afa News Agency, December 7, 2009
Rocket and mortar shell fire into Israeli territory
IDF Spokesman, December 7, 2009
 Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas meets with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman (Wafa News Agency, December 7, 2009). |
|
Overview
|
|
|
|
Important Events
|
Gaza Strip
Rocket and mortar shell fire
During the past week one rocket hit was identified in an open area in the western Negev (December 4). There were no casualties and no damage was done.
On December 4 an IDF patrol was attacked with RPG and light arms fire near the security fence in the central Gaza Strip. The force returned fire. There were no casualties. The Jerusalem Battalions (the military-terrorist wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad) claimed responsibility for the attacks. The incident was� reported by the website of the Hamas-affiliated magazine Al-Risala (Alrisala.net, December 4, 2009).
Rocket and mortar shell fired into Israeli territory 1
Judea and Samaria
Counterterrorism activities
This past week the Israeli security forces continued their counterterrorism activities, detaining Palestinians suspected of terrorist activities. Incidents of stones and Molotov cocktails thrown at Israeli vehicles were reported. In addition, IDF forces discovered a number of IEDs.
Among the incidents were the following:
-
December 2: A Molotov cocktail was thrown at an Israeli vehicle south of Nablus. There were no casualties and no damage was done (IDF Spokesman, December 2, 2009).
-
December 2: An IDF force found an improvised rifle among the tools of a Palestinian at a checkpoint near Gush Etzion (southeast of Jerusalem) (IDF Spokesman, December 2, 2009).
-
December 3: An IDF force uncovered two IEDs, one weighing five kilograms (11 lbs) and the other three kilograms (6.6 lbs) which had been placed on the road north of Ramallah. They were detonated by the IDF in a controlled explosion (IDF Spokesman, December 3, 2009).
-
December 3: Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle and bus south of Nablus. There were no casualties but the bus was damaged. Stones were also thrown at two Israeli vehicles southeast of Qalqilya. There were no casualties but the vehicles were damaged (IDF Spokesman, December 3, 2009).
-
December 5: Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle southwest of Bethlehem. There were no casualties but the vehicle was damaged (IDF Spokesman, December 5, 2009).
-
December 6: An IDF force detained a Palestinian northeast of Ramallah when a Molotov cocktail ready for throwing was found in his possession. Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle southwest of Bethlehem. There were no casualties but the vehicle was damaged (IDF Spokesman, December 6, 2009).
- December 7: An IDF force found six bombs weighing one kilogram each and four Molotov cocktails in the home of terrorist operative in a village near Bethlehem.
Six bombs found in the house of an operative in the village of Sa�ir
(Photo courtesy of the IDF Spokesman, December 7, 2009).
|
Developments in the Gaza Strip
|
The crossings
This past week the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip were open, allowing for the entrance of 698 trucks.
An convoy of humanitarian assistance called �Long Live Palestine� is expected to arrive in the Gaza Strip on December 27 to mark the anniversary of the �Gaza war� [i.e., Operation Cast Lead]. The convoy will include 15 ambulances and more than 80 trucks. More than 300 activists from various countries will participate, headed by the pro-Palestinian British MP George Galloway (BBC in Arabic, December 6, 2009).
|
The Political Struggle
|
The Palestinian Authority works for the adoption of the Swedish
initiative calling for [East] Jerusalem to be divided
Political activity this week focused on the Swedish initiative to determine a time frame for the establishment of a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital. Deliberations will begin on December 8 at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union in Brussels.
The Palestinian Authority, which has been waging a determined political campaign against Israel, gave its support to the Swedish initiative:
-
Riadh al-Maliki, foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority, told the Italian News Agency that a change in the European position regarding the Swedish initiative would be �a severe blow� to the peace process and would weaken the credibility of the Palestinian leadership. He said that �surrendering� to Israeli pressure regarding the status of East Jerusalem would show that the European Union did not want to be an objective partner in the peace process (AKI, December 4, 2009).
-
Al-Maliki said that he and Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, had met with the European Union consuls and updated them on Palestinian support for the Swedish initiative. He added that their political activity was progressing in a number of EU countries which did not support the initiative. He said that Palestinian Authority representatives in the various countries were working on the matter in coordination with Arab ambassadors (AKI, December 4, 2009).
-
At the Palestinian government�s weekly meeting, headed by Salam Fayyad, an appeal was made to the EU to take a greater role in revitalizing the peace process. The EU was requested to take a stance more in line with international law and decisions made by international institutions according to which �Jerusalem will be an integral part of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967� (Wafa News Agency, December 7, 2009).
Mahmoud Abbas� activity in the Arab arena
Visiting Lebanon, Mahmoud Abbas held a press conference at which he announced that the Palestinian Authority had decided that for the present it would not appeal to the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state. It was, he said, an Arab decision which the Arab League had to make and bring before the Council. He said that on December 7 he would begin shuttling between a number of Arab countries to ask them to support the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state (Al-Quds, December 6, 2009).
1 The statistics do not include the mortar shells fired at IDF soldiers patrolling the border fence which fell inside the Gaza Strip.
