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In addition to the articles linked below, you might be interested in checking out the recent article in Middle East Report on the "Israel Lobby." Click here for the article by Mitchell Plitnick and Chris Toensing. JVP News Roundup, July 6, 2007 While virtually the entire world, including the US, Israel, the EU and the vast majority of Arab countries have lined up behind Fatah in the West Bank, the Arab leadership seems to prefer trying to restore Palestinian unity, a goal certainly shared by the majority of Palestinians, to whom national unity remains a fundamental principle. But for now, their efforts at mediation are on hold as detailed here. No doubt, this is due to Mahmoud Abbas' zeal for pursuing Hamas in the West Bank as discussed in this article. Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza remains desperate, though in some ways it has seen some stabilization. This report discusses Hamas' attempts to establish law and order in the Strip and the obstacles they are facing in doing so. But the struggle between Fatah and Hamas remains, as detailed in this report. Both groups have been matching each other in their tactics and behavior, a fact which has not gone unnoticed by the Palestinian populace, as we reported last week. Israel has permitted a significant increase in traffic for humanitarian aid into the Strip, and this has raised the capacity for such aid to meet the basic needs of the population there from 21% to 70%. Yet that same UN OCHA report also emphasizes the ongoing closures and the impact that has in the long term on Gaza's economy. Indeed, as reported by the Israeli human rights organization, Gisha, the already crippled infrastructure of Gaza is being systematically "erased." Again, we need to notice the strategy being employed. It's a very dangerous one. One Israeli columnist senses the problem, in that ignoring Hamas is not going to make them go away. The danger, however is greater than that; if Hamas is seen as a failure, that segment of Palestinian society is likely to seek a more radical alternative, not a more moderate one. This is especially so because the efforts to "bolster Abbas" are already having the opposite effect. France has urged Israel to make more concrete bolstering moves. Israel is certainly not going to be willing, in the current atmosphere and given the pressures on and general disposition of Ehud Olmert, to offer Abbas what he would need to legitimize himself in Palestinian eyes--significant release of prisoners who are seen as leaders in the resistance, significant removal of settlement outposts and plans to remove larger settlements and some indication of a willingness to talk about sharing Jerusalem. This, admittedly somewhat reactionary, account from al-Ahram in Egypt illustrates the ineffectiveness of Abbas' current strategy. Finally, Human Rights Watch this week struck a blow against those who accuse the human rights organizations of "anti-Israel bias" by releasing two reports that detail violations of international law by all parties. Whether on the matter of illegally held prisoners or on indiscriminate firing by both sides we see that international law is held outside of this conflict by both sides, other than when it serves their purposes. More articles of interest:
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