By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

UNITED NATIONS – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas created the potential for chaos within the United Nations Monday, announcing that he would submit a membership application to the Security Council after addressing the General Assembly on Friday.  The move comes as what Abbas considers a last-ditch effort to achieve recognition as a separate state.  Negotiations with Israel have ground to a halt, and efforts to restart them have failed.

Since 2002, a group of diplomats from the United States, Russia, the UN, and the European Union, known as the Quartet, have been attempting to guide negotiations between Israel and the representatives of the Palestinian people.  The last attempts at negotiation broke down a year ago when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on illegal settlement building on occupied Palestinian land.  Israel insists that before negotiations can resume, any new resolutions would have to include a requirement that it be recognized as a “Jewish state.”

Netanyahu, who plans to address the General Assembly prior to the application’s submission, considered Abbas’s decision unilateral in nature.  He still appeared willing to resume negotiations.

“When the Palestinian Authority abandons these futile and unilateral measures at the U.N., it will find Israel to be a genuine partner for direct peace negotiations,” he said.  “I call on the PA chair to open direct negotiations in New York, that will continue in Jerusalem and Ramallah.”

Abbas was also agreeable to meeting in New York, but not to resume negotiations. “I am ready to meet any Israeli official at any time he wants, but to meet only for meeting, I think it’s useless,” he told Fox News.

Both the United States and Israel oppose granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations because they believe only negotiation could reach a true solution. The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported that Palestine has secured six or seven affirmative votes from the Security Council.  For the membership vote to succeed, Palestine needs an affirmative vote from nine out of the 15 members of the Security Council, and no veto from a permanent member.  The United States, a permanent member, has vowed to use its veto power should the need arise, but doing so would paint the U.S. as the country that single-handedly ended Palestine’s efforts.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an envoy of the Quartet, attempted to frame the issue while speaking with reporters on Sunday.

“The Palestinians are here at the UN now, so the question is … can people find a way that enables the Palestinians to take a significant step forward to statehood at the same time as not ending up in a situation where the UN replaces negotiations?”

The answer seems murky.  Blair told ABC that the Quartet was trying to put together a document to serve as framework for future negotiations and persuade Abbas not to make his application.  To Palestinian official Nabil Shaath, the document had minimal value.  He told journalists that when he saw the proposal, “I gulped. This was the statement that was supposed to persuade President Abbas not to go? Mr. Blair doesn’t sound like a neutral interlocutor. He sounds like an Israeli diplomat sometimes.”

Any further negotiation seems unlikely at this point, but a successful Security Council vote, even with a U.S. veto, will have symbolic value to the Palestinian cause by giving legitimacy to the organization’s leadership.  Abbas seemed optimistic and referred to a speech made by U.S. President Barack Obama last year in which Obama said he hoped for Palestine to become a member of the U.N. in 2011.

During his interview, he spoke directly to the U.S. President.  “You promised me a state by September 2011,” Abbas said.  “I hope you will deliver.”

For more information, please see:

Ha’artetz — ‘Palestinians need just two more Security Council votes in bid for statehood’ — 20 September 2011

Jerusalem Post — No compromise on ‘Jewish’ state, say Israeli officials — 20 September 2011

Ma’an News Agency — Abbas ‘willing to meet Netanyahu’ — 20 September 2011

BBC — Israel offers talks with Palestine over UN bid — 19 September 2011

Jerusalem Post — Quartet meets in New York to avert Palestinian UN crisis — 19 September 2011

New York Times — Diplomats Scramble as Palestinians Plan to Apply for U.N. Membership on Friday — 19 September 2011

New York Times — Palestinians See U.N. Bid as Their Most Viable Option — 17 September 2011

By Tyler Yates
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen — Security forces under the control of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, have opened fire on protesters in Sana’a.  Estimates put the devastation at 26 dead and hundreds injured.

Protesters, numbering in the tens of thousands, had taken to the streets of the capital to call for an end to Saleh’s 33-year rule.  Government snipers fired upon protesters from the rooftops, and security force officers and armed civilians shot protesters with anti-aircraft guns and automatic weapons as they left Change Square, the place many protesters have camped since they begin protesting for a regime change in February.  Witnesses also reported the usage of water cannons and tear gas.

Earlier in the day, government troops opened fire into the Al-Hasaba district of Sana’a, home to important opposition leadership.  The opposition did not return fire, noting that they did not want to give Saleh any excuse to not sign a deal to transfer power.

Sunday’s violent hostilities come as Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen’s vice president, will, within a week, sign a Gulf Arab initiative to arrange for a transfer of power.  A high-level Saudi official, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed this to reporters saying “the vice president will sign the Gulf Initiative in the name of the president.”

