Trade Union Friends of Israel

Israeli Forces moved into southern Gaza on 28th June before expanding their operations to the northern and eastern sections of the strip where there has been heavy fighting with Hamas, PRCs and other Gazan militias before a withdrawal from northern Gaza on Sunday 9th. The initial stated aim of the operation code named ‘Summer Rains’ was to secure the release of Corporal Shalit, however this has been expanded to encompass incursions into areas from where Qassam rockets had been launched to halt their fire. Over 60 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting. The majority have been from armed groups however there have been a significant number of civilian casualties.

Further adding to tensions Israel arrested over 60 Hamas senior officials on June 29th including several government ministers and twenty MPs. The Israeli government argues that these arrests were planned prior to the Gaza crisis, relating to their involvement in the planning of terrorist activity but the move has been widely criticised by the G8 Foreign ministers and other international observers as a measure that escalates the crisis.

On Tuesday 4th of July a rocket from Gaza reached the Israeli city of Ashkelon for the first time landing in a school playground. Prior to this point rockets had been targeting the southern town of Sderot and smaller villages near the Gaza border in increasing numbers, however this was the first attack successfully reaching a large population centre. The number of Qassam rockets falling on Southern Israel has massively increased in recent months leading to intense public pressure on the Israeli government to curb the attacks and as a result many of the operations in currently taking place in Gaza are focused on disrupting this activity.

In the early hours of Wednesday 12th July Israel launched an air strike on a house where Mohammed Deif, a leading Hamas bomb maker who has topped Israel’s most wanted lists, was believed to be meeting with other Hamas military leaders. Israeli and some Palestinian sources believe Deif was moderately injured in the attack but Hamas sources deny this. The house was owned by a senior Hamas figure Dr. Nabil al-Salmiah who died in the attack that also killed his wife and five of his children. Abu Anas al-Ghandour commander of Hamas' armed wing in northern Gaza was also injured as the three story building collapsed. At the same time Israeli troops moved into the central Gaza strip by about 700 metres near the city of Khan Yunis.

Humanitarian Crisis

There has been widespread international concern at the effects the Israeli actions have had on Gaza’s already grave humanitarian situation. Most notably the Israeli air strike on Gaza’s power station that destroyed 6 transformers has left many areas of Gaza without a regular power supply. Hospitals and other emergency services are operating on emergency generators further exacerbating fuel shortages. The EU has intervened to provide €600,000 for Gazan hospitals, much of it being used to purchase fuel with deliveries beginning on Monday 10th July. The electricity crisis has had a major knock on effect on the water supply and sewage system also relying on back-up generators according to the International Red Cross. Israel is currently supplying some extra electricity from its grid to Gaza but at present far from enough to replace the gap in supply. Egypt is currently supplying 5 megawatts of power from its grid to the border town of Rafah and plans to expand this to 12 megawatts throughout the Gaza strip. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called ‘on the Government of Israel to restore and maintain the continuous and uninterrupted supply of fuel to Gaza and to act expeditiously to replace the destroyed equipment at the Gaza power plant.’ Israel has reopened the Karni crossing for humanitarian relief but food and medical supplies remain at worrying levels.

The international community whilst accepting Israel’s concerns about rocket attacks and demanding the immediate release of Corporal Shalit, has been highly critical of Israel’s actions. Kofi Annan has demanded an immediate halt to Israel's "disproportionate use of force in densely populated areas" which he said was against international humanitarian law, whilst the European Union condemned "the loss of lives caused by disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces and the humanitarian crisis it has aggravated". Whilst in Israel six human rights organisations including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and B’Tselem have petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice on Tuesday 11th demanding an end to the "callous harm" caused to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip in the recent IDF incursion. The petition demands that the crossings into Gaza be opened in order to allow the regular supply of food, medicine, fuel and essential supplies to reach its inhabitants.

The Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) condemned the Israeli military action asking ‘lovers of freedom and peace to pressure their Governments to stop killing innocent people’. They called on international supporters to exert themselves to ‘secure the entering of medicines and food stuff from Egypt secure entering of medicines and food stuff from Egypt to Gaza, to allow international and local humanitarian personals and institutions to act safely to help needed people and to pressure the Israeli authorities to keep opening Rafah passage to enable people, especially sick, to pass from and to Gaza for Human or medical care.’

