Friday, August 3

Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines August 3, 2007 ~

Brought to you by Shadi Fadda

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Hebron: Action to Access Lands
On Friday 3rd August, Human Rights activists will accompany the members of a local Palestinian family to access their land close to the Illegal Kiryat Arba Settlement in Hebron. On all previous occassions where the family has attempted to access their land, Settlers have acted with undue aggression attacking both Palestinians and Human Rights Workers who have been present. The most recent of which culminated in two Human Rights Workers being repeatedly hit in the face with a stick causing both distress and injury.

Soldiers kidnapped 170 residents in twelve days
A Palestinian Human Rights activist reported on Thursday that Israeli soldiers kidnapped 170 residents over the last twelve days. The abduction came after Israel release 250 detainees as a sign of "good-intension" by the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, to the Palestinian President, Mahmud Abbas.

Two Weeks in the Occupied Territories--Report from the Land of Apartheid
The two babies lay nearly side by side in the incubator. One had eyes open, the other shut. It's against medical standards to put more than one child in an incubator, but with only six working incubators in the hospital in Jenin they had to double up. Jenin Hospital, in the north of the West Bank, is the only hospital in the Jenin Governate. It serves 350,00 people with 123 beds.

Settlers attack UN personnel near southern Hebron Hills
Two residents of an illegal settlement outpost near Hebron attacked United Nations workers on Thursday. The UN personnel were driving in the South Hebron Hills area when one of the settlers jumped on the car and smashed the windshield, sending shards of glass into the driver's eye.

Palestinian doctor paints picture of Gaza under siege
Sometimes it's the little things that reveal the horror of oppression most vividly. Dr. Mona El-Farra, speaking here recently as part of a 17-city U.S . tour, related how recently a Palestinian woman in the Occupied Territories had gone into labor and was heading to a hospital.

Soldiers break into the house of a female detainee in Ramallah
Palestinian sources reported on Thursday that Israeli soldiers broke into the house of detainee Nada Al Jayyousi, head of the Al Huda society for women in Al Biereh town, near the northern West Bank city of Ramallah, and searched the house causing damage in addition to terrifying her children.

Israeli force invades northern Gaza; kidnaps several civilians
An Israeli military force invaded Beit Lahia, located in the southern Gaza strip, in the early hours of Friday morning.  Eyewitnesses reported that a huge number of Israeli military vehicles, backed by several armoured bulldozers, invaded the area while shooting heavily. Troops launched a wide-scale ransacking campaign on several houses, confiscating property and searching for so-called "wanted Palestinians".

Residents of Ertas and al-Walajah hold non-violent demonstrations
The residents of Ertas and Al Walajah villages located near the West Bank city of Bethlehem protested on Friday against the construction of the illegal Wall Israeli that is being built on land illegally appropriated from the local villages.


High Court upholds route of illegal Israeli wall near Umm Salamuna
The Israeli High Court on Thursday rejected numerous appeals against the route of the illegal wall in the area of Umm Salamuna, located between the southern West bank cities of Hebron and Bethlehem, deeming the illegal structure necessary for 'security' purposes.

IDF court releases suspect in Hebron kidnapping
Military court releases soldier suspected of opening fire on Palestinian bystander during unauthorized raid in village near Hebron.

Peace Now protests against West Bank college
Dozens of Peace Now activists protested at the Ariel College in the West Bank on Friday against the college's declaration that it would become an ordinary university - a move approved by the Yesha (Council of Jewish Communities in the West Bank and Gaza) Institute for Higher Education.

Troops assassinate a resistance fighter in Nablus
Palestinian medical sources in Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank reported on Thursday night after midnight that Israeli troops shot and killed the leaders of the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad in the city. One resident was injured and another was kidnapped.

Gaza Border Closures Accompanied by Fears of Humanitarian Crisis
As the volatile region of Gaza experienced continued border closures and intensified border-crossing restrictions in July 2007, United Nations relief officials warned that these security measures were coming at a terrible cost. People living in the region suffered increasingly as restricted entry into Gaza threatened its economic sustainability, forcing most factories to close or operate at reduced capacity and depriving farmers of key export income. In light of these circumstances, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) later during the same month called for urgent aid for Gaza as fears of a humanitarian crisis mounted. UNRWA identified $30 million worth of emergency projects for Gaza that would provide employment for refugees in the region. While such projects for relief and development had been planned for the region, UN officials emphasized the importance of lifting recently-imposed border restrictions in order to avoid a humanitarian crisis.

Video: Latest invasion of Nablus
The invasion of 'Ein Beit Al Ma' refugee camp by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continued on Friday, July 20, 2007 at 10:20 am when several jeeps returned to the main street of Nablus and entered the camp. International human rights activists present created a human roadblock on the main thoroughfare of the camp to stop any other jeeps from entering the camp and continuing their siege on the camp's inhabitants. Three internationals were shot with rubber bullets during the blockade. They were just three of the several victims of the IOF's aggressive and excessive use of force that morning, on what could have otherwise been a quiet, peaceful and sunny Friday holiday.