Last week news broke that Saleh had authorized Hadi to negotiate a power transfer with the opposition.  Saleh left Yemen three months ago for Saudi Arabia to recover from a June 3 attack against his compound.

Some members of the opposition believe that Saleh’s authorization of the power transfer negotiations to Hadi is just the latest in a series of delays to prevent any real change.  The uneasiness has resulted in a new swell of protests in recent days.  These larger protests have been met with greater numbers of security forces and armed regime members.

Saleh has been facing protests over charges of nepotism and corruption since January. The rejuvenated protests are merely a continuation.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters stormed the main university in Sana’a, preventing the first day of school.  At least six students were injured in the storming of the university.

Many Yemeni schools have served as focal points for the opposition.  At least 20 schools were kept closed on Saturday because many of them had served as outposts by government defectors.

“Schools are for learning, not to serve as barracks,” said Fatma Mutahar, principal of Ayesha school and an official with the Education Ministry.  Mutahar has attempted to negotiate with the defectors to leave her school, but so far those negotiations have failed.

More than 60 schools in the southern city of Aden are serving as shelters for displaced peoples left homeless as a result of fighting between the opposition and government troops.

Despite government pressures the opposition plans to continue.  It has more protests planned for the following days and weeks.

Demonstrations on Sunday also took place in many other Yemeni cities including Taiz, Saada, and Damar.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Many protesters shot dead in Yemen — 18 Sept. 2011

The Guardian — Yemeni protesters ‘fired on by troops’ — 18 Sept. 2011

NPR — Yemeni Forces Open Fire on Protesters — 18 Sept. 2011

USA Today — Yemeni forces open fire on protesters, 12 killed — 18 Sept. 2011

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

AMMAN, Jordan – About of Jordanians gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Amman to call for the embassy’s closing and the dissolution of Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel.  Prior to the event, thousands were expected to attend, and the possibility of violence led the Israeli ambassador to return home the day before.  Instead, the protesters were cordoned off by a large contingent of police officers who contained them to an area outside the Kaloti Mosque, located about a kilometer away from the embassy.

The rally comes on the heels of a similar protest outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo, Egypt last Friday.  There, an estimated 3,000 protesters destroyed a wall surrounding the building and then broke into the embassy.  They ransacked several offices and threw papers with Hebrew writing out of windows into the streets below. 

Nothing of the sort happened in Amman, in spite of calls to do so.  One protest group, called “Million Man March to Close the Israeli Embassy in Jordan,” has more than 3,000 members on its Facebook page. The group’s motto is: “No Zionist embassy on Jordanian land.”  Another group called for activists to mass at the Kaloti Mosque and head towards the Israeli embassy to break inside the compound and replace the Israeli flag with a Jordanian flag.

Participants were disappointed by the low turnout.  “It’s a shame for Jordan,” said Samer Abu Gosh, a dentist who, like many Jordanians, is of Palestinian descent. “I expected at least 10,000.” 

Jordan is one of two countries, the other being Egypt, that has signed a peace treaty with Israel.  According to the New York Times, the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a long-time Israeli ally, has led to a release of anti-Israeli feelings in the aftermath of the revolution.  Political activist Khaled Abdul Fattah opined that the leaders of the Amman protest were inspired by the actions of their Egyptian peers after the attacked the Israel embassy in Cairo

One of the potential reasons for this lack of results may be the present status of Palestinians.  Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has announced that he plans to seek a vote for recognition of a Palestinian state.  Despite this intention, which has left Israel in a delicate situation, its possibility is uncertain.  The protest in Amman called for a larger Palestine than what Abbas was seeking.

“We will not accept what Abbas is claiming,” said Rani Ayyash, a 23-year-old Jordanian of Palestinian descent.  He opined that the Palestinian leader had settled for “a fifth of the Palestinian land, a third of the people and a quarter of the authority.”

To make matters worse, WikiLeaks recently released diplomatic cables that implied a U.S. plan to turn Jordan into a Palestinian state.  About half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian descent, which is part of the assumed rationale for the idea.  A minority of Israelis favor the plan, but it was part of the outcry at the rally.  “No to the alternative homeland and we are going to burn Israel,” participants, including the Islamic Movement, trade unions, and Pan-Arab groups, shouted.

The timing of protests on the issue may not be ideal, as evidenced by the lack of attendance.  To Hassan Deiraniyeh, who lives in the area near the site of the rally, the problem is the Islamist movement, which encourages the youth to join in protests, but does not take part itself.

