Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines January 30, 2008 ~

High Court okays cutting
fuel and power to Gaza
The High Court of Justice on Wednesday gave the
state a green light to reduce the supply of power and
fuel to the Gaza Strip, ruling that the reductions are
legal as they still meet the humanitarian needs
of the population.

OPT: Gaza Closure
Situation Report,
29 Jan 2008

Israel bars aid
convoy to Gaza
The Israeli military has prevented an aid convoy
organised by Israeli human rights organisations,
peace activists, and former military personnel,
from reaching needy families in the besieged
Gaza Strip.

57% of Palestinians Live in Poverty
The consolidated appeal being planned by is
the third largest in the world, larger than the
appeals on behalf of the residents of
Somalia, Zimbabwe and Chad.

Islamic Relief Society in the Negev
continues collecting support to
the Gaza Strip
Last week, the Muslim Relief Society in the Negev,
which provides relief services for orphans, installed
tents and started collecting support which will be
transferred to the improvised and besieged
residents of the Gaza Strip.

Older woman dies in Gaza due to the
Israeli siege imposed on the region
Palestinian medical sources reported on Wednesday
that a Palestinian older woman died late Tuesday
night because the Israeli army would not allow
her to leave the Gaza Strip for medical care.

The Israeli army shells northern
Gaza and Palestinian resistance retaliates
On Wednesday at noon Israeli jet fighters shelled
areas in the northern Gaza strip town of Beit
Hannon, meanwhile the Palestinian resistance
announced that it shelled an Israeli military
post located on the borders close to central Gaza strip.

Hamas: P.A security forces arrested
eight Hamas members in the West Bank
Hamas movement reported that the Palestinian
Security Forces, loyal to Fateh movement, in the
West Bank, continued their arrest campaign
against members and supporters of Hamas and
arrested eight residents on Monday in several
parts of the West Bank.

Sick detainees hospitalized in Al
Ramala, face 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
treatment the need.

Two Videos- Soldiers "moon" activists,
fire on shepherds, Christian Peacemaker
Team in the south Hebron hills

Al-Aqsa Brigades claim
attack on Israeli forces
The armed wing of Fatah the Al-Aqsa Brigades,
claimed responsibility on Monday evening for
launching two mortar shells at the Israeli military
position at Nahal Oz, east of Gaza City. They said
in a statement that the shelling was an affirmation
that resistance will continue against the ongoing
Israeli atrocities in the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip.

Soldier steals from Palestinians
'because of Gilad Shalit'
Golani fighter steals NIS 100 from Palestinian
house in Gaza, returns banknote several
minutes later; explains, 'I wanted to buy
pizza for my platoon'. Court gives him
suspended sentence; prosecution appeals sentence.

Hamas demands
border control role
Hamas has said that it must have a role in the
control of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and
Gaza, and that old arrangements are no longer
valid. That has caused rising tension between
Hamas and Egypt, and little hopes for a
breakthrough during crucial meetings on
Wednesday.

Positively Delusional:
Abbas: Gaza border row shows Hamas
disregard for Palestinian needs
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said
Tuesday that by insisting on control of the Gaza
Strip's border with Egypt, Hamas has shown that it
is not concerned with the needs of the Palestinian people.

In Protest of Israeli siege, fuel companies
in Gaza reject reduced fuel supply
Palestinian media sources reported on Tuesday
that owners of fuel companies in Gaza refused to
receive the Israeli shipments of fuel entering Gaza
in protest of the fuel cuts Israel are making.

Israeli 'Economic Warfare' to
Include Electricity Cuts in Gaza
Saying they were waging "economic warfare"
against the Gaza Strip's Hamas leaders, Israeli
officials told the Supreme Court on Sunday that
the military intends to start cutting electricity to
the Palestinian territory and continue restricting fuel.

Egyptians near Gaza grow tired
of influx of Palestinians
Egyptian shopkeeper Safwat Hammad's shelves are
empty and he is starting to get fed up - but he is
just one of many Egyptians increasingly disgruntled
Thursday by the unending influx of Palestinians from
Gaza.

Egyptian security forces close Gaza
border; stranded Palestinians
threaten hunger strike
The Egyptian security services gradually started
to resume control of the Egyptian frontier with
the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning using barbed
wire to close gaps in the border wall.

Egyptians bank in on of
Gaza border breach
Palestinians empty Egyptian shops' shelves while
Egyptians cease opportunity to buy Israeli
products. While hundreds of thousands of
Gazans swarmed across the border with
Egypt this week, scores of Egyptians like
Mohammed al-Sharafa have been scrambling
in the opposite direction.

