Palestinians in Israeli jails begin third week of hunger strike

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails on Tuesday entered their third week of a hunger strike to protest jail conditions and the practice of holding some suspects in administrative detention without charges or trial.

Two prisoners who have not eaten for 63 days are in life-threatening condition, and one of them was admitted to a hospital in central Israel. Eight others have been treated at prison clinics, according to a spokeswoman for the Israel Prison Services (IPS) and a Palestinian human rights group.

A total of 1,200 prisoners started an open hunger strike on April 17, Palestinian Prisoner Day, and were later joined by 400 others, according to the IPS spokeswoman.There are currently more than 4,500 Palestinian security prisoners, according to IPS figures, half of them members of the ruling Fatah movement and most of the others members of either Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

IPS director Aaron Franco met on Monday with representatives of the prisoners, including Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms on terrorism-related convictions, during a tour of Hadarim Prison in central Israel.

The IPS spokeswoman denied the meeting was pre-arranged to discuss prisoners’ demands or that Franco had told Barghouti that an IPS answer to the demands will be ready in 10 days, as claimed by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Prisoners.

The hunger strike comes after two other prisoners ended their own strikes over administrative detention after winning concessions from Israel.

Khader Adnan did not eat for 66 days before an Israeli court agreed that a four-month administrative sentence would not be renewed in return for ending the strike (Adnan was released on April 17), and Hana Shalabi, a West Bank resident, was sent into exile in the Gaza Strip on April 1 after fasting for 44 days.

The Ramallah-based human right-group Addameer on Tuesday expressed “utmost concern” for the lives of the striking prisoners, particularly Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, who have not eaten for 63 days.

A doctor from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel who visited them Monday said they both are “at immediate risk of death” and should be transferred to a civilian hospital.

However, the IPS spokeswoman said that only Diab needed medical attention in a civilian hospital and was therefore transferred.The Israeli Supreme Court is due to hear appeals from the two prisoners concerning their administrative detention on Thursday.

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Photo: Israeli soldiers remove a burning tire during clashes with Palestinian protesters outside the Ofer military prison on Tuesday. Credit: Atef Safadi / EPA

Chief Palestinian negotiator says Mideast does not need more wars

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK –- The Middle East needs "winds of peace" instead of "drums of war," the chief Palestinian negotiator said Tuesday.

Saeb Erekat was commenting on the meeting a day earlier between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their speeches before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Erekat did not seem worried that the Palestinian issue was overshadowed in the meeting by the conflict over Iran's nuclear program. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains the most destabilizing factor in the Middle East, he said.

"No issue is above the Palestinian issue," he said. "No one can deny the Palestinian issue."

Erekat said Obama spoke about peace without specifying its requirements.

"The prerequisite for peace and stability in the region is to end the Israeli occupation and establish the independent Palestinian state," he said. "The winds of peace will serve the interest of all, and not the drums of war."

He said what the region wants is "a peace plan, not a war plan that will drive the region into more fanaticism and bloodshed."

Erekat criticized Palestinian-bashing by Republican Party presidential hopefuls who are looking for support from the pro-Israel lobby.

"The Palestinian people are being utilized for election purposes," he said. "This is unacceptable and inappropriate."

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Palestinian leader condemns Israeli raid on TV stations

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Wednesday condemned a predawn Israeli raid on two private Palestinian television stations in Ramallah.

Israeli soldiers raided Watan TV and Al Quds Educational Television in Ramallah, the base of the Palestinian Authority, reportedly seizing transmitters, broadcast equipment, computers and personnel files.

Fayyad described the raids as "acts of piracy" in Ramallah, which is supposed to be under full Palestinian Authority control.

"These blatant violations seek to undercut whatever authority is left in the hands of the Palestinian Authority," he told reporters at Watan, promising to help the two stations get back on their feet and resume transmission as soon as possible.

The Israeli army did not tell employees at the stations the reason for the raid, the first since 2002. But an Israeli military spokesman told news agencies that the raid was conducted by the Communications Ministry, which says the two stations were unlicensed and that their broadcasts interfered with aircraft communications.

