Excerpts: Girls' schools gate guards.More Palestinian mish-mash.Hamas
heading to victory. 10 December 2005

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 10 Dec.'05:"Guarding Girls Schools Not for Sissies"
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"being a girls-school gate guard is considered one of the most difficult
and worst jobs ... a lot of suffering for a little pay"
"A female student is not allowed outside ... until her father or relative
is out there to pick her up"
"The biggest headaches ... are teenage (male) harassers"
"The only help that might come is a local enforcer of the Commission for
the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EXCERPTS:

RIYADH, 10 December 2005 -... In Saudi Arabia, being a girls-school gate
guard is considered one of the most difficult and worst jobs: It brings a
lot of suffering for a little pay.
. . .
... a gate guard at a girls school you must be over 40, married, and
accompanied by your wife who must work at the same school. You live with
your wife in a cramped efficiency apartment on the grounds of the school.
The main job of ,,, is to control exit and entry to the school. Students and
teachers cannot leave without the guard's knowledge, and in most cases
without his approval. He always holds the keys to the main gate. Not a paper
or letter goes inside without his approval. The gate guard reviews
permission request to release students or teachers early. Parents and
husbands sometimes beg the guard to speed up ...excusing their children or
wives. Sometimes these confrontations end with fights and threats.
The guards face many difficulties, starting simply with trying to contact
school administrators on the other side of the gate. They usually call their
wives that work inside to deliver any messages.
The wives of the guards are the only connection to everything inside the
school. The wife also plays an important role when a student or teacher is
released. It is their job to verify if the man waiting outside is a
relative, father or husband.
While the guard's wife is verifying whether the man is related to the
student or teacher inside, the gate guard stands waiting. Sometimes the man,
waiting outside, berates the guard and accuses him for the delay. The gate
guard is also responsible for making a final phone call to verify whether
the student or the teacher released is related to the man waiting outside.
He often guards the gate like a sentry waiting for someone to storm into the
school.
. . .
A female student is not allowed outside of the school until her father or
relative is out there to pick her up. ....
... he calls for each female student, often by microphone, when the father
or family member arrives. This system often turns to chaos when all of a
sudden a dozen or so relatives are shouting at him to call for their
daughters and sisters. ... Impatient relatives might snatch the microphone
from him to call for their daughters themselves. This can end in fisticuffs
between the gate guard and parents, or among parents themselves.
The biggest headaches for gate guards are teenage harassers. The guards tend
to keep teens as far away as possible, even if that means using force. The
most favorable time for teenage boys to visit female students is when they
are released from school. This is the worst time for the gate guard.
Trying to control and organize what is going around him and to keep away
those that want to make trouble is a daunting task. The only help that might
come is a local enforcer of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and
Prevention of Vice.
... The guard has to wait until all teachers leave, too. Some students are
left behind because their parents did not pick them up. Gate guards stay
sometimes an additional two hours until the school is empty, which means
that they work from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day.
And it doesn't end after the last student leaves: The guard and his wife
must also search the school for stragglers and ensure that all windows and
doors are secure.
.... And he receives a low monthly salary, which ranges from SR1,500 to
SR3,500 ( Rate:SR 3.75 per US $)...
[IMRA: For the guard and his wife.] . . .

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 8-14 Dec.'05:"Outside looking in"

HEADING:"The Palestinian Diaspora is gearing up to get more involved in the
handling of the cause, reports Marian Houk from
Geneva"

QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"present problems go back to Palestinian decisions taken 'since the
early 1970s' "

"Abbas went on to describe at length the delemma of having had two ...
foreign ministers; one from the PLO (Kaddoumi) and
one from the PA (at that time, Nabil Shaath). Arafat ... kept things
together."

"Many of those present ... were intellectuals, writers and teachers. All
live 'outside' the occupied Palestinian terrirories, in the
'Diaspora'. The word is unblushingly borrowed from the narrrative of
forced Jewish exile ... in order to create the parallel."

