Israeli settlers say they will not budge,
no matter what's decided in Annapolis
"We know the Arabs say this is their land, but nobody can stop the will of God. We are growing and growing and all the other nations are going out", roared the Mayor of Beit El settlement, near Ramallah. And Mayor Moshe Rosenbom, who was one of sixteen families that seized the land to create Beit El on Palestinian land sixteen years ago, is not alone in his fervor.
Strong repression continues in the Qalqilya as Israel army invades Azzoun
When approached by the two HRW's and questioned as to the reason for the invasion, one soldier replied, "This is Israeli land…This is Jewish land. Go away". These actions are suspected to be part of a strategy to garner High Court approval for a four kilometre wall to be built along the highway from Izbat Al Tabib to Kafr Laqif - a wall that will effectively seal the main gate of Azzoun forever and impede travel for Palestinians throughout the region - for which the markings already exist.
Palestinian villagers protest on Road 443
Residents of a number of villages in the Ramallah area organized a protest joined by a number of International and Israeli peace activists at Highway 443, on Friday after the noon prayer. Troops fired several rounds of rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas at the protestors, however no injuries were reported. For seven years in a row, Israel prohibits Palestinians from using this 200-mile road which is built on the land of Palestinian villages, and allows only Jewish settlers to use it.
Israeli settlers assault young Palestinian men
at al-Hamra checkpoint, southeast of Jenin
Eyewitnesses reported that a group of Israeli settlers stopped a local car holding a Palestinian license plate near al-Hamra checkpoint carrying a number of young men. Settlers forced them out of the car at gunpoint and started to beat them. Then they pushed them on the ground, insulted them with offensive words and threatened to kill them. The assaulted young men were taken to a nearby clinic and were treated for light injuries after the settlers released them.
Arabs and leftists overrun Jewish farm
[interesting parallel-universe article] Arabs in the southern Hebron Hills and leftists from the Christian Peace Task Force [Christian Peacemakers Teams?] overran the agricultural area of the Maon Farm Friday morning, uprooted 50 olive trees [most unlikely, but maybe this is projection] and began to plow the fields until the army interfered. The soldiers arrived within an hour after Jewish residents in the area saw the invasion, and several Arabs and leftists were being interrogated. The incident is the latest in a series of attempts to [re]claim Arab possession of the area, although the Maon Farm has been farming the fields for 10 years. [see following article for history of the 'Maon Farm' and much more]
Book Review – Dark Hope: Working for
Peace in Israel and Palestine by David Shulman
"I am an Israeli. I live in Jerusalem. I have a story, not yet finished, to tell." This is the opening line of David Shulman's powerful and memorable book, Dark Hope, a diary of four years of political activity in Israel and the Palestinian territories with Ta'ayush . . . "It began some two weeks ago when Palestinians from [the village of] Twaneh noticed a settler —almost certainly from Chavat Maon, the most virulent of the settlements in the area—walking deliberately through their fields in the early morning. Shortly afterward the animals got sick and the first sheep died. Then the shepherds found the poison scattered over the hills, tiny blue-green pellets of barley coated with... deadly rat poison from the fluoroacetate family.... The aim was clear: to kill the herds of goats and sheep, the backbone of the cave dwellers' subsistence economy in this harsh terrain, and thus to force them off the land."
Uneasy neighbors in occupied West Bank
ARIEL/MARDA, West Bank (Reuters) - The rolling hills inland from Israel's busy coastal strip are dotted with towns and villages nestled under towers rising above the olive groves. Look closely, though, and one sees differences. Some towers are the minarets of mosques, others are concrete lookout posts for Israeli troops guarding Jewish settlements in the West Bank. These are uneasy neighbours and the future of the settlers, who have built on land occupied by Israel in 1967, is among the "core issues" Palestinians and Israelis must resolve if they are ever to make peace in negotiations to be launched at next week's U.S.-hosted Middle East conference in Annapolis, Maryland.
