News
International Middle East Media Center
El Khodary Calls For Saving The Children In Gaza
IMEMC – Monday April 05, 2010 – 03:37, Independent Palestinian Legislator, head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege, called on the international community to save the children in Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip as they are living under unjust Israeli siege and ongoing aggression.
Oren: Settlements In Jerusalem Will Continue, Our Relation With The U.S Is Strong
IMEMC – Monday April 05, 2010 – 02:55, Israels Ambassador In Washington, Michael Oren, stated that Israel will continue the construction and expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem, and added that the relation between Israel and the United States is strong.
Army Fires At Palestinians Near Gaza Border
IMEMC – Monday April 05, 2010 – 01:30, Israeli army sources reported Sunday that soldiers fired at two Palestinians, believed to be armed, who approached the Kissufim Crossing; no injuries were reported.
UN: Israeli materials shipment to Gaza well below needs
4/4/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – A rumored promise of increased construction supplies to be permitted into Gaza has so far consisted of half a truckload of cement, UN officials announced on Friday. Israel’s Hebrew Language daily newspaper Ma’ariv published a report Friday morning saying iron, cement and other raw construction materials would be permitted into Gaza next week. Palestinian liaison officials, however, said on Sunday they had not been informed of any changes to goods permitted into the Strip. The reports resurfaced Saturday in Israel’s Jerusalem Post, which said the move, okayed by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, was a “goodwill” gesture to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The paper said the decision was made during Barak and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington two weeks ago. A UN report released on 24 March, mentioned an announcement that “Israel has approved. . .”
Israeli aircraft fires at Palestinians in Gaza
4/4/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli aircraft opened fire at a group of Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, near the Kissufim border, witnesses reported. An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma’an that the Israeli army “identified armed Palestinians digging in the ground in the central Gaza Strip and an IDF aircraft fired toward suspects.”Locals said the fire targeted agricultural land near Qarara and the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, causing fear and panic among residents, with no injuries reported. Witnesses said the aircraft included helicopters, with Israel’s Army Radio confirming reports. Witnesses further said that Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip has increased over the past two weeks, when two Israeli soldiers were killed during clashes with Palestinian operatives in southern Gaza, near the border with Israel.
Testimony: Israelis beat, pour boiling water on worker
4/4/2010 – Nablus – Ma’an – Residents of Israel’s Kiyrat Shimona reportedly beat, and poured boiling water on a 26-year-old Palestinian worker on Friday night, who returned to Nablus for treatment in hospital. Munjid Besharat, from Tamun village, said he had worked for 14 months in an industrial-area factory of the northern Israel border community, and was surprised last week when three Israeli residents of the community surrounded and began beating him with sticks.”Three people wearing hats stepped out of a white car and approached me as I walked down the main street of KiryatShmona,” Besharat said from the Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus.” I fainted and gained consciousness somewhere unfamiliar, but they were still there,” he said.”The same three then took steaming water from barrels and poured it on my face and my body, it was scalding hot. . . .”
Israeli forces detain 6 in Huwwara
4/4/2010 – Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli forces detained six Palestinians early Sunday morning in the northern West Bank village of Huwwara, south of Nablus, after ransacking several homes. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an that Israeli forces raided Huwwara at 1:30am, inspecting several homes, before detaining the young men, among them three minors. Sources identified the detained as Diyaa Adel Uda, 18, Tariq Mahmoud Uda,16, As’ad Suleiman Uda, 17,As’ad Khalaf, 16,Ahmad Badr Uda, 28,Muhammad Najih Uda, 25. Israeli media reported that the army detained six described as “wanted Palestinian terror suspects” who were taken in for questioning by the security forces. On Friday, Israeli forces detained detained 20-year-old Alaa Uda, taking him to an undisclosed location. An Israeli military spokesman told Ma’an that Uda was detained at the Huwwara checkpoint following an inspection and was taken for security questioning.
Tibi: Barak responsible for Palestinian death at checkpoint
4/4/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Palestinian Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi said Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak bears responsibility for the death of a diabetic at a West Bank checkpoint, Israeli media reported.”Ehud Barak is personally responsible for his cruel death. The orders at roadblocks require the humiliation and oppression of a civil population, and the person who issued the order is responsible for the death of a Palestinian-French civilian,” said Tibi according to the Israeli daily Yedioth Aharonoth. Mohammad Damen Abed Al-Karim E’lieyat, 62, from the village of Dir Abu Da’eef in Jenin, was en route to the Jordan Valley but was barred from transit for several hours at the Al-Hamra checkpoint in Tubas. E’lieyat, diabetic with high blood pressure, died of a severe heart attack shortly after being allowed to cross. Related:Ma’an News: Diabetic dies after long wait at checkpoint
Witnesses: Butchery raided by police in Jlem
4/4/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Five Palestinians sustained bruising on Sunday morning after Israeli special forces allegedly stormed a butcher shop in the Old City of Jerusalem, detaining five employees. A large Israeli police force was reported to have stormed the shop, near Bab Hutta, firing pepper spray and assaulting both customers and owners, from the Maswada family. Dawood Tiryaqi, the owner’s brother-in-law who was in the butcher’s shop at the time, said several groups of Israeli police forces were on their way to Al-Qadisiyya street near Bab Hutta when they suddenly stormed the shop and “started beating us with clubs and spraying pepper spray at us.” Tiryaqi and his son Muhammad sustained bruises while his wife passed out after inhaling pepper-spray fumes, he said. Two other customers also sustained bruises, according to Tiryaqi.
