Posts tagged ramallah
‘State Of Palestine’ Now The Official Name Of Israel’s Neighbor
Jan 7th
State of Palestine using new logo
“Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head” Joel 3:4
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — With U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in his pocket, President Mahmoud Abbas wants official documents to carry a new emblem: “State of Palestine.”
But scrapping the old “Palestinian Authority” logo is as far as Abbas is willing to go in provoking Israel. He is not rushing to change passports and ID cards Palestinians need to pass through Israeli crossings.
The very modesty of Abbas’ move to change official stationery underscores his limited options so long as Israel remains in charge of territories the world says should one day make up that state.
“At the end of the day, the Palestinian Authority won’t cause trouble for its people,” Nour Odeh, a spokeswoman for Abbas’ self-rule government, said of the need for caution.
Abbas won overwhelming U.N. General Assembly recognition for a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in late November, a rare diplomatic victory over a sidelined Israel. The U.N. nod was important to the Palestinians because it affirmed the borders of their future state in lands Israel captured in 1967.
Recognition, however, has not transformed the day-to-day lives of Palestinians, and some argue that it made things worse. In apparent retaliation for the U.N. bid, Israel in December withheld its monthly $100 million transfer of tax rebates it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, further deepening the Abbas government’s financial crisis.
Since the U.N. recognition, Abbas has maneuvered between avoiding confrontation with Israel and finding small ways to change the situation on the ground.
Last week, his government press office urged journalists to refer to a state of Palestine, instead of the Palestinian Authority, the autonomy government set up two decades ago as part of interim peace deals with Israel.
Palestinian diplomatic missions around the world have been told to use the new names, including those in countries that did not vote “yes” at the General Assembly, said Omar Awadallah, a Palestinian Foreign Ministry official.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev dismissed the name change as pointless but declined comment on whether Israel would retaliate in any way. “Instead of looking for gimmicks, Palestinians should negotiate with Israel to bring about the end of the conflict,” he said. “That will lead to a situation of two states for two peoples.”
Israel objected to Abbas’ U.N. bid, accusing him of trying to bypass negotiations with Israel on the terms of statehood. Such talks have been frozen for more than four years because Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disagree on their parameters. Netanyahu says he is willing to cede land to a Palestinian state but will not withdraw to the 1967 lines or give up any part of east Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ desired capital.
Abbas has said negotiations remain his preferred choice, and that U.N. recognition was meant to improve his leverage with a far more powerful Israel once talks resume. Since the U.N. vote, Abbas has shied away from measures that could close the door to talks by upsetting Israel or the U.S., which also objected to his U.N. bid.
Abbas has not taken practical steps toward seeking membership for Palestine in U.N. agencies, something made possible by the November vote, and his security forces continue to coordinate with Israeli troops in tracking Islamic militants in the West Bank.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland expressed U.S. opposition to using the term “State of Palestine.”
“You can’t create a state by rhetoric and with labels and names,” she told reporters. “You can only create a state, in this context, through bilateral negotiations.” Nuland called Abbas’ decision “provocative, without changing the condition for the Palestinian people.”
She said the U.S. peace envoy for the Mideast, David Hale, was headed to the region and would meet the Palestinian leader on Tuesday.
Some countries, such as Brazil, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, have adopted the new name. Others, like Norway, Sweden and Spain, stick to the Palestinian Authority term even though they supported U.N. recognition.
Analysts said Abbas holds out hope that President Barack Obama will get more involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his second term and — freed from the restraints of seeking re-election — take a tougher stance toward Israel.
“He still hopes to resume peace talks in line with U.S. efforts,” Palestinian analyst Hani al-Masri said of Abbas.
“Therefore, he is making these slight changes because people expect him to make changes after the U.N. recognition.” Still, the gap between the symbolic U.N. nod and the reality on the ground remains wide.
The Palestinian Authority administers some 38 percent of the West Bank, but Israel maintains overall control over the territory. Abbas has no say in east Jerusalem, annexed by Israel in 1967, or in Gaza, seized by his political rival, the Islamic militant group Hamas, in 2007.
The documents and stationery with the new emblem will be ready within two months, said Hassan Alawi, a deputy interior minister in the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli officials declined comment Monday on whether Israel would refuse to deal with documents bearing the “State of Palestine” logo. However, Alawi said his office was informed by Israeli officials after Abbas’ decree that “they will not deal with any new form of passport or ID.”
Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, said the new emblem will be used in correspondence with countries that have recognized a state of Palestine. He suggested that there would be no change in passports or other documents Palestinians need for movement through Israeli crossings.
“As far as the Israelis are concerned, we are not going to overload the wagon of our people by putting state of Palestine on passports,” he said. “They (Israelis) will not allow them to travel.”
Palestinians must pass through Israeli-run crossings to leave the West Bank and also carry an ID card at all times or risk arrest if stopped at an Israeli military checkpoint inside the territory.
