News
Dr. Barghouthi: “Nonviolent Resistance Will Defeat Israeli Apartheid”
IMEMC – Saturday April 10, 2010 – 02:13, Palestinian Legislator, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, stated that nonviolent, popular resistance in Palestine is the most effective means of resistance against the Israeli apartheid regime.
Obama Signs Waiver Allowing PLO Office To Remain In DC
IMEMC – Saturday April 10, 2010 – 01:36, United States President, Barack Obama, signed waiver allowing the Palestinian Liberation Office to keep its office opened in Washington DC for additional six months.
ECESG Slams Threats Against Activists Participating In Gaza Solidarity Ships
IMEMC – Saturday April 10, 2010 – 01:15, The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) strongly denounced threats made against activists who intend to participate in the upcoming convoy of solidarity ship heading to the besieged and improvised Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Journalist Arrested In Bil’in While Documenting Demonstration
IMEMC – Friday April 09, 2010 – 16:49, On Friday Palestinians, Israeli, and International activists marched to the wall built on the central west Bank village of Bil’in lands.
Nil’in Village Commemorates The April 19th 1948 Dier Yassin Massacre
IMEMC РFriday April 09, 2010 Р16:40, Villagers, along with international and Israeli supporters, protested on Friday at the village of Nil ‘in, central West Bank, the Israeli built wall on farmers lands.
Al Ma’ssara Village Near Bethlehem Protest The Israeli-built Wall
IMEMC – Friday April 09, 2010 – 16:32, Residents of Al Ma’ssara village near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem protest on Friday midday the Israeli-built wall on their lands.
Netanyahu To Skip US Nuclear Summit
IMEMC – Friday April 09, 2010 – 12:30, Israeli sources reported that Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has decided not to attend the Nuclear Summit in the United States after learning that a number of Muslim Countries would seek to discuss Israel’s failure to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
PCHR Weekly Report: 2 Palestinians dead, 5 wounded at the hands of Israeli forces
IMEMC – Friday April 09, 2010 – 12:17, According to the Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, during the week of 01-07 April 2010, an Israeli settler ran over and killed a Palestinian teen, and the body of an activist of the Palestinian resistance was found in the Gaza Strip having been missing for one week. 5 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children, were wounded by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Gag Order On Case of Israeli Reporter, Ex-Soldier, Who Leaked Info On Gaza Assault, Lifted
IMEMC – Friday April 09, 2010 – 11:35, The Tel Aviv District Court Judge lifted on Thursday a months-long gag order regarding the case of Israeli ex-Soldier, and reporter, Anat Kam, for providing a reporter of Israeli daily Haaretz, information regarding the Israeli army rules of engagement.
Protesters say army used live fire against Nil’in demonstration
4/10/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinians were joined by 15 Israeli and international activists in the West Bank village of Nil’in on Friday, where Israeli forces were said to have used live fire to disperse a weekly demonstration. Protesting Israel’s wall and settlements, which have claimed over 40 percent of the village’s lands, demonstrators marched toward the barrier armed with flags. According to participants, Israeli forces responded by firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition. Soldiers invaded the village’s olive groves, where they continued opening fire, but there were no injuries, a statement from the International Solidarity Movement said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said riot-dispersal means were used to disperse a violent riot.
Gaza goes black as crossings remain sealed
4/10/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Gaza was out of power Friday after a week of limited fuel imports forced the Strip’s sole power plant to close down. Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh confirmed the closure of all crossings, noting they were expected to remain closed for Saturday, as well, reopening Sunday. The closures mean Gaza will remain dark for next three days until fuel supplies can be transferred in and transported to the plant. Palestinian Energy Authority Vice President Kanaan Ubeid said all four generators at the power station had ceased to function as a continued reduction in fuel supplies plagued Gaza.”Supply has reduced from 2,200 units per day to 750, and this is not enough to run even one generator,” Ubeid said. Shortages have plagued the power plant since December, when EU officials handed over responsibility for fuel transfers to the Palestinian Authority, reportedly at the PA’s request so EU aid could be channeled into civil servant salaries.
Hundreds protest Israeli wall, settlements
4/10/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinians and foreign nationals were arrested across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem on Friday, as Israeli forces dispersed weekly protests against Israel’s wall and settlements. Four international peace activists were detained during a protest supporting Palestinian families from East Jerusalem who were evicted from their homes and replaced by Israeli settlers. Photographer Mustafa Abu Turk told Ma’an that Israeli forces assaulted photojournalists in the flashpoint Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah “in an attempt to prevent us from doing our jobs.”Maysoon Al-Ghawi, a resident of the flashpoint East Jerusalem district and a member of one of the Palestinian families expelled by settlers in 2009, also told Ma’an that “Israeli forces attacked protesters and used force to keep us from approaching our confiscated homes.”
ISM: Israeli forces raid home near Nablus
4/9/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – At 2am on 4 April, Israeli forces entered an empty house in Huwara, south of Nablus, that was being used as an office for a group called the Michigan Peace Team, activists reported Thursday. According to neighbors quoted by the International Solidarity Movement who were watching the scene from their windows during the raid, dozens of Israeli soldiers forcefully broke the garden gate and the main door and entered the house using stun grenades. The soldiers reportedly caused damage to the furniture of the house and confiscated pro-Palestinian banners and posters. Nael Al-Ahmad, a resident of Huwara, was quoted by a statement from the ISM as describing the raid as a failed attempt to crush the grassroots movement against the occupation. It was an attempt to hide and bar access to information from the international community about Israeli “crimes against the Palestinian people,”. . .
