• COVID – 19: 282 new cases, five deaths (media)
• EU continues to oppose Kosovo’s Jerusalem embassy plans (Prishtina Insight)
• Kosovo establishes relations with Israel, ‘breaking blockade on recognitions’ (BI)
• Citaku reacts to EU opposition on embassy in Jerusalem: Hypocrisy (media)
• US Embassy welcomes Kosovo – Israel diplomatic relations (media)
• PDK’s Hoxhaj: Grateful to US for important milestone (media)
• Eggs thrown at Kurti during visit to Skenderaj (media)
• Pacolli: All my doors are closed for Vetevendosje (media)
• CEC to organise elections in the north too (media)
• CEC draws ballot for numbers of political parties (media)
• In Sundance Film, a Kosovo war widow rebuilds against the odds (BIRN)

COVID – 19: 282 new cases, five deaths (media)

282 new cases of COVID-19 and five deaths from the virus were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 184 persons have recovered from the virus during this time. There are 6,755 active cases of COVID – 19 in Kosovo.

EU continues to oppose Kosovo’s Jerusalem embassy plans (Prishtina Insight)

An EU spokesperson has reiterated to Prishtina Insight that the Union expects Kosovo to act in line with its commitments in the Middle East after a plaque was unveiled in Jerusalem on the future site of Kosovo’s embassy to Israel.

On Monday, Kosovo and Israel celebrated the establishment of diplomatic relations in an online ceremony, which included the unveiling of a plaque on the future site of Kosovo’s embassy to Israel in Jerusalem.

During the ceremony, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi stated that he had already approved an application to open the Kosovo embassy, while some reports have suggested it may be operational as early as March.

The establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states are the result of agreements reached in Washington DC in September between Kosovo, Serbia and the Trump administration. However, the decision for Kosovo to open its embassy in Jerusalem was widely criticised at the time, including by Turkey, the Arab League and the European Union.

Peter Stano, the EU’s spokesperson for external affairs, reiterated that criticism to Prishtina Insight on Monday, highlighting that all EU member states’ embassies to Israel were located in Tel Aviv.

“The EU position on moving embassies to Jerusalem is clear: In line with UN Security Council resolution 478, which called on all UN members to move their embassies to Tel Aviv, all EU member states’ embassies, as well as the EU delegation to Israel are located in Tel Aviv,” he said.

Stano went on to say that the EU has a firm commitment to a negotiated and viable two-state solution, and that a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of both states. He added that the Union expects Kosovo to act accordingly or risk undermining its European perspective.

“Kosovo has identified EU integration as its strategic priority,” Stano said. “The EU expects Kosovo to act in line with this commitment so that its European perspective is not undermined.”

In January, Miroslav Lajcak, the EU’s Special Representative for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, stated that the agreements reached in Washington had “pushed Kosovo further away from a European future, as they did not meet European standards.”

Butrint Berisha, a research analyst at the Prishtina Institute for Political Studies told Prishtina Insight that Kosovo’s position on opening an embassy in Jerusalem is one of the very few cases that it has not complied with the EU position.

“The EU has made it clear that it would consider establishing and moving the Kosovo and Serbia Embassies in Jerusalem, as counter to its position on this issue,” he said.

However, the analyst believes that this diversion from EU policy was necessary for Kosovo in order to achieve recognition from Israel, the first country to recognise Kosovo as an independent state since Barbados in 2018.

“Given the circumstances under which the Kosovo-Israel recognition came to fruition, I think that it is quite clear that the location of the Embassy was the lynchpin of this process,” Berisha said. “For Israel the recognition would only make sense if Kosovo’s Embassy would be located in Jerusalem, whilst for Kosovo the only way to receive a new recognition in nearly three years, was through agreeing to open the Embassy in Jerusalem.”

In the Serbian version of the agreements signed in Washington, Belgrade promised to open an office of the Chamber of Commerce and a state office in Jerusalem, and to transfer its embassy there by July 1, 2021.

However, in the months since Serbia has sent mixed signals. In September 2020, President Vucic’s media adviser, Suzana Vasiljevic, told Prva Television that the embassy decision was “not final.”

