Issue no 113

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Issue No : 113 15th December , 2014

Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia

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Malaysia conveys its deepest condolence on the passing of Palestinian Minister

Palestinian minister killed in IOF quelling of peaceful march

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FEATURED STORY

Articles & Analyses

Read in This Issue

The nation-state bill: contexts and goals

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Hamas offers condolences for slain Minister, PA says ‹security

coordination› will be halted

Abu Marzouk: Israel must pay a high price for the death of Abu Ein

U.S. to raise finance for Israel›s iron dome to 1.2 billion dollars

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Ya’alon: Israel’s security coordination with PA ongoing

P11Malaysia & Palestine

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CONTENTS

News of Palestine

Palestinian minister Ziyad Abu Ein killed in IOF quelling of peaceful march 4

Hamas offers condolences for slain Minister, PA says ‹security coordination› will be halted 5

Abu Marzouk: Israel must pay a high price for the death of Abu Ein 6

Ya’alon: Israel’s security coordination with PA ongoing 7

Hamas leaders arrive in Tehran 8

Emir of Qatar: World’s silence over Israeli terrorism “big crime” 9

U.S. to raise finance for Israel’s iron dome to 1.2 billion dollars 10

Malaysia & Palestine

Malaysia conveys its deepest condolence on the passing of Palestinian Minister 11

Malaysians donate RM2mil to Palestinians monthly via Aman Palestine 12

Articles & Analyses

The nation-state bill: contexts and goalsInterviews 13

Palestinian Cultural

Organization Malaysia

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News of Palestine

Member of Fatah revolutionary council Ziyad Abu Ein was killed at the hands of Israeli occupa-tion forces (IOF) during a march in a Ramallah village afternoon Wednesday.

Medical sources said that Abu Ein, who is also the head of the PA Anti-Wall and Settlement Commission, died of excessive inhaling of teargas fired by the IOF soldiers. They added that he was also beaten by those sol-diers in Tarmasa’iya village, north of Ramallah.

The sources said that Abu Zein fainted after the soldiers beat him and after inhaling teargas and was rushed to Ramallah hospital where he was declared dead few minutes after his arrival.

Abu Ein served as undersecre-tary at the ministry of prisoners and ex-prisoners before he was promoted to minister when he was appointed as head of the Commission.

The death of Ziad Abu Ein was the result of beating, teargas-in-duced asphyxiation and obstruc-tion by the Israeli army to transfer him to a hospital on time, a Pales-

Palestinian minister Ziyad Abu Ein killed in IOF quelling of peaceful march

Autopsy reveals the minister was murdered

tinian official said, citing official forensic results.

Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hassan Al-Sheikh, detailing the foren-sic results to the official Palestinian radio station today, asserted that the findings show that Abu Ein, who was fatally injured yesterday during an Israeli clampdown on a Palestinian protest against settlements and the Separation Wall near Ramallah, had been “murdered”.

“The forensic report is an essential piece of evidence of Israel’s re-sponsibility [for Abu Ein’s death],” Al-Sheikh said following yesterday evening’s autopsy.

He added that the Palestinian authorities carried out the autopsy in an East Jerusalem university hospital after refusing to allow an Israeli medical centre to handle the procedure.

However, an Israeli doctor was present during the autopsy and he con-firmed that the process was carried out “professionally”, Al-Sheikh ex-plained.

10/12/2014 Source: Agencies

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Hamas offers condolences for slain Minister, PA says ‹security coordination› will be halted

From the early hours of Thursday, mourn-ers gathered at Ramallah hospital were Abu Ein’s body was being kept in prepa-ration for the funeral. Thousands attend-ed the funeral which left the hospital on its way to the al-Muqataa (the Presidential Compound) by mid-morning.

Following the official ceremony inside al-Muqataa thousands joined the funeral procession through Ramallah’s streets towards the Martyr’s cemetery in al-Bireh. Members of Fatah-affiliated armed resis-tance brigades fired bullets in to the air in a practice that has not been seen openly for some years at funerals in the West Bank.

Following Abu Ein’s killing on Wednes-day, the PA’s Jibril Rajoub announced it would halt ‘security coordination’ policies with Israel.

For its part, Palestinian resistance group Hamas offered its condolences for the death of a Palestinian official who was killed by Israeli army troops during the dispersal of a West Bank peaceful protest earlier Wednesday.

