B'Tselem publishes its 2006 annual statistics.
This past year, we witnessed a deterioration in the human rights situation in the Occupied Territories , particularly in the increase in civilians killed and the destruction of houses and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, there was an improvement regarding violations of the right to life of Israeli civilians.Casualties (figures in parenthesis indicate the total figure since the beginning of the intifada)
According to B'Tselem's research, from January to December 27, 2006, Israeli security forces killed 660 (4005) Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and in Israel . This includes 141 (811) minors. At least 322 (1920) of those killed did not take part in the hostilities at the time they were killed. Another 22 (210) were targets of assassinations. In the Gaza Strip alone, since the capture of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Israeli forces killed 405 Palestinians, including 88 minors. Of these, 205 did not participate in the fighting when killed.Palestinians killed 17 (701) Israeli civilians in 2006, both in the West Bank and inside Israel . This includes 1 (119) minor. In addition, Palestinians killed 6 (316) members of the Israeli security forces.
House Demolitions
Israel demolished 292 houses military operations in the Occupied Territories , 279 of them in the Gaza Strip. These were home to 1,769 people. Some 80 of these demolitions were conducted after the home-owners received advance warning to the demolition. In addition, Israel demolished 42 homes in East Jerusalem that were built without a permit. These were home to about 80 people.
Checkpoints and restrictions on movement
Deep within the West Bank, Israel currently maintains 54 permanent checkpoints, staffed mostof the time. 12 other checkpoints are within the city of Hebron. In addition, according to UN OCHA, there are on average some 160 flying checkpoints throughout the West Bank every week. In addition to the checkpoints, the Israeli military has erected hundreds of physical obstacles such as concrete blocks, dirt piles and trenches to restrict access to Palestinian communities. Palestinians have restricted access to some 41 roadways in the West Bank . Israelis have unlimited access to these roadways.
Prisoners and Detainees
As of November, Israel held 9,075 Palestinians in custody, including 345 minors. Of these, 738 (22 minors) were held in administrative detention, without trial and without knowing the charges against them.
> More Statistics <
SOURCE: B'Tselem
With thanks to Emdad, please visit http://tsu-doh-nimh.blogspot.com/2006/12/660-palestinians-killed-in-2006.html
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
Rachel Corrie
Footage from Rachel's interview conducted by Middle East Broadcasting Company on March 14th, 2003, two days before she was murdered by the Israeli Occupation Forces.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Israel Releases Palestinian Cash
Abbas being introduced to Olmert's wife!
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has agreed to release $100m (£51m) in frozen Palestinian funds at talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The talks in Jerusalem were their first formal meeting.
Israel has withheld a total of $600m in tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority since Hamas formed a government earlier this year. It says it will hand over the funds for humanitarian purposes if a mechanism can be found to bypass Hamas.
The two leaders also agreed to establish or re-establish three joint committees - a security committee to discuss the expansion of the current shaky Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire in Gaza to include the West Bank; a financial committee tasked with the transfer of tax revenues and other funds to the Palestinian Authority; and another to deal with eventual prisoner exchanges.
But the BBC's Katya Adler in Jerusalem says many Israelis and Palestinians remain sceptical - agreements are one thing, their implementation quite another. The meeting, at Mr Olmert's residence in the city, lasted nearly two hours. The pair met informally in June, but these were the first formal talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders for nearly two years.
Mr Abbas was greeted by the Israeli leader as he arrived for the meeting. The two men shook hands and kissed each other on the cheek, then Mr Olmert introduced his guest to his wife Aliza before they sat down to talk.
"This is the beginning of a series of meetings. It was a good meeting. There was agreement on several issues," Palestinian official Nabil Abu Rdainah told Reuters news agency. Civil war fears Mr Abbas and Mr Olmert have both said recently that they want to re-start peace talks, but both sides have also played down the prospects for any rapid progress.
Israel has repeatedly said it will not deal with the Hamas-led Palestinian government, which refuses to recognise the legitimacy of the Jewish state. Mr Abbas says his attempts to persuade Hamas to change its position have failed. Last week he called for early elections, but Hamas denounced this as a coup attempt.
The dispute led to some of the worst factional fighting between Palestinians in years, prompting fears that the violence was descending into all-out civil war. Israel has been under pressure from the US and the European Union in recent days to take steps to support Mr Abbas, our correspondent says.
Correspondents say a breakthrough in the stalled Middle East peace process would help both leaders, with Mr Abbas suffering from the conflict with Hamas, and Mr Olmert losing popularity in Israel over his handling of the war with Lebanon this summer.
Source: BBC
Friday, December 22, 2006
The Child & Her Diary
She wrote in her diary every nightWhen bullets passed by her window… she wrote
When Israeli soldiers killed her mother she wrote
She wrote of the horrors she sees
And the nightmares of flames and destruction
She the Palestinian child
Writes in her diary every night
To ease her enormous pain
To sedate her fears and nightmares
That little Palestinian child
Had died while writing in bed
From Israelis bulldozing her home
And now she lies in her tomb
Forgotten…as if she never existed
But her diary will carry on
The suffering of every Palestinian child
And now on her tomb Israeli children play
And sing with no worries of tomorrow
Where she once lived is confiscated
What are left from her family are refugees
And we continue to support Israel
With 10 million dollars a day!
And we continue to say
All humans are created equal
But continue to send to Israel
10 million dollars a day!
By Laila Yaghi
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Why Hamas May Be Right: The Recognition Trap
Jonathan Cook
Israeli officials are cheering what they believe is the first crack in Europe's support for international law and the rights of the refugees. "It's important to get everyone on the same page on this one," an official told the Post.
The problem facing the Palestinian leadership, as they strive to bring the millions living in the occupied territories some small relief from their collective suffering, reduces to a matter of a few words. Like a naughty child who has only to say "sorry" to be released from his room, the Hamas government need only say "We recognise Israel" and supposedly aid and international goodwill will wash over the West Bank and Gaza.
That, at least, was the gist of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's recent speech during a visit to the Negev, when he suggested that his country's hand was stretched out across the sands towards the starving masses of Gaza -- if only Hamas would repent. "Recognise us and we are ready to talk about peace" was the implication.
Certainly the Palestinian people have been viciously punished for making their democratic choice early this year to elect a Hamas government that Israel and the Western powers disapprove of:
* an economic blockade has been imposed, starving the Palestinian Authority of income to pay for services and remunerate its large workforce;
* millions of dollars in tax monies owed to the Palestinians have been illegally withheld by Israel, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis;
* a physical blockade of Gaza enforced by Israel has prevented the Palestinians from exporting their produce, mostly perishable crops, and from importing essentials like food and medicine;
* Israeli military strikes have damaged Gaza's vital infrastructure, including the supply of electricity and water, as well as randomly killing its inhabitants;
* and thousands of families are being torn apart as Israel uses the pretext of its row with Hamas to stop renewing the visas of Palestinian foreign passport holders.
* an economic blockade has been imposed, starving the Palestinian Authority of income to pay for services and remunerate its large workforce;
* millions of dollars in tax monies owed to the Palestinians have been illegally withheld by Israel, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis;
* a physical blockade of Gaza enforced by Israel has prevented the Palestinians from exporting their produce, mostly perishable crops, and from importing essentials like food and medicine;
* Israeli military strikes have damaged Gaza's vital infrastructure, including the supply of electricity and water, as well as randomly killing its inhabitants;
* and thousands of families are being torn apart as Israel uses the pretext of its row with Hamas to stop renewing the visas of Palestinian foreign passport holders.
