Today in Palestine ! - June 5th 2007

Today in Palestine Brought to you by Shadi Fadda


New U.N. map charts reality of West Bank
A new map of the West Bank , 40 years after its conquest by Israel in the Six Day War, gives the most definitive picture so far of a territory in which 2.5m Palestinians are confined to dozens of enclaves separated by Israeli roads, settlements, fences and military zones. It is based on extensive monitoring in the field combined with analysis of satellite imagery, It provides an overall picture officials say is even more comprehensive than charts drawn up by the Israeli military.


Israeli TV: Army training in model Syrian villages in preparation for a war this summer in Syria
The television program showed photos of Israeli army training sessions attended by Israeli defence minister Amir Peretz and chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who said, "We are ready for any deterioration on the Gaza Strip front and the Syrian front." the photos also revealed that the army is training how to break into towns and villages like those in Syria. Ashkenazi said, "I hope there will be no war but the training is part of preparing the army for any emergency; we have to make use of every day to train so that we can be ready for any attack." Peretz said that the training is a message to the Syrians. "We don't have the intention to start a war but this is a message to tell them that we are ready for it if it occurs; we are carrying out training in the same time the Syrians are doing so".


Hamas officially supports creating a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders
In a statement issued on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the 1967 war, the movement said that it accepts the establishment of such a state but "that this never means abandoning any part of the occupied lands or making any concessions with regard to the right of return for the refugees who were forced to leave their lands [in 1948]."


IDF probes soldiers' use of Palestinian human shields
The affair began over three months ago, when foreign television crews filmed IDF soldiers forcing Palestinians to search their neighbors' homes for militants, in case the wanted gunmen should open fire. The investigation has so far revealed that some of the IDF units operating in the West Bank have continued to use Palestinian human shields despite the IDF's explicit policy against it.

Jonathan Cook: Defending Israel from democracy
The Shin Bet and the Persecution of Azmi Bishara. I have been arguing for some time that Israel's ultimate goal is to create an ethnic fortress, a Jewish space in expanded borders from which all Palestinians -- including its 1.2 million Palestinian citizens -- will be excluded. That was the purpose of the Gaza disengagement and it is also the point of the wall snaking through the West Bank, effectively annexing to Israel what little is left of a potential Palestinian state. It should therefore be no surprise that we are witnessing the first moves in Israel's next phase of conquest of the Palestinians. With the 3.7 million Palestinians in the occupied territories caged inside their ghettos, unable to protest their treatment behind fences and walls, the turn has come of Israel's Palestinian citizens.


Detained Palestinian legislator sent to hospital due to serious health concerns
Hamed Al Bitawi, the Hamas Parliamentarian, was today moved from the Al Jalamah detention camp to an Israeli prison hospital after concerns over his health heightened. He was kidnapped on March 25, 2007 during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank that targeted more than 40 Palestinian law makers, officials and Hamas supporters. Medical sources stated that Al Bitawi, 63, suffers from several illnesses, including diabetes and a serious heart condition. The Israeli administration has previously denied him permission to travel to Jordan for medical help on a number of occasions in the past.

Nonviolent demonstration in Bethlehem to mark 40 years of occupation
About 100 Bethlehem area residents demonstrated on Tuesday at the Nashash Israeli army checkpoint between Bethlehem and Hebron cities in the southern part of the West Bank , closing it down for 20 minutes and demanding an end of the illegal occupation of Palestine . Participant Jamal Al Gadi explained that the demonstration was "a non-violent call for a better political situation in Palestine ." The 100 people in attendance included about 50 children.


Nafha Society slams Israeli abduction of its social coordinator
The abducted coordinator is identified as Abdul-Rahman Ashour, he was taken prisoner after the army broke into his house and searched it. The Society stated that this arrest is illegal and is considered an attack against a legitimate society that has civil services in defending the rights of the Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.

The Society also accused Israel of attempting to stop any society that advocates the rights of the detainees, adding that this is not the first attack against its employees.


