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Soldiers Arrest Palestinian for Walking on His Own Land
A Palestinian living in the Hebron region was passing through his land on the 11th of August, 2007, when 5 soldiers ordered him to stop. The soldiers told the Palestinian that it was not his land, however when he asked for papers to prove the soldiers' claim, he was arrested and taken to a military base in Tel Rumeida. There he was detained for 15 minutes, and subsequently released to return to his land.
BETHLEHEM LAND DESTROYED AS SETTLERS ANCHOR IN
Israeli forces began Wednesday to bulldoze hundreds of trees on land owned by a Catholic convent near the city of Beit Jala near Bethlehem. This section of forest is being razed, according to Israeli plans, to complete a section of the separation wall, which continues to carve the West Bank into pieces. Near the convent, the Israeli settlement
colonies of Gilo and Har Gilo, behind the wall on Palestinian lands, continue to expand over the rocky hillsides. When this section of the wall is completed, several villages will be separated from each other and the greater Bethlehem area.
Rights group complains that Israeli officer blocked ambulance
A rights group on Thursday filed a complaint against an Israeli officer for allegedly not allowing an ambulance to enter from the West Bank with a critically injured Palestinian who later died. Physicians for Human Rights said in a statement that it had asked police to open a criminal inquiry against Dalia Basa, a medical coordinator with the Israeli military administration in the occupied West Bank.
Five injured, among them journalists, at the weekly non-violent protest of Bil'in
The residents of the village of Bil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, joined by international and Israeli supporters, conducted their weekly non-violent protest against the wall this Friday.
Military checkpoint and roadblocs impedes development of several aid projects in Beit Fourik
The military checkpoint at the entrance to Beit Fourik, erected in 2001, is hindering any progress of several aid projects, Abd Al-Basit Hannini, the Mayor of the village, has said.
Tulkarm Struggles Against the Wall, Settlements and Israeli Chemical Factories
The Tulkarm area covers the city of Tulkarm and 31 villages in its surrounding areas. In this area live approximately 180,000 inhabitants. About 45,000 live in the city itself, 18,000 live the larger refugee camp and 8,000 in the smaller camp. Tulkarm is only 13 km away from the Mediterranean Sea by the Israeli town of Netanya, but since 1990 the inhabitants can no longer access the beach.
Electricity cut in Gaza over lack of fuel
Power will be cut in most of the Gaza Strip from 1500 GMT on Friday because of a lack of fuel deliveries from Israel, the director of the Palestinian electricity company said. At 1800 hours (1500 GMT), we are going to stop nearly all of electricity production in the Gaza Strip because of a stop in fuel deliveries," Rafiq Maliha, the director of the company, told reporters in Gaza.
Armed militias obstacle to Palestinian state: Fayyad
The continued existence of armed militias is an obstacle to the promised Palestinian state, Western-backed prime minister Salam Fayyad said on Thursday. "Building towards statehood and independence on the one hand, and continuing to tolerate armed militias on the other, are two mutually exclusive paths that will never meet," Fayyad said in an interview with the foreign press.
US Lutherans Consider Israel Boycott
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which has almost five million members in the US, took a step toward a partial boycott of Israeli goods at its 2007 Churchwide Assembly in Chicago last week.
Mandela lawyer: "Israel continues its violations against the detainees"
Bothaina Doqmaq, lawyer of the Mandela Institute for political detainees in Israeli prisons, stated that the Israeli Prison Administration (IPS) continued its violations and illegal attacks against the Palestinian political detainees and their parents.
Politics Unmercifully Trespass Humanitarian Borders in Gaza
The major political players who are involved in sealing off 1.5 million Palestinians into an open air prison in the world's most densely populated 360-square-kilometre area of the Gaza Strip are unmercifully trespassing humanitarian borders there; they perceive in the collapsing economy of the Mediterranean coastal strip, which is rapidly developing into a humanitarian crisis, a political "window of opportunity."
