped in darkness. The only visible cluster of light is from a nearby Israeli settlement.

Humanitarian agencies are well aware of the needs in this part of the West Bank but they face a challenge: play by the rules established by Israel or face the risk of having projects demolished.

Despite being outside the state of Israel, 90 percent of the Jordan Valley is under full Israeli civil and military control as part of Area C, a zone that covers 60 percent of the West Bank.

Palestinian communities here, among the poorest and most vulnerable in oPt, desperately need access to water, electricity, sanitation and other basic infrastructure.

But despite the needs, development organizations that try to improve living conditions in Area C say they find their ability to make any lasting impact hampered by Israeli restrictions and bureaucracy.

Like Palestinians, organizations that want to build basic service infrastructure such as houses, schools or water systems are required to submit an application for a permit to the Israeli authorities.

Often, these permits are not granted. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, between January 2000 and September 2007, over 94 percent of applications submitted by Palestinians to the Israeli authorities for building permits in Area C were denied.

"The permit regime is very confusing. There is no clarity about the status of an application, whether paperwork has been received, if it is complete," Willow Heske, media lead for Oxfam in oPt, told IRIN. "Agencies have sometimes waited for two years only to get a rejection that comes without any explanation."

"A few years ago we put in plans to build a water reservoir in Al-Jiftlik, to provide half of Al-Jiftlik with running water," said Heske.

"The reservoir was considered a `building' and we didn't get the permit. So we moved to a plan B which still involved setting up a reservoir and piping system but above rather than below ground. This too was not accepted. So as a last resort we had to go back to distributing water tanks. And of course people were frustrated and disappointed."

Challenging the occupation...READ MORE

A precarious existence in the Jordan Valley

File photo of a Palestinian village in the Jordan Valley after an Israeli
demolition in March 2012. (MaanImages/Eleonora Vio)

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=552669
Published yesterday (updated) 01/01/2013

AL-JIFTLIK (IRIN) -- For those who recently watched images of the Israeli bombardment in Gaza, the wide open hills of the Jordan Valley in the West Bank appear as a stark contrast.

Flocks of sheep accompanied by their herders cross the hillsides, home to some of the most fertile land in all of the occupied Palestinian territory and unrivaled even in Israel.

And yet despite the abundant land and resources, Palestinians living in the Valley are some of the poorest in the Palestinian territory, lacking even the most basic infrastructure.

The Jordan Valley is marked by a patchwork of zones in which Palestinians are allowed to live, which leave little room for manoeuvre.

"These restrictions have removed their ability to be self-sustaining. They are in an artificial humanitarian crisis; they have the capacity, the training, the education, but because of man-made restrictions, they are made vulnerable," Ramesh Rajasingham, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in oPt, told IRIN.

For a start, much of the Valley is officially out of bounds to Palestinians - 44 percent is marked as closed military zones (including so-called firing zones) and nature reserves. An additional 50 percent is controlled by Israeli settlements, regarded as illegal by many in the international community. That leaves only 6 percent for Palestinians, according to figures from Save the Children...READ MORE

Israeli authorities 'to demolish West Bank road'

SALFIT (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities on Monday notified Palestinian farmers in a northern West Bank village that a road connecting them to their fields will be demolished, locals told Ma'an.

Residents of Qarawat Bani Hassan, near Salfit, said Israeli planning officers told them the al-Hurriya (Freedom) road will be demolished in two weeks.

Farmers were told to avoid agricultural work in the area.

The same street was dug up by Israeli bulldozers on March 24, 2011. The local municipality, with support from the Palestinian prime minister and donor organizations, later rehabilitated the road.

Palestinian Authority premier Salam Fayyad joined the road's original inauguration two years ago.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=546566

Israel's Jewish extremists used chain saws to cut down over 120 olive trees on private Palestinian land in Nablus on Tuesday

A farmer pictured on his land in Yatta.(MaanImages/Elenora Vio)

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527314

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Jewish extremists cut down over 120 olive trees on private Palestinian land in Nablus on Tuesday, a Palestinian Authority official said.

