Click on the Headline for Full Story!
One Palestinian killed, eight injured as
Israel launches four air strikes on Gaza on Sunday
An Israeli air raid on Rafah killed one Palestinian activist
affiliated with the armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam
Brigades, on Sunday morning. Israeli warplanes launched
another strike on an abandoned Al-Qassam Brigades
position in the city of Khan Younis. A third Israeli air raid
targeted a warehouse used by the Al-Qassam Brigades in
Ash-Shabura in Rafah. Three missiles were fired at the
warehouse. Earlier, Israeli fighter jets fired a missile at
a blacksmith's shop in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City,
injuring eight people, one seriously. The attack also resulted in
severe damage to neighboring houses.
Fresh Israeli air strike leaves
two injured in Beit Hanoun
Two Palestinians were injured when an Israeli warplane fired a missile
at a car in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Palestinian
medical sources said the injured men were evacuated to a hospital after
sustaining minor wounds. A spokesperson of the An-Nasser Salah
Addin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees,
said that the missile was aimed at a group of their activists, and
that the group survived the shelling.
Interior Minister Sheetrit:
We should level Gaza neighborhoods
(includes video of Saturday's attack on Sderot in which an 8-year-old lost
his leg, and of cabinet meeting) Sheetrit suggested obliterating a Gaza
neighborhood in response to Saturday's Qassam fire on Sderot, saying "
any other country would have already gone in and level the area, which
is exactly what I thing the IDF should do – decide on a neighborhood
in Gaza and level it."
Shas minister: Only complete
power cut in Gaza will bring results
Shas Minister Yitzhak Cohen called for a complete power cut in the
Gaza Strip on Saturday, saying that "as long as Sderot is burning we
must suffocate the infrastructures in Gaza until all those who fire
Qassams will put down their weapons in broad daylight." Cohen
said the cutting the electricity and fuel by one percent has the same
international ramifications as cutting it by 100 percent, adding that
"apparently in Gaza they do not understand warnings.
Only a complete power cut will bring results."
Sderot residents block entrance to Jerusalem
(Video) Residents of southern city have had enough of government's
helplessness in face of rockets fired at their town and its surroundings.
Dozens of them protest outside Prime Minister's Office, are pushed
away by police officers as they try to break into building. 'This is no
joke, the Qassam kills,' one of demonstrators says
Olmert on Sderot: Anger is not an action plan
Prime minister addresses rocket attack on southern town
during weekly cabinet meeting, says residents' anger is
'understandable and natural, but what is needed is systematic
and organized action over time.' Minister Dichter cites
sections of Winograd report, says 'we mustn't conduct a
strategy of luck.' Minister Yishai: Failure to make a significant
decision on situation may lead to a catastrophe.
Jerusalem Post editorial: How to beat Hamas
There are two things that Hamas wants, and two more that
it really fears. Hamas would love a repeat of the "humanitarian
crisis," in which the international community sides against Israel.
The other option Hamas hopes Israel will take is to invade Gaza in
force. This brings us to the two options that Hamas does not want
and which Israel should pursue. The first is to stop holding the
"political" leadership of Hamas immune. For all their talk of "martyrdom,"
the record shows that Hamas leaders are not interested in losing their
own lives and will stop attacking Israel to save themselves. This is what
happened after their leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi were
successfully targeted by Israel. The second option that is long overdue
is to publicly demand that Egypt do what it takes to shut down the
weapons flow into Gaza. Israel should do what Egypt anyway accuses
Jerusalem of doing: press
Washington to substantially downgrade its relations with
Cairo. http://www.jpost.com/servlet
agename=JPost%2FJPArticle
FM Livni: No peace possible until rockets stop
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday there was "no hope"
for a Palestinian state that included the Gaza Strip as long as
militants kept up rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled
territory. "Hamas is the enemy of Israel and the Palestinians alike,"
the foreign minister said, appearing to be laying the ground for a
stepped-up campaign against the Islamist group.
