News
International Middle East Media Center
Israel Slams P.A For Naming A Street After Slain Fighter
IMEMC – Thursday April 08, 2010 – 02:43, The Israeli government and the office of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a harsh condemnation to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank for naming a street in the central West Bank city of Ramallah after a slain fighter of the All Qassam Brigades of Hamas.
Settlers Attack, Wound, Two Youths In Hebron
IMEMC – Thursday April 08, 2010 – 02:19, Palestinian medical sources in Hebron, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, reported Wednesday that two youth were hospitalized after being attacked by fundamentalist Jewish settlers in the city.
Palestinian Political Detainees Start A Hunger Strike
IMEMC – Wednesday April 07, 2010 – 17:05, Thousands of Palestinian political detainees imprisonned by Israel started on Wednesday an open hunger strike.
Israeli Tanks Invade Northern Areas Of The Gaza Strip And Destroy Farm Lands
IMEMC – Wednesday April 07, 2010 – 16:38, A number of Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded on Wednesday midday farm lands close to the northern Gaza Strip boarders with Israeli and destroyed farm lands.
Israeli Troops Detain Eight Palestinians, Among Them Two Injured, From The West Bank
IMEMC – Wednesday April 07, 2010 – 16:12, Four Palestinians were detained during a military operation targeting the village of Beta, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Home-made Bomb Explodes Near A Fatah Fighter Home In Tulkarem City
IMEMC – Wednesday April 07, 2010 – 15:41, A home-made bomb exploded on Wednesday near the house of Fatah fighter located in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem.
Settlers Attack Palestinians In Northern Wet Bank
IMEMC – Wednesday April 07, 2010 – 15:31, Israeli settlers attacked on Wednesday midday Palestinians and their cars near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Settlers Aim To Evict Two More Palestinian Families in Sheikh Jarrah
IMEMC – Wednesday April 07, 2010 – 11:42, Israeli settlers are trying to have two more Palestinian families evicted from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in occupied East Jerusalem, in order to allow the construction of Jewish-only homes in their place.
Israeli government holding up to two hundred million dollars of Palestinian funds
IMEMC – Wednesday April 07, 2010 – 11:22, According to a recently-released report, the Israeli government has withheld payment of up to two hundred million dollars meant for the Palestinian Civil Administration over the last sixteen years, instead illegally channeling the money into Israeli state coffers.
Five Palestinians Wounded By Homemade Shell In Beit Hanoun
IMEMC – Wednesday April 07, 2010 – 10:38, Local sources reported that five Palestinians were wounded on Tuesday at night when a Palestinian group fired a homemade shell towards adjacent Israeli settlements but the shell landed near Palestinian homes in Beit Hanoun wounding five Palestinians.
Israel threatens to shut off taps for West Bank water
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau threatened to restrict the West Bank water supply if no sewage treatment plants were installed in the area, a UN alert warned on Wednesday. The official reportedly told Israel’s Army Radio that ,”They get clean water from us, and in return they give us sewage. This destroys nature, and I would also say that this is the way that wicked people behave.” According to a 2009 B’Tselem report, a joint 2007 study by Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority Environment Unit, Water and Streams Department in the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the environmental-protection staff officer in the Civil Administration, only 81 of 121 settlements in the West Bank were connected to wastewater treatment facilities.”The result is that 12 mcm of wastewater from settlements is treated, while 5. 5 mcm flows as raw wastewater into West Bank streams and valleys,” the report said.
Report: Israel stealing Palestinian tax money
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – For the past 15 years, Israel has been channeling hundreds of millions of shekels it had collected in the West Bank into its state coffers, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Wednesday. According to the newspaper, the move is considered illegal because international law prohibits an occupying power from appropriating the fruit of economic activity in an occupied territory. Following protests by military lawyers, the deputy attorney general has ruled that the practice should be stopped and ordered an inquiry into whether the Civil Administration in the West Bank should be compensated retroactively, the daily reported. Haaretz quoted the Israeli Justice Ministry as responding that the income in question “was registered as part of state income, and the Finance Ministry budgeted all the activities of the Civil Administration and the military in the area out of the state budget.
Palestinian detainees begin second hunger strike
4/7/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Between seven and ten thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody began a hunger strike on Wednesday, marking the second week of a boycott where prisoners refuse family visits over concerns of maltreatment. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said that detainees in 10 central Israeli jails and three detention centers continue to take part in the strike action, notably including prisoners from all political factions. Prisoners announced in March that they would refuse family visits from 1 April until 30 April, in protest over the use of visits by prison officials to manipulate detainees. The first day of the strike was marked with a 24-hour hunger strike, which officials said would be repeated on Wednesday. The Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Studies said the Israeli Prison Service met with prisoner representatives across the jails and detention centers to listen to. . .
Israel army detains Fatah leader in Nablus
4/7/2010 – Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli forces arrested a Fatah leader from the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, after raiding his home and destroying property inside, his family said. Darwish Abed Ar-Ra’uf Al-Bustami, 40, a Fatah leader from the Ad-Daheiyah area in southern Nablus, was taken to an undisclosed location. Al-Bustami’s brother Mu’tasem, 27, told Ma’an that soldiers entered the family home early Wednesday. They arrested Darwish and destroyed contents of the home for three hours before leaving, he said. The Fatah official is a father of six. He has served five years in several Israeli prisons. An Israeli military spokesman told Ma’an that Al-Bustami was wanted on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. The arrest was carried out normally and no unusual incidents were reported, the spokesman added. Meanwhile, an Israeli military patrol raided Tulkarem, stopping several Palestinians to check their ID cards, eyewitnesses said.
Tulkarem residents report overnight raid
4/7/2010 – Tulkarem – Ma’an – An Israeli military patrol raided Tulkarem from the northeast on Wednesday morning, stopping several Palestinians to check their ID cards, eyewitnesses said. No clashes or detentions were reported, although residents said they felt threatened and forces were unnecessarily provoking civilians. Patrols were reportedly focused on Shwaika Street, Al-Younis, and Al-Quds Open University areas. An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was looking into the report. [end]
Police: Beit Ummar activist assaulted officer
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian Authority police said the brief detention of a local anti-wall activist early Monday was precipitated by his assault of an officer, and not connected to his protest activities. National Committee of Beit Ummar members said anti-wall protest organizer Mousa Abu Maria was detained after midnight by eight police officers, who neighbors said had no warrant for his arrest. The protest group accused police of collaborating with Israel and targeting activists insisting on their right to protest land confiscations and Israeli occupation.”Are the Palestinian authorities running errands for the occupation forces? “the National Committee said at the time. On Wednesday, law enforcement officials contacted Ma’an saying the accusations were false, and provided confidential documents around the detention of Abu Maria.
Christian leaders call for ‘permits’ boycott
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Leaders of the Christian community in Palestine called on church officials to begin a boycott of the Israeli permission system, requiring leaders to request permits for their faithful to access the holy city of Jerusalem. Speaking on the radio Mawwal show Juthurna (Our Roots) on Tuesday, Fatah official of religious affairs Mike Salman said the entire Israeli system of forcing Palestinians to request permissions to access Palestinian territory illegally annexed by Israel is “an offense to human dignity.” Under international law and conventions, he added, “Jerusalem is part of the 1967 lands and we Muslims and Christians should be able to reach it without permits,” and called on Christians to support their church leaders in a campaign to halt the permit system.”We should have one clear and consistent position about permits, for permits offend the dignity of humanity, we must not give in to the occupation’s policy,” Salman said.