“That was discussed… The next steps will, of course, be discussed and it all depends … on Israel’s actions after that,” Vasiljevic said. “We have not accepted anything so far, nothing has been signed,” she said. “We will see how the situation develops and how Israel will behave in the future when it comes to their relationship with Kosovo.”

Kosovo establishes relations with Israel, “breaking blockade on recognitions” (BIRN)

In a setback to Serbia's campaign to stop countries from recognising its former province, the Kosovo and Israel Foreign Ministers on Monday signed documents completing the process of mutual recognition – under which Kosovo will soon open its embassy in Jerusalem.

Kosovo Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla attends the online ceremony establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, February 1, 2021. Photo: BIRN/ Emirjeta Vllahiu

Kosovo Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla signed the document establishing relations with Israel in Pristina on Monday in a diplomatic milestone for the country and a setback for Serbia – which has long invested great efforts in getting counties not to recognise, or de-recognise, its former province.

Israel has become the 117th country worldwide to recognise Kosovo since the country declared independence in 2008 despite a campaign by Serbian diplomacy over the last couple of years, which Belgrade says convinced 18 countries to revoke recognitions.

Establishing diplomatic relations with Israel marks another step towards the implementation of the so-called Washington deal signed in September 2020 under former US President Donald Trump. Serbia has remained silent on the latest events.

“On this day, we are writing a new chapter in relations between our countries [Israel and Kosovo]. We have the same values ​​of democracy. We call on other states to recognise Kosovo’s independence,” Haradinaj-Stublla said in a ceremony transmitted live in front of the Kosovo Foreign Ministry.

Her counterpart in Israel, Foreign Minister Gabriel Ashkenazi, signed the document in his office in Israel

Haradinaj-Stublla also thanked the administration of former US President Donald Trump and the former US special envoy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Richard Grenell, for brokering the Washington agreement of September 2020, “as well as the support of the new US administration for the Washington agreement, which has been shown by the new Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken”.

Also thanking the US, Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti at a joint press conference with Haradinaj-Stublla after the signing ceremony addressed the wider significance of the Israeli move. “We have broken the blockade of recognitions for Kosovo,” he said, referencing Serbia’s diplomatic campaign.

Kosovo will soon open an embassy in Jerusalem, which most countries do not recognise as Israel’s capital. A Kosovar Jew, Ines Demiri, is the new charge d’affaires.

Establishment of mutual diplomatic relations between Israel and Kosovo was one of the main points of the so-called Washington deal in September 2020.

Under the terms of the deal, which was sharply criticised in both Serbia and Kosovo, in deference to American interests, Kosovo also recognised the Hezbollah group as a terrorist organisation and pledged to start the process to retrieve and restore Jewish property looted during the Italian-Nazi occupation during World War II.

Serbia and its former province signed separate agreements with the US in Washington that mainly concerned economic normalisation between the two estranged countries.

But a BIRN fact-check story published in September last year also showed that the majority of the points agreed were not binding, since there were no guidelines as to how they would be implemented or by when.

Only one point contained a deadline – the transfer to Jerusalem of Serbia’s embassy in Israel by July 1, 2021. Otherwise, the deal does not specify when it enters force or whether it requires ratification by national parliaments, which, in the case of Serbia, domestic law says is a must.

While Kosovo is on its way of fulfilling all the Israel-related terms of the agreement with the US, Serbia appears more reluctant when it comes to moving its embassy to Jerusalem, also promised to the Trump administration.

In the Serbian version of the agreement, Belgrade, which already has diplomatic ties with Israel, promised to open an office of the Chamber of Commerce and a state office in Jerusalem and to transfer its embassy there by July 1.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said at the end of November 2020 that “an appropriate date and a suitable moment are being sought in this pandemic in order to visit Israel and open that [Chamber of Commerce] office”.

“It is being worked on, everything is almost over, we also have a person who will lead that mission, so I will visit Israel and open an office, and that is one of the points in the Washington agreement,” she said.

Before that, however, Serbia was sending mix signals on moving the embassy to Jesusalem. In September 2020, President Vucic’s media adviser, Suzana Vasiljevic, told Prva Television that the embassy decision was “not final”.