" 'The ... cause is ... not just [for] those in the West Bank' "

"Abbas agreed with Pope Benedict ... that the peace prcess should
involve 'all components' of Palestinian society"

" 'to study all the initiatives and negotiatios which neglect the right
of return of the Palestinian people' "

"In some camps, there is still no sewage system, and wastewater runs in
the streets"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS:
"Our dispute is not personal", Farouk Kaddoumi told a group of Palestinians
assembled at the Preparatory Conference of the Palestinian Diaspora, held
...in Geneva ...this past weekend. "The man who organised the Oslo Accords
is governing now, and he believes the Intifada is the wrong way, and that
military resistance is wrong. There is a big difference between our two
political ideologies," he said.
Kaddoumi, the new leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), was
referring to Mahmoud Abbas ... The rift in the Palestinian body politic is
out on the table. ... asked about reports that he is planning to go to
Gaza, Kaddoumi replied, "... we should go back next year." One of his
colleagues ... added, "That's in a few weeks."
...a random sampling of Palestinians questioned in casual conversations in
the West Bank during the past year shows that not all of them are worried
about aid money being wasted on patronage, or jobs given to the relatives of
high-ranking officials. Engaging in unequal or unfair peace negotiations is
as corrupt, to some.
This weekend's meeting was the third time that representatives of
communities and organisations of Palestinians living in Europe, Asia, Africa
and the Americas (North and South) had come together in Geneva. They had
previously met in August 2004 and in June 2005. ... ..
. . .
... one of the papers being presented at the Geneva meeting this weekend, by
Khalid Barakat on behalf of a North American delegation, suggested that
present problems go back to Palestinian decisions taken "since the early
1970s". One major shift of direction in that period was the Palestinian
National Council's 1974 decision to establish an independent state on any
inch of liberated Palestine.
The split between Kaddoumi and Abbas went public when the latter resigned in
frustration in September 2003 from his position as Palestinian prime
minister. At that time, Abbas told the Palestinian Legislative Council that
he had signed the Oslo Agreement because "Our foreign minister and the head
of the PLO Political Department refused to go and refused to accept and did
not recognise Oslo [saying] that the agreements do not match with his
ideas." Abbas went on to describe at length the dilemma of having had two
different foreign ministers; one from the PLO (Kaddoumi) and one from the PA
(at that time, Nabil Shaath). Arafat ...kept things together.
...Kaddoumi criticised the present peace process, without categorically
rejecting it. He focused on honest implementation. Kaddoumi outlined what he
believes is a changed world ... warning that Palestinians should not
expect that Europe will offer more than it already has. Europe has said the
Palestinians have the right to self- determination and to establish an
independent Palestinian state .... Europe would not support sanctions
against Israel, ... .
Many of those present ... were intellectuals, writers and teachers. All
live "outside" the occupied Palestinian territories, in the "Diaspora". The
word is unblushingly borrowed from the narrative of forced Jewish exile
...to create the parallel. Kaddoumi was one of those who did not return ...
under the conditions created by the 1993 Oslo Accords. At first, it was said
to be politically expedient to have the PLO minister of foreign affairs
based outside. In that way, he was free to communicate with Arab states and
other countries that opposed the Oslo process. ... however, with
marble-clad ministries constructed in the occupied territories and donor
demands progressively accommodated, Kaddoumi was increasingly sidelined.
Much of the focus of the Geneva meetings is on how similarly displaced
Palestinians can break back into the political arena, express their views,
and have a hand in the determination of their future as Palestinians. ...
Kaddoumi, speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, explained his own presence in Geneva
... : "It is necessary to unite all efforts of the Palestinians in this
special situation or circumstances, because all international efforts are
focused on the PA, which might harm the whole cause," he said.
"The ... cause is ...not just [for] those in the West Bank and Gaza,"
Kaddoumi added in interview .... In a quite different meeting ... held in
the Vatican, ... Abbas agreed with Pope Benedict ... that the peace process
should involve "all components" of Palestinian society. "It is necessary
that international public opinion realise," Kaddoumi stressed, "that the
refugee problem is the most important question, and the core of the
subject -- not only the situation in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. ...we
should pass on information about the so-called withdrawal from Gaza and put
pressure on the United States and Israel to remove Israeli forces from the
West Bank. We have accepted the peace process, ...they have distorted the
whole [roadmap] plan."
Some major political actors clearly wish that the Palestinians living
"outside" would just accept their circumstances. "This is ancient history",
American negotiators were quoted as saying, during and after the Camp David
II talks in late July 2000, about United Nations Resolution 194 of 1948 --
colloquially known as the "right of return resolution". Israeli negotiators
had said that Palestinians could return to the Palestinian state that is to
be created in the West Bank and Gaza but adamantly ruled out any "large-
scale" return ...to Israel.
According to a document prepared for the Geneva conference, the gathered
representatives of Palestinian communities and institutions committed "to
study all the initiatives and negotiations which neglect the right of return
of the Palestinian people." To whom the "right of return" refers is another
question. ... not all Palestinians living outside the occupied Palestinian
territories are refugees. Many ... in the West Bank and Gaza are also not
refugees, ...There are also "Israeli Arabs" -- ... who did not leave or who
were not expelled in 1948 ... .
Approximately half of all officially "registered" Palestinian refugees live
in ... Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Those living in refugee camps, inside
or outside the occupied Palestinian territories, face hard and
discriminatory conditions. In some camps, there is still no sewage system,
and wastewater runs in the streets. The Web site of UNRWA -- the UN agency
mandated to ease conditions for the Palestinian refugees -- describes camps
in Syria where poverty is so deep that practically no one from outside will
marry the inhabitants. Nearly four generations of intermarriages has given
rise to a high level of genetic disorders in newborns.
[IMRA: And the "Diaspora" has been silent and also never complains
about discrimination against Palestinians in Gul oil-rich States.] . . .