Report: 6 detained for organ trafficking in Israel
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Israeli police on Tuesday arrested six men suspected of being involved in an organ trafficking ring, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Wednesday. Among the suspects are an Israeli army reserves brigadier-general and two lawyers, according to the report. Police also said that during the investigation they uncovered a large, very well-organized industry of organ trafficking, the newspaper reported. The ring reportedly includes organ traffickers, agents, and lawyers.” The ring is operating throughout Israel and not only in the north, and appeals to the public through local media and internet,” a police official told the newspaper.”The organ traffickers somehow receive details about potential transplant candidates and they offer them their services.”
Misfired projectile injures 5 in north Gaza
4/7/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Five Palestinians were injured when a misfired projectile landed in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, witnesses said Tuesday. The misfiring proceeded after Israeli officials announced six projectiles landing in open areas of the western Negev, with no injuries reported. Eyewitnesses said projectiles were being launched from areas in the north of the Strip, when a sudden explosion was heard in the Beit Hanoun area. Neighbors said it hit a residential area and injured five. Medical sources at the Beit Hanoun Hospital said the injured were from the Al-Amoudi and Abu Uda families. They were all hospitalized at 10:00pm after sustaining wounds from shrapnel and a small fire that broke out in one of the homes. Medics said four of the victims suffered light to moderate injuries, while a fifth was seriously injured, sustaining fractures to his feet.
PA official: Israeli settlers pelt cars with stones
4/7/2010 – Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli settlers pelted Palestinian cars with stones on Wednesday near Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghasan Daghlas, a PA official charged with monitoring settlements in the northern West Bank, said residents of the illegal outpost of Rachel, near Yetma, gathered near a road adjacent to the village and began throwing stones at passing vehicles. The official said several cars sustained damage, but no injuries were reported. An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment on that incident, but said the army was aware of three others in which Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli citizens and infrastructure. One Israeli civilian was lightly injured southeast of Bethlehem when Palestinians threw rocks at a car, the army spokesman said, while an Israeli car and bus were damaged in two separate incidents nearby.
Arab archeologists call on UN to protect Al-Aqsa
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Arab archaeologists called the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to immediately intervene to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem from Israeli attempts to Judaize them, Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported. The call came at the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the archaeologists committee of the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), responsible for preparing legal reports on Israeli policy affecting the mosque and the city. The committee condemned Israel’s decision to list the Ibrahimi Mosque (the Tomb of the Patriarchs) and Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque (Rachel’s Tomb) as Jewish heritage sites, in the West Bank cities of Hebron and Bethlehem respectively, KUNA reported. Members said Israeli actions in Jerusalem, especially the digging under and around Al-Aqsa Mosque, “were illegal, violated international laws, and threatened the mosque’s structure,” the report quoted officials as saying.
Gaza prisoner released after 20 years in Israeli custody
4/7/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – A Hamas affiliate was released from Israeli custody on Tuesday after completing his 20-year sentence, prisoner committee officials announced. Muhammad Nihad Salameh Al-Hashash, 47, from the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, was received by members of the National Committee for the Support for Detainees upon his release at the northern Erez crossing. The Hamas member was detained on 22 September 1990 and was sentenced to a 20-year term for killing an Israeli soldier in the Al-Bureij refugee camp. His mother suffered a heart attack during her first visit to Al-Hashash in jail on 11 May 2000 and has remained in poor health since, the committee said. According to committee records, there are 313 Palestinian prisoners currently in Israeli prison who have served over 20 years, including 115 prisoners serving between 20-25, 14 between 25-30 years and three who have spent over 30 years in Israeli custody.
Israeli forces injure 1, detain 3 south of Nablus
4/7/2010 – Nablus – Ma’an – One Palestinian was injured and three others were detained when Israeli Special Forces opened fire Wednesday in the Beita village south of Nablus, onlookers said. According to witnesses, Israeli forces were driving cars with Palestinian license plates and stopped a car parked near the Tappuah junction. Haytham Odeh, 32, sustained two gunshot wounds to the knee, and Daoud Bani Shamiseh, 33, was detained, before he was reportedly struck on the head. Ayman Dweikat was also detained, witnesses added. Muhammad Riyadh Omar Bani Shamsieh was detained near the Qoza Mosque’s well, onlookers said. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said a medical crew was able to enter and treat Odeh. His injuries were described as light to moderate. Medics added that the four men were detained. Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the incident occurred at the Tappuah junction, further. . .
Hamas` PLC bloc: PA forces raid home of member
4/7/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas’ parliamentary bloc accused Palestinian Authority security forces of breaking into the home of the movement’s lawmaker and detaining a relative in Hebron on Wednesday. A statement released by Hamas said Palestine Legislative Council member Mohammad At-Tal’s home was stormed by PA forces who detained his brother, Rami.”Fatah and its parliamentary bloc is responsible for tightening its practices against lawmakers affiliated with the [Hamas] bloc, obstructing their role within the Palestinian Legislative Council,” the statement read. The policy, they said, reflected the movement’s decision to prohibit PLC speaker Aziz Dweik from holding an emergency session of the body in Ramallah last month, prompting the official to symbolically resign and hand over power to his deputy. Hamas called on the PA to immediately release all political prisoners as a “solidarity” gesture for. . .
2 Gaza crossings partially open
4/7/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – The Kerem Shalom and the Karni crossings will be open for the limited shipment of aid and commercial goods into Gaza on Wednesday, Israeli officials told Palestinian liaison officers. Palestinian border official Raed Fattouh said 105 to 115 truckloads of humanitarian aid and commercial goods would be allowed into Gaza, along with limited quantities of domestic gas and industrial diesel via the southern crossing at Kerem Shalom. In the north, near Gaza City, the Karni crossing was expected to permit an estimated 158 truckloads of wheat and animal feed, Fattouh said. The total amount of 263-273 truckloads of goods falls well short of the467 allowed into Gaza per day before the siege, when crossings operated six days a week, according to historical numbers tracked by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Human Rights Watch: Don’t resume Gaza executions
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Authorities in the Gaza Strip should rescind a recent announcement that they intend to resume application of the death penalty in the coastal enclave, which has not been carried out there since 2005, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. The death penalty, which in Gaza would be carried out by firing squad or hanging, is inherently cruel and inhuman, and the death sentences handed down by Hamas-aligned military courts violate fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said. Most of those facing the death penalty in Gaza are affiliated with the rival Fatah movement or are people whom Hamas military courts have convicted of collaborating with Israel. On 24 March 2010, the Gaza interior minister, Fathi Hammad, stated that the there authorities would implement the death penalty in “the near future” against “agents [of Israel] who have been sentenced to death, regardless of the position of rights groups that reject these kinds of sentences.
PA forces briefly detain Israeli journalist in Ramallah
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – An Israeli journalist with Israel’s Channel 10 was briefly detained by Palestinian Authority police on Wednesday, after he took photos of the prime minister’s office without permission, police said. PA security services spokesman Adnan Dmeiri said Shlomo Eldar was released after a brief period of questioning. Dmeiri denied accusations by the Israeli station that the detention was part of a campaign against the channel. Channel 10 Arab affairs personality Zvi Yehezkeli accused the PA of plotting against the station, which aired a videotape allegedly showing former chief of staff Rafiq Al-Husseini propositioning a job applicant for sex. President Abbas fired the official, although an internal inquiry found him innocent of criminal wrongdoing. Late last month, PA and Israeli forces cracked down on journalists who were covering a protest in Bethlehem.