Hamas Is Ready To Talk
While Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert is busily courting Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas as a "partner for peace", successive voices continue to speak out against efforts to sideline the democratically elected Hamas government.
Will Fatah wake up and dialogue?
Bassem Naim, who holds four ministerial files in Haniyeh's dismissed government and is one of the most prominent Hamas leaders, holds that Abu Mazen's "extremist" position regarding dialogue stems not only from his personal conviction but also from the immense pressures placed on him by Israel and the United States.
Fatah leader: rapprochement with Hamas before Ramadan
A high-ranking Fatah leader has predicted that a "rapprochement" with Hamas will be reached before the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan which begins on the 13th or 14th September. The Ramallah-based official, who asked for anonymity "because of the sensitivity of the subject," said he believed that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was reconsidering his earlier stiff position vis-à-vis Hamas.
Khalid: "practices of the Executive Force must be condemned and stopped"
Taiseer Khalid, member of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), member of the political bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), slammed the practices of the Hamas-controlled executive force in the Gaza Strip, and described the force as "fascist militias".
Dughmosh clan surrender weapons to Hamas' Executive Force
The leader of the Executive Force in the southern Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Kheil, said on Thursday evening that the weapons of the Dughmosh family are being handed over to the Executive Force in the headquarters of the preventive security service in Tel Al-Hawa.
Israel turned Gaza into world''s largest prison - Barghouthi
"Over 90 percent of the Palestinian population in the area live below the poverty line, and more than 75 percent of the Palestinian workforce are jobless and have no source of living,"
Suffering in numbers--As Israel's siege of Gaza bites deeper, ever more Palestinians languish in sickness or poverty
Prayer time and afternoon naps excepted, Mohamed Saleh and Hassan Barak spend most of their day together conversing at the crossroads separating their homes in the southern quarter of Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in central Gaza. Saleh and Barak, who both work in construction, have been unemployed since Hamas took exclusive control of the Gaza Strip. Since then, Israel has tightened its stifling siege of the Strip and prohibited the entrance of materials used in construction, putting the entire sector out of work. The housing project begun with European and Arab funding in the suburbs of the Tel Sultan neighbourhood south of Rafah has ground to a halt, as have the infrastructure projects of local councils across the Strip.
Which U.S. Political Party Is Better For Israel?
For the past several years, whenever anyone asked me which American political party was best for Israel, my answer was: both. Even AIPAC, in the weeks before the 2006 Congressional election, stated that both parties are equally good for Israel.
U.S.: No strings attached to new defense package for Israel
The new $30 billion American defense package for Israel is not conditioned on diplomatic progress or concessions to the Palestinians, a top U.S. aide said Thursday as representatives from both countries signed the memorandum of understanding in Jerusalem.
Arafat's stolen military uniform sold by Hamas men
Jerusalem, Aug. 16 (PTI): A military uniform of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which was stolen from his house in Gaza following Hamas' takeover of the territory, has been allegedly sold by the activists of the radical group for about USD 50."We have learnt that one of Arafat's military uniforms has been sold by Hamas activists for 200 NIS (about USD 50)," an official of President Mahmud Abbas-led Fatah told 'The Jerusalem Post'. "They sold the uniform on the streets of Gaza City. This is outrageous and degrading," the unnamed official said.
Alumni Group Seeks to Deny Tenure to Middle Eastern Scholar at Barnard College
Controversial research on Israel and the Palestinian territories has become the basis of yet another campaign to prevent a professor from winning tenure. A group of Barnard College alumni has drafted an online petition asking their alma mater to deny tenure to Nadia Abu El-Haj, an assistant professor of anthropology whose scholarship, they say, is flawed and skewed against Israel. The group's criticisms of Ms. Abu El-Haj focus on her book Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society (University of Chicago Press, 2001), which argues that Israeli archaeologists have produced biased research that bolsters the "origin myth" of the Jewish state.
