Tag: Muqata’a

It's Friday – Friday prayer in the Muqata'a today + demonstrations in Bil'in + Sheikh Jarrah + Silwan

Palestinian TV showed the Friday prayer in … the Muqata’a Presidential headquarters in Ramallah today.

Front and center, the chief worshipper was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). The sermon was given by the Palestinian Authority (PA) Minister of Awqaf (Muslim Trust foundations), Mahmoud Habbash. After the eventful tension of recent weeks (particularly the extremely embarassing sex + corruption videotape scandal involving Abbas’ chief of office, Rafiq Husseini), it seemed to be a Friday prayer in penitential mode, with references to the role of the President, his duties, and the limits of his power.

(Less than two hours before the Friday prayers, Fahmi Shabaneh, the disgruntled Palestinian security officer who went to the Israeli media with the Husseini videotape held a press conference in this East Jerusalem {Beit Hanina} home, and said he had been reassured by Abbas that there would be an investigation into his allegations. Shabaneh said he would not hold a press conference this week, as he had threatened, to reveal more scandals, but would instead hand over all his evidence and documentation to Abbas… And through the grapevine, I heard this week that Rafiq Husseini told someone in East Jerusalem that the videotape was doctored with advanced techniques, that the living room and/or bedroom shown on the scandalous videotape was, in fact, his apartment — but, Husseini said, his secretary had never been with him there… proving, he reportedly argued (and as he has said before, despite much scepticism), that the whole thing was a fake.)

There were no famous faces in the room [UPDATE: many were instead at the demonstration in Bil’in, see below]. The room used for Friday prayers is the same room which is used for press conferences and meeting such as the Palestine National Council etc… On Abbas’ right hand was a Fatah Central Committee official with a big black mustache [Mahmoud Ismail] who was involved in the recent General Assembly + long-delayed elections of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (in which some Fatah officials, particularly Tawfik Tirawi) were deeply involved. I didn’t recognize anybody else except Presidential press office aide Mohammed Edwan, sitting at the far right end of the frong row of worshippers. Among those praying, there was at least one Palestinian policeman in uniform, a number of Presidential guard officers in camouflage green uniforms, and others who appeared to be low- to medium-level employees. At least one armed Presidential Guard officer was standing at alert behind the worshippers (but he only had a small side arm, and not a big huge black machine gun).

Palestinian television did not immediately go to the regular Friday weekly demonstration against The Wall in Bil’in today. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was among those present at the demonstration. (UPDATE: Palestinian Television’s nightly news showed a number of other political figures were there as well (maybe this is why they were not praying with Abu Mazen in the Muqata’a).

The Popular Struggle Committee sent out a press release saying that thousands were expected to attend or participate in the demonstration: “Following the victory forcing Israel to begin rerouting the path of the Wall, in face of the Army’s unprecedented attempts to crack down on the popular struggle, the people of Bil’in will celebrate five years of protest tomorrow. In a show of support to the popular struggle, the people of Bil’in will be joined by thousands from across the West Bank, among them Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and leaders from across the Palestinian political spectrum. Mohammed Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee said today that “The Army realizes the efficiency of our struggle and believes that it can be pacified with token gestures and repressed by the hundreds of arrests in last months. After managing to force Israel to finally follow its own court order and begin rerouting the Wall last week, we will prove tomorrow that Palestinian society, its left-wing as well as right, is united behind the popular movement, and the Israeli assault only stands to strengthen us.” Last week, 2.5 years after an Israeli Supreme Court decision deeming the path of the Wall on the lands of Bil’in illegal, preliminary infrastructure work to reroute the barrier in accordance with the ruling has finally began. … Roughly 680 dunams of the 2,000 dunams currently sequestered by the Wall will be returned to the village following the court-ordered rerouting of the trajectory”.

The Mayor of Geneva, Switzerland, was also present this week …
UPDATE: Ma’an News Agency reported that the man who was almost elected Mayor of Tel Aviv (he had the entire youth vote, apparently) Dov Heinin, MK of Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, was also present … “A group of Palestinian teens and young men successfully pulled down a 30-meter length of barbed fence from the separation wall, as the crowds were met with high-pressure skunk water sprayed at them by Israeli forces in full riot gear”, Ma’an added, here.