Tulkarem blast damages home of Fatah fighter
4/7/2010 – Tulkarem – Ma’an – An explosive charge was detonated in front of an Al-Aqsa Brigades member’s home in the Tulkarem refugee camp on Wednesday, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of injury. Relatives of Husni Abu Zugheib, a member of the Fatah-aligned armed wing, said the home sustained material damage. The culprits also vandalized the walls of the building with slogans denouncing the fighter, they added. Palestinian Authority police announced that an investigation was opened into the incident, as Fatah officials in the city denounced what they called an attack on Abu Zugheib.”Those suspected of orchistrating this attack must be exposed and punished,” a Fatah official said. An Israeli military patrol raided Tulkarem hours earlier, stopping several Palestinians to check IDs, eyewitnesses said. No clashes or detentions were reported, although residents said they felt threatened and forces were unnecessarily provoking civilians.
Man found critical after severe beating in Jenin
4/7/2010 – Jenin – Ma’an – A young Palestinian man was found in critical condition on Wednesday after being beaten and possibly tortured in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian Authority police said. PA forces received information that a car with Palestinian license plates was found in the Selat Al-Hartheiyah area with a knife and bloodstains inside, a report said. Forces combed the area, finding the unidentified 24-year-old victim an hour into the search, police said. The victim was transferred to hospital to undergo treatment, and the case has been passed along to the criminal intelligence department. Jenin district Chief of Police Radi A’sida called on residents to cooperate with security forces in search of the perpetrators.
Belgian delegation to visit Sheikh Jarrah amid evictions
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – A delegation of Belgian civil society representatives and members of parliament will pay a solidarity visit to the Sheikh Jarrah families on Sunday, officials announced Monday. The visit was publicized hours before news broke that two additional families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood were served with eviction notices by groups of settler organizations, adding to the three homes already taken over by Israeli settlers, while more are under threat of imminent eviction. According to a report in Israel’s daily newspaper Haaretz, the settler groups appealed to the local courts using what they say are Ottoman-era documents that show lands on which the homes were built belonged to Jews a century ago. The claim said that following the 1967 war, when Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem and occupied the West Bank and Gaza, the alleged owner, which Haaretz named as the. . .
Sri Lanka envoy to PA meets tourism minister
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khulud Deibes received in her office Ti Jaya Senge, representative of Sri Lanka to the Palestinian Authority, in Bethlehem on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by Wajih Abed Rabu, head of the public relations department at the ministry. Debies welcomed the official, praising Palestinian-Sri Lankan relations and affirming the importance of deepening cooperation and communication between the two sides. They discussed the general situation and efforts to upgrade Palestinian tourism. The Sri Lankan official thanked Deibes for her hospitality, expressing support of the Sri Lankan government to Palestinians and inviting the minister to visit Sri Lanka to visit its tourist sites.
French minister to open Bethlehem industrial park
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – French Minister of Industry Christian Estrosi will open the new Bethlehem industrial park on Thursday, following meetings with Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah, French Consular officials announced. Estrosi and his accompanying delegation will sit with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, then travel to Bethlehem where he will meet Minister of National Economy Hassan Abu Libdeh. In Bethlehem, Estrosi and his counterpart will sign the French-Palestinian financial protocol, and sit for a meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in the city, followed by a lunch with local businessmen and women. The official will be briefed on the situation of the Palestinian economy alongside heads of companies from the nation and a series of “business to business” meetings with French delegates. Estrosi will then travel to Jerusalem for a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, French officials said.
Report: Obama mulls new peace plan
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Despite turbulence in US-Israel relations, President Barack Obama is “seriously considering” proposing a new Mideast peace plan, two top administration officials told a US newspaper.”Everyone knows the basic outlines of a peace deal,” said one of the senior officials quoted in a Wednesday report in the Washington Post, citing the agreement that was nearly reached at Camp David in 2000 and in subsequent negotiations. He said an American plan, if launched, would build upon past progress on such issues as borders, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. The second senior official said that “90 percent of the map would look the same” as what has been agreed in previous bargaining, the US daily reported. The White House is considering detailed interagency talks to frame the strategy and form a political consensus for it, the newspaper quoted the first official as saying.
PA security forces arrest 70 fugitives in Hebron
4/7/2010 – Hebron – Ma’an – Palestinian Authority security forces arrested 70 men on Tuesday, police said all suspected of criminal activity in the West Bank district of Hebron. A police statement said PA forces deployed in Hebron arrested eight during a security campaign in the north of the district. One man was sentenced to a seventh-month term, while others were charged for criminal activity ranging from theft and drugs possession, police said, adding that 15 illegal vehicles were impounded during the campaign, and their owners detained. Additionally, 30 suspects were arrested on various charges, while two others were charged with robbery, police wrote. One man was detained, suspected of stealing iron pipes from a local store, while another was arrested for allegedly stealing a car from a Jerusalemite. Police said the suspect confessed to car theft during questioning.
PA: Third mobile provider in works
4/7/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – A third mobile provider will be licensed to operate in Palestinian areas by 2013, Palestinian Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Mashhur Abu Daka announced Wednesday. The minister said the initiative was out of the “interest of the ministry to free Palestinian frequencies and mobile users from the control of the Israeli occupation,” and came only days after the ministry announced a ban on the sale of Israeli phone cards and SIM chips in the West Bank under a government ban on settlement goods. Within the next year, the Palestinian Authority will submit a tender for a third mobile phone operator, Abu Daka said, noting the license was expected within a year from the date of application. The announcement came at a news conference in Ramallah, where the Telecommunications Ministry presented a policy schedule for development of the telecom sector in the next three years.
Bethlehem hosts pharmaceutical conference
4/7/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Sixth Palestinian Pharmaceutical Conference will open in Bethlehem’s Conference Palace on Wednesday, with the participation of over 1,000 pharmacists from Palestine and Jordan, along with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The international conference has been entitled “Jerusalem is the permanent headquarters of the Union of Arab Pharmacists.” The conference preparatory committee met Tuesday night. According to Dr Fawwaz Syam, president of the conference, invitations were sent to a number of Palestinian officials such as Fathi Abu Maghli, minister of health, Said Abu Ali, minister of interior, Hassan Abu Labadeh, minister of economy, Hussein Al-Sheikh, minister of civil affairs, Ali Khashan, minister of justice, Khulud Dei’bes, minister of tourism, Rabiha Diab, minister of women’s affairs, Mohammed Shtayeh, minister of public works, Issa Qaraque, minister of prisoners affairs, and BethlehemGovernor Abdul Fattah Hamayel.
MESS Report / Snubbed IDF chief won’t fight to stick around
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Barak has announced that Ashkenazi will be replaced in February 2011 after four years in office.
Mortar shells fired at Israel land in Gaza, injure 6 Palestinians
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Shells follow earlier Hamas announcement that they would try to reduce rocket attacks.
Hamas releases footage of ‘Gaza clashes’
Ha’aretz 7 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 7 Apr 2010 – Army rebuffs Palestinian media claims that it killed 15-year-old as he tried to enter Israel.
Thousands mourn IDF officer and soldier killed in Gaza
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Major Eliraz Peretz’s best friend: We will avenge your death against those who hurt you.
Mother of soldier killed in Gaza: He paid the price of war
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Major Eliraz Peretz and Staff Sergeant Ilan Sviatkovsky die in Gaza clash; another soldier in serious condition.