History in the (re)making
Special Knesset session will reenact fateful United Nations vote that led to Israel's creation. The UN secretary general has been invited to preside over the session, which the event planners hope will include the participation of ambassadors from the 33 nations who voted in favor of the partition.
Hamas TV's Child Star Says She's Ready for Martyrdom
Gaza Strip — Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.
My shoes – I can't find my shoes – they are in the rubble
It seems that the words of the Minister of Planning and Construction have no effect on the demolitions in the Negev. A week ago the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages closed the refugee camp by the Israeli Knesset, after the declaration of the Ministers of Interior and of Planning and Construction that they wish to halt demolitions for a year – until a new process can be instigated, as the ministers wish for the cooperation of the Bedouin community. There is still a need for the recommendation of the Legal advisor to the government. But the local Negev officials are interested in showing the Ministers who is the boss around here – and what better way than to demolish another house.
Displacement and Israel's Wall
Width matters. Semantic disputes concerning the Israeli Palestinian conflict have existed for years. Arguments continue over Jimmy Carter's use of the word "apartheid" to describe the system under which Palestinians live in Israeli administered areas. These areas are called "Judea-Samaria" and considered "disputed" land by the Israeli camp while others refer to them as the "West Bank" and "occupied". Finally the term, "The Wall" , is dismissed by Israel as a misrepresentation of the controversial structure it is building. Supporters of Israel claim that only a small percent of the structure consists of a 25 feet high concrete wall. The remainder is considered a simple wire "fence" that can not be equated with a wall. In reality, neither of these descriptors conveys the structure's essential nature.
AIPAC and Mahmoud Abbas--The Undemocratic Road to Defeat
When the current Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) first "met" on March 6, 2006 (via videoconference, thanks to Israel's travel restrictions), the Palestinian Authority embarked on the final phase of its struggle to become a democratic proto-state. This was to be the first government formed under the new Palestinian constitution, the Basic Law passed by the PLC in 1998 and finally signed by President Arafat in 2002.
AL-FARAHEEN'S VICTIMS OF ISRAELI PRETEXTS
Surveillance cameras and watchtowers loom over more than 800 meters away from the scene of destruction left by Israeli army tanks and bulldozers following the latest Israeli invasion of the al-Faraheen area in Abbassan al-Kabeera town, to the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. "Fifteen dunums [four acres] of tomatoes along with 400 meters of irrigation pipes were crushed by the Israeli tanks during the invasion into our area, where myself and two other partners make our living," says Samir al-Naqa, a local farmer in the al-Faraheen area. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari interviews some of those affected by Israel's latest campaign of destruction.
Israel increases benefits for returning emigrants
Absorption Ministry offering Israelis who return home NIS 100 million incentives package. 'The country's 60th anniversary offers a window of opportunity to bring thousands of Israelis back home,' Minister Jacob Edery says.
Federal Worker Faces Charges In Threats Against Arab Group
A State Department employee was indicted yesterday on charges that he threatened and intimidated employees of the Arab American Institute, including James Zogby, the president of the organization. In e-mail and voice-mail messages, the employee, Patrick Syring, is said to have lashed out at Zogby and others in profane, provocative language described in the indictment, which was returned by a grand jury at the federal courthouse in Washington. "The only good Lebanese is a dead Lebanese. The only good Arab is a dead Arab," Syring said in a voice-mail message left late July 17, 2006, after he read comments made by Zogby that he regarded as offensive, the indictment says.
Giuliani's Gaza Analogy
The political world is scrutinizing Rudy Giuliani's 17-page foreign policy treatise in the new issue of Foreign Affairs, trying to discern who the influences behind it are and to what extent he has decided to take up the neo-conservative mantle from President Bush. But one source of influence for the paper may be found closer to home: Giuliani's experience as mayor of New York.
Headlines from Iraq
Headlines from Lebanon
Headlines from the U.S.