Political Deadlock

International mediation efforts led by Egypt have so far been unable to break the deadlock between Israel and Hamas over the fate of Corporal Shalit. Hamas has demanded the release of Palestinian Prisoners held in return for the release of Corporal Shalit. Though the precise nature of the demands have shifted throughout the crisis, at present it seems that they are calling for the release of all women and under-18 prisoners, numbering around 400 and the release of the Hamas legislators arrested on the 29th June. The Israeli government has rejected calls for an immediate prisoner exchange although some indications given to international mediators show that Israel would be willing to release some prisoners at a later date, however it does not want to be seen to encouraging further kidnapping. This position is likely to be hardened by the Hezbollah kidnappings.

During the crisis the extent of control exercised by Damascus based Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshal over Hamas actions in Palestine has come sharply into focus. It has been Meshal rather than Palestine based poltical figures such as PA Prime Minister Ishmail Haniyeh who have been been making the diplomatic running in recent weeks. It is widely believed that the forces who have captured Corporal Shalit are answerable to Meshal rather than Haniyeh, although Meshal insists they have independent action.

The recent escalation in violence is does not benefit either side and will only serve to setback hopes for a negotiated solution to the conflict. It is important all parties involved urgently work towards an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a negotiated resolution to the crisis surrounding Corporal Shalit and Prisoners issues and a comprehensive ceasefire that also includes a cessation of attacks by Islamic Jihad and the PRCs. Both Israel and the international community must act now to stem the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Hamas signs up to the ‘Prisoner’s Document’

On June 27th Hamas had finally agreed to sign up to the National Reconciliation Document, drafted by Fatah and Hamas prisoners in Israeli Jails. This move ended weeks of wrangling between the two factions that had lead to President Abbas threatening a referendum on the plan if Hamas would not agree to it. The document is important for several key reasons. By agreeing to the document Hamas has agreed to the continuation of the PLO as the legitimate representative body for the Palestinians including refugees and the Diaspora, paving the way for Hamas to join. Such a move is a major step forward that reaffirms President Abbas in his role as head of the PLO to lead negotiations with Israel. Secondly it calls for ‘focusing the resistance in the occupied territories of 1967’ a shift that if implemented would have been seen to move towards ending attacks within Israel, however recent events have shown how far this is from realisation. Thirdly it calls on Palestinians ‘to establish their independent state with al-Quds al-Shareef [Jerusalem] as its capital on all territories occupied in 1967’, this demand was seen as being an implicit recognition of Israel. However Hamas have made clear that they do not see signing up to this section as a departure from their previously stated position that would see a Palestinian state created on the 1967 borders in return for a Hudna (a long term ceasefire) without renouncing its long-term aim of the destruction of the state of Israel. However this move is seen as an important step to end conflict between the factions that had threatened to turn into civil war.

Israeli and Palestinian Ambulance services join the Red Cross and Red Crescent

On June 22nd the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent voted at their 29th International conference in Geneva voted to admit Israel’s Magen David Adom Ambulance service and the Palestinian Red Crescent to full membership after decades of political wrangling. Both services faced particular problems in application. The Magen David Adom faced political opposition from some Arab states and a practical problem as it did used the Star of David as its symbol rather the internationally recognised cross or crescent symbols. A compromise was reached whereby the Magen David Adom would use a new Red Diamond symbol, within which it would be able to place the Star of David when operating within Israel. The Palestinian Red Crescent became the first organisation eligible for membership that was not part of a sovereign state.

World Pride in Jerusalem under threat from the religious right

With three week’s to go until August’s World Pride event in Jerusalem, ultra-religious and conservative groups within Israel are making a concerted attempt to have to have the event cancelled or moved to Tel Aviv. The religious parties National Union-National Religious Party and United Torah Judaism have proposed a vote of no-confidence in the Government over the hosting of the world’s main LGBT rally in Jerusalem. This has prompted the religious Shas party, a member of the coalition government to support calls to stop the parade. In even more worrying developments flyers’ were distributed in the Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) district of Jerusalem Meah Sha’arim by an unknown group offering NIS 20,000 "anyone who brings about the death of one of the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah." The letter appeals to residents of the capital: "don't let them teach our children their impure ways". The anonymous letter also suggests using Molotov cocktails against marchers and adds instructions as to how to make them at home. Haredi community leaders have condemned the flyers whilst continuing their vehement opposition to World Pride.

Jerusalem city councilman Sa'ar Netanel (Meretz) said in response that "this is a worrying escalation and a license to kill. It needs to shock and appall everyone and cause everyone to ask himself whether he wants Jerusalem to take on the image of extremists who forget all humanity or to take on the image of marchers who only as for patience, tolerance and pluralism." Netanel, the owner of a gay bar who is working with the Jerusalem Open House to organise the World Pride events, was chased out of the Meah Sha'arim on Monday night by angry crowds when he arrived in the neighbourhood with a camera crew to document the anti-Parade flyers.