Al-Quds newspaper: Palestinian-Israeli peace talks at dead end
The newspaper stated on Saturday that the Palestinian-Israeli peace
talks have reached a dead-end as Israel continues to reject talks
regarding settlements, Jerusalem, refugees and borders. A prominent
source at the PA stated that the Israeli negotiations team, headed by
Israel's Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, does not have the power to take
any decisions that could lead to a draft formula for the final status
solution. Meanwhile, Palestinian PM, Dr. Salaam Fayyad, stated on
Saturday that he does not believe that a peace deal could be reached
before the US President, George Bush, leaves office in January 2009.
Yet, head of the Palestinian Negotiations Team, Ahmad Qorea', said
that he believes that a peace deal could be possible before the end of
the year if all parties and the international community practices serious
efforts to push the pace process.
Bahraini officials arrive in Cairo to
negotiate passage of delegation out of Gaza
The Bahraini officials traveled to Gaza a week ago to gather facts
on the situation in the hermetically-sealed territory. They pledged to
help lift the Israeli siege and to support Gaza with economic aid. After
Egyptian authorities resealed the Rafah border, the Bahrainis were
told to leave through the Kerem Shalom crossing. In solidarity with
Palestinians, the group has rejected this option, demanding passage
through the Palestinian-Egyptian controlled Rafah crossing.
Palestinian group calls on Egyptian
FM to apologize to Palestinians
(AP) A radical Palestinian faction on Sunday denounced a recent
statement by Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, in which
he warned Gazans they would have their legs broken if they
attempted to cross the border into Egypt. Anwar Raja, a member
of the political bureau of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine General-Command stressed that Aboul Gheit's
statement does not reflect the opinion of the Egyptian people and
requested that he apologize to the Palestinians for the moral and
psychological harm he has done.
Aib Ya Abu al Ghait – by Khalid Amayreh
(PIC) Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al Ghait reportedly lashed
out at the Palestinians recently, vowing that Egypt would "break the
legs of those who would cross the borders again." These harsh
remarks, to say the very least, are unacceptable and shouldn't have
been uttered by the foreign minister of the largest and most powerful
Arab country. We simply shouldn't be talking to each other or about
each other in this way. Have we gone mad? It is lamentable that Egypt is
willingly accepting to castrate itself for the sake of an annual handout
of $2 billion which Egypt effectively pays off in terms of its national
dignity, sovereignty and independence.
Egypt grills Arabs who entered Gaza
The Egyptian authorities have begun questioning hundreds of foreign
Arabs who entered the Gaza Strip after the border was breached by
Hamas supporters three weeks ago, and then returned to Sinai. An
Egyptian diplomat said the questioning was a "routine" practice to
ensure that those who entered the Gaza Strip were not planning to harm
Egypt's national security. The diplomat said that Egypt had detained over
the past three days another 220 Gazans who were hiding in el-Arish.
He noted that altogether some 800 Palestinians have been detained
since the border was opened on January 23. "After the interrogation is
over, they will be deported back to the Gaza Strip," he said.
Gazans held in Egypt threaten self-immolation
Palestinians from the Gaza Strip detained in the Egyptian city of Al-Arish
are threatening to set themselves on fire if they are not allowed to return to
Gaza by 3pm Sunday afternoon. Egyptian police are detaining about 500
Palestinians in a sports club in Al-Arish. Several of the detainees called
Ma'an to explain their plight. One of the callers, a resident of Al-Bureij
refugee camp, said that the situation in the building is miserable, lacking
medical care and other basic needs. He said that 10 of the detainees fainted
but did not receive medical attention.
