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West Bank : Premiere
Urgence responds
to critical health emergency
caused by extreme winter weather
In response to unseasonable extreme winter
weather characterised by sub-zero nights and
severe frost, Premiere Urgence, supported by
the OCHA-HERF fund, joined a coordinated effort
across the West Bank to deliver emergency cold
weather supplies to herding communities and
Palestinian families living in temporary
housing made of fabric, wood or zinc.
OPT: Refugee Stories -
Dire conditions for patients seeking
medical treatment outside Gaza
Medical supplies
in Gaza running low
The Israeli-imposed restrictions on imports to
the Gaza Strip are threatening the lives of vulnerable
patients, the Oxfam aid agency has said.
"Oxfam International is gravely concerned
about the life and safety of the civilian
population residing in the Gaza Strip,"
Oxfam's director said in a statement on 25 January.
Gaza petrol stations boycott
Israeli fuel shipments in protest
Petrol stations in Gaza on Tuesday refused to
receive fuel shipments from Israel except diesel
for power plants and the cooking gas.
Mahmoud al-Khozendar, deputy director
of the Union of Gaza Service Stations Owners,
said the decision was made in a protest against
Israeli overt reduction of the fuel supplies needed by Gaza.
2 Border Guard officers charged
with assault of Palestinian teen
Video depicting officers beating 17-year old
Palestinian teenager at West Bank village of
Hawara during routine patrol aired on Ynet
last March. Court indicts both for aggravated
assault of a helpless minor.
Israeli troops kill Palestinian
in West Bank: medics
A Palestinian teenager was killed and another
was wounded by Israeli troops during a raid into
the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday,
Palestinian medical officials said.
Army ends its invasion into
Bethlehem after killing one
resident and injuring seven
The Israeli army left the southern West Bank
city of Bethlehem on Monday evening, leaving
one civilian dead and seven others injured.
One resistance fighter was also kidnapped.
IAF wounds four Hamas militants
in strike on armored car in Gaza
Israel Air Force warplanes attacked a convoy
of Hamas armored vehicle in the Gaza Strip
late Sunday, wounding four militants. The
vehicles were positioned in the former
settlement of Morag, in the southern strip.
Troops attack a female
detainee while in Tel Aviv to court
Palestinian sources reported on Tuesday that
Israeli soldiers attacked detainee Woroud Qasim,
20, from the Arab town of Al Teera, as she tried to
talk to her brother before he court session in the
Central Court in Tel Aviv.
Sick detainees hospitalized in Al Ramala,
facing deteriorating conditions
One of the lawyers of the Palestinian Prisoner
Society (PPS) visited Al Ramla Prison Hospital
on January 23 and managed to meet with a number
of Palestinian detainees who are hospitalized
there and not receiving the needed treatment.
The Israeli army attack several villages
in northern part of the West Bank
and kidnaps two civilians
Two Palestinian civilians were kidnapped by
the Israeli army on Tuesday morning during
an army attack targeting several villages near
the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Israeli forces spend night attacking
Palestinians from West Bank to Gaza
Throughout Monday night and into the early
morning hours of Tuesday Israeli forces
invaded several West Bank towns, arresting
17 Palestinians. The Israeli military took the
men under the pretext that all were "wanted."
IDF nabs Jihad chief in Bethlehem
Troops detain Islamic Jihad leader in West
Bank town; Palestinians say youth killed
during operation.
Hebrew paper: Olmert warned Abbas
against resuming dialogue with Hamas
Israeli premier Ehud Olmert has warned PA
chief Mahmoud Abbas against resuming
dialogue with the Hamas Movement during
their recent meeting, according to a
Hebrew paper on Monday.
The Israeli Authorities destroy part
of a Palestinian owned building
in Jerusalem
Palestinian sources reported that on Monday
evening the Israeli Authorities demolished
part of a house owned by a Palestinian
family located in the northern part of
Jerusalem city.
Israeli allows fuel into Gaza; Palestinian
officials say the amount insufficient
The Israeli army allowed on Monday a
shipment of fuel to enter the Gaza strip
to be used in the production of electricity.
Fuel deliveries to Gaza resume
at a fraction of normal levels
Gaza – Ma'an – Ongoing Israeli sanctions
mean that the Gaza Strip's only power
plant is still short of fuel, even as regular
deliveries of fuel resumed on Monday,
the Gazan electric utility said.
Israeli sources: Abbas and Olmert
agreed to demand Egypt seal Gaza borders
Israeli sources report on Monday that Israeli
prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and the
Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas,
agreed on Sunday to demand Egypt to
seal the breached border with the Gaza
Strip. Olmert also said that he objects to
any talks between Fateh and Hamas.
Egypt take 'gradual
control of Gaza border'
Cairo - Egypt said Monday it planned to take
gradual control of the border with the Gaza
Strip, blown open by militants last week to
allow blockaded Palestinians into Sinai to
stock up on vital goods.