Detainee marks 25 years in prison, 14 without family visits
4/9/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – The Gaza City Prisoners Society said Ibrahim Baroud marked his 25th year in Israeli prison on Friday, the last 14 years of which his mother has been prevented from visiting. An expert in detainees affairs with the society, Abdel Nasser Farawneh, said Umm Ibrahim (mother of Ibrahim)was worried that she would die without seeing her son again. Ibrahim was detained when he was 22 years old on charges of posing a threat to the state of Israel – what Farawneh described as resisting the occupation – and was sentenced to 27 years in jail. On 1 April, Palestinians in Israeli prisons declared a strike in protest of cases like that of Ibrahim Baroud. Detainees say high-profile and factionally-aligned prisoners are often subjected to unfair treatment, particularly around family visits. Prisoners began the month-long strike, which includes a boycott of all family visits, with a day-long. . . .
Settlers stone home during visit to West Bank shrine
4/9/2010 – Salfit – Ma’an – Israeli troops escorted what locals estimated to be 6,000 settlers to the Prophet Zel Kifl’s shrine in the Salfit-district town of Kilf Haris before dawn on Friday morning. According to witnesses, the military shutdown entrances to the town, installing checkpoints at all intersections, took positions on civilian rooftops and imposed a curfew on residents, watching as settlers thew stones at homes and, in one case, assaulting a civilian who tried to cross a checkpoint. Rami Mahmoud Obeid, a Kifl Haris resident, and several of his neighbors said settlers pelted his home with rocks as soldiers looked on. An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was not aware of any stone throwing during the visit to what Jewish worshipers call the tomb of Yehoshua Ben-Nun, and noted coordination had been negotiated with village officials prior to the visit.
Group says 18 detainees still in solitary confinement
4/9/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – The Detainees Center for Prisoners Studies said Friday that 18 Palestinians in Israeli custody are in solitary confinement. Tawfiq Na’eim, a prisoner at the Hadarim jail, identified the detainees as: Ahmad Sa’datYehya As-SinwarThabet MerdawiHasan SalamehAhmad Al-MughrabyAbdullah Al-BarghouthiMuhammad Jamal An-NatshehIbrahim HamedMu’taz HijaziJamal Abul HayjaMahmoud IssaSaleh Dar MusaHisham SharbatyMuhawish Ne’matAtweh Al-AmourIyad Abu HasnahMuhannad ShreimAhed GhalmehWafa’ Al-LubsRa’fat Hamdounah, the head of the prisoners rights group, said solitary confinement is cruel. He called on rights groups to intervene against treatment that amounts to a “slow death” without human contact.
B’Tselem field worker detained at Bil’in rally
4/9/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – Israeli forces arrested a human rights advocate on Friday in the occupied West Bank village of Bil’in, near Ramallah. The detainee was identified as Haitham Al-Khatib, a field worker for the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and a cameraman for the Popular Committee Against the Wall. Israel’s military said that one person was detained for questioning during what it termed a violent and illegal riot. An army spokeswoman told Ma’an that the arrest came after the Palestinian entered an area designated as a closed military zone. Israeli forces used riot-dispersal means to disperse the crowd, she added. B’Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli confirmed that Al-Khatib worked for the human rights organization, but rejected the pretext of his arrest. Israel’s closed-zone order does not apply to residents of the West Bank village, she said, adding that, in any case, Al-Khatib was filming the protest rather than participating in it.
Injuries reported after Nabi Salih demonstration
4/9/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Dozens of protesters choked on tear gas Friday in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Salih, west of Ramallah, protesters said, while Israel said a border police officer was injured by rocks. An estimated 200 human rights advocates, among them international and Israeli solidarity activists, joined the weekly Palestinian protest against Israel’s wall. Participants insisted the protest was generally peaceful. Bashir At-Tamimi, head of the Nabi Salih village council, said “Israeli soldiers attacked the rally, showering [participants] with rubber-coated bullets and tear-gas canisters. Dozens were injured after inhaling gas.”At-Tamimi added: “Israeli forces chased protestors into the village, fired gas canisters at their homes, and sprayed houses with sewage water, injuring several women and children, who fainted after inhaling fumes.”
Internationals detained at East Jerusalem rally
4/9/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Four international peace activists were detained in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday, during a protest supporting Palestinian families who were evicted from their homes and replaced by Israeli settlers. Photographer Mustafa Abu Turk told Ma’an that Israeli forces assaulted photojournalists in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah “in an attempt to prevent us from doing our jobs.”Maysoon Al-Ghawi, a resident of the flashpoint East Jerusalem district and a member of one of the Palestinian families expelled by settlers in 2009, also told Ma’an that “Israeli forces attacked protesters and used force to to keep them from approaching their confiscated homes.” Israeli police officials told the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth that the protestors were detained after arriving at the Jewish houses in the neighborhood and forcibly refusing to leave the compound.
Amid jail strike, Hamas urges more soldier abductions
4/9/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – The solution to the prisoner-swap stalemate is to capture more Israeli soldiers and force the hand of the Israeli government, Hamas leaders said Thursday. Sparked by the start of the second week of a prisoner strike, officials in Gaza are seeking to support Palestinians in Israeli custody as they demand equal treatment by prison officials. Two Hamas spokesman and an independent MP in Gaza spoke out on the issue, with Sami Abu Zuhri suggesting “Palestinians who seek justice for prisoners may be obliged to search for new friends for Gilad Shalit,” the soldier captured by Gaza resistance factions in June 2006. Independent MP Jamal Al-Khoudary, who also heads the Popular Committee Against the Siege on Gaza, preferred to invite Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and international human rights organizations to “activate the legal dimension at all levels to protect the Palestinian prisoners,” a statement said.
