Israel plans to retain Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem
Compiled by, Daily Star A key ally of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insisted Sunday that his country would hold on to all Jewish neighborhoods of Occupied Jerusalem, but it would have to relinquish Arab neighborhoods in a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The comments by Vice Premier Haim Ramon appeared aimed at defusing US criticism of an Israeli plan to expand one of its Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, a section internationally recognized as Palestinian. Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations are set to resume Wednesday, according to the agreement reached at last month’s Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. A senior Palestinian official charged Sunday that even before the new talks begin, Israel is already negotiating in bad faith about Jerusalem, one of the touchiest issues on the table. Despite their official opposition, the Palestinians have indicated that they would consider...
Al-Quds: Hamas seeking truce, stop to rocket fire
Avi Issacharoff,
Sources said Bajat Abu Daka, 27, was shot to death by IDF soldiers while working the land near his home in the village of Hiza’a near Khan Yunis. According to the Al-Quds report, senior Hamas officials have been trying recently to persuade its military wing to stop firing Qassams at Israel to prevent a large-scale Israeli military strike on the Strip. The paper also reported that the leader of Hamas’ political wing in Damascus, Khaled Meshal, met recently with the secretary-general of the Islamic Jihad in Lebanon to discuss the matter, and that the Islamic Jihad had approved the move in principle, but conditioned it on Israel’s agreement that the cease-fire be mutual. The report said senior officials in Egypt had offered to mediate the deal. Palestinian sources told Haaretz that the intention was to unilaterally initiate a month-long cease-fire with as a test, among other things in honor of the Id al-Adha holiday.
Report: Israeli racism against Arabs "at an all-time high"
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center
As the international Human Rights Week begins, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel has released its annual report showing anti-Arab sentiment at an all-time high in Israel. "Israeli society is reaching new heights of racism that damages freedom of expression and privacy," said Sami Michael, the head of the organization, adding, "We are a society under supervision under a democratic regime whose institutions are being undermined and which confers a different status to residents in the center of the country and in the periphery." The report showed a 26% rise in racist incidents against Arabs in 2007, with twice as many Jews claiming feelings of hatred against Arabs. 74% of Jewish Israeli youth believe Arabs to be "dirty". And 78% of the adult Jewish population in Israel does not think that Arab political parties should be included in the government.
Israeli peace activists protest
settlement expansion; rightists build more outposts
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center
Around forty Israeli peace activists held a protest Saturday on a site in the West Bank approved by the Israeli government for settlement expansion. At the same time as the protest was going on, Israeli right-wing settlers were busy setting up three new colonial outposts to claim for Israel more Palestinian land deep in the heart of the West Bank. The left-wing protesters erected a mock outpost in an area between the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim and the city of Jerusalem, an area where Israeli authorities have approved a further expansion of colonies in the West Bank. The group was protesting the expansion as a form of hypocrisy by the Israeli government, who made a commitment in Annapolis to cease further expansion of settlements, but continues to expand settlements on the ground. The Israeli government plans to build a settlement of 3,500 apartments and an industrial park in this area.
Israel world’s 4th top weapons exporter
Yossi Melman,
Israel has passed Britain to become the world’s fourth largest exporter of weapons, Defense Ministry Director-General Pinchas Bucharis said yesterday. Israel had a total of $4 billion in defense exports in 2007, Bucharis said. The United States, Russia and France lead the world’s list of exporters. The Defense Ministry held a special session yesterday to present details about a new law on the supervision of defense exports to arms dealers and security export companies. The law is scheduled to go into effect at the end of the month. The new supervision law takes into account considerations of national security, foreign policies and international agreements, Bucharis explained during the session yesterday. Defense exports supervisor Eli Pinko called the law revolutionary, adding that it would turn Israel’s defense establishment from a services recipient into a world provider and regulator.
Knesset rattled by racism report
Roni Sofer, YNetNews
Association for Civil Rights in Israel’s report on racism stirs up heated debate among MKs. ’All men were created in God’s image,’ says MK Yishai; ’group not concerns with rights ofJewish citizens,’ rebuts MK Boim - The Association for Civil Rights in Israel’s latest report, which stated that racism and hatred towards Israeli-Arabs have doubled over the past year, caused a lively polemic in the Knesset on Sunday. Deputy Prime Minister and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai said that "Israel must posses the values believing that all men were created in the image of God. "We must do all we can to prevent feelings of racism in Israel and one must take into account that Israeli citizens have been under constant terror attacks, which probably made them feel that enough is enough," said Yishai.
Palestinian security seize 26 Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency
Nablus – Ma’an – Hamas said that 26 of its members were seized by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank on Saturday. The detentions took place in Jenin, Nablus, Salfit, Tubas, Ramallah, Hebron, and Jericho, Hamas said.
Palestinian security forces
seize director of PLC speaker’s office
Ma’an News Agency
Nablus – Ma’an – Palestinian security forces seized Abdul-Qahir Surur, the director of the office of the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) on Saturday evening, Hamas said. PLC Speaker Aziz Dweik has been imprisoned in Israel since the summer of 2006. Since Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip last June, Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces have cracked down on Hamas in the West Bank, detaining more Hamas members almost every night. Last week, The Palestinian Authority closed all 92 of the West Bank’s Zakat, or alms committees, alleging that many of them were affiliated with Hamas. Hamas said that Surur was summoned for interrogations in the Palestinian Preventive Security’s headquarters and detained. Acting PLC speaker Ahmad Bahar held Preventive Security responsible for Surur’s life, because, he says, Surur suffers from a heart condition.
