The statement notes that “Amnesty International has called on the Palestinian and Israeli authorities to release all journalists who are being detained for carrying out their legitimate professional activities, amid continuing harassment of media workers in the region”.

But, Smart notes that “In particular, it is Palestinian journalists that are targeted. Not only are they subject to harassment by Israeli forces but in the West Bank, those considered sympathetic to Hamas are liable to be detained by Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces, while in Gaza, those considered sympathetic to Fatah have been targeted by members of the Hamas security agencies.”

The statement says that “Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed its concerns about freedom of expression for journalists working in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Both the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas de facto administration in Gaza have curtailed media freedom and taken action against media and journalists who criticized them. Israeli forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories frequently harass and use excessive force against Palestinian journalists”. This statement can be viewed in full here.

Meanwhile, fallout still continues following the recent elections in the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. Elections had not been held for some 16 years, and journalists were concerned that the membership rolls had been padded with non-journalists who could be expected to vote for political or other considerations. Fatah Central Committee member Tawfik Tirawi, former director of intelligence in the West Bank, who is now in charge of the portfolio for labor unions and organizations, was reportedly heavily involved in the organization of the general assembly meeting, of the elections themselves — and of the post-election arrangements.

Some Palestinian journalists say that they realize it would have been impossible to hold the elections at all without Tirawi’s involvement — or “interference” — but they believe it would be better if he had stepped aside the moment a newly-elected 63-member Executive Committee was in place.

Many of the post-election critiques being published by Palestinian journalists revolve around agreement or disagreement with how this was done — and whether or not it is better to drop out totally, in protest, or to try to work from within to improve the situation so that the union will work in the interests of journalists (and not of political parties)… The controversy has been visibly bitter and chaotic, and had a debilitating effect.

Those who have elected to stay and struggle inside the union have not yet started the heavy work needed to re-drafting the organizations by-laws, or constitution, and update the membership rolls. “We discovered that there are no files, no paperwork, nothing”, said one Executive Committee member. “There has been no administration for over 15 years”.

Meanwhile, some journalists say, he has continued to work behind the scenes, and was involved in the formation of a 21-member Administrative Office along party or “political faction” lines: 5 are Fatah members from the West Bank, 4 are Fatah members from Gaza (though Gaza journalists were unable to participate in the recent vote), and so on. Though there are a few independents, there are no Hamas-affiliated journalists in the new PJS bodies. (The 21-member Administrative Office was supposed to have been elected by the 63-member Executive Council…) Tirawi’s consultations were also reportedly instrumental to the appointment of a new Chairman of the PJS, chosen from among the 63 elected officials. He is Abdel-Nasser Najjar, editor of the Palestinian Authority newspaper al-Ayyam — a “good guy”, one Palestinian journalists said, “but he has not yet taken some necessary decisions”.

The JPost article continues: “Palestinian clerics have reportedly claimed that the rebuilding of the synagogue would also give way to plans by right-wing Jewish elements to lay a cornerstone for the construction of the third temple on the Temple Mount – a rumor, based on an 18th-century rabbinic tradition purportedly declared by the Vilna Gaon, which has been brushed off by right-wing activists themselves as having been given ‘certain poetic license’. Nonetheless, an increased deployment of security forces will continue throughout the Old City and elsewhere in east Jerusalem on Sunday, and only Muslim men above the age of 50 and women of any age will be permitted into the Temple Mount compound – a common step taken by police to reduce the potential for violence”. The JPost article can be read in full
here

The same JPost article also reports that “Restrictions to the Temple Mount began on Friday morning amid fears of violence, and young Arabs barred from the mount clashed with security forces at various spots in and around the Old City. A policeman was lightly wounded by rocks and four young Arabs were arrested for attacking security forces, police said. At one point, police prevented several Arab youngsters from breaking through a security barrier at the Ras el-Amud checkpoint in a bid to get to the Temple Mount [i.e., to Al-Aqsa Mosque]. Also beginning Friday morning, some 3,000 police were deployed on the mount and throughout the Old City, and access to the site was restricted to men over 50 and women. This followed an intelligence report warning of violence over the decision to include Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs and Bethlehem’s Rachel’s Tomb on the heritage list, as well as over this week’s announcement by an Interior Ministry committee of the planned expansion of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo [n.b. - the announcement was made during the [three-day] visit of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, and elicited a strong American condemnation and follow-up protests]. Also on Friday, rock-throwing broke out between Jews and Arabs near the tomb of Shimon Hatzadik in Sheikh Jarrah after the weekly left-wing protest…”

In large part because of the volatile situation in East Jerusalem — which has sparked sporadic protests at West Bank flashpoints including the incredibly congested and badly-managed Qalandia checkpoint — the TOTAL CLOSURE of the West Bank [except for some "humanitarian cases"] which began on Friday morning, has now been extended until after midnight on Tuesday

The post by Max Blumenthal on his own blog, which has been picked up by Mondoweiss, also reports that “NGO Monitor legal advisor Anne Herzberg was featured prominently at the conference. During a panel discussion, she accused the European Union of ‘pouring hundreds of millions into these NGO’s…that are actually in favor of a one-state solution’. Without naming those NGO’s or explaining why accepting foreign money was such a crime, Herzberg boasted of suing human rights groups to force them disclose their donors. She accused Israeli NGO’s like B’tselem of causing ‘a breach of sovereignty’ against Israel by contributing data to the Goldstone Report — an insinuation that Israeli human rights workers were traitors … None of the factual documentation these groups released was challenged by the NGO Monitor report or in Herzberg’s presentation. Instead, the groups and their leadership are being targeted with a scattershot of accusations that recall McCarthyism in its crudest form. As a consequence of his zeal, NGO Monitor director Gerald Steinberg was hauled into an Israeli court this month and forced to apologize for claiming a Palestinian human rights group ‘justified violence’. Yossi Alpher, a former advisor to Ehud Barak, has condemned Steinberg’s activities, writing that NGO Monitor ’seems dead set on eliminating human rights monitoring of Israel entirely and smearing anyone who supports this vital activity’.” The full Max Blumenthal report can be read here.

