Fatah hails Hamas chief Meshaal’s unity calls

The Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Sunday welcomed comments from rival Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on the need for renewed efforts for reconciliation.

Azzam al-Ahmed, head of Fatah’s central committee and its pointman for reconciliation talks, told AFP that the party “strongly welcomes the speech of Khaled Meshaal, which was very positive on the issue of the Palestinian division.”

“The speech was positive on the issues of one president for the Palestinian people, and one authority and one law, and we do not disagree with him at all on these issues, which are the focus of the reconciliation agreement that was signed by Fatah and Hamas and the other factions to end the division,” he said.

(Source) AFP

Hamas leader calls for 'all Palestine', national unity

Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal rejected ceding "an inch" of Palestinian territory to Israel or recognizing the Jewish state, in a speech in Gaza marking the 25th anniversary of the Islamist group's founding.

"Palestine is our land and nation from the (Mediterranean) sea to the (Jordan) river, from north to south, and we cannot cede an inch or any part of it," he said of the borders currently held by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, at a rally.

"Resistance is the right way to recover our rights, as well as all forms of struggle - political, diplomatic, legal and popular, but all are senseless without resistance," he said.

On Palestinian unity, he said: "We are a single authority, a single reference, and our reference is the PLO, which we want united." He was referring to the Palestine Liberation Organisation which, in the eyes of the international community, is the sole body that purports to speak for all the Palestinian people."

(Source) AFP

Palestinian prisoners' rights activist detained, tortured in Israeli prison

Ayman Nasser (courtesy of Addameer)

Ayman Nasser, a researcher for the Palestinian prisoners’ rights NGO Addameer, has himself become a detainee in an Israeli prison, having been charged with several counts of membership in an illegal organization and of partaking in illegal assembly. According to Physicians

for Human Rights, he has been tortured during his 39-day-long interrogation.

By Haggai Matar 

Nasser, 42, was arrested on October 15 in a nighttime raid by armed soldiers and attack dogs on his house in the village of Saffa in the Ramallah district. According to Physicians for Human Rights, Nasser was taken into custody after a prolonged search in his house and a brief interrogation, during which his wife and four children were held at gunpoint in a different room.

His interrogation by Shin Bet agents went on for 39 days, with sessions lasting up to 20 hours a day, all through which Nasser had his hands tied to the back of the chair and his legs tied to the legs of the chair. Nasser later reported to his lawyers that throughout this period he was held in isolation, he did not receive sufficient medical care for his pain nor for the lapses of disorientation from which he suffered. PHR has so far not been allowed to send an independent doctor to examine Nasser.

About a week ago, the military prosecution filed an indictment with fairly mild accusations against Nasser. The main charge was his alleged membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is considered an illegal organization by Israel. Evidence for this membership is derived from the other four charges, which state that Nasser allegedly assisted in organizing and participating in two “illegal” PFLP rallies in Ramallah, one in support of Palestinian prisoners, and the other in memory of former PFLP leader, Abu-Ali Mustafa, assassinated by Israel in 2001.

Nasser, who works as a researcher for Addameer, rejects accusations of membership in the PFLP, stating that he had no part in the Mustafa rally. He confirmed his participation in the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day rally – which was not a PFLP event but rather a national day of protest and solidarity and has been for quite some time. This year’s rally took place in the midst of a prolonged hunger strike of administrative detainees in Israeli prisons, and marked the start of a new collective hunger strike of more than 1,000 prisoners. Nasser called for all factions of Palestinian society take part in the prisoners’ day.

“The evidence the army has really amounts to nothing,” says Nasser’s attorney Mahmud Hassan. “They have but two main witnesses. One admits to having taken part in planning the Abu Ali Mustafa event, and only says that he consulted Ayman on his planned speech at the rally, which Ayman told him was too extreme. The second witness says he told Ayman about a planned shooting attack (on Israelis, H.M.), for which Ayman yelled at him and told him he mustn’t go through with it.

