News
International Middle East Media Center
PCDD: “340 Children Still Imprisoned By Israel”
IMEMC – Tuesday April 06, 2010 – 02:20, The Palestinian Center for Defending the Detainees (PCDD) issued a press release on Monday stating that Israel is holding captive nearly 340 Palestinian children, depriving them of their basic rights and subjecting them to ongoing violations.
Gandhi’s Grandson Visits Hebron, Israel Tries To Obstruct His Tour
IMEMC – Tuesday April 06, 2010 – 01:21, As Rajmohan Gandhi, the grandson of Indian human rights leader, Mahatma Gandhi, and his wife Usha visited Hebron city, in the southern part of the West Bank on Sunday, Israeli soldiers tried to obstruct the visit.
Hundreds of Children Light “Freedom Candles” in Gaza
IMEMC – Tuesday April 06, 2010 – 00:40, Hundreds of children marched on Monday evening towards the Unknown Soldier Square, west of Gaza City marking the Palestinian Child Day and lit candles demanding the release of their fathers imprisoned by Israel without any visitation rights.
Five Nonviolent Protestors Wounded By Settlers in East Jerusalem
IMEMC – Tuesday April 06, 2010 – 00:16, Palestinian sources reported Monday that five nonviolent protestors, including two women of the International Council of Churches, were wounded after being attacked by fundamentalist Jewish settlers in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
Islamic Jihad Calls For Capturing Israeli Soldiers
IMEMC – Monday April 05, 2010 – 11:30, The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine called for kidnapping Israeli soldiers in order to trade them with Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Soldiers Kidnap Two Residents Near Nablus, Child Wounded In Hebron
IMEMC – Monday April 05, 2010 – 08:26, Israeli soldiers kidnapped on Sunday evening two residents at the Qalandia roadblock near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, local sources reported. A Palestinian child was moderately wounded after being attacked by soldiers in Hebron.
Settlers Attack Resident, Throw Acid At Him
IMEMC – Monday April 05, 2010 – 07:51, Palestinian sources reported Sunday that a Palestinian resident from Tammoun town, near Tubas, suffered second degree burns after a group of fundamentalist settlers attacked him near Keryat Shomeneh settlement, and throw acid at him.
Settlers attack East Jerusalem rally
4/5/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Five people were lightly injured when Israeli settlers attacked a group of protesters gathered in the flashpoint neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday. Ma’an’s reporter said settlers stormed the neighborhood near the Al-Ghawi and Hanoun family homes and attacked relatives and activists. Both homes are slated for demolition and confiscation by the Israeli government. Ayman Al-Ghawi, Mahir Hanoun, and three international members of the Would Council of Churches sustained bruises during the incident. Israeli police were called to the scene and detained Nasser Al-Ghawi, 45. An Israeli police spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that one ultra-Orthodox Israeli was lightly injured by a stone. The Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Aharonoth said the injured was treated at the scene and a suspect was detained by Israeli police.
PA police briefly detain Beit Ummar protester
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian Authority police briefly detained an anti-wall activist in the village of Beit Ummar in the southern West Bank on Sunday night, activists reported Monday morning. Anti-wall organizer Mousa Abu Maria was detained after midnight by eight police officers, according to the National Committee of Beit Ummar. He was released about 14 hours later on Monday afternoon. Police insisted that the incident was a case of mistaken identity and that Abu Maria had not been targeted. Abu Maria, who is also active in the Palestine Solidarity Project, noted that his home is in Area C, which Palestinian police forces cannot enter without prior coordination with the Israeli authorities. The same night, police attempted to detain another member of the National Committee, Younes Arar, but he was not at home. Relatives of Arar said the police had no warrant and frightened his family.
Organizations to send aid flotilla to Gaza
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Following months of preparation, a coalition bringing together a number of organizations and movements working to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza was announced on Saturday in Istanbul, a statement read. The coalition, comprised of the Turkey-based Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) 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 3 May, 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,. . .
Gandhi’s grandson applauds non-violent protest
4/5/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of the late Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, visited the West Bank village of Bil’in on Monday, accompanied by Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouti. Gandhi applauded what he described as Bil’in’s “modern struggle,” adding that “the whole world knows of Bil’in’s activists, and it is a model for modern popular resistance. There will come a day when the Israelis learn that their settlements and separation wall vanish and will be destroyed as a result of the injustice and tyranny they practice.”He added that “It is our duty to awaken the international community, and to call attention to what is going on in Palestine, and seek support for the Palestinian people and their just cause.” Received by members of the local village council and the Popular Committee Against the Wall, Gandhi and his delegation heard committee member Muhammad. . .
PCHR: 2 kidnapped, tortured by gunmen in Gaza
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said two Gaza residents were kidnapped, tortured and beaten by gunmen in two separate incidents in Khan Younis and Gaza City between 2-3 April. The PCHR said that on Saturday, gunmen kidnapped Ziad Abu Haiya from Khan Yunis and took him to an unknown destination, where he was subjected to torture and severe beating. On Friday, gunmen kidnapped Mohammed Mdokh from the An-Nasser neighborhood in the north of Gaza City. He was taken to an unknown destination, where he was also severely beaten. According to Ziad Abu Haiya, 35, who works in the Preventive Security Service, while he was riding his motorcycle close to his home last Saturday, he was intercepted by masked gunmen driving a Subaru car, a PCHR statement read.” They forced him to get into the car at gunpoint, handcuffed him and covered his head with a sack.”
US Muslims back Jewish candidate’s Gaza stance
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Muslimah Writers Alliance (MWA) has commended a Jewish-American Senate candidate for his stance against Israel’s building of new settlements in East Jerusalem and its ongoing embargo on Gaza. Jonathan Tasini (D-NY) is vying for the Senate spot up for grabs in the US state of New York’s midterm election on 2 November. He must first defeat the incumbent senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, in the Democratic primary. In continuation of its ongoing campaign to bring awareness to the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, MWA director Aishah Schwartz said that “for the 1. 5 million citizens of Gaza, the support of candidates like Tasini cannot come soon enough.””At a time when news agencies are reporting that nearly 300 members of Congress have signed a letter addressed to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declaring reaffirmation of their commitment to ‘the unbreakable bond. . .”