Israeli forces seize two Palestinians near Ramallah
Ma’an News Agency
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized two Palestinians in the West Bank village of Nil’in, near the city of Ramallah on Sunday morning, Israeli media reported. The sources said the detainees were "wanted" by Israeli security.
Al-Quds brigades shell an Israeli army jeep,
an Israeli minister warns of rockets
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center
The aL-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, attacked on Sunday an Israeli army jeep in southern Gaza, as the Israeli interior minister warned of continued homemade rockets fire onto Israeli territories. In a statement, faxed to press, the Al-Quds brigades claimed responsibility for firing a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli military jeep to the east of Kheza’a town in southern Gaza Strip. In the meantime, Israeli interior security minister, Avi Dikhter, asserted during a meeting of the Israeli Kadima ruling party on Sunday, that the ’attrition war Palestinian armed factions wage has been recently widened’. Dikhter revealed that such groups, topped by Hamas, have been attacking military targets and civilian populations in southern Israel, threatening security of at least 250. 000 Israelis.
Al-Quds Brigades attack Israeli jeep
Ma’an News Agency
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility on Saturday for launching a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli military jeep in the town of Khuza’a in the southern Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the attack came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli atrocities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Two Palestinian military groups engage Israeli forces in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency
Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for firing a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli military vehicle east of Gaza City on Sunday. They said in a joint statement that their fighters clashed with the Israeli troops after the attack. It was not clear whether anyone was injured.
Thousands of right-wing activists
mark Hanukkah with new outposts
Efrat Weiss,
Police allow pro-settlement activists to march from Ma’aleh Adumim to neighborhood on outskirts of E-1 land swath. Ma’aleh Adumim deputy-mayor: ’Condoleezza Rice won’t tell us what to do in our own country. ’ Meanwhile settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein called in for questioning by police - Several thousand settlers and right-wing activists gathered at various points throughout the West Bank on Sunday to mark the Hanukkah holiday by erecting new outposts. Despite having declared all of the areas in question closed military zones, the IDF refrained from interfering with the gatherings. A small portion of the activists are planning to spend the night in the new places of settlement. IDF officials have said security forces would evict those who choose to do so. Youths set out to outpost sites (Photo: Gil Yochanan) Boris Grossman, deputy mayor of Ma’aleh Adumim, also took part in the march.
200 right-wing activists march to site of planned W. Bank outpost
Yair Ettinger and Nadav Shragais
Around 200 right wing activists marched Sunday from the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim toward a site several kilometers away where they were planning to erect a new outpost. The activists named the new outpost, to be located between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim in area E-1, "Mevaseret Adumim." Several dozen police officers were summoned to the area, but the march went ahead without interruption. Several dozen left-wing Peace Now activists also arrived at the site, as well as Beitar Jerusalem football club supporters carrying the club’s flag. According to the rightists, police forces blocked route 60, the road leading to the site of the planned outpost. Settler activists said they planned to try to set up two additional West Bank outposts and try to reclaim five other outposts already evacuated in recent months.
Detainees in Al Jalama
threaten to hold a hunger strike
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center
Palestinian detainees imprisoned in Al Jalama Israeli detention facility threatened to hold an open-ended hunger strike in protest to the Israeli escalations against them including solitary confinement against several detainees, bad food and medical negligence. The detainees stated that there are several detainees who are sick and need immediate medical attention but the prison administration is neglecting their rights and refusing to provide them with the needed medical treatments. Meanwhile, detainees in Ayalon Israeli prison complained of harsh living conditions and repeated attacks by the soldiers. The detainees also complained that they are not receiving any financial aid from the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and are unable to buy any food from the prison canteen as it is very expensive while the food provided to them is insufficient and of a bad quality.
Palestinians mark 20th anniversary of First Intifada amidst division
Ma’an News Agency
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinians are celebrating on Sunday the 20th anniversary of the First Intifada, the popular uprising that put the Palestinian cause back on the world agenda. The Intifada (literally "shaking off" in Arabic) began with mass protests in Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on December 9, 1987 after an Israeli military vehicle ran over a group of Palestinian workers at Erez checkpoint. Israeli forces killed more than 1,500 Palestinians during the uprising, and left thousands of others injured or disabled. This year the anniversary comes during an unprecedented state of division in Palestinian society with Hamas in control of Gaza Strip, and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in charge of the West Bank. Efforts by other Palestinian factions to repair the divisions have failed so far. Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance groups, especially in the Gaza...
Report: Ratio of hospital beds per capita lowest in the West
Aviram Zino, YNetNews
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel publishes damning new report on the dreadful state of the public health system and discrimination by public institutions against certain groups: the poor, immigrants, and Arabs - Israeli health services are coping with a serious erosion in government funding which is sending ripples through the health system, with hospitals hardest hit. This is the picture that emerges from the annual report of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), published Sunday. The report also brings to light harsh statistics concerning discrimination by public institutions against different populations, including residents of outlying areas, the poor, day laborers, immigrants, Arabs, and prisoners. The document’s first chapter, entitled "It’s better to be rich and healthy," presents statistical evidence of er osion in government funding for public health services.