PA approves a 10-point truce plan
The ten-point ceasefire plan, which is conditioned on Israel commitment to the truce, consists of the following points; 1) All factions will stop firing homemade shells into Israeli areas. 2) Israel should stop all of its aerial, ground and naval attacks. 3)The truce should also be implemented in the West Bank. . . . Dr. Barghouthi also stated that the government will carry all needed efforts to uncover the groups that carries attacks and internal violence in order to prosecute the assailants and to follow-up every step in implementing the security plan.


Zobeidi: "The Al-Aqsa Brigades reject the new [proposed] truce"
Zakariyya Zobeidi, leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh, stated that the initiative for a truce with the Israeli occupation is totally rejected since "it serves the Israeli interests and does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people". Zobeidi stated that the brigades will not be committed to the truce since the Israeli army did not stop its attacks, invasions and assassinations, and since Israeli did not lift its siege imposed on the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.


South Africa says Israel defies international law
Israel has been able to defy the international community with impunity...No country has been allowed to get away with such blatant violations of international law," said Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War when Israel took the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. South Africa has been one of the most vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause, comparing their struggle against occupation with the fight against apartheid rule that ended in 1994. In a statement, the governing African National Congress also expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people.


Amnesty International: Israel killed more than 650 Palestinians in 2006
120 of the murdered Palestinians were children. The high number, Amnesty writes, was due to the fact that "Israeli forces carried out frequent air and artillery bombardments against the Gaza Strip, often into densely populated refugee camps and residential areas." Palestinian militants, on the other hand, only killed 27 Israelis in 2006. This means that Israel killed about 24 times more Palestinians than vice versa.


PCHR: 3,235 Palestinians killed since the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada
which began in September 2000. A report issued by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights stated that 141 women, 25 medics, 10 journalists, 6 of whom were foreigners, and 764 children, have been killed. In addition to 614 who were the victims of targeted assassinations, 412 of whom were 'wanted' and 212 who were innocent civilians. The report added that 11,030 Palestinians were injured in the Gaza Strip and 13,100 in the West Bank. 11,000 Palestinians have been taken prisoner.


Palestinian fisherman injured by Israeli warships off Gaza coast
Palestinian fisherman Abdullah Miqdad, aged 20, was injured on Monday night when an Israeli naval squadron opened fire towards him west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. He sustained moderate wounds to his face.
Miqdad told Ma'an's correspondent that Israeli naval squadron suddenly opened fire towards the fishermen who were near Rafah beach.


Medical and social workers detained at Tayarir checkpoint for over four hours
Israeli forces detained medical staff and social workers, who work in affiliation with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), on Monday at Tayasir checkpoint, which is located between Tubas and the Jordan Valley area of the north east of the occupied West Bank. The medical workers were carrying out a regular scheduled visit to disabled members of society in the northern Jordan Valley . The Israeli troops also seized the workers' IDs and their mobile phones. At gunpoint, the soldiers also forced the driver of the ambulance, Muntaser Hanawe, to empty the vehicle of its contents.

Israelis favor military operations in Gaza
A significant minority of 42 percent favors reoccupying Gaza to stop attacks on Israeli towns, while about 48 percent oppose such move, according to a Peace Index poll, conducted by Tel Aviv University last week. Limited ground operations of Israeli army in Gaza are supported by 63 percent of the polled only if the army pulls back after a permanent ceasefire is achieved. An overwhelming majority (76 percent) rejects Hamas's offer to stop bombing Sderot if the Israeli army would relinquish any military attacks such as kidnappings and strikes on civilians and activists in the West Bank.


One Palestinian security officer injured in renewed internal clashed in Gaza
Media sources have reported that Hamas and Fatah forces fought for several hours on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip near the Karni commercial crossing, the most serious flare-up in factional fighting in two weeks. At least one member of President Mahmoud Abbas's Presidential Guard was wounded in what the force described as an attempt by Hamas to infiltrate a key position near Karni crossing. Hamas officials confirmed the gun battle but said the Presidential Guard initiated the exchange.


