News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (June 6-12, 2012)

The fuel sent to the Gaza Strip from Qatar delivered through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing

The fuel sent to the Gaza Strip from Qatar delivered through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing

Mahmoud Abbas and the French prime minister

Mahmoud Abbas and the French prime minister

Mahmoud Abbas and the French foreign minister

Mahmoud Abbas and the French foreign minister

Miles of Smiles 13 enters the Gaza Strip (Hamas' palestine-info website, June 11, 2012).

Miles of Smiles 13 enters the Gaza Strip (Hamas' palestine-info website, June 11, 2012).

The Palestine Place logo

The Palestine Place logo

Notice posted by the European initiative on the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website

Notice posted by the European initiative on the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website

Freedom Bus logo (Website of the Freedom Theater, June 12, 2012).

Freedom Bus logo (Website of the Freedom Theater, June 12, 2012).

  • This past week one rocket hit was identified in Israeli territory. In response to the attack, Israeli aircraft struck two sites where weapons were stockpiled.
  • This week delivery began of the fuel from sent to the Gaza Strip from Qatar. It will be delivered through the Kerem Shalom crossing for the next three months, easing the energy crisis.
  • Naksa Day events were held without exceptional occurrences and received scanty media coverage. In the coming months anti-Israel activities are expected to continue in Europe and the territories, initiated by activists and networks participating in the campaign to delegitimize Israel. 
Rocket Fire
  • This past week one rocket hit was identified in the western Negev, falling in an open area. There were no casualties and no damage was done.
Rockets Fired into Israeli Territory[1]

Rockets Fired into Israeli Territory

Notes: The figures for March include 50 rockets intercepted and destroyed by the Iron Dome aerial defense system during the most recent round of escalation. In April three rockets were fired at Israel's southernmost city of Eilat.

IDF Response
  • In response to the rocket fire, on the night of June 5 Israeli Air Force aircraft stuck two sites for the stockpiling of weapons, one in the northern Gaza Strip and one in the southern Gaza Strip (IDF Spokesman, June 6, 2012). The Palestinian media reported that one of the strikes hit a coastal police post in the northern Gaza Strip, and that two Palestinians, operatives of Hamas' military-terrorist wing, were critically wounded (Wafa News Agency, Paltoday website, Alresalah.net website, June 6, 2012).
The Situation on the Ground
  • This week as well there were riots at the traditional friction points in Judea and Samaria, especially the villages of Bila'in, Nili'in and Nebi Saleh. Rioters threw stones at the IDF forces, who in certain instances used riot control equipment to disperse the demonstrators.
Fuel Delivery to the Gaza Strip Begins
  • On June 7 the fuel donated by the government of Qatar and delivered to Egypt entered the Gaza Strip from Israel through Israel's Kerem Shalom Crossing. To ensure a steady flow, in an exceptional step the crossing was kept open on Friday. Delivery is expected to take three months and will provide a continuous flow of diesel fuel for the Gaza Strip's power plant which will ease the energy crisis causing intermittent power outages (IDF Spokesman, June 10, 2012).
  • Nevertheless, Ahmed Abu al-Amrin, the director of the de-facto Hamas administration's energy authority information center, said that a significant improvement in the Gaza Strip's electrical supply had not yet been experienced because of the limited amount of fuel which had been delivered. The Egyptian authorities called for pressure to be exerted on Israel to allow more fuel to be delivered through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing (Safa News Agency, June 10, 2012).
  • In addition to the fuel delivered through Israel, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces, ordered an additional 20,000 tons of diesel fuel to be delivered to the Gaza Strip from the storehouses of the Egyptian general fuel authority, located in the port of Suez (Al-Yawm Al-Saba'a, June 7, 2012).
Hebrew Language Studies in Gaza Strip High Schools
  • The de-facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip decided to add Hebrew language studies as an elective course to the curriculum in some of the high schools in the Gaza Strip, beginning in the 2012-2013 school year. The study of the Hebrew language is part of a project called "Know Your Enemy." Initially, 10 to 20 high schools will participate, and if the program is a success it will be extended to include all 180 high schools in the Gaza Strip. According to Mahmoud Matar, director of the de-facto Hamas administration's ministry of education, "[t]hrough the Hebrew language we can understand the structure of the Israeli society, the way they think...We look at Israel as an enemy. We teach our students the language of the enemy."[2]
Summer Camps in the Gaza Strip
  • On June 9 the de-facto Hamas administration formally opened the summer camp season in the Gaza Strip. There are about 100,000 campers this year, and the theme of their activities will be "We will live with our heads held high." The theme, according to the organizers, is meant to emphasize the importance of the Palestinian prisoners (Safa News Agency, June 7, 2012). The slogan "We will live with our heads held high or die" was used by the Palestinian terrorist operatives in the recent hunger strike held in Israeli prisons.
  • For many years Hamas' summer camps have served to brainwash Gazan youth with Hamas' radical Islamic ideology to foster future generations of adults who will subscribe to the movement's religious, political and military policies.[3]
Mahmoud Abbas Visits France
  • Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to France, during which he met with the French president, prime minister and foreign minister. At every turn, he reiterated that Israel was responsible for stalling the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. For example:
  • At a press conference held after Mahmoud Abbas met with French President François Hollande, Abbas said that if Israel agreed to release prisoners and delivered or permitted weapons to be imported for the Palestinian police, it would be a way to jump start the negotiations. Asked about freezing construction in the settlements as a precondition for negotiations, he said it was not a precondition but rather a commitment found in many international documents. He again stated that if no progress were made in the negotiations, the Palestinian would appeal to the UN for non-state member status (Palestinian establishment TV, June 8, 2012).
  • Meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Mahmoud Abbas said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued permitting and encouraging the construction of houses in the settlements, indicating he had no desire to negotiate a peace with the Palestinians. He said that in the absence of any other option the Palestinian Authority would appeal to UN agencies and demand recognition of the Palestinian's right to establish an independent state. He said that the Palestinians' appeal for a state with the 1967 borders was not an attempt to delegitimize Israel or isolate it in the international arena (Al-Ayam, June 8, 2012).

