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PCHR Weekly Report: 27 Palestinians
killed, 51 injured by Israeli forces
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights
(PCHR)'s Weekly Report, during the week of 10- 16
January 2008, 22 Palestinians were killed and 51
were injured by the Israeli military.
Seven Palestinians die in Gaza
as Olmert vows "war"
Israeli air strikes killed at least seven Palestinians,
including a mother and child, in the Gaza Strip on
Thursday as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to
wage a "war" to stop rocket attacks on the
Jewish state.
One woman killed and forty injured in
an Israeli air strike on Gaza city
Israeli jet fighters attacked the Palestinian Minister
of Interior building located in Gaza city; one woman
and ten other civilians had been reportedly killed in
the attack that took place on Friday afternoon.
Eyewitnesses said that the building collapsed
completely, sending a huge fire blaze into the air,
flying shrapnel and smoke to the surrounding houses,
killing a woman and injuring forty civilians.
3 dead in new Israeli airstrike
on car in Beit Lahiya
Gaza – Ma'an – Three people were killed, including a
woman and her son and several others were injured in
a fresh Israeli raid, targeting a civilian car in Beit Lahiyah,
in the northern Gaza Strip, on Thursday. Muawiya
Hassanein, director of ambulance and emergency
services in the Palestinian health ministry told Ma'an
that three dead bodies were taken to the Kamal Udwan
Hospital, along with four people who are seriously injured.
Palestinians: Mother and son
killed in Israeli strike
IDF launches attack in northern Gaza killing three
Palestinian civilians from same family riding donkey cart.
Three Palestinian civilians – among them a mother and
her son – were killed in an IDF strike in northern
Gaza on Thursday, according to Palestinian sources.
IAF strikes kill four in Gaza; 40
Qassams fired at Israel
The Israel Air Force killed at least four Palestinians in
the Gaza Strip in two separate air strikes Thursday, as
Gaza militants pounded southern Israel with Qassam
rocket fire for a third straight day, lightly wounding
four people.
Fresh Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya in
Northern Gaza strip leaves three killed
from the same family
Palestinian sources reported that a fresh Israeli air raid
targeting a horse carriage in the northern Gaza strip
town of Beit Lahiya left three members of a Palestinian
family killed and five others injured on Thursday night.
Israel kills Fatah man in Nablus,
steps up pressure on Gaza Strip
Israeli troops killed a fighter from the armed wing of
Fatah movement in the occupied West Bank on
Friday, medical officials and the group said. Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades confirmed one of its members was
killed by undercover Israeli troops who were
operating in the Balata refugee camp near the city of Nablus.
Troops break into the headquarters of
the Popular Resistance Committees in Hebron
Israeli soldiers and members of the Border Guards
Units broke on Thursday into the main headquarters
of the Popular (Folk) Resistance Committees in
Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank,
and attacked the employees and volunteers.
Israeli army kidnaps 8
Palestinians from the West Bank
Israeli forces kidnapped eight Palestinians from
different parts of the West Bank overnight Thursday
and in the early hours of Friday morning. The abduction
campaigns were carried out in the West Bank cities of
Hebron, Ramallah and Tulkarem.
Israel flattens Hamas
ministry in Gaza Strip
Israel bombed the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza
and closed border crossings with the strip on Friday,
sharply escalating what it called a campaign to halt
Palestinian rocket attacks.
Army invades Azzoun, uses
family home as sniper's post.
At around 15:00, one army jeep and one hummer,
with 6-8 soldiers entered the village of Azzoun. Sound
bombs were thrown as well as smoke bombs at the
entrances of two buildings. After circling the village
several times, the army occupied an apartment in
central Azzoun which they had invaded two nights
previously. The residents, husband, wife and elderly
mother, entered their home with two Human Rights
Workers (HRWs) to find three heavily armed soldiers
using the bedroom as a sniper post. This position
overlooked the town centre where young children
were congregating. The soldiers detained the family
and HRWs in one room for approximately an hour,
while one soldier remained at the bedroom window
in sniper position.