Rice backs "concept" of Abbas
forces on Gaza border
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on
Monday signaled U.S. support for the forces
of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas taking
charge of the Gaza Strip's breached border with Egypt.
Hamas Warns of Israeli
Conspiracy over Rafah Crossing
Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas has
dismissed as an Israeli-led conspiracy PA
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's proposal to
deploy his own, Western-trained forces at
the Rafah crossing along with the EU
monitors. Palestinian Authority said
Monday that it had reached a deal with
Egypt to take control of the Gaza border.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri dismissed
the proposal, calling it an "Israeli-led
international conspiracy with the participation
of some regional parties" which would exclude
them from controlling the border. "We tell all
parties that we will not allow the return of old
conditions at the crossing," Abu-Zuhri said.
Hamas chief discusses
renewing talks with Fatah
RIYADH (AFP) - Hamas supremo Khaled
Meshaal is discussing the possible renewal
of talks between his group and Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction
in Saudi Arabia, an aide said.
Gaza border breach fuels
anger over food shortages
Armed Egyptian Bedouin opened fire in the air
to warn away Palestinians, highlighting growing
anger over food shortages and price rises triggered
by the breaching of the border wall with Gaza,
witnesses said.
Egyptian troops start to close
the Rafah borders
Palestinian sources in Gaza conferment that
the Egyptian troops started to close the borders
between Egypt and the southern coastal city
of Rafah on Tuesday.
Israel's "Relief"
Monday, January 28, 2008: After more than
a week of near-total ban on fuel supplies,
Israel said yesterday that it would resume
permitting Gaza residents to purchase fuel
– but would limit the amount they could buy
by as much as 81% and would cut the electricity
supplied directly to Gaza beginning February 7.
A break in the siege
It is 4:30 Friday morning and al-Arish's souq is
alive and packed with people. When asked where
they are from, the inevitable reply with a broad
grin is "I am from Palestine!" This sleepy
Egyptian resort town nestled in the middle of
the northern Sinai coast has been virtually
transformed over the past 48 hours by a
massive influx of Palestinians from Gaza.
U.S. envoy begins mission to monitor
compliance with road map
A U.S. peace envoy launched his mission Monday,
his duties complicated because Israel and the
Palestinians have widely differing views of the
kind of monitoring their troubled peace moves need.
Report: Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
wants to mediate between Fatah and Hamas
An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas says the Muslim Brotherhood in
Egypt may mediate between his Fatah
party and their rival, Hamas, in talks
aimed at restoring Palestinian unity.
Border Control / Olmert's
man in Ramallah
Prime Minster Ehud Olmert wouldn't have had
to ask twice: The barest of winks, and
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen)
would have sent every journalist in Israel a
petition calling to keep the prime minister
where he is. For good reason. People in
Ramallah read the public opinion polls
published in those papers, too.
Perpetuating Balfour's Betrayal
Islamic Jihad would be smart to cease
rocketing communities like Sderot for at
least two months to test the claim that the
siege of Gaza is simply in response to the
"rain" of rockets.
Thousands bid farewell to
Palestinian leader Habash
Thousands attended the burial of Palestinian
Marxist leader George Habash in Jordan on
Monday, chanting against Israel and vowing to
carry on his struggle for a Palestinian state.
Veteran supporters mingled with leading
Palestinian politicians and representatives
of secular and leftist Arab groups at a cemetery
outside Amman to pay their respects to
Habash, who died on Saturday from a
heart condition.
Habash: The bearer of the dream
George Habash, the Palestinian leader who
was laid to rest on Monday in Amman after six
decades of unwavering struggle, had two dreams:
an end to the dispossession of his people and
the realisation of Arab unity.
Rebel from a bygone era
George Habash died poor and in exile,
but his lessons remain vital for Arab
unity and liberation.
Arabs battle for citizenship;
State unyielding
Mohammed al-Deik has lived in Israel for
18 years, paid taxes, employed workers in his
factory and even married two Israeli citizens
and fathered an Israeli girl, but Interior
Ministry still refuses to grant him citizenship.
An Audio Interview With Mohammed
Omer, Administrator of Rafah Today Blog
Genocide In Gaza, Ethnic Cleansing
Not long ago, I claimed that Israel is employing
genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip. I hesitated
before using this very charged term and yet
decided to adopt it. The responses I received
indicated unease in using such a term. I
rethought the term for a while, but
concluded with even stronger conviction:
it is the only appropriate way to describe
what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip.
A written letter
This week, our country celebrated Martin
Luther King Day and the official end to
segregation and racial discrimination in
this country. As we celebrate certain historic
advances, we mustn't forget that these
policies are far from over in this country,
and that as we struggle against one injustice
we are perpetuating another system of
discrimination and segregation on the other
side of the world in Occupied Palestine, a
land where there are separate roads, schools,
hospitals, neighborhoods, and legal systems,
access to which depends on one's ethnicity or
religion.
