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Today in Palestine
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Outpost funding would violate Israel's promises, report warns
The author of a highly influential government report on illegal outposts in the West Bank has recently warned the government against approving a new justice ministry proposal that would allow state funding for outposts. The ministry's proposal, which will come up for discussion in 10 days, advocates cementing Jewish ownership of land that is owned by Palestinians. A major contention for Sasson is a clause stating that settlements would be allowed to realize old building plans that have been approved by former governments. "This allows expanding settlements by letting them form a new 'neighborhood' several kilometers away from the main settlement," Sasson says. "These so-called neighborhoods will in fact become new settlements."
Will peace cost me my home? – by Ghada Ageel
Sixty years ago, my grandparents lived in the beautiful village of Beit Daras, a few kilometers north of Gaza. They were farmers and owned hundreds of acres of land. [In 1948] we became refugees, queuing for tents, food and assistance, while the state of Israel was established on the ruins of my family's property and on the ruins of hundreds of other Palestinian villages. Some people may tire of hearing such stories from the past. But for me, the line between past and present is not so easily broken. I raise this story today because it remains profoundly relevant to the Middle East peace process -- and to help convey the deep-seated fears of Palestinian refugees that we will be asked to exonerate Israel for its actions and to relinquish our right to return home. That cannot be allowed to happen. All refugees have the right to return. This is an individual right, long recognized in international law, that cannot be negotiated away. Palestinian refugees hold this right no less than Kosovar or Rwandan or any other refugees.
Gillerman to U.N.: "Stop eternalizing the past"
As Hamas officials called for the United Nations to rescind the partition plan that was adopted in 1947, UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman on Thursday urged it to stop "eternalizing the past" and work toward a better future. [This is a joke, right? Who eternalizes the past more than Israel?]
Claims of chemical weapon use in Gaza
Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor (Response, November 30) denies Israel used chemical weapons in Gaza. Claims and counterclaims about the use of such weapons have a long history and are often hard to verify. Mr Prosor's denial must be judged against the reports by health workers in Gaza of injured Palestinians suffering from "severe convulsions, muscle spasms, vomiting, amnesia or partial memory loss" after exposure to Israeli gas attacks (multiple references available).
250 Palestinians to be allowed to leave Gaza on Sunday
for work, study, and medical treatment, in the first such transfer since June. Oce the Gaza residents have passed through the Israeli-controlled Erez border crossing at the northern end of the coastal territory, the group will be transferred to the West Bank and beyond. The transfer will take place under the supervision of the Ramallah-based, Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, not the Hamas-controlled government of the Gaza Strip. The full list of 250 can be found on Ma'an's Arabic language website.
Haniyeh appeals to Egypt to open Rafah crossing
to allow medical patients and Muslim pilgrims headed for Mecca to leave the Gaza Strip. Israel, with the cooperation of Egypt and the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority, has maintained a near-total closure of Gaza's border crossings since June. Also, Mushir Al Masri, a Hamas-affiliated member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip, which have killed more than a dozen Palestinians this week, were the outcome of Tuesday's Annapolis meeting.
Hamas boycotts Palestinian census
"We have not been able to begin census-taking in the Gaza Strip because Hamas has prevented us from doing so," said Loai Shabana,the head of the Palestinian statistics office, in Ramallah. In contrast, the census did begin in the West Bank, and is expected to last 16 days. The most recent Palestinian census numbers, published two years ago, put the total population of the West Bank and Gaza at 3,762,000 people. Of that, 2,372,000 people lived in the West Bank and 1,390,000 in Gaza. Nearly half of the population -- 46 percent -- was less than 15 years old, and 42 percent lived below the poverty line.
Five Al-Qassam Brigades
fighters killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza
Medical sources confirmed the death of Mohammed Abu Anza, his brother Ziad, Ibrahim Albraim, Jihad Qudaih, Tamer Abu Jama and injury of three others while trying to save those injured in the airstrike. Local sources reported that the Israeli warplanes targeted the fighters with three air-to-surface missiles at 12:50 am on Saturday before resuming firing another batch of missiles on the same area. The sources told the PIC reporter that the Israeli warplanes opened fire indiscriminately from their machine guns on the area to prevent the access of Palestinian rescue workers and ambulance crews to reach and rescue the injured.
Death toll rises to six as
Israeli warplanes assassinate Al-Quds Brigades fighter
An Israeli airstrike killed one member of Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades and injured three others in Jabalia Refugee Camp, raising Saturday's death toll to six in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Aqsa Brigades fighters survive sea and air attack on Friday
According to the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Israeli naval forces fired automatic weapons and an Israeli airplane fired a missile at the group while it attempted to launch a homemade projectile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, just after 6am local time. The fighters said the attack took place near the headquarters of the Palestinian naval forces on the shore north of Gaza City. They also said that they succeeded in launching the projectile, but it landed in the Mediterranean.
