Al-Quds, November 16, 2009
Rocket and mortar shell fire into Israeli territory
Call for a boycott of Israel
Flyer recently distributed in Judea and Samaria
The MV Francop, carrying weapons from Iran, detained by the Israeli Navy.
Cases on weapons found on board the ship (IDF Spokesman, November 5, 2009).
 Cartoon expressing the idea of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state with the support of the UN Security Council. Left: �Security Council.� Right: �We declare the establishment of a Palestinian state…soon� (Al-Quds, November 16, 2009). |
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Overview
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Important Events
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Gaza Strip
Rocket and mortar shell fire
On November 13 one rocket hit was identified in Israeli territory in an open area near one of the towns in the western Negev. There were no casualties and no damage was done. A network calling itself the �Resting Place of the Lions of the Jihad Fighters in Palestine,� affiliated with the global jihad, claimed responsibility for the attack (Shumukh al-Islam Forum, November 14, 2009).
Rocket and mortar shell fired into Israeli territory 1
IED attack prevented
On November 13 an IDF force identified a squad laying an IED in the northern Gaza Strip, and opened fire. One of the terrorists was killed another wounded. The Palestinian media reported one killed and two wounded, claiming that they were not terrorists but a group of adolescent boys playing in the area or chasing birds (Qudsnet website, Al-Aqsa TV, Ma�an News Agency, November 13, 2009).
Judea and Samaria
Counterterrorism Activities
The Israeli security forces continued their counterterrorism activities, detaining Palestinians suspected of terrorist activities. There were several incidents this past week, most of them involving stones thrown at Israeli vehicles. An Israeli civilian and a woman soldier sustained slight injuries (November 15).
Among the incidents were the following:
November 16: Stones were thrown at two vehicles southwest of Bethlehem. There were no casualties but the vehicles were damaged. Stones were� also thrown at an Israeli vehicle south of Nablus. There were no casualties but the vehicle was damaged (IDF Spokesman, November 16, 2009).
November 15: Stones were thrown at Israeli vehicles� south of Bethlehem in two separate incidents. An Israeli civilian sustained minor injuries and his vehicle was damaged. Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle south of Nablus and at a bus southwest of Bethlehem. There were no casualties but the vehicles were damaged (IDF Spokesman, November 15, 2009).
November 14: A Palestinian carrying a knife was detained by a Border Police force at the checkpoint near the Jewish community in Hebron (IDF Spokesman, November 14, 2009).
November 13: Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle northeast of Ramallah. There were no casualties but the vehicle was damaged (IDF Spokesman, November 13, 2009).
November 12: Stones were thrown at an Israeli bus southwest of Bethlehem. There were no casualties but the bus was damaged (IDF Spokesman, November 12, 2009).
November 12: Stones were thrown at the Shuafat checkpoint in East Jerusalem. A woman soldier sustained slight injuries (IDF Spokesman, November 12, 2009).
November 11: A Molotov cocktail was thrown at an Israeli vehicle east of Qalqiliya, and stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle south of Bethlehem. There were no casualties and no damage was done (IDF Spokesman, November 11, 2009).
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Developments in the Gaza Strip
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The crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip
The crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip were open all week and 500 trucks entered to deliver merchandise.
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The Peace Process
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The Palestinian Authority weighs the possibility of
unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state
Recently several statements have been made by senior Fatah members, some of them close to Mahmoud Abbas, that the Palestinian Authority is weighing the possibility of unilaterally declaring the establishment of a Palestinian state and of appealing to the UN Security Council to that end:
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Saeb Erekat, the PLO�s chief negotiator, told Al-Ayyam that the Palestinian leadership wanted to appeal to the UN Security council for international recognition of a Palestinian state with the June 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital. He said that the idea had been discussed a number of times with the United States and the Europeans. He claimed that for Israel to stop its unilateral plans and building in the settlements, the world had to recognize a Palestinian state with the borders of June 1967. Were that to happen, he said, the unilateral measures taken by Israel would be considered null and void (Al-Ayyam, November 14, 2009).
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Nabil Sha�ath, a member of the PLO�s Central Committee, told Al-Ayyam that the Palestinian Authority was getting ready to �surround� Israel in the international area and �persecute� it with legal measures through the implementation of� the Goldstone Report and by bringing senior Israeli figures to trial for so-called �war crimes� against the Palestinians. He said the Palestinian Authority intended to work through UN institutions to achieve international recognition of a Palestinian state. Such a decision, he said, �will change the way Israel acts and end its claims that Palestinian land is in dispute� (Al-Ayyam, November 12, 2009).
Remarks of a different nature were made by Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah figure, who said that the Palestinian Authority and Fatah preferred negotiations with Israel as a �strategic option� on the road to establishing a Palestinian state. He said that �the option of a unilateral declaration of a state is not on the leadership�s agenda.� He also said that �the Israeli government does not want to advance the peace process, and if Israel forces the Palestinians into a corner, then all options will be open� (The Voice of Israel Radio, November 15, 2009).
