India extends $10 m grant to Palestine

New Delhi: India has announced a grant of US$10 million as budgetary support to the Palestinian National Authority and reassured the visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of support to their efforts aimed at economic and social development.

   The Palestinian President is on a two-day visit to India from February 11. He is accompanied by his Foreign Minister Dr. Riyad Al-Malki other ministers and senior officials.
  He met the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh February 11 and shared his views on recent developments in the peace process in West Asia. Singh thanked President Abbas for keeping India informed and reiterated India’s commitment to the Palestinian cause in line with our support for United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 calling for a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, side by side at peace with Israel as endorsed in the Quartet Roadmap and UN Security Council Resolutions 1397 and 1515.
  He also reiterated India’s support for the Arab Peace Plan, and urged concerted action for achieving a durable, just and comprehensive settlement of the West Asia conflict.
   President Abbas expressed his sincere appreciation for India’s consistent political and material support to Palestine. Prime Minister hosted a dinner for President Abbas and his delegation.
   The Indian minister of state for external affairs, Shashi Tharoor met President Abbas before the latter left for Islamabad.
  The foreign affairs minister of Bahrain, Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa who was also on a three-day visit to India left on Friday.
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FACTS ABOUT PALESTINE

Palestine Facts is dedicated to providing comprehensive and accurate information regarding the historical, military, and political background to the on-going struggle between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. The situation is complex with deep and diverse roots. By using the resources of this large and growing site, you can become much more knowledgable about what is going on and why.
The current status of the Gaza Strip (also called just Gaza) is governed by the agreements of the Oslo peace process, in particular the Cairo Agreement on Gaza and Jericho of May 1994. Under the agreements, Israel has transfered most powers and responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority, which includes the Palestinian Legislative Council elected in January 1996, as part of the interim self-governing arrangements in the Gaza Strip. Israel continues to provide security for the external borders and for Jewish settlements.

After the al-Aqsa intifadah was started by the Palestinian Arabs in September 2000, widespread violence in the Gaza Strip was uncontrolled by the Palestinian Authority. Since then there has been little progress toward any permanent agreement on the status of the Gaza Strip.

There are approximately 1.1 million Palestinians living in the 47-square miles of Gaza, 20 percent of which is occupied by 25 Jewish settlements with a population of 6,900 (2001). Some of the settlements have long-time Jewish roots; there is an ancient synagogue in central Gaza, for example. Israel considers the settlements in southern Gaza as an essential buffer to prevent arms smuggling from Egypt. Smugglers have used elaborate means, including tunneling, to move terrorist weapons and supplies into Gaza and into Israel from there.
The Israeli army mans checkpoints in and near Gaza to patrol the border, safeguard the Jewish communities, and protect Israeli farmers when they work in fields near the border. They also prevent infiltrators from entering Israel. Gaza has been a constant source of terrorist activity in Israel; the IDF positions are frequently attacked by Palestinian gunmen. It was during one such attack that Mohammed al-Dura was killed on September 30, 2000.

A young Israeli soldier working the border region says:

You see the armed Palestinians, but you cannot open fire until they shoot at you. [It pains me] to hear how Israel is treated abroad, and how the foreign media cover the situation here. We give the Palestinians fuel, food and medication. No one mentions that we never initiate any of the shooting, and that we are forced to defend ourselves.
Because of unrelenting Palestinian Arab attacks on IDF patrols, there are no more foot patrols. Only armored vehicles are used. Attacks on settlements have led Israel to erect security fences, including patrol roads and movement sensors, around Jewish areas.

The violence in Gaza was exploited by reporter Chris Hedges in an article in Harper's October 2001 magazine, "Gaza Diary," which accuses Israeli troops of deliberately goading Palestinian children and murdering them for sport. His descriptions have been exposed as a hoax (see Eyeless in Gaza), but the article continues to be widely circulated in anti-Israeli media.

GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE

Palestine's boundaries, never constant, always included at least the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. So defined, the region is c.140 mi (225 km) long and c.30 to c.70 mi (50-115 km) wide. Outside these bounds were such biblical lands as Edom, Gilead, Moab, and Hauran. The British mandate of Palestine (1920-48) included also the Negev, a c.100-mile-long (160-km) desert stretching S to the Gulf of Aqaba.

From east to west, Palestine proper comprises three geographic zones: the depression-northernmost extension of the Great Rift Valley-in which lies the Jordan River, Lake Hula, the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias), the Dead Sea, and the Arabah, a dry valley S of the Dead Sea; a ridge rising steeply to the west of this cleft; and a coastal plain c.12 mi (20 km) wide. In N Palestine the ridge is interrupted by the Plain of Esdraelon (Jezreel) and the connecting valley of Bet Shean (Beisan), the most fertile part of the region. The highland area to the north is called Galilee, its chief centers being Zefat and Nazareth, near which rises Mt. Tabor. To the south of the Plain of Esdraelon the broad ridge stretches unbroken to the Negev. First there are the hills of Samaria, with northward prongs (to the east Gilboa and to the west Mt. Carmel) fronting on the Bay of Acre. The center of Samaria is Nablus, which lies between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim. The mountains of Judaea are W of the Dead Sea. In Judaea are Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron. Well to the south, in the Negev, lies Beersheba.

The towns of the coastal plain are Akko (Acre), Haifa, Netanya, and the twin cities of Tel Aviv and Jaffa. Near Tel Aviv are Petah Tiqwa, Lod, Ramla, and Rehovot. To the south is Gaza. The various sections of the plain are named the Valley of Zebulun, or Plain of Acre, S of Akko; Sharon, S of Mt. Carmel; and the Shephelah, or Philistia, in the extreme south.

Agriculture in the Jordan valley centers around Lake Hula and the Sea of Galilee. The chief town is Tiberias. Farther south the valley is too narrow to be of much use, except for providing water power, and there is only one city, Jericho, E of Jerusalem. The surface-c.1,300 ft (400 m) below sea level-of the Dead Sea, into which the Jordan empties, is the lowest spot on the earth's surface.