Israeli road work to close Shu’fat checkpoint
4/9/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli border police will close the Shu’fat checkpoint for vehicles between 11pm and 5am over the next 18 days for “maintenance and infrastructure” work, officials said Friday. Pedestrians access to the military crossing will remain unchanged, while vehicles with appropriate permissions will be diverted to the Anata and Hizma crossing points, Israeli authorities announced. Israeli officials said the work would connect the checkpoint with the main street leading to the refugee camp. [end]
Israeli forces detain 3 overnight
4/9/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces detained three Palestinians from across the West Bank, military sources confrimed, noting that all were wanted and taken for questioning to undisclosed locations. [end]
Israel army withdraws from south Gaza; 1 injured
4/9/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli forces withdrew from the southern Gaza Strip late Thursday afternoon, leaving one person moderately injured, officials said hours after Israeli forces used military bulldozers to dig up farmland in the area. Hani Al-Hur, a man in his 20s, was taken to Nasser Hospital with shrapnel injuries sustained when Israeli forces invaded the Al-Qurara area north of Khan Younis earlier the same day, sources within the de facto security forces told Ma’an by phone. Muawiya Hassanein, head of emergency and ambulance services in the Gaza Health Ministry, confirmed that a man in his 20s was taken to Nasser Hospital. Hassanein described the man’s injuries as moderate. Meanwhile, a number of Palestinian factions said they launched projectiles at armored Israeli vehicles that drove into Khan Younis. Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades reported that its forces targeted an armored Israeli vehicle with an RPG east of the southern Gaza city.
Obama waives laws over fund transfers to PA
4/9/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – US President Barack Obama cited national security concerns when he announced the re-issuance of wavers on Wednesday, easing rules for fund transfers to the Palestine Liberation Organization and its government in the West Bank. A second waiver, similar to the one signed by Obama in April and October 2009, allows the PLO to retain its office in the American capital city of Washington, DC. According to a law passed in 1987, the PLO is barred from operating such an office, but it contains a clause that allows presidents to waive the requirement every six months. Waivers have been signed bi-annually since 1994 under former US President Bill Clinton. The citation of national security concerns for the justification of the waivers is not new, and was used by former leaders as well, the Jewish Telegraph Agency noted in its report on the matter.
Fayyad in Madrid to discuss state building
4/9/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – An ad hoc Spanish liaison committee was appointed Thursday to coordinate assistance for the Palestinian Authority around state-building efforts, Palestinian officials said. Minister of Planning Ali Al-Jarbawi told Ma’an that the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), a total of 20 members, would convene on Monday and Tuesday in Madrid alongside Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Quartet envoy Tony Blair. On the agenda will be issues around the strengthening of institutions to support a Palestinian state in 2011, and financial support to ensure the institutions are built, Al-Jarbawi said. The committee is an opportunity for Palestinians to present Israeli-imposed obstacles to an international forum and work collectively to overcome these obstacles in the interest of building steps of the Palestinian strategic plan, Al-Jarbawi explained, noting that some 500,000 US dollars pledged for East Jerusalem development has yet to be seen.
Public outcry over report of abandoned baby
4/9/2010 – Qalqiliya – Ma’an – Palestinian security forces said officers found an abandoned infant, approximately four months old, in a stroller hidden near the ground floor of an abandoned building on Wednesday. The child was taken immediately to hospital, where it underwent treatment for dehydration and remains in the care of the general surgery ward. The baby will remain in hospital until officials conclude their search for its parents or suitable guardians. Qalqiliya’s general prosecutor has opened an investigation into the abandonment of the child, a police statement said. Hours after officers released a phone number to the public, appealing for anyone with information about a missing child to contact police, hundreds of phone calls poured in, with families offering to adopt the child if its parents are not located. Public feedback on the case ranged from anger to sympathy, with dozens asking. . .
U.S.: Iran’s new centrifuges show its ‘nefarious’ intentions
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – Iran on Friday unveiled a third generation of centrifuges capable of faster uranium enrichment.
This isn’t just a war for my freedom but for Israel’s image
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – There are powerful people in Israel who don’t seem to understand what democracy is all about.
Harrass the IDF, not alleged whistleblower Anat Kam
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – A security service that destroys journalists’ computers has no place in a democratic state.
Hamas releases footage of ‘Gaza clashes’
Ha’aretz 9 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 9 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 9 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 9 Apr 2010 – Major Eliraz Peretz and Staff Sergeant Ilan Sviatkovsky die in Gaza clash; another soldier in serious condition.