LEBANON: Funds dry up for hospital in impoverished camp
Hugh Macleod/IRIN, IRIN - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Relief
Ain al-Hilweh is the largest and most lawless Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon AIN AL-HILWEH, 9 December 2007 (IRIN) - A desperately needed hospital in Lebanon’s largest and most violent Palestinian refugee camp has been unable to open on time because funds to buy beds and other basic medical equipment have dried up. [See photo slideshow of Palestinian camps in Lebanon] The US$5m Al-Quds hospital in Ain al-Hilweh , just outside the southern port city of Sidon, is the single largest investment in the camp’s 60-year history and aims to treat a range of chronic diseases, heart problems, cancers and nervous disorders suffered by Ain al-Hilweh residents. It also aims to have a children’s wing and an intensive care unit. But hospital director Ibrahim Marshoud told IRIN the hospital was still some $2m from completion after international donations to the Palestinian charity...
Settlers plant ’symbolic’ outpost
Al Jazeera
The activists are against Israel’s pledge to remove settler outposts in the occupied West Bank [AFP] Israeli right-wing activists have gathered outside the occupied West Bank’s largest settlement to set up a symbolic outpost. About 200 protesters climbed a hill outside the walls of the Maale Adumim on Sunday, confronting Israeli police officers. Israeli expansion in this area is particularly contentious due to its proximity to Jerusalem. Organisers said those attending the demonstration were sending a message to the Israeli government but that they would not stay there for any length of time. "We didn’t come here to build, but to protest," Arieh Eldad, an MP from the right-wing National Union party, said. The Land of Israel Faithful , a far-right Israeli settler group which was involved in the demonstration, announced it would set up several...
Settlers march to build new outpost beneath Beitar flag
Yair Ettinger, Ha’aretz
A large yellow and black flag of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club waved Sunday over a circle of dancing right-wing activists in the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim, where they want to establish an outpost called Mevaseret Adumim. The flag flew next to Israeli flags and orange ones symbolizing opposition to withdrawal from the territories, as the Beitar supporters joined hundreds of right-wing supporters who responded to a call by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful organization to establish nine outposts throughout the West Bank. "What are we doing here? " one of the young soccer fans asked rhetorically before leaving for a soccer game at Bloomfield Stadium. "Establishing the outpost is the most Beitar there is." While the youths called on the spirit of their team, the Land of Israel Faithful tied their...
News in Brief
Ha’aretz
A man went into shock yesterday when a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed outside a toy factory in the Sderot industrial zone, causing slight damage. A second Qassam hit a community in the Shaar Hanegev regional council, where the council said none of the houses were protected against rocket attacks. Plumes of marijuana-infused smoke rose above Gaza City after Gaza’s Hamas rulers announced a major drug bust yesterday, torching large sacks of confiscated drugs in a bonfire. Hamas displayed tables full of marijuana, neatly pressed blocks of hashish, small piles of cocaine and ecstasy pills at a news conference to show the results of a two-week-long drug raid, said a government spokesman. He said the raid netted 115 dealers and growers, and drugs valued at $4 million, smuggled through tunnels from Egypt.
Holiday traffic: Mushrooming illegal outposts with Beitar flag waving
Yair Ettinger, Ha’aretz
A large yellow and black flag of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club waved yesterday over a circle of dancing right-wing activists in the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, where they want to establish an outpost called Mevaseret Adumim. The flag flew next to Israeli flags and orange ones symbolizing opposition to withdrawal from the territories, as the Beitar supporters joined hundreds of right-wing supporters who responded to a call by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful organization to establish nine outposts throughout the West Bank. "What are we doing here? " one of the young soccer fans asked rhetorically before leaving for a soccer game at Bloomfield Stadium. "Establishing the outpost is the most Beitar there is." While the youths called on the spirit of their team, the Land of Israel Faithful tied their protest in with the warriors whose victory is...
Hamas accuses P.A security forces of arresting 26 members
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center
Hamas media sources stated on Sunday that Palestinian security forces, loyal to Fateh movement, arrested 26 Hamas members and supporters in the West Bank on Saturday, including the manager of the office of the detained Palestinian Legislative Council head, Dr. Aziz Dweik. In the northern West Bank city of Jenin, security forces arrested seven Hamas members in the nearby Marka village. According to the sources, security personnel fired rounds of live ammunition and moderately injured a 13-year old child. In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, security forces broke into a local mosque and arrested three residents. Security forces also confiscated 5 computers from "Dar Al Quran society" which belongs to the mosque, Hamas sources said. Five brothers were arrested in the city after the security forces broke into a shop.
Fatah’s spokesperson: Hamas needs to retract ’coup’ before early elections
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center
Spokesperson of the secular Fatah party, Ahmad Abdelrahman, demanded Hamas to retract what he calls a ’ coup against legitimacy in Gaza’, before going to early elections. Abdelrahman’s statement came in response to a recent public opinion poll, which found that more than 70 percent of respondents want dissolution of the Palestinian parliament and going to early elections. " We are aware that the Palestinian people want an early election as a way out of current political turmoil, however, we deem a Hamas’ renunciation of its coup in Gaza, first and foremost". He believes that such a wish is difficult to realize for what he considers ’ Hamas leaders’ belief that the June coup was a legitimate move, maintaining that the only out of such a situation is putting an end to the Hamas control over the coastal region.
