Mohammad al-Kurd, 62, also known as abu-Kamal, the father of a Palestinian family who were evicted from their home in East Jerusalem on November 9 by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) died at the weekend of sorrow after his family's eviction from the house where they had lived for more than 50 years. Abu-Kamal, a 1948 refugee from Jaffa, left behind his wife Fawzieh al-Kurd (umm-Kamal), five children and their families.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=2115
Four new demolition orders in Aqaba bring total to 39 out of 45 houses
Israeli military forces issued four new demolition orders on Wednesday, increasing the potential demolition count to 39 out of a total 45 homes in the West Bank village of Aqaba. Aqaba is a tiny village in the Jenin area with a population of 300 inhabitants living in houses made of large families with ten or more children.
IDF killed wanted Palestinians despite court guidelines, documents show
The Israel Defense Forces has assassinated wanted men in apparent defiance of High Court of Justice guidelines for such operations, according to operational briefings obtained by Haaretz. The documents reveal that the IDF approved assassinations in the West Bank even when it could have been possible to arrest the targets instead, and that top-ranking army officers authorized the killings in advance, in writing, even if innocent bystanders would be killed as well.
Mom dies of heart attack when Israeli soldiers arrest sons
A Palestinian woman died of heart attack Wednesday morning when Israeli forces stormed her house near Jerusalem and arrested two of her sons, Palestinian medical sources said. According to the medical sources, the 49-year-old Hekmat Khalil, whose sons were arrested at home in Qalandya refugee camp, died before arriving at Ramallah's governmental hospital. Meanwhile, the Israeli forces continued their raids in the occupied West Bank, arresting 12 Palestinians, according to the Israeli radio, which reported that the detainees were wanted activists. The raids took place in Ramallah and Qalandya refugee camp, according to the Israelis.
Amid closure, Gazan merchants report mistreatment by Israeli soldiers at crossing points
Israeli soldiers have verbally abused Palestinian workers and merchants at the Gaza Strips border crossings, even amid the most severe closure of the crossings in months. Israel has tightly regulated traffic in and out of occupied Gaza since the 1990s, and has imposed a nearly complete closure for the last two years. In addition, Palestinians say, whenever the borders are briefly open, they are mistreated by the Israelis they interact with.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33512
Israeli forces destroy Palestinian greenhouses and farms in Gaza
Local sources report that a group of Israeli armored bulldozers and tanks invaded the al-Fukhari neighborhood, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on Tuesday morning, and bulldozed a number of farms.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57801
ISM Gaza Strip: Shots against farmers and internationals in Al Faraheen
In the morning of Sunday the 23rd of November, several international human rights observers accompanied Palestinian farmers to plough their field close to the green line, in the village of Al Faraheen, east of Khan Younis. At about 10 o' clock Israeli soldiers behind the fence started to shoot. A tank could also be seen moving in the area behind the fence. The international HROs used their megaphones to communicate the international presence and to demand that the shooting cease immediately.
-in-al-faraheen/
Gazan fishermen protest for their rights
The ISM Gaza Strip team joined over 50 Palestinian fishermen on a demonstration to call for an end to the siege of Gaza – both on the land and in the sea. As Israel's stranglehold tightens day by day, Gazan fishermen and farmers struggle to provide a local food source for a population under siege. This is in the face of arbitrary restrictions imposed on them by Israeli occupation forces.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/11/25/gazan-fishermen-protest-for-their-rights/
Dozens of armed Israeli settlers attack Palestinian-owned property in Hebron
At least 40 armed Israeli settlers attacked yesterday night Palestinian properties, owned by local Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Anti-Wall organizer injured by Wall
At 5:20 pm on Saturday Bi'lin Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements member, Emad Burnat, was admitted to hospital in very serious condition after his tractor flipped over against Israel's Wall. The wall – which in Bil'in is composed of metal fence and barbed-wire – cuts through the village's farmland.