“This is all they have after a long investigation, when for weeks they got the detention warrant prolonged solely on their statement that they suspected him of armed resistance – even though there is not a shred of evidence of anything like that in the file, and the indictment we now see has no mention of it. So yes, he did participate in the Prisoners’ Day rally, but that is an official national and public event, and who better to go there than a worker from Addammeer?”

In the passing weeks, Addameer and PHR have voiced their concerns that Nasser’s arrest is an assault on human rights defenders, in blatant disregard for international treaties. The two NGOs have for the past year been leading campaigns in support of Palestinian prisoners such as Ayman Sharawni - who is now on the 153rd day of his hunger strike - in the face of multiple hunger strikes within Israeli prisons.

“Ayman is a colleague of ours,” says Amani Dayef from PHR, “perhaps it is easier to pick on an NGO in the West Bank than it is on an Israeli NGO, but it is still an attempt to hinder the struggle for prisoners’ rights. As in other cases, we see how part of the interrogation process is to isolate a detainee from all outside contact, including physicians, and even at the cost of lesser medical care. We plan to file an appeal and demand to allow an outside doctor to see him.”

Nasser’s lawyer has filed an appeal against the latest resolution by the military court to prolong his detention until the end of proceedings. The appeal will be heard on December 17.

The IDF spokesperson unit has directed all questions regarding Nasser to the Shin Bet security service (Shabak), which issued the following response: “Ayman Nasser has been arrested on suspicion of activity within the PFLP. During his interrogation his was examined several times by a physician who found his medical condition allows for further interrogation. Medical instructions given by the examining doctor were followed to the full.

“Nasser’s claims regarding torture have no grounds to stand on! His interrogation was carried in accordance with the law, and he received all the rights which he deserves.

“Following the end of his interrogation Nasser, was and charged with membership in the terrorist organization PFLP, which is an illegal organization, and with offering this organization services and partaking in its rallies. The military court has ordered his detention until the end of legal proceedings.”

(Source)  +972 Magazine

Japan Offers $ 12.5 Million Donation to Palestinian Authority

Palestinian Prime Minister Sallam Fayyad conferred here on Saturday with Japan's ambassador of Palestinian Affaire Junien Matsuura who is also his country's representative in Ramallah.

During the meeting the Japanese official announced that the Japanese government made two donations totaling 12.5 million to help the Palestinian Authority government to improve waste management and buy industrial equipment.

A statement from Japan's representative office to the PA said 800 Million Yen, about 10 million was donated to expand a landfill site in Jericho and buy waste management equipment.

In addition, 200 Million Yen (2.5 million) was donated to the PA to buy industrial products, "including medical equipment and vehicles made by Japanese companies which suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred in March 2011," the statement said.

Since 1993, Japan offered assistance to the PA totaling 1.25 Billion of which 70 million in donation to the PA in 2011.

(Source) Qatar News Agency

Hamas Weighs to Establish Ministry of Defense

Gaza government plans to organize and develop the Palestinian resistance military capabilities to confront the coming Israeli government which was described to be most fanatic "stupid" extremist Israeli government since establishment of Israel.

In a fire speech laid by minister of interior – Fathi Hammad -  in Gaza Government, Hamas declared it weighs to establish a ministry of defense to develop military capabilities.

In a ceremony to honor Palestinian policemen who were wounded in the latest Israeli assault against the Gaza Strip, Hammad said that the coming Israeli elections in late January will result in an Israeli Government that enjoys the highest rank of stupidity and extremism.

Hammad warned that the next Israeli Government will take far stupid unwise decisions enough for the Palestinians to get ready, and work for it around the clock.

"I call on all Arab and Islamic countries to support the Palestinian resistance with weapons and cash," Hammad said, adding that "we don't need 'Arab Tears' and 'Arab Talks", but we need military support."