The magic words "We recognise you" could end all this suffering. So why did their prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, vow last week never to utter them. Is Hamas so filled with hatred and loathing for Israel as a Jewish state that it cannot make such a simple statement of good intent?
-Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. He is the author of the forthcoming "Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State" published by Pluto Press, and available in the United States from the University of Michigan Press. His website is www.jkcook.net
SOURCE: Palestinian Return Centre
Sunday, December 17, 2006
US call for re-election!!
and now the Americans follow suit by calling for elections....
The same Americans who wanted reform in the Middle East so allowed Israel to bomb the hell out of Lebanon and kill 1000+ civilians
The U.S of A has its own agenda, ZIONIST AGENDA
USA would welcome anything from Israel even if it meant American citizen's interests being pushed aside to make way for the Israeli government to murder, molest and mame anyone who stands in their way!
I say it and say it again
SELF DETERMINATION for PALESTINIANS
move away USA!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Re-election?
Abbas calls for Palestinian poll
Mr Abbas was speaking in Ramallah Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for presidential and parliamentary elections to be held at the "earliest opportunity".
He was speaking live on Palestinian TV after days of escalating tensions between Hamas and his Fatah movement that have raised fears of civil war.
Hamas, elected in January, immediately rejected the move as a "coup attempt".
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6185241.stm
Was the first election not official enough? Why must there be another election? If one party was democratically elected why must there be another election? WHY? WHY? Abbas is just using this as a way to get in there because he’ll never be elected due to his constant Hamas hammering. His constant underminin of Hamas can be seen each time he calls for another election. The same guy who has not spent more than five week negotiating with Hamas and given up. Yet has waited patiently whilst awaiting Israel's slow paced decisions.
Mr Abbas was speaking in Ramallah Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for presidential and parliamentary elections to be held at the "earliest opportunity".
He was speaking live on Palestinian TV after days of escalating tensions between Hamas and his Fatah movement that have raised fears of civil war.
Hamas, elected in January, immediately rejected the move as a "coup attempt".
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6185241.stm
Was the first election not official enough? Why must there be another election? If one party was democratically elected why must there be another election? WHY? WHY? Abbas is just using this as a way to get in there because he’ll never be elected due to his constant Hamas hammering. His constant underminin of Hamas can be seen each time he calls for another election. The same guy who has not spent more than five week negotiating with Hamas and given up. Yet has waited patiently whilst awaiting Israel's slow paced decisions.
THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE HAVE DECIDED!!!
THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE WANT HAMAS!!!
PALESTINIANS HAVE A RIGHT TO SELF DETERMINATION!!!
DO NOT TAKE THAT AWAY FROM THEM!!!
Palestinian Farmers and International Peace Activists Banned from Harvesting Olive by Israeli Occupation Forces and Illegal Settlers
WAFA
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and illegal Israeli settlers banned Monday scores of farmers and pacifists from harvesting Olives in the West Bank (WB) city of Hebron.
The coordinator of the activities of (France-Palestine Solidarity) Association, Raed Abu Yousif, told WAFA that groups of illegal Israeli settlers gathered and banned the farmers and international peace activists from reaching the arable lands of Sa'eer and al-Shioukh towns, northeast Hebron, close to the illegal Israeli settlement of " Asfer " to collect Olive fruit.
Sources of the national campaign of Olives harvesting which started yesterday added that IOF supported the illegal Israeli settlers.
Abu Yousif added that they will continue their efforts to help the Palestinian farmers to reach their arable lands in spite of the Israeli obstacles.
SOURCE: Palestinian Return Centre
WAFA
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and illegal Israeli settlers banned Monday scores of farmers and pacifists from harvesting Olives in the West Bank (WB) city of Hebron.
The coordinator of the activities of (France-Palestine Solidarity) Association, Raed Abu Yousif, told WAFA that groups of illegal Israeli settlers gathered and banned the farmers and international peace activists from reaching the arable lands of Sa'eer and al-Shioukh towns, northeast Hebron, close to the illegal Israeli settlement of " Asfer " to collect Olive fruit.
Sources of the national campaign of Olives harvesting which started yesterday added that IOF supported the illegal Israeli settlers.
Abu Yousif added that they will continue their efforts to help the Palestinian farmers to reach their arable lands in spite of the Israeli obstacles.
SOURCE: Palestinian Return Centre
U.S. WON’T CONDEMN MASS MURDER
AMERICA SUPPORTS ISRAEL’S GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS
By Richard Walker
On Nov. 11, the United States for the 38th time since 1972 used its veto in the UN Security Council to protect Israel from condemnation for murdering Palestinian civilians in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
On Nov. 11, the United States for the 38th time since 1972 used its veto in the UN Security Council to protect Israel from condemnation for murdering Palestinian civilians in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
The UN resolution condemning Israel for the atrocity had the support of nine members of the 15-member Security Council. Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia abstained, but the United States used its veto power to prevent the resolution’s passage.
Aside from a condemnation of Israel, the resolution called for the withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Gaza.
There had been several drafts of the resolution offered. The final one also condemned Hamas, calling for an end to the firing of rockets into Israeli territory.
Still, U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton (right) claimed the lastdraft was “one-sided and politically motivated.” He complained that it did not use the term “terrorism” to describe the Palestinian government of Hamas.
Read the rest of the story here
SOURCE: American Free Press
By Richard Walker
On Nov. 11, the United States for the 38th time since 1972 used its veto in the UN Security Council to protect Israel from condemnation for murdering Palestinian civilians in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
On Nov. 11, the United States for the 38th time since 1972 used its veto in the UN Security Council to protect Israel from condemnation for murdering Palestinian civilians in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
The UN resolution condemning Israel for the atrocity had the support of nine members of the 15-member Security Council. Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia abstained, but the United States used its veto power to prevent the resolution’s passage.
Aside from a condemnation of Israel, the resolution called for the withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Gaza.
There had been several drafts of the resolution offered. The final one also condemned Hamas, calling for an end to the firing of rockets into Israeli territory.
Still, U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton (right) claimed the lastdraft was “one-sided and politically motivated.” He complained that it did not use the term “terrorism” to describe the Palestinian government of Hamas.
Read the rest of the story here
SOURCE: American Free Press
Friday, December 15, 2006
Clashes at border as Hamas tries to bring in cash
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Friday December 15, 2006
· Prime minister forced to leave $35m behind
· Israel shuts Gaza crossing to protect finance boycott
A security officer scuffles with Hamas supporters as clashes continue in Gaza. Photograph: Muhammed Muheisen/AP
Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinian prime minister, was blocked from bringing millions of dollars of desperately needed donations home last night after Israeli forces closed Gaza's border with Egypt.
Mr Haniyeh was only allowed passage through the Rafah crossing after hours of negotiation and after leaving a reported $35m (£17.8m) in cash behind with aides.
The border closure sparked chaotic scenes. More than 1,000 Hamas members stormed the checkpoint, firing into the air as travellers ducked for cover and sparking a gun battle with Palestinian security guards. Two bombs were detonated nearby to blow a hole through the concrete wall on the border. One of Mr Haniyeh's bodyguards was reported to have been killed, and more than two dozen other people, including Mr Haniyeh's son, were wounded.
The incident came after another day of clashes between rival Palestinian factions in the tense atmosphere of Gaza. A gun battle broke out when officers from the General Intelligence unit, a force allied to the Fatah faction of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, arrested a member of another faction, the Popular Resistance Committees, in Gaza City. The arrested man, Hisham Mukhaimar, was wanted in connection with the killing of the three young sons of a Fatah intelligence officer in Gaza on Monday.