(OK FOR ISRAEL NOT OK FOR IRAN) Ben-Eliezer to present gov't with nuclear power plant plan
Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer confirmed Tuesday that in the next few months he would submit to the government a plan to build a nuclear power plant in Shivta, in the Negev.  

"Anti-Israel conference" slammed
A UN conference of non-government organizations (NGOs) called to discuss "civil society in support of Israeli-Palestinian peace" at the end of August has been described by an Israeli NGO watchdog as an "anti-Israel propaganda conference".

US and Palestinians Sign $80m Deal
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be receiving millions of dollars of US money; in exchange he declared his readiness to discuss 'declaration of principles' with Israel.


Senior Palestinian officials still in wrongful Israeli detention
Shortly after the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, in June 2006, Israel detained dozens of Palestinians holding senior positions in the Palestinian Authority, some of them ministers in the Hamas government, and most of the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on behalf of Hamas in the West Bank. The Judge Advocate General's Office informed B'Tselem that forty-five members of the PLC had been detained. According to B'Tselem's information, at least twenty-two of them remain in detention. In May 2007, following a Qassam attack on Sderot, the army arrested dozens more senior Palestinian officials, among them Minister of Education Nasser a'-Din Sha'er and the Minister for Fence and Settlements Affairs Wasfi Qaba. These two ministers and forty-five members of the PLC continue to be held in detention in Israel.


Briton suffers with Arabs under Israeli demolition law
Six months pregnant and exhausted, British mother Jessica Barhum is still shocked that Israeli authorities ordered her, her husband and their baby out of bed at daybreak and pulverised their home. "I can't believe that it's lawful, that this law exists. I'm from England. Do you know what I mean?" said Jessica, 32, who grew up in the southern city of Salisbury but moved to Israel after marrying Musa, her Arab Israeli husband. "You can't believe a country like this would make a law against its own citizens," she said.

Joharah Baker: What Nationality Did You Say You Were?
The Israeli Interior Ministry recorded a 500 percent increase in Palestinians who lost their residency rights compared to previous years, estimated at 1.363 people last year alone.

Akiva Elder: Time Does Not Take Orders from Jerusalem
One should keep in mind that when Jerusalem mentions the permanent peace agreement, it does not mean the third and final stage of the international Quartet's road map plan for peace.

Two governments at odds
She was clearly tense and agitated as she hung up the phone. The employee at the Palestinian Ministry of Education had informed her that the announcement of the high school matriculation exam results had been delayed once again. Nahla Al-Naimat, 39, was eager to learn the score of her eldest son, Adham, and says this was the seventh time the exam results had been delayed.

Hamas orders television program off air
The Hamas movement on Tuesday ordered a Gaza television station to halt its broadcasting of a political affairs program, a move that has incurred the anger of the Gaza union of Journalists.  The weekly program "Red Line" is broadcast by Palestine Television, a station that recently moved to an alternative broadcast site after Hamas established control over its main facility several weeks ago.

Abbas staring at oblivion
In the summer of 1997, I found myself seated in the office of Yasser Arafat in Gaza. I had known Arafat for many years, and was a welcome visitor. Being an American and a friend gave me privileges. Others weighed their words, but I was constrained by no such requirement. So as he thumbed through a stack of papers, I pleaded clemency for a friend who had been under house arrest in Gaza for the better part of a year.

Abbas makes clear elections unlikely soon -officials
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the secular Fatah faction, has said he would soon issue decrees calling for early elections despite opposition from Hamas Islamists who seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.

A questionable breakthrough
Hundreds of Palestinians were repatriated this week via the Egyptian-Israeli controlled crossing at Al-Oja, only to be transported to the Erez terminal leading into Gaza after intense Israeli security scrutiny. But thousands more, among them many sick and elderly, remain trapped in Egypt, desperate to return home but uncertain that the repatriation programme will reach them any time soon.

Dry twigs
If we want to try comprehending the recent events in Kfar Shalem, we need to delve into the wounds of our past. [1] Exploring these wounds can help us strengthen ourselves in the present, so we can plan for our future, and for our communities' healing. Such healing might give us the stamina we will need to struggle together.

Barghouthi: Israel wishes for normalization with Arab countries before acknowledging the Palestinian cause
Legislator Mustafa Barghouthi, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, has stated that Israeli seeks normalization with other Arab countries before finding a solution to the Palestinian cause, a desire that conceals a wish to ignore and even liquidate the desire of the Palestinian people.

Rabbis issue edict banning mixed shows
Edict bans religious men and women from attending theaters together even if seated separately.

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