Gaza: Is It a Crisis or a 'Crisis'?
Contrary to The Post's assertions, Gazans are
experiencing a humanitarian crisis. Gaza's power
plant depends on imported fuel, the supply of
which has been disrupted by Israel's blockade.
The shortages have resulted in insufficient
supplies of clean water as well as inadequate
sewage treatment, adversely affecting the
health and well-being of the population.
Wtse, Justified Political Violence,
The Breaking of the Gaza Wall
The breaking of the Gaza-Egypt wall is clearly a
good thing, and a rare example of the moral
-- and also wise -- use of violence in politics.
(For the logic and effects of the Israeli cordon of
Gaza see posting of December 7, 2007,
"Imposed Hunger in Gaza, The Army in
Indonesia. Questions of Logic and Activism").
At the gates of Gaza
These words are dedicated to the heroes of
Gaza who have proven once again that no
fortified wall can imprison the free spirit of
humanity and no form of violence can subdue
life. The appeal to go today to the gates of Gaza
at the height of the pogrom being carried out by
the thugs of the Occupation army against the
residents of the Gaza Strip has terrible echoes
of another appeal that was sent out into the air
of the impassive world more than a hundred
years ago.
No barrier too high:
A Gaza love story
She planned a trip through a smuggler's tunnel;
he prayed for an intervention. Then the wall
came down. When Gaza's border with Egypt
came crashing down last week, tens of thousands
of Palestinians rushed through, looking to buy food,
fuel and other basic goods. Emran Labbad was among
them, but he was searching for something even more
precious: a lost love.
West Bank tales from two
Tar Heel alums
Today marks the first day of Palestine Week
at UNC. As May 2007 graduates of the University
and teachers in the West Bank city of Ramallah,
Palestine, we write to invite you to the week's
events. While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is
immensely complicated, the organizers of
Palestine Week have tried to make it as
accessible as possible. The Tuesday program
"Israel and Palestine for Beginners" is specifically
tailored for that purpose. Students have the
opportunity Wednesday to hear firsthand
accounts of what it's like in Palestine from
Tar Heels who have visited.
MK Ze'ev: Gays are bringing about
self-destruction of Israeli society
As a Knesset panel deliberated Tuesday on
proposals to ban gay pride parades in
Jerusalem, MK Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) slammed
the homosexual community as "bringing about
the self-destruction of Israeli society."
MK Zeev: Gay 'plague'
could destroy Israel
Posters reading 'in this house lives an MK
who is trying to outlaw citizens' right to
march in Jerusalem,' hung on MKs Gabbay,
Zeev's homes. Zeev: Gays a plague that
could destroy Israel.
Ariel man poses as rabbi, rapes
woman to 'repair her soul'
Yonatan Bassa, 38, posed as Rabbi, forced
woman seeking counseling to have sex in
order to 'repair her soul'; defrauded her
of $18,000.
Islamic Movement head charged with
incitement to racism, violence
The head of the Islamic Movement in
Israel's Northern Branch, Ra'ad Salah,
was charged Tuesday in Jerusalem Magistrate's
Court with incitement to violence and racism,
over a fiery speech he gave a year ago in
which he invoked the blood libel.
Lawmakers press U.S.
on Gaza shutdown
Eleven Democratic Congress members led by
Rep. Dennis Kucinich urged the United States
to press Israel to end the Gaza Strip blockade.
"I urge you to exert your influence to lift the
Israeli blockade of Gaza, to allow humanitarian
aid workers to resume their functions in the
territory, and to support a political solution
to this conflict because Palestinians in Gaza
cannot live on emergency aid forever and
Israelis in southern Israel deserve to live
without fear," said the letter sent last week
to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Obama: My opponents are
targeting U.S. Jewish community
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack
Obama said Monday that there is a
"constant virulent campaign" being waged
against him as he strives to win the party's
nomination, aimed at weakening support
for him within the Jewish community.
Obama speaks to Jewish voters, backing
Israeli positions in peace talks
with Palestinians
JERUSALEM: U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, a
Democratic presidential hopeful, wooed Jewish
voters and skeptical Israelis in interviews
published Tuesday, voicing support for key
Israeli demands in peace talks with the
Palestinians.
Why lovers of Israel should vote
for McCain (according to Lieberman)
In an interview with Haaretz, Lieberman says
he believes McCain is the candidate most likely
to thwart a nuclear Iran. FORT LAUDERDALE
- Joe Lieberman was a busy man this week,
and the week before, and the one before that.
Almost as busy as a candidate for the 2008
election. So busy that he did not even have the
time to go back to Washington for the State of
the Union address. So busy that he was trying
to squeeze some interviews while driving from
one event to another. One of them was with
Haaretz.
CHECKPOINT JERUSALEM BLOG:
'The Israel Factor' rates
the U.S. candidates
Americans aren't the only ones
paying close attention to the presidential election.
And Israelis may be paying closer attention than
just about anyone else around the world.
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