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Israeli army withdraws from Nablus after three-day operation in West Bank city
Israel Defense Forces soldiers withdrew from Nablus on Saturday evening, ending a three-day hunt for militants in which Palestinian sources said dozens were wounded and dozens more arrested. A senior Palestinian source told Al-Ayam, a Palestinian paper, that Israel launched the raid in order to evade its obligations under the road map for peace, by insisting that the Palestinians are not doing enough to stop terror. The sources said the move was designed to deflect criticism from U.S. President George W. Bush, who is set to arrive in the region on Wednesday. Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad criticized Israel on Friday for mounting a major military sweep in Nablus, saying such intervention was ruining a Western-backed internal Palestinian security plan.
Israeli military operation in Nablus enters third day
The Israeli army has been conducting a major incursion into Nablus since dawn on Thursday. The old city of Nablus has been under 'curfew' since the start of the invasion; Israeli forces extended the curfew to the whole city on Friday. More than 45 Palestinians have been injured in the past 24 hours and the Israeli army has arrested 20 Palestinians. Israeli forces have intensified their activity in the centre of Nablus city, the Ad-Duwwar neighbourhood and the area of Al-Kindi school as well as the old city. They also raided Balata refugee camp east of Nablus on Saturday morning. The invading forces used explosives to blast their way into shops in An-Nasr street, the Onion market and the Blacksmiths market in the old city. They then searched the premises. They also set fire to a shoe shop and ransacked several homes using them as monitoring towers and military stations after detaining each resident family in one room.
Cost of damage by Israeli army in Nablus invasion is 40 million NIS
The Israeli army invaded the city of Nablus on Thursday morning and by Saturday morning the military operation had left 38 Palestinians injured, among them 4 children and 2 disabled civilians. Of those 38 injured, 5 are in critical condition. The old part of the city is totally surrounded by the Israeli army, Sa'ed said, and the damage caused by the Israeli tanks in the old city, soldiers attacking local shops and businesses, in addition to a curfew being imposed in the city and workers not being allowed to reach their work, had cost the city at least 40 Million NIS ( the USD = 3.80 NIS).
Fayyad cancels visit to Cairo because of Israeli aggression
A reliable source in Salam Fayyad's office revealed on Friday that the Palestinian Prime Minister has cancelled a visit to Cairo, where he was scheduled to take part in the Arab foreign ministers' conference, because of the ongoing Israeli aggression in Nablus and the Gaza Strip. The source told Ma'an, "It has become evident that the Israeli aggression aims at thwarting the efforts of the Palestinian government to restore order and stability in the West Bank cities."
Once a stronghold of resistance, Nablus security plan had been succeeding before Israeli incursion
Under pressure from Israel to "fight Palestinian terrorism," the Palestinian Authority, then, faced serious challenges when its forces moved into Nablus. Israeli authorities demanded this while at the same time refusing to remove or even decrease the military checkpoints around the city or reduce the number of military incursions. Despite the obstacles, the Palestinian Authority accepted the challenge. "The Palestinian Authority accomplished great achievements in restoring security, surprising the Israelis who failed to achieve any real progress depending on daily incursions over the past years," said the Nablus Governor Jamal Muhaisin.
PA security: Hamas weapons arsenal discovered in Nablus
Palestinian security services revealed on Friday that a new type of explosive material has been discovered in Nablus, believed to be part of a Hamas arsenal to be used in a coup against the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Two Palestinians shot on Saturday as Israeli army invades Azzun town near Qalqilia
He named the victims as twenty-year-old Muhammad Faisal, who was hit by a bullet in his thigh, and sixteen-year-old Uthman Radwan, who suffered a gunshot wound to his leg. Both were evacuated to the UN hospital in Qalqilia. The invading forces have imposed a curfew in the town.
Palestinian prisoner died after taking Israeli medicine
RAMALLAH (PIC) -- Palestinian prisoner Fadi Abul Rub died in captivity after taking an Israeli prescribed medication that was not followed by proper treatment by the Israeli prisons authority, two Palestinian legal institutions revealed. The prisoners' studies center and the prisoners and martyrs institution quoted the lawyer who met Abul Rub in Jalbo prison before his death. Over 12 days doctors only gave him glucose and said that he suffered hypertension and weakness of the heart, prisoners said, adding that one day before his death his skin turned blue and his condition rapidly deteriorated. The next day the prison administration told them Abul Rub died but did not reveal the cause of his death.