Imprisoning Palestinian Children
Uruknet April 9, 2010 – In June 2009, Defence for Children International (DCI)/Palestine Section published a report titled, “Palestine Child Prisoners: The systematic and institutionalized ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities.” DCI/Palestine “is a national section of the international non-government child rights organisation and movement (dedicated) to promoting and protecting the rights of Palestinian children,” according to international…
Part II—The Dangers and Difficulties of Reporting From Gaza: Two Journalists Recount Their Experiences
Uruknet April 8, 2010 – We speak with two journalists who have covered Gaza extensively about the dangers and difficulties of reporting from the Occupied Territories. Mohammed Omer, an award-winning Palestinian journalist was interrogated and beaten by armed Israeli security guards on his way back home to Gaza after receiving the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in London in July…
The Dangers and Difficulties of Reporting from Gaza: Two Journalists Recount Their Experiences
Uruknet April 8, 2010 – We speak with two journalists who have covered Gaza extensively about the dangers and difficulties of reporting from the Occupied Territories: Mohammed Omer, an award-winning Palestinian journalist who was interrogated and beaten by armed Israeli security guards on his way back home to Gaza after receiving the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in London in…
Landau Calls For Cutting Water Supplies In West Bank
Uruknet April 8, 2010 – Israeli Infrastructure Minister, Uzi Landau, threatened that Israeli would cut water supplies if the Palestinians do not install water treatment plants. His statement disregard the fact that Israel is not allowing the Palestinians to built water treatment facilities. Landau stated that “while Israel gives the Palestinians clean water, they destroy nature”, and described the Palestinians as “…
Israeli settlement school fined for discriminating against non-white Jews
Uruknet April 8, 2010 – An Israeli-government funded Jewish religious school received a fine Wednesday from the Israeli government for refusing to adhere to a court order made last August requiring the school to end its policy of accepting only Ashkenazi (white European descended) Jews, and not Jews from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. In an attempt to maintain its segregated…
Comrade Jarrar: Palestinian political strategy must support our people’s resistance
Uruknet April 8, 2010 – Comrade Khalida Jarrar, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, called for the development of a united Palestinian strategy that strengthens Palestinian resistance and rejects the failed and dangerous path of negotiations with the occupation. In an interview on April 8, 2010 with Jerusalem News Net, Comrade Jarrar emphasized…
Report: Israel stealing Palestinian tax money
Uruknet April 8, 2010 – 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…
Settlers Uproot 15 Olive Trees near Dir Estia
Uruknet April 8, 2010 – A group of extremist Jewish settlers uprooted on Thursday 15 Olive trees in Wadi Qana area, north east of Dir Estia, near the central West Bank district of Salfit. Head of the Dir Estia city council, Nathmi Salman, told the Palestine News and Information Center, WAFA, that the Olive trees belong to resident Nasser Mansour, and…
Gaza’s power plant shuts down completely
9 Apr 2010 – Gaza, April9, (Pal Telegraph) Engineer Kanaan Obeid, Vice President of the Palestinian Energy Authority, said this morning that the power plant in the Gaza Strip faced a complete shut down due to fuel and equipment shortage. Obaid also said, “the four generators at the power station have been terminated because we ran out of industrial diesel which is necessary to…
East Jerusalem is key to peace, Clinton says
The National 9 Apr 2010 – A future Palestinian state would need to control East Jerusalem if the Middle East is to have a lasting peace, the former US president Bill Clinton said.
Deir Yassin massacre remembered in West Bank
Palestine Note 9 Apr 2010 – Nil’in villagers along with international and Israeli supporters mark the 62nd anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre by protesting the Israeli separation wall that has bisected Nil’in territory, IMEMC reports. After midday prayers, protesters approached the…
Middle East reconciliation in the Diaspora
Palestine Note 9 Apr 2010 – PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida – In trying to save Israel and save Palestine, competing interest groups in Washington are “saving” no more than the conflict itself. The efforts of the Jewish, Arab and Muslim communities in…
Why Netanyahu can’t face Obama
Palestine Note 9 Apr 2010 – Today, another example of the lunacy that ensues when right-wing segregationists and Arab-baiting settlers take over a once-proud and glorious democratic nation: Their prime minister is afraid to leave his country and visit its strong ally…
An hilarious movie about hilarious Saudis (and other Arabs)
Palestine Note 9 Apr 2010 – It is rare that anything related to the Middle East makes me laugh at loud. But the new film, Just Like Us, starring and directed by the Egyptian-American comedian and actor Ahmed Ahmed, had me laughing…
Israel knows apartheid has no future
Palestine Note 9 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…
Fayyad talks statecraft in Madrid
Palestine Note 9 Apr 2010 – PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has arrived in Madrid, Spain to discussed the future of the Palestinian state with the Spanish Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), appointed Thursday to coordinate assistance for the Palestinian Authority, Ma’an…
Israel PM to skip nuclear talks
AlJazeera 9 Apr 2010 – Netanyahu pulls out of next week’s Washington summit on nuclear security, officials say.
Iran unveils improved centrifuges
AlJazeera 9 Apr 2010 – Ahmadinejad presents new uranium enrichment technology on Nuclear Technology Day.
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…
Settler Violence Report, January-February 2010
Alternative Information Center – Thursday, 01 April 2010, Hebron and South of West Bank – On 9 January, approximately 30 settlers‚Äîsome of them armed‚Äî coming from the Bat Ayin settlement, north-west of Bait Ommar, attacked a group of farmers from…
Israel arrests ‘organ traffickers’
PNN – Thursday, 08 April 2010
Salehi: Iran tested 3G centrifuges
Jeruslalem Post 9 Apr 2010 – New equipment said to be twice as powerful; Obama calls for more int’l pressure.
Column One: Israel the strong horse
Jeruslalem Post 9 Apr 2010 – To survive and thrive, Israel needs to rebuild the faith of the likes of Jordan’s Abdullah that it is the strong horse in the region.