But, those who lived here during the re-invasion of Palestinian cities in the West Bank still see the ghosts of the huge Israeli tanks tearing up the pavement and rolling through the streets, turrets swiveling, as they rolled to positions which became dug-in as the weeks went by. There were curfews and fear, a lot of shooting, and death. The Palestinian presidential headquarters in the Muqata’a in Ramallh was partly destroyed with then-leader Yasser Arafat still inside. Israeli leaders made periodic threats to go in and finish him off. But Arafat left only for his death in a Paris hospital in November 2004.

Today, Ramallah celebrated Natural Cultural Day — with hardly a mention of the total closure of the West Bank imposed in a surprise decision 36 hours earlier.

In fact, the total closure hardly had an impact, except for those who had a rare permit, or plans for travel to Jerusalem or points further toward the Mediterranean Sea — every day is a total closure for most people of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Tonight’s Palestinian Culture day celebrated the memory late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, whose last public appearance was July 2008 in the Ramallah Cultural Palace built with Japanese donor funds by the then-Minister of Culture, Yasser Abed Rabbo.

Tonight, Yasser Abed Rabbo, was in the front center seat, and presided over the event in the Cultural Palace as Executive Secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). His wife, Liana Bader, sitting beside him, is well-known Palestinian novelist, and a cultural activist. Next to them were Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his wife.

Only a few weeks after Mahmoud Darwish’s last public appearance, he died — in Texas — as a result of complications following heart surgery. Darwish was buried on the high hill — perhaps the highest point in Ramallah, from which there is a clear view to some of the high new buildings of Jerusalem — right next to the Ramallah Cultural Palace.

There was a brief video of a performance Marcel Khalife, the Lebanese singer and oud player who has sung many of Mahmoud Darwish’s poems as songs. One of the post-award performers sang a Marcel Khalife’s version of one of these poems: Jawaaz Safar (Passport) — a vital document that many Palestinians still don’t have.

The Jubraan Quartet of oud players, who had played with Mahmoud Darwish at his last presentation, in the Cultural Palace in July 2008, just weeks before his death, played some of the same tunes.

Hassan Khader, a Palestinian writer with a personal interest in the study of Israeli literature, head of the Mahmoud Darwish Foundation, who recently returned to Ramallah, announced the prizes. Yasser Abed Rabbo made the presentation, with Salam Fayyad, Presidential Advisor Tayyib Abdur Rahim, and two other figures joining them on the stage.

Prize winners were (1) Breyten Breytenbach of Cape Town, South Africa — who was jailed in South Africa for opposing Apartheid and violating Apartheid laws.  Breytenbach, wearing a red Mao-style jacket, sat next to Fatah Central Committee member Mohammed Dahlan, and Hanan Ashrawi sat next to him. Ahdaf Souif, a (female) Egyptian writer (2) was awarded the prize in her absence.

Among the several Palestinian donors who contributed to the financial prizes were: Bank of Palestine – $50,000 dollars; Al-Quds Bank – $20,000; Bil’in Anti-Wall committee – $100; Al-Amary Palestinian refugee camp committee – $100: and others.

The event was broadcast live on Palestinian television, but there were problems and frequent break-ups in either the transmission — or maybe it was with my satellite reception.

“As I stand here tonight, I bring with me the greetings and solidarity of the writers who came with me [on an earlier visit in 2002, when he and other writers read with Mahmoud Darwish], and of thousands of other writers around the world. You are not alone. The understanding and solidarity of your cause is growing. People know of you, and think of you … ”

Breytenbach said he asked Mahmoud Darwish to think of him as his Palestinian brother, and told the audience: “You must be a great people to produce a poet like that…You must be a great people. I know it’s not easy…”

He then presented a gift: “Our two countries have a history together of stones. They have been used for many different purposes. But a stone is perhaps the oldest and closest companion of humanity”. Breytanbach showed a stone he found on a beach — the weight and size of a heart, it may also have been a very ancient tool”. He showed that it was painted on different sides the colors of the Palestinian flag: green, white, black and red. Breytenbach issued an appeal “to my fellow writers around the world, each to bring a stone when they come to visit Palestine, as a sign of solidarity”. He said he had visited the grave of Mahmoud Darwish last night — and had taken away a stone, in memory.

According to Wikipedia, Breytenbach “studied fine arts at the University of Cape Town and became a committed opponent of the policy of apartheid. He left South Africa for Paris in the early 1960s. When he married a French woman of Vietnamese ancestry, he was not allowed to return: The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949) and The Immorality Act (1950) made it a criminal offence for a white person to have any sexual relations with a person of a different race … In France he was a founder member of Okhela, a resistance group fighting apartheid in exile. On an illegal trip to South Africa in 1975 he was betrayed (by the ANC who mistrusted him), arrested and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment for high treason: his work The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist describes aspects of his imprisonment. Released in 1982 as a result of massive international intervention he returned to Paris and obtained French citizenship. He currently divides his time between Europe, Africa, and the United States.” This can be read in full here.

A biographical note posted on the New York University website heresays: “From 1975- 1982, he was a political prisoner serving two terms of solitary confinement in South African prisons”.

An entry on the South African history site, here, states that Breytenbach “began his tertiary studies at the University of Cape Town in 1958. His opposition to apartheid saw him leave South Africa for Paris in 1960. In 1962 he married Yolande Ngo Thi Hoang Lien, a Viëtnamese national. His first published work, in 1964, Die Ysterkoei Moet Sweet (The Iron Cow Must Sweat), broke new ground in Afrikaans poetry as ‘powerful and startling ideas are presented without the use of traditional rhythmic metres and attractive images’ (Joyce). When Breytenbach returned clandestinely to South Africa in 1975, he was swiftly arrested. He pleaded guilty to entering South Africa to start an organization, Atlas or Okhela, intended to be the white wing of the ANC. Charged with treason under the draconian Terrorism Act, he was sentenced in the Pretoria Supreme Court to nine years in prison. Even while in prison Breytenbach was prolific, writing five volumes of poetry and English prose. An example is his prison memoir Confessions of an Albino Terrorist (1980). After his release in 1982 he left South Africa for France and became a French citizen … In December 1993 Breytenbach — still living in self-imposed exile in Paris —- paid a visit to the ‘new South Africa’. This visit contrasted sharply with the fiasco of his furtive return in 1975, the catastrophe of his arrest, excruciating ‘show trial’, and the two years spent alone in a cell directly adjoining Pretoria Central’s death row”.