Israel closes Gaza crossings over Passover
4/5/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Israel closed all Gaza terminals on Monday because of the Passover holiday, Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said. Fattouh told Ma’an that Israeli authorities informed the Palestinian side that both the Kerem Shalom and Karni crossings would be closed on Monday due to the Jewish holiday, and would be reopened on Tuesday. The official highlighted that Israel opened Kerem Shalom on Sunday allowing the delivery of 32 truckloads of humanitarian aid and commercial merchandize in addition to limited quantities of domestic gas and industrial diesel. Two trucks carrying Gazan flowers were exported through the same terminal, he pointed out. [end]
Turkish TV series angers female prisoners
4/5/2010 – Salfit – Ma’an – Female Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s custody have demanded that the Dubai-based satellite network MBC stop broadcasting a Turkish TV series that they say distorts the reality of female prisoners and their struggle. In an appeal sent to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, a female prisoner demanded that the director of the Rock’s Cry series apologize to the Palestinian people for a scene showing a Palestinian prisoner, Miryam, raped by Israeli soldiers. On behalf of other female detainees, she asserted that female Palestinian prisoners had worked hard for years to secure their effective participation in the Palestinian struggle. She insisted that the basis of the series was misleading and had
nothing to do with reality.” The series is full of misconceptions, like when it shows how a female prisoner’s family killed her upon release,” she added, highlighting that Palestinian families tend to embrace their freed relatives.
Egypt detains 3 from Gaza in Al-Arish
4/5/2010 – Al-Arish – Ma’an – Egyptian state detectives on Monday detained three Palestinians from the Gaza Strip alleged to be illegally staying in Al-Arish after entering Egypt through Gaza’s underground tunnel complex. Egyptian security sources told Ma’an that state detectives received information that three Palestinian men were staying in a chalet on the beach near the city to attend spring festivals. Security forces stormed the chalet and detained the Palestinians, sources added. The sources further said that following interrogation, the detainees could be sentenced to one year probation and a fine of 1,000 Egyptian pounds if it is discovered that it was their first time illegally entering Egypt. . . . .
Man critical after Bethlehem clan brawl
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Three Palestinians were injured, one critically, during a family brawl east of Bethlehem on Monday. Palestinian Authority security forces intervened in the fighting between relatives in the Al-Eqab village in area C, under full Israeli control, after one man sustained a stab wound to the chest. The injured were transferred by Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulances to the Beit Jala Hospital, where the stab victim remained in a coma following surgery. The two others continue to undergo treatment for a gunshot wound to the thigh and an eye injury respectively. PA forces detained three men during the incident and have launched an investigation. [end]
In photos: Gaza’s Orthodox community celebrates Easter
4/5/2010 – MaanImages / Hatem Omar – Members of the Palestinian Christian community attend an Easter Sunday service and activities in Gaza City on 4 April 2010. Meanwhile, Palestinians from across the occupied Palestinian territories flocked to Jerusalem for religious service at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the occupied Old City, in spite of Israel restrictions placed upon Palestinians. The Arab Orthodox Union had called on Palestinians to observe Holy Fire Saturday on 3 April in occupied East Jerusalem, and to defy Israel’s West Bank lockdown, enforced over the Jewish Passover. Israel’s Defense Ministry said it issued 500 travel permits for Gaza residents wishing to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem this year, who received one-week permissions.
PFLP wing claims 3 April projectile strike
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said its forces targeted a military site near Nahal Oz, east of Gaza, with a C5K missile on Saturday.”This action comes in the course of addressing the continuing crimes of the occupation against our people,” the PFLP said in a statement, claiming that Israel’s Haaretz newspaper and the Hebrew-language Army Radio confirmed that the rocket hit the military site. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was not familiar with any such attack on Saturday. Jamil Mizher, member of the Central Committee of the PFLP, commented to Al-Alam News a day earlier that the “threats of the occupation will not succeed in breaking the will of the Palestinian people or deterring the resistance.”He said that the resistance factions have met in Gaza to coordinate mechanisms to “collectively confront Israeli aggression in Gaza.”
Erekat: Mitchell avoiding region over Israel tensions
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The lack of clarity surrounding US Middle East envoy George Mitchell’s next visit to the region could be due to tense relations between Israel and the US over Israel’s refusal to halt settlement activities, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat told Ma’an radio on Sunday. With regard to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s remarks, a day earlier in the West Bank city of Beit Sahour, that a Palestinian state would be established by 2011, Erekat highlighted that the state was declared in 1988 in Algiers and that it had now been recognized by more than 100 countries. What Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas are doing, Erekat said, is building state institutions in order to achieve full sovereignty and independence in the near future. What the Palestinians need is for the US, the EU, and other countries that have not recognized the Palestinian state to declare recognition of that state. . .
Jihad leader preaches new Jerusalem vision
4/5/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Islamic Jihad’s secretary-general in Palestine on Sunday described Israeli measures in Jerusalem as representing the last opportunity for the Muslim and Arab world to support the holy city against occupation.”Israel is not acting in secret. Every Israeli plot and action is being carried out publicly,” Ramadan Shallah said in a telephone address to participants at a festival held in Istanbul, Turkey to show solidarity with Jerusalem.”If Israel succeeds in realizing its goals of annexing and Judaizing Jerusalem, that will pave the way to controlling every capital in the Arab and Islamic world including Ankara, Cairo, Damascus, Amman, Riyadh, and others. Israel could even work its way toward Mecca and Medina,” he said. The Islamic Jihad leader preached a new vision and new education that would create a different approach toward liberating Jerusalem.
