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The Gaza Strip – Back to abnormal
Two weeks after the Islamists of Hamas toppled the border fence, letting
hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of the Gaza Strip spill briefly into Egypt,
the situation appears to have returned to what counts as normal. But normal is
not good. Meanwhile, diplomacy grinds on.
Haaretz editorial: Open the Rafah crossing
More killing in Gaza results in more Qassams launched against Sderot,
and more Qassams result in more killing; an endless cycle of blood that
leads nowhere. The short hiatus, 11 days, in the heavy Qassam strikes
against the northern Negev was not coincidental. During those days the
Rafah crossing was open. The Palestinians during those few days of
relative liberty had something to lose. The fact the Qassam attacks
slowed to a near standstill during the days the crossing was open suggests
that Israel should be interested in the orderly opening of a crossing
to Egypt and in lifting the total blockade on the Strip - a siege that
has so far not furthered any of Israel's goals.
Hamas: We hoped that Arabs would break the siege,
not the legs of the besieged
saying this in response to comments made by the Egyptian Foreign Minister,
Ahmad abu al-Ghait, who threatened to break the legs of Palestinians if they
tried to cross the border again. Mushir al-Masri, secretary of the Hamas
parliamentary bloc, told a PIC correspondent that he hopes that these
comments do not represent an official Egyptian stand and added that
the movement is in constant communication with the Egyptian brothers.
He expressed his astonishment at the statement of Abu al-Ghait saying
that such comments do not reflect the mood of the Egyptian street.
Egypt boosts troop security on Gaza border
amid Hamas abduction threat
Egypt boosted troop security along the volatile border with Gaza on
Friday, a security official said, following an alleged threat by Hamas
that the group would stage kidnappings of Egyptian troops if its
militants arrested in the Sinai were not released. Snipers were
deployed on rooftops in the Egyptian part of the divided border
town of Rafah on Friday, while Egyptian forces were told to move
only in armed groups of at least three soldiers, the security official
said. But a Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, promptly denied
any kidnapping threats against Egyptian troops and reiterated that
Hamas is fighting the Israelis, not the Egyptians.
IAF strikes northern Gaza following Qassam barrage
The IAF on Saturday targeted four Qassam rocket-launching
squads in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, following a
barrage of 30 rockets Friday that pounded southern Israeli communities.
Earlier Saturday, the IAF struck another Qassam-launching squad in
Beit Hanoun, seriously wounding a militant believed to belong to the
Popular Resistance Committees, a small militant group with ties to
Hamas. Friday's Qassam attack struck several houses in the Negev
town of Sderot. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance
Committees claimed responsibility for the weekend's Qassam fire.
An-Nassar Brigades members survive Israeli assassination attempt
The Brigades are the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees.
An-Nasser military spokesman Abu Yousef said the Israeli forces were
only able to carry out the attempted assassination because of informants
giving them details of the whereabouts of the Brigades' members. He
called on the security agencies of the de facto government in the Gaza
Strip to intensify their investigations to discover the identities of
Palestinians who co-operate with Israeli forces in such assassination
attempts.
Two brothers, 8 and 19, seriously hurt in Qassam
strike on Sderot Saturday evening
The two were rushed to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon with the 8-year-old
suffering serious wounds to the lower extremities. A medic, who only
gave his first name, Gil, said he heard a loud explosion and rushed
toward the scene. "I found two injured people, one boy very seriously
wounded in the legs," the medic told Israel Army Radio. The younger
brother's legs were at least partially severed by the explosion, Army Radio reported.
'A battered town, abandoned by 20% of its residents'
As Kassam rockets continued to hit the western Negev on Saturday,
Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter paid a visit to the
beleaguered town of Sderot. The public security minister said that
Sderot residents described to him how they were living from one
miracle to the next and that on Saturday morning, there was a higher
attendance in synagogues than usual.
Israel protests to UN over Gaza rocket fire
(AFP) Israel has sent a letter of protest to the UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon over being targeted by rocket fire from the Gaza
Strip, which continued on Saturday. In the letter, also sent to the UN
Security Council, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations,
Dany Gillerman, said the attacks constituted "serious terrorist
actions against Israel," the foreign ministry said.