The vandals were from the illegal settlement of Eli, Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an.

Eyewitnesses said the settlers used chainsaws to destroy the trees, which belonged to 12 farmers in the village of Qaryut.

The attack comes on the official start date for the olive harvest in restricted areas of Nablus.

The set date was to enable farmers and local committees to better organize against potential settler attacks, as many restricted access areas lie adjacent to settlements.

Settler attacks often increase around the time of the olive harvest season as settlers target olive trees and agricultural land.

The Nablus district experienced the majority of settler violence in 2011.

On Sunday, a group of settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in the Ramallah town of Beitillu, burning dozens of olive trees, while settlers uprooted around 40 olive trees in the nearby Ramallah village of Ras Karkar.

On Friday, settlers destroyed 100 newly-planted olive saplings and at least 60 vine trees on private Palestinian land in Al-Khader village near Bethlehem.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs reported that over 2,500 olive trees were destroyed in September 2011, and 7,500 throughout 2011.

Settler attacks on Palestinian communities and their property are systematic and rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

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Palestine will go to the UN seeking non-member status on September 27 [2012]

Remembering 1949 in Al-Jalazun refugee camp: Al-Jalazun refugee camp was established in 1949 on less than a quarter of a square kilometer, north of Ramallah. According to UN records, most of the 11,000 refugees living in al-Jalazun came from 36 different Palestinian villages around Lydd and Ramleh. Sitting opposite the Israeli Beit El settlement, the residents have to contend with repeated settler violence, as well the daily difficulties of sanitation and water.

 

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Abbas: PA will not obstruct protests

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Asserting that the ongoing protests against the rising cost of living in the West Bank are legitimate, President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated that Israel and some Arab countries share the blame for the PA’s financial crisis.

The Palestinian Authority, he said, will not seek to stop the popular protests as long as they remain peaceful and do not harm public interests. However, he stressed that the government would not allow any attacks on public properties.

“The PA will not intervene, but we will stand in the face of those who may try to sabotage or set fire or damage (public properties),” Abbas said.

Speaking at a news conference in the presidential compound in Ramallah, Abbas asserted that the PA would respond to citizens’ demands as far as possible. “We are ready to respond as much as we can, but protests must be civilized and popular,” he said.

With regards to prime minister Salam Fayyad and his government, which some protesters have blamed for the financial crisis, Abbas said, “There is no disparity between me and the government. They (the ministers) follow my orders and I am committed to what their policy development and recommendations.”

“We do not play around with the people’s fate. I am against armed uprisings. I am against opening fire because I know how the consequences of doing so affect our people. I am pro-peaceful popular demonstrations whether they are against the occupation or against the PA,” Abbas said in response to a question by a Ma’an reporter about the possibility of a third intifada.

Abbas also reiterated that the PA would go to the UN seeking non-member status on Sept. 27.

“When we go to the UN, we will say we are a state under occupation … we have 133 states who recognize a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in addition to dozens of other countries with whom we have good relations and diplomatic representation.”

US opposition to the UN bid, added the president, is one of numerous examples of pressures facing the Palestinians. “We have before us two hard options; either we go to the UN knowing what to expect after that, or we don’t go and yet by so doing we will be losing out.”

Abbas slammed the Israeli government’s refusal to recognize Palestine's demands in order to resume negotiations, the first of which, Abbas said, is ending settlement activities and recognizing the pre-1967 borders.

Speaking about reconciliation with Hamas, Abbas said “reconciliation is elections.” He insisted that reconciliation would not be achieved before the elections commission can operate in the Gaza Strip, and then after three months when elections take place.

Hanan Ashrawi: Israeli incitement creating culture of impunity

Palestinian leadership is not the main obstacle to peace: "Rather, the real threat to peace and stability in the region is Israeli intransigence and Israel’s system of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, which include the annexation of Palestinian land, the expropriation of resources, its construction and expansion of illegal settlements, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the continued displacement of Palestinians."