Al-Aqsa Brigades claim two a
ttacks on Israeli targets Saturday morning
In one attack, the group said it launched one projectile at the Israeli town of Zikim, which borders the Gaza Strip. They claimed that the rocket caused material damage. Separately, the Brigades claimed they launched four projectiles at an Israeli military installation at Kisufim, also near the Gaza Strip. The group said that these attacks were a response to Israeli crimes committed against Palestinians/
Haaretz Video: Viagra, antidepressants in high demand as Palestinians seek to forget distress
The flow of weapons from Sinai into Gaza has recently drawn threats from Israel's security establishment of a large military operation. The smuggling of Viagra and antidepressant painkillers to the coastal strip is less of a prominent issue, but according to smugglers it is also highly lucrative. Palestinians describe in the video how the drugs aid them in dealing with the distress of unemployment, civil war and ongoing conflict with Israel.
Gaza, Ramallah –
Torn apart in the same country – by Lama Hourani
It is a very strange feeling to leave Gaza and come to Ramallah. It is as if one were emigrating. For a while we forget that we are talking about the same country, Palestine, and are the same people, Palestinians. Well, usually under normal conditions, in normal countries, when people decide to move from one city to another in the same country it's not that difficult or that strange. We have not been able to bring any of our belongings except for the very personal ones. We were not allowed to bring even books because of the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip. We were allowed only a 12 hour permit that allowed us to come to the West Bank without returning back. We had to cut all the bridges with the city that we chose to live in 13 years ago.
Palestinian ambulances start service in E. Jerusalem
Geneva: Five Palestinian ambulances have entered service for the first time in East Jerusalem, following an agreement between Israeli authorities and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, officials said yesterday. The US immediately welcomed the breakthrough, reached at an international conference of the Red Cross, saying it hoped that its "co-operative spirit" would continue.
Palestinians: Settlers throw stones at boy, steal his donkey
The incident reportedly occurred after some 150 left-wing activists marched in protest against the long route Palestinian children are forced to take to get to school from their South Hebron Hills village. Children from Tuba go to school in Twane, a nearby village, via a lengthy and indirect path, in order to avoid harassment from residents of the Havot Ma'on settlement. The Ta'ayush Arab-Jewish Partnership activists, upon receiving word of the settler aggression, marched to Havot to retrieve the donkey, but were stopped at the settlement entrance by police.
Marda village placed under 'curfew' Friday afternoon during yet another (typical) invasion
Israeli soldiers invaded the village at approximately 2pm, with four jeeps shooting sound bombs, tear gas, and live ammunition to force the villagers off the streets. One youth was randomly abducted as he attempted to make his way home at the announcement of the curfew. Hammed, aged 16, and a student at the Lutheran High School in Jerusalem, was home to visit his family for the first time in three weeks. Before releasing him, soldiers took his permit to enter Jerusalem to attend school and destroyed it - tearing it into pieces. Hammed is unsure as to how long it will take to acquire another permit, or if indeed it will be possible at all. In the meantime he will be unable to pass through the checkpoint at Qalandia, and as such unable to attend school.
Israeli forces seize 13-year-old boy in Marda, West Bank, on Saturday morning
Witnesses said five Israeli military vehicles entered the town, blocking people from leaving their houses before abducting the child. Residents of the village said the boy, Muhammad Hamad, was accused of throwing stones at Israeli cars. [Marda is squeezed between the huge settlement of Ariel and a settler road.]
Israeli forces abduct two
Palestinians from Qabalan village near Nablus on Saturday
Witnesses said that least thirteen Israeli military vehicles invaded the town. Israeli troops broke into several houses, searching for 'wanted' Palestinians. Local sources said that the soldiers abducted 40-year-old Muhammad Abed Al Jalil Abu Zahra and 33-year-old Bilal Muhammad Ahmad Al Az'ar.
Israeli soldiers attack peaceful
demonstrators in Ramallah village of Beit U'r
After reaching the settlement road known as road 443 and conducting the Friday prayers there, the group was confronted by Israeli soldiers who were deployed in the area and attacked the protesters with batons. More than fifteen people were injured including a Palestinian legislator and associated press journalist. Two protesters were detained.
Nativity scene recast with security barrier for 'Kitschmas'
The walled nativity set, launched this week as part of a range of alternative Christmas gifts, is intended to be a reminder of the 230-mile, six-metre-high wall topped with barbed wire and lined with guard towers, that encircles the Palestinian land and Bethlehem. The message, according to its manufacturers, the Amos Trust, is that in 2007 the wise men would not have made it to the stable. The sets, priced at £12 for the small version and £50 for the large one, have been made from olive wood by Palestinian craftsmen, and all proceeds from the sales will be donated to Palestinian projects.
Palestinian reporter hospitalized
after torture by PA intelligence officers
The reporter was identified as Mohammad Halaiqa, a cameraman for the Al-Aqsa Satellite News Agency, affiliated with Hamas. A family member said that more than seven security officers attacked Mohammad, punched and slapped him for an extended period before kicking him until he fell unconscious.