Israel may target Hamas heads
According to the officials, Israel has in recent weeks gradually
stepped up its response to the Kassams, first targeting only those
involved in firing rockets, then targeting well-known terrorist
commanders and officials, and then going after symbols of Hamas
power in Gaza, such as the strike on a Hamas police installation in
Khan Yunis on Thursday that killed seven people. The next logical
step, according to the officials, will have to be a decision whether to
target the top political leadership, as Ariel Sharon did in March 2004
when, within the span of a month, Israel killed Hamas founder
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and top leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
Defense officials: Hamas attacks in the works
Security officials say that Hamas continues to boost its military strength
and group members are constantly working to prepare themselves for a
possible large-scale IDF ground operation. "We can see Hamas' progress
every time they come into contact with IDF soldiers in the Strip," the
defense official said. "We can see that they are more highly skilled
people who are better equipped than before and they operate like an
army." "Therefore, the attitude to Hamas' potential is serious,"
the source added. "We know that Hamas prepared several '
contingency attacks' – that is, an attack that is ready for
execution and merely requires a decision to carry it out."
Hamas: West Bank residents could breach
border fence, enter Israel
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk on Saturday said that
the possibility of West Bank residents breaching the border and
entering the neighboring Israel or Jordan, mustn't be ruled out.
The Damascus-based deputy political leader of Hamas said in an interview
with a Qatari newspaper on Saturday that "all the options are open."
Abu Marzouk added in Saturday's interview that the Palestinian
people would not leave their land.
9,000 Gazans still at large in Egyptian cities
Major General Ahmed Abdel Hamid, Governor of North Sinai,
revealed on Friday. He said that the Egyptian security services are
intensifying their efforts to arrest the 9,000, who have melted away into
Egyptian cities and villages, before they carry out any 'criminal operations.'
Some Muslim Brotherhood leaders are involved in hiding some of the
Hamas members who got through the border, he added, confirming that
some members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested in the Sinai.
Former Egyptian FM expresses surprise at
his successor's comments
Ahmad Maher indirectly criticized comments made by his successor,
Ahmad Abu al-Ghait, who criticized the Palestinian resistance and
doubted its effectiveness. "I find myself unable to ignore the waves
of criticism of the resistance which we hear and read about," he
wrote in an article published by the London based al-Sharq al-Awsat
newspaper. He also said that he finds strange that some people want
to absolve the Israeli occupation of its responsibilities and the real
tragic situation it has created in the Gaza Strip as well as the
campaigns of death and destruction, not only in the Gaza Strip,
but also in the West Bank.
Spate of motorcycle deaths in Gaza after border wall breach
After the death of eight people in mototcycle accidents in the Gaza
Strip, the de facto government launched a campaign on Saturday
to control unlicensed riders. The campaign will include all the
provinces of the Gaza Strip. Bikers will be subject to random
checks on their identity papers and driving permits. The Gaza
police said they would take tough action against people riding
motorcycles without the proper documents. Hundreds of motorcycles
were reportedly brought in from Egypt by Palestinian teenagers after
the border breach in January. Most of the motorcycles are still
unregistered and the drivers untrained and unlicensed.
Palestinian aviation dreams dashed
RAFAH, Gaza Strip–It seems hard to imagine now, but once upon
a time there was an air carrier called Palestinian Airlines, whose fleet
of sleek white aircraft flew in and out of a modern airport located right
here. In 1999, nearly 90,000 passengers bustled through Gaza's
handsome new airport terminal with its Moorish arches, marble
floors and intricate Moroccan tiles. Palestinian Airlines – flagship air
carrier of what was not then a nation and isn't one yet – soon was offering
daily service to Amman, thrice-weekly flights to Dubai, Cairo and Doha,
as well as regular links to Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Larnaca and Istanbul.
Foreign airlines from Morocco, Jordan, Egypt and Romania connected
Gaza to the rest of the region and to the world. It all seems like a fairy tale now.
Egypt walks a dangerous tightrope over Gaza
After initially showing sympathy for the Palestinians, Mubarak
regime's patience for Hamas appears to be running out –
For a government increasingly at odds with its own people,
cracking down both at Rafah and on the streets of Cairo may
be the only tool Mr. Mubarak's regime has.
"Egypt is now trapped because Hamas decided to escape
[the Israeli blockade]...by embroiling Egypt," columnist Taruq al-Homayad
wrote in the pan-Arab as-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper.
"Today, the whole world is more concerned about the crisis of the Rafah
crossing and Egypt than about the [Israeli] siege on Gaza."
Hamas' strategic defeat – by Prof. Dror Ze'evi
Ever since the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, the Hamas
movement has boasted a series of impressive tactical victories.
