Middle East Monitor - The Latest from the Middle East

The 11th annual "Palestinians in Europe Conference", organized by the General Secretariat of the Palestinians in Europe Conference and The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC), was held on Saturday in the Belgian capital, Brussels, and was attended by several Palestinian representatives and influential figures, under the theme "The Signs of Return are Blossoming".

The conference is considered one of the biggest Palestinian gatherings held in Europe annually and is an indication of the Palestinians' dedication to their identity, which the occupation is seeking to erase.

On May 7th, 2013, the United States and Russia agreed to hold an international conference to end the war and "prevent the dismantlement of Syria". The agreement was announced by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, after talks in Moscow, before which Kerry met with Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

The scheduled conference aims to revive the Geneva agreement, also known as the "Geneva Communiqué'", reached in June 2012 but has not been put into effect due to the unresolved issue of Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad's fate.

Author: Norma Hashim
Paperback: 125 pages
Publisher: Islamic Human Rights Commission
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1903718929

Review by Ramona Wadi

Edited and published during the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike, The Prisoners' Diaries is a distressing fragment of testimonies from Palestinians whose deterioration in Israeli jails has become a fact of life, rather than a blatant violation of human rights. The resilience against the occupation and a lack of global outrage against torture and apartheid practices resonated with irregular frequencies within the international community, as leaders relegate human rights to the vestiges of redundant diplomacy.

Malaysia's former Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, said on Sunday that Egypt could achieve great economic renaissance over a short period because of its vast natural and human resources which distinguish it from Malaysia at the time when the latter started its developmental experience.

Mahathir Mohamad expressed his gratitude to the Freedom and Justice Party for inviting him to speak about the Malaysian experience in achieving renaissance and development.

Israeli authorities announced on Monday that they had cancelled the UNESCO mission due to visit the old city of Jerusalem because the Palestinian Authority had failed to keep the mission away from politics, media sources reported.

Israeli radio, broadcasting in Hebrew, reported from sources in the Israeli foreign ministry that the decision was taken after the Palestinian side retracted previous pledges that the issue was not to be politicised.

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS

On September 30, 2011, Muhammad Al-Durrah was killed in the arms of his father by Israeli army gunfire at the Al-Shohada Junction in the Gaza Strip. This was filmed by cameras from the France 2 news channel.

Since this is a resounding crime and a scandal that reveals the true conduct of Israeli soldiers and their manner of dealing with civilians, Israel has tried to fudge the story.

The failure of the National Salvation Front was apparent since its inception. Its leaders' famous first press conference was delayed for several hours, and when they finally showed up, they were fighting over the microphone. No one will ever forget when Dr. El-Baradei tried to snatch the microphone away from Amr Moussa, saying "Come on Amr, give me the microphone." Despite their eagerness, they were unable to succeed in anything, as they were contentious partners who have never achieved notable political or professional success.

The online edition of the Israeli newspaper Maariv revealed on Sunday that the Israeli army has recently resumed using snipers units to disperse Palestinian demonstrations; a practice it had abandoned for a short period.

The newspaper reported that this technique was used at the end of last week near the settlement of Beit El in eastern Ramallah. Tutu rifles (0.22 inch calibre bullets) were used injuring five Palestinian youths.

Israel announced on Monday that a missile fired from Syria landed in the occupied Golan Heights near an Israeli military patrol. No injuries were sustained.

This follows incidents last Wednesday's in which several missiles were fired on the Jabel al-Shaykh ares.

Tunisia was the country that kick-started the Arab Spring. In December 2010, a desperate young man set himself on fire, and the ensuing protests led to the fall of dictator President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the country's first democratic elections in decades (in October 2011). As neighbouring countries like Syria and Libya remain mired in conflict and bloodshed years after their respective uprisings began, Tunisia has dropped out of the international news somewhat. The first revolution in the Arab Spring, it has also been seen – broadly – as one of the most successful.

Israeli gunships opened their automatic gun machines on the Palestinian fishermen along the Gaza coast in the early morning of Monday.

Witnesses said that the shooting towards the Palestinian fishing boats had started before dawn and continued until morning. No casualties have been reported.

Haaretz newspaper has reported that the European Union has given into US pressure and postponed a decision to label settlement products, in order to distinguish them from other Israeli products, which would have facilitated consumer choice and the boycott of illegal products.

The newspaper quoted Israeli and European officials as saying that the decision, which had been due to be approved at a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council this week, had been postponed until late June.

A survey by the Pew Research Centre in Washington has shown that the majority of Egyptians are supportive of President Mohammad Morsi's regime, despite a decline of confidence in the Muslim Brotherhood, to which the President belongs.

The poll, published on Thursday, revealed that 30 per cent of Egyptians believe that their country is heading in the right direction, compared to 53 per cent last year, and 56 per cent in 2011. Moreover, only 39 per cent believe that conditions are better than what they were during President Hosni Mubarak's rule.

It's time to cancel the European Union's trade association with Israel if their government persists in violating international law

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Lord David Steel spent four years of his childhood in Kenya at the time of the Mau Mau uprising in the fifties and sixties, when thousands were killed rebelling against British colonial rule; now he is one of the longest serving leaders of the Liberal Party. This early experience became an important part of his life and has affected his approach to morality and his political career. "Looking back on it as a student I was horrified by the assumptions of superiority of one race over others", he explains.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has said that regarding Palestinian internal reconciliation, he "absolutely does not feel that the Egyptian position is closer to Hamas". "If I felt so, I would not be here in Cairo," he told Egyptian journalists.

In a meeting with the chief editors of Egyptian newspapers, Abbas said: "No one can deny that Hamas is a part of the Muslim Brotherhood, but what I heard from President Mohammed Morsi was that Egypt is still keen on achieving Palestinian reconciliation."