Breytenbach writes mainly in Afrikaans, but sometimes also in English. A review of Breytenbach’s book of reflections upon the death of Mahmoud Darwish — with whom, it says, he shared a friendship of four decades before Darwish’s death — can be read here.

On 7 April 2002, from Paris, Breytenbach wrote An Open Letter To General Ariel Sharon, in which he said: “Should it interest you, I’m a writer born in South Africa now living and working abroad. For some time back there I also grew up among a ‘chosen people who behaved as Herrenvolk–as all those who believe themselves singularized by suffering or entrusted with a special mission from God. I apologize if my comparative allusion to Israel as Herrenvolk hurts because of the echoes from a recent past when, in Europe, so many Jews were the victims of a ‘final solution’. But how else is one to attempt describing the comportment of your armies when one is flooded by the horror of what you’re doing? … Apartheid was not Nazism, though to say so was a striking slogan. And the policies now perpetrated by Israeli forces on the Palestinian people should not be equated with Apartheid. Each one of these processes and systems is evil enough to merit a thorough description of its own historical singularity. And yet… There are similarities and differences: This blind competition, on both sides, to be recognized as more-victim-than-thou; cloaking atrocities in the ‘divine’ right to self-defense; the shameless manipulation of perceptions and the mendacious lying; the concomitant brutalization of your own society; the disdain shown for the humanity of the Palestinians–indeed, denying even the most elementary humane treatment to a terrified and trapped civilian population… As was the case with the South African regime, the preferred methods by which you hope to subjugate the enemy consist of force and bloodshed and humiliation … your settlements are armed colonies built on land shamelessly stolen from the Palestinians, festering there as shards in their flesh, or snipers’ nests, intended to thwart and annul any possibility of Palestinian statehood … Recently, I had the opportunity of visiting the territories for the first time. (And yes, I’m afraid they can reasonably be described as resembling bantustans–for only too often are they reminiscent of the ghettos and controlled camps of misery one knew in South Africa.) I only glimpsed Israel briefly, upon entering and then later leaving after spending a night in the opulent but dismally deserted David Intercontinental Hotel of Tel Aviv. You may say my view is fatally one-sided. Perhaps. Though one is always within sight of Israeli demarcation lines, checkpoints, tanks and armed outposts in the West Bank. I wondered, are your two peoples really all that different? … The few days I spent there, with the delegation of the International Parliament of Writers, left me with a mixed bag of strong but conflicting impressions. How small Palestine is! How inextricably linked your peoples are. The stones everywhere. The topography of names familiar from the Bible.  The beautiful light … How abysmally sad the villages are, reminding one of the lifeless and apathetic towns of East Germany. The green lights in the mosques and all the unfinished habitations. The ugliness of the architecture everywhere–the ubiquitous light-gray limestone building blocks. The inanity of your occupation–all those lit-up detour roads built for the exclusive use of settlers and Israeli citizens. The surly pettiness of your controls at checkpoints, having little to do with security and everything with the primitive urge to humiliate, frustrate, harass and drive to insane rage an occupied population. The extreme youth of your soldiers, and sadly they are so obviously well-cultivated boys and girls. The ruthless rapaciousness with which you destroy the possible Palestinian economy and steal their goods. The ancient revenge — bulldozing houses, destroying olive groves. The equally primitive sight of armed positions under camouflage netting and Israeli flags in commandeered houses … The old kerchiefed women in some refugee camp screaming that you, Sharon, will never make them move, that they chased away your soldiers ‘like dogs’. Proffering abuse, also, at the spineless Arab states and the cowardice of their own Palestinian Authority. The ebullience of the intellectuals and artists under siege in Ramallah–arguing, laughing at their own plight. How they all say, ‘We don’t want to be heroes, we don’t want to be victims, we just want to lead normal lives’.” Breytenbach’s Open Letter to Ariel Sharon, written in 2002, is posted and can be read in full here.

Salam Fayyad then addressed the event. He mentioned Yasser Arafat …

Who was the poet who performed at the beginning and end of tonight’s event? [Was it the Egyptian-Palestinian poet Tamam Barghouthi?]

The Palestinian TV’s regular 9 pm nightly news was not broadcast, in order to air this live event on Palestinian Culture Day. It ended with the audience rising to their feet and joining two of the performers in singing, together,  “Mawtini”…

**************************

On the afternoon of Mahmoud Darwish’s last public appearance, at the Ramallah Cultural Palace, in July 2008, there was one of the first huge traffic gridlocks I have ever seen at the main Qalandia Checkpoint — Israeli officials call it a “border crossing”. It took me terrifying and stress-filled four hours to move a few hundred meters in the summer heat. When I got back to Jerusalem, I found an email invitation to the Mahmoud Darwish reading that night — and I returned to Ramallah, despite the earlier horror, re-crossing Qalandia …

Today, because of stone-throwing, Qalandia Checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah was shut down completely for a period by the Israeli military, reinforcing the total closure that has been in place since a surprise announcement following a decision taken by the Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak on Friday morning.