These wins started with the elections victory over Fatah and
continued with the rapid takeover of the Gaza Strip, the abduction
of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, the "candle operation" aimed at forcing Israel
to boost the supply of electricity to the Strip, and finally, the breaching of the
Rafah border wall and the lifting of the siege. However, these Hamas wins serve
to show us that in the absence of strategic thinking, even such impressive
series of success stories does not guarantee victory in the war.
The opposite is true. In this case, all of Hamas' triumphs lead to yet
another great Palestinian defeat, with its price to be paid mostly
by those aspiring for an independent state.
Al-Aqsa Brigades declare conditional truce
The Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement,
stated on Friday that it is declaring a conditional ceasefire in
coherence with a call made by president Mahmoud Abbas.
The brigades added that this ceasefire is conditional and will be voided if
Israel continues its violations against the Palestinian people in the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip. the Brigades said that its fighters are fully
committed to the ceasefire as long as it is bilateral.
IDF troops suspected of abusing Palestinian teens
Three soldiers belonging to Kfir Brigade detained on suspicion of
abusing two Palestinian boys; troops allegedly placed heater against
face of one teenager; two soldiers admit to charges, judge slams 'cruel,
violent conduct' – Two of the three soldiers have already admitted to the
charges, while a third one is denying the allegations. Kfir forces have
been implicated in incidents involving problematic conduct twice in
recent months. In one case, troops abducted a Palestinian taxi driver
without authorization, while recently troops belonging to the brigade
were videotaped exposing their rear ends to Palestinians and
international activists in the West Bank.
Arab MK: Even Mussolini's soldiers didn't act like IDF
'This proves that the occupation corrupts,' says Hadash MK Khenin.
MK Ran Cohen (Meretz), a member of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs
and Defense Committee, stated that he would appeal to IDF Chief of
Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and demand that the punishments for such acts
be aggravated "in light of the recurrent acts of abuse by soldiers against
Palestinians, in the territories and checkpoints." Cohen added, "
The multitude and variety of such incidents testifies to a systematic failure
which corrupts the army and the IDF's fighting ethics."
Troops close roads leading to Jenin
and Tulkarem districts
and placed sand hills on roads leading to dozens of villages in the
two areas. Israeli military sources claimed that the Israeli Security
Services received intelligence information regarding potential
attacks inside Israel. Local sources reported that the army also
placed concrete barriers on the entrances of dozens of villages in
Jenin and Tulkarem districts.The army also barred dozens of
villagers from reaching their lands and searched dozens of
vehicles while interrogating the residents for several hours.
Israeli forces overrun Tubas
They blocked the road that links Jenin with Tubas, and closed off the
entrance to the town of Tubas. Security sources claimed that the
forces entered the area on the Al-Aghwar road and congregated
in front of the Tubas' governor headquarters, launching sound bombs.
Israeli army attacks Palestinian homes in Hebron,
kidnaps five civilians Saturday morning
The sources said that during the search Israeli troops attacked and beat
up men while kidnapping them. The five men were identified as;
Sulaiman Al-Qawasmi, 25, and two of his brothers Mohamed, 21 and
Suliman 23, who were taken from their family home located in the old
part of Hebron. Meanwhile Hammam Al-Qawasmi and Bilal Salam were
taken from their familiy homes located in the southern side of Hebron city.
Anti-Wall protests: large demo in Al-Khadr, live bullets in Bil'in
ISM: About 500 Palestinian demonstrators, joined by a handful of
Israeli and international supporters, marched towards the construction site
of Israel's separation wall in the village of Al-Khadr on Friday, in
what organizers say is one of the largest weekly demonstrations in the
West Bank. Al-Khadr's mayor Ramzi Salah said that the completion
of the Israeli wall will be devastating, resulting in the confiscation of 90%
of the village's land. Salah said 65% of Al-Khadr residents rely on farming
for their livelihood. . . Spent live ammunition shells were found after weekly
Bil'in protest, so they were not only firing rubber-coated steel bullets at the
demonstration, but sometimes live.
Islamic Jihad leader: Abbas's authority treats resistance
fighters as homicide suspects
Abdul Fattah Khuzaimia, who has been (and still is) on the IOF command's list
of wanted persons for more than two years, said in a statement on Friday that
the PA security apparatuses consider arms in the hands of Jihad activists as
'outlawed'. Members of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad
Movement, are constantly harassed by the PA security elements in the West
Bank, he said, explaining that those security elements intercept those activists,
search their cars and scrutinize their papers in a way greatly endangering
those activists' lives.
PA security services arrest three Hamas men in West Bank
Hamas told Ma'an that the security services arrested Muhammad
Al-Khatib in Bethlehem after he was called in for investigation.