Hamas: PA detained 13 members across West Bank
Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces abducted 13 West Bank Hamas affiliates in recent days, according to a statement received by Ma'an on Wednesday. Ma'an obtained the names and governorates of residence for the alleged detainees, who were seized from the West Bank cities of Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Salfit and Tubas, the statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33518
Indictment filed against policemen who severely injured Palestinian in Israel
On 28 Oct., following a complaint by B'Tselem, the Department for the Investigation of Police filed an indictment against two policemen charged with assaulting Fadi Darabi' and causing severe damage to one of his testicles.
http://www.btselem.org/english/beating_and_abuse/20081126_policemen_indicted_ for_assaulting_
palestinian.asp
Testimony: Israeli naval vessel rams into boat of Palestinian fisherman and sails over it, opposite Gaza shoreline, Sept. '08
I live with my wife and our seven children in the a-R imal neighborhood of Gaza City. Since 1988, I 've worked as a fisherman. In 1996, my grandfather, my father, and my uncle bought a fishing boat that is 20 meters long, 5 meters wide, and 2.5 meters high. We 've been using it to catch fish ever since.
witness_ al_Hasi.asp
Palestinian peace activists prevented passage to leave the country
The Joint Advocacy Initiative (JAI) manager Nidal Abu Zuluf was rejected passage through the King Hussein (aka Allenby) bridge going to Jordan, as to fly to Egypt for attending the Christian Aid partners meeting, a statement by the JAI said.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57798
AIC Program Director Sergio Yahni Detained by Israeli Police after Filming
Sergio Yahni, the Program Director of the Alternative Information Center (AIC), was detained on 25 November by Israeli police while filming construction of the Museum of Tolerance, being built on the Ma'man Allah Islamic Cemetery in West Jerusalem. Sergio Yahni, the Program Director of the Alternative Information Center (AIC), was detained this afternoon (1:30 p.m., 25 November) by Israeli police while filming construction of the Museum of Tolerance, being built on the Ma'man Allah Islamic Cemetery in West Jerusalem.
http://www.alternativenews.org/content/view/1429/104/
US National Lawyers Guild Calls for Freedom of Dweik, Sa'adat
The US National Lawyers Guild called for the freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners held in the jails of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the occasion of the November 25, 2008 meeting of the Israeli military trial against Sa'adat. DPA reported Monday that an IOF trial of the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Abdelaziz Dweik, scheduled for Tuesday in the IOF detention center of Ofer west of the West Bank city of Ramallah, was again delayed.
First Arab ship against the siege sails from Libya
Official Libyan sources reported on Tuesday that a Libyan ship left the Zowwara port, west of the Lybian capital, Tripoli, and is currently heading to the Gaza Strip carrying humanitarian aid. The ship is expected to reach Gaza in five days.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57808
oPt: Siege is "shameful" and unprecedented-An appeal for action
"To leave 1.5 million people without food, medicines, fuel and basic goods is a very harsh and unprecedented state of affairs in the history of international law", said the director of UNRWA, John Ging, to MISNA, referring to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has been worsening very quickly since Israel imposed a total blockade of imports last November 5. "What is happening in Gaza is shameful – said a very indignant Ging – especially for the countries of the region and the international community that are aware of the situation, doing nothing to prevent it". In the past weeks, humanitarian agencies have tried on many occasions to raise the attention of international public opinion on the tragedy that is being consumed in that stretch of land between Egypt and Israel (360 square km. of surface) and which constitutes one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MCOI-7LQQX7?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Top UN official: Israel's policies are like apartheid of bygone era
United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann on Monday likened Israel's policies toward the Palestinians to South Africa's treatment of blacks under apartheid.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040614.html
Hungry Gazans Resort to Animal Feed as U.N. Blasts Israel
Half of Gaza's bakeries have closed down and the other half have resorted to animal feed to produce bread as Israel's complete blockade of the coastal territory enters its 19th day. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon alarmed at the escalating humanitarian crisis called incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week and demanded that he lift the blockade.
http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/11/24/hungry_gazans_resort_to_ animal_feed_as_un_
blasts_ israel/9217/
Israel closes Gaza crossings, reporters banned
Israel closed its cargo crossings with Gaza Tuesday because of Palestinian rocket fire, just a day after allowing vital humanitarian supplies in. A ban on foreign correspondents entering Gaza, in effect for more than two weeks, remained in place.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_ 0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD94M4A 680
Israel bans press in the Gaza Strip
For nearly three weeks Israel has blocked access to the Gaza Strip. Foreign journalists are challenging the Gaza ban in court, calling it a 'blow' to freedom of the press.
Palestinian journalists meet with Arab league chief in Cairo
The head of the Palestinian union of journalists, Na'im At-Tubasi on Tuesday called on the international community to intervene to lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. At-Tubasi headed a delegation of journalists to Egypt on Tuesday met with Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Mousa. After the meeting, At-Tubasi held a press conference during which he described the siege on Gaza as "tyrannical" as its victims are unarmed civilians, children and Palestinian institutions.