Cameras and Kuffiyehs: Palestine’s video resistance
Uruknet April 7, 2010 – Every Friday, the slingshot-wielding boys of the West Bank village of Ni’lin make their way to protests at the Israeli-constructed separation wall, which has deprived the village of 300 hectares of its farmland. But weaving among the boys, or shabab, are other youngsters with a different weapon of choice — video cameras. For the past three…
Report: 6 detained for organ trafficking in Israel
Uruknet April 7, 2010 – Israeli police on Tuesday arrested six men suspected of being involved in an organ trafficking ring, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Wednesday. Among the suspects are an Israeli army reserves brigadier-general and two lawyers, according to the report…
Church leaders condemn Israel and Christian Zionism
Uruknet April 7, 2010 – Church leaders condemn Israel and Christian ZionismEaster was the perfect opportunity for Christians to reconsider their position on the Palestine/Israel conflict and many did. In South Africa, more than sixty church leaders and theologians showed their support for Palestine and expressed their condemnation of Israel’s apartheid policies by supporting the 2009 Kairos Palestine document. This was…
The Battle of the ‘Empty Intestines’; Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails stage hunger strike
Uruknet April 7, 2010 – In the fist initiative of its kind for several years, the anti-Zionist Prisoner’s Movement has planned a bold and coherent series of measures against the systematic, pervasive and persistent violation of prisoner rights within Israeli jails. The initiative, which comes from within the prisons themselves, consists of a progression of escalating non-violent ‘battles’ waged by thousands…
Israel police uncovers organ trafficking ring in north
Uruknet April 7, 2010 – Police on Tuesday arrested six men suspected of being involved in an organ trafficking ring in northern Israel. Among the suspects are an IDF reserves brigadier-general and two lawyers. The department for fraud and misappropriation in northern Israel has been conducting an undercover investigation which began following a complaint by a 50-year-old woman from Nazareth, who…
US military aid to Israel violates domestic, international law
Uruknet April 7, 2010 – The Middle East Study Committee of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has published “Breaking Down the Walls”, a report to be submitted to the church’s 219th General Assembly this July. Some of the report’s 39 recommendations have drawn harsh criticism. The Simon Wiesenthal Center declared in a 22 February action alert that “adoption of this poisonous document…
Israel’s Negev ‘frontier’
Uruknet April 7, 2010 – On this year’s Land Day, tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel marched in Sakhnin, an Israeli city in the Lower Galilee, to protest against past and present systematic discrimination. But with the focus on Israel’s policies of land confiscation, there was significance in a second protest that day. In the Negev (referred to as…
Israel threatens to shut off taps for West Bank water
Uruknet April 7, 2010 – Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau threatened to restrict the West Bank water supply if no sewage treatment plants were installed in the area, a UN alert warned on Wednesday. The official reportedly told Israel’s Army Radio that “They get clean water from us, and in return they give us sewage. This destroys nature, and I would…
Israeli Tanks Invade Northern Areas Of The Gaza Strip And Destroy Farm Lands
Uruknet April 7, 2010 – A number of Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded on Wednesday midday farm lands close to the northern Gaza Strip boarders with Israeli and destroyed farm lands. The lands are privately owned by Palestinian farmers from the nearby town of Jabalya, local sources reported. Witnesses said that tanks advanced 500 meters inside the border area and opened…
Video: SONGS FROM A LOST HOMELANDRhythms of resistance
Uruknet April 6, 2010 – It may not be armed struggle, but music is an important weapon of cultural resistance and a means of safeguarding national identity for those Palestinian musicians living inside Israel and occupied east Jerusalem. “As Palestinians of 1948, we have struggled to stay on our land,” says Rim al-Banna, a singer from Nazareth in the Galilee region…
Video: Balkans: Depleted Uranium in NATO Bombs Remains Deadly
Uruknet April 6, 2010 – Israel’s Ramon Prison service threatened to deprive striking Palestinian detainees of family visits in May if the current strike protesting the mistreatment of prisoners and visiting family members continues. Palestinian prisoners across 13 Israeli detention centers began a boycott of family visits on 1 April, and punctuated the start of the boycott with a day-long hunger…
Israeli guards threaten striking prisoners
Uruknet April 6, 2010 – Israel’s Ramon Prison service threatened to deprive striking Palestinian detainees of family visits in May if the current strike protesting the mistreatment of prisoners and visiting family members continues. Palestinian prisoners across 13 Israeli detention centers began a boycott of family visits on 1 April, and punctuated the start of the boycott with a day-long hunger…
Israeli settlers throw stones at Palestinian cars
7 Apr 2010 – Nablus, April 7, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) — Israeli settlers threw stones today at Palestinian cars in south of Nablus, no injuries were reported. The official of West Bank settlements file, Ghassan Douglas, said that Israeli settlers gathered in a road adjacent to village of Yetma and stoned the Palestinian cars which were passing there. The Israeli settlers continue their attacks…
Israel breaks into Tulkarem
7 Apr 2010 – Tulkarem, April 7, (Pal Telegraph) The Israeli army broke today into the city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, and placed numerous on-foot and mobile forces. Eyewitnesses said that they saw a huge force consisting of three small groups, entered the city from the north-west, and stopped near the new northern compound of garages where they stopped a number…
Israeli merchant sells peat oil as ‘olive’ oil
7 Apr 2010 – West Bank, April 7, (Pal Telegraph) A Palestinian agriculture expert warned from filling the Palestinian market with “peat” refined oil through an Israeli merchant from the Galilee, and mediated by local traders, to be sold on the basis that its extra virgin olive oil but with fair prices cheating the consumers. Agricultural engineer, Khalid Junaidi, said “I have informed several…
Gaza’s commercial crossings to partially open today
7 Apr 2010 – Gaza, April 7, (Pal Telegraph) The Israeli occupation authorities decided to open Kerem Abu Salem and Carney commercial crossings partially today, to let in limited quantities of food, aid and fuel. Raed Fattouh, the Chairman of the goods introduction to Gaza Committee, said that the Israeli occupation forces have decided to open Kerem Abu Salem commercial crossing, which is located…
Gaza: 3 injuries in homemade rocket explosion
7 Apr 2010 – Gaza, April 7, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) — Three people were injured Tuesday night after being hit by a homemade rocket fall near a house of a citizen in the town of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip. According to eyewitnesses, the homemade rocket landed near the house of Izzat Abu Jarad in the north of Beit Hanoun, which caused damage to…
Palestinian prisoners begin hunger strike in Israeli jails
7 Apr 2010 – Palestine, April 7, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) — Palestinian prisoners in ten Israeli jails began today a hunger strike to protest against Israeli mistreatment. Israeli jails’ authorities have been preventing the families of Palestinian prisoners who are from Gaza Strip from visiting them for four years. The prisoners are being abused and their families members who are allowed to visit them….
Israel detains 4 Palestinians in WB
7 Apr 2010 – West Bank, April 7, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained Tuesday night four Palestinians from the West Bank. The Israeli occupation forces raided Ramallah, Nablus and Jericho and then detained four Palestinians whose IDs are not known, Palestinian sources reported. The IOF detained two from Ramallah while two others were detained in Nablus and in the Jericho…
Blockade means clothes ordered for Gaza arrive two years late and ruined by damp
The National 7 Apr 2010 – Israel’s sealing of its borders with Gaza to all commercial imports and exports has crippled local industry and undermed the territory’s merchant classes.
Erdogan: Israel is a principal threat’ to peace
The National 7 Apr 2010 – The prime minister of Turkey, Israel’s only ally in the Muslim world, branded the Jewish state the principal threat to peace in the Middle East.
