Israel's latest campaign against Palestinian Sovereignty: "Another attempt to subvert the Palestinian Authority”
17,July 2008
Large numbers of civil
organizations and businesses in Nablus
and its surroundings have been subjected to Israeli raids. These raids were
preceded and accompanied by other incidents—in Jenin, Hebron,
new ‘Askar and Balata refuge camps, among others—where Israel issued orders to close down
Palestinian organizations and expropriate private businesses.
The systematic Israeli campaigns
under the pretext of fighting terror in
the West Bank is an arbitrary attack that is targeting the Palestinian society,
as the targeted civil institutions
include charities, educational and health institutions. Nablus Mall for
instance is a private company. The stores are private investments listed in Palestine stock market,
and its shares are owned by some 4000 of shares holders.
This is a rampant
violation of the Palestinian jurisdiction according to Oslo agreements, in that it effectively reinstates
Israeli control inside area A (areas under full Palestinian control). This is
both an excuse for future violations and a diversionary tactic within the
context of the ongoing negotiations. Israel hopes to saw further
divisions among the Palestinian factions and to divert the Palestinian
leadership's attention to internal issues rather than to handling the
Palestinian cause itself.
The timing of this
campaign came right after the Gaza truce, which
is a tool to improve the humanitarian situation of the Gaza population. One aim of the Israeli
violations is to provoke retaliations by Palestinians, which will be used as a
pretext for more attacks and violations under “Security” title.
The end goals of this
campaign are to further separate Gaza from the West
Bank, both politically and geographically, to weaken the PNA, and to accelerate
the Israelis' expansionist plans in the West Bank
before any future agreements. The raids play into this policy also in that they
consolidate Israeli control over area A and discredit the Palestinian Authority:
Mahmoud Abbas' administration is shown to have little control over the areas
under its jurisdiction, and little power to protect Palestinian civilians from
the incursions. If it fails to react appropriately to the Israeli violations,
it would be seen by its own constituency as an Israeli puppet government, and
thus would fall victim to a classical divide and rule stratagem designed to
strengthen the occupation. Israel
hopes to provoke reactions from within the Palestinian movement, and to use the
chaos that would ensue as an excuse to accelerate settlement activities and
building the segregation wall as well as to delay dismantling checkpoints and
transferring any more territory to PNA control.
We at PNGO are very concerned
about this situation and call on the international community and NGOs to exert
pressure on Israel to honor its commitments outlined in the agreements it has
signed with PNA (Madrid Formula and DOP agreement of 1993) to respect the
principle of a viable Palestinian state that is ought to be established in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as its capital. Most urgently,
this means immediate cessation of its aggression against the Palestinian people
and land. As well as the immediate intervention by the international community
to stop all Israeli measures against Palestinian civilians and Palestinian
civil organizations.
The
Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO)