“The two-state solution has finally worked,” a Palestinian journalist in the Gaza Strip commented sarcastically. “Today, all our enemies have good reason to celebrate.”

A sign of Fatah’s predicament in the Gaza Strip was illustrated late Monday night when its leaders announced a unilateral cease-fire, only to be snubbed by Hamas. Fatah leaders also made urgent appeals to a number of Arab governments to interfere to stop the fighting, but their calls have fallen on deaf ears. The Egyptians, Saudis and Jordanians – who have, until now, been making huge efforts to end the anarchy in the Palestinian areas – are all fed up with the Palestinians.

The general collapse of government functions in the Gaza Strip urged several senior Palestinian figures and even ordinary citizens to seriously contemplate Professor Ali Jarbawi’s advice to disband the Palestinian Authority.

Even before the Hamas “coup” in Gaza Strip, political science Professor Jarbawi of Bir Zeit University maintained that the Palestinian Authority was a mere illusion of power: occupation under the guise of self government, and therefore useless.

A Palestinian journalist likened the Palestinian Authority to a smoke-belching car wreck, adding that it was time to toss the keys to the Israelis. His view is shared by many Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, who in recent days have told the media that they are fed up. “We’ve had enough, we should be so lucky as to see the return of the Israeli occupation.”

The recent events we have been witnessing in Gaza are actually the disbanding of Palestinian rule. The primary reason for the break-up is the fact that Fatah, headed by Abbas, has refused to fully share the PA’s mechanism of power with its rival Hamas – in spite of Hamas’ decisive victory in the January 2006 parliamentary elections.

And so, after the Israeli pullout in 2005, instead of becoming a model for Palestinian self-rule, Gaza turned into the exact opposite. Matters have come to the point where Hamas militias took by force what they believe they rightfully deserve.

Perhaps one last redline left in Gaza, Hamas may declare women of Fatah officials as war captives and marry them.

Elias Kokali, of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO), based in the West Bank, said Fatah would naturally benefit from Hamas’s decline.

“In general, Palestinians are against the fighting between the factions,” Kokali said, adding that 78 percent of Palestinians were unaffiliated with either side.

With the exception of those who are partisan in favor of Hamas, “the majority of Palestinians are disappointed by Hamas, and feel that Hamas is incapable of running the government,” the analyst added, citing a poll conducted by PCPO, due to be released in two days.

“For the time being, there are only two alternatives for Palestinians, and if they don’t vote for Hamas, they will vote for Fatah,” Kokali said.

Asked whether Hamas was trying push Fatah out of Gaza, Kokali said that such a goal was unfeasible, adding: “Every side has its support and power, and each wants more power than the other.”

“There are people on both sides who benefit from the continuation of fighting,” he added.

Jabar Wishah, of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza, said that the Hamas-Fatah war was “was more like a gang war than a battle between militants. We explicitly say that.”

“I think this a factional clash motivated by self-interest,” Wishah said. “It’s far away from the national interest. The national interest is to put an end to these clashes and to the suffering caused when militant groups attack,” he added.

Wishah said that the situation in Gaza has gotten so bad that the PCHR has had to close its office there.

“What concerns people here is the complete ambiguity and uncertainty, because uncertainty is more dangerous than danger,” Wishah said. “For the first time in the Palestinian Authority’s existence we closed our office due to the curfews,” he added. “People here expect the worst and they say that what we have now is bad enough,” Wishah said.

Asked how many people he estimated have been killed in the fighting, Wishah replied that “there is no exact figure up to now because the situation is deteriorating. It’s not a matter of how many, it’s a matter of why. Even a single person who is killed or who is injured or victimized is a story. So I’m not in favor of counting casualties because every single human being has his her dignity should be respected.”

“The most serious concern people here have is that they are uncertain that they will come back safely if they go out. So I think we are paying highly for this factionally-motivated conflict,” he added.

What Al-Kilani, head of Um Ar-Reehan village council, summarizes the increasing suffering of the inhabitants due to the separation wall that was built several years ago. The wall has isolated the village from the rest of the West Bank causing hardship to its people and threatening their presence as they find it more and more difficult to continue living in the village.