ORGAN TRAFFICKERS ARRESTED IN ISRAEL
Palestine Note 7 Apr 2010 – SIX WERE DETAINED TUESDAY FOR SUSPICION OF INVOLVEMENT IN AN ORGAN TRAFFICKING RING Israeli police arrested six men suspected of trafficking organs in northern Israel Tuesday, Haaretz reports. And IDF brigadier-general and two lawyers number among…
Why there are no ‚ÄòIsraelis’ in the Jewish state
Palestine Note 7 Apr 2010 – Citizens classed as Jewish or Arab nationals A group of Jews and Arabs are fighting in the Israeli courts to be recognised as “Israelis”, a nationality currently denied them, in a case that officials fear may…
Making the one-state solution Inevitable
Palestine Note 7 Apr 2010 – Other than screaming by the right, there does not seem to be any significant aftermath to President Obama’s decision to oppose Israeli settlement expansion. The Israeli government is simply ignoring Obama’s demand to stop building in…
Sindbad Travel: A Jerusalem family guides the Holy Land
Palestine Note 7 Apr 2010 – By Sarah Harlan Established in 1957 in Jerusalem by an Arab Israeli family, Sindbad Tourist Travel Agency and Transport Co has been guiding tours of the Holy Land for more than 50 years. For the Abdalla…
With no progress on East Jerusalem, Obama builds a new MidEast plan
Palestine Note 7 Apr 2010 – Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says he has yet to work out “his differences” with the US concerning settlement construction in East Jerusalem, Haaretz reports. The prime minister says both Israel and the US are working toward…
ISRAEL SEIZES PALESTINIAN SERVICES FUNDS
Palestine Note 7 Apr 2010 – FOR 15 YEARS ISRAEL HAS DIRECTED HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF SHEKELS COLLECTED IN THE WEST BANK INTO ISRAELI COFFERS For a decade and a half, Israel has channeled millions of shekels collected for the West Bank…
Jordanian Monarch’s Israeli Catch 22
The Media Line 6 Apr 2010 – King Abdullah is in a lose-lose situation with his harsh criticism of Israel’s government Jordanian King Abdullah’s harsh criticism of Israel has little chance of ending the peace treaty which is vital for Jordan’s security, but…
Ousted Abbas Aide: Israel Framed Me
The Media Line 6 Apr 2010 – Rafiq Al-Husseini, former Chief-of-Staff to Palestinian Authority Head Mahmoud Abbas, speaks in an Exclusive Interview with The Media Line’s Felice Friedson Dr. Rafiq Al-Husseini served as chief of staff to Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas until…
Israeli Army Investigations Determines Troops “Could Have Acted Differently” and Prevented Loss of Life
The Media Line 6 Apr 2010 – In a rare occurrence, the Israeli army has publicly criticized its troops for improper actions that led to the deaths of two Palestinian youth last month when a total of four Palestinians died in back-to-back incidents…
Egypt hosts antiquities meeting
AlJazeera 7 Apr 2010 – Gathering in Cairo to chalk out global strategy for bringing back artefacts taken away.
Israel arrests ‘organ traffickers’
AlJazeera 7 Apr 2010 – Six suspects held on suspicion of running an international organ-trafficking ring.
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…
Palestinian presidential aide in sex claim sacked
PNN – Wednesday, 07 April 2010
Report highlights collaborators’ plight
Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2010 – Legal forum urges more gov’t support for Palestinians who have moved to Israel.
Barak, ministry officials defend Ashkenazi decision
Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2010 – Sources close to IDF chief: Minister could still change his mind.
Report highlights Palestinian collaborators’ plight
Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2010 – Legal forum urges increased gov’t support for thousands living in sub-standard conditions.
Messer nabbed in mass corruption case
Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2010 – Olmert confidant allegedly involved in scandal linked to J’lem’s Holyland Park.
Did Swiss gov’t okay Iran nuclear deal?
Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2010 – Official backtracks after he says state gave permit for nuclear device delivery.
‘Iran sanctions delay will damage int’l bodies’ credibility’
Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2010 – Top State Department official praises Israel for being “extremely active” in internationalizing issue of Iranian nuclear threat so that it isn’t seen as merely US-Iranian animosity.
Analysis: Bad time to replace top security chiefs?
Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2010 – Changing of guard at IDF, Mossad, Shin Bet and Military Intelligence to come all at once, at a particularly sensitive juncture.
Analysis: Uri Messer is the link
Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2010 – Disclosure of scandal sheds light on state’s request to change order of hearings in trial of former PM Olmert.
‘IDF needs to freshen its ranks’
Jeruslalem Post 7 Apr 2010 – Netanyahu downplays government’s decision not to extend Ashkenazi’s tenure as army chief by extra year.
Israel Police Uncovers Organ Trafficking Ring
WAFA 7 Apr 2010 – TEL AVIV, April 7, 2010 (WAFA) — Israeli Police on Tuesday arrested six men suspected of being involved in an organ trafficking ring in northern Israel. Among the suspects are an Israeli army
Building Capacity of Operations of PCP
WAFA 7 Apr 2010 – RAMALLAH, April 7, 2010 (WAFA)- EUPOL COPPS’ Command and Control experts participated in a workshop on the Operation Control Room (Ops Rooms) organized by the Palestinian Civil Police (PCP). The
Israeli Minster Threatened to restrict Supply of Water to PNA
WAFA 7 Apr 2010 – TEL AVIV, April 7, 2010 (WAFA)- Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau has threatened to restrict the supply of water to the Palestinian National Authority if no sewage purification plants are
PNA-France Financial Protocol to Promote Palestinian Private Sector
WAFA 7 Apr 2010 – BETHLEHEM, April 7, 2010 (WAFA)- A financial Protocol to be signed tomorrow by the French Minister of Industry Christian Estrosi and the Minister of National Economy Hassan Abu Libdeh to support the
MDP: Signing Agreement of €3, 2 between France, PNA
WAFA 7 Apr 2010 – RAMALLAH, April 7, 2010 (WAFA)- The Consul General of France in Jerusalem Frederic Desagneaux, the Minister of Planning Ali Jarbawi and the director of the French Development Agency (AFD) Herv?©
EGYPT: Looking Away From the Disabled
IPS CAIRO, Apr 7 (IPS) – Egyptians find it hard to see past Mahrousa Salem’s wheelchair, so they look away.
MIDEAST: Fatah Men Face Imminent Execution in Gaza
IPS RAMALLAH, Apr 6 (IPS) – Nine Palestinians – most of them affiliated to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Fatah movement – face imminent execution by hanging or firing squad in Gaza.
International Solidarity Movement
Settlers Destroy Al-Kurd Property: Two Palestinians Arrested
4/7/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Update: The Palestinians who were arrested last have been released without charge. No settlers have been questioned or detained in connection with the property destruction they undertook, despite photographic evidence proving their culpability. Sheikh Jarrah, Occupied East Jerusalem, Israel, 12AM – Right-wing settlers began to dismantle a fence the Al-Kurd family erected around their garden shortly after midnight Wednesday morning. Palestinians and internationals in the Al-Kurds protest tent, where the family has have lived in for four months, placed themselves between the fence and the settlers. Police arrived soon after and arrested two young Palestinian men of Sheikh Jarrah. No settlers were taken into custody. Despite pleas by the Palestinians and internationals who witnessed the event, officers refused to look at the destroyed section of the fence.
Three hospitalized, one arrested as An Nabi Saleh celebrates Land Day
4/7/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – On Friday, the village of An Nabi Saleh combined Land Day celebrations with their weekly demonstration against the illegal expansion of the Hallamish settlement onto village land. Speeches were held before the demonstration, and activists marched and resisted Israeli forces until sunset. Three demonstrators were injured and hospitalized, and another was arrested. Land Day celebrations delayed the start of the demonstration for nearly two hours, as speeches of liberation, anti-occupation and perseverance were given by Popular Committee members, PLO and Fatah representatives in the town square. Hopes were high that the military would be fooled and not make their weekly, violent appearance in the town. After the celebrations ended, a crowed of over 100 people marched through the town and towards the illegally confiscated land and spring.
Golan, not Jerusalem, is key to Mideast peace
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – The notion that peace is within reach is a lie propagated by both sides in order to conceal their real agendas.
PA names Ramallah street after Hamas terror mastermind
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Netanyahu: The outrageous naming of a street for Yihyeh Ayyash is glorifying terrorism.