Egypt cuts Gaza border
crossing points to two
Egypt resealed the border with the Gaza Strip
except for two crossing points on Tuesday as it
tried to stem the uncontrolled movement that
has seen hundreds of thousands cross in the past
week. By sundown Egyptian forces had stapled
coils of razor wire along most of the breaches
which Palestinian militants blew in the border
fence last week leaving just two points where
movement continued in both directions.

Abbas, representatives of Hamas, will
separately head to Cairo on Wednesday
Palestinian sources reported on Tuesday that
President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Egypt on
Wednesday to hold talk with Egyptian officials
on the situation of the borders between Gaza
and Egypt. Meanwhile, representatives of
Hamas will also be heading to Egypt for talks
on the same issue.

Abbas rejects talks with Hamas on
control over Gaza-Egypt border
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ruled
out talks with Hamas Wednesday and rejected
any changes to previous arrangements governing
the Gaza-Egypt border that would give a say to
his Islamist rivals.

Poll: 73.9 support Abbas' forces
taking control of the Gaza Strip
crossings
The Centre for Opinion Polls and Survey
Studies at An-Najah National University in
the northern West Bank city of Nablus issued
on Wednesday the results of a Palestinian
Public Opinion the centre conducted. In that
poll 73.9% of respondents supported handing
over the responsibilities of the Gaza Strip
crossings to the Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas.

Blessing in disguise for Hamas
Israel's campaign against Hamas has not broken
its resolve or turned the people of Gaza against it.

Gordon Clubb: Hamas
Should be Included
Being tough with Hamas over the Gaza-
Egypt border will not change much. It
certainly won't 'go a long way towards stopping the rockets.'

No way to avoid Hamas now
Isn't it now time for the United States to find a
way to deal with Hamas, directly or indirectly?
How can President Bush realize his aim of creating
a viable Palestinian state this year if his
administration continues to pour energy
and funds into the crushing of Hamas, which
has repeatedly shown that it has the support
of a large proportion of Palestinians?

Short term gain for Hamas,
long term gain for Israel
The dramatic recent developments on the
Palestinian-Egyptian border are direct and
predictable results of the internationally
supported Israeli siege on Gaza. It should
have been expected that the mounting pressure
on Gaza would cause a popular explosion.
The Egyptian border was the weakest link
in the prison wall, since all other escape routes,
including the sea, are blocked by Israel.

Hamas is not the real issue
Israel's strategy in Gaza is about showing the
Palestinians who is in control and lowering
their expectations.

Finally, a popular uprising
The fall of the Rafah wall was a fitting
combination of planning and the precise
reading of the social and political map by
the Hamas government, mixed with a mass
response to the dictates of the overlord, Israel.
Quite a few people in Rafah knew that
"anonymous figures" had secretly been destablizing
the foundations of the wall for several months,
so that it would be possible to knock it down
easily when the time came - but the secret didn't
leak. The hundreds of people who began leaving
Palestinian Rafah right after the wall was breached
did so despite the risk, and the precedent of the
Egyptians shooting at those who infiltrate
through the border.

Gaza diary 4: Rana Elhindi
In a bleak final entry, Save the Children worker
Rana Elhindi concludes her diary on the current
crisis in Gaza for the BBC News website.

UN Security Council
won't condemn Israel
Senior Israeli officials say Libya, Council's chair this
month, has decided to withdraw its demand to denounce
Jewish state over siege imposed on Gaza Strip.
Foreign Minister Livni expresses her satisfaction
over move, says 'Israel should not have to apologize
for actions aimed at defending its citizens'.

Orlev: Try Arab MKs who attended
Habash's funeral
NRP chair says Arab-Israeli MKs who
participated in Sunday's funeral of PFLP
founder George Habash should be put on
trial. 'It's time to demand loyalty from
Arab-Israeli leadership to Israel, as a Jewish
and democratic state,' he adds. MK Barakeh:
We're not in the Knesset because someone did us a favor.

Palestinian civil servants in
West Bank ready for strike
Palestinian Authority public sector employees in the
West Bank are expected to open a two-day strike
on Wednesday, in protest of employment conditions.
Aside from a salary increase, the employees are
demanding that PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's
government rescind a decision providing basic
government services (such as identity cards)
only to citizens who can show proof of having
paid their water and electricity bills, and
municipal tax.

School life on the West Bank
Two Palestinian schools - and the startling
problems that they face every day - are
the subject of a remarkable new film
from EducationGuardian and Teachers TV.

Separate But Not Equal: East J'lemites must
line up as early as 3 AM for service at NII branch
The National Insurance Institute branch in
East Jerusalem is unlike any other branch.
Only residents who arrive here early in the
morning, or rather, late at night, are likely to
receive service. Some dozen people are already
in loine at five AM on a frozen Jerusalem night.

