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Five injured at Bil'in demonstration
As is the case each week, the people of Bil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, joined by international and Israeli peace activists, conducted their weekly protest against the construction of the illegal wall that will cut the village from its rightfully-owned land.
Israeli soldiers arrest two at Umm Salamoneh
Around 50 residents of the village of Umm Salamoneh, located to the south of Bethlehem in the West Bank, joined by international and Israeli peace activists, marched on Friday against confiscation of land by Israel for the purposes of the construction of the illegal wall.
PCHR weekly report: "Troops killed 14 Palestinians, including 5 children"
The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR), based in Gaza, published on Thursday its weekly report on the Israeli violations in the occupied territories in the period between June 14 - 20 / 2007. During the reported period soldiers killed 14 Palestinians, including five children.
Detainees in the Negev on Hunger Strike
Palestinian sources reported on Thursday that Palestinian detainees imprisoned at the Israeli Negev Detention facility continued their hunger strike for the second day in protest to the decision of the prison administration to bar high school detained students from conducting their final exams which are slated for the end of the month.
Probe: W. Bank settlers uproot 300 Palestinian olive trees
A Civil Administration inquiry has found that residents of the West Bank settlement outpost of Adei Ad uprooted 300 olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers about a week ago and replanted about half of them in the outpost, according to a source in the Civil Administration. "An investigation was carried out, and the Adei Ad residents' claim that the trees belong to them was refuted," the source said. "What they did was illegal."
4 nations thwart UN move to support Abbas gov't
The South African ambassador argued that the international community, especially the U.S., Israel and the Quartet, are to blame for the situation in the Gaza Strip. The Indonesian ambassador complained that the Security Council was devoting time and energy to discussions of Lebanon but ignoring the Palestinian problem. The Palestinian observer to the UN also objected to a declaration of support for the emergency government. The observer argued that such a declaration would constitute intervention in the PA's internal affairs.
Hamas acted on a very real fear of a US-sponsored coup
The fundamental cause is, of course, well known. Israel, aided by the US, was not prepared to accept Hamas's victory in last year's Palestinian elections. Backed by a supine EU, the two governments decided to boycott their new Palestinian counterparts politically and punish Palestinian voters by blocking economic aid. Their policies had a dramatic effect, turning Gaza even more starkly into an open prison and creating human misery on a massive scale. The aim was to turn voters against Hamas - a strategy of stupidity as well as cynicism, since outside pressure usually produces resistance rather than surrender.
Netanyahu: Deploy Jordanian troops in West Bank
A Palestinian division of the Jordanian military should be deployed in the West Bank in order to bring law and order to the area , opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Thursday.
Former Hamas Minister kidnapped in West Bank
The former justice minister in the Hamas-dominated government that held power for a year until March was kidnapped in the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, witnesses said.
Weiner: Cut Aid To West Bank And Gaza
U.S Representative Anthony Weiner will introduce an amendment to the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, banning all aid, including humanitarian aid, from the United States to the Palestinian Authority, according to a June 15 press release from Weiner's office.
Aid agencies warn of humanitarian crisis in Gaza
GENEVA – Aid agencies on Friday warned of a 'major humanitarian crisis' in the Hamas-held Gaza Strip, where food stocks could run out in two weeks, unless Israel's cargo blockade eases further.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070622-0726-mideast-gaza-aid.html
Abbas sacks top Fatah security chief after Hamas victory in Gaza
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas sacked a top security chief on Friday who commanded the forces routed by Hamas in Gaza last week, officials said. Abbas issued a decree firing Rashid Abu Shbak, the head of internal security and a leader in the secular Fatah movement, saying he "is stripped of his tasks as general director."
House okays Egypt aid cut over Gaza smuggling, human rights
The House of Representatives voted Friday to withhold $200 million in military funds for Egypt until Cairo shows it is stopping weapons-smuggling from Egypt to the Gaza Strip and improving human rights abuses.
Lieberman slams plan to free PA tax funds as gesture to Abbas
Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) on Friday slammed the government's plan to release Palestinian tax funds as a gesture to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a summit in Egypt on Monday.
Hamas: Abbas won't be able to wipe out Hamas' sovereignty
Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil on Friday denounced the summit planned for Monday between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, saying Abbas would not be able to wipe out Hamas' sovereignty.
A Visit to Fatah's Torture Chamber
A building formerly occupied by Fatah's intelligence service in Gaza was long notorious for torture and execution. Now Hamas is in control -- and is letting former inmates visit the chamber of horrors. The cells are small, perhaps six feet by six feet, with only an overhead lamp to provide light. The toilet is a hole in the floor behind a small wall. The prisoners have scribbled graffiti on the walls, including slogans like "Al-Qaida in Jerusalem" and "Islamic Jihad." One inmate even scratched the phrase "Mother, oh my mother" into the plaster.
Open Bethlehem Exposes Israel's Systematic Strangulation of the Holy City
During a Jan. 22 presentation in All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA, Maxim Sansour explained that when the second Muslim Caliph, Omar Ibn al-Khattab, set eyes on Bethlehem in the mid-7th century, he realized it was an extraordinarily important Christian shrine, and decreed that Muslims were not to disturb a single stone of the holy site. Now Israel's illegal wall has turned Bethlehem into a prison for its inhabitants. The formidable barrier has cut off 70 percent of Bethlehem's agricultural lands from the urban center. His grandfather owns five acres of farmland, Sansour noted, but has been notified that Israel is confiscating it for "security purposes."
The desecration of democracy
Part of a conquer and divide strategy is timing. Why did Israel wait until this moment to consider Mahmoud Abbas a "partner committed to peace" when his positions have hardly changed since his election over two years ago? Why is Israel only now considering freeing Marwan al-Barghouthi, a convicted Fatah activist? Why only now release the frozen government taxes ($570 million) that the Palestinians have desperately needed since Israel started withholding them in March of last year?
PLO is "an illegal and illusory authority," PLO political chief Qaddoumi says
Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Palestine Liberation Organization is as a "an illegal and illusory authority," the head of the PLO's political department, Farouq Qaddoumi, charged on Thursday. He also accused Palestinian President Abbas of misusing his presidential authorities.
Palestine: Tears of Despair, Tears of Anger
As we witness Palestine further divide itself in the midst of a Hamas/Fatah factional split, I have felt both despair and anger. The reasons for the despair should be obvious. The Palestinian people are no closer to national self-determination than they were when the Oslo Peace Accords were signed in 1993; the Israeli 'apartheid wall' moves forward, further dividing the land; the USA does not even pretend to be an honest broker, giving unqualified support to any and every action carried out by the Israeli government; and the people of Palestine continue to suffer. Indeed, their suffering seems to worsen with each passing day.
Palestinian fantasy vs. reality
"The United States was intent to see the Hamas government fail. Not only did it work assiduously to block international funding, but it poured arms and money into militias controlled by the discredited nationalist forces that had lost the election. To add to the pressure, Israel refused to transfer tax revenues paid by Palestinians to the new government. A prime beneficiary of US largesse has been Muhammad Dahlan and his Preventive Security Force, which was decisively defeated last week by Hamas. Dahlan, who is about as popular in Gaza as Ahmed Chelabi is in Iraq, is Washington's man."
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