After the arrest the Popular Resistance Committees kidnapped a General Intelligence security officer in retaliation.
On Wednesday a Hamas judge was killed in southern Gaza in another retaliatory attack. In Ramallah in the West Bank, Hamas cancelled a rally due to be held yesterday to mark the 19th anniversary of its founding.
Fatah activists had blocked off the streets and security officers loyal to Fatah were deployed in the area.
Hamas officials said another rally was planned for today and Mr Haniyeh, who had cut short his trip abroad to handle the crisis, would address a large crowd in Gaza. That comes a day before Mr Abbas is to make a speech in which he is expected to threaten early elections in an effort to break the deadlock between the rival factions.
Since Hamas won elections and formed a government in March, the Palestinian Authority has faced an international financial boycott.
Israel is also withholding $60m a month in tax revenues, which normally pays the salaries of 160,000 government employees. The international community and Israel say Hamas must recognise Israel, halt violence and sign up to past peace agreements before the boycott is lifted.
Hamas has refused, and for the past month Mr Haniyeh has been touring the Muslim world to rally support.
Iran, Qatar and Sudan have together promised up to $350m, but transferring the money has proved difficult due to banking sanctions. In recent weeks, Hamas ministers have brought in up to $80m in cash stuffed in suitcases when they cross the Rafah border.
But Israel, in particular, appears to want to prevent any Iranian funds reaching Hamas leaders in Gaza.
SOURCE: Guardian
Friday December 15, 2006
· Prime minister forced to leave $35m behind
· Israel shuts Gaza crossing to protect finance boycott
A security officer scuffles with Hamas supporters as clashes continue in Gaza. Photograph: Muhammed Muheisen/APIsmail Haniyeh, the Palestinian prime minister, was blocked from bringing millions of dollars of desperately needed donations home last night after Israeli forces closed Gaza's border with Egypt.
Mr Haniyeh was only allowed passage through the Rafah crossing after hours of negotiation and after leaving a reported $35m (£17.8m) in cash behind with aides.
The border closure sparked chaotic scenes. More than 1,000 Hamas members stormed the checkpoint, firing into the air as travellers ducked for cover and sparking a gun battle with Palestinian security guards. Two bombs were detonated nearby to blow a hole through the concrete wall on the border. One of Mr Haniyeh's bodyguards was reported to have been killed, and more than two dozen other people, including Mr Haniyeh's son, were wounded.
The incident came after another day of clashes between rival Palestinian factions in the tense atmosphere of Gaza. A gun battle broke out when officers from the General Intelligence unit, a force allied to the Fatah faction of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, arrested a member of another faction, the Popular Resistance Committees, in Gaza City. The arrested man, Hisham Mukhaimar, was wanted in connection with the killing of the three young sons of a Fatah intelligence officer in Gaza on Monday.
After the arrest the Popular Resistance Committees kidnapped a General Intelligence security officer in retaliation.
On Wednesday a Hamas judge was killed in southern Gaza in another retaliatory attack. In Ramallah in the West Bank, Hamas cancelled a rally due to be held yesterday to mark the 19th anniversary of its founding.
Fatah activists had blocked off the streets and security officers loyal to Fatah were deployed in the area.
Hamas officials said another rally was planned for today and Mr Haniyeh, who had cut short his trip abroad to handle the crisis, would address a large crowd in Gaza. That comes a day before Mr Abbas is to make a speech in which he is expected to threaten early elections in an effort to break the deadlock between the rival factions.
Since Hamas won elections and formed a government in March, the Palestinian Authority has faced an international financial boycott.
Israel is also withholding $60m a month in tax revenues, which normally pays the salaries of 160,000 government employees. The international community and Israel say Hamas must recognise Israel, halt violence and sign up to past peace agreements before the boycott is lifted.
Hamas has refused, and for the past month Mr Haniyeh has been touring the Muslim world to rally support.
Iran, Qatar and Sudan have together promised up to $350m, but transferring the money has proved difficult due to banking sanctions. In recent weeks, Hamas ministers have brought in up to $80m in cash stuffed in suitcases when they cross the Rafah border.
But Israel, in particular, appears to want to prevent any Iranian funds reaching Hamas leaders in Gaza.
SOURCE: Guardian
Thursday, December 14, 2006
The nightmare
A little boy had a dream, in it he saw a bomb crush his home
You see he lived in Palestine, not Paris or Rome
Suddenly he heard a horrible sound
And he saw his neighbours house turned into a muddy mound
He looked around, everywhere there was fire
He saw a circle of light, looking close he saw it was a burning tyre
Where was everybody? It was so quiet and still
He realised the only building standing was the flour mill
As he struggled to wake up the boy thought was his life going to end
So much unhappiness, how long would all this take to mend?
He felt hungry and called his Mother for his meal
It was only then that he realised that all of this was real
By Ismael Rahman, Age 8
With thanks to Emdad for allowing to repost this
please visit - http://tsu-doh-nimh.blogspot.com/
A little boy had a dream, in it he saw a bomb crush his home
You see he lived in Palestine, not Paris or Rome
Suddenly he heard a horrible sound
And he saw his neighbours house turned into a muddy mound
He looked around, everywhere there was fire
He saw a circle of light, looking close he saw it was a burning tyre
Where was everybody? It was so quiet and still
He realised the only building standing was the flour mill
As he struggled to wake up the boy thought was his life going to end
So much unhappiness, how long would all this take to mend?
He felt hungry and called his Mother for his meal
It was only then that he realised that all of this was real
By Ismael Rahman, Age 8
With thanks to Emdad for allowing to repost this
please visit - http://tsu-doh-nimh.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Abbas stops talks with Hamas, opens channels with Israel
Nazareth - After announcing that talks on unity government with Hamas Movement had failed, PA chief Mahmoud Abbas met with two Israeli emissaries sent by Israel's premier Ehud Olmert to pave the way for a summit between the two leaders, the Hebrew Haaretz newspaper revealed.
In its Tuesday edition, the Hebrew paper unveiled that Olmert's two men Yoram Turbowicz, the head of Olmert's bureau, and Shalom Turjeman, the political advisor of Olmert, met Sunday with Abbas and his close associates in secret sessions in Ramallah city.
The paper furthermore quoted Palestinian sources as affirming that the two envoys were gauging Abbas' intentions, his next steps after aborting unity talks with Hamas, and contents of his anticipated speech to the Palestinian people.
Abbas, according to the paper, was also attempting to clear Israel's stand on allowing 2,000 armed loyalists of Abbas from the Jordan-based Badr force to be deployed in the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, a telephone call between Abbas and Olmert took place during the meeting, in which Abbas asked Olmert to release jailed Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghouthi independently and outside the framework of any possible prisoners swap deal with Hamas. But Olmert replied that he could do so only if captured IOF serviceman Gilad Shalit is freed by his captors.
The meeting was described by Abbas' retinue as "very positive" and that they received "positive" signals from the Israeli side.The two sides, the paper noted, discussed preparations for the anticipated visit of the US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to the region and the expected Abbas-Olmert summit that hasn’t been scheduled yet.
Fatah faction and PA chief Abbas had never complained of Israeli delays and reneging on promises and agreements over the past 13 years. But they swiftly declared that talks with Hamas reached dead-end after five weeks of talks, many local observers charged.