Chocolate for the children-
an interview with Eyad Sarraj

Ethnic Cleansing? The Ashkenazi
Chief Rabbi of Israel.

Arabs, Russians, protest against
Israel's siege over the Gaza Strip
Hundreds of Arabs and Russians protested in
Moscow on Tuesday against the unjust Israeli
siege over the Gaza Strip and demanded the
establishment of an independent Palestinian
State with Jerusalem as its capital.

Bush in the laps of Arab Kings
They prostrated themselves to his majesty one
by one, king by king and sheikh by sheikh.
The oil sheikhs flocked to greet the beloved
American as if meeting a date, their hearts
throbbing with desire to set their eyes on him.
As the Arab poet Al-Akhtal Al-Saghir wrote
"they lowered their heads to perform prayer
rituals." The praise him day and night and seek
his favor [mercy]. Even the king who prays only
[from atop] a gold-plated throne sped to the airport
adoringly. He hurried to the plane's stairs and could
hardly believe his own eyes. Bush in his flesh and
bone and arrogance blessed the kingdom's soil.
But alas, if only the president had brought along
his steadfast army. Like America's other
"democratically elected" allies in the area,
the "democratically elected" king showed
unprecedented excitement. At the airport
he almost jumped out of his skin. The very
earth shook beneath his feet. Nobody is too
noble before his majesty.

The PeaceMaker
I have succeeded in making peace between the
Israelis and the Palestinians. In an interview
preceding the Annapolis Conference, Palestinian
Authority (PA) negotiator Saeb Erakat claimed
that peace could be delivered in half an hour.The
basis, everyone already knows, is the Clinton
draft: two states with border adjustments and
division of Jerusalem. In my case, peace took
two hours -- or, well, two years. I delivered it in
2009. Jonathan Ben Efrat comments on the
Peres Peace Center's and the Israeli establishment's
video game conception of Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Power of the people
Today, more than any other day in my life, I am
proud to be Palestinian. Let me explain.
Nation-states mean little to me. They
represent artificial boundaries, legal restrictions,
"No Entry" signs, and collective brainwashing into the
"uniqueness" of cultures that only humans acknowledge.
What fish has ever stopped swimming as it
approached that most invisible "water line"
separating one country from another?
Nada Elia writes from the US.

Obama for Jewish
Israel, No Refugees
Obama says the Palestinians cannot have
their long-aspired independent state unless
Israel is completely safe.

Panel shocked by IDF performance
Complete shock. That is how friends of retired
generals Menachem Einan and Chaim Nadel,
two members of the Winograd Committee,
described the generals' reaction to the Israel
Defense Forces' performance during the
Second Lebanon War.

Jerusalem grinds to a
halt as snow falls
JERUSALEM - Jerusalem ground to a halt on
Wednesday as the first snowfall of the year
covered the Holy City with several centimetres
of wet, heavy slush. The streets of the city were
deserted during the normally hectic morning
rush hour, with few cars on the roads and
isolated pedestrians making their way through
the puddles of slush and snow on the sidewalks.
Classes in schools and universities were
cancelled and public transport services were
not operating on a normal schedule. Weather
forecasters expect the snow to continue
through Thursday.

UN envoy: Women in Gaza feel
coerced into covering their heads
The United Nations Special Rapporteur
on Freedom of Religion or Belief
says women in the Gaza Strip have recently
felt coerced into covering their heads, while
Christians there have faced rising intolerance.
The UN envoy, Asma Jahangir, visited Israel
and the Palestinian Authority last week and
published a report on her eight-day trip.

Poll: 53% of Palestinians
oppose rocket fire
Survey published by al-Najah University
in Nablus shows most of Gaza's residents
are in favor of handing over control of
Strip's crossing to PA, do not believe
US President Bush will keep his promise
to help establish Palestinian state.

George Habash's contribution
to the Palestinian struggle
I lived more than half of my life in the
US and I never felt the alienation that
I felt on the day I read George Habash,
the Palestinian revolutionary who passed
away last week, labeled as a "terrorism tactician"
in a front page obituary in The New York Times.
What do you when they want to convince you that
a kind and gentle man you met and respected as
a person is a terrorist when you know otherwise?
Do you quibble with their definitions to no avail?
Do you go back and see how they wrote glowing
obituaries for Zionist militia leader and later Israeli
prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, a man whose record
of killing civilians is as horrific and grotesque as
that of Osama Bin Laden, former Israeli prime
minister Menachem Begin, Fatah Revolutionary
Council founder Abu Nidal or Chilean dictator
Augusto Pinochet?