Gaza: 1 crossing partially open
4/4/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli authorities decided to partially open Gaza’s southern goods’ crossing with Israel on Sunday, for the transfer of limited food and fuel, a Palestinian official said. Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said the Kerem Shalom crossing would see the transfer of a maximum of 42 truckloads of humanitarian aid and commercial merchandise into the besieged Gaza Strip. Limited quantities of
domestic gas and industrial diesel would enter via the same crossing, while two trucks loaded with cut carnations are due for export from Gaza through the same terminal, Fattouh added. Meanwhile, the Karni crossing east of Gaza City would remain closed, Fattouh said. [end]
Prisoners society: March saw 80 detentions in Hebron
4/4/2010 – Hebron – Ma’an – The Palestinian Prisoners Society in Hebron released a report documenting 80 arrests and detentions carried out by the Israeli army against city residents during the month of March. Nineteen of the 80 were under 16 years of age, including brothers Amir and Hasen Al-Muhtaseb held for 12 days each, and brothers Ibrahim and Sharif Abu Ei’sha, who were assaulted by settlers and detained during a raid on their home that involved the firing of gas canisters and sound bombs, the report said. While some of the detainees were held for one to three days and questioned, at least 22 were transferred from military bases to centers in Ashkelon and Russian compound in Jerusalem for extensive interrogation, the report said. Eighty-eight of the detainees were men, with 13-year-old Suhad Eiwiewi and 34-year-old A’lieya’Abed Al-Majid Al-Muhtaseb, accounting for the final two detentions.
Police say Gaza man detained in Israel
4/4/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli Border Guards detained a Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip on Sunday, after pursuing him through the streets of the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, police said. During the chase, police claimed, the suspect attacked an officer, causing bruising. As a result, backup forces were called to the scene, and fired warning shots in the air before detaining the man, reportedly working illegally in Israel. An Israeli police spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment. [end]
PLO: Settlements must stop
4/4/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – The PLO’s Executive Committee reiterated on Saturday its demand that all settlement activity on Palestinian land and acts against religious sites be brought to an end, during an evening meeting in Ramallah. Recent developments, particularly settlement growth in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, were on the meeting’s agenda, as well as the rise in Israel’s military assaults on the Gaza Strip and the crippling siege. Committee members further discussed the recommendations of the Arab League summit held in Libya last week, during which Jerusalem was the focal point of discussion for Arab leaders and officials. Moreover, the Executive Committee applauded the non-violent rallies held in commemoration of Land Day across Palestine, which members said reflected Palestinian steadfastness and insistence to continue the popular struggle until independence and freedom is achieved.
In photos: US congressman Keith Ellison in Gaza
4/4/2010 – MaanImages / Wissam Nassar — US congressman Keith Ellison meets Palestinian students during visit where he was given a summary of the humanitarian situation in Gaza City on 3 April 2010, he will brief the US Congress on the situation when he returns. Ellison, who represents the fifth district of Minnesota, sits on the House Financial Services and Foreign Affairs committees. [end]
Islamic Jihad: No promise made to halt projectile fire
4/4/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Islamic Jihad has not taken a decision to halt projectile fire toward Israeli targets, sources in the movement announced following a news report claiming the contrary on Sunday. Islamic Jihad is “committed to defending our people and committed to resistance in all possible ways,” a statement from the movement said. Earlier in the day Israel’s Channel 10 aired a news clip that cited an interview with Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shihab broadcast on the movement’s radio station, where the leader reportedly said it had “stopped the rocket fire into Israel for internal Palestinian purposes – first and foremost to help end the siege on the Gaza Strip.” Clarifying their position following a series of meetings between de facto government officials and Gaza factions, which Hamas said were aimed at unifying the Gaza Strip position on the current Israeli wave of attacks, the statement. . .
Fatah: Hamas has realized projectile fire useless
4/4/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – Fatah said it appreciated Hamas’ decision to deter factions from launching homemade projectiles from Gaza toward Israeli towns, a spokesman said on Saturday. Ahmad Assaf said comments made by Hamas leader Ayman Taha on the BBC Sunday were a “positive development,” adding that “Hamas has realized President [Mahmoud] Abbas’ call upon the movement, made more than once, to avoid disastrous Israeli reactions toward homemade projectiles.””This realization came late, as Hamas previously chose to neglect such calls out of commitment to partial interests and external agendas,” Assaf added.”How long will it take Hamas to realize that it is necessary to end disagreement, which has harmed the Palestinian cause, in the same way as the movement has realized that homemade projectiles are harmful to Palestinian interests,” the spokesman said. Related:BBC: Hamas ‘working to curb Gaza rocket attacks’
After sex-scandal inquiry, Abbas to clamp down on privacy invasions
4/4/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on Sunday banning all violations of privacy and personal freedoms, following the results of a Palestinian Authority inquiry into corruption allegations against his former chief of staff.”In light of the report handed over by the inquiry commission into the Rafiq Al-Husseini case, and reiterating previous instructions, the minister of interior must inform security services that any violator of the law of private freedoms will be called into account,” the presidential decree read. Legal experts interpret the decree as signaling the need for court approval before recording private acts, such as phone tapping and video surveillance. The PA commission of inquiry completed its investigation into allegations against Al-Husseini on Monday, which was charged with investigating corruption and abuse of power, after he was shown on video allegedly soliciting sex in exchange for employment.
General strike in schools and hospitals Monday
4/4/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Non-essential hospital staff and teachers will strike Monday, while schools will also close after 11pm Wednesday and Thursday, protesting what officials called the failure of the Palestinian Authority to meet demands for better conditions. Mohammad Suwan, a Teachers Union representative, said PA Minister of Labor Ahmad Majdalani had promised to address the goverment around demands, but Suwan said union members decided to go ahead with the strike because Majdalani had not offered any guarantees that demands would be met.”If it is interested, the government could halt the strikes” by going ahead with plans to change structures to educational workers pay scales and job titles and implementing a more clear policy around staff hierarchies, he said during an interview on Ma’an Radio’s “Hadith Al-Watan.”