© Copyright palestine-info.co.uk
In its Tuesday edition, the Hebrew paper unveiled that Olmert's two men Yoram Turbowicz, the head of Olmert's bureau, and Shalom Turjeman, the political advisor of Olmert, met Sunday with Abbas and his close associates in secret sessions in Ramallah city.
The paper furthermore quoted Palestinian sources as affirming that the two envoys were gauging Abbas' intentions, his next steps after aborting unity talks with Hamas, and contents of his anticipated speech to the Palestinian people.
Abbas, according to the paper, was also attempting to clear Israel's stand on allowing 2,000 armed loyalists of Abbas from the Jordan-based Badr force to be deployed in the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, a telephone call between Abbas and Olmert took place during the meeting, in which Abbas asked Olmert to release jailed Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghouthi independently and outside the framework of any possible prisoners swap deal with Hamas. But Olmert replied that he could do so only if captured IOF serviceman Gilad Shalit is freed by his captors.
The meeting was described by Abbas' retinue as "very positive" and that they received "positive" signals from the Israeli side.The two sides, the paper noted, discussed preparations for the anticipated visit of the US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to the region and the expected Abbas-Olmert summit that hasn’t been scheduled yet.
Fatah faction and PA chief Abbas had never complained of Israeli delays and reneging on promises and agreements over the past 13 years. But they swiftly declared that talks with Hamas reached dead-end after five weeks of talks, many local observers charged.
© Copyright palestine-info.co.uk
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Olmert's "nuclear slip" of tongue
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli media are calling it a "nuclear slip" of the tongue. Aides to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert deny any change in policy.
Either way, Israel's decades-long position of nuclear weapons ambiguity appears to have crumbled after Olmert implied the Jewish state has the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal in an interview broadcast on German television.
It is less than a week since incoming U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates, speculating at a Senate confirmation hearing on Iran's possible motives for trying to build nuclear arms, suggested that Israel had the bomb.
Olmert's remarks led Israeli news bulletins on Tuesday.
Both mass circulation Hebrew-language newspapers had front page headlines: "Olmert's nuclear slip of the tongue".
Both mass circulation Hebrew-language newspapers had front page headlines: "Olmert's nuclear slip of the tongue".
Speaking in English in the interview, Olmert said:
"Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?"
"Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?"
Arch-foe Iran, whose president has called for the elimination of the "Zionist regime", has denied seeking nuclear arms. It says its nuclear programme is for civilian use.
SOURCE: Reuters
More on this story:
BBC News
Guardian
Telegraph
Monday, December 11, 2006
Carter: Israeli apartheid 'worse'
Mr Carter's book charters Middle East peacemaking since the 1970s
Former US President Jimmy Carter says some Israeli restrictions imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank are worse than apartheid-era South Africa.
In an interview broadcast on Israel Radio, Mr Carter focused on roads built exclusively for Jewish settlements.
In South Africa, blacks were not prevented from "using or even crossing" roads, as in the West Bank, he said.
Mr Carter is promoting his latest book on the Middle East conflict, which has been condemned by pro-Israeli groups.
Correspondents say the book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, blames all sides for not seizing the opportunity of the Camp David peace process in the late 1970s.
But Mr Carter is most critical of Israeli policies, and the book has provoked an outcry among pro-Israeli groups in the US.
Read the rest of the story here
With the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if they're out to GET CARTER next!
Israel 'blocks Tutu Gaza mission'
Israel blocks a fact finding mission because they know the fact that they are an oppressive, killing and brutal force will be re-confirmed. See below.
Three Children Shot Dead In Gaza
Car hit by more than 70 bulletsGunmen in Gaza City have shot dead the three sons of an intelligence chief linked to the Palestinian party Fatah.
One adult was also killed in the attack which took place in a street crowded with children on their way to school.
The boys' father was named as Baha Balousheh, who led a crackdown on the now-ruling Hamas movement 10 years ago.
The BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza says the motive is unclear but Mr Balousheh's position means he would have made many enemies.
Tensions between Fatah and the Hamas government have frequently led to gun battles in the streets of Gaza that have killed dozens of people.
The attack came a day after gunmen shot at Interior Minister Saeed Seyam's convoy in Gaza. Mr Seyam, who is a senior Hamas leader, was unharmed in that incident.
Pandemonium
The attack happened as children were arriving at nine schools which line Palestine Street in Gaza City's central Rimal district.
The gunmen fired more than 70 bullets at the vehicle in which Mr Balousheh's children, aged between six and 10, were travelling. At least two other children were hurt.
Inside the white vehicle with its blacked out passenger windows, the seats and a school bag were covered in blood.
There were scenes of pandemonium as hundreds of children and parents ran for cover from the gunfire. Fatah supporters gathered in the streets vowing revenge for the attack.
Fadwa Nabulsi, a 12-year-old interviewed by the Associated Press, said she was outside a school with her nine-year-old brother, Wael, when the shooting started.
"We saw fire coming from one car. We started screaming and children started running.
"I was crying, and I lost Wael for about half an hour. Then I found him hiding in a falafel shop. I'm trying to find my father to take us back home," she said.
'Ugly Crime'
Palestinian police in the area have been trying to help children locate their parents and Gaza City's Shifa hospital has been flooded with inquiries from concerned families.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum condemned Monday's attack as an "awful, ugly crime against innocent children".
He blamed elements who wanted to undermine Palestinian interests by creating chaos and confusion.
Hamas won a landslide victory in elections in January but its funding has been choked off by Western donors because it refuses to renounce violence and recognise Israel.
Fatah leader and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been considering a request by his allies to hold early elections to resolve an impasse in efforts to form a unity government.
Hamas denounced the proposal to hold another election as a "coup against democracy".
Source: BBC
Sunday, December 10, 2006
IOF troops round up more Palestinians, bulldoze lands
Nazareth - IOF troops on Monday nabbed four Palestinians in Jenin, Nablus and Al-Khalil on the alleged charges of being affiliated with the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah armed wings, according to locals.
They said that the IOF unit that stormed the Jenin refugee camp was ambushed by Palestinian resistance fighters who blasted three explosive devices in the invading troops.An IOF spokesman acknowledged the attack but claimed that no casualties were suffered.
The Israeli police force in the green line (Palestinian lands occupied in 1948) last night rounded up 16 Palestinian workers, claiming they were not carrying proper work permits.The Hebrew radio said that the Palestinian workers were arrested in the city of Nazareth, adding that half of them would stand trial while the other half would be "expelled" back to the West Bank.
In Bethlehem, IOF soldiers bulldozed vast areas of Palestinian lands cultivated with grapes south of Bethlehem city.
Owners of the lands said that the soldiers' act was not the first of its kind, adding that the soldiers routinely storm and damage their lands in a bid to force the indigenous inhabitants of those lands to leave and then annex their lands to the nearby settlement complex of Kfar Etzion.
© Copyright palestine-info.co.uk
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Speaking frankly about Israel and Palestine
Jimmy Carter speaks about the Israel and Palestine conflict
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-carter8dec08,0,7999232.story?coll=la-home-commentary
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-carter8dec08,0,7999232.story?coll=la-home-commentary
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Rockets, riots and rivalry
Israeli football is fast becoming a mirror of the country itself: a battleground between Arab and Jew. James Montague talks to Abbass Swan, an Arab star of the national team, about war, religion and the rise of hooliganism
Sunday November 26, 2006
Observer Sport Monthly
Haifa is one of the few cities in Israel where Jews and Arabs are close to being integrated. The local football team, Maccabi Haifa, have long championed Israeli Arab players and Abbass Swan, their major summer signing, is the country's most prominent Arab footballer.