A Palestinian living in the Hebron region was passing through his land on the 11th of August, 2007, when 5 soldiers ordered him to stop. The soldiers told the Palestinian that it was not his land, however when he asked for papers to prove the soldiers' claim, he was arrested and taken to a military base in Tel Rumeida. There he was detained for 15 minutes, and subsequently released to return to his land.
BETHLEHEM LAND DESTROYED AS SETTLERS ANCHOR IN
Israeli forces began Wednesday to bulldoze hundreds of trees on land owned by a Catholic convent near the city of Beit Jala near Bethlehem. This section of forest is being razed, according to Israeli plans, to complete a section of the separation wall, which continues to carve the West Bank into pieces. Near the convent, the Israeli settlement
colonies of Gilo and Har Gilo, behind the wall on Palestinian lands, continue to expand over the rocky hillsides. When this section of the wall is completed, several villages will be separated from each other and the greater Bethlehem area.
Rights group complains that Israeli officer blocked ambulance
A rights group on Thursday filed a complaint against an Israeli officer for allegedly not allowing an ambulance to enter from the West Bank with a critically injured Palestinian who later died. Physicians for Human Rights said in a statement that it had asked police to open a criminal inquiry against Dalia Basa, a medical coordinator with the Israeli military administration in the occupied West Bank.
Five injured, among them journalists, at the weekly non-violent protest of Bil'in
The residents of the village of Bil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, joined by international and Israeli supporters, conducted their weekly non-violent protest against the wall this Friday.
Military checkpoint and roadblocs impedes development of several aid projects in Beit Fourik
The military checkpoint at the entrance to Beit Fourik, erected in 2001, is hindering any progress of several aid projects, Abd Al-Basit Hannini, the Mayor of the village, has said.
Tulkarm Struggles Against the Wall, Settlements and Israeli Chemical Factories
The Tulkarm area covers the city of Tulkarm and 31 villages in its surrounding areas. In this area live approximately 180,000 inhabitants. About 45,000 live in the city itself, 18,000 live the larger refugee camp and 8,000 in the smaller camp. Tulkarm is only 13 km away from the Mediterranean Sea by the Israeli town of Netanya, but since 1990 the inhabitants can no longer access the beach.
Electricity cut in Gaza over lack of fuel
Power will be cut in most of the Gaza Strip from 1500 GMT on Friday because of a lack of fuel deliveries from Israel, the director of the Palestinian electricity company said. At 1800 hours (1500 GMT), we are going to stop nearly all of electricity production in the Gaza Strip because of a stop in fuel deliveries," Rafiq Maliha, the director of the company, told reporters in Gaza.
Armed militias obstacle to Palestinian state: Fayyad
The continued existence of armed militias is an obstacle to the promised Palestinian state, Western-backed prime minister Salam Fayyad said on Thursday. "Building towards statehood and independence on the one hand, and continuing to tolerate armed militias on the other, are two mutually exclusive paths that will never meet," Fayyad said in an interview with the foreign press.
US Lutherans Consider Israel Boycott
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which has almost five million members in the US, took a step toward a partial boycott of Israeli goods at its 2007 Churchwide Assembly in Chicago last week.
Mandela lawyer: "Israel continues its violations against the detainees"
Bothaina Doqmaq, lawyer of the Mandela Institute for political detainees in Israeli prisons, stated that the Israeli Prison Administration (IPS) continued its violations and illegal attacks against the Palestinian political detainees and their parents.
Politics Unmercifully Trespass Humanitarian Borders in Gaza
The major political players who are involved in sealing off 1.5 million Palestinians into an open air prison in the world's most densely populated 360-square-kilometre area of the Gaza Strip are unmercifully trespassing humanitarian borders there; they perceive in the collapsing economy of the Mediterranean coastal strip, which is rapidly developing into a humanitarian crisis, a political "window of opportunity."