Um Ar-Reehan is one of Jenin’s northwestern villages that set on a number of hills. It is inhabited by 400 people only. The occupiers were able to isolate the village after the Wall swallowed up 5544 of its 6736 dunums (dunum = 1000 square meters).

Al-Kilani believes that the Israeli occupier confiscated and isolated the village because of its strategic location, surrounded by the Shakid, Raihan, and Hananit settlements. The village is surrounded by the largest forest in the West Bank. The village has also large areas of land compared to its small population.

Speaking of the everyday torment that Um Ar-Reehan inhabitants face, Al-Kilani said: “The Occupation Army opens the village gates from seven o’clock in the morning, and closes it again, at six-thirty in the evening. This has increased the suffering of the people who go to work outside the village”.

However, Al-Kilani said that the agricultural sector has suffered most because of the confiscation of large areas of arable land for the construction of the wall as well as the large numbers of boars released by the occupiers in the area which stops many villagers cultivating their fields for fear that the boars will damage their crops.

“The occupier is controlling our livelihood through destroying our agriculture, which is our main source of income. Furthermore, and due to implementation of the isolation policy, the inhabitants are prohibited from working within the green line or reaching the West Bank to work.” added Al-Kilani.

As for the effects of the isolation on the health, educational and social services, Kilani explained that “The continued siege imposed on the village has prevented people from visiting their relatives in other villages. A few months after the Intifada started, the occupation army setup checkpoints at the village’s eastern and southern entrances. Thus the village was cut off from the nearby villages of Tora, to the west, and Ya’bad, which provide the village with its health and educational needs. Also, the blocking of the routes, leading to the nearby Zionist settlements, adds to the everyday suffering of its people.”

Al-Kilani added: “Palestinians from other parts of the West Banks are not allowed to enter the village, except for a very limited number of teachers from Ya’bad teaching at Um Ar-Reehan and teachers from Um Ar-Reehan working at Ya’bad, who acquired an entry permit from the occupation forces, after lengthy tiresome process.”

No health services, even for critical conditions, exist in the village. Kilani explained how the Occupiers only allow Ambulances into the village via Jenin’s Coordination Office. He went on to say: “Most of the time Ambulances are forced to wait for a long time at the checkpoint before they are permitted to leave to the hospital in Jenin or the health center in Ya’bad.”

“Till 2000 health services were provided in the village. Now, and unless the ‘Medecins Sans Frontieres’ reach the village, parents have to travel each month, to Ya’bad, to vaccinate their children.”

Implementing land confiscation policies, the occupation’s “Civil Administration” prohibited the inhabitant of Um Ar-Reehan from building new houses. And despite the overcrowded classes in the only primary school available in the village, the occupation’s “Civil Administration” did not allow us to expand the school. Secondary Students are forced to seek education at the nearby village of Ya’bad. Sometimes they wait for long hours at the checkpoints, and then have to walk a long distance before finding a cab that can take them to school. All this daily suffering is increasing the torment of the students too.

The village also has no electricity and the council has asked for the village to be linked to the national network. Yet the biggest concern of the inhabitants, as Al-Kailani explains is the loss of the village’s identity as there are no maps identifying the village’s boarders.

In an interview in Israeli Haaretz Weekend Magazine, he said that he is in favor of abrogating the Law of Return and calls on everyone who can to obtain a foreign passport.

Burg, who was interviewed on the occasion of the publication of his book “Defeating Hitler” said “the strategic mistake of Zionism was to annul the alternatives. Israeliness has only body; it doesn’t have soul.”

“Judaism always prepared alternatives,” says Burg, who three years after leaving Israeli politics is now a citizen of France and a successful businessman.

“Just as there was something astonishing about German Jewry, in America, too, they created the potential for something astonishing. They created a situation in which the goy can be my father and my mother and my son and my partner,” Burg says.

His book ruminates about Israel and Zionism, compares Israel and Germany, harshly criticizes Eichmann’s hanging, reflects on Judaism in the age of globalization and remembers his father’s house.

