SECRETARY-General of the PLO’s Executive Committee Saeb Erekat Monday expressed his disappointment in US President Barack Obama for ignoring the Palestinian question during his speech before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
The PLO official wondered if President Obama believes that he can beat ISIS and terrorism, and bring about peace and security in the Middle East by ignoring the continued Israeli occupation, settlement construction, and attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Obama dedicated a large portion of his speech to the conflict in Syria, the campaign against the ‘Islamic State’ militants, the nuclear agreement with Iran and the refugee crisis in Europe.
President Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to deliver a speech before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Abbas will also attend the Palestinian flag-raising ceremony at the UN headquarters.
On Thursday September 10, the United Nations overwhelmingly voted in favour of raising a flag of Palestine at its headquarters in New York City in a symbolic move highlighting Palestinian aspirations for statehood.
A resolution was adopted on that Thursday evening with 119 in favour, eight voting against – including Israel and the United States – and 45 abstentions, it said. The General Assembly passed a resolution allowing the flags of Palestine and the Holy See, the only two countries to have a ‘Non-Member Observer State’ status, to be hoisted alongside full member states.
Meanwhile, reduced donor aid, war, suspension of revenue payments and ongoing restrictions by the Government of Israel have had a severe impact on the Palestinian economy, said the World Bank in a report. ‘Against the backdrop of weak economic growth, reduced donor aid, and temporary suspension of revenue payments by the Government of Israel (GoI), the Palestinian Authority’s reform efforts have not been able to prevent another year with a financing gap,’ said the report.
‘The persistence of this situation could potentially lead to political and social unrest. In short, the status quo is not sustainable and downside risks of further conflict and social unrest are high,’ said the World Bank economic report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), a forum of donors to the Palestinian Authority, which examines current economic trends and recommends measures and reforms to stop further deterioration.
‘Palestinians are getting poorer on average for the third year in a row,’ stated the report. The persistence of the current volatile reality increases anxiety and uncertainty, overshadowing the ability of Palestinians to perceive a brighter future. Economic development measures could serve to build confidence towards a diplomatic horizon that is desperately needed on both sides,’ said Steen Lau Jorgensen, World Bank Country Director for West Bank and Gaza.
The World Bank stated that, ‘Until there is a permanent peace agreement, the Palestinian economy will continue to perform below its potential.’ It said that the political instability constitutes a significant risk to private investors and is a key reason why private investment levels have remained very low for many years. If the status quo persists, private investment will not pick up and the private sector, which ought to be the main engine of sustainable growth, will continue to function far below its potential.’
It noted that the internal divide between the West Bank and Gaza also creates difficulties for private investors that have to deal with two separate regulatory frameworks and tax systems in the West Bank and in Gaza. However, it said that, ‘the lack of political horizon should not lead the parties to complacency, especially that several actions can be taken on economic development that are conducive to reaching a peaceful resolution.’
Real GDP per capita has been shrinking since 2013 due to the weak economy in the Palestinian territories. Unemployment remains high, particularly amongst Gaza’s youth where it exceeds 60 per cent, and 25 per cent of Palestinians currently live in poverty, said the report. The report also highlighted the stagnation in reconstruction in Gaza, noting that donors at the Cairo Conference pledged US$3.5 billion but only 35 per cent has been disbursed, US$881 million less than what was supposed to be disbursed so far, said the World Bank.
In addition, only 1.6 million tons, 6.7 per cent of the total needed of construction material entered Gaza since the 2014 summer war. The report noted that it will take years to address the massive reconstruction and repair needs if the longstanding restrictions on the import of building material and the slow pace of disbursement of pledges remain in place.
‘Slow donor aid disbursements and restrictions on imports are delaying the Gaza reconstruction process and both issues should be urgently dealt with,’ said the report. The report, which will be presented in New York this week, underscores the potential of the Palestinian economy if existing agreements are implemented and restrictions are lifted. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has issued administrative detention orders against 28 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club (PPC).
PPC stated that administrative detention – without charge or trial – was issued for the first time against six Palestinians, while it was renewed for the other 22 Palestinians. PPC explained that the Israeli military issued administrative detention orders for a period of six months against eleven Palestinians identified as Mousa Nasrallah, Loai Masalma, Yousef Laham, Hasan Shouka, Hazem al-Haymoni, ‘Ala’ Za’aqiq, Nedal Labom, Rashad Karaja, Abdul-Rahman Hammad, Osama ’Atwa and Yousef Hosha.
Meanwhile, I’traf Hajjaj, Mahmoud Shabbana, Hani Shalash, Mohammad Abu Hammad, Qidar Jit, Khalil and Tareq Dawas, Ibrahim Suleiman, Ramzi Mousa, and Mahmoud ’Atwan, received a four-month imprisonment sentence without charge or trial. Administrative detention orders for a period of three months were issued against Walid Mizyin, Ghassan Thuqan, Ghassan Jaber, Sa’id Hermas, Mohammad al-Natsha, Lo’ai Hamdan and Rami al-Salamin.
Administrative detention is the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial and on the basis of secret evidence for up to six month periods, indefinitely renewable by Israeli military courts. The use of administrative detention dates from the ‘emergency laws’ of the British colonial era in Palestine, said the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. It stated, ‘Israel’s use of administrative detention violates international law; such detention is allowed only in individual circumstances that are exceptionally compelling for “imperative reasons of security”.’
Israel uses administrative detention routinely as a form of collective punishment and mass detention of Palestinians, and frequently uses administrative detention when it fails to obtain confessions in interrogations of Palestinian detainees. Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes as a way to protest at their illegal administrative detention and to demand an end to this policy which violates international law.
• Several Palestinians on Tuesday suffocated after inhaling tear gas fired at them by Israeli army forces as the latter suppressed a rally to the north of Bethlehem in solidarity with the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Head of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Bethlehem, Mohammed Awad, informed WAFA that Israeli army forces used tear gas canisters to crush Palestinians who rallied in support of Al-Aqsa Mosque in light of recent Israeli police attacks – the latest attack took place on Monday – on the mosque compound and worshippers to enforce a unilateral division between Muslims and Jews, who believe the mosque should be destroyed and replaced with a Jewish temple.
During the Bethlehem clashes, several Palestinians suffocated as a result of tear gas inhalation. They were all treated at the scene. During the past two weeks, the site has been a scene of renewing clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers, prompted by the entry of Jewish fanatics who organise provocative visits to the site to mark Jewish holidays.
Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest place for Muslims, has since 1967 been the centre of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. While it is widely known as Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jews refer to the site as the ‘Temple Mount’ and believe it was the site of two Jewish temples destroyed in ancient times.
Hunger-striking Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli jails suspended their hunger strike on Tuesday after reaching a deal with the Israeli prison service, according to Minister Issa Qaraqe, Chairman of the Prisoners’ Affairs’ Commission. Qaraqe told WAFA that the suspension of the hunger strike came after the Israeli prison authorities assured the hunger strikers that the administrative detention of two of them – without charge or trial – will not be renewed.
The prison authorities also pledged to mull terminating the administrative detention of the remaining administrative detainees, and to halt the prison administrations’ escalatory measures against them.
The two administrative detainees whose detention without charge or trial will not be renewed are Ghassan Zawahreh and Nedal Abu-Akr.