Stolen docs forced Gaza op changes
Jeruslalem Post 9 Apr 2010 – Top officer: High-level adjustments made; Kamm’s mom says she meant no harm.
‘Israel will have presence at summit’
Jeruslalem Post 9 Apr 2010 – Obama aide: Large delegation from J’lem to fly to DC, despite PM’s cancellation.
PM to accept bouquet of Christian friendship flowers on Sun.
Jeruslalem Post 9 Apr 2010 – Most of 14,000 roses pledged to go to charity, IDF.
Analysis: A scandal that leaves no one looking good
Jeruslalem Post 9 Apr 2010 – Israel is not Switzerland, and the stolen IDF documents is not something that can be taken lightly.
Russia: Iran should start negotiating
Jeruslalem Post 9 Apr 2010 – Ambassadors from China, 5 major powers meet for 1st time to discuss sanctions.
‘PA making bold bid to curb Hamas funds’
Jeruslalem Post 9 Apr 2010 – US Treasury official hails supervision of banking, charitable contributions.
B’Tselem: Suspicions that Army Performed Illegal Assassinations
WAFA 9 Apr 2010 – TEL AVIV, April 9, 2010 (WAFA)- Following the removal of the gag order imposed in Israel on the publication of details about the charges against Israeli Journalist Anat Kamm, B’Tselem reiterated that
Security Breaches Enabled Anat Kam to Collect Classified Documents
WAFA 9 Apr 2010 – TEL AVIV, April 9, 2010 (WAFA)- A series of security lapses enabled former Israel soldier Anat Kam to gather over 2,000 highly classified documents from the office of then-GOC Central Command Yair
In Israel, Reality Hides under ‘Top Secret’ Stamp, Wrote Akiva Eldar
WAFA 9 Apr 2010 –
Palestinian Journalist Arrested in Bil’in while Documenting Demonstration
WAFA 9 Apr 2010 – RAMALLAH, April 9, 2010 (WAFA)- Palestinian Journalist and videographer Haitham Al Khatib from the West Bank village of Bil’in west of Ramallah was arrested by Israeli Occupation forces while
MIDEAST: Palestinian Christians Barred From Jerusalem for Easter
IPS RAMALLAH, Apr 8 (IPS) – Israeli authorities prevented thousands of Palestinian Christians from entering Jerusalem and accessing Christianity’s most holy sites over Easter in an unprecedented clampdown on religious freedom.
Nabi Saleh: Occupation use sewage water as collective punishment
Stop The Wall – The use of wastewater is not only aimed at causing damage to the property of the people but as well could be seen to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and poses a direct threat to human health. [
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2228.shtml
Stop The Wall – Israeli occupation forces arrested journalist Haitham Al-Khatib, a photographer working with an Israeli human rights organisation and the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements. The popular committee appealed to international solidarity to organize events and a letter writing campaign calling for the release of leaders and activists of the anti-Wall movement. [
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (01-07 April 2010)
PCHR 7 Apr 2010 – A Palestinian woman sits near her house which was bombarded by Israeli warplanes in Khan Yunis Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)….
International Solidarity Movement
Live Ammunition Fired at Nonviolent Demonstrators in Ni’lin
4/9/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Facing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition, roughly sixty Palestinians gathered outside of Ni’lin today. Joined by 15 Israeli and International activists, the demonstrators protested the Israeli occupation which has claimed over 40% of the village’s land. After congregating in nearby olive groves for midday prayers, demonstrators marched towards the illegal annexation wall with flags and chants led by village youth. Upon reaching the wall, demonstrators were met with a violent military response. Claiming nearly 30% of remaining village land, the wall annexes Ni’lin farmland for use by the nearby illegal settlement Modi’in Ilit. Soldiers fired tear gas and percussion grenades over the wall at nonviolent demonstrators, who were not deterred and continued a spirited protest.
‘U.S.-Israel ties fine regardless of Netanyahu’s nuclear summit cancellation’
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – Netanyahu cancels trip to U.S. nuclear summit fearing Muslim nations will demand Israel sign anti-proliferation treaty.
Israeli traveler killed during Bolivia bicycle tour
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – 28-year-old Israeli woman fell into a chasm while biking on the ‘Road of Death’ in Bolivia.
U.S. security official: No new concrete Mideast peace plan
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – Lebanon prime minister says Obama is the ‘ideal person’ to head new Middle East peace efforts.
Obama: Iran sanctions don’t guarantee change
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – U.S. President believes steady international pressure could alter Tehran’s nuclear calculations over time.