PA security officers detain office manager of chief Palestinian legislator
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center
The Palestinian Authority’s security services detained Sunday Abdelqaher Serour, office manager of the jailed speaker of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Aziz Dweik, who has been imprisoned by Israel since last summer. The PA’s security forces have been reportedly arresting scores of Hamas-linked people in the West Bank, since the Islamist group has seized the Gaza Strip in mid June. The PA’s Fatah-loyal forces have recently also sealed off almost 90 Hamas-run charities, under allegations of ’fraud and lack of accountability’. Hamas denied the accusations, saying the move was intended to undermine its West Bank-based structure. Hamas sources claimed that Serur was summoned by the preventive security service’s headquarter for interrogation, and then he was detained. Acting speaker of parliament in Gaza, Ahmad Bahar, held the preventive security for the detainee’s safety, because of what Bahar says, the detainee’s heart condition.
Palestinian chief judge accuses Hamas-affiliated media of libel
Ma’an News Agency
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Palestinian Supreme Judge Tayseer Tamimi accused the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa satellite TV and other Hamas-affiliated media of deliberately publishing false news about him on Sunday. Tamimi called on these media to find out the truth before publishing news reports. He also called on websites to avoid spreading rumors without first checking their sources. Hamas-affiliated media had implicated Tamimi in a decision by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority to cut off the salaries of Health Ministry employees in the Gaza Strip. Tamimi denied the accusation.
Vice PM Ramon: Parts of J’lem must be given to Palestinians
Haaretz Service and News Agencies, Ha’aretz
Vice Premier Haim Ramon responded on Sunday to U.S. criticism of plans to build additional homes in an East Jerusalem neighborhood by saying parts of the city must be given to the Palestinians to avoid losing U.S. support. Ramon said Israel would not give up the Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa, where a state plan, announced last week, to build 300 new homes sparked Palestinian anger and a warning from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who suggested the plan risked harming a peace process she helped relaunch last month at the Annapolis conference. "We must come today and say, friends, the Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital, which they will call Jerusalem or whatever they want," Ramon told Israel Radio.
Police question Druze MK who visited Damascus, met Syria VP
Yoav Stern,
Police questioned Balad MK Said Nafaa for three hours Sunday, over the Druze lawmakers visit to Syria in September in defiance of a ban on visits by MKs to enemy states. Investigators also questioned Nafaa over ties to Palestinian spokesmen, who complemented Balad during the party’s recent conference in Shfaram against the U.S. -sponsored Annapolis conference on Middle East peace. Nafaa’s office said at the time that the visit, as part of a delegation of Druze religious leaders, was aimed at strengthening ties between Israeli and Syrian Druze, as well as improving links between Israeli Arabs and the Syrian people. Investigators focused on two aspects, including to extent Nafaa assisted the Druze religious leaders in their visit, as well as his role in arranging passage through Jordan.
MK Naffa: Syria is not my enemy
Sharon Roffe-Ofir, YNetNews
Naffa questioned by International Crime Unit following visit to Syria in September; says he does not rule out another visit to enemy state - Knesset member Said Naffa (Balad) was brought in for questioning by police on Sunday after a formal investigation was opened into his September visit to Syria , a country Israel deems an enemy state. After emerging from the police station some four hours later, Naffa told Ynet that he does not view Syria or its residents as his enemies. He also said he could not promise that he would not visit the country again. The investigation is set to continue next week. Naffa, a member of the Druze community, led a delegation of 330 Druze religious leaders on a visit to Damascus. During his stay, the Israeli lawmaker met with Syrian government officials and was even interviewed by various media outlets.
Mullen: ’I understand Israel’s concerns’
Amir Oren, Ha’aretz
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States Army, Admiral Mike Mullen, arrived in Israel last night for a one-day visit as the guest of Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi. Ahead of Mullen’s visit, the Pentagon released the transcript of a lecture he gave at the War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania November 28. Among the students is an IDF colonel. During the question and answer session, Mullen was asked about Israel and Iran. From Mullen’s answer, it can be understood the questioner, who was not identified, was an IDF officer. "I’ve been to Israel more than once," Mullen said, "and I understand to some degree, obviously I’m not, I didn’t grow up in your shoes but I understand to some degree, physically where you live and certainly the concerns that exist from the Israeli perspective about your neighborhood.
Delegates of Australian Churches summon with Jenin Governor
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 12/9/2007
Delegates of a number of Australian Churches met on Sunday with Jenin governor, Qaddoura Mousa, in his office, and discussed the harsh living conditions the residents are facing due to the Israeli siege to the area and the repeated invasions. The governor thanked the delegates for the aid they provided the area with, especially the aid to physically challenged residents and development projects which included digging water wells in villages east of the city. The delegates also visited the Jenin refugee camp and observed the harsh conditions and difficulties the residents are facing on daily basis. Also, the delegates stated that their churches will continue to support the Palestinian people in order to ease their suffering under occupation.
Ramon: Cede parts of Jerusalem to avoid conflict with US
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/10/2007
While still maintaining that construction should continue in the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said Sunday that Israel should give up some Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority to avoid a conflict with the U.S. Â U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice challenged the Israeli government’s decision to expand the settlement of Har Homa, built on the Palestinian-owned mountain of Abu Ghneim, next to Bethlehem, by another 300 units. She made no comment, however, on a planned expansion of 1200 new units and an industrial park to be built adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem. Ramon stated that in order to maintain U.S. Support, Israel should consider giving up some of the Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem that Israel has been occupying with military force since 1967.