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Photo: Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, front center, inspects the offices of private television station Watan on Tuesday after Israeli troops raided it and another television station in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Credit: Abbas Momani / AFP/Getty Images

Palestinian prisoner agrees to end 66-day hunger strike

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK -- Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, who had refused to eat for 66 days to protest his detention without charge or trial, agreed Tuesday to end his hunger strike in return for his release April 17, according to Adnan’s lawyer Jawad Boulus.

Boulus took Adnan’s case to the Israeli Supreme Court last week seeking to secure his release after reports from Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, who had visited him at Ziv Hospital in northern Israel, expressing concern about his health condition. However, after reaching a deal with the state prosecutor, the petition was withdrawn.

Adnan, 33, an alleged member of the Islamic Jihad organization, was arrested Dec. 17 and placed in administrative detention, which allowed Israeli authorities to hold him for a period that could be extended indefinitely without charge or trial. There are currently more than 300 Palestinians held in administrative detention.

A military court sentenced Adnan on Jan. 8 to four months of administrative detention, which means he would not have been released before May 8.

An Israeli Justice Ministry statement said Adnan will be released April 17 and that it will not ask for an extension of his administrative detention.

“As long as no new significant and substantive material is added regarding the appellant, there is no intention to extend the administrative detention,” the ministry said.

Palestinians have held daily protests throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip in support of Adnan.

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Photo: Adnan Mussa, 72, the father of Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, raises his arms during a news conference in the northern West Bank village of Araba, in the Israeli occupied West Bank, on Feb. 21. Credit: Saif Dahlah / AFP/Getty Images

 

Palestinians mourn schoolchildren killed in bus accident

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK –- At least six people, including five Palestinian chidren, were killed Thursday when their bus collided with a truck and overturned outside Ramallah during a school field trip. 

Palestinian police and medics said the children, ages 4 to 7, and their teacher were killed instantly and another 30 children were injured, seven seriously. The accident, in which the bus caught fire after the collision, took place in rainy and foggy conditions.

Palestinian and Israeli emergency personnel cooperated in putting out the fire, treating injured children at the scene and evacuating them to hospitals in both Israeli and the Palestinian territory.

Israeli President Shimon Peres called his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, to express his condolences and to offer whatever help was needed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also issued a statement of condolence to the Palestinian Authority over the tragic deaths.

The Palestinian Authority declared a three-day mourning period and ordered flags flown at half-staff throughout the Palestinian territories.

Two busloads of children from a town east of Jerusalem were on their way to Ramallah when the accident occurred. There were no injuries on the second bus.

Some Palestinians blamed the school's principal for allowing the trips on a rainy day. The Palestinian Ministry of Education said it would hold an emergency session to look into the incident.

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Photo: Israeli and Palestinian rescue workers inspect the site of a crash between a truck and a school bus transporting Palestinian childre. Credit: Ahmad Gharabli / AFP/Getty Images

 

Palestinians announce agreement for unity government

REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM -- Palestinian factions said Monday they had broken a political impasse by agreeing to make Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas head of a proposed unity government between the secular Fatah Party and the Islamist militant movement Hamas.

Abbas would serve as president and prime minister, replacing current Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who was favored by Abbas and the international community to continue in that role but was rejected by Hamas leaders as being too pro-Western.

As president, Abbas was already in a position to play a leading role in the unity government, which was announced in May 2011. The government was never formed due to political in-fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

The appointment of Abbas, the leader of Fatah, to the additional role of prime minister is a shift from the original agreement, which called for a nonpartisan government of technocrats from neither party.

American fried chicken comes to the Palestinian territories

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK -– People lined up on a chilly Saturday outside the new KFC outlet in Ramallah, the first of the U.S. fast-food chains to open in the Palestinian territories.

Previous attempts after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994 to get franchise rights for KFC and other American fast-food chains such as McDonald's had failed.

Palestinians said Israeli franchise owners had demanded that Palestinians who wanted to open branch restaurants in the West Bank should get them through the Israeli company and not get their own franchise.