CPT: Hebron reflection: Which toys for which boys?
from 23 October: A common Eid gift for boys is a toy gun. Some are water pistols; some shoot little plastic pellets; some are ominously like the real thing. Palestinian children do not need to watch television or play violent video games to become attracted to guns. Palestinian children pass armed soldiers at checkpoints every day when traveling to and from school. They regularly see armed settlers in the streets between the settlements and the synagogue. For the Israeli military, it appears that real guns in the hands of Israelis are acceptable, but toy guns in the hands of Palestinian children are unacceptable. A few weeks ago CPTers saw heavily armed Israeli soldiers ordering Palestinian shopkeepers to remove the toy guns from their shops.
Jailed legislator calls for more attention to detained legislators
Dr. 'Omar Abd er-Raziq, former Minister of Finance in the Palestinian government, called upon international and human rights organizations to intervene to release the jailed Palestinian lawmakers in Israeli detention centers. MP Abd er-Razeq, who is currently detained in one of the Israeli jails, released his call last Thursday during an Israeli military Court session at Salem's military base, near Nablus saying "It is a shame that specialized justices are absent in such a session," adding that this court is a "crime against humanity, because those on trial are legitimate elected members of Parliament."
The Gaza Strip: Disengagement two years on
Two years ago, Israel completed its unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. We all remember the intense media campaign shamelessly portraying the settlers as dispossessed victims of a bold move for peace. Among others, Harvard economist Sara Roy argued that Israel's version of disengagement would bring disaster to an already desperate Gaza. Today, we are witnessing emergence of an unparalleled economic catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and with it, the evaporation of the last remaining hopes for a Palestinian state.
Cancer patient becomes 18th medical victim of Gaza siege in three weeks
A 69-year-old cancer patient has died after Israeli authorities refused him permission to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment, medical sources said. Spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committee, Rami Abdo, said that Ali Abdullah Awada from the Nuseirat refugee camp died on Saturday morning, after frantic attempts by his family to take him abroad for treatment failed. He is the 18th patient to die during the last three weeks because of the Israeli siege on the coastal enclave. As well as the difficulty of getting Israeli permission to travel abroad for medical treatment, hospitals in the Gaza Strip are running out of medicines.
Two brothers killed by Israeli army in northern Gaza
after the Israeli army opened fire on them near the Eritz checkpoint (Beit Hanoun crossing). They were identified as Ra'fat and Talal Abu Shraina, 40 and 41. Witnesses said that both Ra'fat and Talal, were rushing towards their farm land after they were informed that the Israeli army bulldozers were razing the land.
Breaking news: Palestinian fisherman seriously
wounded by Israel nazy fire off Gaza coast
Series of internal attacks rip through Gaza, one boy injured
Local medical sources announced that Fadi Abu Etawi, 18, was wounded with shrapnel after a mysterious blast occurred overnight in the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of aL-Buraij. A few hours later, a local Palestinian charity organization was blown up in the nearby refugee camp of Maghazi, leaving no injuries but damages to the charity building. Nobody claimed responsibility. In Gaza City, an explosive device was detonated in an abandoned room, just close to the Aldaraj neighborhood's police post, leaving no causalities.
Islamic Jihad demands that Hamas stop all political arrests
The movement demanded explanations for the arrests of Mahmoud Hijazi, representative of the National Struggle Front, and Mohammad Al Zamily, representative of the Palestinian People Party, eight days ago. Several other groups in Gaza slammed the arrests and demanded Hamas to release all political detainees. The National Action Committee in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, stated that Al Zamily and Hijazi were tortured and that their health conditions have deteriorated.