Ramon: Cede part of Jerusalem to Palestinians
Ynet and news agencies, YNetNews 12/10/2007
Vice premier defends construction project in contested Jerusalem neighborhood but says Israel should consider handing over the city’s Arab areas to the Palestinian Authority so as not to lose crucial US support - Vice Premier Haim Ramon responded on Sunday to criticism of plans to build homes on occupied land in the Jerusalem area by saying parts of the city must be given to the Palestinians to avoid losing US support. But he also said that Israel would not give up the settlement where the building plan announced last week sparked Palestinian anger and a warning from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it risked harming a peace process she helped relaunch last month at the Annapolis conference. Israel has rejected criticism of a tender for some 300 more homes in the Har Homa on the grounds that the neighborhood is inside Jerusalem’s city boundaries and as such does not constitute a settlement.
In letter to Rice, Hamas calls for dialogue with West
Ma’an News Agency 12/9/2007
Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas signaled its desire to be included in Western-backed peace negotiations in an open letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday. America’s efforts to isolate the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, on the other hand, will undermine any attempt at peace, wrote Ahmad Yousef, a senior aide to depose Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The letter, sent indirectly through media outlets, says that by ignoring "the overwhelming victory Hamas achieved in the Palestinian elections," the United States is harming its own interests in the Middle East and deepen anti-American animosity in the region and throughout the Muslim world. Yousef reiterated Hamas’ readiness for negotiations with the United States and Europe aiming to seriously address the issues discussed at the international conference in Annapolis last month.
Palestinian Education Minister meets with UNESCO chief
Ma’an News Agency
Ramallah – Ma’an – Deputy Director-General of UNESCO Marcio Barbosa and a UN delegation met with Lamis Al-Alami, the Palestinian Education Minister, and several Ministry of Education officials in her office in Ramallah on Sunday to discuss education in the Palestinian territories. The topic of the discussion was the improvement of education in Palestine. Strategies to overcome the obstacles put in place by the Israeli policy of segregation and daily checkpoints, which hinder the betterment of education, were also considered. Al-Alami called on the visiting delegation to provide the basic necessities for schools in Palestine, taking into account the natural growth of the Palestinian population, especially in the Gaza Strip. Barbosa expressed his admiration for the accomplishments made by the Palestinian Education Ministry despite difficult circumstances.
Don’t get sick: Foreign workers risk losing jobs and then their insurance
Ruth Sinai, Ha’aretz
G. G. came to Israel four and a half years ago, and was a devoted caretaker for an elderly Israeli until she herself became sick. Her employer fired her after learning that she had cancer of the uterus and ovaries. She had a hysterectomy in February, followed by two chemotherapy treatments. She was supposed to have at least two more, but her insurance company informed her that it was not required by law to pay for additional treatments. It did, however, offer her a return flight to the Philippines. The loss of the ability to work is one of the worst problems faced by the 102,000 labor migrants currently in Israel legally. Next month the Knesset is to hold a series of deliberations on the demand by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) to end these workers’ complete dependence on private insurance companies and transfer their health care to the health maintenance organizations.
Olmert: Ethiopian Jews are right to feel discriminated against
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz
"Ethiopian Jews’ feeling that they have been wronged is not detached from reality, a reality that we must change," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday. At the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, Olmert spoke about the discrimination against Ethiopian-born students, referring to a recent discovery that four Ethiopian girls had been forced to study in complete isolation at a Petah Tikva religious school. "These stories compound the general distress felt by the Ethiopian children and the Ethiopian population within the Israeli society," the prime minister said, adding that this feeling is not devoid of truth, and is not isolated to a certain part of the country. "There are problems and there are hardships. This coming January we will approve a new wide ranging program aimed at resolving some of the issues facing Ethiopian Jewry," he said.
Olmert: Discrimination against Ethiopians not isolated phenomenon
Roni Sofer, YNetNews
Prime minister addresses the recently uncovered discrimination against Ethiopian students in Israeli school and calls for the teachers to conclude negotiations by the end of the Hanukkah break - Addressing the recent news report on anti-Ethiopian discrimination at a Petah Tikva school, Prime Minister Ehud OImert opened the weekly cabinet meeting by admitting to cabinet members that the problem belongs not just to one school or area in Israel. "These news items only add to the general feelings of distress among the Ethiopian community in Israel," he said. "I cannot say that that this feeling is disconnected from reality, or that it is common in only one place in Israel and everywhere else everything is fine," Olmert added. "The sense of injustice felt by Ethiopian Jews is something we must change.
Gaza police seize 4 million US dollars worth of drugs
Ma’an News Agenc
Gaza – Ma’an – The Palestinian police confiscated and burned 4 million US dollars worth of marijuana and hashish in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, and have arrested 115 drug dealers, deposed Interior Ministry spokesperson Eyhab Al-Ghussain said. According to Al-Ghussain, the accused will face punishments up to life imprisonment or execution. The harsh sentences are intended to deter other dealers. He also affirmed that the Hamas-led de facto government of the Gaza Strip has taken control of more than 90% of the tunnels used for smuggling drugs into the territory.
$4 million worth of drugs seized by Hamas police forces in Gaza
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/9/2007
Palestinian police forces of the Hamas-dominated government in Gaza seized and burned on Sunday marijuana plants valued at $4 million, in what the Hamas’s interior ministry says was a two-week-long chase of drug dealers in the coastal region. Spokesman of the interior ministry, Ehab al-Ghussain, told press that today’s operation came following several days of crackdown of traffickers of such illicit drugs, which involved marijuana, hashish and tablets. Al-Ghussain said that most of the confiscated drugs have been smuggled through under-ground tunnels to the south of Gaza Strip, adding that his ministry has shut down almost 90 percent of such tunnels, yet he gave no exact figure. The ministry’s spokesman voiced concern over other suspected tunnels, close to the Karni commercial crossing in eastern Gaza, where Israel holds control.