Details of the Israeli invasion of Qabatia
The Israeli army invaded on Tuesday at dawn Qabatia town, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin and kidnapped ten residents, mainly students. The invasion was carried out by Israeli soldiers, under-cover units of the Israeli army and dozens of military vehicles, at least ten residents were injured, and ten were kidnapped. During early dawn hours, fierce clashes erupted as fighters of the Al Aqsa brigades, the armed wing of Fateh, the Al Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Resistance Committees exchanged fire with the invading forces. Resident Mohammad Mustafa Nazzal stated that at least thirty soldiers broke into his home, forced his family out, and searched the house before kidnapping two of his sons. Damage was reported to the house as the army used excessive violence and deliberately destroyed the furniture. The army used military bulldozers to demolish walls, parts of houses and shops. Soldiers also used explosives to detonate the doors or several shops and stores before searching them.


Abbas: "Palestinians are on verge of civil war"
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday that his people were on the verge of civil war and said the infighting was worse than living under Israeli military rule. Abbas focused on the bloody factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas. He said he has spent hundreds of negotiating hours trying to halt the bloodshed, "realizing that what is equal to or even worse than occupation is internal fighting." He warned that factional fighting had harmed the Palestinians' standing in the world.


Forty years of occupation – the choice between peace and war – by Missa Abu Ghazalah

This month, the Arab world remembers the six-day war, the naqsa as it is known in Arabic, in circumstances similar to those that surrounded the event itself. As it was 40 years ago, Israel is today the dominant military power in the Middle East. Over the 40 years of occupation, the city of Jerusalem has witnessed many dramatic and unprecedented changes, most important of these have been Israeli efforts to eradicate the Islamic nature of the city, replacing it with a character befitting a purely Jewish city that would serve as the "eternal and unified capital of Israel". Such measures have taken the form of forcing the original residents out of the city through house demolitions, high taxes, denial of the freedom to worship and placing restrictions on the development of Arab residential areas. Most recently, the Israeli administration has attempted to force out Arab residents of the city by cutting them totally from their Arab surroundings and sealing them inside the illegal Wall.


Sources: Israel considers giving PA half of withheld tax revenues
Israel is considering returning up to half of the tax revenues it has been withholding from the Palestinians as part of a U.S.-led effort to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli sources said Tuesday. Israel started withholding the tax revenues, which it collects on the Palestinian Authority's behalf, after Hamas Islamists defeated Abbas's secular Fatah faction in parliamentary elections in January 2006. Palestinian officials estimate that Israel is withholding some $700 million in Palestinian tax revenues. Israel finds itself increasingly isolated on the money issue. The United States joined the EU, UN and Russia in a statement last week encouraging Israel to consider freeing up the funds through a European Union mechanism that provides direct payments to Palestinian government workers.



Evacuation of settlers from Palestinian home in Hebron unlikely in near future

Security officials added that it is doubtful whether the evacuation will take place at all, given the reservations that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other senior members of his Kadima Party have about the plan to remove the settlers from the house. The house, which has come to be known as either "Beit Hameriva" ("The House of Contention") or "The Brown House," is located in a strategic place from the settlers' perspective ­ adjacent to Worshipers Way, the road that leads from Kiryat Arba to the Cave of the Patriarchs. The acquisition of additional houses nearby would help settlers strengthen their position in the area.


Israeli forces surround Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem
Israeli forces have surrounded the Ambassador hotel in Jerusalem , preventing popular events protesting against 40 years of occupation. Palestinian Minister of Information Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi condemned the action, considering it reflective of a policy of continuous attacks against Palestinians that violate the right to freedom of expression – a right guaranteed under the terms of the fourth Geneva Convention.

Dutch former U.N. observer says Israel provoked Six-Day War
A former Dutch UN observer has said Israel was not under siege by Arab countries preceding the Six-Day War, the 40th anniversary of which falls on Tuesday, and that the Jewish state provoked most border incidents as part of its strategy to annex more land. Speaking on a Dutch current affairs programme late Monday, Jan Muhren, who was stationed interchangeably at the Golan Heights and the West Bank in 1966-67, says neither Jordan nor Syria had any intention to start a war with Israel.