Report: Obama mulls new Mideast peace plan
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – State Department official. says U.S. is interested in aiding parties, not forcing an agreement.
Bowing to pressure, Saudi cleric cancels planned Jerusalem visit
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Saudi Sheik Mohammed al-Areefi announced he would visit Jerusalem, despite Arab boycott of Israel.
No chance for peace with Netanyahu, Ashrawi says
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Former PA official says Israel acts as an occupier not only in the West Bank, Gaza but also in Washington.
Turkish PM: Israel is the main threat to Mideast peace
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Erdogan says Israeli nuclear sites should not be exempt from international supervision.
Israeli Arab authors barred from Beirut cultural festival
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Instead of traveling to Beirut, Ala Hlehel and Adania Shibli will go to London to receive their prizes.
Ahmadinejad: Obama is a cowboy who follows will of Israel
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Speaking to thousands, Iranian President responds to U.S. pledge of nuclear nonproliferation.
Obama bans terms `Islam` and `jihad` from U.S. security document
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Document under President Bush cited ‘militant Islamic radicalism’ as greatest conflict of 21st century.
Israel can’t decide its value to the U.S.
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Israel cannot act like Uncle Sam’s reckless niece and not expect a limited allowance and a guardian.
International pilots’ group wary of Israel’s anti-hijacking system
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – New Code Positive ID for commercial planes will warn of possible hijackings before landing at Ben-Gurion.
No Obama meeting as Netanyahu heads to U.S. nuclear summit
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – U.S. told deputy FM that they would continue to respect a policy of ambiguity on the nuclear arms of its allies.
Israel should expect lawsuits over bomblets left in Lebanon
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – As Israelis sue Lebanese banks for funding Hezbollah, Israel should also prepare itself to pay for leaving behind millions of cluster bombs.
Under national theater, Tel Aviv opens massive new bomb shelter
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Tel Aviv opens massive new bomb shelter …
Court orders El Al to compensate humiliated Arab Israeli passengers
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Haifa District Court Wednesday ruled that El Al airlines must compensate two Arab Israelis some NIS 30,000, for humiliating them during security checks in a New York airport. The brothers were closely guarded throughout the checks, their movements were constrained by the airline’s security detail, without anything that would determine them as a security risk. One of the brothers was also told he would not be allowed to board the flight home unless he apologizes to one of the guards. …
Haredi school network fined for discriminating against Sephardim
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – The ultra-Orthodox network that runs the Beit Yaakov girls school in the West Bank settlement of Immanuel must pay NIS 5,000 for every day it continues to violate an August court order requiring it to eliminate any vestige of ethnic discrimination at the school, the High Court of Justice ruled Wednesday. …
In Israel, missing means gone for good
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – Apathy, two million shekels and departmental infighting are preventing the identification of bodies and body parts of hundreds of unknown persons who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. …
This Passover, freedom is an Exodus to Egypt
Ha’aretz 7 Apr 2010 – So where did you spend Passover? Tens of thousands of Israelis were in Sinai. They ignored the Counter-Terrorism Bureau’s warning, yet returned home safe and sound. Other Israelis – wait until you hear this – visited Cairo. I repeat: Cairo! They too returned tired but happy. They too did not heed the warnings. Haaretz’s foreign news editor, for example, went to Egypt with his wife and four small children for the holiday. He identified himself as an Israeli everywhere he went, and believe it or not, was made to feel welcome. …
Israeli FM Warns Palestinians Not to Declare Statehood
Relief Web 6 Apr 2010 – Source: Voice of America
Palestinian fears U.S. Mideast push in trouble
Relief Web 6 Apr 2010 – Source: Reuters – AlertNet
Palestinian Child Day 2010
Relief Web 6 Apr 2010 – Source: Defence for Children International/Palestine Section
Police: Holyland affair only tip of iceberg
YNet News 7 Apr 2010 – Investigators probing new scandal involving former Prime Minister Olmert’s associate Uri Messer to question senior public figures in coming days. Prosecutor in Olmert trial to explain to court about linkage between various affairs on Thursday morning
US says won’t impose ideas on Israel, PA
YNet News 7 Apr 2010 – Americans fear Washington Post report on new Mideast peace plan in fall will harm efforts to advance ‘proximity talks’
Palestinian sewage tanker confiscated
YNet News 7 Apr 2010 – Village residents say Civil Administration seized device used for disposing sewage, claiming it causes environmental damage to adjacent settlements. ‘They expect us to collect our waste in bottles,’ says Palestinian
Yahya Ayyash building ‘shocking incitement’
YNet News 7 Apr 2010 – Prime Minister’s Office shocked by report that Palestinian presidential offices will be named after Hamas’ chief bomb maker, says ‘world must strongly condemn this wild incitement by the Palestinians’. PA officials deny report
Olmert aide arrested in serious corruption affair
YNet News 7 Apr 2010 – ‘One of the most serious affairs in State’s history’ said to involve tens of millions of shekels in bribes in exchange for advancing real estate projects. Five people arrested, including Attorney Uri Messer, former Jerusalem city engineer and businesspeople. Final decision on affair to be made by State Prosecutor Lador, as Attorney General Weinstein ‘must avoid dealing with this case’
Iran: If Israel attacks, nothing will remain of it
YNet News 7 Apr 2010 – Tehran’s defense minister warns against bombing of nuclear facilities, says Iranian intelligence ‘prevents Zionist regime from engaging in any type of adventure’
Lebanese president: Citizens united behind Hezbollah
YNet News 7 Apr 2010 – Beirut leadership warns that if Israel launches another military campaign against Lebanon, ‘it won’t be a field trip’
El Al to compensate 2 Arab passengers
YNet News 7 Apr 2010 – Two brothers from Galilee complain airline put them through series of humiliations while waiting to board flight to Israel. Judge rules behavior is ‘infringement of civil rights under mantle of sacred security cow,’ orders company to pay NIS 30,000 in damages
Ahmadinejad derides Obama’s ‘cowboy’ nuclear stance
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 TEHRAN: US allies on Wednesday lined up behind President Barack Obama’s new policy aimed at reducing the likelihood of nuclear conflict. But Iran – classified as a possible target under the guidelines – dismissed it as a “cowboy” policy by a political newcomer doomed to fail. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in the Slovak capital Bratislava for
Turkish prime minister brands Israel as ‘main threat to Middle East peace’
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 PARIS: The prime minister of Turkey, Israel’s only ally in the Muslim world, on Wednesday branded the Jewish state the “principal threat to peace” in the Middle East.Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks at a breakfast meeting in Paris marked a new low in deteriorating relations between Israel and Turkey, which once had close military
Israel threatens to cut off water to West Bank
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: An Israeli minister threatened on Wednesday to cut off some water supplies to Palestinians in the West Bank unless they stop dumping untreated sewage.”If the Palestinians continue to dump their waste water, polluting rivers and the aquifer, Israel will stop supplying them,” Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told army radio.