PA security seizes eight Hamas members across the West Bank
Hamas said in a statement that six of their members were arrested in the northern West Bank town of Fasr'un , south of Nablus, and two others in Jenin in the northern West Bank.
Olmert and Jordan's King Abdullah discuss dissuading Abbas from stepping down
Last week, Abbas confided to Abdullah and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak that he is very ill and fed up, and is sorely tempted to retire to his villa in Qatar, according to the Israeli news website DEBKAfile. DEBKAfile's sources report that, while no progress has so far been achieved, Olmert is anxious to keep Abbas on the post-Annapolis peace track up until US president George W. Bush's visit next week.
Poll: Fatah losing support among West Bank, Gaza Palestinians
Despite international political and financial support, the popularity of the Fatah faction headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declined over the past month, partially because of mistrust in the group's leaders, according to a poll published Friday. Fatah still commands a strong lead over the Islamic militant Hamas group that controls Gaza, with 39% of Palestinians trusting it, as opposed to 16% backing Hamas. But in November, 46% of those surveyed for a similar poll favored Fatah, and 13% backed Hamas. Forty-one percent of those polled said they didn't trust either faction, up from 32% in November.
When will the Ramallah regime wake up? – by Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
The Fatah leadership in Ramallah had thought that the American-Israeli onslaught against Hamas . . . would benefit their organization and help consolidate its standing among Palestinians. Proceeding from this inherently faulty thinking, Fatah has been doing all it could do to weaken, even decimate Hamas in the West Bank, all in the hope that this would prompt Israel to treat the Ramallah regime as 'equal partner' and accord it a modicum of respect. In fact, a number of Palestinians were brutally killed in order to prove to the Israelis and the Americans that the Abbas-Fayyadh regime was tough and was capable of fighting 'terror'. However, instead of receiving a certificate of good conduct from Israel, like allowing the PA to exercise a modicum of authority in Palestinian population centers, Israel has proved repeatedly that it doesn't have permanent allies or even permanent quislings, but only permanent interests.
Palestinian Red Crescent: 520 Israeli assaults on medics and ambulances in 2007
ranging from being shot to verbal abuse. 36 incidents of direct shooting and physical attacks on medics and ambulances in cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, resulted in the injury of 13 medics. A Palestinian citizen died at the Tunnels checkpoint near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank on June 29th after the Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint denied him entry to hospital in Jerusalem. Sixteen ambulances were damaged in 2007 and one was completely destroyed.
Human rights group: IDF uses dogs to harass Palestinians
The letter alleged that soldiers have sent dogs into Palestinian homes without supervision, and the dogs have been known to attack the occupants. Soldiers also allegedly use dogs to deliberately hurt or humiliate Palestinians. According to one of 14 examples cited, soldiers arrived at a house in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus on December 19, 2005 . Waiting outside, they sent a dog into the house, and it immediately began chasing one of the children, allegedly sinking its teeth into the thigh of one of them, Basel Dawad, and afterwards into his right wrist. The dog then dragged Dawad from the bedroom to the living room. Later, he was sent to Rafidiyeh Hospital in Nablus. Kalmanowitz said PCATI had photos of the wound.
Cancer patient dies Saturday morning due to Israeli army siege of Gaza
The sources said that Aisha Al Jamal, 73, had lung cancer but the army refused to allow her to leave the Coastal Region to get treatment in Israel or the West Bank. Another Palestinian cancer patient, Mohamed Abu Taha, 45, died late on Friday night; he also was not allowed by the Israeli army to leave the Gaza Strip. Al Jamal is the 63rd person who has died of a chronic illness since Israel placed the Gaza Strip under total siege. Among those 63 were children, the youngest was Doua Habib, who was five months old.