Later, the Popular Struggle Committee reported that about 1,000 people attended, and that two demonstrators were injured in Bil’in
(“One was struck with a tear-gas projectile in the leg and another was shot in the stomach by a rubber-coated bullet”), while about ten demonstrators were injured in other villages: “Al-Ma’sara, south of Bethlehem, Ni’ilin and Nabi Saleh, where 10 protesters were hit by rubber-coated bullets, including a Swedish national who was struck in the mouth”.

Although the Popular Struggle Committee said it regards the rerouting of The Wall near Bil’in as a victory, it vowed that “protest will continue until the Occupation is over and the Wall is dismantled in its entirety”.

Afterwards, it was reported (in Haaretz, among other places) that “Demonstrators participating in rally protesting the Israel’s West Bank separation fence dismantled a section of the barrier on Friday, during a rally marking five years since the beginning of the Bil’in protests. About a thousand people took part in the rally, which was also attended by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Palestinian parliament member Mustafa Barghouti as well as Fatah strongman Nabil Shaath. During the rally several protesters managed to cross the barrier, placing a Palestinian flag on top of an Israel Defense Forces outpost, while others dismantled a 30-meter section of the fence itself. IDF sources claimed that the fence’s repair could cost several hundred thousand NIS“.

So, here is part of the fence that has to be moved by order of the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Israeli military is complaining that they will have to repair it at great cost …

The Haaretz article also reported that (no doubt because of Salam Fayyad’s presence — and Fayyad is one of two Palestinian officials whose movement around the West Bank is coordinated with Israeli security forces, who also reportedly escort his convoy) — Israeli security forces “were aligned in rear positions to allow the demonstrators to protest in a ‘non-violent fashion’, but began using dispersal instruments as soon as protesters commenced hurling stones. A source in the IDF’s GOC Central Command told Haaretz that the incident proved that the IDF was willing to allow non-violent protest, but that it was clear that some of the participants act violently, hurling stones and causing thousands of shekels in damages to the fence”. This Haaretz article can be read in full here…

Another weekly demonstration was expected in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem today, where an hour in advance a tight and manned police barrier appeared to bar entrance to the entire neighborhood (including the site of the tomb of Shimon Hatzadik, believed to have been a high priest in the Second Jewish Temple, which has now been taken over by Orthodox Jewish worshippers). A row of white police vans stood behind the barricade, and there were groups of police and Border Policemen in various uniforms under the warm mid-day sun.

UPDATE: Ma’an later added that “Israeli forces attempted to disperse the press and diverted protesters from attaining the residential areas closed off by Israeli police, as settlers entered the contested neighborhood”. This Ma’an report is here.

UPDATE. The Jerusalem Post later reported that “1 man was detained on Friday afternoon dozens of left-wing activists and east Jerusalem locals gathered for the weekly protest against the expansion of the Jewish enclave in Sheikh Jarrah, a predominantly Arab neighborhood. The activist was taken in for questioning after attempting to organize a march in the neighborhood without an appropriate permit”. This JPost report is here.

And, there was also supposed to be a demonstration in the Silwan area of East Jerusalem as well, around the other side of the Old City, where Jerusalem’s Mayor has ordered the demonstration of 200 Palestinian homes, if he has also to demolish one seven-story building housing Jewish settlers in the same neighborhood — also built “illegally”, without required permits, which in turn are dependent on municipal planning that is non-existent.

Abbas receives Clinton in Ramallah

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Ramallah today.

There were more press traveling with Clinton than had been with Rice, at least as 2008 wore on. There were more international press today, too, at the Muqata’a Palestinian Presidential Headquarters.
Continue reading Abbas receives Clinton in Ramallah

More on Mahmoud Darwish's funeral in Ramallah

“Day after day / I must be worth my life … At the hour of my death / Worth the tears of my mother.”

A clip from Marcel Khalife’s song based on the poem by Mahmoud Darwish can be heard by clicking here .

The tears a mother sheds for her child fall from the moment of his (her) conception.

But in the normal course of life, a mother does not expect to bury her son.