The name change has even less meaning for Palestinians in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Israel withdrew from the coastal strip in 2005 but continues to control access by air, sea and land, with the exception of one Gaza border crossing with Egypt. ”For me, it’s just ink on paper,” said Sharif Hamda, a 44-year-old pharmacist in Gaza City. “I wished they would save the money they will spend on this and use it for helping needy families.” source – Yahoo News
GAME CHANGER! UN Approves Palestinian Statehood Recognition Upgrade
Nov 30th
UN General Assembly Approves Palestinian Statehood Recognition Bid
“I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.” Joel 3:2
From NBC News: The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution on Thursday giving implicit recognition to Palestinian statehood despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding funds for the West Bank government.
A Palestinian man shouts slogans during a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday. The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Thursday to upgrade the Palestinian Authority’s observer status at the United Nations from “entity” to “non-member state.” Marko Djurica / Reuters
The resolution, which lifts the Palestinian Authority’s U.N. observer status from “entity” to “non-member state,” like the Vatican possesses, easily passed the 193-nation General Assembly with 138 nations voting in favor, and nine opposed, including the United States. Forty-one countries abstained, including the United Kingdom.
Israel, the United States and the other members who opposed the resolution see it as a largely symbolic and counterproductive move by the Palestinians. The vote took place on the 65th anniversary of the assembly’s adoption of resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
Israel, the United States and the other members who opposed the resolution see it as a largely symbolic and counterproductive move by the Palestinians. The vote took place on the 65th anniversary of the assembly’s adoption of resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has led the campaign to win support for the resolution, which follows an eight-day conflict this month between Israel and Islamists in the Gaza Strip, who are pledged to Israel’s destruction and oppose his efforts toward a negotiated peace.
The U.S. State Department made a last-ditch effort to get Abbas to reconsider, but the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, held firm.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at the Brookings Institution on Thursday, said the U.S. believes the resolution will “do nothing to advance the peace and the two-state solution we all want to see.”
She noted that while the U.S. plans to vote “no,” but played down differences with key diplomatic partners in Europe, including France, which were expected to vote in favor of the resolution.
“We and our European partners agree on the most fundamental issues and share a common objective — two states living side-by-side living in peace and security,” Clinton said.
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said in a statement after the vote that “the only way to establish such a Palestinian state and resolve all permanent-status issues is through the crucial, if painful, work of direct negotiations between the parties.”
“The United States therefore calls upon both the parties to resume direct talks without preconditions on all the issues that divide them,” Rice said.
The U.K. had committed to voting for the resolution if Abbas had shown commitment to resuming peace negotiations without preconditions. Lacking that assurance, Britain abstained from the vote.
Following the vote at the UN General Assembly the Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “We continue to believe that the prospects for a swift return to negotiations on a two state solution — the only way to create a Palestinian state on the ground — would be greater today if President Abbas had been able to give the assurances we suggested, and without which we were unable to vote in favor of the resolution.
“In particular, we called on President Abbas to set out a willingness to return to negotiations without preconditions, and to signal that the Palestinians would not immediately seek action in the International Criminal Court, which would be likely to make a return to negotiations impossible.
“Nonetheless, we will redouble our efforts to restart the peace process, and will continue our strong support for President Abbas, the Palestinian Authority, and a two state solution,” he said.
Despite its fierce opposition, Israel made efforts that appeared designed to prevent diplomatic isolation. In recent days, it toned down threats of retaliation in the face of wide international support for the initiative, notably among its European allies.
“The decision at the United Nations will change nothing on the ground,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Jerusalem. “It will not advance the establishment of a Palestinian state. It will delay it further.”
But U.N. diplomats say that Israel’s reaction might not be so measured if the Palestinians seek ICC action against Israel on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity or other crimes the court would have jurisdiction over.
Granting Palestinians the title of “non-member observer state” falls short of full U.N. membership — something the Palestinians failed to achieve last year. But it does allow them access to the International Criminal Court and other international bodies, should they choose to join them.
Speaking at an annual U.N. event in support of the Palestinians, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki appealed to U.N. member states to support Thursday’s U.N. resolution. He also repeated his support for peace with Israel.
“Despite diminishing hopes and the decline of the situation on the ground due to Israel violations, we remain committed to the two-state solution and our hand remains extended in peace,” he said at U.N. headquarters in New York.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated U.S. warnings that the move could cause a reduction of U.S. economic support for the Palestinians. The Israelis have also warned they might take significant deductions out of monthly transfers of duties that Israel collects on the Palestinians’ behalf.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as calling on Washington and Israel to avoid “any hasty and destructive decisions.”