In 2004, he led his hometown club and Israel's most successful Arab team, Bnei Sakhnin, to the Israeli Cup and he is a regular in the national side. For many, Abbass is an example of someone proud to be both Muslim and Israeli. He was nominated as one of Time magazine's heroes of 2005.
'The Haifa fans accepted me very quickly,' Abbass told me when I visited him at his home in Sakhnin, a small town in northern Israel, about 20 miles east of Haifa, where the industrial suburbs are replaced by olive groves and flat, sand-yellow buildings. 'Some kids wrote slogans about me because I'm an Arab, but the club stamped down on that.'
Away from Haifa, Swan is prepared to encounter a vociferous hatred. 'Israeli fans are wonderful, some of the best in the world,' he says. 'At the same time, there are a few that behave shamefully.' He is thinking, in particular, of the supporters of Beitar Jerusalem.
In March 2005, Swan scored Israel's last-minute equaliser against the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup qualifier. But a week later, he played at Beitar's notorious Teddy stadium and the home fans unfurled a banner that said: 'Swan, you do not represent us.' After a game at Sakhnin, Beitar fans rioted and broke into the room where Swan was giving a TV interview. He escaped, but says that the police at the ground failed to intervene. Yet he recently considered becoming Beitar's first Arab player following an approach from the club's owner, the Russia-born tycoon Arcadi Gaydamak. He is the father of Portsmouth owner Alexandre Gaydamak. 'I said I was ready, that I could do it,' Swan says, with an odd expression of disappointment. 'I believe he was trying to break the image of Beitar and say that Arab players could play for them. But he got into trouble in Jerusalem. In the end, he apologised and said he couldn't sign me.'
Instead, Swan joined Haifa. In July, the port city was subject to Hizbollah's fierce bombardment during the war with the militia in Lebanon. A Katyusha rocket landed outside Haifa's Kiryat Eliezer stadium; the FA banned all games in northern Israel, while Uefa forced teams to play European matches abroad. Haifa had to play a 'home' Champions League qualifying match against Liverpool in Ukraine.
The domestic season eventually began on 26 August, 12 days after the ceasefire was announced and a week later than planned. On the opening day, Maccabi Haifa played Maccabi Netanya at the latter's crumbling stadium just north of Tel Aviv. On any given Saturday a game in this league would open up a host of rivalries: Israeli Jew versus Israeli Arab, the Likud party versus Labour, wealthy clubs playing those that can't afford their own ground. But on this sunny afternoon, there was a defiant atmosphere. The two sets of fans had a common enemy: Hizbollah.
Outside the stadium, wearing a green and white Maccabi Haifa top and clutching a large wooden suitcase, Oren was doing a brisk trade selling polyester scarves and tacky Star of David necklaces. Even more popular were stickers of a cartoon Haifa fan urinating on the face of Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. He translated the words on the green sticker: 'Nasrallah, you're garbage.'
'We've a chant for him today,' he said. '"Yallah, yallah, Nasrallah, I kill you, I kill you Insha'Allah".' Given the team's war-interrupted preparations, it was little surprise when Haifa lost the game 3-1. Swan, an unused substitute, never made it on to the pitch.
A day later, Beitar fans were living down to their reputation when at least 7,000 travelled to their opening match against arch-rivals Maccabi Tel Aviv. 'We hate Arabs and Muslims,' shouted 19-year-old fan Eliran, a member of Beitar's La Familia hooligan gang. 'If any Arab played for Beitar, we'd burn their ass and burn the club. They're our enemy.'
For the duration of the game the travelling contingent chanted anti-Arab songs, threw half-eaten pretzels at the referee and, later, rioted in Tel Aviv's southern suburbs to celebrate their team's 2-1 victory. Even Ossie Ardiles, briefly Beitar's manager this year and a man who knows a thing or two about prejudice as an Argentine who played in England in the aftermath of the Falklands War, has reservations about signing an Arab. 'If there was [an Arab] player good enough I'd think about bringing him here,' he told me. 'But the Teddy is a special place and I don't know if an Arab player can play with this level of animosity from our own supporters. Yes, of course, I would prefer this feeling didn't exist, but it does.'
Swan's old club, Bnei Sakhnin, will not be playing Beitar this season. They were relegated from the Israeli Premier League last year and almost went bust before Gaydamak came to the rescue with a donation of £280,000.
After our conversation, Swan took me to Bnei's Doha Stadium, so-called because it was paid for by the Qatari government. He peered dreamily across the empty stands. 'When we won the national cup [in 2004] I was so proud for the Arabs in Israel, proud that we were narrowing the gaps between communities through football,' he said. 'Now there are many symbols attached to me and many see me as an Arab symbol, nothing more. When the war broke out, everybody asked me what I thought. The truth is, a drop of blood from a Jewish or Arab child is the same. The missiles don't distinguish between Jews and Arabs.'
· James Montague is working on a book about football in the Middle East
Sunday November 26, 2006
Observer Sport Monthly
Haifa is one of the few cities in Israel where Jews and Arabs are close to being integrated. The local football team, Maccabi Haifa, have long championed Israeli Arab players and Abbass Swan, their major summer signing, is the country's most prominent Arab footballer.
In 2004, he led his hometown club and Israel's most successful Arab team, Bnei Sakhnin, to the Israeli Cup and he is a regular in the national side. For many, Abbass is an example of someone proud to be both Muslim and Israeli. He was nominated as one of Time magazine's heroes of 2005.
'The Haifa fans accepted me very quickly,' Abbass told me when I visited him at his home in Sakhnin, a small town in northern Israel, about 20 miles east of Haifa, where the industrial suburbs are replaced by olive groves and flat, sand-yellow buildings. 'Some kids wrote slogans about me because I'm an Arab, but the club stamped down on that.'
Away from Haifa, Swan is prepared to encounter a vociferous hatred. 'Israeli fans are wonderful, some of the best in the world,' he says. 'At the same time, there are a few that behave shamefully.' He is thinking, in particular, of the supporters of Beitar Jerusalem.
In March 2005, Swan scored Israel's last-minute equaliser against the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup qualifier. But a week later, he played at Beitar's notorious Teddy stadium and the home fans unfurled a banner that said: 'Swan, you do not represent us.' After a game at Sakhnin, Beitar fans rioted and broke into the room where Swan was giving a TV interview. He escaped, but says that the police at the ground failed to intervene. Yet he recently considered becoming Beitar's first Arab player following an approach from the club's owner, the Russia-born tycoon Arcadi Gaydamak. He is the father of Portsmouth owner Alexandre Gaydamak. 'I said I was ready, that I could do it,' Swan says, with an odd expression of disappointment. 'I believe he was trying to break the image of Beitar and say that Arab players could play for them. But he got into trouble in Jerusalem. In the end, he apologised and said he couldn't sign me.'
Instead, Swan joined Haifa. In July, the port city was subject to Hizbollah's fierce bombardment during the war with the militia in Lebanon. A Katyusha rocket landed outside Haifa's Kiryat Eliezer stadium; the FA banned all games in northern Israel, while Uefa forced teams to play European matches abroad. Haifa had to play a 'home' Champions League qualifying match against Liverpool in Ukraine.