Israeli warplane destroys family home of assassinated fighter in Gaza
The family of Karim Dadouh, who was extrajudicially assassinated by Israeli forces several months ago, has been made homeless by the Israeli airforce, which fired a targeted missile at the family home Thursday, destroying most of the home. Local medical sources reported that the house was empty at the time that it was struck, but nine bystanders were wounded by shrapnel. Cars parked nearby were also destroyed, and several neighboring homes were damaged. Israeli forces often target the homes of Palestinian fighters, in an effort to further punish the families of those Palestinians who fight against the Israeli military occupation. An estimated 10% of the home demolitions carried out by Israeli forces are said to be 'punishment' demolitions, according to the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions
Tens of thousands turn out for funeral of Brigades members killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza
Tens of thousands of people from Rafah and Beit Hanoun took to the streets on Friday for the funeral procession of three Al-Qassam Brigades members and a Fatah member, killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.
UK criticizes Israeli killing of Palestinian civilians
The British government has broken its silence over continuing Israeli raids into Gaza since the signing of the Annapolis agreement in the US in November, chastising the latest killings of Palestinian civilians. But his statement stopped short of direct condemnation of the Israeli regime after the reported killing of some 55 Palestinians in recent weeks, with Howells calling on the Israeli army to only "exercise restraint and avoid harming civilians." He also counter balanced his criticism with a warning against the firing of rockets in retaliation to Israel
Report: Israel seeks to regain control of Rafah crossing
London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reports Israel sent letters to Washington, EU requesting permission to establish military base on Gaza-Egypt border, place control over Rafah crossing in hands of international monitors – The paper reported Saturday that Israel has sent letters to Washington and to the EU's headquarters in Brussels protesting Egypt's decision to allow hundreds of Palestinian pilgrims to return to the Gaza Strip last Wednesday, without being subjected to security checks by the Israeli army.
Qassam rocket strikes Sderot, damaging homes and cars
Seven Qassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at the western Negev town of Sderot on Saturday evening, one of which damaged several homes and cars. One man suffered from shock, and was taken to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment. Meanwhile, IDF troops on Friday shot and killed two Hamas militants in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun, Palestinian sources said. The total number of Palestinians killed in the Strip since Thursday morning stands at 11, including four civilians.
Analysis: Katyusha in Ashkelon – the other side is cautious too
A rocket hitting Ashkelon's northern edge means that another several thousand people are suddenly in rocket range of Gaza. In financial terms, this is a significant change, if one assumes that Ashkelon will demand the same defensive package priced at NIS 310 million for the much smaller Sderot. The Palestinians who launched Thursday's rocket know this very well. That was the message they intended to send Israel – that they are capable of hurting it. If they so desire, Palestinian groups are now capable of bombarding Ashkelon regularly, and with an ample number of rockets. The only reason this has not yet happened is that Hamas does not want a major clash with Israel. Hamas is still mulling a short-term cease-fire with Israel.
Bush encourages Israel to remove a small number of the 300 existing West Bank settlements
Bush stated Friday that he is encouraging Israel to take down what he called 'illegal outposts' on Palestinian land in the West Bank. All Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land are considered illegal under international law, but Bush is apparently accepting the Israeli government's definition, which defines some of the colonies as 'legal' under Israeli law, and some 'illegal'. In 2005, George Bush sent a letter to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, stating that the U.S. supported Sharon's policy of settlement expansion in the West Bank. Since then, the Israeli government has stepped up its campaign of seizing Palestinian land, forcing the inhabitants from the land, building walls to keep them out, and moving Israelis onto the newly-seized land.
Vice Premier Ramon: Crackdown on outposts likely to start after Bush visit
"I hope and assess that, in the coming period, and thereafter, during the U.S. president's visit to Israel and afterwards, real steps will be taken to remove those outposts," Vice Premier Haim Ramon told Israel Radio. e indicated a crackdown would focus on outposts that fall outside Israel's West Bank barrier, which Palestinians suspect is meant to demarcate a future border. "Certainly those illegal outposts located east of the fence" would be on the removal roster, Ramon said.
Olmert admits Israel failed to keep pledge
JERUSALEM - Israel has failed to keep its pledge to stop enlarging Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acknowledged in an interview published yesterday, addressing a criticism he expects to hear next week from President George W. Bush. "Every year all the settlements in all the territories (of the West Bank) continue to grow," Mr. Olmert told The Jerusalem Post. "There is a certain contradiction in this between what we're actually seeing and what we ourselves promised. ... We have obligations related to settlements, and we will honour them." Mr. Olmert's rare admission of fault appeared to be aimed at preparing Israelis for government action against settlements to advance U.S.-supervised peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.