Likewise, in Tulkarem, security services arrested Muhamad Jamil
Qad from Deir Al-Ghosun, he too was called in for investigation before
being arrested.
PFLP rejects PA utility bill rule
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on
Saturday rejected the Palestinian Authority's (PA) new rule that
required Palestinians to pay old electricity, water and other utility bills
before they will be issued with any government documents. The PFLP
say the new rule constitutes a huge burden on Palestinian citizens, many
of whom owe thousands of shekels to utility companies.
Palestinian teachers suspend
strike action for ten days
The teachers have been striking intermittently in protest at not receiving
their full salaries and the Palestinian Authority's new rule on utility bill payments.
Israeli man hurt in Molotov cocktail attack on car in northern West Bank
The man, an Omer resident in his seventies, was taken to Meir Hospital in
Kfar Sava for medical treatment after suffering burns to his hands and face.
Israel Defense Forces troops arrested a Palestinian man in the West Bank
village of Azzun in connection with the firebomb attack, Israel Radio reported.
The Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the
attack, according to the radio.
Residents of Silwan protest against Israeli excavations under their homes
The protesters held Friday prayers in a protest tent, and held their protest
which comes as Israel intensified its settlement activities, excavations and
violations against the residents and their properties, especially in
neighborhoods close to the Al Aqsa Mosque. Four days ago, the
residents found out that the excavations reached 15 meters deep under
their lands and houses which caused damages to several houses and
roads especially in Wadi Hilwa area. The excavations are being carried
out by financing from El'Ad company, which is one of the biggest
supporters of illegal settlement activities in Jerusalem.
30% rise in Palestinian population over the last decade
(AP) Palestinian population in West Bank, Gaza and east
Jerusalem reaches 3.76 million, up from 2.89 million a decade ago.
Unexpectedly low figure for east Jerusalem - 208,000 - immediately
challenged by Palestinian politicians – Palestinians have one of the
highest birth rates in the world, forcing Israel to consider the
possibility that Jews, despite ongoing Jewish immigration, will
one day be a minority in historic Palestine, the area between the
Jordan River and the Mediterranean. In September 2007, Israel's
population included 5.45 million Jews, 1.4 million Arabs and 310,000
others, according to Israeli government figures.
A matter of choice – by Gerard Michaud
Seven years after the refugee issue helped scuttle the Taba peace talks
and the Oslo process with it, the thorny question is once again on the
agenda. But despite the widely held belief that the Palestinians have a
monolithic view of the right of return and are wholeheartedly clamoring
to realize it, conversations with refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria
reveal they hold mixed opinions. "Most Palestinians look at the right
of return as a holy right," says Usama al-Shunar, director-general of
the PLO's Refugee Department. "They must have the choice to return.
No one can make this decision for them." Not all Palestinians subscribe
to this view though. Khalil Shikaki, a well respected Ramallah pollster,
conducted a survey of 4,506 refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and the
Palestinian territories between January and June 2003. His data
show that refugees are split about their desire to implement the return
clause in Resolution 194, with the difference based largely on country
of residence. Shikaki's conclusions created an uproar among
Palestinians and its methodology was criticized by
Middle East pundits. Today his findings still remain controversial.
[See: http://www.pcpsr.org/survey
http://www.jpost.com/servlet
pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle
Christians and Muslims – partners in pain and in hope
Farawna stated that Christians and Muslims both suffer under the
same aggression and attacks against them and their holy sites.
"Christians are our partners in steadfastness, and struggle", he
added, "They have been always subjected to the same aggression
the Israeli occupation is subjecting the Muslims to". He added that
Christians in Palestine are part of the national struggle and many
of them led political factions and led the revolution such as the
late PFLP leader Dr. George Habash, Wadee' Haddad, Kamal
Nasser, Nayef Hawatma in addition to several national and
political intellectuals such as Edward Sa'id, and Azmi Bishara in
addition to the late poet Tawfiq Zayyad.
Fear builds walls –
by Seth Freedman
Could the harmony that has developed from an influx of Arab
families in an area of Jerusalem set the tone for the rest of the
country? – Sitting behind the counter at Cafe Malcha, the Jewish
owner spoke proudly of the mixed group of customers who pack his
shop every day. "There's no problem here. Jews and Arabs sit together,
everyone's friendly, and they come from all over, including the centre
of Jerusalem and the surrounding [Arab] villages." He pointed out that
it is mainly the secular Jews and Arabs who socialise with one another,
"since the religious on both sides are far more cautious."