Burglars break into car of Israel’s Police Commissioner
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – Unidentified men on Friday broke into the car of Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen, which was parked outside his house in Givatayim, a central Israel city. …
Woman arrested for striking daughter’s classmates with pistol butt
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – Afula police arrested woman Friday for allegedly striking classmates of her daughters using the butt of a pistol she had stolen from her husband, in the lastest in a string of violent incidents in the last 24 hours. …
‘Growing number of HIV carriers knowingly having unprotected sex’
Ha’aretz 9 Apr 2010 – A new Israeli study has found that the number of HIV positive men in the gay community has risen over the last few years, due to virus carriers aware of their condition who continue to have unprotected sex, scientists said this week. …
Gaza power plant shuts down for lack of fuel
Relief Web 9 Apr 2010 – Source: Agence France-Presse
Press Conference on new Initiative – SPIRIT – Aimed at Student Participation in Resolving Conflict
Relief Web 8 Apr 2010 – Source: UN Department of Public Information
Training the Palestinian Judicial Police on Handling of Detainees
Relief Web 8 Apr 2010 – Source: European Union
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (01-07 April 2010)
Relief Web 8 Apr 2010 – Source: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
US accuses Iran of ‘nefarious’ intentions
YNet News 9 Apr 2010 – Following unveiling of new centrifuge for enriched uranium, State Department says if Islamic Republic wants international community to believe its nuclear program is peaceful, ‘then Iran has no need for a third generation, or faster, centrifuge’
Fighter, 4 Palestinians hurt in West Bank rallies
YNet News 9 Apr 2010 – Dozens hurl stones at IDF soldiers in village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah; four protestors lightly injured. Border Guard officer injured by stones in nearby village of Dir Nizam
Iran unveils more advanced centrifuge machines
YNet News 9 Apr 2010 – Less than 24 hours after six world powers meet to discuss sanctions against Islamic Republic, President Ahmadinejad displays new machines allowing Iran to produce fuel for as many as six nuclear power plants
4 leftists arrested in Sheikh Jarrah
YNet News 9 Apr 2010 – Protestors detained for questioning after approaching Jewish houses in east Jerusalem neighborhood, forcibly refusing to leave. Demonstrators: Police acted brutally
US says relationship with Israel ‘fine’
YNet News 9 Apr 2010 – National Security Advisor Jim Jones tells reporters Obama administration believes Jewish state’s delegation to next week’s nuclear security summit in Washington will be ‘robust,’ despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision not to attend
Report: Gaddafi invites Israeli Arab leaders for meeting
YNet News 9 Apr 2010 – Nazareth-based website says Libyan leader forwarded invitation to prominent Arab figures in Jewish state via envoy in Jordan
Obama says Iran sanctions offer no guarantees
YNet News 9 Apr 2010 – US president tells ABC: ‘If the question is, do we have guarantee that sanctions we are able to institute at this stage are automatically going to change Iranian behavior, of course we don’t’
Israeli premier calls off trip to US nuclear conference
Daily Star 9 Apr 2010 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel’s prime minister abruptly called off a trip to Washington just days before he was slated to attend a conference there on the spread of nuclear weapons, officials in his office said Friday, fearing Israel would be singled out over its own nuclear program. Benjamin Netanyahu had said he would attend the conference
Iran to display new centrifuges for nuclear work
Daily Star 9 Apr 2010 TEHRAN: Iran announced on Friday it had developed faster centrifuges for uranium enrichment, signaling determination to press on with its nuclear work despite possible new UN sanctions sought by US President Barack Obama. Obama acknowledged that sanctions would not necessarily shift Iran’s behavior, but said sustained world pressure could
Gaza’s sole power plant shuts down for lack of fuel
Daily Star 9 Apr 2010 GAZA CITY: The sole power plant in the besieged Gaza Strip was shut down on Friday because fuel supplies ran out, with Palestinians and Israel blaming each other. “The power plant shut down completely this morning as a result of a shortage of fuel caused by the Israeli siege,” said Kanaan Obeid, assistant director of Gaza’s electricity authority.
Hundreds protest against Comoros president
Daily Star 9 Apr 2010 FOMBONI, Comoros: Hundreds of protesters demonstrated Friday in the Comoros island of Moheli against the extension of the term of the Indian Ocean archipelago’s president.The protesters, mainly women and youths, gathered near the Fomboni airport as the African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra arrived for talks
Egypt slams US criticism over protester arrests
Daily Star 9 Apr 2010 CAIRO: Egypt has dismissed American criticism of its detention of scores of protesters who rallied earlier this week in Cairo demanding constitutional reforms to allow more open elections. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement released late Thursday that Egyptian elections are an internal matter. “The [US] remarks.
Palestinian Information Center
Abu Zuhri: Assassination documents prove IOA war crimes
PIC 9 Apr 2010 – Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri has asserted that the confidential documents on the assassination crimes committed by the IOF troops represent additional evidence on the criminal mentality of the IOA.
Hamas: Arresting Zionist war criminals is a must
PIC 9 Apr 2010 – Hamas has asserted that Israeli policy of committing massacres against the Palestinians was a reflection of the Israeli arrogance that aims at uprooting the Palestinian people from their homeland.
Algerian advisor calls on int’l criminal court to do Gaza justice
PIC 9 Apr 2010 – Advisor to Algerian minister of Justice Dr. Mrok Nasreddin called on the international criminal court to do justice to Gaza against the serious crimes committed by Israel.
Europe holds events in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners
PIC 9 Apr 2010 – A number of European countries has witnessed lately a series of events in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners organized by different human rights and civil organizations.
Gaza electricity station stops functioning
PIC 9 Apr 2010 – Gaza’s sole electricity generation station stopped functioning on Friday morning after it ran out of fuel, threatening to cause a humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip.
Israeli settlers and troops attack areas in Salfit, girl run over in Al-Khalil
PIC 9 Apr 2010 – Israeli settlers and troops on Thursday evening attacked areas in Salfit city in the West Bank, while an Israeli car ran over a Palestinian little girl in Al-Khalil.
Wajeb: Fayyad does not represent the Palestinian people’s aspirations
PIC 9 Apr 2010 – The Palestinian return assembly (Wajeb) said Thursday that Salam Fayyad with his positions and history does not represent the aspirations and hopes of the Palestinian people.
