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West Bank situation report

23 August 2005


On 22 August, settlers marched up from Khomesh to Sa’nur along road 60 and attempted to enter the Palestinian villages of Silat adh Dhar, Al Fandaqumiya, al Asa ‘asa and ‘Ajja along the road. The settlers reportedly knocked on the doors of Palestinian trying to enter their homes. All movement into Israel proper for Palestinian workers and traders has been suspended, and will remain suspended until end of the disengagement. Family visits from the area to Palestinian prisoners held in Israel have been suspended. The Governor of Jenin has appealed to the UN and ICRC for a presence in the villages closest to the settlements such as Silat adh Dhahr, Al Fandaqumiya, Jaba’ and Al Asa’asa to show support for the Palestinian community and reassure them in the face of settler harassment. 

USAID agrees to transfer $50 million to Palestinian Authority

24 August 2005


The US adminstration and Palestinian leaders have signed an agreement for the transfer of $50 million in direct assistance to the Palestinians. The U.S. officials made a formal announcement with Minister of Finance Salam Fayyad at the Palestinian Prime Minister’s office on Wednesday. The agreement between the Palestinian Ministry of Finance and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) underlines U.S. confidence in the Palestinian Authority’s reform program and aims to ensure that the Gaza disengagement is a success. 

Former Dutch Prime Minister heads visit of former European politicians to Israel and Palestine

22 August 2005


From 22 to 28 August a delegation of former European politicians and representatives of civil society organisations will travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The delegation is headed by Prof. Andreas van Agt, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands. The delegation members have planned a 6-day tour through Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The delegation will observe the developments on the ground and the impact of the disengagement on the human rights situation and the prospects for conflict resolution. Special attention will be paid to infringements on the freedom of movement of the Palestinians. 

Hamas rally celebrates Gaza 'victory'

Laila El-Haddad 23 August 2005


The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has held its first official victory celebration, wasting no time after the Israeli army reported that the last Gaza settlement was evacuated on Monday. The movement’s leaders seized the opportunity of the demonstration to reiterate their right to continue their resistance and their refusal to disarm. About 30,000 Palestinians rallied throughout Gaza City on Monday night in the largest celebration so far since the beginning of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The rally also marked the anniversary of the attempted burning of al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem in 1969 and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Abu-Shanab. 

Gaza: Kidnapped French TV soundman freed

22 August 2005


A soundman for French television was released unharmed today, eight days after unidentified gunmen seized him in the Gaza Strip. Mohammed Ouathi of France 3 television told reporters he was well but made no further comment when he appeared at a Gaza City police station, international news agencies reported. No group has claimed responsibility for Ouathi’s abduction, which triggered a protest last week by Palestinian and foreign journalists in Gaza. Reuters reported that a Palestinian militant umbrella group called the Popular Resistance Committees said it had helped mediate Ouathi’s release but it did not identify the kidnappers. 

More settler violence as Israel continues to impose siege on Gaza Strip

23 August 2005


Closures and checkpoints continue to limit access across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Meanwhile serious settler attacks in which civilians are injured continue to go unreported in the media. The occupying forces have continued to cause damage to property belonging to Palestinian civilians. Palestinian civilians continue to be victims of attacks by Israeli settlers who go unpunished by the military. Israeli occupation forces prevented Palestinian fishermen from fishing in the Sheikh Ejlin area in the south of Gaza City due to the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Netzarim settlement. Fieldworkers from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights report from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 

The "disengagement" as seen from Gaza

Ghada Ageel 23 August 2005


In 2002, Moshe Ya’alon, then Israel’s army chief of staff, said that “the Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.” “I wonder if Ya’alon would make the same statement today after the completion of Gaza settlers evacuation?” asks EI contributor Ghada Ageel who was born and lives in Gaza’s Khan Yunis refugee camp. Whether right or wrong, says Ageel, whether Ya’alon likes it or not, today most Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and in the diaspora, young or old, women and men do feel in the deepest recesses of their hearts that they are the victors. 

Real News: Disengaged in Gaza

Toufic Haddad 22 August 2005


PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Al Qidwa walked into a side room before his 11am press conference dressed in a dapper navy suit and smelling of aftershave. His sophisticated comportment refined by many years of service as PLO representative to the UN in New York, integrated well with the setting of the Palestinian press center hosting the event. As one of the Palestinians’ most internationally recognized talking heads, Qidwa no doubt had prepared a succinct list of talking points sufficient to provide the necessary sound bites to represent “the Palestinian perspective” for the evening news stories across the world. Too bad he never got a chance to say them though. 

Podcast/Documentary: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

Stefan Christoff 22 August 2005


A 30-minute radio documentary/podcast produced by the Independent Media Center of Beirut examining the current conditions and political situation facing the hundreds of thousands of stateless Palestinian refugees residing in Lebanon. Refugees in Lebanon are scattered in impoverished refugee camps throughout the country, originally displaced during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Without the right to work in over 70 professions, barred from owning property and legally defined as foreigners, Palestinians live in Lebanon as second-class citizens without basic social or political rights. 

Disengagement: "A donkey, a goat and a cow"

Eóin Murray Gaza, Palestine 22 August 2005


The Israeli political and military establishment didn’t just put a donkey, a goat and a cow into the Palestinian lands they put in the whole zoo. This morning I received an e-mail from a friend in Washington D.C. He expressed his sympathy for the Israeli settlers who he had watched being removed from their homes. It is his birthday today. I thought that rather then e-mail him a moral lesson all the way from the Gaza Strip or tell him the stories of the 30,000 Palestinians who lost their homes during this Intifada I would send him an old Jewish proverb that sums up the situation in Palestine one week after the start of the redeployment.