Egypt turns its back on millions living with disablity
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 CAIRO: Egyptians find it hard to see past Mahrousa Salem’s wheelchair, so they look away. The veiled Egyptian woman is one of more than a million Egyptians with physical or mental disabilities living in the shadows of society. They are excluded from the education system, overlooked by employers, and invisible to city planners. “We’re not beggars
IAEA inspects Syria reactor in uranium-traces investigation
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 VIENNA: UN inspectors have been able to revisit a Damascus nuclear research reactor as part of a probe into possible covert atomic activity in Syria, diplomats said on Tuesday.But Syria continues to deny inspectors follow-up access to a desert site where Israel bombed a building in 2007 which US intelligence reports said was a nascent
Hariri: Municipal elections will be held on time
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed Wednesday that the municipal polls would be held within the legal deadline in May 2010 based on the current law since time constraints did not allow for the adoption of the electoral reforms. “I cannot be clearer than this so be ready to cast your ballots as everyone should be sure from this moment on
Commercial banks see growth in deposits, loans
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 BEIRUT: Central bank figures for the second month of the year indicate that commercial banks witnessed vigorous activity at the level of deposits and loans, thereby triggering a significant growth in assets during February 2010, and consequently the first two months of the year, according to Bank Audi’s Lebanon weekly monitor. Indeed the consolidated
Perverse becomes routine in Israel
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 The latest contribution to the Middle East peace process appeared on Wednesday, courtesy of Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau, who talked about slashing water supplies to the occupied West Bank. For now, he has ruled out cutting off drinking water for Palestinians. But there will be no water for industrial or agricultural needs.
Nahr al-Bared rebuild to miss April 2012 deadline
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 BEIRUT: The war-torn Nahr al-Bared refugee camp will not be rebuilt by the initial April 2012 deadline due to of raft of various delays, a number of UN and government sources told The Daily Star on Wednesday. UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) representatives had said as recently as at the end of 2009 that the reconstruction could still meet the
The sound of something moving, invisible
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 BEIRUT: Three-movement ensemble performance isn’t itself uncommon. HabituEs of upper-crust concert halls may associate the form with the concertos and symphonies of Western “classical” music – where variations spring from the players’ competence and their interpretation of a score somebody else wrote down.So there was something oddly
Tribunal preparing for trial within a year
Daily Star 7 Apr 2010 Editor’s note: The following are excerpts of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s annual report, which was released Saturday. The Daily Star is publishing excerpts of the report until Wednesday.PART II – MAIN ACTIVITIES OF THE TRIBUNAL BETWEEN MARCH 2009 AND FEBRUARY 2010 A. Chambers 1. Introduction 95. The Tribunal’s Chambers are
Palestinian Information Center
Ruqub: Hamas to pursue all means to liberate prisoners
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – Hamas is to use all means available to liberate Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails, Hamas spokesman in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, Hammad Al-Ruqub said on Wednesday.
Erdogan: Israel the main threat to peace in the Middle East
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – Israel is the main threat to peace in the Middle East, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday at the onset of a visit to France.
Bardawil: Egypt did not table new ideas about reconciliation
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil, one of Hamas leaders in Gaza Strip, denied press reports that Egypt had put new conditions in return for renewing its reconciliation efforts.
PLC calls for internationalizing issue of Palestinian prisoners
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – The Palestinian legislative council called for internationalizing the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails during international meetings and events in conjunction with their hunger strike.
Ankara slams Lieberman for his rude remarks about Erdogan
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – Ankara strongly denounced Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman for his blatant remarks in which he likened Turkish premier Recep Erdogan to the presidents of Libya and Venezuela.
Hamas slams Abbas for his decision to burn all his authority’s corruption files
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – Hamas strongly denounced Mahmoud Abbas for deciding to destroy all files of moral, financial and administrative corruption as well as those related to suspicious relations with the Israeli occupation.
Palestinian prisoners initiate their first day of hunger strike
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – The Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails started on Wednesday their first day of hunger strike in the context of the protest steps they announced to pressure the IOA to respond to their demands.
IOF troops bulldoze agricultural fields in northern Gaza
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced into agricultural fields east of Jabalia to the north of Gaza Strip on Wednesday and started to bulldoze the crops, local sources reported.
Rezka: Settlement in OJ a slap in the face for Ramallah authority
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – The IOA continued building of settlement units in the West Bank constituted a political slap in the face for the Ramallah authority and for the so-called Arab moderation axis, Dr. Yousef Rezka said.
Egyptian authorities accelerating construction of steel wall
PIC 7 Apr 2010 – The Egyptian authorities have recently accelerated the construction work at the steel wall built under the border area between Egypt and Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security source said.
Palestinians Try a Less Violent Path to Resistance
New York Times 7 Apr 2010 – The Palestinian Authority is trying to build a virtual state and body politic through nonviolent resistance.
West Bank Growth Seen as Imperiled
New York Times 7 Apr 2010 – Restrictions by Israel and a lack of donor support, especially among Arabs, is jeopardizing recent economic growth rates in Palestinian territories.
World Briefing | Middle East: Egypt: Protesters Detained in Cairo
New York Times 7 Apr 2010 – Protesters demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly 30-year rule scuffled with security forces on Tuesday, and scores were detained, witnesses and security officials said.
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…
Rajmohan Gandhi Commends Non-Violent Resistance
Palestine Monitor – 7 Apr 2010 – Rajmohan Gandhi ended his two-day visit to the West Bank on Monday, with a public lecture and discussion at the Friends Boys’ School, Ramallah. Gandhi, who is a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Illinois, spoke…
Barghouthi: ‚Äòthe day of student engagement against Jim Crow is coming’
Palestine Monitor – 7 Apr 2010 – Today my friend James North called and asked, Who is Mustafa Barghouthi? Because Barghouthi has a wonderful piece in today’s Financial Times explaining why BDS is so necessary to Palestinian freedom, when violence beckons at every hand. I said that Barghouthi, a physician of enormous personal…
Gandhi’s grandson applauds non-violent protest
Palestine Monitor – 6 Apr 2010 – 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…
Financial Times: Israel knows Apartheid Has No Future
Palestine Monitor – 6 Apr 2010 – After decades of military rule over Palestinians and theft of our land, Israeli leaders are increasingly seeing the writing on the wall. They are at least acknowledging reality, if not yet grappling with the consequences. In 2007, Ehud Olmert, then prime minister, declared: “If the day…
Land Day Commemorations in France in Support of BDS
Alternative Information Center – 7 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 – 7 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 – 7 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
What Makes an Israeli
Jonathan Cook in Nazareth, CounterPunch4/7/2010
Citizens Classed as Jewish or Arab Nationals
A group of Jews and Arabs are fighting in the Israeli courts to be recognised as “Israelis”, a nationality currently denied them, in a case that officials fear may threaten the country’s self-declared status as a Jewish state.
Israel refused to recognise an Israeli nationality at the country’s establishment in 1948, making an unusual distinction between “citizenship” and “nationality”. Although all Israelis qualify as “citizens of Israel”, the state is defined as belonging to the “Jewish nation”, meaning not only the 5.6 million Israeli Jews but also more than seven million Jews in the diaspora.
Critics say the special status of Jewish nationality has been a way to undermine the citizenship rights of non-Jews in Israel, especially the fifth of the population who are Arab. Some 30 laws in Israel specifically privilege Jews, including in the areas of immigration rights, naturalisation, access to land and employment.
Arab leaders have also long complained that indications of “Arab” nationality on ID cards make it easy for police and government officials to target Arab citizens for harsher treatment.
The interior ministry has adopted more than 130 possible nationalities for Israeli citizens, most of them defined in religious or ethnic terms, with “Jewish” and “Arab” being the main categories.
The group’s legal case is being heard by the supreme court after a district judge rejected their petition two years ago, backing the state’s position that there is no Israeli nation.more..e-mail
Being named in the face of state censorship
Mya Guarnieri, Ma’an News Agency4/6/2010
Somewhere in Europe, Sonya Mousa is breathing a sigh of relief.
Or so I’m guessing. I’ve never met or spoken with Sonya Mousa. But, last week when I was wrapping up my coverage of the Anat Kam case – the Israeli journalist under secret house arrest since December over allegedly leaked military documents – and thinking about using a pseudonym, this was the first name that came to mind.
Issues around the state-imposed censorship rules, and the fact that other journalists involved in the case were now living abroad in secret exile made me at concerned about my safety.