Israeli wounded in shooting
attack near Modi'in
Man with gunshot wound to his shoulder arrives at
military checkpoint, tells soldiers Palestinians opened fire
at his car. Group from Fatah's military wing claims
responsibility for shooting.
Palestinians urge US to
intervene over Israeli raids
The Palestinian Authority on Thursday slammed Israel
over its deadly raids on the Gaza Strip and called on
Washington to intervene to preserve renewed peace efforts.
"The Israeli raids and military escalations aim
to deliver a blow to the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations,"
Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for president Mahmud
Abbas, told AFP.
Nablus, wounded in the war on history
Although it is a small stretch of land, Palestine has many
faces, from tiny country villages to bustling cities. Perhaps
one of the most impressive places is the city of Nablus.
Coming from Ramallah, passage into the city is through
the huge, overcrowded Huwwara checkpoint. Having
crossed this reversed city gate, set up by the Israeli
military in October 2000, the first impression is that of
a vivid Arab city, albeit with a sense of tension in the air.
In a recent visit, Toon Lambrechts traces Nablus'
five millennia of history.
Jihad spokesman: Different
kind of response coming
The two Palestinians killed in the IDF missile strike on a
vehicle traveling in northern Gaza were identified as
43-year-old Raad Abu al-Ful of Islamic Jihad's Salah a-Din
Brigades and his wife.
Fundamental Jewish groups
increased their attacks in Jerusalem
Local sources in Jerusalem reported that Israeli military
bulldozers, and fundamental Jewish groups increased
their attacks against the Palestinian areas in Jerusalem
and started on Thursday to dig a street which leads to
several buildings which were illegal seized by the groups
two days ago. The buildings are located in areas that
surround the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City.
Massacre of Palestinians:
An outcome of Bush-Olmert deal
The recent attacks of the Zionist regime against the
residents of the Gaza Strip was a result of U.S.
President George W. Bush's visit to the occupied Palestine.
for its attacks on the Gaza strip
Latif Douri, founder and secretary of the committee for
Israeli Palestinian dialogue, issued a statement on
Thursday evening condemning Israeli attacks on the Gaza strip.
Settlers get three more months on 'Worshipers' Way'
The settlers who occupied the building on
"Worshipers' Way," in Hebron between Kiryat Arba
and the Machpela Cave will remain there for at least
three more months, according to a decision handed
down by the High Court of Justice on Thursday.
Human Rights Advocates Meet United
Nations Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
On Tuesday, 15 January 2008, Mr. Issam Younis,
Director of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights,
Mr. Khalil Abu Shammaleh, Director of Ad Dameer
Association for Human Rights, and Talal Oukal,
journalist and political analyst, met with Mr. Robert
Serry, the United Nations Coordinator for the Middle
East Peace Process. They met at the Office of the
Special Coordinator of the United Nations in Gaza city.
postponed until spring, Israeli newspaper says
The Israeli army is waiting for the spring before
launching a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip,
the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv reported on Thursday.
However, the invasion may be brought forward if the
continuing Palestinian rocket attacks on the towns
bordering the coastal strip cause severe injury to
Israeli citizens, the newspaper report said.
Israel locks down Gaza
Israel locked down the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the same
day its air strikes killed at least nine Palestinians there in
a bid to halt near daily rocket fire and as Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert vowed to keep up raids on gunmen in the
impoverished Hamas-run territory.
EU urges Israelis to ease Palestinian movement
Senior European official Benita Ferrero-Waldner says
she understands Israel's security needs, but Jewish
state should look to gradually lift restrictions, hand
security responsibility in West Bank to Palestinians
with international monitoring.
Gazan family to sue Israel over
man's death from denial of medical treatment
The Al-Jamal family from the Gaza strip is suing the
Israeli security services, claiming that they caused
the death of fifty-three-year-old Mustafa Al-Jamal by
denying him a permit to go an Israeli hospital
for treatment.