Israel’s US envoy denies tensions
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Israel’s envoy to the US, Ambassador Michael Oren, said Sunday that relations were good between the two allies despite strains in recent weeks. In a television interview with the US news network CNN, Oren was diplomatic in characterizing ties between the two allies”I literally need a one-word answer,” CNN asked the Israeli envoy.”The state of US- Israeli relations is. . .” “Great,” Oren replied. [end]
PA minister: Releasing prisoners key to peace
4/5/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – Minister of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Issa Qaraqe said Sunday that a basic requirement for any serious peace process would be the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. This is the criterion to judge whether Palestinian society is free from the Israeli occupation, the Ramallah-based official insisted at the home of prisoner Nael Barghouthi, marking his 33rd year in Israeli custody. Head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society Qaddura Faris attended the news conference in the village of Kubar, northwest of Ramallah, along with Barghouthi’s brother Omar and ex-detainee Ahmad Abu As-Sukkar. Qaraqe described the detention of a large number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails for more than 20 years as disdaining the international community, which has failed to impose international law and to reach a just peace in the region.
Report: Turkey names new Israel envoy
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Turkey will name a new ambassador to Israel to replace envoy Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, who was humiliated in Israel earlier this year, Turkish television quoted by Israeli news media reported Sunday. The private NTV television reported that Celikkol, who held the post for less than a year, will be replaced this summer by Kerim U
ras, a diplomat and expert on Middle Eastern affairs, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported. A telegram sent from Israel’s embassy in Ankara to Jerusalem indicated that a “reliable source” had reported that the ambassador had been transferred due to a “loss of trust” in Israeli officials, the newspaper reported. In February, Turkey announced that Celikkol had asked to quit following a diplomatic crisis initiated by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who placed the ambassador on a chair lower than his own and told reporters to document it.
Tunisian journalists hold Palestine solidarity day
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – On the occasion of the 43rd anniversary of Land Day on 30 March, the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) organized a solidarity day in support of the Palestinian cause, local media reported. Tunisia News Online reported Saturday that Jameleddine Karmaoui, chairman of the SNJT Executive Board, noted that the event testified to thesupport of all components of Tunisian civil society to the Palestinian cause. Sarra Hattab Bassalah, jurist and chairwoman of SNJT’s studies and Research Commission, gave a talk where she highlighted the daily suffering of the Palestinian people as they face Israeli occupation, the Web site reported. This event provided the opportunity to review Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s stance and initiatives in support of the Palestinian cause in the various regional and international institutions, according to the news site.
8 sentenced in US for sending money to Palestine
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Eight American men have been sentenced on federal racketeering charges for a scheme to send money to the occupied Palestinian territories, US news reports said Monday. The charges include bank fraud, receipt of stolen property, conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business, buying contraband cigarettes for resale, evading reporting requirements on exporting monetary instruments, and transporting monetary instruments to avoid reporting requirements, the Courtroom News Service reported. The Hamed Organization ran the operation out of five St. Louis-area convenience stores since 2000, the law-themed newswire reported. Hamed members, many of whom were reportedly related, allegedly raised money through legal and illegal channels and sent proceeds to the occupied Palestinian territories. The convenience stores were used to receive and sell stolen goods, including. . .
Palestinian envoy plants olive seedlings in Dubai
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Commemorating Earth Day in a unique way, the Palestinian consul general to the United Arab Emirates has planted two olive seedlings in Dubai, naming them “Jerusalem” and “Church of the Holy Sepulcher” respectively. The Emirates News Agency, quoting a statement from the consul general, reported that on this occasion, “Earth Day comes at a time when our people in Jerusalem are threatened by a vicious plan by Israel to swallow the holy land.” It said that serious work can only save Jerusalem from “Judaisation,” according to the news agency. Earth Day was celebrated jointly by the Palestinian Consulate General in Dubai and the Social and Cultural Committee of the Northern Emirates. Consul General Hussain Abdul Khaliq, members of the Palestinian community and others reportedly attended the event. Speaking at the event,Socio-Cultural Committee chairman Basim Eissa hailed. . .
University of New Mexico hosts Palestine events series
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – The University of New Mexico is hosting a spring events series addressing the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, campus media has reported in recent weeks. On Monday, the Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East-UNM will screen “Wiped off the Map,” a documentary filmed inside Gaza during the Israeli assault that aims to show the human cost of the 2008-09 hostilities.”This video captures the terrible emotions experienced during the attack,” the coalition said. A discussion will follow the screening. The Palestinian films Promises and Rana’s Wedding will also screen during the events. Palestinian journalists Ziad Abbas and Mohammad Omer were visiting the university between 30 March and 8 April. On 15 April, Joel Gordon, director of Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas, will speak as a “professor in the field”.
Iran appoints new head of intifada conference
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Hossein Sheikholeslam will soon take over as the chief of the International Conference on Support for Palestinian Intifada, replacing Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, the Tehran Times reported Monday. Quoting other reports, the Iranian publication said Sheikholeslam will take over the post by the end of the week. The news of appointment broke out in an open session of the Majlis on Sunday, when Parliament Member Hamid Rasaei reiterated that Majlis speaker Ali Larijani should appoint the new chief of the center, which Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the Majlis deputy speaker, replied that the appointment had already taken place and would soon be announced. Mohtashamipour is a veteran diplomat, the newspaper reported, and has served as Iran’s ambassador to Damascus. . . . .
Hamas: Mash’al meets with Qatari Emir
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mash’al met with Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani on Monday in Doha, the movement announced. Hamas politburo member Izzat Ar-Resheq said meeting was held to discuss a number of Palestinian issues, including a unity deal between rival faction Fatah and the Islamist movement, as well as Arab support for the Palestinian people. Mash’al and his delegation further spoke of Israeli policy toward Palestinian religious sites, and the continued siege imposed upon the Gaza Strip.” The Qatari Emir assured us that they move through the umbrella of the Arab League to lift the blockade imposed on Palestinians, and to review the crossings agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority and Israel, brokered by the EU, and will work on the legal follow up of this agreement, which is obstructing Egypt from opening the Rafah crossing [in southern Gaza],” Ar-Resheq said.