Burg said he started his book in mourning for the loss of Israel. “During most of the writing the book’s title was ‘Hitler Won.’ But slowly I discovered the layer of not everything being lost. And I discovered my father as a representative of German Jewry that was ahead of its time. These two themes nourished the book from beginning to end.”

According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, its study has discovered that only 45 percent of the survey’s participants stated that they would sign on for an extra period, making the majority of pilots preferring to transfer to the civilian market. In previous years, 60 percent were willing to continue with the IAF.

The IAF Command has said that the reason for the motivational decline is the many temptations available to pilots especially in the high-tech field, and the worsening of terms and benefits in the military.

The study added that high ranking officials in the IAF said that there is no longer competition over positions in the command like there used to be. As a result, they are compelled to compromise and they do not always appoint the best man for the job.

“High-tech companies are enticing the officers any way they can. They offer wages that are twice as high as their army salary and very attractive benefits,” an officer said.

A representative of a high-tech company once stood outside an IAF base with a leased luxury car to persuade a high ranking officer to leave the army and join his company. He was eventually tempted.

“With all due respect to Zionism, the civilian jobs are much more tempting,” said an IAF pilot.

Another soldier said: “There is plenty we can do out there. The market is full of opportunities that are hard to resist. Add to that the lack of appreciation from the public, and you can understand why pilots prefer flying for El-Al (Israeli airlines) and not IAF.”

This trend is occurring all over the military. Officers have said that low wages, no advancement opportunities, and reduced public esteem push them to leave the service.

A high ranking officer at the Human Resources Directorate said that the interest of the Israeli society is to have a “good army with the best officers possible”.

“We are heading towards a crisis. The best people are leaving. More than ever, the Israeli army needs an excellent staff,” he said.

Mentioning then-host of the morning show Yechimovich and Military Affairs Correspondent Carmela Menashe by name, Dr. Chanan Naveh, who edited the Israel Broadcasting Authority radio’s news desk in late 1990′s and early 2000′s, said late Monday: “the Voice of Israel news room, took upon ourselves as a mission, perhaps an unstated one, to get the Israeli army out of Lebanon.”

Naveh, who now teaches journalism, added: “Three broadcasters, Menashe, Yechimovich, and I, pushed in every way possible the withdrawal from Lebanon towards 2000. In our newsroom, three of the editors had sons in Lebanon, and we took it upon ourselves as a mission – possibly not stated – to get the Israeli army out of Lebanon… I have no doubt that we promoted an agenda of withdrawal that was a matter of public dispute.”

Naveh spoke in a panel at the Haifa Radio Conference where several former and current news broadcasters on Voice of Israel and Army Radios discussed the tremendous influence they nearly all agreed they had on Israel’s national agenda.

At this point, Army Radio broadcaster Golan Yochpaz interrupted, “In my opinion that is just super-problematic – super-problematic.” Naveh did not miss a beat and said, “Correct, I’m admitting it, I’m not apologizing, I’m just saying this is what happened. It came from our guts because of the boys in Lebanon, this is what we did and I’m not sorry… I am very proud that we had a part in getting of our sons out of Lebanon.”

According to a comprehensive internal report by the Israeli Civil Administration, a government body entrusted with administering all nonmilitary issues in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, only 0.5 percent of the illegal structures were constructed on land registered to Jewish owners.

The data, published for the first time, also indicate that Israel is practicing a discriminatory policy: It is more lenient on illegal construction by Jews than by Palestinians.

Although the Jewish population in the area is four times bigger than the Palestinian population, the Israeli authorities have demolished triple the number of Palestinian structures compared to Jewish structures.

The report, compiled late last year, determines that approximately one-third (900 structures) of illegal buildings in the Palestinian territories were constructed within existing settlements.

The Israeli settlement of Ofra, northeast West Bank city of Ramallah, for example, has 179 illegal buildings out of 600 homes. Most of these illegal structures were built on privately-owned Palestinian lands registered to West Bank residents.