UPDATE: The Israeli military announced on Saturday night, just hours before the Total Closure of the West Bank was supposed to end, that it was being extended until Tuesday night “due to rioting and other violence in and around Jerusalem”, an SMS says…

Friday is also the day of demonstrations … after at Friday prayers — at The Wall in Bil’il, Nil’in, Ma’asara, Nebi Salah…and now also, with mainly Israeli participants, at Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, north of the Old City. The Israeli Defense Forces disagree with the organizers of these demonstrations, who call the demonstrations “non-violent”. No, for the IDF, they are “violent”, because the demonstrators may “attack” (i.e., try to cross or to dismantle) the Wall, or the Fence (as the Wall is configured, in rural areas), or because some may “hurl” stones at Israeli jeeps or soldiers, once tear-gas and stun grenades and rubber bullets are fired as a method of “crowd control” (normally, a duty carried out by police, not by armed soldiers).

When there are clashes elsewhere, they almost always spread to the narrow bottleneck that Qalandia has become, where hundreds of thousands of people a day are squeezed through, if they are lucky, in scenes that are a terrifying and stressful nightmare. The whole humiliating and often-terrifying ordeal of passing through Qalandia is mainly designed to check documents and papers — to make sure that someone is allowed, by virture of where he or she resides, to enter Jerusalem, or that they have “permits”. For those allowed to pass in cars, there is a “security inspection” of the trunks and contents of vehicles.

As we have previously reported here, the traffic on both sides of Qalandia [i.e, coming from Jerusalem, and coming from Ramallah], is completely uncontrolled, and so chaotic that it quickly becomes a total and nearly unimaginable gridlock. There are private cars, and mini-vans that provide the Palestinian “public” transportation, and huge trucks loaded with cars or with containers or large amounts of construction materials, all jammed together, with not even a centimeter of space between them — and no traffic control or direction [though recently there have been some un-armed Palestinian traffic policemen attempting with some success to control cars on the Ramallah side of the entry to Qalandia. Into this mad scene, there are forays of stone-throwing boys, countered by Israeli soldiers in battle gear, firing stun grenades and tear gas, and sometimes also shooting rubber bullets.

Today, however, as people awakened, they learned that the Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, had decided on the basis of security assessments to impose a surprise and sudden total closure of the West Bank — out of concern that unrest in and around the Old City of Jerusalem might spread to the “villages” of East Jerusalem.

A total closure.

Hamas said they released Martin to make us happy. We are happy.

That is, happy that he is released — but not that he was detained in the first place.

Martin is the only international detained by Hamas since their rout of Fatah/Preventive Security Forces in Gaza in mid-June 2007.

Hamas said that he was being “deported” as a persona non grata.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel issued a statement welcoming his release, and saying that “Journalists should be able to continue doing their professional job in Gaza and or any other place, without having the threat of being arrested”.

The International Press Institute expressed concern about “the circumstances of his arrest and detention”, the fact that no charges against him were made public, and the fact that his court hearings were held behind closed doors.

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said that there had been “serious security issues” regarding Martin, according to a report by Ma’an News Agency.

Martin, who was detained on 14 February, had his detention extended on 1 March. He said to journalists gathered to see him when he arrived in Israel’s via the Erez terminal crossing to Gaza said: “I’ve been through a lot in the past few days and weeks”.

UPDATE: Human Rights Watch has sent out an message on Friday saying that Martin’s detention “seriously violated his due process rights”. The Human Rights message also added a lot of interesting detail that was unavailable previously. It said that “Martin’s lawyer, Sharhabeel al-Zaeem, said that Hamas military prosecutors prevented him from seeing his client from February 19 to March 1 or from speaking privately with Martin at any point during his detention. At no time was Martin brought before a judge for an independent hearing on his detention. ‘We are relieved at Martin’s release, but we are also concerned that Hamas has produced no evidence to justify his detention’, said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. ‘That a high profile, foreign journalist can suffer such unfair detention makes me wonder about the rights of lower-profile, Palestinian detainees caught in Hamas’s military court system’. Hamas authorities informed al-Zaeem on February 16 that they had ordered Martin’s detention on the suspicion that he was an enemy spy and had recruited others to spy – charges that carry the death penalty. The Hamas authorities failed to charge him with any crime during his detention, however, and did not present Martin or his lawyer with any evidence of reasonable grounds to justify his arrest. A Hamas official stated upon Martin’s release that Martin ‘tried to recruit a large number of translators and drivers to work for him’ and investigated smuggling tunnels beneath Gaza’s border with Egypt. Neither of those activities is prohibited by the penal laws applied in Gaza. Martin says he went to Gaza in an attempt to testify on behalf of a detained former militant charged with spying and collaboration.
His arrest may send a chilling message to persons who might otherwise testify on behalf of defendants in trials conducted by the Hamas military judiciary, harming the chances of defendants to receive fair trials”…

Israel’s Kadima Party, led by former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is considering calling a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Kadima won the February 2009 elections by a narrow popular vote, but Livni was not asked by State President Shimon Peres to form the next (now the current) Israeli government because Peres thought the Likud party had a better chance of forming a viable coalition — which he did by assembling one of the largest and reportedly the furthest-”right” of any government in Israel’s history.

Today, AFP is reporting that “Israel’s Labour Party may quit the ruling coalition over the decision to build 1,600 settler homes in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon warned on Thursday. ‘Members of the Labour Party have more and more difficulty in taking part in a coalition government that they joined with the purpose of relaunching the peace process with the Palestinians’, Simhon told army radio. ‘The anger of (US Vice President Joe) Biden is justified. A grave error has been committed (by Israel) and there is a price to pay’, he added. This AFP story is posted here.

Of equal if not greater significance, Al-Jazeera television is reporting that Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa (Egypt’s former Foreign Minister) said he has been informed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that there will be no “indirect” talks for now, because of Israel’s recent announcements of settlement construction. Al-Jazeera is also reporting that Chief Palestinian negotiator Sa’eb Erekat has said there will be no “indirect” talks unless Israel cancels the decision to expand Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem by 1,600 housing units.