PA forces detain 3 for narcotics possession
4/5/2010 – Hebron – Ma’an – Palestinian Authority security forces arrested three people suspected of narcotics possession in the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday. A PA police statement said the anti-narcotics squad detained three driving with Israeli license plates, finding hashish in the car.”After checking the registration papers for the vehicle, the car was discovered to be illegal,” police said, adding that the car was impounded and the suspects were placed in police custody to continue investigations. PA security forces further arrested a man suspected of stealing gold jewelry from a home in southern Hebron, the statement added. After questioning, police said the man confessed to robbing the home while the family was out, stealing jewelry worth 690 Jordanian dinars. Forces also detained the owner of a jewelry store on charges of purchasing the stolen goods from the suspect, the statement read.
PFLP denounces Fayyad ‘betrayal’
4/5/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has sharply denounced Prime Minister Sa
lam Fayyad’s remarks about the right of return to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as a betrayal of Palestinian rights and the national cause. In a statement on Friday, the PFLP insisted that Fayyad’s remarks carried “no political authority whatsoever.”The right of return is sacred and inviolable, and Fayyad’s comments violate national rights and national consensus, as well as international law and all principles of human rights, the PFLP said, adding that Palestinian refugees are “entitled to return to their homes and lands from which they were forced in 1948,” not merely to “the future State of Palestine” as envisioned by Fayyad in his interview with Haaretz. Furthermore, the PFLP statement demanded that Fayyad immediately demand the unconditional release of all prisoners and detainees. . .
Hamas releases footage of ‘Gaza clashes’
Ha’aretz 5 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 5 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 5 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 5 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 5 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 5 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 5 Apr 2010 – Hamas is satisfied with media coverage of the recent Gaza clashes, but it still isn’t interested in inciting war.
Hundreds of Children Light “Freedom Candles” in Gaza
Uruknet April 5, 2010- Hundreds of children marched on Monday evening towards the Unknown Soldier Square, west of Gaza City marking the Palestinian Child Day and lit candles demanding the release of their fathers imprisoned by Israel without any visitation rights. The procession was organized by the Popular Committee Against the Siege and the National Committee to Support the Detainees. The…
Israel destroys Gaza dairy for second time
Uruknet April 5, 2010 – It was not a chemical plant, nor a nuclear facility, nor a manufacturer of weapons of mass destruction. But almost all the rubble of the entirely destroyed factory was covered in white, with white chunks everywhere. These were pieces of cheese, butter and yoghurt — some of the products made by the Dalloul dairy factory in…
Video: Besieged Waters
Uruknet April 5, 2010 – The ongoing Israeli siege is having a negative affect on drinking water quality in the Gaza Strip. Desalination plants are coming to a halt due to a lack of materials and equipment caused by the blockade. Many people in Gaza have no option but to drink their unhealthy ground water, which causes a number of health…
Khudari: 60 percent of Gaza children suffer malnutrition and anemia
Uruknet April 5, 2010 – MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of the popular committee against the siege, stated Sunday that about 60 percent of Gaza children suffer from malnutrition and anemia and 35 percent of the blockade victims are children. In a speech at the opening ceremony of the 10th Palestine festival for childhood and development, Khudari called on all institutions…
THE HORSE AND THE CAMEL IN GAZA
Uruknet April 5, 2010 – “We’ve an American friend. He heard before coming to Gaza that there was no food here and he was afraid he would not find food for himself. It’s what he told us. Therefore, he came with a big quantity of sardine and tuna cans, and salmon, a big quantity… He took with him food reserves… fish……
Israel’s “Iron Dome” system aims to pacify, not protect
Uruknet April 5, 2010 – On 25 March the online publication Intelligence Online revealed the development of the vaunted Iron Dome anti-missile system. The system was developed by Haifa-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems ostensibly to intercept Katyusha, Grad and Qassam rockets coming from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The Intelligence Online article however offers a different explanation, stating that “From the…
PA police arrest popular resistance leader
Uruknet April 5, 2010 – Palestinian Authority police briefly detained a prominent anti-wall activist in a raid targeting the homes of popular protest leaders in the occupied West Bank overnight, activists reported Monday morning. Anti-wall organizer Mousa Abu Maria was seized from his home after midnight by eight heavily armed police officers, reported the National Committee of Beit Ummar, a village…
Settlers Attack Palestinian Resident, Throw Acid At Him
Uruknet April 5, 2010 – Palestinian sources reported Sunday that a Palestinian resident from Tammoun town, near Tubas, suffered second degree burns after a group of fundamentalist settlers attacked him near Keryat Shomeneh settlement, and throw acid at him. The resident, Monjid Bisharat, was moved to Rafidia Hospital near the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Medical sources reported that he…
Five Year Old War Victim Samar Wage Juridical War On Israel
Uruknet April 5, 2010 – Operation Cast Lead killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and ripped apart hundreds of families in Gaza. One of these is that of Khalid Abed-Rabbo. In a cold blooded execution he lost two daughters and saw a third severely injured, as well as his mother. The human rights organizations Adalah, Al-Haq and Al Mezan appealed to the…
Racism against Arabs in Israel rose by 28% during the past year
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – A report by the Centre for Equality and Coalition Against Racism has confirmed a 28% rise over the past year in incidents of racism against Palestinians in Israel who constitute 20% of its population. T
he centre monitored 286 racist incidents against Palestinians by Israelis, pointing out that 21 draft racist laws were proposed since the election…
UN: Israeli materials shipment to Gaza well below needs
Uruknet April 4, 2010 – 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,…
Human rights group issues report on Palestinian prisoners’ reality in Israeli jails
5 Apr 2010 – Vienna, April 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph)- Friends of Humanity International issued on Saturday “Behind the Sun”— a detailed report describing the Palestinian prisoners’ reality in Israeli jails during 2009, confirming that 2009 was exceptionally one of the worst years: Israeli prison administration practiced new methods against them, to increase both the psychological and physical pressure on them and continue locking…
Israeli settlers attack Palestinian farmers
5 Apr 2010 – Nablus, April 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli settlers attacked today number of Palestinian farmers from Qaryut village, southeast of Nablus in the West Bank, while they were planting trees on lands threatened with confiscation. The official of West Bank settlements file, Ghassan Douglas, said to SAFA news agency: “the villagers went to plant trees a mark of the Palestinian…
Israel raids Hebron without detentions
5 Apr 2010 – Hebron, April 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) invaded today Sair, Ezna, Dora and Al-Shuoikj towns in Hebron, in the south of the West Bank. Number of military vehicles traveled in the towns of Hebron and no detentions were reported, Palestinian sources reported. IOF set up military checkpoints in the entrance of Al-Fawar camp and Bait Anon…
Egypt’s addicts turn to harder drugs
The National 5 Apr 2010 – A clamp down seven million users and high prices discouraged smoking hashish, but addicts are moving on to alcohol, cocaine and heroin.