Hamas burns ’confiscated’ drugs
BBC Online
The Palestinian movement Hamas has burnt a large pile of illegal drugs it says it confiscated in Gaza recently. Hamas spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein said the drugs were worth about $4m (£1. 97m), and had mostly been smuggled into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt. He said Hamas forces had detained 115 drug dealers and closed 90% of the smugglers’ tunnels. Correspondents say it was Hamas’ latest attempt to show it was imposing order after taking control in Gaza this year. Hamas displayed tables full of marjiuana, hashish, cocaine and ecstasy at a news conference to show the results of its operations. Mr Ghussein accused rivals Fatah of allowing a drug culture to flourish and collaborating with Israel to corrupt Gaza’s youth. "We will not show mercy to anybody involved in the death trade," he said.
’We’ll cut off schools segregating Ethiopian students’
Raanan Ben-Zur, YNetNews
Petah Tikva mayor decides to take action following reports of discrimination at local school. City municipality vows to withdraw municipal funding for private schools that fail to integrate Ethiopian students. Government plans to allocate $11. 5 million for Ethiopian families - The Petah Tikva municipality announced Sunday that it will not fund any private schools that fail to absorb Ethiopian immigrants. Petah Tikva Mayor Itzhak Ohayon announced these measures following last week’s report about four Ethiopian students who were segregated in a separate classroom at a local elementary school. Over 800 Ethiopian students are currently enrolled in Petah Tikva schools. Three of the city’s private schools receive municipal funding. Ohayon stated that the funds in question do not come from the Ministry of Education, but rather directly from the Petah Tikva municipality.
Olmert says gov’t has no desire to ’defeat’ striking teachers
Or Kashti and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday said the government has no desire to "defeat" striking teachers and called for the teachers’ union to negotiate with the government to bring a resolution to the strike by the end of the Hanukkah holidays. Olmert vowed to personally lead the negotiations if it will help bring a resolution. Sources in the PM’s office said that Olmert is interested in seeing a series of concrete steps to bring education reform over the next ten years, including dealing with issues such as class sizes, standardized test scores, and dropout rates. Dozens of teachers held a protest Sunday outside the Finance Ministry offices in Jerusalem, and vowed to hold further protests throughout the coming week. The teachers, protesting recently issued back-to-work orders, laid in the street in the front of the office, and...
Netanyahu: We can make education take off
Ran Rimon and Adi Ben-Israel, Globes Online
"How to do you recruit good teachers? Pay them? Not necessarily." "We’re at a historic crossroads in the education system with far-reaching economic and national ramifications. I believe that we can rise up, and we can take off. We can make education take off as we did with the economy," said head of the opposition, Likud chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu in his "The best to education" presentation at the Globes Israel Business Conference 2007 today. Netanyahu went on, "Every reform depends on three things. The first is leadership to provide vision, political power, and courage. Even if we pay the price - and we’re paying a heavy price - there are many more changes still to carry out. The hard part is to begin, and today the tills are full, which enables us to deal with our education problems and social gaps. We can carry out education reform and we must do it.
Finance C’ttee opposes cuts in NII allocations
Lilach Weissman, Globes Online
The cuts were originally mandated during the recession in 2002. The Knesset Finance Committee opposes proposals by the Ministry of Finance to make more cuts in National Insurance Institute allocations included in the 2008 economics arrangements bill. The Ministry of Finance wants to cut allocations by 4%, as originally set during the recession in 2002, when Likud chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu was minister of finance. The Ministry of Finance wants to cut old age pensions, unemployment benefits, income support, incapacity benefits, childbirth grant, children’s allowance, severance pay in the event of an employer’s liquidation or bankruptcy, and funeral payments, among other allocations. The National Insurance Institute estimates the cut at NIS 200 million, not including income support payments. The Ministry of Finance estimates that the cuts will save NIS 100 million a year.
Industrialists try to launch Israeli-Palestinian business forum
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz
A group of Israeli and Palestinian industrialists have established the Palestine International Business Forum, in order to promote projects in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The group’s board of directors is set to hold its first meeting on Wednesday, in Bethlehem. Israeli members include businessmen Benny Gaon, Dov Lautman, Jacob Perry and Yaakov Gelbard, as well as Shraga Brosh and Amiram Shor of the Manufacturers Association of Israel. At the meeting, a new study on Palestinian-Israeli economic relations is to be released. Gaon Agro Industries will present planned joint agroindustrial projects, including purifying and recycling well-water, a 300-dunam (75-acre) pomegranate plantation and a fish-breeding project. The group is also planning to establish a research and study center in Deir Hijleh, in the Jordan Valley.
Ballistic in Brussels
Amir Oren, Ha’aretz
A new Israeli rocket was unveiled over the weekend at NATO headquarters on the outskirts of Brussels, where the international organization’s foreign ministers gathered as is customary each year in early December. The rocket - a "Tzipi Livni" model - was fired at a high speed with sirens wailing at the close of the luncheon of NATO ministers and their counterparts from Israel and six Arab countries. The fuel that powered it was the fear of a cabinet crisis if Livni tarried at the luncheon, which was dragging on, and only arrived at her hotel in the center of the Belgian capital after the Sabbath started. She rose to the challenge with only a few scant moments to spare. While Livni was making her panicked way to the Brussels Hilton, a professional colleague, Condoleezza Rice, was making hers to the Joseph Luns Press Theater, where she...