But Palestinian Authority laws say Palestinians who want to start local outlets of international companies should get the franchise rights directly from the company, and not through Israelis.

U.N. chief tells Palestinians their state is long overdue

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said an independent Palestinian state is long overdue.

Ban arrived in Ramallah from Israel, where he met Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to keep the latest peace talks between the two sides going.

At a news conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the U.N. chief urged the Palestinians and Israelis to return to direct negotiations, stressing that “the two-state solution can be achieved only through negotiations.”

Abbas agreed. “We fully believe that the way to reach peace with Israel is through negotiations,” he said.

However, Abbas argued that Israel did not present anything at the exploratory talks held in the Jordanian capital of Amman last month that would encourage resumption of negotiations. The talks are on hold until after Palestinian negotiators consult with the Arab countries.

Ban said the talks should continue, stressing the importance of having a political goal to sustain what has been achieved so far. He urged both parties to refrain from provocative actions that would undermine efforts to restart negotiations.

Israel, he said, should stop settlement construction in the areas the Palestinians want to have as their future state because “settlements are contrary to international law and prejudice final status talks.”

Israeli officials have argued that the question of settlements should be left to the final peace talks and agreements.

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Photo: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, left, listens to Bashar Masri, head of the Bayti Real Estate Investment Co., after visiting a new investment project just north of the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday. Credit: Ahmad Gharabli / Associated Press

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal pays first visit to Jordan since 1999

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK –- Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal arrived in Jordan on Sunday for an official visit, his first since 1999, ushering in a new era in the Islamist movement’s relationship with a pro-West Arab country.

Analysts said the changes in the Arab world and the rise of Islamist movements in major Arab countries including Egypt has facilitated Meshaal’s visit to Jordan years after a break in relations.

Speaking to reporters after meeting King Abdullah, Meshaal emphasized his movement’s concern for Jordan’s security, stability and interests.

He expressed hoped that his visit would be the beginning of a long relationship that served the interests of Jordan -- where Palestinians are a majority -- and Palestinians everywhere.

Palestinian analyst Nashat Aqtash, an expert on Hamas, ruled out reports that Hamas was looking to relocate from troubled Syria to Jordan. He said that a rise in the power of the Islamic movement in Jordan created the atmosphere needed to mend relations between Jordan and Hamas.

“The doors that were closed in the face of Hamas and the Islamic movements in the Arab countries were opened by the 'Arab Spring,' " Aqtash said from Ramallah. “Even countries such as Jordan, which so far has not witnessed its spring, began to pay attention to the Islamic movements in their countries.”

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Photo: Jordan's King Abdullah, right, talks with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal at the royal palace in Amman, Jordan, on Sunday. Credit: Yousef Allan / European Pressphoto Agency

 

 

Palestinian Authority’s Abbas says talks with Israel at impasse

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK -– Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that exploratory peace talks with Israel are at an impasse.

The latest round of the talks in the Jordanian capital, Amman, was held Wednesday. Palestinian and Jordanian officials said the talks will be on hold for a week for evaluation and to give Abbas time to consult with Palestinian and Arab officials on whether to continue with them or not.

But at two meetings with foreign officials visiting Ramallah to help salvage the talks, Abbas said the negotiations are at a dead end.

Abbas told one of his guests that "Israeli intransigence and refusal to submit clear proposals on the issues of borders and security as requested by the quartet [of Middle East peace mediators] have blocked the way to continue with the exploratory talks," according to the official WAFA news agency.

In the second meeting, Abbas briefed his guest on the latest developments in the peace process, "particularly the impasse in the exploratory meetings being held in Amman as a result of Israeli government rejection of the two-state solution and a stop to settlements," WAFA reported.

Abbas will spend the coming week in consultations on the talks, first on Sunday with his Fatah party Central Committee and on Monday with the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Next Saturday, he will consult with the Arab League committee following up on the peace talks, which he said will make the final decision on whether to proceed with them.

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Photo: A Palestinian girl walks next to Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Saturday. Credit: Bernat Armangue / Associated Press