So far, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has not publicly elaborated on his position. However, �a senior Palestinian source� told the Italian News Agency that he had already decided to seek support in the UN Security Council for an independent Palestinian state with the borders of 1967 and East Jerusalem as its capital. According to the source, he received positive responses from Russia and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. As for the unaligned countries, he will seek support during his visit to Latin America. The source also said that he had contacted a number of European countries but that more action was needed, especially with the permanent members of the Security Council (Italian News Agency, November 13, 2009).
Response of the Israeli prime minister and Palestinian reactions to his statement
In response to Palestinian statements about the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech in Jerusalem that �there is no substitute for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and any unilateral attempt outside that framework will unravel the existing agreements between us, and could entail unilateral steps by Israel.� (ITIC emphasis) He called for the renewal of negotiations, saying that �We are interested in reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians, and we are prepared to make generous concessions in exchange for a genuine peace.�2 At the government meeting on November 15 he said that cooperation regarding the political issue was vital, and that a genuine solution would not be achieved by taking unilateral measures (Haaretz, November 16, 2009).
The Palestinian leadership�s reactions to the speech were the following:
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Nimr Hamad, Mahmoud Abbas� political advisor, told the Israeli news website Ynet that the Israeli prime minister was �deep in unilateral measures.� He said that the Palestinians did not intend to declare a state unilaterally but that they wanted the Security Council to determine that the Palestinian state would be established on the lands of 1967 (Ynet, November 16, 2009).
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Salam Fayyad, Palestinian prime minister, announced at a government meeting that the Palestinian Authority had appealed to the UN to accept responsibility for ending the so-called �occupation� in view of the continued building in the settlements. He said the Palestinian government opposed the idea of a state with temporary borders and objected to the statements made by the Israeli prime minister about taking unilateral steps (Wafa News Agency, November 16, 2009).
The United States
American State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said he had reservations about the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state. He said �…[The United States] support[s] the creation of a Palestinian state…but think[s] the best way to achieve that is through negotiations by the two parties…[The United States] support[s] a Palestinian state that arises as the result of a process between the two parties.�3 (ITIC emphasis)�
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Political-propaganda warfare against Israel
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A British group calling itself the �Palestinian Solidarity Campaign� is organizing a protest campaign against two supermarket chains in Britain which sell Israeli produce grown in the settlements of Judea and Samaria. Protest demonstrations will be held in front of the supermarkets and appeals will be made to their boards of directors (Palestine Monitor website, November 12, 2009).
The group�s activity is apparently part of a much broader Palestinian campaign which has gained momentum in the past months, calling for a boycott of products and merchandise from within the Green Line as well as from the settlements in Judea and Samaria. The campaign is led by a group calling itself the �Boycott Israel Campaign� and includes elements affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, such as the Palestinian women�s association and the Palestinian civil servants union.
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Call for a boycott of Israel (PLO Executive Committee website, March 2009).
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Flyer recently distributed in Judea and Samaria by a group named the �Palestinian National Enterprise,� calling for a boycott of Israeli products.
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The Palestinian Authority attempts to use the issue of Palestinian
terrorists prisoners as propaganda against Israel
The Palestinian Authority�s ministry of prisoner affairs, headed by Issa Qaraqi, is planning to hold an international conference of prisoners in Jericho on November 24, 2009. Among the expected participants are official representatives from� the Palestinian Authority, prisoners� and human rights organizations and representatives from abroad. According to a statement from Qaraqi, the objective of the conference is to make the issue of the prisoners international, to declare the prisoners �captives of war� and to prove Israel violates international law in every respect when it comes to Palestinian prisoners. He is trying to enlist Arab and international support. On November 13 he met in Cairo with representatives of the Arab league and demanded they take the issue to the UN�s human rights council (Al-Ayyam, November 1, 2009).
According to reports, 40 representatives and jurists will come from Spain, Canada, Britain, Ireland, South Africa and Sweden. There will also be members of the European Parliament and the Arab League, UNICEF and correspondents from various countries. Qaraqi said that a committee would be appointed to monitor the condition of the prisoners and that international legal means would be used to protect them. He said that another objective of the conference was to bring to trial senior Israel�s for so-called �war crimes� and �violations� [of international law] since the beginning of the �occupation.� According to reports the Palestinian Parliament ratified the prisoner affairs ministry�s request to hold the conference and to support it in any way necessary (Palestinian News Network, November 11, 2009).
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Issa Qaraqi, Palestinian Authority minister of prisoner affairs (Al-Asraa Center website, November 2, 2009).
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Prisoner affairs ministry announcement of the international conference to be held on November 24 (Al-Ayyam, November 1, 2009).
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1 The statistics do not include the mortar shells fired at IDF soldiers patrolling the border fence which fell inside the Gaza Strip.
2 http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechsaban151109.htm.
3 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/nov/131982.htm,