Gaza power cut blamed on blockade
The only power plant in the Gaza Strip is shut by energy authorities who say Israel will not allow the urgent delivery of spare parts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7748676.stm
Barak closes crossings and health disaster in Gaza due to chlorine depletion
Israeli war minister Ehud Barak decided late Monday to retain the Gaza crossings closed on Tuesday at the pretext of Palestinian rocket attacks, while the popular committee against the siege warned of an imminent health disaster due to the depletion of chlorine used to disinfect drinking water.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/
UN General Assembly president calls for boycott of Israel
After his controversial embrace with Iran's Ahmadinejad, UN General Assembly president sparks Jerusalem's ire once more after calling for international boycott on Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3628618,00. html
UN aid chief to EI: Gaza people "stripped of their dignity"
The Electronic Intifada's correspondent in Gaza, Rami Almeghari, sat down with UNRWA Chief of Operations in the Gaza Strip, John Ging, to discuss how the siege, and the latest closures are affecting UNRWA and the civilian population in Gaza. UNRWA is the UN agency responsible for providing aid to millions of Palestinian refugees. On 4 November, Israel sent tanks into the Gaza Strip and carried out attacks which killed six Palestinians, breaking a ceasefire that had generally held since June.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9992.shtml
Egypt deploys 400 policemen along Rafah crossing
The Hebrew radio reported that the Egyptian authorities on Monday deployed 400 additional policemen along the Rafah border crossing lest it is breached by the besieged Gaza people.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Egyptian students clash with police over Gaza
Hundreds of Islamist students demanding an end to the blockade of Gaza clashed with riot police outside Cairo University on Wednesday and students said nine of their colleagues were injured.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnLQ654665.html
Berri calls for unified Arab stance on Gaza siege
Speaker Nabih Berri urged Arab states on Tuesday to come up with a unified stand to break the blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza strip. "The atrocious Zionist siege imposed on Gaza will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe," Berri said in a statement. The speaker described Israeli tactics against Gaza as "terrorist practices par excellence."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1& categ_id=2&article_id=98005
India: No Justification for Denial of Essential Supplies to Gaza Civilians
"There can be no justification for the denial of essential supplies including food and fuel to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip numbering over a million people," Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said in New Delhi Tuesday. Ahamed was speaking at a function held to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=2128
Israel's Slow-Motion Genocide in Occupied Palestine
"Imagine life under these conditions: Living in limbo under a foreign occupier. Having no self-determination, no right of return, and no power over your daily life. Being in constant fear, economically strangled, and collectively punished. Having your free movement denied by enclosed population centers, closed borders, regular curfews, roadblocks, checkpoints, electric fences, and separation walls. Having your homes regularly demolished and land systematically stolen to build settlements for encroachers in violation of international law prohibiting an occupier from settling its population on conquered land.
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11171
Closure
The slow strangulation of people does not end with the recent loosening of the borders. 42 trucks were let in, and then the border was again closed. This suffering is ongoing. A few months ago we were writing about the generators in Gaza hospitals running out of electricity, and now again. It will be the same story after a few months. Last week the people of Gaza were eating animal grain, after the bakeries ran out of wheat flour. According to the UN General Assembly head, this is a system of Apartheid. Call it like it is.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2008/11/closure.html
Closure II
Submitted by Mohammad as an update to the Closure post.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2008/11/closure-ii.html
Priest finally leaves Gaza to visit family, but feels 'split in two'
Msgr. Manuel Musallam sits near a window in his brother's house in the West Bank village of Bir Zeit, looking out at the hills on which he grew up playing. It has been many years since the 70-year-old priest at Holy Family Parish in Gaza City has laid his eyes on this vista. Locked into Gaza for more than a decade, Father Musallam has shared his parish's burden as his own and has been an outspoken opponent of Israeli policies in the Gaza Strip and a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights. This, he said, may be the source of Israel's constant refusal to give him a travel permit.
http://www.catholiccourier. com/tmp1.cfm?nid=76&articleid=104551
Gazans unable to use newly-issued IDs due to Israeli closure
Nairouz Qarmout has not seen her husband since their wedding three years ago. Qarmout lives in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip. Her husband lives in the West Bank. The two were married when he travelled to Gaza through the Egypt-controlled Rafah crossing.
…And You Will Call Upon Allah With No Response...