Settlements as an opportunity?
The motive why Israel has built the settlements (and still continues to do so) is no secret to anyone. In the words of former prime minister Ariel Sharon: "Everything that we take now will stay ours... everything that we don't grab will go to them [Palestinians]." An impartial judge would ask Israel the question: "Which areas do you offer in exchange?" Israel never asks this question from itself, when sitting on the seat of judge. Israel would have something very valuable to offer in exchange for its settlements beyond the Green Line. Access to the Red Sea through western Negev . Access to Jaffa and other historical cities that have a special importance for Palestinians (possibly with ship routes only, without land connection). Access to natural resources and beautiful nature parks. Residential areas of Arabs who wish to live under the flag of Palestine rather than under the flag of Israel .
Hamas: Bush visit intended to boost Israel, divide Palestinians
In a statement released Saturday, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said the visit will be no more than a "farewell celebration" for Bush, who will come to "take some memorial pictures," before he leaves office in 2009. "That was evident during the Annapolis conference and its consequences, which were more Israeli killing of the Palestinians and more settlement construction," Abu Zuhri told the Gaza-based Palestine newspaper.
Israel will not halt military operations during Bush visit
Israel does not intend to minimize military operations in Gaza Strip and the West Bank during the upcoming visit by US President George W. Bush to the region, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot said on Thursday. Air and land military operations will continue in the Palestinian territories, the newspaper said, quoting un-named sources in the Israeli security apparatus.
Deputy Defense Minister Vilnai: I'd support freeing Barghouti for Gilad Shalit
Vilnai became the latest high-ranking Israeli official to publicly support the release of Marwan Barghouti, despite the government's declared policy of not freeing prisoners involved in attacks on Israelis. Barghouti, viewed as a potential successor to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is serving five consecutive life terms for masterminding the killing of four Israelis and a Greek monk in West Bank attacks. But he is the most popular leader among Palestinians and is widely regarded as the only figure able to unify rival Palestinian factions.
Bush to be told of PA's terror ties
The involvement of a number of Palestinian security officials in the murder of Israelis in terrorist attacks will be raised when Olmert meets Bush next week, according to Israeli diplomatic officials. According to the officials, Israel has known "for a couple of days" that PA security officials were responsible for Friday's murder in the Hebron Hills of off-duty soldiers David Rubin and Ahikam Amihai. "There are rogue, extremist elements inside the Fatah machine and the Palestinian security apparatus who have been responsible for not one or two, but a series of attacks," said Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev.
Elias Akleh: Christmas in Palestine
Jan. 3 - Abbas' Palestinian Authority was keen to light Manger Square to give the world the illusion that Palestinians still celebrate Christmas – Christian Palestinians do not have any spiritual energy to celebrate because every house is inflicted with a tragedy perpetrated by the Israeli occupation and the financial and economical siege enforced by the American/Israeli policies. One household has lost their young child, who was gunned down by an Israeli sniper. The two sons of a second house had been snatched from their beds in the early morning hours by Israeli soldiers and had disappeared in a yet unknown Israeli dungeon suffering all kinds of torture. In the third house lives a family who has been separated from their olive field – their major source of living – by the separation wall.
Our Lady of the Tunnels
On a hot August day in 2006, Amal Tafash, a Palestinian woman from Hebron, bid farewell to her husband, Iyad al-Malahi. She took four of their children, the youngest of whom was 5, to visit her family in the Gaza Strip, which was under siege. The two eldest children remained with their father in Hebron. Because of the closure Israel had imposed on the Gaza Strip, what should have been a 90-minute trip became a journey through the Middle East.
Twilight Zone / Five masked men - by Gideon Levy
In a dirty and neglected room in the surgical department of Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus, an elderly shepherd lies injured, the victim of a vicious attack. Five masked men assaulted him last week. They beat him with sticks as he was tending his grazing sheep to the west of his home village of Til. The five came down from the direction of Havat Gilad, an illegal outpost in the territories, sprayed teargas in his face and at his companions, and then began hitting them with sticks, drawing blood, while he lay helpless on the ground. Now the shepherd, Hashem Hamed, has two fractures in his left arm, fractures in his skull, large stitches on his head, in front and back, and is severely traumatized.