Left: Mahmoud Abbas and the French prime minister. Right: Mahmoud Abbas and the French foreign minister (Wafa News Agency, June 8, 2012).
Left: Mahmoud Abbas and the French prime minister. Right: Mahmoud Abbas and the French foreign minister (Wafa News Agency, June 8, 2012).

Reactions to the Israeli Government's Decision to Build in Har Gilo and Beit El
  • Nabil Abu Rudeina, presidential spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, criticized the decision made by the Israeli government to build homes in the neighborhoods of Har Gilo and Beit El (Ma'an News Agency, June 8, 2012). He said the decision sabotaged efforts to renew the peace process, and called on the American administration and the International Quartet to blame Israel for destroying the peace process (Wafa News Agency, June 7, 2012).
  • At a meeting held by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and European and American representatives, he said that the Israeli government was fully to blame for destroying the peace process. He said that the decision to build new housing in Har Gilo and Beit El proved that Israel had chosen a policy of settlement and "entrench the occupation," and was thereby destroying the option of the two-state solution (Wafa News Agency, June 11, 2012).
Naksa Day Events
  • June 5 was Naksa Day, the date the Palestinians mark the anniversary of the Six Day War. The day passed with almost no notable events, and most groups and organizations made do with issuing announcements. The few events held received scanty media coverage at best:
  • The Gaza Strip: A few hundred participants held a march to local UN headquarters carrying signs demanding the UN, the international community and the Arab states defend the "rights of the Palestinians" which had been stripped from them following the so-called "Naksa" (the Six Day War) (Al-Aqsa TV, June 5, 2012).
  • Judea and Samaria: There were a number of confrontations between Palestinian youths and IDF forces close to the Ofer Prison in Judea near Ramallah.
  • Jordan: A few dozen young people demonstrated and called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador. The Jordanian police prevented the demonstrators from reaching the Israeli embassy in Amman (Facebook, June 5, 2012).
Another Aid Convoy Reaches the Gaza Strip
  • The Miles of Smiles 13 aid convoy entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on June 10. It was composed of 109 activists from 17 countries, most of the Muslim. There was a large delegation from Jordan headed by Hamam Said, the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. Before entering the Gaza Strip the delegation met in Cairo with the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (Al-Aqsa TV, June 10, 2012). Once inside the Gaza Strip members of the convoy met with Ismail Haniya, head of the de-facto Hamas administration, who congratulated them on their arrival (Safa News Agency, June 11, 2012).