A name that has become an attribute to Arab languor, silence, weakness, tacit consent, collusion…and the list stretches all the way back to 1948. Gaza has become the worst faces of agony under the eyes of hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims worldwide.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=65207&language=en
Hamas categorically denies reports on internal differences
Hamas on Tuesday categorically denied Israeli press reports claiming that differences existed between its leaders within and outside the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Hamas asks Arab FMs to adopt balanced stands towards inter-Palestinian discord
The Hamas Movement on Tuesday asked the Arab foreign ministers scheduled to meet in Cairo on Wednesday to adopt balanced stands towards the inter-Palestinian rift and not to take sides.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Abbas aide: Palestinian elections will be in April whether Hamas agrees or not
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in April despite opposition from Hamas rivals who run the Gaza Strip, a senior aide said on Tuesday. "The call for elections will be early January," said Yasser Abed Rabbo. "The elections will be held three months after."
Fatah condemns Syria for hosting Hamas
Fatah slammed Syria for allowing Hamas to attend a conference on Palestinian refugees' right of return on Tuesday. "I don't understand how those mutineers are welcome in Damascus after they rebelled against Palestinian legitimacy," said Fatah spokesperson Ahmad Abd-Ar-Rahman referring to the Arab International Forum on the Right of Return.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33496
Hamas, Fatah women fist fight as disputes inflame
Flying chairs and punches thrown by women students at a Gaza university this week may seem a rather minor manifestation of the factional fighting that has riven Palestinian society over the past year or so. But with Hamas and Fatah still smarting from bloody armed clashes in 2007, when the Islamists routed President Mahmoud Abbas's PLO forces in the enclave, the scuffle shows how deep the rift runs.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LQ716721.htm
Book Review: Hamas vs. Fatah
I'm not sure where to start with this volume – other than to say it is a history so out of context and so biased in its language that it is essentially meaningless. If a scientist were to isolate human blood cells and study them under a microscope – and only blood cells under a microscope – they could learn and report about all sorts of facts about the cells, how the chemicals work, how different chemicals block certain other chemical reactions, how different components of blood will attack certain other components of blood, how the cells became less responsive to stimuli and ultimately die. In that out of context scenario, without considering other interactions and engagements with the hundreds of other factors involved in the overall body, the scientist could conclude that blood cells do not function properly and should be considered a rogue element within the body. But scientists aren't that ignorant, only political scientists are.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14413
Fatah would win Palestinian elections: opinion poll
AFP-The Fatah faction of Mahmud Abbas would defeat the Hamas movement at the polls, said a survey out on Wednesday, as the Palestinian president threatened to call snap elections in the new year.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081126/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpalestinianpolitics
Abbas Goes Double Duty
On Sunday, November 23, the PLO Central Council elected Mahmoud Abbas the President of Palestine. The last president the Palestinians had was Yasser Arafat, or Abu Ammar, who died four years ago. Now, Abbas, who is already president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and head of Fateh, is wearing the new cap of head of state.
http://www.miftah.org/Display. cfm?DocId=18259&CategoryId=3
An Arab ministerial meeting discusses Palestinian developments
An emergency meeting of the Arab foreign ministers is due to be held on Wednesday in Cairo, to discuss latest Palestinian developments.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57811
Because The Pharaoh Can't Be Questioned: Egypt arrests pro-Hamas blogger
"Egyptian police have arrested a blogger who criticized the government and expressed support for the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, a human rights organization said on Tuesday. The Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said 40 officers had confiscated books and CDs from blogger Mohamed Adel's house before arresting him. "An enormous security force and special forces to take into custody a young blogger who owns nothing other than a keyboard and a blog!" said Gamal Eid, director of the Network. "This is the law of the state of emergency which has ruled Egyptians for 27 years." The group said there had been no word of or from Adel since November 20. An interior ministry spokesman said he was not aware of the case.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3628825,00. html
Palestinians: Settler violence in Hebron will lead to casualties
'Yesterday huge stones barely missed my cousins; had they been hit they would have been killed,' says resident, claiming settler threatened to slaughter his family 'like Deir Yasin'. 'I was shocked to hear a soldier tell me: There's nothing I can do'.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3628963,00. html
Olmert: If needed, force will be used to stop settler attacks on Palestinians
WASHINGTON-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted Tuesday that the government will not forcibly evacuate settlers from the so-called "House of Contention" in Hebron, but will instead settle for preventing settler attacks on their Palestinian neighbors.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1041159.html
Olmert: No reason we can't agree on core issues soon
Prime minister wraps up visit to Washington, stresses he has no intentions of scaling back negotiation efforts even in twilight hours of his term, insists it would be in Israel's best interests.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3628532,00. html
Olmert to Bush: Peace deal still possible this year
WASHINGTON-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has asked U.S. President George W. Bush to convince Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to accept Olmert's suggestion to establish a Palestinian state and sign a peace deal with Israel by the end of the year, Olmert told reporters Tuesday.