The domestic season eventually began on 26 August, 12 days after the ceasefire was announced and a week later than planned. On the opening day, Maccabi Haifa played Maccabi Netanya at the latter's crumbling stadium just north of Tel Aviv. On any given Saturday a game in this league would open up a host of rivalries: Israeli Jew versus Israeli Arab, the Likud party versus Labour, wealthy clubs playing those that can't afford their own ground. But on this sunny afternoon, there was a defiant atmosphere. The two sets of fans had a common enemy: Hizbollah.
Outside the stadium, wearing a green and white Maccabi Haifa top and clutching a large wooden suitcase, Oren was doing a brisk trade selling polyester scarves and tacky Star of David necklaces. Even more popular were stickers of a cartoon Haifa fan urinating on the face of Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. He translated the words on the green sticker: 'Nasrallah, you're garbage.'
'We've a chant for him today,' he said. '"Yallah, yallah, Nasrallah, I kill you, I kill you Insha'Allah".' Given the team's war-interrupted preparations, it was little surprise when Haifa lost the game 3-1. Swan, an unused substitute, never made it on to the pitch.
A day later, Beitar fans were living down to their reputation when at least 7,000 travelled to their opening match against arch-rivals Maccabi Tel Aviv. 'We hate Arabs and Muslims,' shouted 19-year-old fan Eliran, a member of Beitar's La Familia hooligan gang. 'If any Arab played for Beitar, we'd burn their ass and burn the club. They're our enemy.'
For the duration of the game the travelling contingent chanted anti-Arab songs, threw half-eaten pretzels at the referee and, later, rioted in Tel Aviv's southern suburbs to celebrate their team's 2-1 victory. Even Ossie Ardiles, briefly Beitar's manager this year and a man who knows a thing or two about prejudice as an Argentine who played in England in the aftermath of the Falklands War, has reservations about signing an Arab. 'If there was [an Arab] player good enough I'd think about bringing him here,' he told me. 'But the Teddy is a special place and I don't know if an Arab player can play with this level of animosity from our own supporters. Yes, of course, I would prefer this feeling didn't exist, but it does.'
Swan's old club, Bnei Sakhnin, will not be playing Beitar this season. They were relegated from the Israeli Premier League last year and almost went bust before Gaydamak came to the rescue with a donation of £280,000.
After our conversation, Swan took me to Bnei's Doha Stadium, so-called because it was paid for by the Qatari government. He peered dreamily across the empty stands. 'When we won the national cup [in 2004] I was so proud for the Arabs in Israel, proud that we were narrowing the gaps between communities through football,' he said. 'Now there are many symbols attached to me and many see me as an Arab symbol, nothing more. When the war broke out, everybody asked me what I thought. The truth is, a drop of blood from a Jewish or Arab child is the same. The missiles don't distinguish between Jews and Arabs.'
· James Montague is working on a book about football in the Middle East
SOURCE: Guardian
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
There has to be equality
If Britons can join the Israeli army, those who fight for Palestine can't be treated as terrorists
Ismail Patel
Tuesday December 5, 2006
The Arab-Israeli conflict is unlike any other regional conflict. As the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, put it: "No other conflict carries such a powerful symbolic and emotional charge among people far removed from the battlefield." Not surprisingly, this has had its impact on multicultural Britain, with different communities aligning themselves to varying degrees with the Israeli and Palestinian causes.
Everyone in a democracy has the right to argue for their views and engage in public debate. But there is no equality when it comes to how the British government treats those who want to give physical support to Israel and those who want to do the same for the Palestinians. Such double standards feed resentment in Britain's Muslim community at the government's failure to recognise its legitimate grievances, as highlighted in yesterday's report by the thinktank Demos.
In recent months the media have reported on the recruitment of British Jews to fight in the Israeli army, now in its 40th year of occupation of Palestinian territory in defiance of international law and UN resolutions. Some are intending to emigrate; others to return to Britain after serving in the Israeli army. But we have not had a word of concern from the British government. In the Muslim community, however, the question is widely raised as to how British citizens can travel to another country and fight in its army of illegal occupation without any repercussions. Would that be the case if, say, a young Muslim or Briton of Palestinian origin travelled to the occupied Palestinian territories - let alone occupied Iraq - to protect his or her homeland or co-religionists? Of course not: such volunteers could expect to be arrested under this government's anti-terrorism legislation as soon as they returned.
These Britons who go to fight for Israel are volunteering to serve in the frontline of Israel's war in the illegally occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Some have acknowledged that they have been or will be engaged in the killing of Palestinians. Under international law they and those who facilitate their enlistment are committing war crimes.
Presumably the politicians' silence can be explained by Britain's support for the Israeli government, both diplomatic and military. But how does that sit with the government's regular homilies to the Muslim community about citizenship and loyalty to the flag? It might be argued that as Israel is a state - unlike the Palestinian Authority or Palestinian political organisations - and Britons are entitled to dual citizenship, with any military-service obligations that entails, there can be no objection. But the fact that the Palestinian people have no state is of course at the heart of this uniquely internationally inflammatory conflict. And those fighting against the illegal occupation of their land are entitled to do so under international law.
The British government's indifference to this recruitment is feeding the alienation and radicalisation of young Muslims, who can be labelled terrorists for even voicing support for the Palestinians.
Perhaps British citizens should not serve in foreign armies full stop. But the essential point is that there must be equality. If Britons are allowed to join the Israeli army, the same right should be accorded to those - particularly of Palestinian origin - who wish to volunteer to defend lands Israel occupies. Alternatively, both should be barred.
We need a shift in approach at the top. Tony Blair has expressed his desire to bring peace to the Middle East, but his actions - most recently his refusal to condemn Israel's Beit Hanoun massacre at the UN - scarcely suggest an honest broker. At home and in the Middle East, it is time the British government showed some real even-handedness.
· Ismail Patel is chair of the Leicester-based campaign Friends of Al-Aqsa iap_foa@yahoo.co.uk
SOURCE: Guardian
Ismail Patel
Tuesday December 5, 2006
The Arab-Israeli conflict is unlike any other regional conflict. As the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, put it: "No other conflict carries such a powerful symbolic and emotional charge among people far removed from the battlefield." Not surprisingly, this has had its impact on multicultural Britain, with different communities aligning themselves to varying degrees with the Israeli and Palestinian causes.
Everyone in a democracy has the right to argue for their views and engage in public debate. But there is no equality when it comes to how the British government treats those who want to give physical support to Israel and those who want to do the same for the Palestinians. Such double standards feed resentment in Britain's Muslim community at the government's failure to recognise its legitimate grievances, as highlighted in yesterday's report by the thinktank Demos.
In recent months the media have reported on the recruitment of British Jews to fight in the Israeli army, now in its 40th year of occupation of Palestinian territory in defiance of international law and UN resolutions. Some are intending to emigrate; others to return to Britain after serving in the Israeli army. But we have not had a word of concern from the British government. In the Muslim community, however, the question is widely raised as to how British citizens can travel to another country and fight in its army of illegal occupation without any repercussions. Would that be the case if, say, a young Muslim or Briton of Palestinian origin travelled to the occupied Palestinian territories - let alone occupied Iraq - to protect his or her homeland or co-religionists? Of course not: such volunteers could expect to be arrested under this government's anti-terrorism legislation as soon as they returned.
These Britons who go to fight for Israel are volunteering to serve in the frontline of Israel's war in the illegally occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Some have acknowledged that they have been or will be engaged in the killing of Palestinians. Under international law they and those who facilitate their enlistment are committing war crimes.