Islamic Jihad describes ‘new Jerusalem vision’
Palestine Note 5 Apr 2010 – Islamic Jihad sec-gen Ramadan Shallah announced Sunday that Israel’s measures in Jerusalem represented the “last opportunity for the Muslim and Arab World to support the holy city against occupation,” Ma’an News Agency reports. Shallah said in…
Gaza factions work toward ‘united resistance front’
Palestine Note 5 Apr 2010 – Sunday night Palestinian factions in Gaza met to discuss inter-political reconciliation, the Jerusalem Post reports. Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Democratic Front for the…
Latest Pedophelia scandal rocks the Vatican
Palestine Note 5 Apr 2010 – Lest anyone think members of organized religions are above reproach, take note. In his new book “God and His Demons,” Michael Parenti confronts both Old and New Testaments saying: “The god of the Holy Bible -…
IDF USING FACEBOOK TO RECRUIT COLLABORATORS
Palestine Note 5 Apr 2010 – ISRAEL IS RECRUITING GAZA COLLABORATORS ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES LIKE FACEBOOK Facebook and other social networking sites have become increasing popular in Gaza, and Israel has found a way to exploit this popularity, BBC reports. Israel…
Hamas accuses PA premier of treason
Palestine Note 5 Apr 2010 – Hamas demanded Sunday that PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad be put on trial for treason, Arab News reports. The Hamas press statement said the PM “recognized” Israel in his interview with Haaretz Friday, which Hamas feels…
Jordanian Christians risk reputation for pilgrimage in Israel
Palestine Note 5 Apr 2010 – According to the Christian Science Monitor, Jordanian Christians who flock to the holy sites in Israel as part of a rise in religious tourism are risking their professional reputation and their family’s disapproval. “I cannot help…
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,…
Bili’in as an Allegory: The Party is Over, Declares Netanyahu
Alternative Information Center – Sunday, 28 March 2010, The decision to declare Bili’in and Na’alin 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…
Private imports allowed into Gaza
PNN – Monday, 05 April 2010
Workshop focuses on creation of an early childhood website
PNN – Monday, 05 April 2010
Anti-Israel TV show angers Palestinians
Jeruslalem Post 6 Apr 2010 – Female prisoners outraged by IDF soldiers’ “rape” scenes.
‘Jordan-Israel ties at all-time low’
Jeruslalem Post 6 Apr 2010 – King Abdullah says Jerusalem’s actions on the ground make him extremely concerned.
Saudi cleric plans visit to J’lem
Jeruslalem Post 6 Apr 2010 – J’lem municipality:’attempts to stir up violence’ will not be permitted.
Gaza groups agree to stop rockets
Jeruslalem Post 6 Apr 2010 – Israeli officials: Let’s wait and see; Kassam hits Negev, causing no harm.
Gaza teen ‘killed’ by IDF recounts Egyptian prison ordeal
Jeruslalem Post 6 Apr 2010 – ‘I won’t go back there even if they offered me $1 million’
Israel: Erdogan, don’t become Chavez
Jeruslalem Post 5 Apr 2010 – Turkish PM integrating into Arab world at Israel’s expense, official says.
IDF to hold crash Arabic courses for infantry units
Jeruslalem Post 5 Apr 2010 – Learning Arabic will enable soldiers to obtain information in ‘real-time.’
Yesh Din appeals closure of suspected arson case
Jeruslalem Post 5 Apr 2010 – Gilad Farm settlers suspected of deliberately setting fire to Palestinian orchards.
Austrian billionaire wanted for questioning in Israel
Jeruslalem Post 5 Apr 2010 – Martin Schlaff did not attend father’s funeral due to longstanding investigations.
PCBS: 1.9 M. Children under 18 in Palestinian Territory
WAFA 6 Apr 2010 – RAMALLAH, April 5, 2010 (WAFA)- Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) revealed that about 1.9 million children under the age of 18 in the Palestinian Territory in the mid of 2009
Documentary Film Tackles Palestinian Life
WAFA 6 Apr 2010 – CHICAGO, April 5,2010 (WAFA)-“This Palestinian Life”, a 28-minute documentary, surveys rural resistance in occupied Palestine: in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, in the Jordan Valley, and in
Condemnation of Israeli Plan to Build Synagogue in E. Jerusalem
WAFA 6 Apr 2010 – RAMALLAH, April 5, 2010(WAFA)- Ministry of Information condemned , Israeli plan to build a new synagogue 200 meters from the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem. It said in a press release that Israel
Youth volunteers save springs in Qarawa Bani Hassan from settler take over
Stop The Wall – The youth are rehabilitating the ancient Roman springs that have been damaged by settlers seeking to take over control of them. For the photo story click here:
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Two Persons kidnapped and tortured by Gunmen in Gaza and Khan Yunis
PCHR 4 Apr 2010 – Field Update On Saturday, 3 April 2010, gunmen kidnapped ZIad Abu Haiya from Khan Yunis and took him to an unknown destination, where he was subjected to torture and severe beating. Earlier, on Friday, 2 April 2010, gunmen kidnapped Mohammed Mdokh from al-Nasser neighborhood in the north of Gaza city. He was taken to an unknown destination, where he was….
