3 August, 2010 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Israeli Military Injures One Gazan Worker
IMEMC – 3 Aug 2010 – Tuesday August 03, 2010 – 17:21, Israel shoots another man as he attempts to gather construction materials.
3 Lebanese Killed in Cross Border Fire
IMEMC – 3 Aug 2010 – Tuesday August 03, 2010 – 15:08, Three Lebanese have been killed in cross border fire with Israel. Hezbollah have claimed that one Israeli has been killed, also, but no conformation has come from the state of Israel.
40 New Settlement Units Approved For East Jerusalem
IMEMC – 3 Aug 2010 – Tuesday August 03, 2010 – 12:14, Israel, on Monday, approved construction of forty new settlement housing units in the Pisgat Ze’ev settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.
Deadly clashes on Israel-Lebanon border
8/4/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli and Lebanese soldiers exchanged fire along their shared border Tuesday afternoon, in a clash that left at least four Lebanese citizens dead including three soldiers, and one Israeli soldier dead, military and security officials said. The Israeli army announced several hours after the clashes concluded that Lt. Col. Dov Harari, 45, was….
Medics: Airstrike kills 1 in south Gaza
8/4/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — An Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian operative in the southern Gaza Strip early Wednesday, medical officials said. Sharif Abdel Hadi Abbey, 22, died and two others were lightly to moderately injured by the strike on Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis, Palestinian medical and security sources said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the….
Israeli forces fire on Gaza workers, injuring 1
8/4/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A young Gaza man was injured by Israeli fire east of Beit Hanoun on Tuesday, reportedly while he was gathering cement aggregates from the border area. Medical services coordinator for the de facto government Adham Abu Salmiyeh identified the man as 22-year-old Bilal Ibrahim Obeid, saying he was hit in the….
Report: Israeli soldiers injured in Aadaiseh clashes
8/3/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Several Israeli soldiers were wounded in clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border following an exchange of fire in the Aadaiseh village Tuesday, Lebanese security officials said. An unnamed security official said several Israeli soldiers had been wounded and that Israel was using loudspeakers urging a ceasefire in order to remove those who were hurt….
Israel FM says Lebanon govt responsible for clashes
8/3/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Monday following the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border saying the Lebanese government was responsible for the clashes, Israeli media reported.” Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for the serious incident and warns against repercussions should such violations continue,” the Israeli online news site Ynet quoted….
Police: Family attacked by settlers after car crash
8/3/2010 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — A fight erupted between a Palestinian family and Israeli settlers on Tuesday following a car crash, Palestinian Authority police reported. Police said the cars collided on the Burin junction, in which Abdul Min’em Owni Sabah, 26, his wife Shahrayar Yousef Daoud, 26, and their daughter Duha, three, were injured. The report….
Economy minister: Growth contingent on donor whims
8/3/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The development of the Palestinian economy is dependent on donor countries, and its growth follows the political whims of the region, Palestinian Authority Minister of National Economy Hasan Abu Libda told Ma’an.”The money received from donor countries is the oxygen for Palestinian economy. However, this money is contingent on the political process….
VIDEO – Child confronts Israeli forces over father’s detention
8/4/2010 – Zuheir Al-Shaer – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Video footage of a four-year-old child begging Israeli forces to release his father from detention on Monday has circulated the globe.”You dog, give me my dad. I want daddy. I want daddy. Give me my dad,” cried Khalid Fadel Al-Ja’bari, as Israeli border guards detained his father Fadel….
PRC denies launching rockets toward Jordan and Israel
8/4/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Popular Resistance Committee in Gaza denied reports Tuesday that it launched at least five rockets which struck the southern coastal cities of Eilat in Israel and Aqaba in Jordan. Abu Al-Atayah, who speaks on behalf of the PRC’s Salah Ad-Din Brigades, told Ma’an radio that the rockets, which killed one Jordanian civilian….
PA police report Israeli incursions in refugee camps
8/3/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian Authority police said Tuesday Israeli forces raided the Ad-Dhahiriya village in Bethlehem, deploying riot dispersal means. The police report said forces entered the Al-Arrub refugee camp in the southern West Bank district of Hebron where a number of young residents pelted the force with stones. Police further said Israeli troops entered the….
VIDEO – Watch: PA raids Ma’an’s Nablus bureau
8/4/2010 – Muhammad Oweiweih – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian Authority customs agents raided Ma’an’s Nablus bureau Tuesday, assaulting three journalists during the latest in a series of operations targeting local broadcasters in the occupied West Bank. Rami Swidan, a photojournalist on the Nablus desk, said PA forces attacked journalists Duhana Abu Ayasheh, Ayman Alawi, and Ala Ash-Shanti when they…. Related: Press union condemns PA closure of TV stations
Israeli army confirms colonel killed in border clash
8/3/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli army announced Tuesday that a soldier was killed during clashes with the Lebanese army, a statement read. The Israeli army issued the news hours after the clashes concluded, announcing that Lt. Col. Dov Harari, 45, from Natanya was killed. The military further said platoon commander Captain Ezra Lakia was critically wounded….
Israeli raids target Azzun, 7 detained
8/4/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces took at least eight men from their homes and villages in the West Bank overnight, and transported them to an unknown location for questioning, a military official said. Seven of those detained were from the village of Azzun, east of Qalqiliya, following a large entrance of Israeli forces into the region….
Gaza: 1 terminal temporarily open
8/3/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli authorities opened Gaza’s Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday morning, for the delivery of an estimated 250 truckloads of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said. Fattouh, who coordinates goods’ deliveries into Gaza, said limited quantities of fuels and domestic-use gas would also be….
Israel releases woman after 14 days of detention
8/3/2010 – TULKAREM (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities released a Palestinian woman with Jordanian citizenship from detention after holding her for 14 days, the Tulkarem resident said in a statement Tuesday. Fathiyeh Swess, 57, said she was “harshly interrogated,” was barred from sleep, and made to stand for long hours while she was held at the Al-Julmah detention center….
Death of second fall victim in Gaza investigated
8/3/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – An apparent fall from an unstable building, damaged during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, killed a young Gaza City man on Tuesday, officials told Ma’an. Rights workers, who conducted an independent investigation after police found the young man dead, said he was found on the ground in front of the Al-Andalus Tower….