Abbas expected sack officials over sex-tape scandal
4/4/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – Informed sources said President M
ahmoud Abbas is expected to sack several figures involved in the Rafiq Al-Husseini corruption scandal following the conclusion of an inquiry into the matter. The fallout is expected from three presidential decrees already signed by Abbas, including the reactivation of an anti-corruption unit in the Palestinian Authority Intelligence ranks, sources close to Abbas said. Following the release of a tape allegedly sowing former aide to the president Al-Huseini, exchanging sex for political favors, an inquiry was called to investigate claims made by the tape’s leak, Fathi Shabbana, a former member of the anti-corruption squad. An earlier report said one decree would ensure future surveillance was only carried out with official court ordered permission. Those expected to be sacked or transferred “will be informed within the coming hours” a source. . .
Police: Man hangs himself near Jericho
4/4/2010 – Jericho – Ma’an – A young Palestinian man was found dead in his father’s shop in the Aqbat Baber refugee camp near Jericho, after hanging himself on Sunday, police said. Chief of Jericho Police Mahmoud Salah Ad-Din confirmed that the death of the unidentified 24-year-old Palestinian was being treated as suicide. Initial police investigations revealed no signs of criminal act or suspicion, and the corpse was sent to forensics for a postmortem examination, Ad-Din added. A relative further confirmed the suicide. [end]
Saudi to treat Gaza conjoined twins, PA MoH
4/4/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health officials said they prepared passports and necessary travel documentation for conjoined twins and their family to travel from Gaza to Saudi Arabia where doctors will separate the week-old infants. Twins Retal and Retaj Yaser Abu A’si will receive free medical care as a give from Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Ramallah-based Minister of Health Fathi Abu Moghli said. Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Jamal Ash-Shobaki and the Palestinian embassy in Egypt had coordinated travel for the family, who will exit Gaza via the Egyptian Rafah crossing, and fly from Al-Arish to Saudi, officials said. Director-General of public relations with the ministry Omer An-Naser said the family should be able to leave Al-Arish on Sunday, where a private Saudi plane will transport them to the country.
Tourism up 50% in the West Bank
4/4/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian Authority Tourism and Antiquities police said tourism in the occupied Palestinian territories increased during March, with a considerable rise in guests registered in local hotels. A police report said 464,000 tourists traveled to the West Bank, 137,000 of whom were international passport holders, while 83,000 were Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, living inside the Green Line. The number of guests staying in hotels saw a 50% increase compared with last year’s March figures, the report said, noting that 81,153 travelers booked into hotels, including 70,047 foreign nations, 9,426 locals, and 1,681 Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. Last March, only 39,521 tourists stayed in West Bank hotels, police wrote. Tourism police further said they solved 73 cases related to securing antiquities and cultural heritage, having discovered six new antiquities in the West Bank, and 19 cases related to possession of antiquities.
Report: Islamic Jihad to stop rocket fire on Israel
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Spokesman for the militant group says, however, that it would respond if Israel attacks Gaza.
IAF helicopters fire at two armed Palestinians on Gaza border
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Report: IAF struck a number of targets along the Gaza border; no word on injuries.
Hamas releases footage of ‘Gaza clashes’
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Military wing of Hamas shows documentation of incident wherein two IDF soldiers were killed.
IDF denies killing Palestinian teen on Gaza border
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Army rebuffs Palestinian media claims that it killed 15-year-old as he tried to enter Israel.
IAF conducts first missile-defense system test
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Just how well will the air force’s multi-layered technology protect Israel from rocket attacks?
Barak: Hamas will pay for shaking equilibrium on Gaza border
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Defense minister visits IDF troops who fought in Friday’s Gaza gunbattle in which two soldiers were killed.
Netanyahu: Israel will respond to any attack
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – PM says Hamas will be made to be held accountable for the attack that killed 2 IDF soldiers in Gaza.
Thousands mourn IDF officer and soldier killed in Gaza
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Major Eliraz Peretz’s best friend: We will avenge your death against those who hurt you.
Hamas is reminding the world it exists
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Hamas is satisfied with media coverage of the recent Gaza clashes, but it still isn’t interested in inciting war.
Israel: total boycott against total occupation
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – …The point being missed by many calling for a selective boycott is that the decisions being made inside Israel, inside the occupied Palestinian territories and throughout historic Palestine, are made by the Zionist leadership (and its collaborators), whose aim is the total annexation, occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territories, not just post-UN resolution 181,…
Prisoners society: March saw 80 detentions in Hebron
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – The Palestinian Prisoners Society in Hebron released a report documenting 80 arrests and detentions carried out by the Israeli army against city residents during the month of March. Nineteen of the 80 were under 16 years of age, including brothers Amir and Hasen Al-Muhtaseb held for 12 days each, and brothers Ibrahim and Sharif Abu Eisha,…
Khiaban No. 64: Self-Organization or Strengthening Social Networks?