The Israeli Government Press office, which is part of the Prime Minister’s office, this morning sent out an email to journalists stating that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday (Wednesday), 10.3.10, summoned Interior Minister Eli Yishai and expressed his displeasure at the timing of the announcement of another stage in the planning process of a Jerusalem building project. In light of the ongoing disagreement between Israel and the US on building in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Netanyahu said there was no need to advance the planning process this week and instructed Interior Minister Yishai to adopt procedures to prevent such an incident from recurring. Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to US Vice President Joe Biden and expressed his regret over the unfortunate timing. The Prime Minister informed the Vice President that this specific project had moved through various planning stages over several years. The final approval process will in all likelihood take more than a year and the beginning of actual construction would likely take several years”.

It should be noted that the Israeli government said the same thing, to former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — but about the opening of Israeli police headquarters and expansion in the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, which is half way across the West Bank toward the Dead Sea and Jordanian border. But it didn’t take years — it took about three months, for it to open and begin functioning in the E-1 site in the West Bank.

UPDATE: When Biden finally did speak at Tel Aviv University at mid-day Thursday — he was over an hour late for a scheduled speech (followed by a Q + A session with students) — he praised the statement issued in Netanyahu’s name this morning (quoted just above), saying that [though it's hard to read this in the actual full text we cited above] (1) PM Netanyahu announced that he was creating a mechanism to avoid what happened [the announcement about moving forward on the approval process for the 1,600 housing units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement in East Jerusalem just near the Shuafat village neighborhood], and (2) the statement said that actual construction will take several years. Biden said, “That’s significant, because it allows time for negotiations to resolve the issue“. Biden added that it was also significant because “when it [the Netanyahu position, presumably] was announced, I was in the West Bank”.

Biden then said that “the U.S. will hold either side accountable for actions that inflame tensions or impede progress toward negotiations”.

He added that “These indirect talks are only that — the only way to resolve the final status issues ins through direct talks … but the process has to begin”.

Biden also said, about the current situation here, that “this is no way to live. The status quo is not sustainable”. And, he said, the creation of a Palestinian state will help Israel’s security…

Biden noted that the Israeli government announcements on settlements over the past two days were “very touchy subjects, both in Israel and in my own country, because it undermines the trust needed for negotiations … and this is why I at the request of President Obama condemned it immediately”. This remark was greeted with applause and cheers. However, Biden seems to have had such a sense of place that he felt it was unnecessary to mention that this is a very touchy subject also among Palestinians.

After Biden’s speech, Al-Jazeera television interviewed for reaction a member of the Fatah Central Committee, Sabri Saydem (a recent Palestinian Authority minister who resigned, as required by party leader Mahmoud Abbas, upon his election to the powerful Fatah Central Committee). Saydem took a generally positive view of Biden’s remarks, and called it a potentially “historic speech”. He said that Biden had essentially said that “walls and settlements are not sustainable, and that Israeli should come to terms with the reality that there will not be peace/security unless there is a Palestinian state.

Saydem also said it was significant that Biden had said Netanyahu had explained he is “creating a mechanism” to prevent the recurrence of the crisis over these Israeli settlement announcements — though, Saydem said, “it remains to be seen if Israel is going to comply with the American wish that it stop settlement activities, and stops constructing The Wall”. The days to come will be quite critical, Saydem said. He noted that the Arab League Committee has now recommended that “There will be no direct or indirect talks unless these 1,600 housing units are cancelled by Israel, and it [Israel] stops any further decision to be taken in the future” — and the whole policy stopped. And, he said, “The Palestinian street is not ready to go to any talks under these circumstances”.

Saydem also picked up on one of Biden’s anecdotes — Biden recounted that the first time he met the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (it’s only woman PM to date), she said to him during a “photo op” that Israel has a “secret weapon”, which was, she said, that “we have no other place to go”. Saydem told Al-Jazeera that “We Palestinians also share this secret weapon … and we have no other place to go, either”.

As Biden was leaving the Muqata’a more than three hours later, Yasser Abed Rabbo (Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and now also head of Palestinian Television and Radio), was asked (in English) what had happened during the visit. He replied: “No comment” — then turned and walked away.

The Chief Palestinian negotiator, Sa’eb Erekat, was asked if negotiations had started during this meeting, and replied curtly: “No”.

An hour and a half before Biden’s arrival, the noise of the air cover being provided for the American vice-presidential visit grew noticeable.

The sirens of police cars escorting Biden’s convoy announced his arrival in the courtyard of the Muqata’a at 12h32. As his big American black terrorist-proof sedan pulled up to the edge of the Palestinian red carpet, the American vice-president began with the body language. After exchanging greetings, the two men walked side by side on the red carpet, while a Palestinian Presidential honor guard stood lined on both sides in full dress uniform (olive suits with gold shoulder braid), holding their rifles at salute. As they moved toward the door, Biden put one arm completely around the back of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), and grabbed his shoulder. Then, Biden’s other arm moved in front, across Abu Mazen’s chest, in a full-circle clinch, and he patted Abu Mazen on the lapel. Abu Mazen did not seem to mind.

[On the 9 pm Palestinian Television news, video footage from Bethlehem -- completely across on the other side of Jerusalem from Ramallah -- showed that Biden earlier did half of the same maneuver with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Biden moved his left arm around Fayyad's back and grabbed his shoulder. then letting his hand linger there for a few steps. Salam Faayad did not seem to mind, either.... Fayyad reportedly said that Palestinians appreciated Biden's "strong statement of condemnation" yesterday, after the Israeli Interior Ministry announced approval of plans to expand by an additional 1,600 housing units the Ramat Shlomo settlement next to the East Jerusalem village of Shuafat.]

At the end of the red carpet, Biden does a politician’s expert swivel around Abu Mazen, and the two men turn to shake hands while facing the photographers and cameramen. Biden waved and said, “Thank you all”.

The American Vice-President’s day began at his hotel in Jerusalem with a 7:30 am breakfast with Quartet Special Envoy Tony Blair. For his trip to the West Bank, he was not accompanied by Dr. Jill Biden.

Just after 2 pm, journalists who had been waiting in the Muqata’s new “press center” were permitted to walk across to the room where Biden and Abu Mazen were scheduled to make post-visit statements at 2:30. Journalists had been advised in advance that no questions would be allowed.