I’d been monitoring Kam’s situation for quite some time. I watched blogs and tweets about it go up, only to be pulled down, for the past month. When the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) followed in blogger Richard Silverstein’s footsteps and broke the story in English, I contacted my editor; “It’s a risk,” I told her, “but let’s do it.”
There was a week before the article would run, so I had time to think about whether or not my name would be on it.
I asked the editor if we could go without an author, just in case; she said no. There is the option of a pseudonym, she added. I’ve written under several in the past, mostly to provide cover for interviewees who feared prosecution or social stigma.
I consulted with several lawyers. One told me that as a citizen of Israel I’d be breaking the gag-order and risk punishment. But, he added, as someone writing in English for a foreign publication it was unlikely that I would actually become a target.more..e-mail
Hamas Rule in Gaza: Three Years On
Prof. Yezid Sayigh, Crown Center for Middle East Studies3/31/2010
More than a year after Israel’s Operation Cast Lead against Gaza, and with the crippling siege well into its fourth year, the rule of the Islamic Resistance Movement/Hamas over the narrow strip of territory looks set to endure. Fortuitous circumstances and the mistakes of others, rather than the coherence of its own policies, played a major role in the early consolidation of the “de facto” government headed by Hamas prime minister Ismail Hanieh; but a stable system is emerging nonetheless: one that often proceeds through trial and error, but which also shows considerable adaptability and a marked learning curve. Much of the government’s success in building a functioning public administration is due to its close, in some respects seamless relationship with Hamas, but that relationship also brings unexpected dilemmas and challenges in its wake. Above all, Hamas fears repeating the mistakes of its rival, the long-dominant Fatah, with respect to its symbiotic relationship with the Palestinian Authority: Fatah, it believes, was drawn by the mundane needs of governing daily life and the desire to preserve power into compromising on national goals‚Äîand Hamas sees Fatah and the PA as so closely bound together that the fate of the one determines the fortunes of the other.
The relationship between Hamas and the Hanieh government is a complex one. The assertion of exclusive control over Gaza in June 2007 left Hamas with a clear opportunity to press ahead with its Islamic agenda and to wage unremitting “armed resistance” against Israel‚Äîand with no good reason not to do either, as the collapse of the short-lived national unity government with Fatah removed any ostensible constraint. Since then, Hamas has found itself in a subtly ambiguous relationship with respect to its own government: It is not a real pposition‚Äîat least in the way opposition is commonly understood‚Äîyet it impedes the ormalizing tendencies that accompany being in power. For its part, the Hanieh government is caught, like many other governments in the region, between the practical exigencies of overnance, on the one hand, and attempting to neutralize internal challenges by upholding both the militant political discourse and the Islamist social ideology of its core onstituency, on the other….PDF version— See also:PDF versionmore..e-mail
US military aid to Israel violates domestic, international law
Electronic Intifada: 7 Apr 2010 – Since the US government gives no military assistance to any of the Palestinian resistance groups, the question with regard to US military aid and transfer of weapons applies only to Israel. Should the US government, based on international and domestic law, cut military aid and cease the transfer of weapons to Israel? Nahida H Gordon comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Sinan Antoon: “I think of myself as a global citizen”
Electronic Intifada: 7 Apr 2010 – Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi-born poet, novelist, filmmaker and assistant professor at New York University. His novel I’jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody and his collection of poems The Baghdad Blues are written with great sophistication and a haunting sense of irony. Similarly, his 2003 documentary About Baghdad captured the terror and exhilaration of Iraqis after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the early months of the US occupation. The Electronic Intifada contributor Dina Omar interviewed Sinan Antoon about his work and experiences.
Rajmohan Gandhi Commends Non-Violent Resistance
Palestine Monitor: 7 Apr 2010 – Rajmohan Gandhi ended his two-day visit to the West Bank on Monday, with a public lecture and discussion at the Friends Boys’ School, Ramallah. Gandhi, who is a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Illinois, spoke on various issues related to Israeli occupation, which he had been able to witness firsthand whilst visiting. In particular, he spoke of the need to awaken the international community to the reality of life in the Occupied Territories. Photo: Lazar Simeonov ” I cannot disturb the Almighty “, he said, ” but I can disturb the sleep of the international community.” A key theme running through his lecture was patience. He exhorted the Palestinian people not to become disheartened if occupation is not immediately overcome. ” The Soviet Union crumbled, South African apartheid crumbled, and the occupation of Palestine will also crumble “, he…
Barghouthi: ‚Äòthe day of student engagement against Jim Crow is coming’
Palestine Monitor: 7 Apr 2010 – Today my friend James North called and asked, Who is Mustafa Barghouthi? Because Barghouthi has a wonderful piece in today’s Financial Times explaining why BDS is so necessary to Palestinian freedom, when violence beckons at every hand. I said that Barghouthi, a physician of enormous personal restraint, is the Martin Luther King figure of the current political map. Restrained by nature, accommodating, but slowly radicalizing, cerebral but engaged, and always willing to hear the other side. And basically ignored. Jon Stewart put him on television here with Anna Baltzer last year; and oh yes, Robert Simon got him on 60 Minutes. But I don’t understand why we don’t have major profiles in our press of this noble figure who has been called by the urgency of the moment, and has responded by putting himself fully on the line. New York Times, please cover Barghouthi; he’s a natural. The structural problem…
No Time for More ‘Quiet Diplomacy’ with Israel
Palestine Chronicle: 7 Apr 2010 – By Joshua Brollier A favorite professor of mine once told me that the more you learn about history, the more you realize how little you really know, and how much you still have to learn. Last night, I was both moved and angered to further learn about the ongoing destruction and blockade of the Gaza strip. The award winning Palestinian journalist, Mohammed Omer, showed photographs and told us many moving stories about his life and experiences in Gaza. These stories included the demolition of Mohammed’s home and loss of his brother and neighbors. Many of the tragic experiences Mohammed shared occurred before the election of the Hamas government, the siege of Gaza and last year’s Israeli offensive, Operation Cast Lead. Mohammed described a major shift in Israeli military policy after Israeli settlements in Gaza were closed, in 2005. Following the “disengagement,” Israeli air strikes increased and carried out house demolitions….more
‘The Worst Diplomatic Crisis in Decades’?
Palestine Chronicle: 7 Apr 2010 – By Sayed Dhansay ‘The worst diplomatic crisis in decades.’ These were the words used by Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, recently to describe the perceived rift between Israel and the Obama administration over Israel’s illegal settlement policy in occupied East Jerusalem. It started when American Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel at the beginning of March to launch “proximity talks” between Israel and the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) of Mahmoud Abbas. After 14 months of stalled negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians following Israel’s devastating attack on Gaza, Abbas had finally received the go-ahead from the Arab League to restart talks with Israel. Though the US routinely uses its veto power to shield Israel at the UN and has never taken concrete measures to curb its colonisation of Palestinian land, official US foreign policy purports to favour a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines. On the very…more
Airline Travel Still Rambunctious
Palestine Chronicle: 7 Apr 2010 – By George S. Hishmeh — Washington D.C. A very good friend, a classmate of mine in the fifties when we were both students at the American University of Beirut, called me from Germany last week abruptly announcing that he and his German-born wife will not be coming to Washington in June as promised. His reason was the screening that U.S.-bound travelers face at American consulates and before boarding or disembarking from planes on arrival in the U.S. My friend, who has been living in Germany for over 50 years and is a full-fledged German citizen said his wife was not allowed into the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt because she had a cell phone in her possession. She asked the officer whether he could hold on to it until she finishes her interview but he said was not allowed to do so but she could place it in a public kiosk…more
The New Dark Age 