Bentleys in Israel: Political & Civil Events

D.C. Peace Talks. Direct talks began in Sept. 2010 between Israeli & Palestinian leaders in Wash., D.C. to consider creating a new state of Palestine on the Jordan River's West Bank. Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority Pres. (rt.), & Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister (left), met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (middle).

A major issue was the temporary freeze on Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Settlements are shown in blue on the left, with proposed expansion areas in orange. The freeze came off on 9/27/10 and expansion into East Jerusalem resumed soon after the week of sukkot. This caused the Palestinians to break off peace talks with Israel in October.

Local Unrest.

In mid-Sept. '10, unrelated trouble began in Silwan (East Jerusalem, near the Temple Mt). There, 70 Israeli families live among 90,000 Palestinians. A pvt. Israeli security guard was attacked by local residents & a Palestinian was shot. Although we could see some smoke from the JC (burning tires & cars) during a day and two nights of civil unrest, we were never at risk here.

Local Jewish police are efficient and effective. On 9/28/10 we walked down Ben Adaya Street behind the JC to visit Red Crescent Hospital (one of our charities -- on the way to Silwan). Even though IDF troops and some Palestinian youths had another fracas the prior evening, we felt no danger with the police present.

Jerusalem Bombing. On 3/23/11, a bomb exploded in a phone booth near a crowded bus station in West Jerusalem, killing a woman and wounding 24 others. It was the first terrorist attack here since 2008, during the Israel-Gaza war of 2008-09. (There have been no suicide bombings in Jerusalem for at least 7 years.) This bombing was condemned by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, but was praised in Gaza by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, its rival faction.

This incident was in retaliation for air strikes launched earlier that same week by the IDF against targets in Gaza after mortar shells and rockets had been fired from Gaza at various civilian areas in southern Israel. And on 3/11/11, an Israeli family in Ithamar (a settlement near Nablus in Samaria, northern West Bank) was murdered while asleep. However, none of these random incidents was near East Jerusalem and none disturbed any of our operations at the JC.

Ramallah: Palestinian Authority's current HQ. On 9/27/10, all was calm here as we visited the homes of two LDS families in the largest city (30,000) on the West Bank. The first map above shows it to be 6 miles north of Jerusalem, about as close as Bethlehem. [See Oct. '10 post, "Humanitarians -- West Bank").

On Tues. 6/14/11, the same day we visited charities in Ramallah, Dennis Ross & David Hale (U.S. State Dept.) met with Palestinian P.M. Fayyad & Pres. Abbas, to urge peace talks with Israel over unilateral attempts to create a new state by U.N. action in Sept. '11.

Fatah - Hamas Unity Accord. On 5/4/11 in Cairo, these two rival factions signed a deal brokered by Egypt to bridge a bitter divide that ruptured into open violence in 2007 when Hamas expelled from Gaza the Palestine Authority (also called "Fatah," "PLO" & "PNA"). The PA will still control the West Bank and Hamas the Gaza Strip. But each will release political prisoners & create an interim govt. of "independents" to pave the way for unilateral creation of Palestine as a split bi-national state, somehow comprising both Gaza & West Bank.

Gen'l legisl. & executive elections for Palestine are planned for 2012. The interim govt. may be headed by a Gaza person, replacing respected Salam Fayyad -- PA's current West Bank prime minister. PA's chief is Pres. Mahmoud Abbas (rt.); Hamas' chief is Khaled Meshaal (left).

Hamas agreed not to interfere with PA's efforts to seek peace with Israel, but would continue efforts to destroy its nearest neighbor. Israel has fiercely criticized the unity deal, with P.M. Netanyahu warning Abbas that he "must choose between peace with Israel or peace with Hamas."

Days of Remembrance (Jewish). On 5/2/11 while on the freeway to Tel Aviv for our Visa renewal to Jordan, a siren sounded at 10 am. Suddenly, we were the only car moving! All others pulled off the road as Jewish occupants got out to stand in silence for two minutes--in tribute to holocaust victims. They will do this again on their Memorial Day, honoring all soldiers who died in wars, starting with the 1947-48 Arab-Israeli War. That always comes one day before Jewish Independence Day, which this year is on 5/10/11 (per the Jewish calendar).

Nakba: "Disaster Day." Each May 15th (the actual anniv. on our Gregorian calendar), Palestinians observe "al-Nakba" (Disaster Day) for that same event in 1948 -- creation of an independent Jewish state. This event started in 1998 under Yassar Arafat. While it is legally banned in Israel, some organized protests still occur. Jewish leaders claim these protests were not really about peripheral issues like settlements expansion, return of Palestinian refugees, creation of Palestine or its actual borders, East Jerusalem as its capital in a divided city, or the recent unity accord between Gaza's Hamas and the West Bank. Instead, they are protesting Israel's very existence.

Nakba Weekend: Borders. This year, violent demonstrations started early -- after prayers on Fri., 5/13/11. For the first time in years, borders with Lebanon & Syria were breached. Did Syria instigate this by bussing Palestinian refugees into border areas -- to divert attention from its own violence against citizens seeking reforms there? (There was no such breach of borders in Jordan or the West Bank, where regimes are less threatened than in Syria.)

Israel resisted this violent storming of its borders with tear gas and rubber bullets, also killing some 15 persons. Syria -- whose regime has killed scores of demonstraters there -- strongly condemned Israel's resistance!

East Jerusalem: There was only some minor rock throwing and confrontations with local IDF & security guards. But one teenager was killed in Silwan, across the Kidron Valley from the City of David. The JC was on lock-down all weekend before the students left for their field trip in Turkey on Sunday, 5/15/11.

