Al-Mezan: New air strikes on Gaza kill seven
Saturday, 30 June 2007, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a metal workshop in the al-Maghazi Refugee Camp when the owners and workers were inside it. Four Palestinians were killed. Two others were injured, one seriously. About three hours later, an IOF F-16 fighter attacked the same 1,000-square-meter workshop again, destroying it completely. This attack caused varying damages to many adjacent homes and structures, including the building of al-Maghazi Municipality . At approximately 5:15pm on the same day, an IOF warplane fired a missile at a car on the al-Sikka Street in the center of Khan Younis hitting it directly. This attack destroyed the car and killed the three Palestinians who were inside it. Seven passersby were injured.
Gazans mourn the deaths of seven citizens killed in air strikes
Dozens of gunmen from different Palestinian factions led the funeral procession of Raed Ghannam, aged 24, Ziad Ghannam, 42, and Muhammad Ar Ra'i, 38. The three victims were killed in an Israeli air strike on the vehicle they were traveling in, in Khan Younis. Gunmen at the funeral procession vowed to avenge the deaths of their comrades. Masses also took part in the funeral procession of Salah Quffa, aged 50, his son Iyad, 24, Samir Abu Musallam, 46, and Ali Al 'Aydi, 22. All of whom were killed in the second Israeli strike on a blacksmith's workshop in Al Mughazi refugee camp, in the central strip .
He said it was another signal that Israeli PM Ehud Olmert's government has no interest in peace. Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, who was Minister of Information of the dismissed national unity government, ridiculed Olmert's 'goodwill gesture' to release 250 prisoners at the Sharm El Sheikh meeting last Monday when it arrests more than 90 people in 1 day, and an average of 200 Palestinians per month, describing the offer as a mockery.
http://www.imemc.org/article/49241
Israel releases US$118 million in tax revenues to Palestinian 'emergency gov't'
Earlier, the Israeli cabinet approved the transfer as the first installment of withheld tax funds to be released to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The remainder of the tax funds, collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians, will be transferred to PNA within six months. Palestinian sources estimate that Israel currently holds about 700 million U.S. dollars in frozen revenues. The tax fund release was the second "goodwill gesture" offered to Abbas and the emergency government in recent days, which was meant to bolster Abbas.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200707/02/eng20070702_389376.html
Jordan's King Abdullah rejects confederation with Palestinians
In newspaper remarks published Sunday, Abdullah said he was fed up talking about this issue.' We reject the formula of confederation and federation and we believe that proposing this issue at this specific period is a conspiracy against both Palestine and Jordan,' Abdullah told the independent Al Ghad newspaper. This key US ally fears that any confederation before a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict could give credence to Israeli hard-liners, who have urged making Jordan a home for the West Bank's Arabs. The king said it was premature to talk about the shape of future relations with Palestine and 'we will not tackle this issue until an independent Palestinian state on Palestinian soil is established.'
Soldiers attack Palestinian farmers in Tubas
Israeli soldiers attacked on Sunday morning several Palestinian farmers in Tubas and barred them from reaching their farmlands, and claimed that they are not allowed to reach their lands since they are close to the Annexation Wall. Resident Sadeq Abdul-Rahim stated that as he and several farmers were trying to farm their lands, they we stopped by the soldiers, and were detained for several hours. He added that the soldiers attacked and hit them with batons when the farmers insisted to enter their lands. "We want to farm our lands, or what's left of these lands", Abdul-Rahim said, "The army annexed most of our lands for the construction of the Wall and settlements, these lands are our only source of livelihood".
http://www.imemc.org/article/49251
Philadelphia rabbinical student reports from Palestine
I was startled by finding that the signs on the main road mark only Israeli areas-- settlements or cities in the 1948 borders (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem). It is remarkable to me how the Palestinian villages throughout the region are totally invisiblized. The signs are written in Hebrew, English and Arabic, as is the standard in the country. Recently someone has spray painted over the Arabic on the signs, implying there is no need for Arabic here. The goal of complete erasure is clear. . . a recent incident: a Palestinian shepherd was taking his goats to pasture on the road he has used for decades, and was stopped by the Israeli army and was told he couldn't be on the road. As he was talking with the soldiers he felt a push and fell to the ground. When he came to, he saw that a settler and hit him with his car. He reported that the road was clear and it was a straight-away--he was intentionally hit. He asked the soldiers to call for an ambulance, they refused.
http://www.phillyimc.org/or/2007/06/40735.shtml
Israeli interrogators demand that detained MPs resign their posts
in order to be released from detention camps. The kidnapped parliamentarians, mostly Hamas, who have been abducted by the Israeli army after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006, refused to cooperate with this demand and issued a statement saying that they are willing to stay in the Israeli detention camps as long as it takes.
