Ruby Reuven, ZAKA, August 31, 2010
Rocket and mortar shell fire into Israeli territory
Rocket Fire 2010, Monthly Distribution
Safa News Agency, August 26, 2010
Palestinian smuggler holds pieces broken off from the underground steel barrier
Logo of the Irish Ship to Gaza Organization
Delegation to Brazil of the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza
 The car at terrorist scene of the terrorist attack (Picture: Ruby Reuven, ZAKA, August 31, 2010). |
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Overview
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Important Events
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The Gaza Strip
Rocket Fire
This past week no rocket or mortar shell hits were identified in Israeli territory. IDF soldiers were fired on at least twice while carrying out routine security activities near the security fence. There were no casualties and no damage was done.
Rockets and Mortar Shells Fired into Israeli Territory 1
Rocket Fire 2010, Monthly Distribution *
* Rocket hits identified in Israeli territory. A similar number misfire and customarily land inside the Gaza Strip. |
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The Peace Process
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On September 1 a summit meeting is expected to be held in Washington, attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Arab leaders, including Jordan’s King Abdallah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The meeting is expected to relaunch direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
On the eve of the meeting, Benyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas said the following:
Benyamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, said that "basic question is whether the Palestinian side will be as willing as the Israeli side to advance towards a peace that will resolve this conflict for generations to come. There shouldn’t just be a tactical halt between two wars or two outbreaks of terrorism, but a peace based on recognition [of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people], security, stability and economic prosperity between the two peoples that will endure for us and our children." He added that the new security situation had to ensure that what happened in Lebanon after Israel withdrew would not happen in Judea and Samaria (Israeli Prime Minister’s website, August 29, 2010).
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority chairman, said that if the Israeli government continued expanding the settlements it would bear the responsibility for "the threat of the collapse and failure of the negotiations" (Palestinian Authority television channel, August 29, 2010). Saeb Erekat, head of the PLO’s negotiating department, told American representatives that "the Israeli government had to choose between peace and the settlements" (Ma�an News Agency, August 27, 2010).
Hamas continues its vicious attacks against the Palestinian Authority for agreeing to direct negotiations. Ismail Haniya, head of the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, claimed that direct negotiations "are not legitimate when they are forced [on the Palestinians] by the United States and Israel," and that negotiating was not a national Palestinian decision. He emphasized that "the negotiations have no cover," neither Islamic, Palestinian nor Arab, and that "negotiations which give up the territories, Jerusalem and the right of return are not legitimate." Haniya stressed Hamas’ commitment to a Palestine which extended from "the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river," saying that no leader had permission "to cede a single centimeter" (Al-Aqsa TV, Safa News Agency, and Hamas� Palestine-info website, August 26, 2010).
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Developments in the Gaza Strip
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Discovery of Arms Destined for the Gaza Strip
According to reports in the Palestinian and Israeli media, the Egyptian security forces uncovered a number arms caches in the Sinai Peninsula, apparently destined to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip. About 220 anti-aircraft missiles, apparently SA-7s, were found. Large quantities of explosives and light arms were also found (Ma�an News Agency and Haaretz, August 29, 2010).
Egypt’s Steel Barrier Breached
The Palestinian media reported that a number of Gazan tunnel owners managed to break through the Egyptian steel barrier. One claimed that his men succeeded in breaching it only two days after it was put in place. He said that it took a number of hours and that afterwards he reinforced the tunnel to keep it from collapsing (Safa News Agency, August 26, 2010).
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 Palestinian smuggler holds pieces broken off from the underground steel barrier (Safa News Agency, August 26, 2010). |
Friction between Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad
According to reports in the Palestinian media, tension continues between Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. It has been manifested by the detention of PIJ operatives in Khan Yunis (who were recently released in an attempt to defuse the tension), and by exchanges of fire between operatives. An anonymous PIJ spokesman even claimed that there was no contact between the two leaderships (BBC Radio from the Gaza Strip, August 26; Al-Sharq al-Awsat, August 29, 2010). In our assessment, the source of the tension is Hamas’ attempts to enforce its policies on other terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip, including the PIJ.