Students in Egypt: Our Winter '11 students, on a field trip during March riots, stayed in Cairo just 4 blocks from Tahrir Square. They also left Luxor by train and Cairo by bus just one day before those services ceased! Their safety is always the top priority.

My Own Experience. In East Jerusalem on Nakba Day (Sun. 5/15/11), 3 Molotov cocktails were thrown from Isawiya -- an Arab village adjoining Hebrew Univ. -- onto the grounds of Haddasah Hospital there. No damage or injury occurred. The next day, not knowing this, I went there to administer to Blaine Willis, an American tourist with pneumonia.

All seemed tense on Mon. 5/16/11 but calm enough to complete the blessing. In front of Hadassah with me are Ron & Laurel Curtis (parents of Scott, a student at the JC) -- whom I had hosted on a Friday JC tour.

Obama's Stance. On 5/19/11, one day before his mtg. with Israel's Prime Minister in D.C., Obama gave a landmark speech at the State Dept. on Middle East unrest & the "Arab Spring." He supported peace & many security aspects for Israel. But he also urged creation of a state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, albeit with some "agreed-upon land swaps." Some Jewish leaders saw this as ignoring the outcome of war between Israel & five invading Arab nations, hence adopting Yassar Arafat's plan for the "staged destruction of Israel." Others saw it as more consistent with world opinion.

Bibi's Responses. After his 3-hour White House mtg. with Obama on Fri., 5/20/11, P.M. Netanyahu rebuffed the proposed reversion to 1949 lines as "indefensible" and "boundaries of repeated wars" rather than peace. "Peace based on illusions will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality," he said. These two allies seemed far apart.

On 5/24/11, his speech to the U.S. Congress brought 26 standing ovations. He again refuted Obama's 1967 assertion & partitioning of Jerusalem. But some here feel his stance has deepened existing rifts, isolated Israel from the world & worsened prospects for a negotiated peace settlement. Both the left & the right are bringing no-confidence measures against him in the Knesset.

Gaza. On 5/28/11, Egypt re-opened a key border crossing with Gaza.

This was at the Rafah crossing, increasing Israel's security concerns.

Sinai Fence. This is hastening Israel's own fence across all 140 miles of its porous border with Egypt. The first 100 km (at either end) were hastened. The rest may be done in 2012.

Canada. Also on 5/28/11 (the same day the Rafah crossing was opened), PM Stephen Harper got the G-8 matopms to change a declaration on resuming peace talks to delete any reference to the pre-1967 borders. Many Israeli leaders now considered Canada their best ally -- over the U.S.

"Jerusalem Day." On 6/1/11, some 40,000 Jews marched to honor the 1967 Six Day War that unified and reopened this city.

There was less unrest than on Nakba Day (mid-May) -- but 24 were arrested & 3 injured by rocks at Damascus Gate on Suleyman St.

Palestinian "Naksa Day" (Arabic for "setback"). This event was to recall Arabic losses in the 1967 war. Hezbollah leaders in Syria called for violent protests. Israelis braced for more clashes on its northern borders -- as on Nakba ("Disaster") Day, 5/15/11, when their loss in the 1948 War for Independence was marked.

Again, descendants of Palestinian refugees reportedly bussed to Syria's Golan Hts. rushed formerly quiet borders there. They claimed a "right of return" to homes in Israel abandoned by their ancestors in the 1948 Israel-Arab War.

Syria claimed 23 were killed, 350 wounded. Israel said only 15 were killed or wounded, mostly from their own gasoline bomb that set off Israeli land mines.

Israel feared a campaign of ongoing protests until Sept. when more agitation was expected before the UN Security Council. There was talk of Arabs starting a 3rd intifada ("uprising") soon. World opinion was fairly muted, with little outrage against either those breaching the borders or Israel's own defensive actions.

"Al Quds" (Jerusalem) Day. To Jews, Sunday 6/1/11 was the 44th anniversary of Israel's retaking control of the Holy City. To Arabs, 6/7/11 marked that anniversary. The next day was Shavuot or the Pentecostal Festival of Weeks. Israel planned for more trouble -- hence, this headline:

IDF on high alert for 'Al-Quds Day' Palestinians prepare to mark day IDF seized control of east Jerusalem; IDF, police remain on high alert on northern border, Jerusalem

There was no real unrest in Jerusalem on any of the anniversary days noted above. Some Palestinians from Ramallah tried marching to the Temple Mount but were stopped at the border. There was some minor unrest on 6/10/11, the last day of school. When classes dismissed from this high school near Princess Basma, boys threw large rocks thru windows of a Jewish tour bus. Our students at the Basma preschool classes returned safely to the JC, but Marilyn & the Huntingtons stayed there while Jewish police dispersed the crowd & cleaned up broken glass in the street fronting the Basma center.

"Festival of Light." June was mostly calm here, even at this annual Festival (6/15-22/2011). For 8 days, the Old City displayed many artistic lights.

On 6/22/11, we drove to Jaffa Gate -- parking in the last space at Mamilla. The Old City's main entry had simulated fireworks.

We chose to follow the blue lights & glowing "Organic Illumination" figures -- in sharp contrast to the stone walls of David St. and Latin Patriarchate St.

Then came bright star lights above, as reflected on Christian Quarters St.

Deeper in the Old City, unique lighting was projected onto some historic bldgs. Also there were things like culture shows & guided tours. But not knowing this, we turned back -- following the orange "Blazing Agelux."