The chairs in the room were arranged, as usual, on two sides of an aisle. This time, however, the first three rows were reserved seating, and only two rows on each side were available for the press. (One Palestinian journalist joked that the three front rows were for Presidential security.)

At 2:20, the blue carpet on the speaker’s podium was vaccumed for one last time.

At about 2:45, after the entrance of senior aides, the two principals finally appeared.

Abu Mazen said that “the decision of the Israeli government announced over the last two days constitute an undermining of confidence and all efforts to launch indirect negotiations … and we ask that these decisions be revoked … I reiterate that the Palestinians remain committed to peace as a strategic option”.

The Palestinian President said, “I would like to address the Israeli people: the time has come for peace … a two-state solution, with the borders those of 4 June 1967, and East Jerusalem as our capital”.

It was important, Abbas said, to speak about “the siege on the Gaza Strip … where 25,000 houses have been reduced to rubble, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are still without shelter”. Abbas asked that UNRWA (the UN Relief and Works Agency) be allowed to bring construction materials into Gaza.

Then, he called on the Israeli government not to waste this opportunity to make peace, and “to stop construction of settlements, and its imposed activities on the ground”.

Biden said that “our administration is fully committed to the Palestinian people and a Palestinian state that is independent, viable, and contiguous … there is no viable alternative to a two-state solution … [and] this is also in U.S. interests”, he added.

“Overcoming the divide between Israelis and Palestinians can only be achieved via negotiations … and the U.S. pledges to play an active and sustained role in these talks”, Biden said.

The decision announced yesterday by the Israeli government to advance planning

“It is incumbent on both parties to build an atmosphere of support for negotiations and not to complicate them,” Biden told reporters.

“Yesterday the decision by the Israeli government to advance planning [for new housing units in East Jerusalem} undermines that trust, and that is why I immediately condemned the activities", Biden said. He indicated that the U.S. will hold both sides accountable for moves that undermine the moves toward peace.

He also said "we must find a way to improve the lives of Palestinians in Gaza", so that they would not be swayed by "the false promises of extremism".

Meanwhile, fallout continued after the announcement of settlement expansion that Biden condemned yesterday. The Associated Press reported that "Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose office announced the latest construction plans in east Jerusalem, apologized Wednesday for disrupting Biden's visit. But he said the problem was merely about timing, not substance. 'We had no intention, no desire, to offend or taunt an important man like the vice president during his visit', Yishai told Israel Radio. 'I am very sorry for the embarrassment ... Next time we need to take timing into account'. Ministry spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said the ministry routinely issues announcements of planning decisions immediately after they are taken. But this is not the first time that such announcements have dovetailed with visits by top U.S. officials. Plans for hundreds of settlement apartments were announced during the peace mission of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice". This AP report can be read in full here.

Haaretz reported that "The Interior Minister said that he was uninformed of the district committee's plan, because the matter was simply a routine, technical authorization. 'The district committees approve plans weekly without informing me', Yishai told Israel Radio. He further said that the committee could not have predicted that the approval would spur such a political storm. 'A few days ago, hundreds of new housing units were approved in Beitar Illit, which is much more problematic', said Yishai. 'So if the committee members saw that those houses were approved without a problem, they didn't think a technical authorization in Jerusalem, which isn't part of the settlement freeze, would require the minister's knowledge'. Yishai emphasized that even though he doesn't see a problem with the actual authorization of the East Jerusalem homes, if he knew about it, he would have delayed the move by a few weeks. 'If I'd have known, I would have postponed the authorization by a week or two since we had no intention of provoking anyone', Yishai said. 'It is definitely unpleasant that this happened during Biden's visit. If the committee members would have known that the approval would have escalated to such a situation, they would have informed me', Yishai emphasized. 'I apologize for the distress this matter caused', he added".

This same Haaretz article said that "Netanyahu told Biden during their meeting in Jerusalem earlier in the day [Tuesday] that he had had no prior knowledge of the decision to authorize the additional construction, and added that the program had been drafted three years ago and only received initial authorization that day. It could take several months, Netanyahu assured him, before the program is granted final approval. Netanyahu told his guest that the regional councils are not under the political leadership’s direct authority, and that his administration tries not to interfere with their work. A high-ranking official in Jerusalem, however, said Netanyahu has ‘no problem’ with construction in Jerusalem and has no intention of apologizing for building there. The official acknowledged, however, that the announcement’s timing was harmful to Israel’s diplomatic interests. ‘We didn’t want to humiliate Biden or sow division while he is in Israel’, the official said”. This Haaretz story is here.

In another story, Haaretz reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu “said he had been blindsided by the project’s announcement by the Interior Ministry, run by Shas, an ultra-Orthodox, nationalist party that is a key member of his governing coalition … Netanyahu ordered in November a 10-month halt to new housing starts in West Bank settlements but exempted those Israel considers part of Jerusalem and projects for Jewish homes in the eastern sector of the city captured in 1967. ‘Messages have been sent to Biden and the Americans that there was no intention to undermine him’, a senior Israeli official said. ‘We were genuinely surprised, just as surprised as the Americans’.” This Haaretz report is published here.

According to an English summary and translation of daily editorials, sent to journalists by the Israeli Government Press Office, Dror Eldar wrote in the Hebrew-language Ma’ariv newspaper: “I believe the Prime Minister’s people, who swear that he did not know about the tenders. This is even worse than the possibility that he did know.”

AFTER Biden issued his statement condemning the Israeli government announcement, UN Secretary-General BAN Ki-Moon issued his own statement.

UPDATE: The Arab League decided on Wednesday evening to withdraw support for the proposed U.S.-mediated “indirect” talks. UPDATE TWO – CORRECTION: It later became clear that the Arab League Peace Initiative Committee has recommended withdrawal of support for the “indirect” talks, but the decision will have to be made at the level of Foreign Ministers

Here is what U.S. State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley said today (Wenesday 10 March) in Washington — in response, of course, to questions from journalists (i.e., he did not volunteer this on his own):

QUESTION: Has the Secretary had any discussions with Vice President Biden on his trip in Israel regarding the diplomatic announcement?