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – …Social networks are not acts that create or found new things. They are a continuation of the status quo. In any factory [in Iran, for example], there exists a network of relationships among those who work there. However, in rare factories can you see any organization of the employees (be they unions or councils, a syndicate…
Al-Nakba Denial: Concealing the Catastrophe
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – On May 15, 1948, one d
ay after the British mandate over Palestine ended, the Jewish state of Israel was officially created. That date marked the beginning of a 62-year exile for 750,000 Palestinians, who along with their descendants now comprise the worlds largest refugee population at nearly five million people. Palestinians and people of conscience all…
Video – Palestine: Israeli Love Song
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – When the Israeli regime feels that it has to create a ministry for propaganda, you know that they are worried. This concern is shared by dedicated Zionists and other misled people all over the world. Their concern is simple: the world is begginning to realize that the Israeli regime and its policies are nothing better than…
Testimony: Israelis beat, pour boiling water on Palestinian worker
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – Residents of Israel’s Kiyrat Shimona reportedly beat, and poured boiling water on a 26-year-old Palestinian worker on Friday night, who returned to Nablus for treatment in hospital. Munjid Besharat, from Tamun village, said he had worked for 14 months in an industrial-area factory of the northern Israel border community, and was surprised last week when three…
IOF troops round up 1,400 Palestinians in 3 months
Uruknet April 4, 2010 — The higher national committee in support of prisoners on Sunday said that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) had detained more than 1,400 Palestinians in the first quarter of 2010 including 90 from the Gaza Strip. Riyadh Al-Ashkar, the head of the committee’s information office, said in a press release that the number of detainees from Jerusalem…
Iran seeks $12.5 bln through privatisating 500 state firms
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – Iran aims to raise about $12.5 billion by privatising more than 500 state firms during the 2010-11 year, including two refineries and two car makers, a senior official said in remarks published on Sunday.Mehdi Aqdaie, deputy director of Iran’s Privatisation Organization, said the Bandar Abbas and Abadan refineries would be among the first companies offered for…
Christians angry at Jerusalem lockdown as Easter clashes with Passover
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – Today, by a quirk of the calendar, eastern and western Christians will celebrate Easter together, an irregular occurrence. With the Jewish holiday of Passover at the same time, however, a tightly locked-down Jerusalem has been the focus of festivities, and tension, for days now. For most Palestinian Christians, even those from Jerusalem, the celebrations that will…
Tibi: Barak responsible for Palestinian death at checkpoint
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – Palestinian Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi said Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak bears responsibility for the death of a diabetic at a West Bank checkpoint, Israeli media reported. “Ehud Barak is personally responsible for his cruel death. The orders at roadblocks require the humiliation and oppression of a civil population, and the person who issued the order…
Israeli aircraft fires at Palestinians in Gaza
Uruknet April 4, 2010- Israeli aircraft opened fire at a group of Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, near the Kissufim border, witnesses reported. Locals said the fire targeted agricultural land near Qarara and the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, causing fear and panic among residents, with no injuries reported. Witnesses said the aircraft included helicopters, with Israel’s Army Radio…
Film review: Pastoral resistance in “This Palestinian Life”
Uruknet April 3, 2010 – “Is it true that the Jews want to retake this country?” asked a Palestinian farmer close to the turn of the 20th century, according to the notes of Albert Antebi, an official of the Jewish Colonial Association. They did and do. Palestinian peasants were the first to feel the effects of Zionist encroachment. And today, the…
Bombed diary factory’s owner speaks out
4 Apr 2010 – Motasem Dalloul, one of the diary factorys owners, that was completely destroyed by Israeli air force in a series of raids on Gaza three days ago, said that the shelling was not the first of its kind to hit the factory, it have been targeted in the first days of the last war and the losses at the time surpassed…
Israel to let in limited amounts of Cement into Gaza
4 Apr 2010 – Gaza, April 4, (Pal Telegraph) Israeli army official announced today that Israel allowed the entry of limited amounts of cement into the Gaza Strip. The official, who preferred anonymity, said: “We will allow in the up-coming days the entry of some trucks carrying cement for a special rehabilitation project that fixes the drainage unit, which is operated by the United…
Palestinian worker burnt by Israelis
4 Apr 2010 – Nablus, April 4, (Pal Telegraph) Monjed Besharat, 26, a Palestinian who works at Keryat Shmoonah, was attacked by 3 Israelis who throw boiling water on his face causing him 3rd degree burning injuries. After working at an iron factory for over 14 months now, Mojned didnt expect three Israelis wearing caps to hop down from a vehicle and simply throw…
Israel arrests Jerusalemites for making eye-contact
4 Apr 2010 – Jerusalem, April 4, (Pal Telegraph) Israel’s special police forces injured five people including a woman and arrested five young men during an assault while they are in the Old City of Jerusalem today. According to sources, a large number of police officers stormed the epic the neighborhood of Bab al-Sahira within the old towns gates, hitting every one present and…
Gazan arrested for his “illegal” presence in Israel
4 Apr 2010 – Gaza, April 4, (Pal Telegraph) A young Palestinian from the Gaza Strip got arrested by a force of Israeli border guards today, in the city of Rishon Lezion, central of Israel, after a unit of the police prosecuted the young man who was in Israel “illegally as they claimed. Israeli police said that during the prosecution a soldier had minor…
Israeli armed choppers open fire on civilians
4 Apr 2010 – Gaza, April 4, (Pal Telegraph) The Israeli armed choppers, on Sunday, opened fire with heavy machineguns towards agricultural lands and home of Palestinian residents along the eastern border of the Gaza Strip without causing civilian casualties. witnesses reported that the armed choppers opened fire with heavy machine guns targeting citizens and their properties on the eastern border connecting the to
wn…
Father of Thalassemic girls sends a plea
4 Apr 2010 – Gaza, April 4, (Pal Telegraph) Nissan and Basma are two sisters suffering from Thalassemia disease in Gaza City. Iyad Shbeir, the father, appealed President Mahmoud Abbas, the Minister of health Dr.Fathi and the concerned authorities to intervene immediately and help his daughters after he discovered that one of them is about to have inflation in the spleen and the doctors…
Israel raids Hebrons towns
4 Apr 2010 – West Bank, April 4, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided today many areas in Hebron, southern of the West Bank. The Israeli occupation forces raided toady Dora, Ezna, Bait Omar towns in Hebron and broke into the citizens houses. Palestinian sources told WAFA news agency that the IOF broke into the house of Husian Amr in Dora…
Israel seizes 16 dunums in Jenin
4 Apr 2010 – Jenin, April 4, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) Israeli occupation authorities issued a decision Saturday to confiscate 16 dunums from village of Jalma, north of Jenin, in order to expand Al- Jalma military checkpoint, which is considered the main passage of the Palestinian occupied territories of 48. Khaled Abu Farha, chairman of Jalama village council, said to SAFA news agency on…
Israel detains 7 Palestinians in Nablus
4 Apr 2010 – Nablus, April 4, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) Israeli occupation forces detained Saturday night six Palestinians from village of Hawara, south of Nablus. The Israeli occupation forces raided Howara village and then detained six Palestinians whose IDs are not known, Palestinian sources reported. The detainees were taken in for questioning by the Israeli forces to unknown place. Yesterday morning,Israeli occupation forces…
Iran to hold nuclear disarmament conference
The National 4 Apr 2010 – Iran said it will host a nuclear disarmament conference this month to be attended by China, which has been resisting new sanctions against Tehran over its atomic ambitions.