Ma'an political editor on PA 'Annapolis attacks': "I cried until even my pen was wet"
I cried when I saw those pictures of the repression and beatings of participants in the mass marches in West Bank cities, which resulted in the death of the young Hisham Al Barad'i from Hebron. Dozens were wounded, including journalists. Perhaps most viewers were crying when they saw pictures of my colleague, Al Jazeera reporter Wael Shoyoukhi, whose arm was broken when he was beaten by security forces. Perhaps we can be reassured by Fatah's official condemnation of those attacks and the formation of a commission of inquiry.
Israel delays Palestinian prisoner release
Israel will delay until Monday the release of more than 400 Palestinian prisoners who had been slated to be freed on Sunday, the head of the prison administration said. "The release of the prisoners has been put off until Monday morning," Yaron Zamir said on Saturday, adding that they will be freed from Kesiot prison in the Neguev Desert. He did not say why the move had been delayed.
Twilight Zone / One in a shroud, the other on crutches – by Gideon Levy
The prisoners went to sleep after the evening roll call. At 2 A.M. they woke in a panic when hundreds of armed warders from the Masada and Nahshon units of the Israel Prisons Service (IPS) raided their tents.
Israel's dumping ground – by Amira Hass
Every day, dozens of Israeli drivers continue to bring Israeli waste to the western part of the West Bank, to an area that is under full Israeli responsibility, via Israeli military checkpoints. The managers of the unlicensed sites continue to accept the Israeli waste and garbage completely unhindered. What a difference between the helplessness of the Civil Administration here, to judge by the results at least, and its energetic activity against the villages northwest of Jerusalem, which are searching for an orderly dump site sufficiently distant from homes and schools, where they could dispose of their waste.
Haaretz Editorial: A halt, not a suspension
When Ehud Olmert warns that the world could impose a "South African solution" on Israel if two states are not created, side by side, he is tacitly admitting that expansion of the settlements is making Israel look increasingly like an apartheid regime. The agreement to withdraw, or to make "painful concessions," as it is sanctimoniously called, is therefore less painful than any other alternative.
Democracy Now: Mustapha Barghouti and Daniel Levi on Annapolis
MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI: Well, the only official thing that came out of this is the statement, the joint statement, and in that statement, the Palestinian delegation failed to present any of the Palestinian demands. And basically the whole document and the whole outcome of the meeting has practically met every Israeli need or demand.
The 'never-never' peace conference – by Sonja Karkar
But, the world does have to look hard at itself and ask why it has allowed a man-made human catastrophe to go on relentlessly for 60 years without a whimper of protest against Israel. Even a cursory look at the last 16 years of peace talks, beginning with the Oslo preliminaries, would show that Annapolis is nothing more than another delaying tactic that is intended to allow Israel to establish its Jewish state in all of Palestine . Experience tells us that this latest process will probably be as drawn out as all the others. And that about sums up a meeting that will now enter the realms of the "never-never" peace talks.
Abbas says Annapolis conference achieved its goal
"The main goal of the Annapolis conference was to launch negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis and this is in fact what happened," Abbas told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. "Some had been under the illusion that the negotiations would actually start in (Annapolis) or that a deal would be struck," he said.
Report: Rice compares life in U.S. south to Palestinians' plight
She told a closed meeting of Arab and Israeli envoys in Annapolis this week that her childhood in the segregated U.S. south helped her to understand the plight of Palestinians and the fear felt by Israelis. "I know what its like to hear that you can't use a certain road, or pass through a checkpoint because you are a Palestinian. I know what it is like to feel discriminated against and powerless," Rice was reported as saying. [See also
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/929499.html
U.S. withdraws Mideast resolution
UNITED NATIONS -- The United States withdrew a Security Council resolution Friday endorsing this week's agreement on Middle East peace negotiations, after it became clear that the U.S. ambassador had introduced it without fully consulting Israeli and Palestinian diplomats -- or, apparently, even his boss.
Washington: There is no place yet for Syria in peace process
WASHINGTON - U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Thursday it is difficult to see how Syria can fit into the renewed peace process. "Syria is a state that supports terror, including Hezbollah and Hamas," Hadley told students in a speech at Johns Hopkins University's international studies school in Washington.
T-shirt trial divides a nation
Seven Danes face long jail terms for plan to donate to groups in Palestine and Colombia – In the eyes of Denmark's ministry of justice, Preben Mikkelson, the 56-year-old grandfather cheerfully grilling half a dozen different kinds of sausages by the roadside earlier this week is at the very least a terrorist sympathiser. Alongside Schultz and five other Danes, Mikkelson could be in jail by Christmas for his part in one of Europe's most curious court cases: the so-called T-shirt terror trial. His crime was sticking a poster up in his van for a brand of T-shirts bearing the logos of two groups classed by the EU as terrorist organisations: the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
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