Press union condemns PA closure of TV stations
8/3/2010 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Journalists Syndicates condemned the closure of TV stations in Nablus on Tuesday by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Telecommunications and customs officers. Union chief Abdel Nasser An-Najjar said he had contacted both the Ministries of Telecommunications and Interior, who said they were not aware of the move. Telecom Minister Mashhour Abu…. Related: VIDEO – Watch: PA raids Ma’an’s Nablus bureau
US consulate, AMIDEAST send Palestinian students to US
8/3/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The US Consulate General in East Jerusalem and AMIDEAST met with a group of 55 Palestinian students in Jericho to prepare them for travel and study in America, a statement issued Tuesday read. The students included Palestinians from the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and over 20 from the Gaza Strip, the statement said….
Netanyahu: Eilat attack aimed at quashing peace process
8/3/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A day after at least five projectiles landed in Israel and Jordan, the leaders of both countries spoke by phone with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose government has denied involvement. Monday night saw Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah II of Jordan gather for a phone call….
Turkey welcomes Israeli inquiry into flotilla raid
8/3/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Turkish officials called Israel’s decision to cooperate with a UN probe into the death of nine civilians aboard a Turkish-flagged vessel an “important step,” on Monday, following the announcement. Israel had initially called the UN probe an example of UN bias against Israel and said internal probes would be sufficient. The UN investigation….
Report: Palestinian leader supports launching rockets
8/3/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Fatah Intifada Movement representative in Lebanon Abu Moussa says his group supports launching rockets at Israel and is willing to do so itself, LBCI television reported on Monday.” Fatah al-Intifada supports any Palestinian [party] that has the potential to fight Israel in any location on the Palestinian arena,” he also said adding that….
Report: PLO assents to trilateral meeting
8/3/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The PLO has reportedly agreed to hold a Palestinian-Israeli-US meeting to discuss direct talks, the London-based Arabic-language daily Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat reported Tuesday. According to the newspaper, which quoted an unnamed Palestinian source, the trilateral meeting will be convened to tackle the details of direct negotiations that were broken off in December 2008 as….
Japanese projects completed in Qalqiliya, Tulkarem
8/3/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Japanese Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority announced the completion of two projects in the West Bank on Tuesday, for expanding compost production and upgrading an electricity network in two districts. In the Immatin village in Qalqiliya, the village council implemented a project for rehabilitation of the electric network in the village….
US basketball coach, WNBA player hold sports camp
8/3/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — US basketball coach Donnie Arey and former WNBA player Kayte Christensen conducted a series of basketball camps for Palestinian teenagers and coaches between 24 and 29 July in Ramallah and Bethlehem. The Shooting Stars Basketball Camp is a joint-program coordinated with the US consulate in East Jerusalem and the Palestinian National Committee of….
Parliament chairman condemns rocket attack
8/3/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The chairman of the Palestinian National Council and the Arab Parliamentary Union Salim Az-Zannoun condemned Tuesday the launching of at least five rockets that struck Jordan and Israel a day earlier. Az-Zannoun described the attack, in which one Jordanian national was killed, as an attempt to weaken Jordan, Palestine, and the region’s stability….
Hamas: PA forces detain 2 university lecturers
8/3/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Hamas said Tuesday that Palestinian Authority security forces detained seven party affiliates across the West Bank, including two An-Najah Universityprofessors. The Nablus lecturers were identified in a Hamas statement as Dr Farid Abu Dahir and Dr Ghassan Khaled. The other detentions took place in Nablus, Qalqiliya, Ramallah and Tulkarem, Hamas said. On Monday….
A new model of resistance
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – There are many lessons that could be derived from the tragic assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, while, most analysis focused on diplomatic tensions and whether the Israeli behavior was erroneous or not. Analysis has yet…
Medics: Israeli shelling kills Gaza man
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – New York – Following days of deadly violence in Gaza and along Israel’s border with Lebanon , another Palestinian has been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, according to medics. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons] Reuters reports : The shelling,…
UNESCO: Lack of Palestinian state jeopardizes heritage sites
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington — As UNESCO expands its list of prospective world heritage sites, the debate over Palestinian candidates continued during meetings this week, AFP News Agency reported Monday. “We are trying to promote discussions between Israel and…
NYC Muslim community center gets green light
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington – New York’s Landmark’s Preservation Commission voted 9-0 to make way for Cordoba House , a Muslim-led community center that has caused uproar for its proximity to the site of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks….
Jerusalem sends 43-year water bill to Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington – In a reversal of a tradition centuries old, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre will now have to start paying for its water, the Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday. Thousands of tourists and religious pilgrims…
WATCH: PA raids Nablus news room
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington – Ma’an News Agency’s Nablus bureau was raided by Palestinian Authority customs agents Tuesday, Ma’an’s Muhammad Oweiweih reported . Palestinian Authority coat of arms [Wikimedia Commons] Oweiweih said three journalists were assaulted during the forced closure…
Jail time postponed in ‘rape by deception’ case
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington — Israel’s High Court rules Tuesday to postpone an 18-month jail sentence for Sabbar Kashur, a Palestinian-Israeli man recently convicted of “rape by deception” after he had sex with a woman who thought he was…
Nasrallah: Resistance ready to respond, if Lebanese state chooses
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – New York – Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah declared on Tuesday that his forces are “ready to respond” to Israel’s cross-border shelling, but only if Lebanon’s government ask them. Hassan Nasrallah appears on a sign at a…
US urges ‘maximum restraint’ on Lebanon-Israel border
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington – US Department of State spokesman PJ Crowley said the US is “extremely concerned” about Israel-Lebanon border clash Tuesday morning, and said the United States calls on both parties to exercise “maximum restraint,” Reuters’ reported…
Will Lebanon-Israel border violence trigger a wider war?
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – New York – In what almost looks like an act of foresight, International Crisis Group released a new report on Monday discussing the possibility of a new Israel-Lebanon war on Monday, one day before the border…
Lebanon: PM’s bloc calls for unity, defense chief says ‘confront aggression’
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington — Following the outbreak of violence on the Lebanese border that killed three Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist, and a senior Israeli military officer, Lebanese political blocs had decried Israel and each other, but call…
When cross-border tree-trimming sparks war
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – New York – The press photo of the day award by all means ought to go to AP and Reuters who appeared to document Israeli soldiers using a crane to chop branches from trees in what…
US organizations react to border clashes
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington – Israel peace advocacy organization Americans for Peace Now called on President Barack Obama to prevent further escalation between Israel and Lebanon – as well as Israel and Gaza – following clashes on the Israel-Lebanon…
UN urges restraint after Israel-Lebanon border clash
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – New York – The United Nations has urged restraint after at least five people were killed in cross-border shelling along the Israeli-Lebanese border on Tuesday. A Turkish UNIFIL soldier on duty along the Lebanon-Israel border. The…
World reactions: Syria stands with Lebanon
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington – Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad phoned Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to express Syria’s support for Lebanon in the wake of deadly clashes on the Israel-Lebanon border Tuesday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported . Assad said…
Jordan official: Rocket came from Egypt
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Washington – A senior Jordanian official told AFP news agency Tuesday the government has proof that the rocket that hit Aqaba Monday came from Egypt . The official did not specify what the proof was, but he…
Five dead on Israel-Lebanon border
Palestine Note 3 Aug 2010 – Israeli officer killed, journalist dead in most serious clashes since ’06 New York – Three Lebanese soldiers and a journalist have been killed in the most serious clashes on the Israeli-Lebanese border since the end of…
Troops die in Israel-Lebanon clash
AlJazeera 3 Aug 2010 – At least two Lebanese and one Israeli soldier killed in exchange of gunfire along tense border.