PCHR Organizes Two New Panel Discussions as Part of Activities Aimed at Enhancing Democracy in the Palestinian Society
PCHR 5 Apr 2010 – Ref : 39 / 2010….
Palestinian police arrest Beit Ommar resistance leaders in night time raids
4/5/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – National Committee of Beit Ommar – In night time raids on the houses of the organisers of popular protests against the Israeli occupation and the theft of Palestinian land, Palestinian police officers came in the early hours of this morning to arrest a number of Beit Ommar residents in collaboration with the Israeli occupation forces. Mousa Abu Maria was arrested at 01. 40 this morning from his house by 8 heavily armed Palestinian police. Police attempted to arrest another member of the National Committee tonight, Younes Arar, but he was not at home. His wife and young children were left distressed and crying at the raid. Reports have been received that there are up to 20 police vehicles involved in the operation tonight. These arrests are aimed at the community leaders who organise against the occupation, land theft, violations of religious freedoms and are supported by their communities.
Sheikh Jarrah resident hospitalized after intervening in attempted stabbing by settler
4/5/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Earlier today in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian residents and international solidarity activists, five of whom sustained injuries. The settlers were armed with stones and sticks. According to eyewitnesses, one settler was wielding a knife. A group of approximately twenty Israeli settlers entered the neighborhood and began throwing stones at three women from the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), hitting and lightly injuring each of them. Five Palestinian residents moved up the street towards the settlers in an attempt to stop the stone throwing, at which point the settlers began attacking them with sticks. According to eye witnesses, one settler then drew a knife and appeared to be about to stab Nasser Al-Ghawi, a local resident, when another Palestinian grabbed the blade of the knife to prevent the attack.
International ISM groups show solidarity with Palestine and reveal Zionist practices abroad
4/5/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – ISM groups from around the world are taking the anti-apartheid and anti-occupation campaigns, plus a bit of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) revolution out of Palestine and into the streets of their home countries. Here is a summary of some of the action from the past week. ISM London took the opportunity to tell Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat how the world feels about the recently announced plan to build 1600 new homes in occupied East Jerusalem and to draw connections between the Israel
i state and the apartheid South African regime. At the March 22, 2010 demonstration held outside of London’s Chatham House, over 100 activists made it clear that Israeli’s ethnic cleansing policy and anyone who represents it, is not welcome in London!. . . .
‘Turkey aligning with Muslim world at Israel’s expense’
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – Foreign Min. responds after Erdogan slams Israel, says Arabs and Turks are brothers who share values.
Saudi cleric plans Jerusalem trip to bolster Muslim claims to city
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – Sheikh Mohammed al-Areefi announces visit to Jerusalem, despite Saudi ban on travel to Israel.
White House condemns attack on U.S. consulate in Peshawar
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – Taliban claim responsibility for attack that kills 3, hours after separate suicide bomber kills 41.
Iran `still ready to negotiate solution to nuclear stand-off`
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – Tehran says only condition is that foreign powers agree to a fuel swap on Iranian territory.
Top Egypt official: Israel-Hamas tensions could lead to another Gaza war
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – A-Sharq al-Awsat: Egypt is reaching out to both Israel and Palestinian factions in bid to calm tension.
Michael Oren: Israel’s Jerusalem policy hasn’t changed in 16 years
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – Israeli envoy to the U.S. tells CNN: Bilateral ties are great, good conditions for peace talks.
Suicide bomb kills 2 policemen in Russia’s Ingushetia
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – Attack follows last week’s spate of suicide bombings in Moscow and Dagestan region that killed 50.
Major 7.2 earthquake strikes U.S.-Mexico border, kills one
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – Quake felt as far as Tijuana and Los Angeles rocked buildings and left people trapped in elevators.
Peres: This Passover was the best in Israel’s recent history
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – President Shimon Peres on Monday attended a traditional Mimouna celebration marking the end of Passover, calling this year’s holiday the best Israel has experienced in recent years. …
One Israeli lightly hurt in clash with Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – One Israeli was lightly hurt in a skirmish between Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem and Israeli Jews who came to pray there on Monday. …
Report: Probe concludes IDF failures led to killings of 4 Palestinians
Ha’aretz 5 Apr 2010 – An Israel Defense Forces probe into two incidents in the West Bank last month concluded that tactical failures led to the killings of four Palestinians, Army Radio reported on Monday. …
IDF: Palestinian who died was not held up at checkpoint
YNet News 5 Apr 2010 – Army investigation refutes claims that 63-year-old Muhammad Alian died of cardiac arrest after being delayed for hours at checkpoint. IDF: He was not forced to wait
Politicians join Mimouna celebrations across Israel
YNet News 5 Apr 2010 – North African Jewish holiday celebrated day after Passover attracts many ministers, MKs. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in Or Akiva ‘We’ll continue to build in the north, south and Jerusalem’
Turkish PM: We cannot ignore murder of Gaza’s children
YNet News 5 Apr 2010 – Erdogan criticizes Israel’s policy in Hamas-ruled territory yet again. Addressing heightened tensions in Jerusalem, he says, ‘Arabs and Turks are brothers and we share the same values.’ Israel: He should focus on killings in Pakistan, Iraq
Jordan: Newspaper’s April Fools’ UFOs cause panic
YNet News 5 Apr 2010 – Jafr mayor says almost evacuated town’s 13,000 residents after Al Ghad publishes front-page article about fake UFO landing. Editor: We meant to entertain, not scare people
IDF probe suggests failures during fatal clashes with Palestinians
YNet News 5 Apr 2010 – Two March incidents in which four Palestinians were shot by IDF could have been avoided, according to Central Command inquiry. ‘Soldiers must distinguish between life threatening situations and those incidents where the use of common sense can resolve matters without casualties,’ senior officer says
Saudi cleric announces visit to Jerusalem
YNet News 5 Apr 2010 – Sheik Mohammed al-Areefi says visit aimed at strengthening Muslim claims to Israeli capital and ‘Palestine’
Haredi lightly hurt in Sheikh Jarrah clash
YNet News 5 Apr 2010 – Leftists accompanying group of Christians say attacked by ultra-Orthodox in east Jerusalem neighborhood; local Arabs confront Jews. ‘Police searched only for Arabs,’ leftist claims
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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.