Hamas Is Ready To Talk
While Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert is busily courting Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas as a "partner for peace", successive voices continue to speak out against efforts to sideline the democratically elected Hamas government.
Will Fatah wake up and dialogue?
Bassem Naim, who holds four ministerial files in Haniyeh's dismissed government and is one of the most prominent Hamas leaders, holds that Abu Mazen's "extremist" position regarding dialogue stems not only from his personal conviction but also from the immense pressures placed on him by Israel and the United States.
Fatah leader: rapprochement with Hamas before Ramadan
A high-ranking Fatah leader has predicted that a "rapprochement" with Hamas will be reached before the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan which begins on the 13th or 14th September. The Ramallah-based official, who asked for anonymity "because of the sensitivity of the subject," said he believed that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was reconsidering his earlier stiff position vis-à-vis Hamas.
Khalid: "practices of the Executive Force must be condemned and stopped"
Taiseer Khalid, member of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), member of the political bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), slammed the practices of the Hamas-controlled executive force in the Gaza Strip, and described the force as "fascist militias".
Dughmosh clan surrender weapons to Hamas' Executive Force
The leader of the Executive Force in the southern Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Kheil, said on Thursday evening that the weapons of the Dughmosh family are being handed over to the Executive Force in the headquarters of the preventive security service in Tel Al-Hawa.
Israel turned Gaza into world''s largest prison - Barghouthi
"Over 90 percent of the Palestinian population in the area live below the poverty line, and more than 75 percent of the Palestinian workforce are jobless and have no source of living,"
Suffering in numbers--As Israel's siege of Gaza bites deeper, ever more Palestinians languish in sickness or poverty
Prayer time and afternoon naps excepted, Mohamed Saleh and Hassan Barak spend most of their day together conversing at the crossroads separating their homes in the southern quarter of Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in central Gaza. Saleh and Barak, who both work in construction, have been unemployed since Hamas took exclusive control of the Gaza Strip. Since then, Israel has tightened its stifling siege of the Strip and prohibited the entrance of materials used in construction, putting the entire sector out of work. The housing project begun with European and Arab funding in the suburbs of the Tel Sultan neighbourhood south of Rafah has ground to a halt, as have the infrastructure projects of local councils across the Strip.
Which U.S. Political Party Is Better For Israel?
For the past several years, whenever anyone asked me which American political party was best for Israel, my answer was: both. Even AIPAC, in the weeks before the 2006 Congressional election, stated that both parties are equally good for Israel.
U.S.: No strings attached to new defense package for Israel
The new $30 billion American defense package for Israel is not conditioned on diplomatic progress or concessions to the Palestinians, a top U.S. aide said Thursday as representatives from both countries signed the memorandum of understanding in Jerusalem.
Arafat's stolen military uniform sold by Hamas men
Jerusalem, Aug. 16 (PTI): A military uniform of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which was stolen from his house in Gaza following Hamas' takeover of the territory, has been allegedly sold by the activists of the radical group for about USD 50."We have learnt that one of Arafat's military uniforms has been sold by Hamas activists for 200 NIS (about USD 50)," an official of President Mahmud Abbas-led Fatah told 'The Jerusalem Post'. "They sold the uniform on the streets of Gaza City. This is outrageous and degrading," the unnamed official said.
Alumni Group Seeks to Deny Tenure to Middle Eastern Scholar at Barnard College
Controversial research on Israel and the Palestinian territories has become the basis of yet another campaign to prevent a professor from winning tenure. A group of Barnard College alumni has drafted an online petition asking their alma mater to deny tenure to Nadia Abu El-Haj, an assistant professor of anthropology whose scholarship, they say, is flawed and skewed against Israel. The group's criticisms of Ms. Abu El-Haj focus on her book Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society (University of Chicago Press, 2001), which argues that Israeli archaeologists have produced biased research that bolsters the "origin myth" of the Jewish state.