Iran dismisses Brazil asylum offer
AlJazeera 3 Aug 2010 – Lula “probably did not have enough information” about stoning case, official says.
Screening Of Shashat Collections In Ramallah
PNN – Ramallah — PNN — The Palestinian NGO Shashat is presenting three filmlet collections in the French German Cultural Center in Ramallah. The three collections called “Jerusalem, so near, so far”, “A day…
Four Lebanese Killed in Israeli-Lebanese Border Clash
PNN – At least three Lebanese soldiers have been killed along the border of Lebanon and Israel, a Lebanese security official confirmed. A Lebanese reporter as well as a high ranking Israeli officer have…
Lebanon Arrests Another Israeli Spy
PNN – PNN-Bethlehem-Lebanese military intelligence arrested an army colonel on grounds of spying for Israel, Al-Akhbar reports. Lebanon has arrested around 50 alleged Israeli spies in recent months, provoking fears about an extensive breach…
Palestinian convicted of rape by deception has sentence suspended
PNN – PNN – Bethlehem – The High Court has delayed the sentence of 30 year old Sabbar Kashur after an appeal today was successful. He has also been under house arrest since the…
Helen Thomas to be honoured with a statue
PNN – PNN – Bethlehem – The journalist is the subject of a campaign by the Arab American National Museum to honour her career with a statue. The former Washington correspondent Helen Thomas, who…
Netanyahu Criticized For Accepting UN Gaza Probe
PNN – The leader of opposition in the Israeli government, Tzipi Livni, condemned the Prime Minister for agreeing to cooperate with a United Nations investigation into the infamous Gaza flotilla raid Netanyahu agreed to…
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (22-28 July 2010)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Lack of funds may mean having to buy your own gas mask
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – ‚ÄòIf it adopts this plan, the State of Israel is refusing to protect its citizens,’ says former IDF spokesman Nahman Shai.
Noam Schalit to Palestinians: Pressure Hamas prisoner swap
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Activists and Gilad’s brother erect small protest-tent city outside prime minister’s residence.
Hamas: No connection to Eilat-Aqaba rocket attack
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Terror group says they are prepared to help Hizbullah fight Israel.
IDF enters enclaves to push back Hizbullah
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – IDF is making it difficult for terror group to launch attacks along the border like in 2006.
PM: Lebanon responsible for border clash
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Israel tells European countries: Arms sent to Lebanon used against us.
PM: Lebanon responsible for Tuesday’s deadly attack
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Israel tells key European countries: Arms being sent to Lebanese army to fight terrorists are instead being used against Israel.
Israel’s deterrence needs a boost
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Rule applies to Hamas in Gaza as well as the Lebanese Armed Forces, which attacked IDF Tuesday.
Hizbullah chief calls Lebanese army ‘heroic’
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Lebanese, Syrian leaders respond to clash on northern border.
IAEA may send inspectors to Syria
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Nagging questions remain after suspected reactor site bombed by Israel.
‘IDF soldiers did not cross border’
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Netanyahu, Barak issue strong reactions to events.
PM, FM respond forcefully to news of fatal border clashes
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Netanyahu and Barak hold Lebanese government directly responsible; call for international condemnation after IDF Lt.-Col. Dov Harari killed in action, Capt. Ezra Lakia critically wounded.
IDF commander killed on Lebanon border
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Routine maintenance work by IDF leads to worst clashes since 2006 war.
‘2 IDF soldiers wounded; 4 Lebanese dead in border clashes’
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Exchange of fire between IDF and LAF troops prompts Israel and Lebanon to cite violations of UN resolution 1701; IDF says it gave UNIFIL notice of plans to cross fence for maintenance work.
Timeline: From the 2nd Lebanon War onwards
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Clashes along the northern border since 2006.
Sharp words from Lebanese leaders, Syria
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Response towards Israel after border-fire incident is strong, aggressive.
Photo gallery: Unrest on the border
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – View pictures of IDF, Lebanese Army and UN peacekeepers in North.
Turks summon envoy on Barak comment
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Defense minister reportedly accused new spy chief of Iran sympathies.
Turkey summons envoy over Barak comment
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Defense minister reportedly accused new spy chief of supporting Iran.
‘2 Lebanese soldiers killed in clashes with IDF on border’
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Lebanese president calls on country to “stand up to Israel’s violation”; initial reports say IDF soldiers attempted to uproot tree on Lebanon side of border.
Israeli, Lebanese forces clash along border
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Lebanese soldiers open fire at Israeli patrol; IDF responds with gunfire, mortars, artillery; initial reports say a katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon landed in upper Galilee.
Livni: UN flotilla probe will judge IDF
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Kadima leader criticizes gov’t decision to take part in panel.
Lebanese general suspected of spying
Jeruslalem Post 3 Aug 2010 – Report: Lebanese intelligence arrest high ranking officer for aiding Israel.
International Solidarity Movement
Army vandalism in Hebron: soldiers destroy family’s well in Wad Lerus
8/3/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Yesterday morning (2 August 2010) a group of Israeli soldiers, reportedly drunk, used two bulldozers to destroy a well that belonged to a family living in Wad Lerus, Hebron. Several ISM activists went out to talk to members of the Al Jaabel family in Wad Lerus, close to the Kyriat Arba settlement in Hebron, yesterday….
Heat wave expected to continue throughout the week
Ha’aretz – On Sunday, Magen David Adom received 37 percent more calls for fainting and other heat-related ailments than an average summer day.
Family of IDF officer killed in border clash: He insisted on doing reserve duty
Ha’aretz – Lieutenant Colonel Harari, called Barry by his friends, was supposed to retire from reserve duty, but asked to continue. ‘He was a good man, he helped people’ says his brother.
IDF believes single Lebanese officer behind border shooting
Ha’aretz – Lebanese company commander ordered sniper fire on Israeli post, which killed one Israeli officer and wounded another, IDF analysts believe.
