Gaza Visit Day Three - Thursday 23 July
Posted on July 26, 2009 at 09:15 PM
Thursday 23 July 2009-07-26
Thursday morning, another glorious day over Jerusalem as we drove towards the West Bank to a viewing point near Bethlehem to see the impact of Israeli settlement activity on Palestinian communities.
The Palestinian village nestled in the valley and on the surrounding hills were two Israeli settlements totally dominating the Palestinian homes. A further Israeli illegal outpost had been located close to the viewing point. It was hooked up to the electricity and water supply. A representative from the UN Co-ordination for Humanitarian Affairs met us at the viewing point and explained the encroachment of illegal settlements, outposts and settler-only roads which were peppered throughout the West Bank like a necklace of garrison outposts.
We proceeded to the old City of Hebron observing the boundary wall between the West Bank and Israel which will stretch over 700 kilometres when completed.
In Hebron we saw the effect of the settlement encroachment policy in an urban context where the commercial heart of the old Palestinian city was dying.
We proceeded to Ramallah the administrative centre of the Palestinian Authority. There we met the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, Dr Riyad Malid, and received a detailed briefing on the Palestinian situation. The Palestinian Authority was greatly heartened by last month’s Cairo speech by Obama and his commitment to seeking a Middle East solution. They were waiting for George Mitchell and his team to arrive in the Middle East and expected that Obama would announce the US peace strategy in September.
The decision by the US to include Palestine, Syria and Lebanon in a three-track approach by the US was new and welcome. Combined with the emphasis on benchmarks, milestones and timetables there seemed to be a new focus by the US on resolving the Middle East conflict. But there was only a two-year window of opportunity before Obama would be distracted by re-election requirements. Opportunities had been missed before and should not be missed this time, Mr Malid said.
He felt that the best role for the EU was to pressurise Israel to fulfil its obligations as a viable two-state solution was becoming more difficult due to Israel’s settlement activities.
Certainly the EU should refuse to handle products from Israel produced in the illegal settlements.
Any upgrading of the present Trade Agreement with Israel should be conditioned on Israel engaging in the peace process. He expressed the hope that the first Fatah National Conference in twenty years which was taking place on 4th August would be a success and provide a dynamic new leadership. Egypt he said was still hosting talks to resolve the difference between Hamas and Fatah.
We returned to Jerusalem to see the effects of the settlements on East Jerusalem the Palestinian part of the City.
Ziyand Hamouri of the Jerusalem Centre for Economic and Social rights told us that there were 25,000 demolition orders in East Jerusalem. We met a lady living in a tent whose home had been confiscated to a settler application because she, who had lived there all her life, could not show legal title to it.
In such circumstances Israeli courts were making political decisions and accepting the Israeli settlers claims as against the Palestinian dweller.
Finally we were briefed on the Palestinian prisoner situation by two human rights NGO's Al Haq and Adameer (Prisoners Rights). There are over 8,000 Arab security prisoners in Israeli jails, 800 Hamas prisoners in Fatah’s jails and 250 Fatah prisoners in Hamas jails in Gaza. The treatment of prisoners was a matter of considerable concern and the release of the prisoners would have to be part of the solution.
The Irish position on the conflict was well respected by the Palestinians and there was keen interest in the Irish success story in Northern Ireland. It was a precedent and a template for the Palestinians. They also felt that Ireland could keep pressure on the European Union to play its full role and likewise on the US to show urgency about getting the new promised set of negotiations up and running.
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