“Hamas offers its condolences for the death of Palestinian mar-tyr Ziad Abu Ein, who had been in charge of the Israeli settle-ments file at the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and extends its sympathy to his family,” group spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.

Abu Zuhri called for “uniting all Palestinian forces to confront violations committed by the Israeli occupation.”

He said that the crime proves anew the impossibility of coex-istence with occupation, and that all efforts should focus on confronting occupation and preserving national unity.

He also called on the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority to end all security coordination with the Israeli authorities.

10/12/2014 Source: Agencies

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Abu Marzouk: Israel must pay a high price for the death of Abu Ein

Member of Hamas’s political bureau Mousa Abu Marzouk condemned the killing of senior Fatah official Ziyad Abu Ein as an odious crime and said the Israeli occupation must pay dearly for his death.

“Ziyad was martyred for our land, olives and rights and his martyrdom made the [Palestinian] people join forces, overcoming all internal problems to face a barbaric enemy, and renounce all verbal attacks and accusations in order to focus on their national concerns and their national unity,” Abu Marzouk stated on his Facebook page.

The Hamas official noted that he had phoned Abu Ein on Tuesday to discuss an inter-Palestinian issue related to ex-detainees when the latter affirmed he became responsible for the Palestinian Authority com-mission against the wall and settlement in the West Bank and was not entitled to deal with the issue.

He also said that Abu Ein was the first Palestinian figure who was taken prisoner in the US and stood trial in a federal court in 1990 before he was handed to Israel where he was jailed until his release in the 1985 swap deal.

Abu Ein was killed on Wednesday after his exposure to a physical assault and tear gas inhalation during a peaceful anti-settlement march in Turmus’ayya town, north of Ramallah city.

11/12/2014 Source: PIC

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Security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Au-thority is continuing in spite of the death of Palestinian Authority Minister Ziad Abu Ein during confrontations with the Israeli army, Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon confirmed.

Israel Today newspaper reported Ya’alon as saying: “We ex-press sorrow over his death. We have proposed that a joint au-topsy be carried out on Abu Ein’s body. Security stability is im-portant to both sides and we will continue coordination with the Palestinian Authority.”

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli officer denied reports that the Pales-tinian Authority stopped security coordination with Israel.

In an interview with Israel Channel 2, the official said: “Security coordination with the Palestinians is going on so far so good, and there are no talks of stopping it until this moment.”

“Abu Ein could have died from a heart attack which may have been brought on from his inability to inhale tear gas.”

The officer pointed out that the Israeli armed forces raised the level of readiness in the occupied West Bank in anticipation of the escalation of the situation following Abu Ein’s death.

11/12/2014 Source: MEMO

Ya’alon: Israel’s security coordination with PA ongoing

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Mohammed Nasr, political bureau member of Hamas and head of its delegation on a Teh-ran visit, said that his Movement’s visit to Iran fell in line with its belief in the importance of mobilizing all Islamic potentials in support of the Palestine cause.

He told the PIC that Hamas was keen on enhancing its historic relations with Iran based on both parties’ conviction of the importance of maintaining contacts and exerting serious efforts to overcome the sensitive and delicate circumstances currently prevailing in the region.

Nasr said that Hamas delegates met with Iranian officials and discussed with them devel-opments in occupied Jerusalem and dangers threatening the Aqsa Mosque.

The discussions also tackled repercussions of the Israeli aggression on Gaza last sum-mer along with the closure of Gaza crossings and obstruction of the reconstruction pro-cess, he said, adding that the oppressive siege on Gaza was also discussed during those meetings.

The Hamas delegation arrived in Tehran on Monday on a two-day official visit.


Hamas leaders arrive in Tehran

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The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani has said Israel’s illegal settlement policies and attacks on the sanctity of Al Aqsa Mosque and Occupied Jerusalem “contradict the interna-tional norms in their simplest sense.”

The Emir said that such aggressions make it im-perative on the Arab countries and the interna-tional community to assume their responsibility towards Palestine.

The statement was delivered on Tuesday evening during the 35th session of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held on the backdrop of the complicated and delicate interna-tional and regional circumstances.

Israel’s aggression and terrorism in the occupied Palestinian territories along with its continuing violations of human rights and the persecution of

Emir of Qatar: World’s silence over Israeli terrorism “big crime”

Palestinians through its apartheid policy will have grave consequences on the region, turning the-two state solution, into an “unviable slogan,” he added.