+++THE JERUSALEM POST 8 Dec.'05": "Hamas ready to name candidates" by Khaled
Abu Toameh
SUBJECT:
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"A public opinion poll ... of the residents of the Gaza Strip ... held
between Novembere 29 and December 4 gave Hamas over 45 percent... . Fatah
came in second with only 36%"
" 'Hamas's candidates are much better than most of our candidates'
admitted a top Fatah official"
" 'The problems and violence that accompanied the Fatah elections reflect
the deep crisis which the party is witnessing' "
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS:
Buoyed by the ongoing power struggle and divisions in the ruling Fatah
party, Hamas is about to finish naming its candidates for next month's
parliamentary elections. Hamas is participating in the parliamentary
elections for the first time ... .Unlike Fatah, Hamas has chosen many
university teachers, physicians, pharmacists, lawyers, journalists and
accountants as its representatives - a move ...welcomed by many
Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamic movement
enjoys tremendous popularity.
A public opinion poll ... of the residents of the Gaza Strip ... held
between November 29 and December 4, gave Hamas over 45 percent of the vote,
while Fatah came in second with only 36%.
More than half of the 1,309 ...covered by the poll said that they prefer to
vote for religious candidates.
"Hamas's candidates are much better than most of our candidates," admitted a
top Fatah official .... "Most of our candidates are political activists,
former security prisoners and commanders of armed groups. This doesn't bode
well ... .."
Over the past two weeks, Fatah held its first primary elections in several
areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The vote resulted in the defeat of
the party's old guard representatives to younger activists such as jailed
Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. The elections have been marred by allegations
of massive voting fraud and irregularities, as well as violence.
"The problems and violence that accompanied the Fatah elections reflect the
deep crisis which the party is witnessing," said political analyst Mohamed
Yaghi. "As such, Fatah may not be able to achieve the minimum of what it
aspires to in the coming elections."
Some Fatah candidates who won in the primary elections are now threatening
to run as independents. Others have vowed to establish new lists that would
compete with Fatah. On Wednesday, some of the winners published
advertisements in the Palestinian media warning the Fatah leadership against
ignoring the results of the vote.
Hamas, which did not hold primary elections, has chosen its candidates in
secret balloting among its supporters ... sources close to the movement
said.
While Fatah has been unable to choose its representatives in the Gaza Strip
because of violence and anarchy, Hamas announced ...that it had completed
preparing its lists of local candidates for the January vote. "We have
chosen the most qualified and professional faces," said a Hamas official in
Gaza City. "Fatah has good reason to be worried."

Dr. Joseph Lerner, Co-Director IMRA