Mahmoud Darwish’s frail 85-year-old mother Houriya (Freedom), came from her home in the Galilee in northern Israel to Ramallah, in a wheelchair, wearing a white headscarf and clothing, her knees covered with a hospital-blue blanket, to attend her son’s funeral.

Mahmoud Darwish's mother arrives at the Muqata'a in a wheelchair

Her wheelchair had to be lifted and carried, like a palanquin, to take her into the Muqata d’a presidential compound in Ramallah to meet the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

[Why didn’t Mahmoud Abbas come out to greet Mahmoud Darwish’s mother, instead of her having to be lifted up to be taken inside to see him???]

Angry Arab today posted on his blog this close-up picture of Mahmoud Darwish’s mother at the funeral:

Mahmoud Darwish's mother - photo from Angry Arab blogspot

As Omar Karni reported yesterday in The National: “Unaccompanied by any instrument, Khalife [when Darwish’s coffin arrived in Amman – see post below] … sang My Mother, based on Darwish’s poem I yearn for my Mother’s Bread. “Day after day / I must be worth my life,” Khalife sang. “At the hour of my death / Worth the tears of my mother.” The full story can be read here .

The mother of Mahmoud Darwish in a wheelchair - 13 Aug 08

The Muqata’a — a former British military and administrative headquarters building in Palestine during the Mandate, is where the late Yasser Arafat lived under Israeli siege for the last years of his life, and where Arafat is now buried in a spare but imposing mausoleum, after his death in a hospital in Paris of a still-mysterious illness. Arafat, too, returned in a coffin flown by helicopter.

Mahmoud Darwish was often critical of Arafat — but they were on speaking terms. Darwish was evacuated with Arafat from Beirut during the Israeli siege in September 1982. And he accepted Arafat’s invitation to be a member of the PLO Executive Committee, a post which he later resigned in protest at the Oslo Accords.

Mahmoud Darwish’s brother (Ahmad) was also at the funeral, in a white shirt and black trousers. There is a striking physical resemblance (and, note to the NYTimes, Mahmoud’s hair was wavy, not straight).

Ahmad Darwish, brother of Mahmoud Darwish, at Muqata'a funeral

He arrived before his mother, paced restlessly, and chain-smoked.

Brother of Mahmoud Darwish waiting for arrival of coffin

Mahmoud Darwish funeral ceremony at Muqata'a

The media was waiting.
The visual media was waiting for Mahmoud Darwish's final return to Ramallah

The funeral wreaths were waiting.

Funeral wreaths for Mahmoud Darwish

The dignitaries and the famous and infamous were waiting.

The dignitaries were waiting

Yasser Abed Rabbo in wheelchair waiting for return of Mahmoud Darwish's body at Muqata'a

Two Jordanian helicopters, one of which was carrying the coffin of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish returning from Texas via Amman for burial in Ramallah, circled overhead at precisely 12:01 pm — exactly on time — and landed a few minutes later.

One of two Jordanian helicopters carrying Mahmoud Darwish back to Ramallah after his death last week in a Texas hospital - 13 Aug 2008

The helicopters parked on the landing pad area next to the mausoleum built for Yasser Arafat in the Muqata’a presidential compound in Ramallah.

Jordanian helicopters which brought Mahmoud Darwish's body back to Ramallah from Amman.

The coffin, adorned with wreaths of flowers, followed a Palestinian military drum-and-bagpipe band:

Casket of Mahmoud Darwish arriving at Muqata'a

Salam Fayyad walked beside the coffin, and Mahmoud Abbas walked behind it.

Salam Fayyad walks beside Mahmoud Darwish's coffin

Abu Mazen walks behind Mahmoud Darwish's coffin

The Palestinian security forces were not very easy-going.

Palestinian security snarl at journalists as Mahmoud Darwish's coffin passes

Al-Jazeera’s Walid Al-Omary did a live stand-up report, as did an Israeli television journalist:

Walid al-Omary reporting live for Al-.Jazeera

Rice has left Jerusalem

It was Rice’s eighth visit to Jerusalem-Ramallah, and her third in six weeks, or her second in two weeks, depending on perspective. There are reports of still one more visit to come, by mid-November.