A look outside the local pond
Many Israelis returning from even a short trip overseas share this feeling: The joy of homecoming is accompanied by a sense that home is not a normal place, in the bad sense of the expression. There are places in the world where civilians are not exposed to news about the security situation from morning to night. There are nations that do not live with the constant moral unease deriving from the occupation of another nation. The basic picture is simple. The world sees Israel as an occupier, and its increasingly sullied image in the conflict with the Palestinians is a result of this. But the Israeli sees himself a victim of Arab aggression. He is fighting for his life, and his enemies keep plotting to take it away. The world is against him and is trying to stop him from defending himself.


The West Bank cage - by H.D.S. Greenway
When you first catch sight of the Israeli settlements, they look like crusader fortresses on the hilltops. The settler movement may have lost some of its invincibility in Israel after Ariel Sharon had settlers forcibly removed from Gaza, but they are sure of themselves in the West Bank . Settlement building never ceases. In Hebron you can see Israeli settlers armed to the teeth and full of swagger. A number of them are from America, playing out frontier fantasies.


Opposing occupation – by Peter Rothberg
Today, June 5, is the 40th anniversary of the beginning of Israel 's Six-Day War, when the occupation of the West Bank Top of Form

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and Gaza began. This Saturday, June 10 , tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out in Washington, DC, as part of a Global Day of Action Against the Israeli Occupation, followed by a day of lobbying on June 11. These activities are the first national actions in the US ever specifically opposing the illegal Israeli occupation.

Clashing values alter Jerusalem's face
Forty years ago, when Israel captured East Jerusalem and absorbed the Arab neighborhoods, it set out to maintain a large and sustainable Jewish majority in the city it was declaring its eternal and undivided capital. Instead, Jerusalem is gradually becoming more Palestinian and less Jewish. Thousands of Jews leave the city each year, many of them alienated by an ascendant ultra-Orthodox minority that is asserting its socially conservative values and political power. Palestinians made up about a quarter of the city's residents after the 1967 war; today they account for more than a third of the population of 732,100.



What if Israel had turned back? – by Tom Segev
More and more Israelis realize today that Israel gained absolutely nothing from the conquest of the Palestinian territories. Speculating again in hindsight — Israel may have been better off giving up the West Bank and East Jerusalem without peace than signing the 1994 peace agreement with Jordan while keeping these territories. Forty years of oppression and Palestinian terrorism, both extremely cruel, have undermined Israel 's Jewish and democratic foundations.


In praise of the [pre-1991] occupation – by Amira Hass
The occupations brought about by the 1967 war accomplished one great thing: They reunited the majority of the Palestinian people within the boundaries of their homeland. For the first time in 19 years it was once again possible for Palestinians to live and experience together, as a group, the expanse between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River . Only today, as this expanse is being butchered into dozens of separated and distanced enclaves in a process that is causing Palestinian society to crumble, is it possible to understand the importance of space during about a quarter of a century. Starting in 1991, Israel has been creating two kinds of expanses between the Mediterranean and the Jordan: a superior, open, developed and improved space for the Jews, and a shattered space tainted by intentional de-development for the Palestinians.

Camp in Lebanon slowly crumbles around them
BEIRUT — The choice was stark: Protect his aging father amid the fighting or lead his wife and children to safety. Eventually, filial duty trumped marital bonds. Abdel Rahman Khalil watched as his wife and five children walked away from the Nahr el Bared refugee camp with thousands of other Palestinian refugees, carrying white bits of cloth to mark them as noncombatants amid the shooting between Lebanese soldiers and Al Qaeda-linked militants.

BOOK REVIEW: The Persistence of the Palestinian Question by Joseph Massad
The Palestinian question is important enough to command attention in its own right: the politics of half a century have been moved by shockwaves from this epicenter of conflict. Massad offers invaluable information drawn from an array of carefully documented sources coupled with superb political and historical analysis that contributes directly to the study of Palestine. The core of the work is a careful and compelling articulation of the interdependence of Palestinian and Jewish histories, especially manifest in the dual project of Zionism.