Presumably the politicians' silence can be explained by Britain's support for the Israeli government, both diplomatic and military. But how does that sit with the government's regular homilies to the Muslim community about citizenship and loyalty to the flag? It might be argued that as Israel is a state - unlike the Palestinian Authority or Palestinian political organisations - and Britons are entitled to dual citizenship, with any military-service obligations that entails, there can be no objection. But the fact that the Palestinian people have no state is of course at the heart of this uniquely internationally inflammatory conflict. And those fighting against the illegal occupation of their land are entitled to do so under international law.
The British government's indifference to this recruitment is feeding the alienation and radicalisation of young Muslims, who can be labelled terrorists for even voicing support for the Palestinians.
Perhaps British citizens should not serve in foreign armies full stop. But the essential point is that there must be equality. If Britons are allowed to join the Israeli army, the same right should be accorded to those - particularly of Palestinian origin - who wish to volunteer to defend lands Israel occupies. Alternatively, both should be barred.
We need a shift in approach at the top. Tony Blair has expressed his desire to bring peace to the Middle East, but his actions - most recently his refusal to condemn Israel's Beit Hanoun massacre at the UN - scarcely suggest an honest broker. At home and in the Middle East, it is time the British government showed some real even-handedness.
· Ismail Patel is chair of the Leicester-based campaign Friends of Al-Aqsa iap_foa@yahoo.co.uk
SOURCE: Guardian
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Israel's wall has forced Palestinians to move home-right into Jerusalem
Stephen Farrell, Jerusalem
East to West, the flight has begun. Israel’s controversial “separation barrier”, expanding inexorably over wadis and high streets, is near completion along large stretches of its route. Slab by 30ft slab, it seals off Jewish-majority West Jerusalem to protect it from West Bank suicide bombers. Except that the wall designed to keep out Palestinians has driven thousands of them into inner Jerusalem.
- Wealth and ID cards allow shift
- Drastic changes to population
The “separation barrier” that Israel has built to keep out Palestinians. However, many Arabs are moving into Jerusalem to take advantage of the residential permits (Peter Nicholls)
East to West, the flight has begun. Israel’s controversial “separation barrier”, expanding inexorably over wadis and high streets, is near completion along large stretches of its route. Slab by 30ft slab, it seals off Jewish-majority West Jerusalem to protect it from West Bank suicide bombers. Except that the wall designed to keep out Palestinians has driven thousands of them into inner Jerusalem.
Most East Jerusalem Arabs lucky enough to hold the much-prized Israeli Jerusalem identity cards granting them residency rights have already slipped inside the concrete curtain before its gates slam shut.
The result is drastic social and demographic changes to the outskirts of a Biblical city that is now twice-walled — from some vistas Ariel Sharon’s concrete legacy is clearly visible outside Suleiman the Magnificent’s Old City ramparts.
The “outer” neighbourhoods now lie half-deserted, abandoned by those able and wealthy enough to move.
In the “inner” suburbs the laws of supply and demand have doubled rents and increased land prices in Arab neighbourhoods and even — irony of ironies — forced the new arrivals into Jewish areas. “Many Arabs are moving into the settlements because they are very close to the Arab areas,” said Raed Jaber, a 27-year-old Arab from al-Eizariya, who now owns a creperie serving the overwhelmingly Jewish residents of the settlement of Pisgat Zeev.
“I’ll move in myself in a year or so when I get married,” he shrugs, dismissing antipathy from religious Jews who have leafleted the area urging residents not to rent to Arabs.
Pisgat Zeev is regarded as a neighbourhood of Jerusalem by Israel, but lies beyond the green line and was built on land captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
Critics regard the half-finished 450-mile West Bank “separation barrier” as a “land grab” by the Jewish State.
“It gives a more clear line of the perimeter of the city,” said Miri Eisin, a spokesman for Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister. “We say, and say cautiously, that this line is not a future border. It is a line which has made a very big difference from that stroll that it used to be for those who came to blow themselves up in Jerusalem.”
On its website the Israeli Ministry of Defence points out that it only becomes a wall — it prefers the euphemism “solid barrier system” — along a small fraction of its route in densely populated urban areas such as Jerusalem and “to prevent sniper fire into Israel and on major highways and roads”. A few minutes’ drive north of Jerusalem city centre the Arab neighbourhood of Dahiyat al-Bareed lies just on the wrong side, by a few metres. Here the towering barricade divides streets and even families, local frustration registered by “Victory to Hassan Nasrallah” and a swastika daubed on the bare concrete. Taxis and commuters can still flit through a narrow gap left for builders to complete the final section, but this is expected to close within weeks. The exodus is evident. Streets are empty, the school roll has fallen from 1,500 to 500 pupils, blocks of flats have lost 80 per cent of their tenants and businesses have closed, moving north to Ramallah.
Read entire story here
Wall to wall
- 493 Length of West Bank barrier in miles
- 251 miles have been completed
- £2 million Cost per mile
- 50% Amount by which rents have fallen in areas cut off
SOURCE: The Times
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Israeli's break Truce!!
Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishing vessel in first truce violation: security officials
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: An Israeli navy boat fired toward a Palestinian fishing vessel off Gaza on Saturday in a first Israeli violation of a week-old truce in Gaza, Palestinian security officials said.
The vessel caught fire, but no one was hurt, the security officials said.
The Israeli military said it was unaware of such an incident.
Also in Gaza, an 11-year-old boy died of injuries he sustained two weeks earlier in an Israeli military operation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, hospital doctors said. The boy died Saturday at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital.
SOURCE: International Herald Tribune
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: An Israeli navy boat fired toward a Palestinian fishing vessel off Gaza on Saturday in a first Israeli violation of a week-old truce in Gaza, Palestinian security officials said.
The vessel caught fire, but no one was hurt, the security officials said.
The Israeli military said it was unaware of such an incident.
Also in Gaza, an 11-year-old boy died of injuries he sustained two weeks earlier in an Israeli military operation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, hospital doctors said. The boy died Saturday at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital.
SOURCE: International Herald Tribune
Israeli gets away with murder
New Zealand cancels arrest warrant for Israeli general
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published: 02 December 2006
The former head of Israel's army continued unimpeded with a trip to New Zealand yesterday after the country's attorney general rescinded a warrant issued for his arrest to face allegations of war crimes.
Moshe Yaalon, who was chief of staff until June last year, said that he was still in New Zealand despite the warrant for his arrest.
The decision by the Auckland district court on Monday last week was overruled on Thursday by the New Zealand attorney general, Michael Cullen.
General Yaalon told Israel's army radio yesterday: "I am continuing to travel in New Zealand. I did not run away from anywhere and I don't intend to run away."
The petition sought General Yaalon's trial for his part in the assassination in Gaza of a leading Hamas figure, Salah Shehadeh, who was killed by a one-ton bomb dropped by the Israeli air force on his house in 2002. The bomb, which fell in a residential area, killed at least 14 civilians, including seven members of the Mattar family. A surviving member, Ra'ed Mattar, was named as one of the complainants.
The legal move was the latest against senior Israeli security personnel made on behalf of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and their London-based firm of solicitors, Hickman Rose, who said Palestinians were "devastated" by the attorney's decision.
Major General Doron Almog, who recently completed an official military investigation into the conduct of the Lebanon war, flew back to Tel Aviv from London without leaving his aircraft in September last year when he was tipped off that he faced arrest because of a similar type of warrant.
General Yaalon said yesterday: "I know there was an intention to file a suit against me. But I am glad New Zealand is one of the countries that implements the law the right way and does not allow people who want to make propaganda to use [the law] to attack people like us."
Judge Avinash Deobhakta, who granted the original application, said it established a prima facie case against General Yaalon.
