After being divided and ruled upon for seven years, the two main Palestinian political factions -Hamas and Fatah – influenced Palestinian Authority (PA) reconciled lately. Together they unveiled a plan of a technocratic government in what little territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are left with the Palestinians.
Together the two groups launched a plan on 23rd of April 2014 to hold elections in Palestine within six months, under the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
The PA is an interim governing body, created to manage the withdrawn Palestinian territories according to the Oslo Accords. Under the influence of Fatah, the PA mainly controls areas of the West Bank, while the Gaza strip is ruled by Hamas, an assumed terrorist group as per the USA, Egypt, Jordan and the EU.
The official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa reports of people’s jubilation over the reconciliation agreement between the two factions. The news was met with celebration and hope, and one of the people celebrating the reconciliation agreement told WAFA that ‘this reconciliation must be real and we should not give attention to the Israeli threats.’
Both the parties, however, have some reservations, ranging from recognition of Israel and the Peace Talks to the appointment of new ministers. Together they agreed to keep nine ministers, along with the PM Rami al Hamdallah, giving them the task of paving the way for the 2015 elections. The position of foreign and religious ministers and the return of PA’s forces to Gaza are some of the problems waiting to be solved.
This political nexus certainly came as a shocker to the rest of the world, especially Israel. The two groups, who have always been rivals in the past, suddenly forming a coalition is certainly surprising on first glance. However, this coalition was rather a reaction by the PA to Israel’s lack of appropriate response during the US-backed Peace Talks, when Tel Aviv refused to release the fourth tranche of 28 Palestinian prisoners on March 29. Palestinian Authority’s President, Mahmoud Abbas retaliated by signing for membership of several international agencies, in an attempt to seek international recognition.
“The Palestinian leadership has unanimously approved a decision to seek membership of 15 UN agencies and international treaties, beginning with the Fourth Geneva Convention” said President Abbas.
Israel, in retaliation, imposed economic sanctions against Palestine in response to its unilateral decision to join international conventions. Israel regularly deducts a 100 million shekel from the funds for past debts on the Palestinians, which have now been raised to 132 million shekel. It further withheld tax revenues and threatened to freeze Palestinian construction work in the West Bank.
After rejecting the demand to extend the Peace Talks, the PA officially announced its political unity with former rival Hamas, on April 23. This angered Israel, who immediately suspended negotiation on April 24.
“He (Mahmoud Abbas) must choose,” Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu said. “Does he want reconciliation with Hamas, or peace with Israel? Only one is attainable, not both. I hope he chooses peace, until now he has not done so.”
The US, European Union and the United Nations have given this reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas a chance, which was severely criticized by Israeli PM Netanyahu.
Even though the peace talks were suspended, the area was not facing major clash until Israeli military discovered the bodies of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped on June 12, in the West Bank. This triggered a full-scale violent offensive against the Palestinians. Israel blamed Hamas, who neither denied nor confirmed the accusations. A cycle of bloodshed, revenge, air strikes and killings, the end of which was being sought in the failing peace talks, resumed immediately.
An 18-day search operation followed the incident, during which 400 Palestinians were arrested, hundreds of their homes were destroyed and fifteen Palestinians were killed. Within a day of the air strikes, the body of a Palestinian teenager was found in a forest near Jerusalem, in a suspected revenge-killing.
Theconflict ensuing in the wake of the teenage killings on both sides and Israeli vigilantism is adding fuel to fire. With the failed negotiations, imbalance of military power and media bias towards Israel predicts that civilians in Palestine will continue to suffer as the world watches in indifferent silence.
The Palestinian leadership’s statement condemned the Israeli military operation in the West Bank and the raids on Gaza, and called on the Israeli government not to exploit the incident of the abduction and killing of three Israeli settlers to continue with policies of escalation, settler activity and strict measures in Occupied Jerusalem.
The eerie stillness of the international media in this regard is beyond despair. Contrary to the basic social value of equality, the world could not stop grieving for the Israeli teenagers but uttered not a word for the Palestinian boy who was roughly the same age. Not to mention the 3,000 Palestinian children arrested by the Israeli forces, from the beginning of 2010 to mid-2014, as per the Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights’ report.
The future looks bleak for the two-state solution: a Utopian dream of Israel and Palestine existing next to each other in perfect harmony. The year 2014 has been declared as the year of solidarity with the Palestinian people by the United Nations General Assembly, in hopes of instilling peace in the region. However, the lack of interest of supposedly peace-keeping international organizations and the asymmetry of power between the two states foreshadow the fact that the atrocities of war will continue in the region.