Israeli Rights Groups View Themselves as Under Siege
New York Times 5 Apr 2010 – The groups’ leaders say they are working in an increasingly hostile environment, especially after a United Nations report on the Gaza war.
Supreme Leader in Iran Supports Bid to Cut Subsidies
New York Times 5 Apr 2010 – Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, offered a crucial gesture of public support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s effort to enact a sweeping economic reform plan.
In Syria, a Prologue for Cities
New York Times 5 Apr 2010 – Excavations in northern Syria are expected to reveal more about a prehistoric culture in Mesopotamia that gave rise to the first cities and the invention of writing.
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…
Shocking Baghdad video echoes Goldstone’s Gaza mantra: deliberate attacks on civilians
Mondoweiss – 5 Apr 2010 – Astonishing video on Wikileaks.org of Americans in Apache helicopters killing civilians in Baghdad, including a Reuters photographer. I always say the Israel lobby suppressed Goldstone; but what about the American government’s interest in covering up its own attacks on civilians. This is the playbook for violent…
When will the NYT’s admirable coverage of the Catholic scandal
Mondoweiss – 5 Apr 2010 – expose it to justifiable charges of hypocrisy with respect to the religious politics of Israel/Palestine? Jim Crow conditions through most of the land. A separate roadway system for Jews and Palestinians. Checkpoints that feel like cattle stations. 10,000 political prisoners, including many children. An onslaught that…
‘Night’-time for Barack
Mondoweiss – 5 Apr 2010 – Didi Remez picks up an Israeli report that Netanyahu met with Elie Wiesel to ask him to appeal to Obama on the standoff between the countries: Obama venerates Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate. He sees in him a role model for the struggle for…
Pinkwashing doesn’t fly in SFO
Mondoweiss – 5 Apr 2010 – I don’t know how true this is anywhere else, but here in the Bay Area, Zionists have made gay rights a major focus of their propaganda. Fortunately, they don’t get away with it without challenge, because the LGBT community includes a large number of active and…
Land Day Commemorations in France in Support of BDS
Alternative Information Center – 5 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,…
Bili’in as an Allegory: The Party is Over, Declares Netanyahu
Alternative Information Center – 5 Apr 2010 – Sunday, 28 March 2010, The decision to declare Bili’in and Na’alin 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 – 5 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…
Articles
The Palestinians are winning the legitimacy war will it matter?
Richard Falk, Redress, Israeli Occupation Archive4/5/2010
Ever since the Balfour Declaration in 1917 gave the formal approval of the British government to the establishment of “a Jewish homeland”, profound issues of legitimacy were present in the conflict recently known as the Israel-Palestine conflict.
This original colonialist endorsement of the Zionist project has produced a steady erosion of the position of the Palestinian people on historic Palestine, which dramatically worsened over the course of the past 43 years of occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. It has worsened due to an oppressive military occupation by Israel that involves fundamental denials of rights and pervasive violations of international humanitarian law, and because Israel has been allowed to establish “facts on the ground”, which are more properly viewed as violations of Palestinian rights, especially the establishment of extensive settlements and a separation wall constructed on occupied Palestinian territories in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These developments have been flagrantly unlawful, and made the whole treatment of the Palestinian people illegitimate, as well as the occasion of continuous intense and pervasive suffering.
For decades, Palestinian political forces have exercised their right of resistance in various ways, including the extraordinary non-violent Intifada of 1987, but also engaging in armed resistance in defence of their territory. The Palestinians definitely enjoy a right of resistance, although subject to the limits of international humanitarian law, which rules out deliberate targeting of civilians and non-military targets. Such tactics of resistance challenge Israel at its point of maximum comparative advantage due both to its total military dominance, achieved in part by large subsidies from the United States, and to its ruthless disregard for civilian innocence. — See also:Sourcemore..e-mail
The Strange Love Affair of the U.S. and AIPAC
Dan Lieberman, Dissident Voice4/5/2010
Imagine you are a representative of the highest government agencies. You encounter a group that places a foreign power above your own government’s interests and redirects and undermines your policies. Would you go to their convention, popularize them, obsequiously placate them and demonstrate you mean no harm to their sinister behavior?
Sounds incomprehensible?
United States State department officials and congressional leaders have been doing the incomprehensible for years. U.S. State Department officials, senators and house representatives have regularly attended the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) conventions. Although the U.S. Executive Department signaled a hardening of relations with Israel, its officials spoke to and listened to AIPAC during the week that inaugurated the new spring of 2010.
Why, and for what reason, do government officials cater to AIPAC? Don’t they know AIPAC’s inglorious history and its one-sided purpose? Actually, government officials have many reasons to distance themselves from AIPAC and no reasons to associate themselves with an organization whose thrust depends upon spurious reasoning and outrageous statements.
The Dwight Eisenhower and Jack Kennedy administrations and the 1964 Fulbright Investigation Committee tried to declare groups representing Israel’s interests to be foreign agents. Deceptive maneuvers, ambiguous and modified election laws dragged charges through the courts and temporarily resolved the issue in favor of AIPAC. Nevertheless, government officials should realize there is meaning and significance to the charges and any support for an accused agency undermines reputable administrations.more..e-mail
Analysis: ‘The Centrality of Jerusalem’
Yousef Munayyer, Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development4/2/2010
If international law matters to any American president, it ought to be President Obama who has taught constitutional law.