Blind Israeli injustice
In line to check our bags through security, I make small talk with the young Palestinian man standing in front of me with his Israeli passport in hand. We speak in Arabic and he tells me he's from Haifa and was just visiting relatives in Amman. He asks me if I'm also originally Palestinian and I tell him yes, but born and raised in the states. Smirking, he replies, "in the end we're all just simply Palestinians." I smile, yet soon enough I'd see exactly what his words imply.
Bedouins in Egypt angered after man shot by Israeli border guards
After 40-year old Hamdan Suleiman Attaya was shot and killed outside his home Thursday, just 300 meters from the Israeli border, 1,000 friends and family attended his funeral Friday, shouting angry slogans against Israel. Eyewitnesses say that Attaya was shot and killed by Israeli border guards stationed at the Kerem Shalom border crossing just a few hundred meters from his home. Egyptian security officials investigating the death confirmed that the shot came from across the border, but would give no further details.
"All I wanted was justice"
Albert Metzger never left his hotel. One morning in November 1956, however, Albert Metzger was forced to leave. In the days following the outbreak of the Sinai Campaign, Egypt had decided on a campaign to punish its Jewish community, which numbered about 50,000 souls. The Jews lost their citizenship, their businesses and bank accounts were confiscated, and they were not allowed to work. Today, 50 years after Metzger was expelled from Egypt, his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson are conducting a legal battle to get the hotel back. Their campaign to achieve justice sheds light on a little-discussed aspect of the Israeli-Arab conflict: In the wake of the War of Independence and the establishment of Israel, two major population movements took place in the Middle East. The one that is frequently mentioned is the Palestinian exodus, but at the same time almost one million Jews were forced to leave Arab countries where they had lived for hundreds of years. According to official Arab statistics, some 850,000 Jews left those countries from 1948 to the beginning of the 1970s, and about 600,000 of them were absorbed in Israel. For the sake of comparison, UN data estimate the original population of Palestinian refugees at 720,000. Before the Annapolis summit and now, prior to the visit to Israel of U.S. President George W. Bush, several Jewish organizations are trying to put this subject back on the world agenda. [Hmm, have any Palestinians received justice after the theft of their country? Or even recompense for any of the property stolen from them? Of course not.]
When is it the Palestinians' turn?
Hammed listens closely, but soon his eyes turn to the television. I look over to see what's got him so interested when I notice a story, on Al Jazeera, about Jews from all over the Diaspora immigrating to Israel. images show men, women and children weeping, hugging loved ones and kissing the ground as they step off the plane. A big banner in the background inside the airport spells out "Welcome Home" in both English and Hebrew. While the story continues, the room gets deftly quiet. All of us stare at the TV, no one makes a sound. Then one of the three says, to no one in particular, "What about our return home?"
War crimes airbrushed from history – by Jonathan Cook
It apparently never occurred to anyone in our leading human rights organisations or the Western media that the same moral and legal standards ought be applied to the behaviour of Israel and Hizbullah during the war on Lebanon 18 months ago. Belatedly, an important effort has been made to set that right. A new report, written by a respected Israeli human rights organisation, one representing the country's Arab minority not its Jewish majority, has unearthed evidence showing that during the fighting Israel committed war crimes not only against Lebanese civilians -- as was already known -- but also against its own Arab citizens. This is an aspect of the war that has been almost entirely neglected until now.
Israel's false friends – by Mearsheimer and Walt
U.S. presidential candidates aren't doing the Jewish state any favors by offering unconditional support – Once again, as the presidential campaign season gets underway, the leading candidates are going to enormous lengths to demonstrate their devotion to the state of Israel and their steadfast commitment to its "special relationship" with the United States. Even suggesting that the U.S. adopt a more impartial stance toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can get a candidate into serious trouble. . . These candidates, however, are no friends of Israel. They are facilitating its pursuit of self-destructive policies that no true friend would favor.
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