Now the blinkers are off – by Seth Freedman
A year after my tour with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions,
I did it again - this time with a very different mindset – Far from falling back
on the siege mentality that coloured my view of the group's work last time
I wrote about them, this time the blinkers were off. What I saw and heard
made me ashamed of my reaction to my original encounter with them. The
raw, painful truth is that Israel doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes
to the flagrant and repeated breaches of international law with which it
crushes Palestinian's aspirations of independence and hopes for freedom.
A nuclear-free mirage
The Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, has been promoting the
"historic idea" of a Middle East free from weapons of mass destruction. This
overlaps with a goal adopted by the UN security council back in 1991 when
resolution 687 talked about "the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free
zone in the region of the Middle East". . . In defiance of the security
council resolution 487 of June 1981, Israel has not placed its nuclear
facilities, whether civilian or military, under IAEA safeguards. Indeed, while it
is an open secret that Israel's nuclear facility at Dimona started producing
atom bombs in 1968, and that it has built up an arsenal of some 200 nuclear
bombs, it has not officially acknowledged the existence of such activity.
Moreover, Israel has ongoing biological and chemical weapons programmes.
Book Review – Lords of the Land – Dark truths about the
Israeli occupation – by Daniel Levy
Can Israelis ever recover from the self-inflicted damage of
becoming a brutal occupier? – Edith Zertal and Akiva Eldar end
their exhaustive study of Israeli settlement policy with a poignant
question: Is it possible, they wonder, that Israel's 2005 withdrawal
from the Gaza Strip will become a "first step in Israel's journey of
liberating itself from the enslavement to the territories that it
occupied in 1967, and which have occupied [it] since then and
have brought it to the verge of destruction"? . . . By the beginning
of the new millennium, many Israelis began to understand the
absurdity of viewing the occupation as simply a war on Palestinian
terror. They understood the urgent need to address legitimate
Palestinian grievances. Then along came an angry post-9/11 America,
with a stunningly simplistic and misguided framing of the war on terror.
This framing is a mistake in whose shadow we all continue to live.
New film 'Lemon Tree' offers fresh look at Mideast conflict
Israeli director Eran Riklis has delivered a stirring fictional story that is
in many ways a microcosm of the struggles between Israelis and
Palestinians - a dispute about land, security, fears and displacement.
A Palestinian woman has long been peacefully tending the lemon tree
grove she inherited from her father on the Green Line that separates
Israel and the occupied West Bank. But she faces eviction and the
removal of the trees so lovingly cared for over many decades when the
Israeli defense minister moves in next door - and the lemon tree grove is
deemed to be a security threat.
Cinefile: New Israeli films at Berlin fest
Two Israeli documentaries are being shown in the Forum section.
Yoav Shamir's Flipping Out looks at the phenomenon of burned-out
soldiers who head to the drug-rave scene in Goa and northern India
after their discharge. Natalie Assouline's Brides of Allah examines the
lives of Palestinian women arrested trying to carry out suicide bombings
in Israel. And, in the Panorama Documentary section, Dror Moreh's
Sharon examines what drove the former prime minister to begin to
pursue a peace process.
Palestinian lives in Tel Aviv as an Israeli for 30 years
Yaneef Elyazer, a twenty-five-year-old reserve officer in the Israeli army,
was extremely surprised and embarrassed when he was called to the
Mesofim police station in Tel Aviv to find out that his father, whom he
had known all his life as Rami Elyazer, is actually called Jibril Al-Arabi.
He had moved from Ramallah to Tel Aviv 30 years ago and married
Shoshana Elyazer and decided to keep their story secret. The son, who
started to show signs of confusion and distress, couldn't believe what
he was hearing, "I can't believe that my father is an Arab from Ramallah.
He's a great family man" he told the police officers.
Sheetrit to haredim: Stop segregating genders
Internal Affairs Minister Meir Sheetrit caused some embarrassment
this week when during a ceremony in the ultra-Orthodox city of Elad
he called on the audience to stop the separation between men and women
and urged the ultra-Orthodox public to enlist in the army.
state will require $7 billion
Building Palestinian security forces for a future state will
require a multibillion-dollar infusion of donor funds dwarfing
existing commitments, according to U.S. estimates shared with
European and Israeli officials recently. A Palestinian security plan
backed by Washington calls for consolidating Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas' forces into a nearly 50,000-member gendarmerie
that can both police civilians and rein in militants who could try to
block any future peace deal.
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