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The Khwareej foreign funded terrorists ISIS run a mock across Sham and Iraq with Saudi Arab and the Hejaz in their sights.
In Israel the martyrdom of the young Palestinian brother was as a sign to escalate the conflict with little or no opposition from the paper tiger Arab states – Israel will begin her total occupation of Jerusalem.
The world shuns Pakistani sacrifice yet again and the speed at which Pakistan Afwaj has cleared the snakepit that was our beautiful Waziristan.
Pakistan’s government attempting its best to hold power.
USA, Japan and India signalling a strong alliance in the Pacific.
India elevated in Afghanistan fighting to become Americas lynchpin for the whole of Asia has now labelled JuD assets to be frozen and declared a terrorist group without a shred of evidence.
This misinformation against Islam and Pakistan continues.
China is being encircled in West Asia and the Pacific.
Iran no longer sees no credibility in this fat punjabans government and this has been capiralised by the anti Pakistan forces inside Afghanistan and India.
Kashmiri suffeirng and injustice no longer registers on America’s radar and therefore will typically be ignored by the UK.
Questions are
– Who on earth is writing Pakistan’s Foreign Policy?
– Who on earth is advising this incompetent Pakistani government on its foreign Policy?
– In whose interests is our non existent completed absent foreign policy?
Instead this “known” corrupt government led by criminal, thugs who have stolen in abundance from Pakistan is only focussed on:
Building his Industrial empire
Building economic ties with India without stopping Indian interference inside Pakistan let alone voicing contempt.
Total absent Kashmiri resolve and wants pakistan to open our doors to Indian business, a nation whose economy is on its knees is about to amount to a satellite state of a cabal of nations.
I am no strategist but one would take a simple analogy:
Defend your castle
Secure your castle
Govern your subjects justly
Provide for your subjects
honour your knights
…then trade with friendly kingdoms
Defend Pakistan
Secure Pakistan
Do not take advantage of a broken state and funnel our wealth into your pockets. re-Invest in Pakistan and rebuild the fortress that is Pakistan.
Defend the your knights, your Army do not vilify them.
Govern your kingdom justly and not sectors of your kingdom.
Rebuild Infrastructure
Create Commerce internally to create an atmosphere for foreign kingdoms to invest.
Build the IT Sector – Data Security is paramount if you want to do big business.
Build a vision which is realistic look to your history and define whom you need to befriend and with whom you need to be very weary of and whom you must keep at arms length.
You are only as great as your people, a nation is defined by your people and do NOT make them your subservient, look after them, provide opportunity, educate and they will maintain your kingdom with vigour dignity and honour.
I have said this to you before..
Seal of your eastern border, everything is linked to Kashmir and an end to Indian terror. The information has to be put out there on Indian nefarious operations inside Pakistan and on the global forums but also Indian attrocities against Kashmiris.
The Western Border needs to remain open, because this is where we need to be Central Asia is our Manzil, they are our brethren.
An integrated central Asia with a friendly Afghanistan and Pakistan as a core building block will be the greatest foreign policy you can possibly have, one that is politically, socially, economically and “spiritually” the right thing to do.
Do not EVER EVER compromise your relationship with Iran because of Saudi Arabia but all things aside if it equates to the sanctity of the 2 holy sites.
Each and every one must ASK!!! where did you go wrong.
In the 60’s we were the fastest growing economy in Asia and South Korea looked to us as an example of an economic model. Our Universities had foreign students from all over Asia and the Middle East and our Airliens were the best in the world.
Where did we go wrong!!!
When you let these feudal ass bandits in to govern your country.
Your leader needs to be humble, sincere and righteous and today Imran Khan however naive has those qualities. His naiveness can be overcome, through knowledge and experience but his sincerity can never be found in anyone else.
Make the theives accountable, contact the Swiss banks and hold them accountable, even if the money is since no longer there the paper trail is there and bring them to justice.
Each and every one of them tot heir siblings.
Do not wait any longer the longer you leave it the more Pakistan will loose out.
Pakistan has $3 trillion worth of gold in Balochistan and $3 trillion in KP, coal, uranium, access to an important trade route by land and sea. We have a powerful army, we are a Nuclear power, a young nation, a booming young population highly talented, educated very enterprise savvy.
Then why are where we are!.
If it takes Martial law to clean up the nation then WE SHOULD all stand by it, to try and remove the filth before it is too late.
time is ticking…
The region, Middle east and Greater Middle East must reclaim their destinies and reclaim Islam from those Khwareej.