Nasrallah: Hezbollah will respond if Israel attacks Lebanon’s army
Ha’aretz – In speech marking 4 years since Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah chief says Israel has violated cease-fire resolution over 7,000 times.
U.S. urges Israel and Lebanon to exercise ‘maximum restraint’
Ha’aretz – Netanyahu blames Lebanon for ‘violent provocation against Israel’ after Israeli officer, 4 Lebanese killed in rare border skirmish., 3 Lebanese soldiers, one journalist killed as Israeli and Lebanese soldiers exchange…
Assad: We’ll support Lebanon in face of criminal Israeli aggression
Ha’aretz – UN peacekeepers urge ‘maximum restraint’ after Israeli and Lebanese soldiers exchange fire along border, killing 4 Lebanese.
Hamas’ Gaza leader names grandson after Turkish PM Erdogan
Ha’aretz – Hamas leader Haniyeh wants Erdogan’s name on every tongue in Gaza in honor of Turkey’s tacit approval of blockade-busting Gaza flotilla in May.
Turkey summons Israel’s ambassador over Barak’s remarks on spy chief
Ha’aretz – Defense Minister Ehud Barak had said that the new head of Turkish intelligence could leak information to Iran.
3 Lebanese soldiers, journalist killed in clash on Israel-Lebanon border
Ha’aretz – Quiet on northern front shatters as IDF and the Lebanese army exchange fire and Katyusha rocket reportedly strikes Upper Galilee.
Israel cooperating with UN in hope of restoring Turkish ties
Ha’aretz – Decision to participate in UN inquiry into Gaza flotilla raid stems from desire to mend damaged alliance with Ankara, says deputy PM.
A week after deadly crash, IAF helicopters make emergency landings in Romania
Ha’aretz – Israel Air Force CH-53 Yasur suffers technical failure, a week after aircraft the same type crashed in Carpathian Mountains, killing seven.
Report: Turkey could host advanced U.S. radar to confront Iran missile threat
Ha’aretz – American close to agreement that could make Ankara a vital link in a cross-European chain of anti-missile systems.
Will the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq threaten Saudi Arabia and Israel?
Ha’aretz – With no agreed-upon government five months after elections were held, the political vacuum in Iraq has given Iran space to exert its influence.
Opposition fury after Netanyahu accepts UN’s Gaza flotilla probe
Ha’aretz – Tzipi Livni attacks prime minister for exposing IDF to international scrutiny from inquiry set up by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Report: Lebanon army colonel arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel
Ha’aretz – Latest in wave of arrests sparks fears in Beirut that Israeli intelligence has extensively penetrated the country’s communications infrastructure.
Israel demolishes more villages and houses
3 Aug 2010 – Jerusalem, August 3, (Pal Telegraph) A large force of Israeli army supported by bulldozers and special units raided today several unrecognized villages in the Negev region south of the occupied territories of 1948, and proceeded to demolish dozens of homes and the displacement of a large number of the families who own these homes. Israeli bulldozers began demolition of unrecognized…
230 Jeiwsh immigrants arrived Israel today
3 Aug 2010 – Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”ÿ¨ÿØŸàŸÑ ÿ?ÿßÿØŸä”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Jerusalem, August 3, (Pal Telegraph) 230 Jewish immigrants arrived Israel coming from South American countries today morning, organized by an Organization interested in migrants and building more settlements for Israeli…
IOF shoots Palestinian worker in Gaza
3 Aug 2010 – Gaza, August 3, (Pal Telegraph) A Palestinian worker got wounded today morning after being shot by Israeli soldiers at the northern town of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. The Director of Emergency Services in the ministry of Health in Gaza, Muawiya Hassanein, said that the medical crews transferred Bilal Ibrahim Obeid (22 years) after being shot in the…
Israel opens checkpoint in Nablus
3 Aug 2010 – Nablus, August 3, (Pal Telegraph) Official Spokesperson of Nablus’s Governorate confirmed that the Shafi Shomron checkpoint connecting Nablus with Jenin, which was closed several months ago, has been opened again and opened traffic since Monday, 2 8 2010. The announcement came as reported by the Israeli side to the Palestinian Coordination office. Travelers between the two provinces can pass through…
Haniyah names his grandson ‘Erdogan’
3 Aug 2010 – Gaza, August 3, (Pal Telegraph) Chairman of the Palestinian De Facto government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyah, named his recently born grandson after the Prime Minister of Turkey, “Recep Tayyip Erdogan.” A source of the Haniyah family said that the Prime Minister in Gaza decided to rename his grandson to “Erdogan” in honor of the Turkish Prime Minister on his positions…
Israel opens one commercial crossing in Gaza
3 Aug 2010 – Gaza, August 3, (Pal Telegraph) Raed Fattouh, Chairman of the Coordination Committee of Gaza’s supplies, confirmed that the Israeli authorities decided today to open the Kerem Abu Salem commercial crossing, located to the southeast of Rafah city, to insert about 250 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid in addition to trucks holding goods for the sectors of trade and agriculture, plus…
Who will speak up for Israeli citizens’ right to free speech?Liberal Israelis who dare to speak out against the treatment of Palestinians may soon be facing prosecution
Uruknet August 3, 2010 – The most widely mentioned text in Israel over the last few weeks has been the famous quotation by Pastor Martin Niem??ller from 1946, which begins: “First they came for the Communists”. Cited by journalists, politicians and academics, or by commenting readers on websites (known in Hebrew as “the talkbackists”), the quotation serves to communicate one…
Child confronts Israeli forces over father’s detention
Uruknet August 3, 2010 – Video footage of a four-year-old child begging Israeli forces to release his father from detention on Monday has circulated the globe. “You dog, give me my dad. I want daddy. I want daddy. Give me my dad,” cried Khalid Fadel Al-Ja’bari, as Israeli border guards detained his father Fadel, 36 in the Al-Baq’a village east…
Hamas Slowly Islamising Gaza
Uruknet August 3, 2010 – Gazans are caught between a rock and a hard place. While Israel continues to apply a crippling siege on the coastal territory, Gaza’s Hamas government is cracking down on civil and political liberties in what appears to be a campaign to slowly Islamise Gaza… “Hamas is actually very smart and pragmatic. This is not Iran….
Scores injured in days of Israeli attacks on Gaza
Uruknet August 3, 2010 – Tens of Palestinians were injured in a series of Israeli air strikes on Monday, 2 August in the refugee camp of Deir el-Balah in the south of the occupied Gaza Strip. Israeli forces targeted senior Hamas official Alaa al-Danaf during the attacks, which leveled his house and badly damaged at least 12 other homes nearby….