Sadrists in Riyadh; Allawi to Tehran, maybe?
Palestine Note 4 Apr 2010 – Still far too early to say what will happen with the next Iraqi government; everyone is meeting with everyone else, and nobody wants to tip their hand yet ( this Marc Lynch tweet sums it up well)….
I can’t tell you what this post is about
Palestine Note 4 Apr 2010 – I can’t tell you what this post is about. If I do, I might get arrested. No, I don’t live in Iran. I don’t live in Myanmar. I don’t live in China. I live in “the…
Israel Easter ban angers Palestinian Christians
Palestine Note 4 Apr 2010 – Aljazeera’s Nour Odeh is reporting on how Christians from Jifna, a Christian majority village in Palestine, are raising their voices against Israel’s occupation, which is preventing them from attending Easter rituals in the Holy City. Thousands…
PALESTINIAN DIES AT CHECKPOINT AFTER BEING HELD UP BY IDF
Palestine Note 4 Apr 2010 – SOLDIERS PREVENTED HIM FROM PASSING THROUGH THE CHECKPOINT ON HIS WAY TO JORDAN Israeli publication Ynetnews is reporting quoting witnesses that a 63-year-old man has died of cardiac arrest after being held up for hours at…
Christians Celebrate Easter in Jerusalem
The Media Line 3 Apr 2010 – Christians from around the world are celebrating Easter in Jerusalem. Ceremonies are being held inside the Old City as well as in other places throughout the country, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where many…
Faya’d: Next Year in Jerusalem
The Media Line 3 Apr 2010 – After participating in the Holy Fire ceremony in Bethlehem on Saturday, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Faya’d told the assemblage, “Next year, Inshallah (God willing), we shall celebrate in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in east…
Iran announces nuclear summit
AlJazeera 4 Apr 2010 – Tehran says China will be among nations attending planned disarmament conference.
Land Day Commemorations in France in Support of BDS
Alternative Information Center – Sunday, 28 March 2010, On March 30, Palestinian Land Day, there will be a large rally of all the people who refuse the repression and threats from our government against the people who join the Boycott,…
Biliin as an Allegory: The Party is Over, Declares Netanyahu
Alternative Information Center – Sunday, 28 March 2010, The decision to declare Biliin and Naalin as closed military zones for a period of six months (so far) has meaning that goes far beyond the weekly demonstrations held there for the…
Israel’s Inclusion in Economic Organization a Threat to Democracy
Alternative Information Center – Sunday, 28 March 2010, Membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which includes 30 of the world’s most developed countries, does not provide money or any special economic benefits. Yet it is easy…
Israeli air raids wound children
PNN – Saturday, 03 April 2010
Turkish envoy to Israel recalled
Jeruslalem Post 4 Apr 2010 – Celikkol to be succeeded by diplomat; reasons behi
nd move not disclosed.
‘We await Hamas answer on Schalit’
Jeruslalem Post 4 Apr 2010 – Peres meets rabbis Yosef, Amar, says Barzilai “media sensation” regrettable.
IDF still probing checkpoint death
Jeruslalem Post 4 Apr 2010 – Palestinian diabetes sufferer dies during lengthy wait; Tibi: Barak to blame.
‘We’re still awaiting Hamas response on Schalit
Jeruslalem Post 4 Apr 2010 –
This is New Jersey, not J’lem
Jeruslalem Post 4 Apr 2010 – Bergen County residents battle it out over laws restricting Sunday commerce.
Fayyad: Next year in Jerusalem
Jeruslalem Post 4 Apr 2010 – Hamas says PA leader should stand trial for giving up on right of return to ’48 borders.
UK lawmaker ‘sorry’ for Israel conspiracy theory comment
Jeruslalem Post 4 Apr 2010 – Pro-Palestinian campaigner Linton claimed Israel’s “long tentacles” in Britain funding election campaigns.
Lebanon prepares for summer tourist invasion
Jeruslalem Post 3 Apr 2010 – Inbound tourism to Lebanon in 2009 rose by 39 percent over 2008 figures, with 1.8 million tourists entering the country of 4 million inhabitants.