Russia wants its emigrants back
Anshel Pfeffer, Ha’aretz
The Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv is operating a branch of a government body whose goal is to persuade Russian emigrants to return, under the guise of a cultural center, Israeli intelligence bodies said. The cultural center, which opened about two months ago, is headed by a Russian intellectual, but the intelligence bodies believe he worked for the Soviet secret service, the KGB. Senior government officials have reportedly expressed concerns recently over the development of "competition" between Russia and Israel over where former Russians will reside. The Russian Embassy was unavailable for comment yesterday. Israeli intelligence bodies are certain that the Russian cultural center that opened two months ago on Geula Street in Tel Aviv is a cover for the local branch of the Sons of the Homeland movement established by Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring back Russians who had emigrated to Israel.
U.S. raising visa fees to $131
Haim Bior, Ha’aretz
If you want to visit the U.S. , be prepared to fork out a lost more. Visa prices are rising at the beginning of 2008 by $31, up from $100 today. No official announcement has been made yet, but the additional sum is meant to cover the $20 fee for an FBI fingerprint and background check, as well as other cost increases at the Department of State. The tourism industry expects only minor drops in demand for U.S. travel, and high-tech companies are not expected to change plans to send workers. About 130,000 Israelis request an American visa every year. The approximately $13 million collected annually goes to cover the embassy’s costs, but a visa today is actually more than $100, as the embassy charges NIS 410. It seems that there is still one place where the dollar has not dropped. Most countries charge less for their visa fees, though Uzbekistan levies NIS 465.
Not at Nicosia’s expense
Adar Primor, Ha’aretz
Cyprus is uneasy at the tightening relations between Turkey and Israel. That is how one may look at last week’s visit to Israel by the foreign minister of the island republic, Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis. The last time the top-ranking Cyprus diplomat visited here, in May 2005, was immediately after the visits to Jerusalem by the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and its foreign minister (now president), Abdullah Gul. The Cypriot foreign minister at that time, George Iacovou, claimed that his visit had been scheduled long in advance and was intended to strengthen the ties between the two countries, but it will probably not be a mistake to say he wanted to plant his country’s flag in the Holy Land in order to scuttle, or at least counterbalance, the growing influence of the Turkish rival.
Israel Police to establish local ’FBI’ unit
Roni Sofer, YNetNews
Internal security minister reports increase in the use of explosive devices, weapons by major crime syndicates. Unit to be established in January ’will tilt the scales in our favor,’ police chief says - Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen announced Sunday that next month the Israel Police will usher in a new, FBI-like unit dedicated to fighting organized crime. The new unit will consist of some 900 policemen and will be headed by Commander Yoav Segalovich, Cohen told cabinet members. "This (unit) will tilt the scales in our favor," the police chief said. The unit will also be tasked with conducting complex investigations, and its members will be equipped with advanced intelligence apparatus. Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said during the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel has seen a major increase in the use of weapons by members of the major crime syndicates, including explosive devices and grenades.
Judicial candidates now subject to Shin-Bet screening
Aviram Zino, YNetNews
Former High Court Justice Yitzhak Zamir slams decision to administer security background checks to nominees for bench. Even though it was his idea - Former High Court Justice Yitzhak Zamir, who retired from the bench in 2001, reproached the court administration for its decision to allow the Shin Bet screen judges nominated for a High Court appointment. Until now the Shin Bet’s background checks were reseved for appointed judges whereas the new policy allows investigators to examine judges’ lives while they are still only candidates for the High Court. Among other things, the screening will give the committee charged with appointing judges another parameter to grade the nominees. It’s not that Zamir doesn’t support the measure - years ago he led the committee that eventually recommendation the policy be implemented - he’s just unsatisfied with the authorization process.
Former Arafat aide discusses leader’s life in new book
Ma’an News Agency
Bethlehem – Ma’an – A former advisor to the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Marwan Kanafani, has published a new book about the life and times of the iconic leader entitled "Years of Hope." Kanafani was a member of Arafat’s entourage for the last 20 years of his life. A number of Arab notables took part in a book signing at the Four Seasons hotel in Cairo this week. The introduction of the book includes a narration of Palestinian displacement during the 1948 Nakba, or disaster, based on the story of Arafat’s family and their journey from Jaffa to Acre in 1948 Palestine, then to Tyre and other towns in southern Lebanon. The 600-page book is divided into six parts each containing several chapters chronologically depicting Palestinian history, except for the first part which discusses the death of Yasser Arafat and his long journey from Egypt to Kuwait, Jordan,...
Muslim clerics light Hanukkah candles
Koby Nahshoni, YNetNews
Delegation of Muslim clerics arrives in Israel as part of initiative launched by Simon Wiesenthal Center. Clerics’ will visit Sderot, Western Wall and light holiday candles with yeshiva students. Project founder: ’Not every Muslim is a Hamas terrorist’ - While Hanukkah is usually touted as a symbol of steadfast Jewish resistance against invading foreign cultures, this year some are utilizing the festival of lights to bridge the void between different faiths. A delegation of Indonesian Muslim clerics arrived in Israel Monday night (less than a day before Hanukkah) with the expressed intend of "getting to know the Jewish people a little bit better." The visit is part of an initiative launched by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC). The clerics visited the rocket-battered town of Sderot as well as the Western Wall in the Old City in Jerusalem and took part in a festive...