Israel’s supporters are wrong to downplay the significance of illegal settlement activity as innocuous building in “Jewish neighborhoods” of Jerusalem. Contrary to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claim that “building in Jerusalem is the same as building in Tel Aviv,” according to international law and longstanding U.S. policy, building in East Jerusalem is the same as building in Jenin – or any other city in the occupied West Bank.
Despite all its remonstrating, Israel stands isolated from the entire international community over occupied East Jerusalem. Israel has no legitimate sovereignty on any inch of land beyond the Green Line, regardless of what they call it. As one European foreign minister recently stated: “I think I can say very clearly that Jerusalem is not Tel Aviv.” Legally speaking, this rebuke to Netanyahu’s bluster is correct, and the U.S. knows it.
Those who watch this conflict closely know that Israeli settlement expansion in Jerusalem has the potential to destroy the two-state solution and precipitate a third intifada. It is no minor matter. Nor was the timing of the announcements of 1600 new Jewish homes in the settlement of Ramat Shlomo during the visit of Vice President Biden, or of 20 more units for a site owned by an American funder of Netanyahu just hours before the prime minister was to meet with Obama.
Netanyahu rejected U.S. calls to halt settlement expansion and his Interior Minister, Eli Yishai — the same man who started the fracas when Biden visited — also seems determined to continue flouting the Obama administration.more..e-mail
Israel destroys Gaza dairy for second time
Electronic Intifada: 5 Apr 2010 – It was not a chemical plant, nor a nuclear facility, nor a manufacturer of weapons of mass destruction. But almost all the rubble of the entirely destroyed factory was covered in white, with white chunks everywhere. These were pieces of cheese, butter and yoghurt — some of the products made by the Dalloul dairy factory in southern Gaza City. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.
Israel’s “Iron Dome” system aims to pacify, not protect
Electronic Intifada: 5 Apr 2010 – Israel’s Iron Dome program has been controversial from its inception in 2005. Besides the nationalist economic motive, Israel’s efforts at intercepting rockets and mortar shells are products of Israel’s pacification industry. Iron Dome is intended to be a checkpoint of sorts, one that attempts to erase or obscure the resistance of the Palestinians warehoused behind the walls of Gaza and the West Bank by intercepting projectiles. Jimmy Johnson comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Israel gags news on extrajudicial killings
Electronic Intifada: 5 Apr 2010 – RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) – An Israeli journalist remains under house arrest and another lives abroad, after they broke news on Israeli undercover units carrying out assassinations or “targeted killings” of non-combatant Palestinian political opponents. Anat Kam, 23, who used to work for the Israeli news site “Walla,” was arrested last December for allegedly copying secret Israeli military documents during her compulsory military service.
Five Year Old War Victim Samar Wage Juridical War On Israel
Palestine Monitor: 5 Apr 2010 – Operation Cast Lead killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and ripped apart hundreds of families in Gaza. One of these is that of Khalid Abed-Rabbo. In a cold blooded execution he lost two daughters and saw a third severely injured, as well as his mother. The human rights organizations Adalah, Al-Haq and Al Mezan appealed to the Israeli Military Advocate General in June 2009 demanding an investigation. Article written by FLV. 7 January 2009: ten days after the beginning of the Gaza massacre ‘Operation Cast Lead’ Israeli soldiers drove into the Ezbet Abed-Rabbo neighbourhood, located east of Jabalia town in the north of the Gaza Strip. Using loudspeakers they ordered inhabitants to vacate their houses, including Khalid Abed-Rabbo, his mother, wife and three daughters. Carrying white flags, Khalid and his family stood in front of their house. Approximately fifteen metres from the house, an Israeli tank was stationed; on top of…
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 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 will be composed of at least eight vessels, including three cargo ships, and will set sail from European ports starting on May 3, reaching the port of Gaza later in the month. Over 500 passengers from more than 20 countries will take part, and over 5,000 tons of cargo, including cement, prefabricated housing, other building materials, medical equipment, and educational supplies will…
Al-Nakba Denial: Concealing Catastrophe
Palestine Chronicle: 5 Apr 2010 – By Tammy Obeidallah On May 15, 1948, one day 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 world’s largest refugee population at nearly five million people. Palestinians and people of conscience all around the world commemorate al-Nakba, meaning catastrophe in Arabic. The Palestinian population within what is now Israelone quarter of which are internally displaced from villages decimated by the Israeli army and Zionist militiasmark al-Nakba by marching through the places where their villages once stood. The protest marches do not sit well with the establishment in the “Middle East’s Only Democracy.” In 2008 World Likud Chairman Danny Danon called for a ban on the annual Nakba Day procession. He demanded authorities arrest any Arab leader speaking against Israel and its institutions, as…more
Abu Mazen’s Bantustan: Will Fatah Challenge Israel’s Ghetto Policies?
Palestine Chronicle: 5 Apr 2010 – By Iqbal Jassat How do you define a geographic location whose borders, security, natural resources, public planning, public works and infrastructure, trade, industrial development, air and cyberspace are not in its own control? To name it a “Bantustan” would be being polite to those who retain effective or empirical authority over all these matters. For in the South African context the concept of “Homelands” which resulted in ethnic autonomous zones known as “Bantustans”, while having many parallels with the Israeli model of a Palestinian “state”, is somewhat tame! Indeed, the Zionist scheme for a Palestinian ghetto is far worse. It is in fact far removed from basic characteristics that define sovereignty. It thus astonishes one that the Palestinian Authority [PA] fails to comprehend what many first year students of political science would grasp with ease: a ghetto is a ghetto is a ghetto! That the PA would still aspire for…more
The New Dark Age 
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