The Civil Administration has located 2,764 illegal structures, of which more than 650 were built on private-owned Palestinian lands. Another 900 were built on territory whose legal status has not yet been determined.

Some 1,200 were built on land owned by the state. Only 15 were built on land registered to Jewish owners.

The Civil Administration is responsible for locating illegal construction, issuing demolition orders and carrying them out. It has 270,000 settlers under its jurisdiction in the area C, as well as 70,000 Palestinians.

The data reveal that from 1997 to 2006, the Civil Administration located twice as many illegal Palestinian structures – approximately 6,000 – as Jewish ones. Of these, approximately 2,000 buildings were demolished – 1,500 by the administration, and the rest by the Palestinians themselves at the administration’s orders.

The number of Jewish structures demolished by the administration totaled 150, with another 500 demolished by the settlers themselves.

Dror Etkes, who coordinates the Peace Now movement’s Settlement Watch project, reacted to the data by accusing the government of “criminally employing its agencies in order to minimize the number of Palestinians residing in Area C and push the Palestinian population into enclaves so as to allow Israel to maintain its control over most of the West Bank.”

The Civil Administration’s spokesman, Zidki Maman, responded that “the number of structures that have been demolished reflect the number of structures that have been located.”

The Civil Administration was formed in 1981 “to manage the local population’s civil affairs for its welfare.” It was set up to free the army from attending to the needs of Palestinian residents of the territories, though its actions are subject to the approval of the Israel Occupation Forces.

Essentially, it is supposed to play the role of the Interior Ministry in the territories, and among other tasks, it is responsible for issuing entry permits into Israel.

However, civil rights activists have long argued that the civil administration was more concerned with promoting the Israeli government’s interests than with the welfare of the population under its jurisdiction.

The initiative, whether conceived as a gimmick or a genuine move, is led by an association in Jerusalem linking together over 130 Palestinian civil institutions.

The group’s leadership has said that its first move will be to send a letter to UN Director General Ban ki-Moon, requesting the UN realize its own decisions regarding East Jerusalem. Representatives on behalf of the umbrella group are scheduled to make their way to the UN office in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and deliver the letter in person.

“All UN resolutions since 1948 are based on the fact that Jerusalem is occupied territory, and that the occupation has no right to change its legal status, its geographical character or demographic makeup, and it is the right of its residents to take the necessary steps to organize and maintain their civilian lives,” writes initiative leader, Hazem al-Gharabli.

“The Israeli government has ignored these resolutions over the years and worked to alter that which characterizes this city and expel its resident from Arab Jerusalem to gain control over their lands and property.

“This without paying heed to the UN’s resolutions which called for the cessation of these practices… now the Israeli authorities are carrying out a series of racist acts, the ultimate goal of which is to bring to a complete change of the situation in the city.”

“Therefore – to stand up against this racism – the Jerusalem Association for Civil Institutions demands that the UN defend the residents of Arab Jerusalem and allow them to form a special municipality which will operate on their behalf in a manner that will serve the interests of its residents in accordance with UN resolutions. We demand of the UN to realize the resolutions pertaining to Jerusalem and not allow the Israeli authorities to continue ignoring them.”

After submitting the letter to the UN, the leaders of the initiative plan to hold a press conference in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood to announce the formation of a committee designed to plan to new municipality.

“The mayor of Jerusalem has stated that he views us as a demographic threat which must be disposed of. He can not be of service to us in this situation,” al-Gharabli said. “We expect the UN to recognize us and send observers to help us in realizing this step.”

Publicity stunt or not, this will be one of the events marking the 40th anniversary of the 1967 June War. According to al-Gharabli, the jurisdiction of the new municipality would follow the Green Line and it would serve all Arab residents of East Jerusalem. The new municipality would also still stake claim to Muslim assets in West Jerusalem.

“My grandfather’s home is in the western part of Jerusalem and I have no intention of giving up on it. The Israeli people can live in their capital in West Jerusalem – and we in the eastern part. We’re realistic in our vision,” said al-Gharabli.