“That was discussed… The next steps will, of course, be discussed and it all depends … on Israel’s actions after that,” Vasiljevic said. “We have not accepted anything so far, nothing has been signed,” she said. “We will see how the situation develops and how Israel will behave in the future when it comes to their relationship with Kosovo.”

Asked on Monday about concrete plans to move the embassy, the Serbian Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions from BIRN by the time of publication.

Citaku reacts to EU opposition on embassy in Jerusalem: Hypocrisy (media)

Peter Stano, a spokesman for the European Union, told Prishtina-based Kallxo on Monday that the position of the EU is that the embassies of EU member states must be based in Tel Aviv.

“The EU position on moving embassies to Jerusalem is clear: In line with UN Security Council resolution 478, which called on all UN members to move their embassies to Tel Aviv, all EU member states’ embassies, as well as the EU delegation to Israel are located in Tel Aviv,” he said.

Kosovo’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Vlora Citaku, reacted to the remarks. She said hypocrisy has a name and that Kosovo does not have an embassy in the European Union.

“Hypocrisy has a name. Kosovo doesn’t have an embassy in Madrid, Bratislava, Athens, Bucharest, Nicosia. In fact, it doesn’t have an embassy in the EU either. It would be good if Brussels, before lecturing us about the embassy in Jerusalem, to talk about the lack of Kosovo’s mission in the EU. Then again isn’t the EU ‘neutral’ toward the status of Kosovo? I won’t even mention the visas,” Citaku said.

US Embassy welcomes Kosovo – Israel diplomatic relations (media)

The United States Embassy in Prishtina shared a Twitter post by the spokesperson of the U.S. State Department “congratulating Israel and Kosovo for formally establishing diplomatic relations – in a historic day”. The U.S. Embassy said “when our partners are united, the United States is stronger. Congratulations Kosovo and Israel”.

PDK’s Hoxhaj: Grateful to US for important milestone (media)

Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Acting Leader and candidate for Prime Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, took to Twitter on Monday to welcome the establishment of diplomatic relations between Kosovo and Israel. “Grateful to the U.S. State Department leadership for this important milestone for Kosovo. It was a long journey to this day and I appreciate the support of our friends in the U.S. and Israel to Kosovo’s independence,” Hoxhaj tweeted.

Eggs thrown at Kurti during visit to Skenderaj (media)

All media reported on Monday that eggs were thrown at Vetevendosje Movement (VV) leader Albin Kurti during a visit to Skenderaj. Some news websites report that members of Kosovo Police special units had to intervene to make it possible for Kurti to hold his rally.

Skenderaj Mayor Bekim Jashari took to Facebook to comment after Kurti’s visit saying that everyone is welcome to visit Skenderaj regardless of their political beliefs and that everyone is entitled to express their political positions in democratic fashion.

Sami Lushtaku, Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) leader in Skenderaj, said after the incident that Kurti’s police escort was a provocation and that it reminded people in Skenderaj about the time of war.

Pacolli: All my doors are closed for Vetevendosje (media)

New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) leader and candidate for MP, Behgjet Pacolli, said on Monday that his door is closed to the Kurti-led Vetevendosje Movement. He said the way that Vetevendosje representatives acted toward him rendered their cooperation impossible. “All of my doors are closed to Vetevendosje … They are very brutal, I don’t know where they are headed with their insults,” he said.

CEC to organise elections in the north too (media)

Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) did not invite the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission to help organise the election process in the four mainly Serb-inhabited municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo. CEC representatives said they have sufficient capacities to organise and monitor the process there.

CEC spokesman Valmir Elezi told Radio Free Europe that they did not invite the OSCE because the election bodies have now become consolidated. “In the previous elections, the OSCE mission had an advisory and support role for local election mechanisms. We believe that these bodies are now sufficiently consolidated and ready to meet the legal requirements and regulations in force,” he added.

CEC draws ballot for numbers of political parties (media)

Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) organised a draw on Monday for the numbers of political parties in the February 14 parliamentary elections. Vetevendosje Movement (VV) will run with the number 127, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) 132, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) 134, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) 135, NISMA 121, the Serbian List (SL) 119.

In Sundance Film, a Kosovo war widow rebuilds against the odds (BIRN)

Blerta Basholli’s ‘Hive’, which is being screened at the prestigious Sundance film festival in the US, tells the story of a woman who loses a husband to war but rebuilds against the odds in patriarchal Kosovo.