“Supporting the Palestinian authorities is not only in the interest of the Palestinian side, but also of Israel and the whole international community that is longing for a peaceful political settlement,” he said. source – NBC News
DANGER! Palestinians Begin Riots In Ramallah Ahead Of Statehood Vote In UN
Sep 21st
The Arab Spring has come to Israel’s doorstep
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Flag-waving Palestinians filled the squares of major West Bank cities on Wednesday to rally behind President Mahmoud Abbas’s bid for statehood recognition at the United Nations in the face of U.S. and Israeli objections.
This rally will soon turn violent if the UN does not grant Palestine statehood
“We are asking for the most simple of rights, a state like other nations,” said Sabrina Hussein, 50, carrying the green, red, black and white Palestinian national flag at a demonstration in Ramallah.
Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank under 1990s interim peace deals, gave school children and civil servants the day off to attend events in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus and Hebron.
A large mockup of a blue chair, symbolizing a seat at the U.N., and giant Palestinian flags hanging from buildings provided a backdrop for the Ramallah rally, where attendance peaked at several thousand.
Israel cites historical and biblical links to the West Bank, which it calls Judea and Samaria, and to Jerusalem. It claims all of the city as its capital, a status that is not recognized internationally.
Palestinians said more people would have showed up if the authorities had better advertised the events. They also said the political divide between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which governs Gaza, had curtailed the turnout.
The main venues were far removed from Israeli military checkpoints on city limits and the rallies were peaceful.
But away from the gatherings, more than a hundred Palestinian youths threw rocks at Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint on the edge of Ramallah. The soldiers responded with teargas and used a “screamer” — a device that emits an ear-splitting high-pitched sound to disperse crowds.
There also were disturbances in the divided West Bank city of Hebron.
Later in the day in New York, U.S. President Barack Obama was due to meet Abbas to urge him to drop plans to ask the U.N. Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state. Washington says statehood should be achieved through peace talks.
Abbas has said he will present U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with a membership application on Friday. The move requires Security Council approval and the United States, one of five veto-wielding permanent members, says it will block it.
At the Ramallah rally, Amina Abdel Jabbar al-Kiswany, a head teacher, said the U.N. bid was a step toward statehood, but not a solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which direct negotiations have failed to resolve.
“It’s a cry of desperation,” Kiswany said.
Reflecting anger with U.S. policy, a Palestinian, his face covered by a scarf, climbed the stage scaffolding and set ablaze an American flag. Earlier, some of the demonstrators had tried to stop the flag burning.
Washington’s pledge to veto the bid for U.N. membership has added to deep Palestinian disappointment in Obama. The Palestinians have long complained of what they see as Washington’s complete support for Israel at their expense.
“America talks about human rights. They support South Sudan. Why don’t they support us?” said Tamer Milham, a 26-year-old computer engineer, referring to the new state of South Sudan which was admitted to the United Nations in July.
U.S.-brokered peace talks collapsed a year ago after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a 10-month limited moratorium on construction in Jewish settlements in areas Palestinians want for a state.
Netanyahu has called the Palestinian demand of a halt to settlement building an unacceptable precondition and urged Abbas to return to negotiations. Palestinians hope to establish a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The Palestinian Authority has held sway only in the West Bank since Hamas Islamists opposed to his peace efforts with Israel seized Gaza in a brief civil war in 2007.
Hamas has dismissed the U.N. bid as a waste of time and there were no rallies in the Mediterranean enclave, where Palestinians argue that Abbas should be devoting his energies to bridging the internal political divide. source – Yahoo News
Abbas Says Palestinians Will Demand ‘Full United Nations Membership’ Next Week
Sep 16th
Dramatic speech in Ramallah
Palestinian leader says PA to proceed with UN bid in September because President Obama endorsed Palestinian state; ‘I’m going to the UN in order to demand our legitimate rights and secure full membership,’ he says.
Listening to historic speech (Photo: Reuters)
The Palestinian Authority will be seeking full United Nations membership in its statehood bid later this month, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas said Friday.
“I’m going to the UN in order to demand our legitimate rights and secure full membership for the state of Palestine,” the Palestinian president said in Ramallah. “We hope to secure full membership.”
We are the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and we intend to keep going until we secure full independence, he said.
“We are going to the Security Council,” Abbas added, but then made it clear that “all options are open” and that a final decision has not been made yet.
Abbas said the Palestinians will be aiming to “secure independence in the 1967 borders and its holy capital, Jerusalem.” He also urged his countrymen to avoid violence, saying “we must avoid force.”
Turning his attention to Israel, the Palestinian leader slammed the Jewish state for what he claimed was its failure to advance the peace process. He said that the refugee problem needs to be resolved, charging that the Israeli government only wants negotiations for the sake of negotiations.