The minister called on the Arab world to withdraw their Arabic cash from the European and American Banks, and to be spent on arming the un-armed Palestinians. He also called for general boycott against Israeli and US products.

According to Hammad, money should not be stacked in the banks. He also said that this money belongs to the Muslims around the world, including the poor and civilians who are under threats of discrimination and ethnically cleansing. "This money belongs to God. It's not yours." Hammad said.

Haniyeh thanks Qatar, pledges to liberate all of Palestine

TODAY IN GAZA (Julie Webb-Pullman reports) - At an event in Gaza City today to honour former ministers and departmental heads, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that the Strip’s Hamas-led government was the first in the region to face the transformation from running an Islamic organisation to running a state, an authority and a people.

Jewish refugees?

With astounding gall, Israel is now claiming that more Jews "fled" Arab countries than Palestinians fled Palestine, writes Saleh Al-Naami

Jawla Levy, 78, who lives in Arad settlement in southern Israel, still remembers the four Jewish Europeans who visited her family that lived in Baghdad in the summer of 1949. Levy told Israel Radio Sunday this
group of Jewish men who spoke fluent Arabic did their best to convince her father -- a leading figure in Iraq's Jewish community at the time -- to help convince Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel. Israel was still a nascent state, barely one year old, established in Palestine after the original inhabitants were chased out by Zionist guerrillas.

Levy said her father found it very hard to persuade many Jews to leave Iraq to go to Palestine, and she accused Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, of executing a careful plan to force Jews to leave Iraq by firebombing Jewish synagogues and businesses. This resulted in a mass exodus by Jews from Iraq to the erstwhile Palestine. She added that Mossad recruited Iraqi groups to carry out the attacks to convince Jews that Iraq was not a place they want to be.

Levy's account corresponds with what is stated in books examining Jewish presence in Iraq that documented bombings by Mossad that convinced the Jews to leave. Her testimonial is especially relevant because it comes at a time when the Israeli government launched a broad campaign to rally international support to demand recognition of Jews who emigrated from Arab countries to Israel as refugees -- just as Palestinian refugees. The testimonials of Levy and others confirm that Israel initiated plans to bring Jews into Israel and did not hesitate in using terrorism to achieve this goal.

It is evident that the campaign proposed by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman fundamentally aims to strip Palestinian refugees of their right to return to the lands they were expelled from. Also, according to Security Council Resolution 194, demanding reparations for losses incurred as a result of the expulsion schemes by Zionist guerrillas before and after the declaration of the Israeli state.

Israel's move is based on painting Eastern Jews who left Arab states after the creation of Israel as "refugees" who were "expelled and dispossessed", which requires the world community to support Israel's position demanding compensation for these "refugees". Israel's former foreign minister and ambassador to Washington Danny Ayalon was appointed to lead the campaign, who suggested it should be called "I am a Jewish refugee." Three Israeli institutions -- the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Pensioner Affairs and the World Jewish Congress -- will cooperate in documenting and gathering data on the properties of those who lived in the Arab world and then immigrated to Israel.

So far, 20,000 cases of migrant Jews have been documented as the three institutions prepare to hold news conferences and international seminars beginning this month to coincide with the UN General Assembly gathering. To make it more believable, the Knesset will also issue laws and regulations obligating Israeli negotiators to include the issue of Jewish "refugees" from Arab states in final negotiations, as a precondition to finalise any peace plan or signing any agreements. This augments a law issued by the Knesset in 2010 stipulating that any final agreement should be linked to resolving the issue of possessions of refugee Jews and their rights as refugees.

Further still, the move also aims to embarrass the "moderate" camp in the Arab world since it demands linking the issue of Jewish "refugees" with the Arab Peace Initiative sponsored by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in 2002. That plan proposes the creation of a Palestinian state inside 1967 borders and a return of refugees as prerequisites for normalising relations with Israel. The campaign would mean settling the rights of Jewish immigrants as part of normalising relations, along with targeted moves to integrate the issue of Jewish refugees in talks with all countries as well as the UN, and demanding that countries around the world adopt this issue in new laws and stipulations.