In New Zealand the attorney general is required to authorise a prosecution but not the issue of an arrest warrant.
Dr Cullen said that to his knowledge no government officials, MPs or ministers had met General Yaalon, and "there has been no contact at any level" between his office and the Israeli government or its embassy in Canberra.
The former head of Israel's army continued unimpeded with a trip to New Zealand yesterday after the country's attorney general rescinded a warrant issued for his arrest to face allegations of war crimes.
SOURCE: Independent
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published: 02 December 2006
The former head of Israel's army continued unimpeded with a trip to New Zealand yesterday after the country's attorney general rescinded a warrant issued for his arrest to face allegations of war crimes.
Moshe Yaalon, who was chief of staff until June last year, said that he was still in New Zealand despite the warrant for his arrest.
The decision by the Auckland district court on Monday last week was overruled on Thursday by the New Zealand attorney general, Michael Cullen.
General Yaalon told Israel's army radio yesterday: "I am continuing to travel in New Zealand. I did not run away from anywhere and I don't intend to run away."
The petition sought General Yaalon's trial for his part in the assassination in Gaza of a leading Hamas figure, Salah Shehadeh, who was killed by a one-ton bomb dropped by the Israeli air force on his house in 2002. The bomb, which fell in a residential area, killed at least 14 civilians, including seven members of the Mattar family. A surviving member, Ra'ed Mattar, was named as one of the complainants.
The legal move was the latest against senior Israeli security personnel made on behalf of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and their London-based firm of solicitors, Hickman Rose, who said Palestinians were "devastated" by the attorney's decision.
Major General Doron Almog, who recently completed an official military investigation into the conduct of the Lebanon war, flew back to Tel Aviv from London without leaving his aircraft in September last year when he was tipped off that he faced arrest because of a similar type of warrant.
General Yaalon said yesterday: "I know there was an intention to file a suit against me. But I am glad New Zealand is one of the countries that implements the law the right way and does not allow people who want to make propaganda to use [the law] to attack people like us."
Judge Avinash Deobhakta, who granted the original application, said it established a prima facie case against General Yaalon.
In New Zealand the attorney general is required to authorise a prosecution but not the issue of an arrest warrant.
Dr Cullen said that to his knowledge no government officials, MPs or ministers had met General Yaalon, and "there has been no contact at any level" between his office and the Israeli government or its embassy in Canberra.
The former head of Israel's army continued unimpeded with a trip to New Zealand yesterday after the country's attorney general rescinded a warrant issued for his arrest to face allegations of war crimes.
SOURCE: Independent
Israeli soldier who shot foreigner in Palestine to serve two-week sentence
In one of the few cases where the shooting of an unarmed man at an Israeli checkpoint in Asira al-Shemaliya, Palestine on November has actually warranted investigation by Israeli officials, the soldier responsible for shooting and injuring the man has been sentenced to a mere two weeks in Israeli military prison.
The man, Haytem Yasin, 25, was shot in the stomach and severely injured while visiting relatives in Palestine. Yasin was shot after apparently questioning the soldiers' invasive search techniques of female Palestinians passing through the checkpoint. According to Israeli sources, he is now being treated for major abdominal injuries in a hospital in the Israeli settlement of Petah Tikva.
The Israeli human rights group B'tselem reported that Yasin was first pushed by the soldier after making a comment about the searches. Then, according to eyewitness accounts, two other soldiers joined in hitting Yasin, knocking him to the ground and continuing to beat and kick him, then throwing him against the cement blocks around the checkpoint. After the soldiers had handcuffed him, they continued to beat and kick the man, and finally shot him in the stomach.
Yasin had been visiting Palestine from Algeria, where he lives with his parents.
Abuse at checkpoints is a common practice by Israeli soldiers, according to Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights groups who monitor the situation.
SOURCE: International Middle East Media Centre
The man, Haytem Yasin, 25, was shot in the stomach and severely injured while visiting relatives in Palestine. Yasin was shot after apparently questioning the soldiers' invasive search techniques of female Palestinians passing through the checkpoint. According to Israeli sources, he is now being treated for major abdominal injuries in a hospital in the Israeli settlement of Petah Tikva.
The Israeli human rights group B'tselem reported that Yasin was first pushed by the soldier after making a comment about the searches. Then, according to eyewitness accounts, two other soldiers joined in hitting Yasin, knocking him to the ground and continuing to beat and kick him, then throwing him against the cement blocks around the checkpoint. After the soldiers had handcuffed him, they continued to beat and kick the man, and finally shot him in the stomach.
Yasin had been visiting Palestine from Algeria, where he lives with his parents.
Abuse at checkpoints is a common practice by Israeli soldiers, according to Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights groups who monitor the situation.
SOURCE: International Middle East Media Centre
Friday, December 01, 2006
I spy with my lil eye
Occupied Jerusalem - In a new flagrant violation of the Aqsa Mosque’s sanctity after their sacrilegious act against the holy Quran in the Megiddo and Nafha prisons, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) installed hi-tech spy cameras and monitoring apparatuses.
The new cameras would detect every movement within and around the boundary of Al-Haram Al-Sharif and would monitor every inch in it whether above surface or underground, the Aqsa foundation, catering for Muslim holy shrines in Palestine, said in a statement issued Sunday and a copy of which was received by the Palestinian Information Center (PIC).
"They have been preparing for such a thing weeks ago and we doubt their allegations by which they tried to justify the step; however, we believe that those steps were part of an Israeli comprehensive plan to tighten the grip on the Aqsa Mosque and the occupied city of Jerusalem, and of course, to monitor and frighten Muslims performing their religious rites inside the Mosque", it added.
"The Israeli step constitutes direct and immediate threats to the present and the future of the Aqsa and converts it into a military barracks rather than a place for worship, especially after the IOF doubled their troops and backed them with elite units and made some geographical alteration in the city", it affirmed.
The foundation urged Jerusalemites and the rest of Palestinian people within and outside the occupied homeland to consolidate their cohesion with the Aqsa and to defend it at any cost.
The foundation further advocated Muslim presence in the Haram round-the-clock, as it urged the Muslim and Arab Ummah and scholars to seriously perform their part in the battle for the defense of the Aqsa.
© Copyright palestine-info.co.uk
SOURCE: Palestine-Info
The new cameras would detect every movement within and around the boundary of Al-Haram Al-Sharif and would monitor every inch in it whether above surface or underground, the Aqsa foundation, catering for Muslim holy shrines in Palestine, said in a statement issued Sunday and a copy of which was received by the Palestinian Information Center (PIC).
"They have been preparing for such a thing weeks ago and we doubt their allegations by which they tried to justify the step; however, we believe that those steps were part of an Israeli comprehensive plan to tighten the grip on the Aqsa Mosque and the occupied city of Jerusalem, and of course, to monitor and frighten Muslims performing their religious rites inside the Mosque", it added.
"The Israeli step constitutes direct and immediate threats to the present and the future of the Aqsa and converts it into a military barracks rather than a place for worship, especially after the IOF doubled their troops and backed them with elite units and made some geographical alteration in the city", it affirmed.
The foundation urged Jerusalemites and the rest of Palestinian people within and outside the occupied homeland to consolidate their cohesion with the Aqsa and to defend it at any cost.
The foundation further advocated Muslim presence in the Haram round-the-clock, as it urged the Muslim and Arab Ummah and scholars to seriously perform their part in the battle for the defense of the Aqsa.
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SOURCE: Palestine-Info
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