“What I can see is a group of enthusiastic young people but where are the leaders of the Islamic movement? None of them is here,” he said.

Abdul Fattah also felt timing was off, feeling that there were more important areas to worry about.  “Maybe it is not the right time to raise demands related to the Palestinian issue. People want change in the domestic arena so far. That is a more attractive call,” he said.

But protests and rallies for domestic change have become less common.  King Abdullah II has made good on his recent promise for reform, reducing the need to bring attention to it.

For more information, please see:

CNN — Israeli ambassador returns to embassy in Jordan — 16 September 2011

Jordan Times — Hundreds rally near Israeli embassy — 16 September 2011

Al Jazeera — Israel evacuates embassy in Jordan — 15 September 2011

Al Jazzera — Jordanians protest against ties with Israel — 15 September 2011

Ammon — Update: Jordanian protest demand closing of Israeli Embassy — 15 September 2011

New York Times — Anti-Israel Rally in Jordan Also Exposes Arab Rifts — 15 September 2011

Petra — Protest organized in Amman against Israeli policies — 15 September 2011

Washington Post — In Jordan, low turnout for anti-Israel march — 15 September 2011

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TRIPOLI, Libya – Monday marked the beginning of a turning point for Libya as Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC) that will act as the interim government, delivered a speech in Tripoli’s newly named Martyrs’ Square that laid out his vision for the newly liberated country.  More than 10,000 people attended the address, including many women who enthusiastically cheered him on while waving the red, black, and green flag of liberation.

“Women will be ambassadors,” Abdel-Jalil, the former justice minister of exiled leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, declared.  “Women will be ministers.”

Statements such as these from Abdel-Jalil, who defected from the Gaddafi regime when the revolution began, raised the hopes of the crowd.  He emphasized that the new Libya would have a strong focus on women and youth.  The address also made a point of giving credit to all who were involved in the revolution, including the NATO alliance and sympathetic members of the Gaddafi forces, who sabotaged missions or deliberately aimed away from rebels when ordered to fire.

For women of Libya, they anxiously await the payoff for their hard work in organizing rebel cells that turned into small armies that helped send Gaddafi into exile.  They functioned in multiple ways to aid the forces: collecting money, hiding fighters, and even running guns.  One woman, an art teacher named Amal Bashir, acquired ammunition through use of a secret code.  The New York Times described the code as follows: “[s]mall-caliber rounds were called ‘pins,’ larger rounds were ‘nails.’ A ‘bottle of milk’ meant a Kalashnikov.”

But whether that payoff comes will depend in large part on the government that forms.  Abdel-Jalil vowed that the new Libya would not accept extremist ideologies.  He also rejected the idea of a secular country, instead seeing one that is driven by Sharia (Muslim) law.

“We are a Muslim nation, with a moderate Islam, and we will maintain that. You are with us and support us – you are our weapon against whoever tries to hijack the revolution,” he said.

Abdel-Jalil had no plans for reprisals against Gaddafi loyalists.  Part of his speech, which was broadcast nationally, was directed at those who remained loyal to the former despot, who remains at large.  He urged those people to surrender, as Muslims were “a people of forgiveness.”  Abdel-Jalil also encouraged Libyans affected by the Gaddafi regime not to seek revenge against loyalists for past crimes.

“We need to open the courts to anyone who harmed the Libyan people in any way. The judicial system will decide,” he told the crowd.

Women look forward to the possibility of their new role in society: their occupations, unimpeded by the corrupt Gaddafi regime.  Gaddafi’s Green Book contained extensive material on respect for women, including sections on breastfeeding and domesticity.  But when they tried to follow the Green Book, they were held down by the government.  For instance, Bashir dreamed of a career as an artist, but she canceled what would have been her first exhibition after her sponsor, a member of the regime, demanded sex from her.

That fear is gone, having been replaced by optimism.  For Aisha Gdour, a school psychologist who smuggled bullets to rebel fighters in her handbag, there is no looking back.  “Maybe I can be the new president or the mayor,” she said.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Libya’s new leader calls for civil state — 13 September 2011

BBC — Libya: NTC’s Jalil vows state based on ‘moderate Islam’ — 13 September 2011

Libya TV — Libya’s interim leader makes landmark Tripoli speech — 13 September 2011

Tripoli Post — Interim Libyan Leader Calls for Reconciliation in His First Public Speech — 13 September 2011

New York Times — Libyan Transitional Leader Urges Reconciliation, Using Symbolism of Tripoli Site –12 September 2011

New York Times — Libya’s War-Tested Women Hope to Keep New Power — 12 September 2011