Ad Hoc Studies

The PLO Anti-Discrimination and Apartheid Department to hold an international conference at the end of 2023

In recent months the PLO Anti-Discrimination and Apartheid Department, headed by Ramzi Rabah, a member of the PLO Executive, has been organizing an international conference against "Israeli apartheid," expected to take place in South Africa at the end of 2023. Its objective is to "build a global front against 'Israeli apartheid' with extensive Arab and international participation, which will adopt an operational strategy and common vision for action to condemn and boycott the Israeli government and demand it be held accountable for its 'crimes' against the Palestinians, their land and their rights." During June 2023, in preparation for the conference, senior figures of the PLO Anti-Discrimination and Apartheid Department visited several European countries to form sympathetic fronts while promoting a European forum before the international conference had been held. After the visits the decision was made to hold the European forum in Belgium on October 15, 2023. In July 2023 senior Department members met with government and political figures and senior members of the BDS movement in South Africa to prepare and coordinate the conference. It will be the second annual conference organized by the PLO Anti-Discrimination and Apartheid Department; it held the first in al-Bireh on December 11, 2022. Read more...

Revealing Maps: The Palestinian Vision as Taught in PA Schools (Dr. Arnon Groiss)

The present research deals with some 115 maps of the country appearing in the latest edition of schoolbooks issued by the Palestinian Authority and used in the PA schools, including UNRWA schools. Its source material included 125 books of grades 1-10 in the subjects of Arabic, English, Social Studies, Islamic Education, Mathematics, Sciences and Technology. The research aimed at checking the way this country – Israel/Palestine – is presented, in view of the ongoing conflict between the two nations that claim to be its owners. The basic hypothesis of this research was that the two parties see this country in its entirety as their homeland, which should be expressed in the maps appearing in their respective schoolbooks Indeed, there were found in the Israeli textbooks maps that present the country as one unit with no internal boundaries under the name "Israel" when those maps were not of political character. Read more...

Hamas summer camps in the Gaza Strip

As during the past several summers, Hamas again organized summer camps, attended by about 100 thousand children and teenagers and this year called "Defender of Jerusalem." According to Hamas, the name was chosen to bring the issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian national identity to the fore and make the younger generation aware of their importance. The summer camps provided three types of programs and activities: military and semi-military training, ideological indoctrination and Qur'an studies and memorization. The Hamas summer camps are organized by the Supreme Summer Camp Committee, headed by senior Hamas figure Muhammad Abu Askar. The committee launched a Facebook page for the camps but it was active for only a few days before it was removed or blocked. Therefore, unlike previous years, there is relatively little documentation of the camps' activities. In addition symbols and logos of Hamas and the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, its military-terrorist wing, have been blurred or downplayed. Also unlike other years, so far there has been no information about the camps' final date or closing ceremony, which in the past were attended by senior Hamas figures and received widespread media coverage Read more...

ISIS has declared the death of its leader and the appointment of a new leader

On August 3, 2023, ISIS's Al-Furqan Media Foundation released an audiotape with a statement by ISIS's spokesman. In the tape, the spokesman announces the death of the organization's leader, and the appointment of his replacement. ISIS’s spokesman blames the leader's death on the Al-Qaeda-affiliated HTS, which is considered the dominant organization in the rebel enclave in Idlib. As ISIS has done in the past, this time too, the information about the leader’s death has not been officially published by ISIS. This is apparently because the organization waited for a new leader to be chosen by the Shura Council and for establishing support and recognition for his appointment by the operatives in the various provinces.This is the fourth leader of ISIS killed since the establishment of the organization. The last three leaders were killed after a relatively short term of office and it seems that their term of office is getting shorter after the first leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, served for six and a half years while the last leader served only six months Read more...

Israel attacked by rockets fired from Judea and Samaria: analysis and significance

On July 27, 2023 the Telegram channel of the Hamas-affiliated al-Ayash Battalion announced its operatives had fired a Qassam 1 rocket from the Jenin area at Ram-Ohn, an Israeli moshav 8 km (5 miles) south of the northern Israeli city of Afula. Following the publication of the video, Israeli security forces and demolitions experts searched the area and located the remains of an improvised rocket which had fallen in Palestinian territory Since May 2023, it was the sixth al-Ayash Battalion claim of responsibility for firing rockets at Israel and the fifth time rocket remains have been found. So far the rockets have not caused damage and the attacks have been used to make propaganda capital. For many years, the terrorist organizations, especially Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), have been trying to copy Gaza's tactics in Judea and Samaria, aspiring to establish similar rocket capabilities. So far, the improvised rockets appear relatively primitive and have limited capabilities. Read more...

The Palestinian Authority attempts to restore its system of governance

The Israeli most recent security force activity in Jenin at the beginning of July 2023 was a major operation conducted to prevent the continuation of the anti-Israel terrorism which began in March-April 2022, when Jenin and its refugee camp became a focus for terrorist attacks carried out in Judea, Samaria and even inside Israel. About two weeks after the operation, as part of the efforts to restore governance PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas paid an official, media-covered visit to the city and its refugee camp, the first in 12 years. In the meantime, the PA's security forces were deployed to the area and began detaining wanted, armed Palestinians. One of the most critical tests currently facing the PA is restoring its governance to the Jenin region. For the time being, the security forces operate in the city, but the real test will be when they try to enter the refugee camp to disarm terrorist operatives. Read more...

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