Gaza's factions take their fight into the school playgrounds
Children as young as five are learning a deep hatred as the power struggle
between militias takes a disturbing new course – Iyad Sarraj, a Palestinian
psychologist, believes the insistence among the children on identifying
strongly with Hamas or Fatah is a symptom of the disintegration of
Palestinian society in the past two years. For children who have witnessed
the breakdown of family relationships or lost respect for fathers whom
they have seen beaten or threatened - during Israel's occupation and the
internal fighting - Sarraj believes the factions seem to offer protection,
certainty and discipline. 'Hamas, for instance, functions as a clan,' he
said. 'It is a new family. It offers protection to the children who follow it.
It offers an identity.
Hamas cartoon prompts paper to close
A Hamas-controlled magistrates' court on Sunday decided to ban the
distribution of the daily Al-Ayyam in the Gaza Strip after accusing it of
publishing "libelous and slanderous" material against Hamas figures. The
decision followed a complaint filed by Hamas legislators against the
Palestinian Authority funded paper for publishing a cartoon that ridiculed
them and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The court also sentenced
in absentia the editor of Al-Ayyam, Akram Haniyeh, and cartoonist Baha
al-Bukhari to six months in prison after finding them guilty of libel and slander.
Al-Ayyam is a relatively small newspaper that is published in Ramallah.
The decision to ban Al-Ayyam is the latest in a series of measures by
Hamas directed against rival newspapers and journalists. Two journalists
working for Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda were released last week from a Hamas
prison after being held for more than 40 days.
Gaza Strip blockade could seriously harm
Israel's economy – by Meron Rapoport
If the blockade becomes permanent policy, Israel will lose a large part of its
'captive market' - a stock phrase which in this case literally describes Gaza.
"The entire planning for planting orchards in Israel was based on the
assumption that Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are one market,"
says the head of the Israeli fruit growers' association. Whatever the 1.5
million people in Gaza need to live comes to them from Israel - from milk
products to diapers, from medicine to cement. Even the humanitarian aid from
international organizations is bought almost entirely from Israeli companies.
Israeli firms also earn money as middlemen.
Sharon documentary examines
reasons for 2005 Gaza pullout
(Reuters) Sharon unexpectedly ordered the evacuation of 8,500 settlers
from the Gaza strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank, in a
move called the "disengagement". Israeli filmmaker Moreh said that the
unexpected about-face by the former Israel Defense Forces general
was a pivotal moment and could have been the catalyst for peace with the
Palestinians. But Moreh, and others in his film, are full of sorrow that
Sharon fell into a coma in January of 2006. "He was the only leader strong
enough to do something, to bring a better future to the region."
Perpetual blame game – by Zvi Bar-el
Last week, Hamas' strategy was the subject of an analysis not by an
Israeli army commander or politician, but by a publicist and expert on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict named Majed Kialy, in the newspaper Al-Hayat.
The popular struggle strategy that characterized the first intifada has
disappeared, Kialy argues. Gone is the correlation between the means
and the ends. Instead of presenting the Palestinian reaction as a form of
defense in light of Israeli aggression, Kialy complains, Hamas has mounted
an offense that has zero chance of achieving the goal of abolishing
occupation and forming an independent Palestinian state. For Kialy, the
Qassams and suicide attacks serve to unite the Israeli public around their
government instead of making them address the internal conflicts within that
government's policies. On the international level, the Palestinians have
lost support, Kialy argues.
Gulf Today editorial: A warning of sinister plans
It is funny as well as ironic that Israel has opted to complain to
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and to the UN Security
Council about rocket attacks coming from the Gaza Strip into Israeli
border areas. It is clear on the record of the UN that Israel never respected
UN decisions. Israel is describing the rocket attacks as "a well-directed
and continuous incitement by Hamas leaders, which is part of a campaign
whose main goal is focused killing of Israeli residents." One wonders how
Israel would describe its systematic campaign to obliterate the Palestinian
cause since the Jewish state was created on Palestinian land in 1948.