Kol Israel, citing Reuters, reports this morning that “A senior US official says the Annapolis peace summit is likely to take place in the last week of November. Reuters quotes the official as saying that participating countries will be represented [in Annapolis] at the ministerial level”.

Yesterday, in Ramallah, it was a small treat to watch Rice’s convoy pass. The first clue was the unusual deployment of olive-uniformed Palestinian security (the police wear blue). They refused to allow cars to park on the street in front of the Wataniya building, where the Palestinian Peace Coalition [the Palestinian team working on the Geneva Initiative] used to be housed, until their funding dried up. The building houses the Swiss, Japanese, and Irish consulates, and Royal Jordanian Airlines offices – clearly a dangerous lot. The security forces were quite suspicious, but not really nervous. At the last minute, it was possible to emerge into the sunlight just in time to see the action — like watching the Saint Patrick’s Day parade in NYC.

Rice, at about 11:30 am, was apparently coming from the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and going to the Muqata’a to see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

Traffic was cut off a few minutes before the convoy approached. Then, a white pickup truck approached at high speed from the opposite direction, and made a U-turn, waiting in position to lead the convoy on. A smaller bright mid-blue vehicle (the color of some police cars was next, then, after a pause, a police motorcyclist with a rotating light on a pole perched at the back of his vehicle signalled the arrival of the convoy itself: Another blue police van. Closed vehicles loaded with Palestinian olive-uniformed security personnel. Then about 8 black vans, with tinted windows (closed). In the second row of seats, suited security personnel, one man fully facing each side of the street, anxious faces scanning the facades of the buildings on both sides. What would they do if they actually saw something dangerous — a rifle sticking out of an upper floor window, like at the Texas Book Repository? It might be too late by then … In the back of these black vans, at least two rows of seats, facing each other, forming a conversational grouping. Calm reigned.

The convoy moved at a clip, but didn’t break the sound barrier.

At the back, another group of six to eight white vehicles. These seemed to be more security, probably including Israeli security. These white vehicles, in fact, might be all Israeli, at least Israeli-provided. At the end, two white vehicles with a printed sign in the window: Press. The windows in these vans were clear, allowing a perfectly clear view of the well-dressed and clearly well-mannered travelling press corps, and perhaps other local journalists being assisted to attend the event. Sitting ducks.

At the end of their meeting, sometime around 1:30 or 2:00 pm, Rice and Abbas gave what was latter called an “upbeat” joint press conference at the Muqata’a, where local (Palestinian) journalists had been asked to be in place from 10:00 — for security reasons.

Abbas and Rice were pleased, apparently, from comments made at a gala meeting of the “prestigious” Saban Forum on Sunday evening by Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert — two of the most important of which were (1) “We will not bargain about the right of the Palestinian people to their own state”, and (2) “It should be remembered that the Roadmap sets out a series of steps for the State of Israel. These steps, like the obligations of the Palestinians, have yet to be implemented. We will not concede to the Palestinians on any of the obligations outlined in the Roadmap, and we will not avoid fulfilling our own obligations to the letter”.

For a fuller account of Olmert’s hailed remarks, see the post “The Day after Annapolis?“, on Palestine-Mandate.com, here.

For an informal poll of Palestinian man-on-the-street reactions to the present process, see the post on Palestine-Mandate.com, “There will be an Annapolis meeting, it seems“, here.

Rice did not visit the nearly-completed Yasser Arafat memorial, that is nearly completed, in lovely light-pink stone, around his gravesite in a corner of the Muqata’a — the building where his health declined after two years of being quite literally under seige, facing regular public Israeli threats to finish him off. Arafat was evacuated by helicopter and taken via Jordan to a hospital in France, where he soon died. Arafat’s body was returned from France via Egypt, and then helicopter to the Muqata’a, where it was unable to land for a very long time due to the press of mourners on the ground.

Historical footnote: at least three Western journalists, all women, were recalled by their news organizations as a result of Israeli protests at their emotional [i.e. “unobjective”] reporting of Arafat’s final days, including his helicopter evacuation — a much weakened-man in an overcoat and woolen cap, over his pyjamas — from the Muqata’a.