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=513789

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Wednesday said the Israeli government was waging a campaign of "distortion, hatred and incitement" which created "a culture of impunity, racism and exclusivity."

Ashrawi condemned written remarks by Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who wrote to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton accusing President Mahmoud Abbas of "acting to undermine attempts to renew the peace process".

In the letter, Lieberman called for Palestinians elections to choose "a new, legitimate, hopefully realistic" leadership that can "bring progress with Israel.

"This letter exposes the real nature of Israel’s occupation which is characterized by arrogance, manipulation of facts, and outright racism," Ashrawi said in a statement.

"Rather than complying with international law and signed agreements, the Israeli government has launched a deliberate campaign of distortion, hatred and incitement.”

She added: "Official statements and policies such as those espoused by Lieberman and his ilk are creating a culture of impunity, racism and exclusivity."

Ashrawi said this culture generated violence, hate crimes and settler terrorism.

On Friday, a Jewish mob lynched three Palestinians in East Jerusalem and a day earlier, Jewish settlers firebombed a Palestinian taxi injuring a family of five, including two four-year-olds who suffered first degree burns, she noted.

Meanwhile an official in the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters that Lieberman's letter did not represent the position of the Israeli government.

"While the Palestinian leadership under Abu Mazen (Abbas) has created difficulties that have prevented the resumption of talks, Israel is committed to working with the Palestinian leadership to restarting the dialogue, and of course Israel does not interfere in election processes in other places," added the official, who asked not to be named.

Ashrawi said the Palestinian leadership was not the main obstacle to peace.

"Rather, the real threat to peace and stability in the region is Israeli intransigence and Israel’s system of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, which include the annexation of Palestinian land, the expropriation of resources, its construction and expansion of illegal settlements, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the continued displacement of Palestinians."

She added: "Israel's total disregard for international law and the most common norms of human decency in relation to Palestinians have backfired within Israel and are distorting its own moral fabric."

She urged the Quartet and the international community to stop tolerating Israeli violations of international law and to "act now before such a culture of impunity creates irreversible damage."

Fayyad: UNESCO decision a victory for rights, humanity

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=499812 

 BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The prime minister in Ramallah welcomed a decision by UNESCO on Friday to include several Christian holy sites to the UN agency's world heritage list.

Salam Fayyad called the decision an affirmation of the international importance of the holy city of Bethlehem and said it gave hope to the Palestinian people of the inevitability a victory for their cause.

“It’s time for UN agencies to uphold its political, legal, cultural, and ethical responsibilities and put an end to what the Palestinian people are suffering, and (rescue) its cultural heritage from the Israeli occupation’s aggression.”

He added that “the international community should take serious responsibility to ensure ending the Israeli occupation on our land since 1967 and to enable the Palestinian people to achieve self-determination.”

Fayyad stressed that Bethlehem, Jerusalem and all Palestinian lands are symbols of coexistence and tolerance.

Israeli Settlers burn down ancient tree in Hebron

A group of settlers burned down an ancient olive tree in central Hebron overnight, witnesses said. (MaanImages/File)

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HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers set fire to a 1,000-year-old olive tree in central Hebron overnight Friday, witnesses said.

Local activist Issa Amro said the group then hurled stones at a community center in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood on Saturday morning.

Settlers tried to remove the Palestinian flag from the 'steadfastness and challenge' center while Israeli soldiers looked on, he said.

Several days ago a group of settlers stole the building's flag, which activists had since replaced with a new one, Amro added.

Tel Rumeida lies in the Israeli-military controlled H2 zone of the southern West Bank city, after a 1997 agreement split Hebron into areas of Palestinian and Israeli control.

The zone includes the ancient Old City, home of the revered Ibrahimi Mosque -- also split into a synagogue referred to as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Around 800 Jewish settlers live in Hebron's Old City, among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the city that are under Israeli control.

Israel announces 851 new settler homes in West Bank

US says settlement building undermines peace efforts and contradicts Israeli commitments and obligations.

 

Settlers block Hebron farmers from land