PRCS Helps Save Life of Child from Gaza
WAFA 4 Apr 2010 – GAZA, April 4, 2010 (WAFA)- Amidst great joy, Mo’ath Hamoudeh, a Palestinian infant, returned to Gaza through the Erez checkpoint after three months of treatment in an Italian hospital where a
Third Intifada would Work Wonders for Israel’s Battered Image
WAFA 4 Apr 2010 –
Eight Years for Jenin Refugee Camp’ Massacre
WAFA 4 Apr 2010 – RAMALLAH, April 4, 2010(WAFA)- Ministry of Information said, today 4th of April coincides the eighth anniversary of Israeli occupation’s army aggression against Jenin Refugees Camp. It issued in a
Palestinian Aspirations are Clear, But What Does Israel Want? Gideon Levi Asks
WAFA 4 Apr 2010 – TEL AVIV, April 4, 2010 (WAFA)- Does anybody know what Benjamin Netanyahu wants? Has anybody ever understood what his predecessors wanted? Where are they headed? And where are they leading us? Gideon
Amira Hass: Discrimination at Ben-Gurion Airport
WAFA 4 Apr 2010 – TEL AVIV, April 4, 2010 (WAFA)- Last week Israel deported three Swedish women from Ben-Gurion International Airport who had arrived in a group of seven, Amira Hass wrote in Haaretz. She added: Young
EGYPT: Battle For Women Judges Half Won
IPS CAIRO, Apr 3 (IPS) – There are “no obstacles according to Islamic sharia, the constitution or the law” to women serving as judges, announced one of Egypts main courts, the State Council, last week. But “there are currently practical obstacles,” it affirmed.
Al-Masara: solidarity activists detained in weekly march
Stop The Wall – The march in al-Ma’sara remembered the massacre committed by Israeli occupation forces in 1976. On March 30 that year, the Israeli military killed 6 farmers in the Galilee which were part of a general strike to protest the large scale confiscation of Palestinian land. Since then every year Palestinians commemorate Land Day. [
Coalition to Break the Blockade on Gaza Announced
4/4/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Following months of preparation, a coalition bringing together a number of organizations and movements working to break Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza was announced yesterday in Istanbul. The coalition, comprised of the Turkey-based IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi) organization, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG), the Greek Ship to Gaza campaign, the Swedish Ship to Gaza campaign and the Free Gaza Movement, will launch a flotilla of ships laden with cargo, media, parliamentarians, celebrities and activists to Gaza next month. The flotilla includes at least eight vessels, including three cargo ships, and will set sail from European ports beginning May 3, reaching the port of Gaza later in the month. Over 500 passengers from more than 20 countries will take part, and 5,000 tons of cargo, including cement, prefabricated housing, other building materials,. . .
Egyptian police arrest publisher of ElBaradei book
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Former UN nuclear watchdog chief calls for political change in Egypt in book; ElBaradei has said he will consider running for president.
Israel envoy to the U.S.: Bilateral ties are ‘great’
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Michael Oren tells CNN that Israel’s policy on Jerusalem has remained unchanged over 16 years.
Report: Turkey to name new ambassador to Israel
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Envoy Ahmet Oguz Celikkol was humiliated by Deputy Defense Minister Danny Ayalon earlier this year.
Iran says China to attend its nuclear disarmament meeting
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Chief Iranian nuclear negotiator: ‘All countries should demolish their nuclear arsenals.’
Peres: Israel should ‘pay any price’ for Gilad Shalit
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Fatah strongman says negotiations for Shalit’s release stalled due to internal Hamas row.
Sarkozy told: Fresh Israel-Syria talks unlikely
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – France seeking to mediate between Jerusalem, Damascus; Syrians imply they prefer Turkey as go-between.
Israel is refusing to see what Obama wants
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – Why is it that Netanyahu and his government can’t seem to grasp that is so clear to everyone else?
Are Israeli Arabs the new African Americans?
Ha’aretz 4 Apr 2010 – On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of peop
le gathered at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. They came to demonstrate against discrimination against black people in the United States. The main speaker was the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. …
Iran: Ties with China improving
YNet News 4 Apr 2010 – Saeed Jalili says pressure used by six powers on nuclear issue have brought Beijing, Tehran closer
Qassam hits Negev, no injuries reported
YNet News 4 Apr 2010 – Rocket fired from Gaza falls in open spaces in Shaar HaNegev Regional Council, causing no damage
Turkey names new ambassador to Israel
YNet News 4 Apr 2010 – Turkish TV reports Celikkol, humiliated by Danny Ayalon, to be replaced by Mideast expert
Israel allows goods for trading into Gaza
YNet News 4 Apr 2010 – For first time in three years privately imported clothes, shoes enter Strip, but merchants say goods have been damaged by being held at port since 2007 and that they need more to replenish stocks
Ambassador Oren: Israel protects US troops
YNet News 4 Apr 2010 – Envoy to Washington tells CNN intel, equipment Israel gives to US helps in its war against terror
US: Iran not why currency report delayed
YNet News 4 Apr 2010 – White House denies Chinese policy report delayed due to wavering cooperation on Iran sanctions
Rabbis: Crisis with US Jewry dangerous
YNet News 4 Apr 2010 – Jewish leaders say Obama-Netanyahu crisis is small potatoes in comparison with growing schism with Reform, Conservative Judaism in US. ‘If you lose support of young generation, Israel’s security at risk,’ they warn
Iran to host nuclear disarmament conference
YNet News 4 Apr 2010 – Islamic Republic’s top nuclear negotiator says China, which has resisted US-led efforts to impose new UN sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, will attend two-day meeting in Tehran starting April 17
‘Haredim who defaced memorial not religious’
YNet News 4 Apr 2010 – Widower of woman killed in suicide bombing on Jerusalem bus cannot understand motive behind uprooting of monument dedicated to victims. ‘Even Arabs wouldn’t do such a thing,’ he says. Suspects placed under house arrest
Palestinian Information Center
IOF troops round up 1,400 Palestinians in 3 months
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – The higher national committee in support of prisoners on Sunday said that the IOF had detained more than 1,400 Palestinians in the first quarter of 2010 including 90 from the Gaza Strip.