MR. CROWLEY: I’m not aware that they have talked since he arrived in Israel.

QUESTION: And has she made any phone calls to anyone in Israel regarding that announcement?

MR. CROWLEY: Not today, as far as I know.

QUESTION: Did she make one yesterday?

MR. CROWLEY: Not as – I mean, she had a meeting with George Mitchell yesterday.

QUESTION: But she hasn’t spoken with anybody directly?

MR. CROWLEY: Not to my knowledge.

QUESTION: A follow-up on that. Can you bring us up to date on Senator Mitchell – former Senator Mitchell’s schedule and tactics or any details about what he’s planning to do next week?

MR. CROWLEY: He will be back in the region next week with stops – meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas. I don’t think we – we’re not prepared to announce his particular travel schedule, but I think he’ll be there early in the week.

QUESTION: How much damage did this do?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, as the Vice President made clear in his statement yesterday, this is precisely the kind of step that we continue to encourage the parties to avoid. It’s – it undermines trust and it certainly is not conducive with creating the appropriate atmosphere for the indirect talks to advance. But we are in discussions with the Israelis about this announcement and I’m sure that it will come up when the senator is in the region next week.

QUESTION: What does that mean, you’re in discussions with the Israelis about this announcement? I mean, the timing of it or what they actually announced? Both?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I mean, the timing I think was highly unusual. But I think we’re focused primarily on what this action and the impact it’s had on the broad environment.

QUESTION: Can you just say – well, why do you think the timing is highly unusual?

MR. CROWLEY: I think –

QUESTION: I mean, I know why, but I’m trying to get you to say it. (Laughter.)

MR. CROWLEY: Look, it would be unusual for an Israeli Government to take this kind of action while a vice president is standing next to the prime minister. But we are talking to the government and trying to understand what happened and why. And clearly, as we’ve said, we want to see the parties press forward with negotiations, and they both have a responsibility to avoid actions that we think undermine the process.

QUESTION: Do you think the Secretary feels betrayed, then, by this? I mean, this was highly –

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think – well, it is highly unusual. I’ll – but as to how it happened, why it happened, I will defer to the government of Israel to explain. But we – clearly, the Government of Israel has a responsibility, the Palestinian Authority has a responsibility, now that they have agreed to indirect talks, to take the appropriate actions and avoid the kind of actions that undermine trust.

QUESTION: Do you believe that Netanyahu and the government actually knew that this was going to happen on that very day?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I’ll defer to the prime minister to describe whether this was expected or unexpected, but we’ve condemned the action. And that also is probably an exceptional thing to do with a U.S. leader in Israel, but we – obviously, it represents the seriousness with which we took this announcement. And both the Vice President in his discussion with President Abbas today and Senator Mitchell following up on that will continue to encourage the parties to move forward. We think this kind of situation is, in fact, the reason why we believe that they have to get into negotiations so they can put these issues on the table and resolve them and get to a formal agreement.

QUESTION: Okay. Has Senator Mitchell made any calls since the events of yesterday? And as a follow – not a follow-up, but a follow-up to an earlier –

MR. CROWLEY: I’m sure that between Senator Mitchell and his team, we have been in very close contact with the Government of Israel today.

QUESTION: Did Senator Mitchell sit in in the meeting with – that Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon today earlier? The deputy foreign minister was here and saw, I believe, Deputies Steinberg and Lew.

MR. CROWLEY: If there was such a meeting, I’m sure he was there.*

“Condemn”?!

Haaretz reported tonight that “The American vice president added that the ’substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I’ve had here in Israel. We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them’, Biden said adding that the ‘announcement underscores the need to get negotiations under way that can resolve all the outstanding issues of the conflict’, Biden said. ‘The United States recognizes that Jerusalem is a deeply important issue for Israelis and Palestinians and for Jews, Muslims and Christians’. Biden also said that the U.S. believed ‘that through good faith negotiations, the parties can mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem and safeguards its status for people around the world. Unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations on permanent status issues. As George Mitchell said in announcing the proximity talks, “we encourage the parties and all concerned to refrain from any statements or actions which may inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of these talks”,’ Biden said”. This Haaretz article is published here.

Earlier, in a move that only built up the importance and impact of the Biden statement in Israel, the White House spokesperson also said, according to an AP report, that “the United States condemns Israel’s approval of 1,600 new settlement homes in disputed East Jerusalem. Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday that Vice President Joe Biden, visiting Israel, would issue a detailed statement shortly”.

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli Ministry of Interior approved the building of 1,600 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo, an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood sandwiched right next to the Palestinian village of Shuafat in East Jerusalem. At one point during the day, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior denied that Ramat Shlomo was in “East Jerusalem” (he must have meant to say that they were in Israel’s unilaterally-declared Greater Jerusalem Municipality) — then issued a correction confirming that “the housing units in question are located beyond the Green Line”.

There are media reports tonight that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu asked the Minister of Interior Eli Yishai (of the Shas party, an Orthodox religious party) to issue a statement saying that the announcement of the expansion of Ramat Shlomo was not timed to coincide with Biden’s visit. The Minister’s Media Adviser sent an email just before 10 pm saying that: “The Jerusalem District Planning Committee today (Tuesday), 9.3.10, approved a plan which has been in the works for over three years. This is a procedural stage in the framework of a long process that will yet continue for some time. The Committee meeting was determined in advance and there is no connection to US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel. Interior Minister Eli Yishai updated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the foregoing earlier this evening”.

The New York Times bureau chief in Jerusalem Ethan Bronner wrote that “A statement issued in the name of the Interior Ministry but distributed by the prime minister’s office said the housing plan was three years in the making and that its announcement was procedural and unrelated to Mr. Biden’s visit. It added that Mr. Netanyahu had just been informed of it himself”. The NYTimes story is posted here.