Miles of Smiles 13 enters the Gaza Strip (Hamas' palestine-info website, June 11, 2012).
Miles of Smiles 13 enters the Gaza Strip (Hamas' palestine-info website, June 11, 2012).

Anti-Israel Event
  • Between June 2 and 17 a series of events are being held in an abandoned building (christened "Palestine Place") taken over in central London in support of Palestine. It includes films, lectures and workshops and "resistance." On June 4 a live video conference was held with Khader Adnan, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist operative who was imprisoned in Israel and one of the prisoners who held a hunger strike. There are workshops on creating documentaries, stenciling T-shirts with Palestinian slogans and new and effective ways to boycott Israel. Sessions are scheduled to plan protests against companies targeted by the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to change Israel's policy toward the Palestinians through economic pressure.[4] There will also be workshops organized by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) for those interested in visiting Judea and Samaria.

The Palestine Place logo (Palestinian Place website, June 9, 2012).
The Palestine Place logo (Palestinian Place website, June 9, 2012).

The Campaign against the Security Fence and the Settlements
  • A Hague-based network calling itself "the European initiative against settlements and the wall" announced it was about to launch a media campaign against the security fence (what it refers to as "the apartheid wall") and the settlements. Amin Rashid,[5] the Hamas-affiliated activist heading the network, said that the campaign would begin on July 1, the eighth anniversary of the decision handed down by International Court of Justice in the Hague against the construction of the security fence (Website of Hamas' military-terrorist wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, June 11, 2012).

Notice posted by the European initiative on the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website  (June 11, 2012).
Notice posted by the European initiative on the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website 
 (June 11, 2012).

The "Freedom Bus" Initiative

Activists from around the globe are planning to go to Judea and Samaria to participate in a joint bus ride throughout the area between September 23 and October 1. So far, they are in the process of raising funds through donations. The event was initiated by the "Freedom Theater" in the Jenin refugee camp, and its objective is to present the situation [in Judea and Samaria] through personal stories. Among the initiative's supporters are BDS activists and activists from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the Free Gaza Movement (FGM), two prominent networks in the campaign to delegitimize Israel.

Freedom Bus logo (Website of the Freedom Theater, June 12, 2012).
Freedom Bus logo (Website of the Freedom Theater, June 12, 2012).

Al-Qaeda No. 2 Leader Killed
  • A White House spokesman confirmed the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi, killed on June 4, 2012, in a drone strike on his house in northwest Pakistan. Al-Libi, was second in command to Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has headed Al-Qaeda since the death of Osama bin Laden. He was also an important religious figure. Sources within Al-Qaeda said that after al-Zawahiri, he was the most important figure in the organization's chain of command (AP and Reuters, June 5, 2012).

1 The statistics do not include rockets fired which fell inside the Gaza Strip. As of June 12, 2012.

[2]http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/world/middleeast/hamas-run-schools-in-gaza-set-out-to-teach-hebrew.html

[3] For further information see the August 7, 2011 bulletin "This year’s summer camps in the Gaza Strip were once again used by Hamas and its military wing to combine social activity with Islamic and political indoctrination and paramilitary training." 

[4]http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/palestinian-activists-occupy-their-own-little-piece-of-london.premium-1.434781

5  Amin Abu Rashid(aka Amin Abu Ibrahim) is a Hamas-affiliated activist living in Holland. He participated in the Mavi Marmara flotilla. He is active in Hamas' "charitable societies" and ideologically affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and with organizations in Holland and Europe in general linked to the movement. He was formerly a member of the Al-Aqsa Foundation in Holland, which belonged to the Union of Good, which transfers funds to Hamas.