Palestinian farmers hit by prolonged frost in January
A recent cold snap with sub-zero temperatures has caused farmers in
the West Bank to incur losses of nearly US$14.5 million, according to
initial estimates by the Palestinian ministry of agriculture (MoA) set
out in a 6 February joint 'fact sheet' with the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO). The winter cash crop is the most profitable and "
[as] a direct result of the frost, thousands of farmers have lost their main
source of income for the next [few] months." Between 70 and 100 percent
of crops planted in the open - mainly zucchinis, aubergines, beans,
tomatoes, peppers and fruit trees - have either been lost or damaged.
Beehive growers had suffered losses estimated at about $100,000. In the
crisis-plagued Gaza Strip, where farmers were already going bankrupt
due to the ban on exports, losses caused by the prolonged frost were
estimated at over $4.5 million.
Israeli authorities extend detention of Palestinian
lawmaker and mayor
Israeli authorities have extended the detention of Palestinian lawmaker
Dawood Abu Sir for five more months. Abu Sir is a Hamas member who
represents Nablus in the Palestinian Legislative Council. In the same
regard, an Israeli military court has extended the detention of the mayor
of Nablus, Adli Ya'ish for 45 more days. He was supposed to be released
on February 13. Dozens of Palestinian elected officials are held in Israeli
prisons. Under Israel's policy of administrative detention, Palestinians
can be held without charge or trial for months.
Lawyers call Israeli charges against Palestinian
elected officials illegal
Eleven of the Hamas officials arrested after the Change and Reform
Party won the Palestinian elections were in Israeli court yesterday,
including the Mayor of Jenin, Dr. Hatem Jaraar. The other political prisoners
hail from the northern West Bank cities of Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem and Qalqilia.
The Salem Military Court spent eight hours Friday debating the substance
of the charges levied against the officials, arrested only for their affiliation
with the party. Three lawyers, Riad Anis, Saleh Mahamed and Mustafa
Aezzemouti, were on hand to argue the case. The witness was one member
of the Israeli intelligence, or Mossad who said that the Change and Reform
platform was one in the same with the Hamas party.
Israeli military seals Tulkarem for fifth day
Israeli military forces continued a crippling closure on the West Bank
city of Tulkarem and its surrounding areas on Sunday, preventing residents
below the age of 35 from leaving the region for the fifth day in a row.
Palestinian security sources and witnesses said that the Israeli forces
erected a flying checkpoint in the Ash-Sha'rawiyya neighborhood in
southern Tulkarem district, and denying all young men access to schools,
universities or and workplaces. Even elderly Palestinians are obliged to wait
in long lines in order to be searched by Israeli soldiers.
Hebron: Arab leaders, settlement heads meet
to discuss easing of tensions
Heads of local Arab clans in the divided West Bank of city of Hebron
met with representatives from Israeli settlements in the area and discussed
the easing of tensions between the two sides. According to the Israelis,
shortly after the meeting began, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades issued a
proclamation throughout the city that called for dealing with the meeting's
participants "with an iron fist."
Gunmen attack health clinic in Huwwara in the northern West Bank
The clinic has come under frequent attack recently, culminating on
Saturday night when unidentified gunmen vandalized the interior of the
building, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Sunday. The Ministry
said that the clinic has been fired upon several times, and its main
electrical generator was stolen. A Health Ministry statement said that
the only losers in such attacks are the thousands of Palestinians served
by the clinic. The Ministry said health services should not be attacked
in political or family conflicts.
Report: Israel grants amnesty to 32 wanted Fatah men
Palestinian security officials tell Ynet 32 members of al-Aqsa
Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing, have completed three-
month probation period and are now to move freely in West Bank.
Another 220 wanted Palestinians to begin another probation period.
Israeli security officials have yet to confirm report – PA officials expressed
their disappointment over what they described as the low number of wanted
men on the list. "Israel is aware that all of the wanted al-Aqsa members have
stopped engaging in any activity that could even come close to
threatening the Jewish state, but the Israelis chose to exclude a number
of wanted men they want to use as bargaining chips in future negotiations
with us," one PA official said.