ISRAEL-OPT: Gaza power cuts leave
people cold physically, metaphorically
The Israeli government decided earlier this month to
permit the Gaza Strip to import industrial diesel -
in similar quantities to those permitted prior to the fuel
import restrictions imposed in October 2007 - but the
impoverished enclave continues to suffer from power cuts.
Fatah lawmakers from the Gaza
Strip ask Fayyad to deliver funds
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has pledged
to investigate the problem of civil servants whose salaries
have not been paid recently. Fatah's Palestinian Legislative
Council (PLC) members from the Gaza Strip met with
Fayyad on Wednesday to discuss the disbursement
salaries, unemployment and agricultural issues.
Canada puts U.S., Israel on torture watchlist
Canada's foreign ministry has put the United States
and Israel on a watch list of countries where prisoners
risk being tortured and also classifies some U.S.
interrogation techniques as torture, according to a
document obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
Haniyeh's political advisor invites
Abbas to visit Gaza Strip
Bethlehem – Ma'an exclusive – Ahmad Yousef, political
adviser to prime minister of the de facto government in the
Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, told Ma'an on Thursday that he
expects dialogue between Fatah and Hamas to take place,
especially after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
contacted Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahhar to express
his sympathy for the death of his son.
The recent outbreak of violence in
Gaza only serves Hamas' enemies
The past week has seen a rapid degeneration from bad
to worse in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert's vow to continue waging "war" on the
besieged territory does not bode well for more than one
million civilians who live there. Having already been
half-starved into submission by the economic strangulation
imposed on them by Israel and the international community,
Gazans now find themselves caught between an escalating
battle between militants and Israeli forces.
Shalit's father sends condolences
to Hamas leader
Noam Shalit sends 'personal letter of condolence' to Hamas
strongman Mahmoud al-Zahar following his son's death this
week while Hamas reiterates it is treating Shalit's captive
son humanely.
Is Hamas Saving More Jewish Lives Than Olmert?
Hamas's second in command, Mahmoud al Zahar, has
saved more Jewish lives in his short tenure as Palestinian
Foreign Minister, than Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
And how has he been rewarded?
Hamas Police Force Recruits Women in Gaza
The policemen of Hamas now have company: since the
Islamic group took over here last June it has been
recruiting policewomen as well. Since mid-August,
60 women have been accepted into the force. Unlike
policemen, the women have not played any role in resisting the
latest Israeli incursions, instead working mostly on cases that
involve dealing with women, like drugs and prostitution, and
helping out at police headquarters and the central jail.
Third of J'lem families live in poverty
Jerusalem has the highest incidence of poverty in
Israel as 33 percent of the capital's families and 56 percent
of its children live below the poverty line. The new Statistical
Yearbook of Jerusalem published yesterday by the Jerusalem
Institute for Israel Studies indicates that the city's Arab population
is even poorer, with 62 percent of Jerusalem Arab families living in
poverty compared to 23 percent of Jewish families. Among children,
76 percent of Arab children live below the poverty line while 44
percent of Jewish children are impoverished.
British Gas explains exit from Israel
Under the deal, 15% of BG Group's natural gas field
offshore from Gaza was due to be marketed in Israel
and to the power station in Gaza.
Israel should freeze settlements for peace-Germany
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said
on Thursday that Israel should freeze the building of
settlements if it wanted to achieve peace with the
Palestinians.
Kaffiyeh-wearing protesters greet
new Israeli U.K. Ambassador
LONDON - Israel's ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor,
was met by dozens of protesters against the Israeli
occupation when he arrived Wednesday to speak at
a bastion of anti-Israel criticism in British academia
- the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
How should we judge Palestinian rap?
The film Slingshot Hip Hop forces us to ask whether
it's fair to expect artistic genius in dangerous
environments. Slingshot Hip Hop, a documentary
about the Palestinian rap scene, premiers today at the
Sundance Film Festival after five years of hard graft. It
sounds like a great film, with director Jackie Salloum
tracking the lives of five acts - from Palestinian Rapperz to
Da Arabian MCs (nice to see poor spelling affects hip-hop
acts worldwide) - as they go from gigs to run-ins with the
police, using these experiences to shed new light on the
Middle East situation.