Hamas report: Israel killed 8 Palestinians in March
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – The IOA escalated its all-out war on the Palestinian people over the past month of March and killed eight Palestinians in 70 incursions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, a Hamas report said.
Israeli warplanes raid southern Gaza areas
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – Israeli warplanes opened heavy machinegun fire at border areas east of Khan Younis city to the south of Gaza Strip and at Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
Arab League holds Israel responsible for consequences of its attacks on Gaza
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – The Arab League on Sunday warned that the Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip would lead to the explosion of the whole region and held Israel fully responsible for the repercussions.
Megiddo prisoners threaten to go on open hunger strike
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – The Palestinian prisoners in the Megiddo prison declared their intention to go on an open-ended hunger strike if the prison administration persisted in escalating its arbitrary measures against them.
Erdogan: The fate of Istanbul is not different from that of Gaza
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – Recep Erdogan said that his speech at the Arab summit focused on the common fate of the Arab and Turkish cities, the thing which make the destiny of Istanbul not different from that of the Gaza Strip.
IOA confiscates Palestinian land in Jenin, detains West Bankers
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has confiscated new Palestinian land in Jalama village, north of Jenin, close to the borders with Palestine occupied in 1948, local sources said.
Washington: Construction in OJ would not affect relations with Israel
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – A senior official at the US national security council highlighted, during a phone call with a number of American Jewish leaders, the strength of relations between Washington and Tel Aviv.
Israel warns PA of any step to declare Palestinian state without coordination
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – Israel warned officials of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah of the repercussions of any intention to establish a Palestinian state without previous coordination with it.
Palestinian factions in Gaza agree on unified resistance strategy
PIC 4 Apr 2010 – Major Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip have agreed on the right of all resistance factions to defend themselves and their people within a unified and joint strategy.
Iran scientists reportedly have plans for new nuclear facility
LA Times 4 Apr 2010 – Iran’s atomic energy agency plans to commission ‘one or two’ new sites, pending the approval of President Ahmadinejad, a news agency says, a move that could heighten tensions with the West. Iranian scientists have submitted plans to start work on at least one new nuclear facility by September, a top official was quoted as saying Saturday, in a move that could inflame tensions with the West.
Palestinian, 14, Emerges Unharmed
New York Times 4 Apr 2010 – A 14-year-old boy thought to have been killed either by Israeli gunfire or from internal Palestinian violence last week turned up unharmed at his familys house after trying to sneak into Egypt.
Checkpoints
Palestine Monitor – 17 Dec 2010 – The right to freedom of movement provides that people are entitled to move freely within the borders of the state, to leave any country and to return to their country. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 12 of the International Covenant…
Breaking The Blockade On Gaza
Palestine Monitor – 4 Apr 2010 – Istanbul, Turkey Following months of preparation, a coalition bringing together a number of organizations and movements working to break Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza was announced yesterday in Istanbul. The coalition, comprised of the Turkey-based IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi) organization, the European Campaign to End…
Lawrence Wright plays it safe on Gaza
Mondoweiss – 4 Apr 2010 – Two weeks ago on this site, Michael Ratner reviewed a play about Gaza called The Human Scale, by Lawrence Wright, a writer for the New Yorker. The show ran for four nights in NY. Well, here is another review, which must be anonymous, as the writer…
MSM covers argument at Seder table over the enslavement of the [P word]
Mondoweiss – 4 Apr 2010 – Lame piece in the Montreal Gazette about fights at Seder table over the Palestinian issue, because theyre in bondage. This is presented as an “extreme” position. Even though spring is bustin out all over. Still: it is a good thing that the Jewish family fight is…
At my seder, I remember a victim of the Special
Mondoweiss – 4 Apr 2010 – It is almost the one-year anniversary of the killing of Bassem Abu Rahmeh, and this is the latest news in Haaretz: “IDF wont investigate death of Bilin activist from tear gas grenade.” Heres a photo of Abu Rahmeh, taken by his cousin Hamde . When I stayed…
Land Day Commemorations in France in Support of BDS
Alternative Information Center – 4 Apr 2010 – Sunday, 28 March 2010, On March 30, Palestinian Land Day, there will be a large rally of all the people who refuse the repression and threats from our government against the people who join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign. In less than three weeks,…
Biliin as an Allegory: The Party is Over, Declares Netanyahu
Alternative Information Center – 4 Apr 2010 – Sunday, 28 March 2010, The decision to declare Biliin and Naalin as closed military zones for a period of six months (so far) has meaning that goes far beyond the weekly demonstrations held there for the past five years already. The party is over that…
Israel’s Inclusion in Economic Organization a Threat to Democracy
Alternative Information Center – 4 Apr 2010 – Sunday, 28 March 2010, Membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which includes 30 of the world’s most developed countries, does not provide money or any special economic benefits. Yet it is easy to see why the Israeli government attributes great importance to…
Fourth International Political Field Seminar
Alternative Information Center – 4 Apr 2010 – Wednesday, 31 March 2010, Fourth International Political Field Seminar Bridges Instead of Walls! 9th May 2010 – 15th May 2010 Organized by the Alternative Information Center Introduction In an increasingly globalized world, it is often the case that quantity of information is privileged over quality. We…
Articles
The limits of Israeli infiltration
Galal Nassar, Al-Ahram Weekly4/1/2010
Differences between the West and Israel form at least a narrow corridor for the Arabs to exploit.
That Israels relations with the West have entered a completely new phase is easy to spot. Britain, author of the Balfour Declaration, has expelled an Israeli diplomat over the use of forged British passports in the assassination of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai several weeks ago. Tensions between London and Tel Aviv have rarely been allowed to spill into the open. Yet in the course of this unprecedented diplomatic flare-up an Israeli Knesset member referred to the British as “dogs or even worse, since at least dogs are loyal”.