http://www.imemc.org/article/49248
Hundreds of residents detained at checkpoint between Jenin & Nablus for several hours
One resident, transferring three patients and four women, showed the soldiers all needed documents and asked them to allow his vehicle to pass, but one of the soldiers shouted in his face and said, "Shut up and wait", and threatened to shoot any person who tries to leave. Wasfi Jamil, one of the drivers detained at the checkpoint, stated that soldiers separated males from females, forced him along with ten other youth behind the checkpoint and searched them. Jamil added that soldiers forced some youth to take their clothes off under the pretext of searching them, and attacked them with clubs and batons. Resident Ali Dia Ed Deen, stated that soldiers interrogated at least 20 youths, showed them a list of "wanted" activists, and threatened to arrest them if they do not "cooperate".
http://www.imemc.org/article/49235
PLO report: Israel army killed 11 Palestinian minors during June
Five of them were killed when a land mine left by the Israeli army exploded in Rafah city in the Gaza strip. During the month 120 Palestinians sustained wounds by Israeli army fire. The report remarked that the Israeli army has escalated its attacks against Palestinian communities in the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Those attacks involved destroying infrastructure and private property in addition to random kidnapping of civilians.
http://www.imemc.org/article/49246
Palestinian woman dies at Rafah crossing
Taghreed Muhammad 'Aabed, aged 31, a mother of five from Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, died at Rafah Crossing on Sunday after a severe deterioration in her health. She had traveled to Egypt for urgent medical treatment for cancer. When she attempted to return to Gaza, through the Rafah crossing. she was detained along with 5,000 other Palestinians. The stranded citizens of Gaza have spent the past twenty days suffering in extreme heat due to the Israeli closure of the crossing.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23514
Some Gazans stranded on Egyptian border go to Egyptian football cup final in Cairo
The final of the Football Cup Championship in Cairo between Al Ahly and Zamalik is set to receive hordes of unexpected fans as Gazan citizens stuck on the Egyptian side of the border are traveling to the Cairo stadium for the match, which takes place on Monday. Many of the stranded Gazans have been watching the quarter and semi-finals of the Egyptian league on public screens in cafes and parks in Cairo.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23503
Six injured at weekly nonviolent protest in Bil'in
As soon as demonstrators reached the main roadblock, they were fired upon with tear-gas, sound bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets. The attack injured six protestors, among them two internationals. In addition to injuries sustained, 3 Israeli demonstrators were detained, one of whom is currently serving in the Israeli army. Upon being detained, the man stated his military number, unit and name. Despite this he was beaten up and held for approximately one hour. Upon his release, the man stated that he was ashamed of what the army was doing in the area and vowed not to return to service.
http://www.imemc.org/article/49237
Confusion over the operation of public sector employees in the Gaza Strip
Amidst confusion over the conflicting directives given to public sector employees in the Gaza Strip, employees on Sunday awaited a final decision on whether to return to work or find a new source of income. The Hamas movement continued to urge civil servants and military employees to return to their duties, but the emergency government, headed by Salam Fayyad, ordered employees to boycott their work in the strip.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23517
Head of security forces in Gaza contends Hamas prisoners well treated
"Following investigations, prisoners that are not members of Hamas' Executive Force or the military wing of Hamas are set free," said Col Ibrahim Ramadan. Ramadan announced that the security forces had interrogated 70 Hamas members, 35 of whom had turned themselves in. He added that all were released, excluding five who remain in detention.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23518
Health minister and French delegation discuss French support for hospitals
Palestinian minister of health, Dr Fathi Abu Mughli, received a delegation from the French Agency for Development, in the ministry's office in Nablus, on Sunday. They discussed potential French support to improve the sector through funding hospitals and training staff. The meeting is a direct response to an appeal from the Palestinian ministry of health for French support to rebuild and renovate Palestinian hospitals.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23510
Palestinian family, recently living in Iraq, is trapped in Dubai
They have been moving between the Dubai airport number 2 and the homes of their families in the United Arab Emirates after their visa to the UAE expired. The family has been visiting UAE for medical treatment for the mother. Now, after their visa has expired, the family is trapped as the UAE refuses to allow them to stay and the Iraqi government will not allow them to return. The Iraqi airlines refused to board them even though they had a return ticket and Iraqi passports. They were told that no Arab citizen was allowed to enter Iraq.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23506
200-strong security force deployed on Gaza border
In response to a directive from the dismissed Palestinian government, 200 members of the Palestinian security forces were deployed on the border between Egypt and Gaza on Sunday morning. The captain of the security forces said the force members, along with Hamas volunteers, wish to enact their "national mission" to secure the borders. The Hamas spokesperson said the former national government and the Hamas movement were working hard to reopen Rafah Crossing.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23504