Britain voices concern over thousands of missing passports
PIC 9 Apr 2010 – British security sources expressed fears that thousands of Britons’ passports were lost or stolen in the post and could be used in committing crimes.
Ed Koch’s lying tongue
PIC 9 Apr 2010 – Ed Koch is a delusional Zionist supremacist who is desperately struggling to maintain the relevance of Zionist mythology, especially in Europe and North America.
I.M.F. Says West Bank Economic Growth Is Imperiled by Israel and Arab States
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.
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…
Is the US getting ready to push Israel to declare its nuclear status?
Mondoweiss – 9 Apr 2010 – Whatever else can be said about the strained relationship between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu, one thing is clear: Obama seems intent on keeping Netanyahu off balance. On Tuesday, Netanyahu announced he would be returning to Washington next week to attend Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit. Just…
Brave Palestinian journalist arrested for filming protests
Mondoweiss – 9 Apr 2010 – The latest news from Bil’in: Haitham Al Khatib was arrested while filming at today’s demonstration, held on the anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre. Details below. I’m reminded of the story Haitham told me when I asked about the deep scar between his eyebrows. The thing…
Blau-Kamm case exposes the dark underbelly of Israel’s security state
Mondoweiss – 9 Apr 2010 – What is misleadingly being called in Israel the “Anat Kamm espionage affair” is quickly revealing the dark underbelly of a nation that has worshipped for decades at the altar of a security state. Next week 23-year-old Kamm is due to stand trial for her life ‚Äî…
Packer’s criticism of Ramadan recalls his mentor’s hazing of Chomsky
Mondoweiss – 9 Apr 2010 – Ibn Tufayl, our correspondent at Harvard, responds below to the conversation between Tariq Ramadan and several Americans at Cooper Union last night . Ramadan’s antagonist in the conversation was George Packer, of the New Yorker, who assailed Ramadan for too weakly criticizing his own grandfather, founder of…
Bili’in as an Allegory: The Party is Over, Declares Netanyahu
Alternative Information Center – 9 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” ‚Äì that…
Israel’s Inclusion in Economic Organization a Threat to Democracy
Alternative Information Center – 9 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…
Settler Violence Report, January-February 2010
Alternative Information Center – 9 Apr 2010 – Thursday, 01 April 2010, Hebron and South of West Bank – On 9 January, approximately 30 settlers‚Äîsome of them armed‚Äî coming from the Bat Ayin settlement, north-west of Bait Ommar, attacked a group of farmers from the village working the land in the area of Wadi…
Articles
The Dark Underbelly of Israel’s Security State
Jonathan Cook, Dissident Voice4/9/2010
Anat Kamm: Spy or Whistleblower?
What is misleadingly being called in Israel the “Anat Kamm espionage affair” is quickly revealing the dark underbelly of a nation that has worshipped for decades at the altar of a security state.
Next week 23-year-old Kamm is due to stand trial for her life ‚Äî or rather the state’s demand that she serve a life sentence for passing secret documents to an Israeli reporter, Uri Blau, of the liberal Haaretz daily. She is charged with spying.
Blau himself is in hiding in London, facing, if not a Mossad hit squad, at least the stringent efforts of Israel’s security services to get him back to Israel over the opposition of his editors, who fear he will be put away too.
This episode has been dragging on behind the scenes for months, since at least December, when Kamm was placed under house arrest pending the trial.
Not a word about the case leaked in Israel until this week when the security services, who had won from the courts a blanket gag order — a gag on the gag, so to speak — were forced to reverse course when foreign bloggers began making the restrictions futile. Hebrew pages on Facebook had already laid out the bare bones of the story.
So, now that much of the case is out in the light, what are the crimes committed by Kamm and Blau?
During her conscription, Kamm copied possibly hundreds of army documents that revealed systematic law-breaking by the Israeli high command operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, including orders to ignore court rulings. She was working at the time in the office of Brig Gen Yair Naveh, who is in charge of operations in the West Bank.more..e-mail
Visiting the Galilee and north Palestine
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD, Axis of Logic4/7/2010
A short description and a 7 minute video on a two-day trip to the Galilee, North Palestine.It was strangely uplifting to spend two nights and three days in the Galilee, North Palestine. We visited good friends, made new friends, saw 3000 year old olive trees, walked in the ruins depopulated villages, and shopped and ate in Palestinian towns which survived 62 years of colonial apartheid. We crossed from Bethlehem to occupied East Jerusalem with a wave of an Israeli soldier’s hand (who did not bother to check papers of an Israeli car. A few minutes later we crossed the Green line (borders before 1967) that is neither marked or guarded. The imaginary green line had long disappeared since Israeli colonies go deep into the occupied West Bank. But in the areas of West Jerusalem, we could still see many signs of the three dozen Palestinian villages depopulated since 1948. Then taking “route 6” north. This highway was built on newly confiscated Palestinian village lands. Over 530 Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated. The remaining 130 villages and towns had most of their land taken and now the remaining Palestinians who comprise 20% of the Israeli population live on about 2% of the land while the Jewish population controls the rest (which is mostly Palestinian property). When we take the whole of Palestine (West Bank and Gaza included), we see that Palestinians who remained (some 50% of the population is restricted to less than 10% of historic Palestine. Thus access to land is nearly 9 folds more to the Jewish population (most of it not native) even without the return of refugees. We visited devastated Palestinian villages like Iqrit (a catholic christian community of which only the church remains), Al-Zeeb (a fishing muslim community where the mosque and the few remaining buildings are converted for recreation of Israelis), and Al_Bassa (that used to be a thriving mixed town of Christians and Muslims and was filled with Jewish immigrants initially from Bulgaria and is now called Shlomi).more..e-mail
Israel’s choice of lawlessness and defiance
William A. Cook, Redress4/6/2010
Unauthorized statements have been made to the effect that the purpose in view is to create a wholly Jewish Palestine—
His Majesty’s Government regard any such expectation as impracticable and have no such aim in view. Nor have they at any time contemplated — the disappearance or the subordination of the Arabic population, language or culture in Palestine. They would draw attention to the fact that the terms of the [Balfour] Declaration referred to, do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a home should be founded in Palestine— His Majesty’s Government therefore now declare unequivocally that it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State. (Command Paper 1922, from the Avalon Project at Yale Law School, 1996‚Äì2000).