History in the (re)making
Special Knesset session will reenact fateful United Nations vote that led to Israel's creation. The UN secretary general has been invited to preside over the session, which the event planners hope will include the participation of ambassadors from the 33 nations who voted in favor of the partition.
Hamas TV's Child Star Says She's Ready for Martyrdom
Gaza Strip — Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.
My shoes – I can't find my shoes – they are in the rubble
It seems that the words of the Minister of Planning and Construction have no effect on the demolitions in the Negev. A week ago the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages closed the refugee camp by the Israeli Knesset, after the declaration of the Ministers of Interior and of Planning and Construction that they wish to halt demolitions for a year – until a new process can be instigated, as the ministers wish for the cooperation of the Bedouin community. There is still a need for the recommendation of the Legal advisor to the government. But the local Negev officials are interested in showing the Ministers who is the boss around here – and what better way than to demolish another house.
Displacement and Israel's Wall
Width matters. Semantic disputes concerning the Israeli Palestinian conflict have existed for years. Arguments continue over Jimmy Carter's use of the word "apartheid" to describe the system under which Palestinians live in Israeli administered areas. These areas are called "Judea-Samaria" and considered "disputed" land by the Israeli camp while others refer to them as the "West Bank" and "occupied". Finally the term, "The Wall" , is dismissed by Israel as a misrepresentation of the controversial structure it is building. Supporters of Israel claim that only a small percent of the structure consists of a 25 feet high concrete wall. The remainder is considered a simple wire "fence" that can not be equated with a wall. In reality, neither of these descriptors conveys the structure's essential nature.
AIPAC and Mahmoud Abbas--The Undemocratic Road to Defeat
When the current Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) first "met" on March 6, 2006 (via videoconference, thanks to Israel's travel restrictions), the Palestinian Authority embarked on the final phase of its struggle to become a democratic proto-state. This was to be the first government formed under the new Palestinian constitution, the Basic Law passed by the PLC in 1998 and finally signed by President Arafat in 2002.
AL-FARAHEEN'S VICTIMS OF ISRAELI PRETEXTS
Surveillance cameras and watchtowers loom over more than 800 meters away from the scene of destruction left by Israeli army tanks and bulldozers following the latest Israeli invasion of the al-Faraheen area in Abbassan al-Kabeera town, to the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. "Fifteen dunums [four acres] of tomatoes along with 400 meters of irrigation pipes were crushed by the Israeli tanks during the invasion into our area, where myself and two other partners make our living," says Samir al-Naqa, a local farmer in the al-Faraheen area. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari interviews some of those affected by Israel's latest campaign of destruction.
Israel increases benefits for returning emigrants
Absorption Ministry offering Israelis who return home NIS 100 million incentives package. 'The country's 60th anniversary offers a window of opportunity to bring thousands of Israelis back home,' Minister Jacob Edery says.
Federal Worker Faces Charges In Threats Against Arab Group
A State Department employee was indicted yesterday on charges that he threatened and intimidated employees of the Arab American Institute, including James Zogby, the president of the organization. In e-mail and voice-mail messages, the employee, Patrick Syring, is said to have lashed out at Zogby and others in profane, provocative language described in the indictment, which was returned by a grand jury at the federal courthouse in Washington. "The only good Lebanese is a dead Lebanese. The only good Arab is a dead Arab," Syring said in a voice-mail message left late July 17, 2006, after he read comments made by Zogby that he regarded as offensive, the indictment says.
Giuliani's Gaza Analogy
The political world is scrutinizing Rudy Giuliani's 17-page foreign policy treatise in the new issue of Foreign Affairs, trying to discern who the influences behind it are and to what extent he has decided to take up the neo-conservative mantle from President Bush. But one source of influence for the paper may be found closer to home: Giuliani's experience as mayor of New York.
Headlines from Iraq
Headlines from Lebanon
Headlines from the U.S.
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