Rory McCarthy, reporting in The Guardian before the Biden statement tonight, wrote that “The latest approvals were announced by the interior ministry, which said they had been passed by the Jerusalem district planning committee. A spokeswoman said there were 60 days to appeal against the decision. Ramat Shlomo, built 15 years ago, is on land captured in the West Bank in 1967 and then annexed to Israel in a move not recognised by the international community. Two years ago, when the Israeli government approved 1,300 new homes in the same settlement, the then US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, criticised the move as having a ‘negative effect’ on peace talks”. This article can be read in full here.

Of course, today’s announcement of 1,600 new housing units (calculate 5 people per unit) was not the only action taken — but to keep track of these developments is more than a full-time job, for more than one person …

Ma’an added that Falk “said PA officials formally approached him in February asking him to resign, arguing that he is unable to carry out his responsibilities since Israel detained him at Ben Gurion International Airport and deported him in late 2008. But, he stressed in an interview, ‘what they [the PA] say formally and what they say informally are quite different … Informally they say different things, things that are essentially untrue, that my health doesn’t me allow to do the job or that I’m a partisan of Hamas’, Falk added”.

As Ma’an said in its article, “Falk’s mandate is narrowly defined to include only the human rights record of the occupying power, Israel, in the occupied West Bank and Gaza – he does not report to the UN on the ”
actions of the PA or the Hamas government in Gaza”.

The Ma’an report noted that “Falk did raise hackles in Ramallah when he publicly criticized the PA for delaying UN action on judge Richard Goldstone’s report that accused Israel and Palestinian militias of committing war crimes during the 2008-2009 Gaza war … President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision, under US pressure, to delay a vote in the UN Human Rights Council on Goldstone’s report provoked a political crisis, including calls for Abbas to step down, or even for the dissolution of the PA”.

Falk, a professor emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, was appointed to succeed John Dugard as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 in the late spring of 2008. He made one trip to Israel and the West Bani a few weeks later, and irritated government officials [Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor basically said that one of the main problems was that Falk told Israeli officials he was coming in his personal capacity, then allowed himself to be introduced at a meeting in Ramallah as the UN special rapporteur...] When he returned in mid-December 2008 on an official UN mission, he was denied entry, detained in very uncomfortable conditions overnight at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, and then deported. He has not been allowed to visit Israel or the occupied Palestinian territory since then.

Ma’an also reported that Arabic-language news reports surfaced last week, which Falk confirmed in an interview, that “the Palestine Observer mission to the UN in Geneva also delayed consideration in the UN Human Rights Council of his [Falk's] most recent report detailing Israeli abuses of Palestinians’ rights … He says the PA-appointed ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khreishah, put forward a resolution in a recent plenary session of the Human Rights Council which delayed a discussion of his own report on Israeli rights violations from March until June. The resolution passed unanimously. Falk, a Princeton international law expert, said he is ‘not happy’ about the PA’s actions, but has no plans to resign. ‘I feel that it’s very important not to succumb to this pressure …We’re supposed to be independent’, he added”.

Ma’an said that its “repeated phone calls to the Palestinian mission at the UN in Geneva were not returned”. The Ma’an story can be read in full here.

The Ma’an story made reference to an article written by Nadia Hijab, an independent analyst and a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies, in which she said that the PA was more discrete than Israel in its attacks on Falk, and “has quietly suggested to Falk himself that he resign. One reported reason is that Falk can’t do his job because Israel will not allow him into the country”.

Hijab’s also reports in her article, published on the Agence Global website, here that “Palestinian human rights advocates … have acted as a group to support the implementation of the Goldstone Report and to protect Falk and his role … Last month, 11 Palestinian human rights groups wrote to the High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressing dismay at the PA actions against Falk … More recently, 19 Palestinian groups wrote to PA president Mahmoud Abbas criticizing Falk’s treatment and pointing out the repercussions for the Palestinians’ internationally recognized human rights”.

Hijab states that “The attacks on Falk and Goldstone are hard for the two men to bear. And they tear at the very fabric of international law and the mechanisms put in place to uphold it. The Human Rights Council has stepped on a slippery slope by agreeing to postpone Falk’s report. Instead of listening to the PA (and Egypt) the Council should have backed its special rapporteur. If it does the unthinkable and relieves Falk of his duties because the PA does not want him, the system of independent special rapporteurs would be undermined … Undermining the Goldstone Report would be an equally harsh blow to the human rights system”.

An informed source at the UN in Geneva clarified today that “1) the Palestine Mission did ask for postponement of consideration of the Fall report about which they had disagreements on certain terminology and methodology etc. In my view this was a mistake since a) the differences are not critical b) they had the option of publicly taking him to task on them c) Palestine should not be making a precedent of governments interfering in UN reports and d) its good for them to have problems with Falk as it makes him all the more credible in his criticism of Israel. 2) They did not ask him to relinquish his post, though making as much fuss about him as they did adds up to the same outcome”.

What were the Palestine Mission’s specific problems with Falk and his report? The source in Geneva explained that “Their ‘formal’ reservations were to do with Falk implying in his report that Hamas was the government authority that should investigate war crimes on their side (which upsets the PA which pretends to be the legitimate government authority), and something about him exceeding his mandate by refering to possible Palestinian violations of human rights (since the report is supposed to be about Israeli practices) and some other relatively inconsequential point. Bottom line, they never liked him, he was never pliable enough for them, he is too independent and outspoken and the REAL reason is of course his Jazeera interview last October”.

Meanwhile, the source in Geneva said that UN Human Rights Council has scheduled a debate on 22 March, in a follow-up to the Special Session on Gaza that was held in October, and four resolutions are to be considered: one on follow-up to the Goldtsone report, one on Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, one on self-determination, and one on Israeli practices (which normally would have been shaped by the Falk report) and which will concentrate on Jerusalem, which will be informally distributed later this week — and which will include a paragraph concerning the on-going desecration of the Mamilla Cemetary in West Jerusalem.