Israel Arrests Children Walking Near West Bank Separation Wall
Uruknet August 3, 2010 – At 12pm on Monday August 2nd, three children who had been walking near the wall in Bil’in village where arrested by Israeli soldiers. The three 14-year-old friends Moatasem Ali Mansor, Majde Burnat, and Mohamad Abu Rahmah often take walks near the wall. Today they were detained by soldiers behind the wall for three hours. While…
Video: Palestinian Boy, Five, Begs Soldiers Not To Take His Dad
Uruknet August 3, 2010 – TV cameras have captured the distressing moment a five-year-old Palestinian boy sees his father arrested for stealing water. Khaled Jabari wails in torment and confusion as Israeli soldiers drag away his father Fadel in the West Bank district of Hebron. Walking barefoot, the youngster becomes hysterical as he pleads with the troops not to take…
The betrayal of HaitiConditions in Haiti are still appalling six months after the quake
Uruknet August 2, 2010 – SIX MONTHS after Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake, the promises of the world’s most powerful governments to provide billions in aid to one of the world’s poorest and weakest governments have been betrayed. There was an immediate outpouring of solidarity after the quake struck Haiti on January 12—people from the U.S. to Palestine and beyond gave to…
Israel approves construction in East J’lem settlement
Uruknet August 2, 2010 – The Jerusalem Municipality’s planning committee approved the construction of 40 housing units on Monday in an illegal settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli media reported. The approvals are part of a wider plan to construct 220 new houses in the Pisgat Ze’ev settlement, Israeli news site Ynet said, adding that 32 houses were approved last…
Campaigns of Political Arrests Continue in the West Bank; Detainees Include a Woman and Two Human Rights Defenders
Uruknet August 2, 2010 – The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the campaigns of arbitrary arrests waged by Palestinian security services in the West Bank against members of Hamas, which have included detentions and maltreatment and are in violation of the law. The latest campaign targeted a number of Palestinians in Nablus and Ramallah, including a 43-year-old woman…
West Bank: The weekend in protests
Uruknet August 2, 2010 – Dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation and stun grenades in Bil’in’s weekly demonstration, and two people were injured. On Friday 30 July the people of Bil’in were joined by several groups of internationals, including a group of rappers from Britain and the US. A large group of the demonstrators managed to approach the soldiers who…
Israel Takes Another Step Away from Democracy
Uruknet August 2, 2010 – According to the BNC(Boycott National Committee) Statement published on the 9th of July “after five years of BDS, the movement has proven, indisputably, to be the most effective and morally consistent form of solidarity with the people of Palestine in our struggle to end Israel’s occupation, apartheid, and persistent denial of the UN-sanctioned right of…
SAFAD, BISAN, JENIN
Uruknet August 2, 2010 – Safad is a town in northern historic Palestine. Bisan is a 1948 Palestinian town too, but the name has been changed by the conquistador in Bet Shean. Jenin is located in northern West Bank conquered in 1967. Sami El-Qishawi has four daughters; to three of them he has given the name of Bisan, Safad and…
South Africa’s lessons for Gaza
Uruknet August 2, 2010 – The Palestinian national movement has overlooked this question: does the Gaza Strip resemble the racist Bantustans of apartheid South Africa? During the apartheid era, South Africa’s black population was kept in isolation and without political and civil rights. Is Gaza similar? The answer is yes and no. What is apartheid? As defined by the 1973…
Honduran Junta Murdering Journalists
Uruknet August 2, 2010 – Orchestrated by Washington, it discussed the June 28, 2009 coup, Honduran soldiers arresting President Manuel Zelaya at gunpoint, exiling him to Costa Rica, obstructing his return, committing widespread killings and human rights abuses, conducting a sham November 2009 election under martial law, installing Porfirio (Pepe) Lobo Sosa president on January 27, 2010, the Obama administration’s…
Settlers Ramp Up “Price Tag” PolicyIsraeli Rabbi Preaches “Slaughter” of Gentile Babies
Uruknet August 2, 2010 – A rabbi from one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank was questioned on suspicion of incitement last week as Israeli police stepped up their investigation into a book in which he sanctions the killing of non-Jews, including children and babies. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira is one of the leading ideologues of the most…
Jordan says rockets came from Egypt
The National 3 Aug 2010 – Cairo refutes by saying its military hardware is under tight security as a Grad-type rocket is accused of originating from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Israel retreats on flotilla agreement
The National 3 Aug 2010 – Report says the UN panel’s powers in the inquiry will be limited to reviewing documents and no individual will face investigation.
Nuclear inspectors weigh Syria inquest
The National 3 Aug 2010 – Like Iran, Syria is suspected of hiding weapons-related nuclear activities and has blocked access to a suspected nuclear site destroyed by Israeli warplanes in September 2007.
New Construction in East Jerusalem Settlement
Alternative Information Center – The Jerusalem Municipality Planning and Building Committee has approved the construction of 40 new housing units in the East Jerusalem settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev. Approval for these four new buildings, each with 10 apartments, comes less…
RSF Condemns Killing of Lebanese Journalist by Israeli Army
WAFA – PARIS, August 3, 2010 (WAFA)- Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the killing of Assaf Abu Rahal, a journalist working for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, and wounding Al-Manar TV reporter Ali
Erakat Appeals to Stop Israel’s Policies Against Jerusalemites
WAFA – RAMALLAH, August 3, 2010 (WAFA)- Marking one year after the eviction of the Al Ghawi and Hanoun families, Head of the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department Dr. Saeb Erakat appealed to the international
PNA Condemns Terror Act in Jordan
WAFA – RAMALLAH, August 3, 2010 (WAFA)- The Palestinian National Authority Official Spokesperson condemned the terrorist act to which Jordan was subjected, that aims at undermining the security and
PCBS: 517,774 Settlers in West Bank
WAFA –
Sending Palestinian Student Delegation to USA
WAFA – JERICHO, August 3, 2010 (WAFA)- The U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem and AMIDEAST met with a group of 55 students in Jericho to prepare them for travel to the United States. The students
Who will speak up for Israeli citizens’ right to free speech? | Daphna Baram
The Guardian 3 Aug 2010 – Liberal Israelis who dare to speak out against the treatment of Palestinians may soon be facing prosecution The most widely mentioned text in Israel over the last few weeks has been the famous quotation by Pastor…
Last kaffiyeh factory in Palestinian territories: ‘It’s more than a business’
The Guardian 3 Aug 2010 – Family’s battle to continue producing the popular chequered headscarf — internationally recognised symbol of the Palestinian national struggle — amid competition from cheap imports
MIDEAST: Hamas Slowly Islamising Gaza
IPS Gazans are caught between a rock and a hard place. While Israel continues to apply a crippling siege on the coastal territory, Gaza’s Hamas government is cracking down on civil and political liberties in what appears to be a campaign to slowly Islamise Gaza.