Taking into consideration that Israel is obviously not going to recognize the municipality, al-Gharabli said, “Israel broke all the international laws. In any case, this is our right, we demand of the international community to come aid us in managing our own affairs. We already have clerks, garbage bags and everything we need. We’re ordinary citizens demanding justice. In any case, the declaration is part of a campaign we are leading under the banner of ‘Life to Jerusalem.’

With regard to the Palestinian personality that will be responsible for the preparation of the municipality, he noted that “We haven’t decided yet. First we’ll declare it and then appoint it. In any case the members will be from East Jerusalem families. We will try to get our message across through peaceful means. Just like the Israelis live in peace, we deserve to live in peace too. The Israelis are our neighbors and they deserve life just like us.”

Al-Gharabli denied that the group connected to the Palestinian Authority. “We have no ties to the PLO or to the Palestinian Authority, which does not support us. On the contrary – it opposes this step. We believe that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority discriminate against the residents of East Jerusalem.”

Al-Gharabli expects an answer from the director general of the UN. If he doesn’t respond, Al-Gharabli said that “we will intensify our actions and maybe even travel to the UN headquarters in New York and protest there. We demand that the Security Council carry out the resolutions it passed. Rafiq al-Hariri (former prime minister of Lebanon) has only been dead since yesterday and they have already formed an international tribunal. While Jerusalem has been suffering under occupation for 40 years and no resolutions have been carried out.”

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) said in a press release that the organization will begin on June 11th a campaign to rebuild each and every Palestinian home demolished by Israel – about 300 homes a year. ICHAD said it will dedicate our campaign to the memory of Hajja Rasmia.

ICHAD added that “The Campaign to Rebuild All Palestinian Homes Demolished Over the Next Year” is part of its contribution to the global campaign against the Occupation, in partnership with ICAHD-USA and ICAHD-UK, to rebuild each the Palestinian homes.

It notified that the funding coming mainly from Jewish donors appalled by the Israeli government’s house demolition policy and policies of transfer and dispossession.

ICHAD said that the very first act of the Israeli Occupation in 1967 was home demolitions. On June 11th, as the 1967 June War was drawing to its close, more than 135 Palestinian families in the historic Muslim Magharibeh Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City – the vast majority refugees from 1948 – were roused from their beds in the dead of night to watch in horror as Israeli bulldozers summarily destroyed their homes and the quarter’s two mosques, all in order to create an open plaza in front of the Al Buraq Wall (Western Wall).

According to ICHAD, it was an operation that had nothing to do with either the war or security, but to create the first of thousands of “facts on the ground” intended to make Israel’s control of the Occupied Territories permanent. In the wanton and illegal razing of the Magharibeh Quarter, Hajja Rasmia Tabaki, an elderly Palestinian woman, was killed when her home was demolished on top of her. She became the Occupation’s first victim.

This June 11th, ICAHD will return to this site where the Israeli Occupation began in order to announce its rebuilding campaign. Joining with the remnants of the Magharibeh Quarter’s Palestinian residents who remained scattered throughout the Old City to remember the tragic events of that night 40 years ago, an important gesture of Israelis taking responsibility for their government’s actions.

ICHAD said it will also sign a petition calling on the UN to implement Security Council Resolution 252, adopted in the wake of the quarter’s demolition (termed “urban improvement” by Israel’s UN Ambassador), which “Urgently calls upon Israel to rescind all such measures already taken and to desist forthwith from taking any further action which tends to change the status of Jerusalem.”

The participants will then walk from the Magharibeh Quarter to the site of demolished homes in the village of Silwan, where ICHAD will commence the building campaign, the homes that the group named batei sumud, “houses of steadfastness” against policies of transfer and dispossession

In the past two years the Palestinian market has responded to the political and security situation, and the quick investors who saw what was coming pulled their money out and moved it to more promising places and sectors.

Other, less lucky or slower investors, found themselves trapped by the lower share prices. “We were so optimistic then, we thought we could change the world,” Dr. Hasan Abu-Libdeh, the executive chairman and CEO of the PSE, recently said.