Emir Tamim said the Arab and Islamic worlds should take a serious stand to defend Islamic holy shrines in Occupied Jerusalem and provide further support for the people of Palestine.

He slammed the silence maintained by the inter-national community over Israel’s terrorism as “a big crime against humanity.”

He called on the international community to pres-sure the Israeli occupation to observe the interna-tional legitimacy resolutions in an attempt to end Palestinians’ agony and thwart Israel’s Judaization plots in Occupied Jerusalem.


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U.S. to raise finance for Israel’s iron dome to 1.2 billion dollars

United States Congress in the next few days will vote on a resolution to raise the U.S. financial contribution in the Israeli Iron Dome system to 1.2 billion dollars.

The Congress’s negotiators agreed on a resolution to spend 1.1 trillion dollars including 351 million dollars to finance the Iron Dome in 2015.

The American financial project covers a total sum of 619.8 million dollars for the Zionist arms program, including extra 172 million dollars for missile defense systems.

However, the resolution holds back 175 million dollars of the total sum until ‘Israel’ provides more docu-ments to the ‘Pentagon’ and the ‘Congress’ regarding the program and behind-schedule plans to build part of the system in the United States.

The Congress’s condition is to involve American companies in manufacturing parts of the Iron Dome in collaboration with the Israeli ‘Rafael’’s company for Arms development.

Raytheon, a major American defense contractor and the world’s largest producer of guided missiles, won an Israeli contract last September to supply $149.3 million in Tamir missiles, the projectiles used in Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.

13/12/2014 Source: PNN

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The Malaysian government has conveyed its deepest sympathies and condolences to the govern-ment and people of Palestine on the passing of its Cabinet Minister, Ziad Abu Ein on Dec 10.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Ziad and the Palestinian people,” said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman in a statement today.

He said Malaysia strongly condemned the excessive use of force by Israeli security forces that had led to the passing of Ziad.

“We call upon Israel to stop the escalating violations against the Palestinian people,” he said.

Malaysia also called upon the international community to conduct a prompt and transparent investiga-tion of the incident and bring those responsible to justice, he said.

Ziad was reported dead after a clash in an incident with Israeli security forces during a peaceful pro-test in Jerusalem, on Wednesday.

12/12/2014 Source: BERNAMA

Malaysia conveys its deepest condolence on the passing of Palestinian Minister

Malaysia & Palestinian Cause

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Malaysians continued to help Palestinians by donating to ‘Tabung Palestine’ organised by Aman Pal-estine Berhad (AMB).

Beginning October this year, AMB has started to contribute RM2 million a month to help the op-pressed in Gaza.

AMB executive chairman Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman said the money was a fully Malaysian effort to help the Palestinians via AMB which was established in 2006 and had its own office in Gaza.

Abdullah Zaik told reporters after a high tea with Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman’s at Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina Resort & Spa in Pulau Duyong today.

He said before this, AMB managed to send between RM100,000 and RM150,000 monthly to their office in Gaza, which started its operations on 2009.

“We are collecting the money for two purposes, to redevelop Gaza after the war and an effort to save the Baitulmaqdis mosque,” he said.

Later, Abdullah Zaik received donations totalling RM400,000 from the State Government, several government departments and higher learning Institutes.

The Menteri Besar who was represented by his political secretary Rosdi Muhammad, handed RM180,000 on behalf of the state government.

13/12/2014 Source: NST

Malaysians donate RM2mil to Palestinians monthly via Aman Palestine

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The nation-state bill: contexts and goals

By: Ali Badwan

The Israeli government recently approved the nation-state bill by a two-thirds majority vote (15 minis-ters voted in favour, with 7 voting against). Two versions of the bill were presented to the MKs of the right-wing coalition government, one drafted by Ze’ev Elkin of the Likud Party, the other by Ayelet Shaked from the Jewish Home Party, the right-wing extremists led by Avigdor Lieberman. The two versions will be merged into one to be submitted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Knesset for discussion and a final vote.

The aim of the bill is to define the state of Israel as “the nation-state of the Jewish people” and to formulate its values as “a Jew-ish and democratic state based on the Israeli Declaration of In-dependence” read out by David Ben-Gurion on May 15, 1948. This is the day commemorated by Palestinians annually as Na-kba (Catastrophe) Day.

