Posted on August 17th, 2009 by Marian Houk
According to an email sent by the Palestinian Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza, a Hamas-aligned militia — and police officers — surrounded a mosque in Rafah, on the southern border of the Gaza Strip, before a religious leader inside proclaimed an “Islamic Emirate” — not only in his own neighborhood, but all of [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 15th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Tonight, twelve days after the three-day Fatah Sixth General Conference/Congress opened in Bethlehem, Palestinian and Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas presided over what appears to have been the formal closure, with less than 200 persons present (including television crews), and said “the future is ahead of us”. Abbas (Abu Mazen) spoke after the formal announcment of [...]
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Filed under: Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 13th, 2009 by Marian Houk
UPDATE: It has just been announced that Mahmoud Abbas will give a press conference in the Muqata’a in Ramallah at 1:00 this afternoon — in about two hours’ time. Apparently, the vote-counting for the important Central Committee seats has been completed, but the picture is not any prettier. (At one point, a Fatah delegate told [...]
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Filed under: Corruption, Gaza, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 12th, 2009 by Marian Houk
According to a summary translation from the Hebrew-language press published today, Prof. Eyal Zisser wrote in Yisrael Hayom that in the sort-of-just-concluded [there has been no official announcement yet of voting results, and there was no closing ceremony] Sixth Fatah General Conference held in Bethlehem, “many of those who were elected to leadership positions – [...]
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Filed under: Corruption, Gaza
Posted on August 11th, 2009 by Marian Houk
As far as I can tell — and I took the trouble to come again to Bethlehem and even to stay overnight, and though I have made and received at least a dozen phone calls this morning — here has not yet been an official announcement for results of who won seats in the Fatah [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 10th, 2009 by Marian Houk
The Fatah Conference in Bethlehem has decided to extend voting for elections of new members to the organization’s two ruling bodies, the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council. The vote has been extended until 3pm [UPDATE: now extended to 4 pm Jerusalem time] this afternoon to try to get the participation of 150 delegates from [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Egypt, Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 9th, 2009 by Marian Houk
Voting started in Bethlehem for delegates to the Sixth Fatah General Conference — the first such meeting in 20 years, which will result in a change of leadership in the largest and most powerful Palestinian political party. Mahmoud Abbas has surprisingly managed to dominate the Fatah conference, but Fatah activists say a new leadership will [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Human Rights, International Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, UN Security Council
Posted on August 8th, 2009 by Marian Houk
In a surprise move (rumored a week ago by Fatah activists in Jerusalem), Sari Nusseibeh has thrown his hat into the ring of Palestinian high politics, and is running as a candidate for Fatah’s Central Committee. Nusseibeh is regarded as a master politician, and the move as highly tactical. He has also been denounced for [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 7th, 2009 by Marian Houk
The nomination period for candidates to the Fatah Central Committee and the Fatah Executive Committee has been extended until Friday evening. According to sources in the secretariat of the 6th Fatah General Conference meeting in Bethlehem this week, the conference itself has been officially extended until Tuesday. It will last more than twice the time [...]
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Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on August 6th, 2009 by Marian Houk
On the second and third days of the Fatah Sixth General Conference taking place in Bethlehem this week, for the first time in 20 years, two Israeli F-16s made six flyovers of Bethlehem — twice flying low and slow — almost directly over Nativity Square and the almost-adjacent Terra Sancta conference center on Wednesday. However, [...]
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Filed under: Corruption, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