Michel Georgiou receives Gebran Tueni Award at ceremony honoring assassinated journalist
Hassan Abdo, Daily Star
BEIRUT: The coming second anniversary of the assassination of journalist and MP Gebran Tueni was commemorated on Sunday with the announcement of this year’s Gebran Tueni Award at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center. L’Orient-Le Jour columnist Michel Hajji Georgiou received this year’s prize, which is sponsored by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and Lebanese daily An-Nahar, owned by the Tueni family. Tueni was assassinated by a car bomb on December 12, 2005. The ceremony was marked by a series of passionate and often emotional speeches given by members of the Tueni family, although the highlight of Sunday’s event was singer Majida al-Roumi’s riveting speech "Enough," which prompted a standing ovation from the audience of roughly 1,500. "Are we not all Lebanese? Did all those who fought in the North and South, did they not all fight because they are Lebanese?" asked Roumi.
Mapping Center to launch new national geography portal
Orit Bar-Gil, Globes Online
The portal will provide information about land, outline plans, maps, trips, sites, aerial images, and historical maps. The Mapping Center of Israel (MAPI) will shortly launch a new national geography portal that will provide visual information. The new site will have 120 information levels about land, outline plans, maps, trips, sites, aerial images, and historical maps. The information will be for free. MAPI says that the maps were created through collaboration with various ministries. The national geography portal will provide easy-to-use information for the public, government agencies, and public bodies. MAPI says that the creation of common maps will improve government services and cut costs. The portal will provide land planning information, such as maps, aerial images, and additional information about blocks, parcels, and sections of land.
New Leumi privatization investment banker chosen
Globes'' correspondent, Globes Online
The investment bank will handle potential buyers and organize the road show. The MI Holdings (State of Israel Properties) tenders committee has picked NM Rothschild & Sons Ltd. to handle the new privatization of Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI ). The investment bank will seek potential buyers for the controlling core of the bank from a list of 100 candidate banks and financial institutions. Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav, who serves as chairman of MI Holdings, chaired the tenders committee. Other members were MI Holdings general manager Yitzhak Klein and deputy accountant general Ami Landau. The two finalists in the tender were announced in early October: NM Rothschild and Collins Stewart plc (LSE:CLST). Yaron Zelekha was the Accountant General at the time. The decision on the winner was delayed until Zelekha’s departure.
Thousands walk against climate change
Daily Star
BEIRUT: Six Arab countries took part Saturday and Sunday for the first time in the International Day of Action against Climate Change to demand Arab nations take stronger action against this global problem. Non-governmental organizations, governmental institutes and individuals from Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and UAE joined citizens from more than 80 countries who participated in the event. In Beirut, and despite the tense political situation and bad weather, more than 2,000 individuals went down to the streets on Sunday to participate in a symbolic 3-kilometer walk against climate change. The crowd held signs and banners reading "Act against Climate Change" and "No More Oil." The occasion was also attended by ambassadors, celebrities and other prominent figures of society. The day included the distribution of awareness material as well as the signing of a petition calling on the Arab League to make climate change a priority issue.
Articles
The Har Homa test
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz
It is difficult to think of a place more suitable than Har Homa for holding the first test in the spirit of Annapolis. The comparison between Har Homa Crisis No. 2 and the development of Har Homa Crisis No. 1 can teach us whether the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has indeed started a new track or whether all the players are stuck on the old line.
Does Ehud Olmert, who pressed for the establishment of the new neighborhood in East Jerusalem, really see something different from the Prime Minister’s Bureau than what he saw from the office of the mayor of Jerusalem? Will President George W. Bush pay lip service and eventually have to eat his words, just as Bill Clinton did 10 years ago?
Meanwhile, it is difficult to find the differences. Har Homa Crisis No. 1 also broke out a short while after an American attempt to revive the peace process.
Israel’s ’auto-pilot’ policy on Iran
Trita Parsi, Asia Times
WASHINGTON - The US National Intelligence Estimate’s (NIE) assertion that Iran currently does not have a nuclear weapons program has caused much frustration in Israel. Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh referred to the report as a lie at a recent breakfast in New York, and Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer reportedly "doesn’t buy" its findings.
Though the report aggravates Israel’s effort to compel Washington to pursue an increasingly harsh line against Tehran, all is not lost for Israel. In fact, despite these initial knee-jerk reactions, the NIE may very well end up being a blessing in disguise for the Jewish state by pulling Israel out of its paralysis with regard to Iran.
Israel has long been at odds with Washington’s intelligence agencies. It started sounding the alarm bells on Iran’s nuclear program back in 1991, arguing that in the post-Cold War world, Iran and Shiite fundamentalism were emerging as the new strategic threat to the Middle East.
The nanny state
Haaretz Editorial, Ha’aretz
Journalists Tsur Shezaf, Ron Ben-Yishai and Lisa Goldman each went to either Lebanon or Syria to report for the Israeli media. For this routine action, each recently was questioned by the International Crimes Investigations Unit of the Israel Police. "We don’t make distinctions among citizens," the police stated, citing the 1954 Prevention of Infiltration Law.
If the state did not distinguish among its citizens, then it would have to monitor hundreds of thousands of Israelis with dual citizenship who travel abroad, including to countries with which Israel has no diplomatic relations. The new and open world, with its freedom of movement - actual as well as virtual - is a fact we must learn to live with. Democratic states guard against illegal immigration, and only dictatorships fight to keep their citizens inside.
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