Palestinian Pundit: It takes billions
to buy Palestinian stooges and traitors
US sees Palestinian forces needing billions in aid – "American officials
estimate billions of dollars needed to train and restructure PA
security forces; only $86 million spent so far. None of funds garnered from
Palestinian donor conference earmarked for security overhaul....
Palestinian security plan backed by Washington calls for consolidating
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....."
Hawatmeh warns Hamas against separate negotiations with Israel
Nayef Hawatmeh, the secretary general of the left-wing Democratic
Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), has called on Hamas
not to hold negotiations with Israel separate from those between
Israel and the PA. Hawatmeh told the Saudi newspaper Ukadh that
parallel talks would serve the Israelis in their efforts to reduce the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict to a mere security issue. He also said that
Israel has sought to divide the Palestinian territories into separate
administrative, security and residential zones. He also said that the
DFLP believes that reunifying the Palestinian national movement is
possible if Fatah and Hamas put national interests over their own,
narrowly partisan interests.
An end foreseen – by Uri Avnery
Is it possible that the very situation of occupation and resistance
condemns the occupiers to stupid behavior, turning even the most
intelligent into idiots? Some years ago the BBC screened a long
series about the process of liberation in the former British colonies,
from India to the Caribbean islands. It devoted one episode to each
colony. Former colonial administrators, officers of the occupation
armies, liberation fighters and other eye-witnesses were interviewed
at length. Very interesting and very depressing. Depressing -
because the episodes repeated each other almost exactly. The
rulers of every colony repeated the mistakes made by their
predecessors in the previous episode. They harbored the same
illusions and suffered the same defeats. Nobody learned any lesson
from his predecessor, even when the predecessor was himself -
as in the case of the British police officers who were transferred
from Palestine to Kenya.
Druze conscientious objector sentenced by
the Israeli army to 75 days in prison
The Israeli military court in Haifa city sentenced Arabi Salalha,
from the Druze village of Beit Junn located in Galilee on Saturday
to 75 days imprisonment for refusing to serve in the Israeli army.
Unlike the other Arabs living in Israel, the Druze Arabs must serve
in the Israeli army. Sources in Beit Junn village stated that Salalha
was arrested by the Israeli army police last Thursday. He was
supposed to start his military service one year ago. His father
said that " it's one hundred times better to be in jail rather than
serving for three years in a military occupied land." It's been noticed
lately that the number of Druze and Sharkas men living in Israel who
are refusing Israeli military service is increasing.
Deep under a Jerusalem neighborhood,
politics and archaeology collide
(AP) Archaeology is hard-wired into the politics of modern-day
Arab-Israeli strife, and new digs to unearth more of this past are
cutting to the heart of the charged argument over who owns the
ancient city of Jerusalem today. Israel says it's reconnecting with its
ancient heritage. Palestinians contend the archaeology is a political
weapon to undermine their own links to Jerusalem . . . None of the finds
that the archaeologists highlight for the public are from the eras of
Christian or Muslim rule. "They are looking only for Jewish ruins,"
said Abu Diab. "It's as if we're not here."
Beatles asked to refuse Israel's invitation to its
'birthday', the Palestinian Nakba
(PSC) Over 40 Human Rights organizations from around the world
who campaign for peace and justice for the Palestinian people sent
an open letter to the surviving Beatles, Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney,
and to the families of George Harrison and John Lennon, asking them not to
accept any invitation to join in this year's 60th Anniversary celebration of the birth
of the state of Israel, (otherwise known as Al Nakba – the Disaster).
An invitation was delivered last week by the Israeli ambassador to Britain,
Ron Prosor, during a visit to the Beatles Museum in Liverpool.
The letter describes what happened in 1948.
Palestinian-produced film addresses children's rights
A Palestinian media corporation called Klakit has completed the
production of a short animated film called "Life is Better,"
designed to highlight the fight for the rights of Palestinian children.