Oil exports to Iran drop by 50%
YNet News – Report: Sanctions having an effect, Tehran mostly imports from Turkey, China….
Lethal clash: Senior IDF commander killed in border skirmish
YNet News – IDF Lieutenant Colonel Dov Harari killed in border skirmish with Lebanese army….
Assad vows to help Lebanon in face of ‘criminal’ Israeli aggression
YNet News – Following fierce exchanges of fire along Israel-Lebanon border, Syrian president….
Police reassure residents; no rocket hits reported in north
YNet News – Bomb shelters at northern Israel communities remain locked up, police seek to….
Dead, wounded in massive skirmish on Lebanon border
YNet News – Explosions rock northern border Tuesday as IDF clashes with Lebanese forces;….
Lebanese president: Stand up to Israel
YNet News – Michel Suleiman vows to stand up to Israel ‘at any price,’ says Israel violated….
Turkey summons Israeli envoy over Barak’s comments
YNet News – Ambassador called in after defense minister expresses concern over appointment….
Jordan: Firm hand against terrorists
YNet News – Following rockets fired at Eilat, Aqaba, editorial in Jordanian paper al-Rai….
2 IDF choppers make emergency landing in Romania
YNet News – A close call: A week after helicopter fatal crash in Romania that killed six….
UNIFIL says IDF activity did not warrant Lebanese fire
YNet News – UNIFIL forces who toured the site of Tuesday’s deadly exchanges of fire on the northern border said the IDF’s activity did not warrant the attack launched by Lebanese …….
Nasrallah threatens to retaliate against Israel
YNet News – Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah spoke on Tuesday in Beirut in honor of four years passing since the Second Lebanon War. His speech was made just hours after …….
Iran rejects Brazil asylum for woman facing stoning
YNet News – Iran on Tuesday rejected an offer by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to give asylum to an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for having an …….
Shalit’s brother: No more excuses
YNet News – The Shalit family and many of its supporters held a rally Tuesday evening to mark the 1,500-day captivity of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The protest was held outside …….
US urges ‘maximum restraint’ by Lebanon, Israel
YNet News – The United States is “extremely concerned” about violence on the Lebanon-Israel border and urged “maximum restraint” to avoid escalation, State Department spokesman P.J. …….
Barak to Lebanon: We won’t tolerate provocations
YNet News – Israeli warning: Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned the Lebanese government Tuesday against “continuing to provoke IDF forces,” following the deadly exchanges of fire in …….
Palestinian Information Center
Hamas condemns Israeli aggression on Lebanon
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – The Hamas Movement has strongly condemned the “vicious” Israeli aggression on south Lebanon Tuesday morning, saluting, at the same time, the Lebanese army for defending their country’s sovereignty.
PA census: Number of Israeli settlers in West Bank more than half-million
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – Ola Awad, the deputy-chairman of the Palestinian census authority, unveiled on Tuesday that number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank increased drastically over the past years.
UN committee for Freedom Flotilla probe to begin next Tuesday
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – Ban Ki-moon has announced that a UN committee to investigate Israel’s raid on the Freedom Flotilla will begin next Tuesday after Turkish-Israel approval of the UN’s proposal to form it.
Prisoner Hamed in isolation cell since 2006
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – The lawyer of the Palestinian prisoner society said that Ibrahim Hamed has been locked up in solitary cell since kidnapped in May 2006 at the pretext he poses a threat to Israel’s national security.
IOA rebuilds apartheid wall in central Lod
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – The IOA resumed construction of a wall separating Arab and Jewish neighborhoods in the heavily Jewish settled city of Lod, which is located in Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.
Israeli army raids villages in Negev, demolishes dozens of homes
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – A large force of Israeli police raided Tuesday several villages in Negev, south of Israel, amid a demolition operation targeting dozens of homes in the villages.
Muslim World League marks 50 years on a pro-Palestine beat
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – The Muslim World League condemned Israel’s “practices aimed at Judaizing Jerusalem and obliterating the Arab and Islamic identity of Palestine.”
Six homes flattened, 300 others damaged in Israeli bombing of Deir Al-Balah
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – A preliminary report issued by the Palestinian ministry of public works stated that the Israeli random shelling of Deir Al-Balah caused damage to more than 300 homes and destroyed six others.
Ankara summons Israeli ambassador after comments by Barak
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – The Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador to Ankara after comments by Ehud Barak, who described Turkey’s new intelligence chief as an “aide to Iran.”, a Turkish diplomat said.
Russia expresses concern over Israeli escalation against Gaza
PIC 3 Aug 2010 – The Russian foreign ministry expressed concern over the Israeli military escalation against the Gaza Strip especially the aerial raids over the past few days that led to human casualties.
4 killed as Israel, Lebanon clash
LA Times 4 Aug 2010 – Two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist are reportedly killed as violence flares at the border. One Israeli army officer is also killed. The incident is the worst such since the 2006 Lebanon War. A deadly flare-up of tensions along the Israel- Lebanon border killed four people Tuesday, heightening fears of renewed warfare between the nations.
Kenya’s vote on constitution may renew tribal conflicts
LA Times 3 Aug 2010 – Former Kalenjin elite could lose their ill-gotten land under a provision of the document, but Kikuyus fear that those owners won’t give up their properties peacefully. Kenya’s vote on a new constitution Wednesday is supposed to be about ending decades of poor governance and corruption. But for Njeri Kanini, who lives in the Olare village of the lush Rift Valley, it means terror.
Brazil’s Plea on Iranian Convicted of Adultery Seems to Fail
New York Times 3 Aug 2010 – Iran appears to have reacted coldly to an entreaty by Brazil’s president to allow an Iranian woman convicted of adultery to take asylum in Brazil.