The introduction of this bill, at this time, must have a context and specific goals. A few observa-tions can be made about them

For a start, the draft bill is one of the most serious manifestations of the big lie upon which the Zi-onist movement and Israel was established. Judaism was never and will never be a nationality; it is a religion, no more, no less. The concept of nationalism was

Articles & Analyses

never linked to the faith and, as such, this law is illogical, as is the claim that “the Jewish nation” exists. In fact, in pushing this bill through, the Zionists reveal their racism by seeking approval from the legislature to fight against the culture of the Palestinians, who are the indigenous people in their own land.

Another aspect of this was the proposal to remove Arabic as an official language of the state of Israel. This was put forward by General Avi Dichter with the co-operation of the Institute for Zion-ist Strategies. He was joined by a third of the members of the Knes-set (MKs) along with a group of extremists attempting to establish the “Hebrew Jewish identity of Is-rael”, based on Torah mythology.

Part of this process is a new “transfer” project to expel non-Jews and annul the national and religious rights of the indigenous

people; in doing so they seek to foster racist hatred against the Palestinians. This reveals the ugly face of the “Zionist Jewish state”. Israel is demolishing Pal-estinian homes in the Negev; seizing Palestinian land; and destroying the homes of those who resist the occupation of their land. Such collective punishment is illegal and applied selectively; those Jews who kill Palestinians do not have their family homes demolished.

All of this points to the fact that Israel is not a democracy in the real sense; it is a Jewish “ethnoc-racy” working to expel Palestinian Arabs, transform their holy sites and places of worship into muse-ums and bars, and harm Muslims and Christians systematically.

The nation-state draft bill that will be submitted to the Knesset aims to cancel the civil and religious rights of the Palestinians who are

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the true owners of the land. This is a blatant violation of international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the occupying power from mak-ing any changes that affects the rights of the indigenous people and their demographic formation.

Nevertheless, the bill seeks to legitimise the racial discrimina-tion that has taken place within and by Israel against the indig-enous people ever since 1948. If passed into law by the Knesset it will pave the way for a new phase of systematic violations of Pales-tinian rights.

Right-wing and neo-fascist na-tionalists within Israel view this bill as a “historically important step towards restoring Israel to its Zionist roots.” They believe that the Israeli judiciary has dam-aged the fundamental Zionist principles upon which the state was founded.

We have to consider whether such hostility towards the Pales-tinians living within Israel could take place if the Arab world and international community had not abandoned the Palestinian strug-gle for justice. Indeed, the po-litical split within the Palestinians themselves has contributed to the current crisis. Their strength has been reduced considerably, despite the heroism of individu-als, especially in Jerusalem, in confronting the occupation and armed settlers.

There is, however, opposition to the bill within Israel itself. “The fathers of Zionism such as Da-vid Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin would not have passed a law like this,” one opponent has claimed. Sections of the Israeli

opposition believe that the bill is a cover for a deal as part of the political game played by Netan-yahu as he faces an early general election. In pushing this bill into law, the prime minister hopes to gain support and votes from the extreme right-wing among Israe-lis and the illegal settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem.

At the moment, Israeli politicians are vying with each other to see who can be the most nationalistic, with the strongest Zionist-Jewish credentials in the eyes of the set-tlers. The leader of Israel has to prove that he or she is “hard” in the face of the perceived “exis-tential threat” to the state. If this necessitates racist laws, so be it.

As far as Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims are concerned, we must be ready to see this bill turn into the law of the land. Our response must then be launched across the diplomatic arena internation-ally. Such Israeli racism must be condemned and fought against; the state must be urged to aban-don the legalisation of racism and discrimination against the indige-nous people.

Experience suggests that the Palestinian citizens of Israel will be successful in their drive to have this bill rejected by the Knesset. They have confronted all attempts to Judaise Jerusalem and other efforts which have an impact on their presence in their homeland ever since the Nakba.

Ethnic cleansing has to be a thing of the past, regardless of how ruthless the occupation au-thorities become. Delusions of a “Jewish nation-state” are against all reason and logic; they too have to be confined to history.

Israeli politicians are vying with each other to see who can be the most nationalistic, with the strongest Zionist-Jewish credentials in the eyes of the settlers.

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Issue no 113