Checkpoint Jerusalem Blog:
Hip-hop makes a hesitant return to Gaza
RFM and D.A. aren't giving up yet. The two Gaza rap bands joined forces on Thursday night for Gaza City's first rap show in years. "We wanted to do the show to show that we aren't afraid," said Faisal Minshawi, one of the members of RFM. Gaza hip-hop is more akin to the early political rap of Public Enemy, N.W.A and Tupac. One of RFM's best-known songs is a criticism of those who always blame Israel and the U.S. for their problems and never take a courageous stand.
5-minute video – Gaza's Reality
Not new, but here in case you missed it. Would you be able to live like this?
Arabs give boost to U.S. summit
CAIRO -- Saudi Arabia and other key Arab nations Friday agreed to attend a U.S.-sponsored peace conference. The political risk for Arab nations is a meeting that produces more rhetoric and picture-taking than it does timetables and other measures needed to secure Israeli agreement to an independent Palestinian state. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, who are viewed by their populations as beholden to Washington, worry that their images will suffer if emissaries fly home with few or no Palestinian gains. That sentiment is particularly strong in Saudi Arabia, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel and is uneasy about sitting with Israelis at a high-stakes gathering.
Hamas 'shocked' at Arab endorsement of Annapolis
Hamas on Saturday condemned a decision by Arab powers to endorse next week's U.S.-hosted Israeli-Palestinian peace conference, saying the talks would favour the Jewish state's policies rather than Palestinian demands. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called the announcement "a great shock for Palestinians because it opened the door for direct normalisation with the occupation (Israel) amid (its) continued escalation and aggression". "The Palestinian people had awaited an Arab consensus for breaking the siege," Abu Zuhri said in a statement, referring to a Western aid embargo and Israeli military crackdowns on Gaza since Hamas swept to power in 2006 elections.
Dismissed PM Haniyeh demands that
Arab states help ift the siege of Gaza
Meanwhile, speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmad Bahar of Hamas, wondered angrily, in reference to Arab states' acceptance of U.S invitations to the summit, "I really wonder how come you comply with Washington's invitations, while you never respond to calls by Gaza's patients, who die on daily basis, due to the Israeli siege".
Top Hamas official predicts wave of violence after Annapolis
Hamas can make the rockets it fires at Israel much deadlier by packing them with more explosives, a senior official in the Islamic militant group said in a statement Saturday. The official, Ahmed Yousef, made the threat just two days before the start of a U.S.-hosted Middle East peace conference in Annapolis. Yousef also said Israel has rejected repeated truce offers by Hamas. Hamas, which refuses to recognise Israel, is excluded from the Nov. 27 conference.
Saudis to join Mideast talks; Syria wavers
If Syria's primary demand is met, that the conference also address the dispute over the Golan Heights, Syrian land that Israel has occupied since 1967, the conference could be the first chance in years to begin a dialogue aimed at a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace. Arab leaders have taken the unusual step of uniting as one bloc — they are generally a politically divided lot — to accept a chance to address the Israeli-Palestinian problem, which they have long said is central to bringing calm to the volatile Middle East, and to helping ensure their own domestic security. There is a saying in the Middle East, that there can not be war without Egypt — but there can not be peace without Syria. The Syrians know well the spoiler role they can play in the region and have used that as leverage — knowing that the conference will not be as credible if the chair for Damascus is empty. Saudi and Syrian attendance was seen as essential.
Annapolis summit to address occupied Syrian lands,
says Syrian foreign minister
Syrian FM Walid Almo'alem stated yesterday that the U.S has agreed to include the issue of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights into the next week Annapolis's peace summit. Almo'alem, however, maintained that Damascus is yet to decide on participation, the Syrian News Agency reported. "Syria will declare whether it will participate, once it receives the conference's agenda", the Syrian FM confirmed.
