November 2007 Update
TUFI’s monthly update looks at important trade union issues in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Middle East Peace Process, regional developments, domestic Israeli and Palestinian affairs and primary issues affecting British trade union policy on Israel
Middle East Peace Process: Syria and Saudi Arabia to attend Annapolis summit
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, arrived in Washington yesterday ahead of the Annapolis Middle East peace summit due to start today (27 November). Nearly 50 countries will attend the conference, including a record 17 Arab nations.
After weeks of apparent reluctance, Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to attend, and Syria confirmed on Sunday that it would send its Deputy Foreign Minister to the event after receiving assurance that the issue of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights had been added to the agenda. The attendance of both Saudi Arabia and Syria is another boost to US efforts to win wide Arab support for the conference. The conference is the first big push for a peace settlement since the collapse of negotiations at Camp David in 2000.
Confidence Building Measure: Israel to release Palestinian prisoners and freeze settlement expansion
The Israeli Cabinet met on the 19 November for a special session ahead of the upcoming Annapolis summit. At the meeting, Olmert announced the release of 450 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinians. He also announced to the Cabinet that “there will be no new settlements and no land confiscations” from the Palestinians, and vowed to remove any outposts built by settlers without government approval. Olmert’s statement followed Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it would only attend the Annapolis summit if Israel agreed to a “freeze on settlements” in line with the key requirements laid out in the first stage of the Road Map.
Middle East Peace Process: Blair unveils plan to boost Palestinian economy
Tony Blair announced on 19 November a range of new economic projects aimed at revitalising the occupied territories and creating momentum for the peace talks. The announcement, made in Jerusalem alongside Palestinian President Salam Fayyad and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, detailed four major projects, including a new sewage treatment plant in Gaza, an industrial park in Jericho, a Turkish-backed industrial zone in Hebron and an economic package to help increase tourism in Bethlehem. His announcements come ahead of a planned donor conference to be held in Paris in December where further measures to encourage Palestinian economic development are to be discussed. Commenting on the measures, Blair said:
“It is a strong beginning for what is a critical part of this process, because without hope of prosperity and a rise in living standards and giving people an economic stake in the future... then politics will never succeed” (19/11/07)
Confidence Building Measure: Israel offers to help establish social welfare services in the PA
Israeli Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog proposed to Quartet Envoy Tony Blair on 19 November that Israel would be willing to offer support and professional services to welfare initiatives established by the Palestinians. He called on Blair to set up a regional forum to encourage cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the areas of welfare and social services. He said that the objective of such a forum would be to “determine an integrative and comprehensive social policy for the region that would take into account, first and foremost, the well-being of individuals, families and communities.”
Lecturers’ strike: Striking lecturers meet cabinet secretary; strike to continue
Israel’s cabinet secretary, Oved Yehezkel, met with representatives of senior academic staff on 21 November in an attempt to bring an end to the lecturers’ strike, which has been going on for over a month. Prof. Zvi Hacohen, the lecturers' representative, said the meeting failed to resolve any of the disputed issues, and that the strike was set to continue for now.
The academic strike, which has been overshadowed by the ongoing strike in secondary schools, stood at the centre of a Knesset Education Committee discussion last Tuesday, where Technion President, Yitzhak Apeloig stated that if the strike is not over within 10 days, the semester would have to be cancelled.
The dispute revolves solely around wages. The Senior Lectures’ Union claims that a collective wage agreement has been missing for lecturers since 2001, and consequently wages have eroded significantly in the intervening years. Prof. Zvi Hacohen said that salaries had been reduced by an average of 15% in recent years. But Israel’s Finance, Minister Ronnie Bar-On, responded last week saying that lectures earn salaries that are among the highest in Israel – an average of £2,500 a month – and said he doesn’t understand “what they're complaining about.”
ITU Delegation: Israeli Teachers’ Union visits the UK
A delegation from the Israeli Teachers’ Union visited the UK for 5 days last week. The 11 Israeli delegates were hosted by the National Union of Teachers (NUT), and attended meetings and seminars in Stoke Rochford, and visited schools around the country. The visit also included an NUT diner with ITU and Trade Union friends of Israel representatives.
Gaza Security: Hamas kill seven Palestinians in anti-Hamas rally
Seven people were killed, including a twelve year old boy, and more than 100 were wounded on 17 November when Hamas paramilitaries clashed with Fatah supporters. Fighting erupted during a rally of over 250,000 in Gaza City marking the third anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death. The rally was the biggest show of anti-Hamas sentiment in Gaza since Hamas seized power. The self-appointed Hamas police force beat protestors, eventually opening fire on the crowd, in the worst factional violence since Hamas took control of Gaza in June.
In the night following the rally, Hamas arrested several hundred Palestinians in an effort to clamp down on anti-Hamas opposition. In addition to the arrests, Hamas militants brutally suppressed a pro-Fatah rally by female students in Beit Hanoun who were protesting the killings in Gaza City the day before. UK Times journalist Paul Martin and a cameraman reporting from Gaza were briefly detained in a police cell before being released.
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