Boy Begs Soldiers Not To Take His Dad
Palestine Monitor – TV cameras have captured the terrible moment of a five-year-old Palestinian boy seeing his father arrested by Israeli soldiers, nearby Hebron. In the video, the kid, Khaled Jabari, wails in torment and confusion as Israeli Army drag away his father, Fadel, for stealing water. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/vi… Walking…
Stand behind Wikileaks and against secret war
Mondoweiss – I love the debate in the MSM about whether the great Julian Assange is as virtuous as Daniel Ellsberg. I bet they were trashing Ellsberg 40 years ago, too. Oh but this is so different! Yes, very true. Different times, different weapons. Ellsberg spent nights at…
Another prominent American Jew pronounces himself ‚Äòdisgusted’ with Israel
Mondoweiss – Earlier today I called for more Jewish apostates in the face of Israel’s repulsive conduct ( please watch this video ). Well a friend pointed this out to me: This Times piece on the ADL opposing the mosque near Ground Zero prompted a healthy rejoinder from Jay Rosen,…
Tom Shales takes more stupid swipes at Amanpour
Mondoweiss – Tom Shales has repeatedly attacked Christiane Amanpour, on the most ad hominem grounds, in the Washington Post. He went after her for supposed anti-Israel bias last March. Lately he suggested that a prayer she offered on behalf of all the war dead was aimed at the…
War of the hedges
Mondoweiss – (Photo: Ronith Daher / AP) The Israelis dangled a soldier over the Lebanese border today , to trim the hedges, or so they say. And an officer was killed by a Lebanese “sniper,” say the Israelis. Reminiscent of the tractors in the Golan before the Six Day War……
A tale of two very different droughts
Mondoweiss – Haaretz contributor Nehemia Shtrasler writes: “Israel is still drying up,” shrieks the Water Authority, and it’s right. The last winter did not end the drought, which has now lasted five years. It has been the worst uninterrupted period of aridity for 80 years. Yet does anybody…
Deadly Israel-Lebanon troop clash
BBC 3 Aug 2010 – Three Lebanese soldiers, a senior Israeli officer and a journalist are killed in the first serious clash since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Nasrallah accuses Israel on ex-PM
BBC 3 Aug 2010 – Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah accuses Israel of being behind the 2005 assassination of ex-Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri.
Iran rejects Brazil asylum offer
BBC 3 Aug 2010 – Iran says the Brazilian president did not have enough information when he offered refuge to an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning.
Iran ‘spy trial’ opens in Kuwait
BBC 3 Aug 2010 – A trial opens in Kuwait of six men, including a Kuwaiti soldier, and one woman accused of spying for Iran.
Israeli Settlers Step Up ‚ÄòPrice-Tag’ Policy
Antiwar.com 3 Aug 2010 – A rabbi from one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank was questioned on suspicion of incitement last week as Israeli police stepped up their investigation into a book in which he sanctions the killing of non-Jews, including children and babies. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira…
(en) Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle that defy all expectations
A-infos 3 Aug 2010 – No one will expect that the anarchists will lead the main struggle of the radical left of a country. No where in the world anarchist confront the state forces in a one sided non violent mode, week after week, expanding gradual the arena… and still walk…
(en) US, BAAM #35 of the Boston Anti-Authoritarian Movement – The Heroes of the Mavi Marmara: a Turning Point for International Solidarity*
A-infos 3 Aug 2010 – From all credible reports of what happened during the early morning raid on the Free Gaza Flotilla, it seems clear that Israeli commandos attacked the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, shooting before boarding it in international waters, and expected to rapidly subdue the noncompliant captain and…
Articles
Palestinian Detainee Abuse during Operation Cast Lead
Stephen Lendman, Dissident Voice8/2/2010
On July 6, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PACTI) and Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel released a report titled, “Exposed: The Treatment of Palestinian Detainees During Operation Cast Lead,” detailing their horrific treatment.
Transferred to Israel for interrogation, detainees related grim details of their ordeal — grave human rights violations, showing Israel’s “contempt for the rule of law.”
Their “fundamental due process rights were trampled on and the rule of law brutally disregarded during and after the fighting,” providing compelling evidence of collective punishment since Israel’s 2005 “disengagement,” followed by an embargo, a medieval siege, regular incursions, Cast Lead, and continued oppression of 1.5 million people ‚Äî isolated, surrounded, attacked, brutalized, and slowly suffocated into submission, what hasn’t happened and won’t, but it doesn’t deter Israel from trying, or America from providing weapons and funding its lawlessness.
Seizure and Detention in Gaza
Under Article 92 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners relating to family notification about an individual’s seizure, the ICRC says it must be “as soon as (someone is) interned, or at the latest not more than one week after….arriv(ing) in a place of internment” or a temporary camp.
Israeli law also obligates authorities to comply with international law, its High Court recognizing notification as a basic detainee right, ruling that relatives must be informed within 24 hours…. more.. e-mail
You, as of now, are someone else!
Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine Think Tank7/3/2010
Was it inevitable for us to fall from such heights, and see our blood on our hands… for us to realize that we are no angels… as we used to think? Was it also necessary for us to expose our genitals to everyone, to make sure our reality is no longer a virgin?
Such liars were we when we said: We are exceptional!
To believe yourself is much worse than lying to someone else! To be friendly with those who hate us, and ruthless to those who love us — this is the inferiority of the conceited, and the arrogance of the situation!
Oh past, do not change us… the further away we move from you! Oh future: do not ask us: who are you? And what do you want from me? We too have no clue. Oh present, bear with us a little, we are no more than dreary passers by!
Identity is our legacy and not our inheritance; our invention and not our memory.
Identity is the ruin of the mirror that we should break as soon as we like our image! He put on a mask, put on courage, and killed his mother… because she was the easiest prey… and because a female soldier stopped him and exposed her breasts asking: Does your mother have breasts like these?
If it wasn’t for modesty and darkness, I would have visited Gaza, without knowing the road to the new house of Abu Sufian, nor the name of the new prophet. If Mohammad hadn’t been the last of the prophets, each gang would have had its own prophet, and each companion a militia! We admired June in its 40th anniversary; if we can’t fine someone to defeat us again we defeat ourselves with our own hands, lest we forget! more.. e-mail
Culture: A Palestinian Strength to Be Built Upon
Nader Atta, This Week in Palestine8/2/2010
During the spring of 2010, the Ramallah Cultural Palace was the venue for the graduation ceremony of over 220 children and youth who were trained by the Popular Arts Center on various forms of traditional Palestinian folklore dance, the dabkeh. With an overflow audience of over 900 persons in attendance, the dancers stomped and shook the building with their powerful energy and enthusiasm to the applause of their family and friends, thus making a statement that the continued transfer of this form of Palestinian culture from generation to generation is alive and well.
Culture is a very important means by which Palestinians have held on to their identity, values, norms, and traditions, not only in Occupied Palestinian territory but also in the diaspora. It is a glue that maintains the link between the Palestinian people, no matter where they reside, and their ancestral home. Thus, for the Palestinian people, protecting their culture and ensuring its continuity is as important as their struggle for independence.