More worrying is that the campaign links the issue of immigrant Jews from Arab countries with the Holocaust and considers their deportation from Arab countries as "genocide," and thus they should be commemorated as victims at Israel's Holocaust and Heroism Memorial. The campaign further claims that the number of Jewish "refugees" exceeds the number of Palestinian refugees, and that they suffered losses worth more than $100 billion. Meanwhile, Israel's publicity machine claims that the land owned by Jewish "refugees" was far greater than the size of Palestine itself.

Supervising these fabricated facts is a US Jewish organisation concerned with the affairs of immigrant Jews that recently claimed that it would create "Justice for Jews in Arab Countries (JJAC)". It has recently established a fund to protect graves, rehabilitate synagogues and recover copies of the Torah located in Arab countries, as well as granting academic scholarships for the study of Jewish presence in Arab countries.

Tawfiq Abu Shumar, a Palestinian researcher and writer, describes the comparison of the issue of Palestinian refugees with Jewish refugees from Arab states as "invalid and baseless". Abu Shumar retorts: "Palestinians left their motherland and possessions and continue to live in exile and Diaspora, while the Jews of the Arab world have seized our homes and possessions and returned to their alleged homeland. What possessions they left behind are far less than the possessions and land they stole from us."

He continued: "Linking Jewish emigration with the Holocaust is provocative to the mind of all humanity; historic documents do not report any massacres of Jews in the Arab world. In fact, many of them still live in several Arab states as respectable citizens. Meanwhile, Arab Jews who immigrated to Israel still have fond memories of the Arab world which hosted them for many years, and did not deport them."

He explained that "many Jews in Israel still hang the portrait of Morocco's King Mohamed V; I have seen it with my own eyes. The Jews of Iraq and Egypt are still sentimental about these two countries and listen to Arabic music and speak Arabic, not Hebrew, at home, and promote Arab culture and arts."

Israel's campaign spurred Abu Shumar to criticise Palestinian institutions responsible for documenting the dilemma of Palestinian refugees. "The multitude of Palestinian refugee institutions, organisations and societies are still incapable of forming comprehensive archives with audio and video footage of the rights of refugees and their descendants, and the ramifications on life and education based on these rights," he said, noting that all these institutions and societies are good for is publishing papers on anniversaries, distributing booklets, maps, portfolios and hot meals. 

Sometimes they would hold a conference without any centralised effort to boost cooperation among refugee bodies to document all the rights of Palestinians with audio, video and document records.

Abu Shumar believes that this a much more worthy endeavour than empty political rhetoric, repetitive party slogans, and disputes over forming governments and ministries on which factions on the Palestinian arena differ.

Israel's fabrications are shamelessly provocative, foolish and superficial because official Zionist records confirm that there was no Jewish "refugee" problem. Zionist records state that the first Israeli prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, decided to bring in Jews from Arab states although the Zionist movement had ruled it out. These documents also state that the founders of the Zionist movement planned to establish the Zionist entity by relying on Western Jews only, but after World War II and what happened to Jews before and during the war, the Zionist movement decided it needed to displace Jews in Arab states in order to enhance the demographic presence of Jews in confronting the Palestinian population.

To this end, Ben-Gurion gave the following orders: First, sending Jewish Orientalists to Arab countries where Jews are present to gather information about them and then convince them to emigrate. Second, when it became apparent to Ben-Gurion that these missions were not as successful as he had hoped, he ordered Mossad to carry out terrorist attacks against Jews in the Arab world, such as booby-trapping and firebombing synagogues and assassinating Jewish leaders in order to terrorise Jews living there to persuade them to escape to the Zionist entity.

Israel is trying by all means to invent ways to justify its noncompliance with the demands of reaching a just political settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and more importantly recognising the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the homeland they were expelled from. "I am a Jewish refugee" campaign is one such attempt.