The movie is 22 minutes long and deals with children's rights according
to international law as well as the Palestinian law on children of 2004.
Gaza's committee on breaking the blockade
hails worldwide solidarity campaign
Mr. Janmal al-Khudari, an independent lawmaker and the
committee's chairman, hailed on Sunday underway worldwide
solidarity campaigns with the people of Gaza. Al-Khudary
appealed to all peoples around the world to pressure their
governments in a bid to lift the Israeli closure of Gaza. Over the
past few weeks, campaigners in more than 30 world countries took
to the streets, in solidarity with the Gaza Strip's 1.5 residents, who have
been living a humanitarian crisis over the past several months.
Where are the American Jewish condemnations?
– by Sherri Muzher
For years now, I have heard demands that those of us Americans of
Palestinian descent condemn various military actions. And we do
because innocents should never pay for the sins of their military
forces and government. I'd like to know if the Jewish community will
ever condemn the intentional starvation and collective punishment
of an entire Gazan population? The silence has been deafening
at this inhumanity.
Yes, Canada, there is torture in Israel – by Louis Frankenthaler
Israeli Ambassador, Alan Baker recently expressed his indignation
over Canada's listing of Israel as a state that engages in torture in a
training manual for diplomats. The ambassador asserts that torture is
not practiced by Israel and based on this it seems that the Canadian
Foreign Ministry will revaluate this manual and "correct" it. The problem,
however, is not the manual but the fact that Israel continues to regularly practice torture.
Chief rabbi prohibits single women from going to ritual baths
In an attempt to stem a trend of quasi-condoned premarital sex
among young modern Orthodox men and women, Chief Ashkenazi
Rabbi Yona Metzger has issued a prohibition against allowing single
women to use mikvaot (ritual baths). Jewish law proscribes sexual
relations with a woman during and after menstruation until she
immerses herself in a mikve. This prohibition is known as nidda.
Traditionally, only married women have been permitted to remove
the prohibition of nidda via a mikve, so they can have sexual relations
with their husbands. In contrast, single women have traditionally been
prevented from using a mikve because it would, in theory, remove the
main prohibition against sexual intercourse.
Egypt deserves support to resolve Gaza crisis –
by Abderahman Salaheldin, Egypt's consul-general in San Francisco
Comparing what is shown on prime time news in the United States
and the Arab and Muslim nations could exemplify the wide gap that
separates both worlds. An Egyptian family, for example, would go to bed
these days with images of Palestinian families fleeing their homes in Gaza
to look for food, medicine and fuel because of the Israeli siege.
More graphic videos of victims of Israeli air attacks have also
become regular news items. These video clips are hardly shown on prime
time news in America unless accompanied by a politician or a
commentator justifying Israel's actions. There is no serious discussion
of needed international intervention to end Palestinian civilians' misery in Gaza.
Media language and war: manufacturing
convenient realities – by Ramzy Baroud
To recognize reality the way it is, one has to re-examine language.
While a critical reader is essential, the task starts in the hand of a
journalist, who must understand his topic not based on simple
"facts" and perceptions. Simple facts lead to simple conclusions:
Sunnis extremists, mad Mullah, unruly Palestinians, besieged Israel.
Every story can be told in three different ways: two by the two main
conflicting parties, and a third by the journalist himself. The journalist
must not compromise on his independence, must not buy into jargons,
mantras, and turn into another official spokesperson.
The light side: Scratching the subsurface
Skip ahead to 2012. After two years of intense negotiation, Israel and the
Palestinians will finally sign the ultimate peace agreement on the
White House lawn. As the historic moment approaches, David Dekel,
a young geologist at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev makes an
astonishing discovery. Fifty meters below Jenin territory about to be
ceded to the Arabs lies an oil trap massive enough to meet Israel's
energy needs for the next 100 years. The book? Subsurface, a hot new thriller.
0 Have Your Say!:
Post a Comment