The Nablus exchange was established in 1997 as part of the wave of euphoria then. The Palestinians were leading their economy to rapid growth and Palestinian investors from the diaspora were showing their faith in the young and coming economy. They invested in the first companies traded in Nablus, and the name of the new market’s index was the politically charged Al-Quds Index (Jerusalem index in Arabic).

And then came the second Intifada, which caused the Palestinian economy to collapse.

Since it was founded, the PSE has served as a barometer for what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Just like every other good stock exchange, it has powers of prophecy. For example, when the Palestinian unity government was established, the market dropped. Investors voted with their legs – and their money – as they forecast that not much of anything good would come out of the new cabinet for the Palestinians.

Abu-Libdeh himself left public service a year ago and took up his present post running the PSE. In an interview with The Marker he said: “Indications are that daily trading volume will continue to decrease, since we cannot bring in foreign investors, who are waiting because of the political situation between Israel and the Palestinians, the intra-Palestinian situation, and due to the lack of progress in the political process,” explained Abu-Libdeh.

“Foreign investors, in particular from the Arab world, have found better investment opportunities in markets such as Egypt and Morocco,” he added.

“Moreover, most Palestinians investors are small and have no additional liquidity that would allow them to continue to invest. This is a result of the political and economic closure of the Palestinian economy, of the Palestinian Authority’s inability to pay salaries and of the withdrawal of the donor nations. Everything affects the liquidity of the market,” he explained.

In spite of the difficult political, economic and security situation, Abu-Libdeh is working on increasing the number of firms listed on the exchange. According to the law, 90 companies are supposed to be listed, but not all have good enough numbers. There are firms who have very few shares available for public trading, and others whose financial results are not sufficiently impressive. Therefore, according to Abu-Libdeh’s plan, the number of companies listed on the PSE will grow to about 4, and the other 45 will trade on a new list of over the counter stocks, starting at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2008.

An analysis of the PSE’s current 36 firms by sector shows a relatively large amount of diversity: 22 percent provide services, 19 percent are in banking, 31 percent are in industry, 11 percent are in insurance, and 17 percent are investment companies.

An analysis by market value puts the services sector in first place with 37 percent of the entire market’s value.

The record year for the Al-Quds Index was 2004 when it reached 1,128 points. In 2005 it already crashed to 605 points, and in 2006 it dropped to 522 points.

“The market reflects the internal political volatility,” stated Abu-Libdeh. Since Hamas rose to power the market has been negative. “I do not think we will see a rise as long as the present situation remains the same,” he explained.

The PSE is controlled by Palestine Development & Investment Ltd. (PADICO), which is owned by a number of leading Palestinian businessmen. PADICO is a holding company which has eleven subsidiaries in the industrial, real estate, tourism, and capital market sectors.

Aside from being the largest company traded on the exchange, PADICO also owns the Palestinian phone monopoly Paltel. PADICO has a market value of $600 million, about a quarter of the value of all the shares traded on the PSE.

Abu-Libdeh thinks there is no conflict of interest stemming from the fact that the owners are traded on their stock exchange.

One of Abu-Libdeh’s plans is to turn the exchange itself into a publicly traded company. In the meantime, the Palestinian government is preventing such a move, and contacts with the Hamas economic minister are continuing over the matter.

“We are working on a plan to increase the number of companies listed on the exchange in order to attract more investors. In addition, we are presenting models of electronic trading, and because of the currency crisis in the territories (West Bank and Gaza) we are considering creating new investment methods such as stocks and bonds of municipalities and companies,” he explained.

Business in the territories is conducted in the dollar and the Jordanian dinar.

In order to interest foreign investors, the Palestinians remind investors that their market is completely open, as opposed to other markets in the Arab world.

Anyone can buy any share, including Israelis – a number of whom have invested in the PSE.

There is also no limit on the percentage of foreign ownership of companies. Nevertheless, Abu-Libdeh noted that “although the Palestinian exchange is 10 years old, there is still no Palestinian stock market culture. Some of the companies are family-owned, and the families are still afraid of losing control,” he explained.