Palestinian culture has been a symbol as well as a source of strength and pride during the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation. Over the past decade, it has become evident that Palestinians are no longer only battling for the land that they have tilled for centuries, they are also battling a campaign of cultural pillaging. From the dabkeh to the Palestinian thob (traditional embroidered woman’s dress) to the kaffiyeh (Palestinian headscarf) and even to such foods as falafel and hummus, a campaign is being waged to market these items as part of Israeli culture.
Moreover, unlike their parents and grandparents, today’s families are having a more difficult time in raising their children during this age of the Internet and satellite television. With access to information readily available as never before in this mostly conservative society, youth are testing the limits of values that are counter to Palestinian customs. The question becomes: How can outside customs be introduced without debilitating Palestinian cultural practices? more.. e-mail
Scores injured in days of Israeli attacks on Gaza
Electronic Intifada: 3 Aug 2010 – Tens of Palestinians were injured in a series of Israeli air strikes on Monday, 2 August in the refugee camp of Deir el-Balah in the south of the occupied Gaza Strip. Israeli forces targeted senior Hamas official Alaa al-Danaf during the attacks, which leveled his house and badly damaged at least 12 other homes nearby. This followed three consecutive days of Israeli strikes across the besieged territory.more
Probe into flotilla killings met with skepticism
Electronic Intifada: 3 Aug 2010 – UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Despite initial misgivings, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received the tacit approval of the Israeli government to establish an international panel to probe the widely-condemned killings of nine Turkish civilians onboard a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza last May.more
Boy Begs Soldiers Not To Take His Dad
Palestine Monitor: 3 Aug 2010 – TV cameras have captured the terrible moment of a five-year-old Palestinian boy seeing his father arrested by Israeli soldiers, nearby Hebron. In the video, the kid, Khaled Jabari, wails in torment and confusion as Israeli Army drag away his father, Fadel, for stealing water. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/vi… Walking barefoot, the youngster becomes hysterical as he pleads with the troops not to take his father away. One of the soldiers picks up the lad and removes him from the scene before Fadel is driven away in a four-wheel-drive. Dr Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, commented the video, circulated yesterday on SKY TV and Al Jazeera, saying that “ Palestinian children grow up under the Israeli occupation, surrounded by the Apartheid Wall, by oppression and destruction. Israel repudiates children’s rights and welfare and treats them like adults, clearly violating UN Declaration of Child’s Rights”. After watching the footage, Hashem Abu…more
Playing Soccer in Gaza
Palestine Chronicle: 3 Aug 2010 – By Andrew Ford You’re watching your kid play soccer. It’s a chilly weekend morning and you may be upset at the lost sleep involved in getting up and getting him there. The grass is green and the net, goal posts, striping are new and unscarred from previous play; their maintenance secured through a school district budget that generally passes grudging voter approval every two years. You see the mix of parents, some of them groggy, some of them slightly too excited by the impending competition. And it’s all incredibly normal. What if the infrastructure for everything in the above scenario simply didn’t exist? What if there wasn’t a dew-covered green field behind the local elementary school that was open to all for community activities, funded by tax payers and maintained by salaried groundskeepers? What would it take for that scene to play out in in a refugee community in the…more
Revered Rabbi Preaches Slaughter of Gentile Babies
Palestine Chronicle: 3 Aug 2010 – By Jonathan Cook – Nazareth A rabbi from one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank was questioned on suspicion of incitement last week as Israeli police stepped up their investigation into a book in which he sanctions the killing of non-Jews, including children and babies. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira is one of the leading ideologues of the extreme wing of the religious settler movement. He is known to be a champion of the “price-tag” policy of reprisal attacks on Palestinians, including punishing them for attempts by officials to enforce Israeli law against the settlements. So far the policy has chiefly involved violent harassment of Palestinians, with settlers inflicting beatings, attacking homes, throwing stones, burning fields, killing livestock and poisoning wells. It is feared, however, that Shapira’s book The King’s Torah, published last year, is intended to offer ideological justifications for widening the scope of such attacks to include…more
Globalisation — A Palestinian Context
Palestine Chronicle: 3 Aug 2010 – By Jamil Salman — Amman Despite the recent surge in studies criticising the effects of globalisation and, by extension, the World Trade Organisation, Palestinian officials have remained steadfast in their desire to expose the economy to the effects of globalisation. To some, membership at the WTO has become the next integral step in not only ending economic depression, but achieving Palestinian statehood. This is in part due to the major deficiencies regarding the shared Customs Union with Israel. As has been proven, a Customs Union will always remain economically infeasible despite the many proposed changes to the Paris Protocol. The political instability, security measures and the porous border control – which leads to much more smuggling than anyone would care to admit (it has been estimated that the Israeli-Palestinian Customs Union has created total sum losses that range from anywhere between 4.5-5.2 Million Dollars. Smuggling meanwhile, has amounted to leakages…more
A Powerful Testimony to Courage — A Book Review
Palestine Chronicle: 3 Aug 2010 – By George Polley Kenneth Ring, PhD and Ghassan Abdullah, editors: Letters from Palestine: Palestinians Speak Out about Their Lives, Their Country, and the Power of Nonviolence. Paperback, $26.95. Wheatmark, Tucson, Arizona, 2010. Website: www.wheatmark.com . For Palestinians, 1948 was a catastrophe. When Israel was born, between 700,000 and 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their ancestral homes, farms, villages and towns and became permanent refugees. For them this murderous ethnic cleansing was their Holocaust. Sixty-two years later, it continues. For those who live in what was Palestine, the experience is one of contempt, persecution and eradication. The following quote from professor and peace activist David Shulman’s book Dark Hope is a description of what it is like on the ground. “What we are fighting in the South Hebron Hills is pure, rarefied, unadulterated, uncontainable human evil. Nothing but malice drives this campaign to uproot” people from their homes. … “They led peaceful,…more
The Legitimacy of Boycotting as a Tactic
Dissident Voice: 3 Aug 2010 – Progressivism values solidarity, and within that solidarity there is respect for diversity. It is expected that there will be differences of opinion on the causes of injustices and solutions to the injustice. What best captures the essence of progressivism is its adherence to principles. It seems obvious to declare the right to non-violently resist an occupier/oppressor must be one of those principles. There appears, however, a schism on this principle within the progressivist movement. One renowned leftist, Noam Chomsky, is against boycotts as a tactic to resist oppression. Jeffrey Blankfort objected to Chomsky’s stand on boycotts and his stance vis-á-vis Israel. 1 Jeremy Hammond objected to Blankfort’s criticism of Chomsky. 2 Hammond, who usually writes quite articulately on social justice issues, began his recent offering in an intemperate manner: “Tirades against Noam Chomsky never cease to amaze me.” One might surmise from Hammond’s opening sentence that he would address tirades…more
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