The hand that will rock Annapolis – by Zvi Bar-el
even when Olmert states publicly that Annapolis should be called a meeting and not a summit - that is, a forum at which no substantive decisions will be made - Arab states still have good reason to attend. That good reason is called Syria. Until this week, Syria was still on the list of extremist states, almost part of the axis of evil, even though it is not "formally" included therein. There is one thing that Washington (and Israel) will not easily be able to revoke: You cannot invite Syria to Annapolis and the next day accuse it of being part of the axis of evil. As matters look now, Annapolis will be better for Syria than it will be for the Palestinians, and this, too, is no secret to the other Arab states. In fact, according to Washington's approach, which holds that the Middle East is monolithic and that any movement in one part of the region immediately affects another (one of the reasons cited for the war against Iraq was that it would ensure peace throughout the Middle East), it is precisely progress in the Syrian arena that should take precedence.
Devout Muslims and Jews mull dividing holy Jerusalem
From opposite sides of the wall that once divided Jerusalem, Israeli Shlomo Yirmiyahu and Palestinian Yakoob Arrajabi watched in 1967 as the Jewish state seized the Arab east of the city in a blaze of gunfire.Now, as their leaders prepare for talks about peace, the two devoutly religious men are trying to imagine the future of their home town, which stands at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is treasured as holy by both. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state but splitting the city is a highly divisive issue for Israelis.
Airtime for Israel's Arabs
They make up one-fifth of the population, but are rarely seen on TV. A programmer adds shows and alters popular ones in a push to change that — A children's talk show, produced by an Arab-run company in the northern city of Nazareth, has aired weekly since late summer, albeit during a daytime slot when viewers are scarce. In what may prove a riskier television venture, Keshet Broadcasting is readying a drama written by Sayed Kashua, a noted satirist, that offers a wry take on the challenges and foibles of an Arab family loosely based on his own. One subplot will be a budding romance between a Jewish man and an Arab woman -- incendiary stuff for Israeli television. Even the show's title, "Arab Work," walks the edge by playing on a Hebrew phrase used to refer to slipshod work.
Israel lulled by the good life
Israel is going through one of its rare periods of relative calm. Israelis have flocked back to outdoor cafes and restaurants, no longer so fearful of suicide bombers. The most important reason for the new mood is the "success" of the barrier that has been constructed to separate Israel from the West Bank . In highly populated areas such as Jerusalem, it is reminiscent of the Berlin Wall. . . The younger generation, she says, is increasingly hostile to cutting a deal with the Palestinians. The public has convinced itself that the withdrawal of the small number of Israeli settlers from has been a disaster. The Hamas coup has reinforced a stereotype that as soon as Israeli backs are turned, Palestinians descend into extremism and violence.
Recipes of the West Bank olive harvest
The annual West Bank olive harvest holds special significance for Palestinians. Read recipes and stories about some of the traditional dishes enjoyed in conjunction with the olive oil season. (You might also consider getting some oil, olives, za'atar and other foods from Jenin for yourself and for gifts at http://www.canaanfairtrade.com/ )
Leaving home for the homeland
An increasing number of Jewish Iranians are emigrating to Israel because of growing tensions at home. Rory McCarthy reports from Jerusalem
Darkness falls on the Middle East – by Robert Fisk
It's difficult to describe what it's like to be in a country that sits on plate glass. It is impossible to be certain if the glass will break. When a constitution breaks – as it is beginning to break in Lebanon – you never know when the glass will give way. People are moving out of their homes, just as they have moved out of their homes in Baghdad . . . the world in the Middle East is growing darker and darker by the hour. Pakistan . Afghanistan. Iraq. "Palestine ". Lebanon. From the borders of Hindu Kush to the Mediterranean, we – we Westerners that is – are creating (as I have said before) a hell disaster. Next week, we are supposed to believe in peace in Annapolis. . . .
Debate rages across U.S. on academic freedom
American universities are engaged in a furious debate over whether anti-Zionist academics should be allowed to teach Middle East courses. In the most recent case, Nadia Abu El-Haj, professor of anthropology at Barnard University, a subsidiary of New York's Columbia University , won a battle for tenure in the face of fierce lobbying from several pro-Israel groups.
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