The above statement was approved by the Council of the League of Nations, thus establishing the legal charge for the British Mandate government. Together with the Sir Richard C. Catling papers, held in a Top Secret file in the Rhodes House Archives at Oxford University, to be released later this spring from Macmillan in the “Introduction of the plight of the Palestinians”, this declaration recorded by the Avalon Project graphically demonstrates how the Zionist-controlled forces within the Jewish community defied the legally established authorities in Palestine. This defiance continues to the present day.
Today’s “spat” between friends, as reflected in the hassle between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, forces reconsideration of America’s support of the defiant Israeli government, not because the halting of the settlements is the crucial issue but because America’s president has lost face, America’s reputation around the world has plummeted and the dangerous position our military face as a result of Israel’s belligerence threatens the United States’ security, as head of the US Central Command General David Petraeus testified before Congress in March this year.
It is becoming manifestly clear to everyone that the United States cannot be the broker for peace in the Middle East, but it can be a participant or consultant to an appropriately designed United Nations policy committee created to complete the “partition plan” established in Resolution 181 in November 1947….more..e-mail
Play shows that for Gaza women, everything is not fine
Electronic Intifada: 9 Apr 2010 – It takes an Arab to live in the midst of political divisions, years of siege and occupation, and still say, “everything is fine.” Specifically, it must be an Arab man. Ask any woman in Gaza and she will tell you the opposite. That is, at least, the main message that comes across so clearly in the latest play staged in the Gaza Strip bearing the name ” Kull Shi Tamaam ” (Everything is Fine), written by local playwright Atef Abu Seif — a prolific author from Jabalia refugee camp. Sami Abu Salem reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.
Journalist whistleblower faces life imprisonment, or worse
Electronic Intifada: 9 Apr 2010 – What is misleadingly being called in Israel the “Anat Kamm espionage affair” is quickly revealing the dark underbelly of a nation that has worshipped for decades at the altar of a security state. Next week 23-year-old Kamm is due to stand trial for her life — or rather the state’s demand that she serve a life sentence for passing secret documents to an Israeli reporter, Uri Blau, of the liberal Haaretz daily. She is charged with spying. Jonathan Cook analyzes.
Deir Yassin’s inextinguishable fire
Electronic Intifada: 9 Apr 2010 – “Deir Yassin,” the imperishable words of my grandmother continue to resonate with me each day for she made me promise to never forget, and that’s a promise I intend to keep to her. Dina Elmuti writes on the anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre.
A new political option for confronting Israel
Electronic Intifada: 9 Apr 2010 – There is a nonviolent political option out of the current “peace process” impasse. A new political strategy would involve recognizing this basic shortcoming and demand a return to legality, in effect a return to the days before the 1991 Madrid Conference which launched the past two decades of futile “negotiations” and accelerated Israeli colonization. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.
Indoctrinating Israeli Youths to Be Warriors
Palestine Chronicle: 9 Apr 2010 – By Stephen Lendman The modern roots go back to Zionism’s founding at the First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland in 1897, its program being: “Establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Eretz Yisrael.” Five decades later, it was accomplished by dispossessing indigenous Palestinians, denying them the right to their land, creating a new Jewish identity, legitimizing Jews as rightful owners, and using superior military force to assure it against defenseless civilians, no match against their powerful adversary. Leading up to and after its War of Independence, Israel stayed politically and militarily hard line, negotiating from strength, choosing confrontation over diplomacy, naked aggression as a form of self-defense, and occupation to seize as much of historic Palestine as possible to secure an ethnically pure Jewish state – policies called “Israelification (and) De-Arabization” to preserve a “Jewish character.” In his book, “The Making of Israeli Militarism, Uri…more
The Strange Love Affair of the US and AIPAC
Palestine Chronicle: 9 Apr 2010 – By Dan Lieberman 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…more
US Jewish Organizations Defend Israel’s Humiliation of America
Palestine Chronicle: 8 Apr 2010 – By James Petras “The Government of Israel has insulted the Vice President of the United States, and spat in the face of the President — they wiped the spit off their faces and smiled politely — as the saying goes: when you spit in the face of a weakling, he pretends that it is raining.” — Uri Avnery Israeli Jewish journalist, March 13, 2010. “We (Israel) possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets — most European capitals are targets of our air force — the Palestinians should all be deported. Two years ago, only 7 or 8 per cent of Israelis were of the opinion that this would be the best solution, two months ago, (January 2010), it was 33 percent and now according to a Gallup poll, the figure is 44 percent.” — Martin Van Crevel Israeli, professor of military history at Hebrew University at Jerusalem and top adviser…more
The New Dark Age 
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