The Islamization of the Gaza Strip Continues
The Hamas-led Islamization of the Gaza Strip continues. It was recently reported that the Hamas police closed a water park in Gaza City on the claim that "lewd" parties were held there, including "mingling of the sexes" (Al-Hayat, August 22, 2010).
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Flotillas and Convoys to the Gaza Strip
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Flotillas and Convoys Update
Reports continue of many international initiatives to organize flotillas and aid convoys to the Gaza Strip. This week’s update:
Lebanon
The Lebanese women’s ship Maryam is still anchored in the port of Tripoli. Rima Farah, spokesperson for the committee organizing the voyage, claimed that contacts were being held with Greece and Turkey to enable the ship to anchor in one of their ports. Yasser Qashlaq, head off the Free Palestine Organization, which is organizing the voyage from Lebanon, threatened to take legal action against Cyprus (NTV, August 27, 2010).
Other Initiatives
Freedom Fleet 2
Ireland: A coalition of pro-Palestinian organizations in Ireland is working to send an aid ship to the Gaza Strip as part of Freedom Fleet 2. The organizations participating are the Free Gaza Movement, which also participated in the Mavi Marmara flotilla, and other local organizations and groups: the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Palestinian Rights Institute, Ireland to Gaza, and a number of other organizations and associations (Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign website, August 27, 2010).
Germany: The Arab media reported that a group of Jewish activists was planning to organize an aid ship to the Gaza Strip carrying passengers who were Holocaust survivors (NTV, August 29, 2010). Amjad al-Shawa, coordinator for the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG), claimed that the ship’s sailing had been delayed to an unknown date, possibly during September, and that it might join Freedom Fleet 2 (Voice of Palestine Radio, August 29, 2010).
Logo of the Irish Ship to Gaza Organization
(From the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign website, August 31, 2010).
Brazil: Angela Lano, an ECESG member, said that a ship flying the Brazilian flag might join Freedom Fleet 2. She said that after an ECESG delegation had visited Brazil, she worked to enlist support and donations for it and tried to convince politicians and members of the Brazilian government to participate in the flotilla (Safa News Agency, August 25, 2010).
Delegation to Brazil of the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza
(Picture from the organization’s website, August 20, 2010).
The Arab countries
Jordan: The chairman of the Jordan Lifeline committee said in an announcement that the members of the committee planned to join Lifeline 5, which would set sail from Europe on September 15 for the Syrian port of Latakia, from there to El Arish and then to the Gaza Strip. In our assessment he was referring to a convoy planned by Viva Palestina, headed by the pro-Hamas former British MP George Galloway, expected to leave for the Gaza Strip on September 18 (Al-Sabil, August 25; Viva Palestina website, August 31, 2010). To break the Ramadan fast, the committee organized a meal in honor of the relatives of the victims of the Mavi Marmara flotilla. They collected 130,000 Jordanian dinars, or about $183,000, for future convoys and flotillas. One of the participants at the event, Dr. Ahmed al-Armouti, chairman of the Jordanian doctors’ association, rejected both direct and indirect negotiations with Israel and called for support of the "resistance" [i.e., terrorism] (Al-Sabil, the Muslim Brotherhood organ in Jordan, August 25, 2010).
Algeria: An aid ship sent by the Algerian association of Muslim clerics set sail for the Gaza Strip. Its cargo consists of 1,200 tons of medical equipment and food (Al-Quds TV, August 24, 2010).
Activity of the Fact-Finding Committee of the UN’s Human
Rights Council
Members of the UN’s Human Rights Council’s international fact-finding committee to investigate the events of the Mavi Marmara flotilla arrived in Jordan to meet with Jordanian activists who were on board the ship and with senior Jordanian officials (Jordanian News Agency, August 26; Haaretz, August 30, 2010).
Before their arrival, Wa’al al-Saqa, chairman of the Jordanian Lifeline committee, said that the committee had distributed questionnaires to Jordanians who had participated in the flotilla, asking them to detail their "opinions and comments regarding what happened aboard the Mavi Marmara and what the Israeli soldiers did" (Al-Sabil, August 29, 2010). The UN HRC team also went to Turkey, where a team of their technical experts examined the ship (UN Human Rights Council website, August 23, 2010).
1 The statistics do not include the mortar shells fired at IDF soldiers patrolling the border fence which fell inside the Gaza Strip.