Blerta Basholli recalls a professor at the Arts Academy in Pristina showing her class a filmstrip by candlelight in the first few chaotic years after Kosovo’s 1998-99 war, when the former Serbian province was plagued by power cuts and cutting edge technology was hard to come by.

On the streets of her hometown, what would later become the capital of Europe’s youngest state, it was a time of “energy and great positivity,” the soon to be 38 year-old told BIRN.

But, frustrated with the standard of teaching and returning home to an apartment also in darkness, Basholli remembers wondering, “What’s the point in studying film?”

Two decades later, Basholli’s film ‘Zgjoi’ (‘Hive’), is being shown on Tuesday at the prestigious US film festival Sundance, bringing to the big screen the story of a Kosovo Albanian woman fighting to rebuild her life after her husband is left missing when Serbian forces sweep through a village in western Kosovo in March 1999, leaving 241 civilians dead and dozens more unaccounted for.

Studying was worth the effort.

“It is important that her story is heard,” Basholli said. “It’s a real-life story and many women, not only in Kosovo but worldwide, can identify with her.”

‘Hive’ is based on the life of Fahrije Hoti, a Kosovo Albanian woman whose husband went missing following a massacre by Serbian forces in the village of Krushe e Madhe/Velika Krusa on March 25, 1999, the day after NATO launched air strikes to halt a brutal Serbian counter-insurgency war.

Basholli was in New York studying for an MA when her boyfriend, a photographer, alerted her to a story he had heard about a woman from the village who had obtained a driving licence “and is discriminated against by the whole district because she’s working and driving.”

Basholli recalled that no one in relatively liberal Pristina paid any attention when she got her own driving licence in 2004, yet here was a woman less than 100 kilometres away facing prejudice from Kosovo’s largely conservative, patriarchal society because she “started a job to feed her children”.

“I thought it was very interesting,” Basholli told BIRN. “We [Albanians] as a nation brag about our hospitality, politeness and solidarity.” Yet, after the war, a mother of two, her husband missing, found little support.

Basholli returned to Kosovo in 2011 and, with actress Yllka Gashi, sought out Hoti, who told them her life story “in four to five hours.”

“I was fascinated by her positivity and energy,” Basholli said. “She made it, despite all the obstacles she faced along the way”.

Kosovo filmmakers like Basholli face their own challenges.

From her candlelight studies in post-war Pristina, Basholli went to New York University and is now Culture Director at the Municipality of Pristina.

But despite Kosovo’s cultural successes, ‘Hive’ being the latest, funding remains a challenge, she said.

“Almost every feature film produced in Kosovo goes to an important international festival and often receives awards,” Basholli said. “All that attention for the country is very good because we, artists and also athletes, have put Kosovo on the map, while the state budget has not been increased enough.”

Hoti’s home was burned down during the war and she was left to take care of two young children and the elderly parents of her husband, whose remains have still to be found.

Facing discrimination as a single mother, Hoti sought to convince her neighbours – almost all of them widowed by the war – that they could earn money by selling their homemade pickles and traditional ajvar, a relish made from roasted peppers.

The company that emerged, Hoti’s Kooperativa Krusha, currently employs some 60 women from the village, selling 43 products across Kosovo and a host of other European countries including Switzerland and Germany.

In Basholli’s film, set around the time Hoti started her business in 2005-06, the lead character, played by Gashi, starts an agricultural business but faces a backlash from a patriarchal society unimpressed by her ambition.

“At first, Fahrije Hoti thought we wanted to make a documentary about her life, but with time we explained that it would be an artistic film, in which many elements would be changed,” Basholli said.

Hoti watched the result, and Basholli quoted her as saying, “I have suffered so much more but I think you summed things up very well.”

“After our meetings with Fahrije Hoti, we would sit and drink coffee or tea with the other women who work there, to see their dynamics,” Basholli said of the process. “We have also read and listened to many interviews that all of them have given throughout the years.”

But, Basholli said, she tried not to meet Hoti too often, reluctant to drag up bad memories or produce a “melancholic film” from what Basholli believes is essentially “a hopeful and empowering” story.