Taking down the PLO
Linking the aliyah (Jewish immigration) to what Jewish
literature describes as Eretz Israel (Greater Israel)
-- Israeli colonial settlement of Palestinian land, which
the Hebrew state occupied in 1967, while at the same
time negating the Palestinian right of return -- is
torpedoing whatever prospect is left for a peaceful
solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, undermining the
latest US-sponsored Palestinian-Israeli talks in
Annapolis and further splintering the only viable
Palestinian partner Israel has in any viable peace
process, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
Green light for atrocities
Although the leader of the rightist opposition in Israel,
Benyamin Netanyahu, is known for his coldness and
disinclination towards praising others, he departed from
character when he gave his impression of his meeting
with US President George W Bush at dawn last
Thursday in Jerusalem. He expressed surprise over
Bush's insistence on putting an end to the "threat"
represented by the Iranian nuclear programme -- that
Israeli strategists say threatens Israel in particular --
as well as Bush's insistence that Israel must strike
the Palestinian resistance and "break its back".
"I came out of that meeting more reassured towards
Bush's determination to end the Iranian threat, and
comfortable with his pledge to provide a cover for any
military activity Israel might undertake in Gaza. If matters were
left to this president, he would not allow any Palestinian terrorist
to remain alive," he told Hebrew- language Israeli radio
Thursday morning.
Punitive engineering
Reports of grave humanitarian consequences
following phased cuts in the supply of fuel and electricity
to the Gaza Strip forced Israel's Ministry of Defence to
tweak its action on 10 January. The ministry has now
authorised a restoration of diesel fuel supplies for Gaza's
main power plant, back up to levels provided before Phase
I fuel cuts went into effect 28 October. While not enough,
as the winter cold began to bite the news came as a relief
to many in Gaza. The densely populated and now near
totally isolated coastal strip is completely dependent on
Israel for fuel, and partially dependent for electricity.
The march of cynics
The prize for the most sharply cynical remark
goes to President George W. Bush, who said in
Ramallah of the Israel Defense Forces crossing points:
"You'll be happy to hear that my motorcade of a mere
45 cars was able to make it through without being stopped.
" No doubt, he was speaking ironically, but even if he
added that he wasn't "so exactly sure that's what
happens to the average person," he should be reminded
of the saying that one doesn't mention rope in a hanged
man's home. Okay, so there's a lack of political and
human understanding here, but isn't there even a
drop of sensitivity and empathy?
Analysis: An incompetent
bungle from start to finish
Instead of dispersing the Winograd Committee
after it publishes its final report on the Second
Lebanon War, perhaps we should ask it to stick
around and start investigating the government's
bungling of its plans to impose sanctions on Gaza
to stop the Kassam and mortar attacks.
Art attack: Banksy attracts the press attention,
but around him is an increasingly influential
movement of political artists operating outside
the mainstream
The phone rings; the number is withheld. It's Banksy. He wants to know whether I can go to Bethlehem over Christmas. He is putting on an exhibition, bringing together like-minded artists from all over the world to raise awareness of the situation in Palestine. Like the annual guerrilla art shows that have taken place in London for the past six years, it will be called "Santa's Ghetto". Two weeks later, I find myself involved in an experience that transforms my ideas about what artists can do in the face of oppression.
This Time Next Year?
For Palestinians, whether living in East Jerusalem,
Hebron, Jenin, Rafah or Gaza, everything is meaningless
unless they see a true reversal of the negative
results of Israel's 40-year-old occupation.
On Walls, Castles and Embassies
The cultural rift between the U.S . and the
Arab World has widened with each successive
administration since the days of Eisenhower years
of the early 50s.
Killing in the Name of Peace
After this interlude of 20 corpses, those who watch the
farce from their comfortable and safe living rooms, can
assume that no Israeli soldier was injured.
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