In the first time in PLO history, the Palestine National Council voted
in the Executive Committee’s first woman, Hanan Ashrawi on August 27.
Ashrawi, a PLC member and former minister, was voted into the PLO’s
highest decision making body along with four others including ousted
Fateh Central Committee member Ahmad Qurei.
“The era of done deals that exclude women is over,” said Ashrawi, who
won 182 votes. The elections, which were also a first for the Executive
Committee, came after a tumultuous Fateh Conference that saw a lot of
bruised egos of longtime Fateh members who were voted out of the
movement’s decision making bodies and hoped to win a chair in the PLO.
The PNC, which held a special session on August 26 and 27 under the
leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas also decided that should
reconciliation talks fail with Hamas, the Palestinians would still go
to elections on the scheduled date. Conciliation talks have not moved
forward unfortunately. On August 22, the dialogue in Cairo was
officially postponed until after the PNC session was over. So far, a
new date has not been set.
On August 25, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad unveiled his program for
establishing a Palestinian state by 2011 and ending the Israeli
occupation. According to the plan, the Palestinians will declare their
state in two years regardless of the outcome of negotiations with
Israel. “It is possible and necessary to establish a state in two
years,” Fayyad said during his press conference in Ramallah. Part of
his plan, which is based on Palestinian institution-building regardless
of the occupation, includes building a railroad through the Palestinian
territories and an airport in the Jordan Valley.
The plan, which may not have been welcomed by Hamas, was met warmly by
the European Union. On August 26, European Commission representative
Christian Berger said the EU supported Fayyad’s plan.
“The European Commission welcomes Prime Minister Fayyad’s
government program and we are looking forward to further discussions
with our Palestinian partners on how we can best support it,” he said
in a statement.
Another two-year marker is that of US President Barack Obama, who
insists that this goal is realistic despite the impasses he has met
with Israel on settlement construction. Israeli Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman scoffed at the plan on August 23, saying it was
unrealistic. “In the 16 years since the Oslo Accords, we haven’t
managed to bring peace to the region, and I’m willing to bet that there
won’t be peace in another 16 years, either. Certainly not on the basis
of the two-state solution,” he said.
Two states is already a far-fetched plan what with Israel’s
continued settlement construction. While Jerusalem, according to
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is off limits, reports have
been circulating of a US-Israel agreement on a temporary settlement
freeze in the West Bank. Nothing yet has been confirmed but reports are
talking about an Israeli freeze of up to 12 months in settlements
excluding east Jerusalem and the 2,400 homes already under
construction.
It is going to be difficult, given Netanyahu’s intransigence. On August
25, Netanyahu said he would refuse to freeze settlement construction in
east Jerusalem. “Jews have been building in Jerusalem for 3000 years,”
he said, not believing there is any reason to stop now. He also said he
would only agree to a Palestinian state if it were demilitarized, if
the right of return was off the table and there was an end to claims.
Also, there have been reports about the United States agreeing to
exclude east Jerusalem from their demand on an Israeli settlement
freeze. However, on August 28, US officials denied any such report,
saying Washington has not made any final agreement and that its
position has remained unchanged. One State Department spokesman did say
however, that “The Obama administration will be flexible on
pre-conditions for all parties involved in Middle East peace
negotiations.”
Palestinians and Arabs are having nothing of it. On August 28,
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit insisted that Jerusalem
must be included in any Israeli settlement freeze before peace talks
could resume, reiterating the Palestinian and Arab stance that
Jerusalem was an “Arab capital.”
Jewish settlers are obviously trying their best to foil any
attempts at stunting their growth. On August 23, the Jewish settlement
group, Elad announced its intentions to erect a new settlement in Ras
Al Amoud, which they would name Maaleh David. The plan includes the
construction of 104 new housing units for Israeli Jews in the heart of
this east Jerusalem neighborhood.
Israel was also scrutinized by The Elders, a group of foreign
dignitaries aimed at bringing peace to the region which was established
by former South African President Nelson Mandela. The delegation, whose
mission ended on August 26 includes former US President Jimmy Carter,
South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and former Irish
President Mary Robinson. During a visit to the separation wall and
protests in Bilin, Carter said all Israeli settlements should be
dismantled. “Settlements built on Palestinian land must be removed so
that justice will prevail and so that peace will prevail in the
region,” he said.
Desmund Tutu had a word or two to say to the Israelis as well. On
August 27, Tutu told the Israeli daily Haaretz, “The lesson that Israel
must learn from the Holocaust is that it can never get security through
fences, walls and guns”.
“In South Africa, they tried to get security from the barrel of a gun.
They never got it. They got security when the human rights of all were
recognized and respected.” He also said that the Palestinians were
wrongfully paying the price of the Holocaust.
In an interview with the Palestinian news agency Maan on August 26,
Archbishop Tutu said Israel and other parties would have to sooner or
later talk to Hamas.
“You don’t make peace with friends,” he said. “You negotiate with those who are regarded as pariahs.”
In Bilin on August 28 as the elders visited, Israeli army soldiers
attacked protesters injuring six including nine-year old Usama
Breijiyeh.
Also on August 28, three Palestinian men, all from the Lahham family,
were killed and another injured when a tunnel collapsed in the southern
Gaza Strip. Furthermore, 25-year old fisherman Mohammed Attar was
killed the same day in an Israeli navy shelling off of Gaza’s shore.
On August 25, two others, Mansur and Nael Batneeji were also killed in
an Israeli raid on the tunnels in Rafah. Ten others were injured.
Then on August 24, 20-year old Ata Hasumi was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in Beit Lahyia.
Finally, on August 23, notices went up in girls’ schools across Gaza
telling students that they must wear the jilbab and hijab (full Islamic
dress) if they were to remain in school. Furthermore, the Hamas run
education ministry announced that it was “feminizing” the schools by
banning all male teachers from teaching in girls’ schools. Director of
education in the education ministry Mahmoud Abu Haseera denied that the
de facto government had issued orders forcing the girls into the jilbab
but did say the “feminization” of schools was in line with Islamic
society.