Abbas added that the Palestinians are proceeding with their United Nations statehood bid in September because US President Barack Obama said previously he wanted to see a Palestinian state. source – YNet
Countdown To September 20th! Palestinians Officially Launch Statehood Campaign
Sep 8th
They divided My land
“I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and [for] my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.” Joel 3:2
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinians on Thursday officially launched their campaign to join the United Nations as a full member state, saying they would stage a series of peaceful events in the run-up to the annual gathering of the U.N. General Assembly later this month.
Some 100 Palestinian officials and activists gathered at the U.N. offices in Ramallah for a short ceremony, where they announced their plans in a letter addressed to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The letter urges Ban to add his “moral voice in support of the Palestinian people.”
“Families of the tens of thousands of victims of Israeli occupation, including those martyred, wounded and imprisoned, and countless others who were expelled from their homes or lost their homes and their property, hope that you will exert all possible efforts toward the achievement of the Palestinian people’s just demands,” it says.
The letter was handed over by Latifa Abu Hmeid, a 70-year-old woman who lost one son in fighting with Israel and has seven other sons in Israeli prisons because of alleged militant activities.
Officials said Abu Hmeid was selected to deliver the document because her personal story reflects the plight of the Palestinians. A resident of a West Bank refugee camp, her house has been twice demolished by Israeli authorities as punishment for her sons’ activities, they said.
The Palestinians have decided to turn to the U.N. to recognize their independence after two decades of unsuccessful peace efforts with Israel. The latest round of talks broke down a year ago.
The campaign seeks recognition of an independent Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel rejects a return to its 1967 lines.
While any U.N. vote will be largely symbolic, the Palestinians believe a strong international endorsement will boost their position and put pressure on Israel should negotiations resume. Israel has been lobbying the international community to oppose the vote, saying peace can only be achieved through negotiations.
The letter says the campaign will include a series of peaceful events “in various international cities and capitals” leading up to the Sept. 21 opening of the General Assembly. Two days later, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the gathering in New York and ask for admission to the United Nations.
It remains unclear whether the Palestinians will turn to the Security Council or the General Assembly.
The Council needs nine votes out of 15 and no veto from any of its permanent members to pass a decision. However, the United States, which opposes the Palestinian bid, is expected to veto any request in the Council.
The Palestinians could then seek admission as a “nonmember state” of the General Assembly, like the Vatican.
Approval in the Assembly, which is dominated by developing nations sympathetic to the Palestinians, is assured. But the vote would not be legally binding. The Palestinians say they will continue their campaign until they gain full U.N. membership.
Although the Palestinians say their campaign will be peaceful, Israeli military officials fear that mass demonstrations in the West Bank could turn violent.
Security forces have been preparing for the possibility of violence, conducting exercises and stockpiling what they say is “non-lethal” riot-control equipment like tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades.
Israeli West Bank settlers, meanwhile, came under suspicion Thursday in the latest of a string of attacks against Palestinians and the Israeli military in the West Bank.
Two cars were torched and Hebrew-language slogans were spray-painted on a mosque in the Nablus area, and three dozen trees were uprooted from Palestinian farmland in the same area, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said it was investigating.
No one claimed responsibility for the acts, but settlers have carried out similar acts before, in some cases in retaliation for Israeli government actions against settlers, a practice they call “price tag.” Earlier this week, a West Bank mosque was set afire.
Settlers are also suspected of having infiltrated an Israeli military base early Wednesday, smashing windows, slashing the tires of about a dozen vehicles and spray-painting graffiti alluding to the demolition of three homes in an unauthorized settler outpost earlier this week.
Separately, the military demolished five West Bank shacks and three water cisterns it said Palestinians built without authorization in the West Bank. U.N. officials said 20 people were left homeless.
The demolitions occurred days after military officials had promised to halt the practice, saying the policy was not equally enforced in Jewish settlements. Military officials did not return messages. source – Yahoo News
Palestinian Cabinet To Resign In Wake Of Mideast Turmoil
Feb 13th
Another one falls, Israel’s concerns grow
Ever since the fall of Tunisia, NTEB has been telling you that every major Muslim country in the Middle East will be realigned by the hardline Sharia-friendly elements inside them with the goal being an eventual attack on Israel. And that is exactly what we are seeing right now…
Eye on Israel. Hardcore, hard line and Sharia-friendly groups are taking control of the Middle East one by one.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – The Palestinian cabinet will tender resignations Monday after which Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will select new ministers at the request of President Mahmoud Abbas, political sources said. The shake-up, disclosed to Reuters Sunday, was long demanded by Fayyad and some in Abbas’s Fatah faction. It follows the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to a popular revolt that has set off reform calls throughout the Arab world.
“There will be massive change in the composition of the government,” one political source said of the planned mass-resignations in Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, which was formed under 1993 interim peace deals with Israel. Another source said: “Dr. Fayyad will immediately start his discussion with the factions to form the cabinet. Some ministers will keep their portfolios.” source – Reuters
This is all in preparation of the coming war mentioned in Ezekiel 38…