Islamic Jihad and Fatah combatants attack Israeli targets in and around Gaza Strip
The Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, on Sunday claimed responsibility for exploding an anti-personnel mine at a group of Israeli soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip, and for launched three mortar shells towards an Israeli military post, east of Khan Younis. The Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed group affiliated to the Fatah movement, on Sunday claimed responsibility for hurling two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot, another at the Israeli town of Zikim and four mortars at the military post of Nahal 'Oz. All targets border the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23499
Hamas fighters shell Israeli forces at the border of the Gaza Strip
The Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, on Sunday launched three mortar shells at a gathering of Israeli troops and vehicles near the memorial statue in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. The brigades announced that the operation is retaliation for Israeli aggression and targeted assassinations of Palestinian resistance fighters. No casualties were reported.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23511
Palestinian accused of murder in Israel gets two life sentences plus 7 years
The Israeli military court in Ofer sentenced Palestinian detainee, Bahjat Shqeirat, from East Jerusalem, on Sunday. The Palestinian Prisoners' Association issued a statement revealing that Shqeirat was arrested on the 7th of February 2005 and tortured frequently during interrogation. He was accused of assassinating two Israeli separation wall guards east of Jerusalem. Shqeirat described the Israeli court as illegal and defended himself without an attorney in order to highlight his conviction that the Israeli legal system is "unjust".
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23515
Human rights workers assure of their continued presence in Palestine
and undersecretary of the external affairs ministry, Dr. Ahmad Souboh, met delegates from human rights organisations to discuss the situation in the Palestinian territories. The human rights organisations' delegates assured of their continued presence as field supervisors in occupied Palestine in order to strive to achieve the legitimate human rights of people suffering under occupation.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=23519
Summer tragedy: Every year Gaza's unmanned beaches claim the lives of dozens
The deputy director and legal affairs officer of Rafah municipality, Mahmoud Yousef, warned all beach-goers against swimming in the southern sea off Rafah, in addition to the area close to the border with Egypt. Yousef added that swimming in that area is dangerous due to the pollution, which poses health risks, and due to the presence of old fishing nets in which swimmers could get stuck, as in the case of the latest drowning incident.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=22740
The Dirty Word – by Uri Avnery
There never was a darker Middle East summit meeting. The darkest there can be. Each one of the leaders, with his assistants behind him, sat like a solitary island in a vast sea. One after the other, the four delivered their monologues. An exercise in shallow hypocrisy, in empty deceit. Blair will come, meet, make declarations, ooze charm from every pore, generate headlines, fly, come back, make more announcements, meet again with kings, presidents and prime ministers. Meanwhile Palestinians and Israelis will keep dying, the wall will be finished, more land will be expropriated, settlements will be enlarged, targeted "terrorists" will be killed, the blockade on Gaza will be tightened, and all the hundred and one daily activities of the occupation will go on, the occupation that dares not speak its name.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1183282750/
Saul Landau: Israel is bad for Jewish ethics
One group of religious Jews believes Israel is anathema to Jewish ethics. On June 10, a group of Naturei Karta (Guardians of the City) joined a demonstration in Washington DC to protest the Israeli occupation of Palestine and of Syria's Golan Heights. . . As a child, my family elders, rabbis and other religious figures taught me the same lessons as Israeli journalist Uri Avnery learned: "Judaism a humane religion, a 'light unto the Gentiles'. Judaism means to loathe violence, to value the spiritual above the powerful, to turn an enemy into a friend.
http://www.counterpunch.org/landau06302007.html
Zvi Bar'el: The strong stance against Shalit
It turns out that not only the identity of the prisoners, captives or Israeli abductees dictates the nature of the exchange deals. The date of the crime, the perpetrators' identity and in particular the identity of their patrons constitute criteria. And not only them. It also depends on who supports the deal in Israel and who opposes. Shalit will have to wait, at least until Hamas and Fatah reconcile, because he is now a symbol of Olmert's resolute stand . Israel views him as an "asset" of Hamas.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/876688.html
Photo essay: Under siege in North Lebanon
For the past month the Lebanese Army has been shelling Fatah Al Islam insurgents who have infiltrated Nahr Al Bared refugee camp in north Lebanon. The fighting has caused an estimated 20,000 Palestinian refugees to flee to the relative safety of Beddawi refugee camp near Tripoli. New Zealand foreign correspondent, Jon Stephenson, was there and filed this photo essay report for Scoop.
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