France, also angered by Israels use of forged French passports, has taken the matter to court. But even aside from the barely suppressed French and British fury over the Al-Mabhouh incident, European-Israeli relations have begun to worsen. Evidence to this effect can be seen in the increasingly frequent visits by European officials and politicians to Gaza in order to plead for the lifting of the Israeli blockade and in the suits being brought against alleged Israeli war criminals in European courts. Mounting European intolerance of Israeli injustices against the Palestinians has also been expressed in resolutions against the apartheid wall and in the European Court of Justice ruling that products originating from Israeli settlements are not entitled to the same preferential treatment accorded to Israeli products under the European Comm
unity-Israeli Association Agreement. Europes academic community has attempted to boycott Israel universities based in the occupied territories. However, perhaps the sharpest European slap was the European Parliaments recent endorsement of the Goldstone Report, accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
Even US-Israeli relations, which have long been much closer and more critical to Israels political, military and economic strength, have begun to show signs of strain…..more..e-mail
Spinning Cast Lead
Jane Adas, The Link, November – December 2009, Americans for Middle East Understanding – AMEU11/1/2009
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit injustices.
Voltaire was writing in 1765 about people who commit atrocities in the name of religion. But governments, acting through politicians and pundits, can rally people to commit injustices, or at least to cheer on those who are sent to do violence in the name of the people. Remember yellowcake from Niger, mobile biological weapons factories, and clandestine meetings in Prague? These were some of the subterfuges intended to link Saddam Hussein to the atrocities of 9/11. Remember Operation Iraqi Freedom? We have nothing against the people of Iraq? The United States does not torture? Such slogans were designed to keep our consciences and our common sense drowsy.
These kinds of propagandist stratagems have been used from the beginning of the Palestine/Israel situation. Some of the mantras dont work as well as they used to. Who today believes Palestine was a land without people or that Israel is a tiny David facing an Arab Goliath? But many are still in vogue, for instance The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is the most moral army in the world and Israel has repeatedly stretched out its hand to peace, but has never found a partner on the other side.
These days Israel is deploying an array of tactics to neutralize the many critical reports that have come out in the wake of Israels Operation Cast Lead assault on Gaza last winter, especially the Goldstone Report commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council. Israels reactions, obediently echoed by even the Obama administration, offer a case study in techniques of damage control, in Hebrew hasbara: deny, justify, de-contextualize, obfuscate, smear, deflect, make us all forget about it, make us believe absurdities. — See also:PDF versionmore..e-mail
Americans and Palestine
James Zogby, Al-Ahram Weekly4/1/2010
For a large portion of Americans, the balanced facts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are not known.
A new poll out this week shows that while Israelis retain strong US public support, Americans are deeply concerned that the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict puts US interests at risk across the Middle East. The public, therefore, supports President Barack Obamas stand against Israels settlement plans. These are but a few of the top line findings of a Zogby International poll of 2,471 Americans conducted 17-19 March 2010. The poll, commissioned by the Arab American Institute, had a margin of error of 2.0 per cent.
Upon closer examination of the polls findings, observations can be made pointing to lessons that should be learned. Israeli ratings are high, but dropping; so are the Palestinians. In 2009, 71 per cent of Americans had a favourable view of Israelis with only 21 per cent rating them unfavourably. In 2010, the favourable/unfavourable ratings have shifted to 65-29 per cent. This is largely due to a significant drop among Democrats who now hold a 42 per cent favourable, 49 per cent unfavourable view of Israelis. The Israeli prime ministers rating among Democrats is an even worse 20-63 per cent.
During this same period, however, the US publics attitudes towards the Palestinians and their president, Mahmoud Abbas, have also declined. In 2009, Palestinians were viewed favourably by 25 per cent of the public and unfavourably by 66 per cent. Today the favourable/unfavourable ratio is 21-73 per cent. Abbass ratings during the past year have also declined to where he is now seen favourably by only 14 per cent of the US public.
These abysmally low Palestinian numbers point to their continuing failure to engage public opinion in the US. While the Israelis aggressively project their story, the Palestinians — and Arabs in general — do not….more..e-mail
Checkpoints
Palestine Monitor: 17 Dec 2010 – The right to freedom of movement provides that people are entitled to move freely within the borders of the state, to leave any country and to return to their country. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. December 10th, 1948 Movement Restrictions: The Facts By September 2008 there were 699 closure obstacles in the West Bank approximately 130 of these have been added after the Annapolis Conference began in November 2007. 630 of the obstacles have been identified: trenches (3%), partial checkpoints (3%), earth walls (7%), road-blocks (11%), road barriers (12%), checkpoints (12%), road gates (16%) and earth mounds (36%). 74 % of the main routes in the West Bank are controlled by checkpoints or blocked entirely. In the period from April to September 2008 the weekly average of flying (or random) checkpoints was 89. Due to…
‘Hold Me Back!’ But Will Israel Attack Iran?
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Apr 2010 – By Uri Avnery Israel ‘Hold me back!’ is a part of Israeli folklore. It reminds us of our childhood. When a boy has a scuffle with a bigger and stronger boy, he pretends that he is going to attack him any moment and shouts to the spectators: Hold me back, or I am going to kill him! Israel is now in such a situation. We pretend that we are going to attack Iran at any moment and shout to the entire world: Hold us back or And the world does indeed hold us back. It is dangerous to prophesy in such matters, especially when we are dealing with people not all of whom are wise and not all of whom are sane. Yet I am ready to maintain: there is no possibility whatsoever that the government of Israel will send the air force to attack Iran. I am not…more
The New Dark Age 
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