Olmert ally calls for acceptance of Arab peace plan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: An ally of Israel's prime minister called on Monday for the Jewish state to formally accept a six-year-old Arab peace plan for the region, declaring bilateral talks with the Palestinians at a "dead end. "While proposed in its current form in 2002, the major tenants of the deal date back to the late 1970s.
Abbas: Olmert agreed that East Jerusalem should be Palestinian-ruled
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accepted that East Jerusalem should be placed under Palestian control, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday. In addition Israel has recognized the existence of only 200,000 Palestinian refugees from the violence at its creation in 1948.
A disarmed Palestinian state?
During an off-the-record meeting in Washington, DC on November 10, one of Obama's senior foreign policy advisers stated that pushing a two-state solution on Israel and the Palestinians had to take place with great urgency, as it was the best way to turn around the Middle East (which he defined as including Afghanistan and Pakistan). Three elements of the plan the United States is to push are well known (no refugee return, a divided Jerusalem, and redrawn 1967 borders), but the fourth is much less often explored. Namely that the Palestinian state be disarmed and that US or NATO troops be stationed along the Jordan River.
US Refuses to Publish General Jones' Report on Palestinian –Israeli Security
The US State Department said Tuesday it was unaware of any plans to publish a report by its Middle East security envoy General James Jones on Palestinian – Israeli security, which the Israeli newspaper Haaretz described in August as "an extremely critical report of Israel's policies" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," AFP reported on Wednesday.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=2124
A year after Annapolis
Ramallah, 26-11-08: Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, held today press conference to mark the first year anniversary of the 'Annapolis Peace Process'. During the conference, Dr. Barghouthi presented current facts on the ground in order to demonstrate the lack of impact the Annapolis conference has had on the establishment of a serious and long-lasting peace process. Though many meetings have taken place, and in spite of the fact that all parties have openly committed themselves to a two-state solution, little or no progress has been made. There had not been a peace process of any type for the seven years preceding the Annapolis Conference; and when it finally did arrive; conditions on the ground were all but conducive." « The Annapolis conference was useless, and the year that passed proves it », emphasised the Deputy.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article706
Israel agrees to release 220 detainees, number does not meet minimal demand
Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported on Tuesday that Israel showed some "leniency" in the indirect talks for the release of the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, and submitted a list of 220 detainees it is willing to free.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57807
Palestinians will not accept refugee settlement in Lebanon-FM
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki said here Wednesday the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) would never accept the settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. "The PNA won't accept any type of settlement in Lebanon, which will be certainly away from a possible settlement to the issue of the right of return (of Palestinian refugees)," he told Lebanon's An-Nahar newspaper.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ASAZ-7LRFCT?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
MIDEAST: Settlers Stay, Or It's Civil War
The resolution of the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict and future stability in the Middle East could hinge on Hebron, a little town in the southern Palestinian West Bank, 30 km south of Jerusalem.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news. asp?idnews=44864
MKs: Delay Hebron home evacuation
Forty-nine MKs signed a letter on Monday sent to Defense Minister Ehud Barak and to Public Security Minister Avi Dichter calling on them "to avoid evacuating the disputed house in Hebron and to show decency and governmental responsibility. " The MKs were referring to a building in Hebron that a group of settlers claims to have purchased and which the Arab owner claims he still owns. The High Court of Justice ruled that the house should be evacuated by Wednesday last week, but the evacuation was delayed for fear of violence at the weekend when thousands of Jews visited the city in honor of the reading of the Torah portion that describes Abraham's purchase of the Cave of the Patriarchs (Chayei Sarah). The settlers still occupy the property.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404823068& pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle% 2FShowFull
Settlers agree to relocate Migron outpost to nearby settlement
The state has reached an agreement with the Yesha Council of Settlements to relocate the recently dismantled West Bank outpost of Migron to a the nearby Adam settlement.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040552.html
State: Migron won't be moved for years
Residents of the illegal outpost of Migron will be able to stay there for years, the state acknowledged on Monday. The state informed the High Court of Justice that it planned to move the 46 families living in Migron, which was built on private Palestinian land, to the nearby settlement of Adam in an area designated for residential housing. But it also made clear that it would take years before the occupants of the outpost, located a short distance north of Jerusalem, actually move. "It must be stressed," the state's representative, attorney Aner Hellman, wrote in a brief to the court, "that we are not talking about moving Migron in the near future, considering that we must first implement planning procedures and then carry out the actual building at the new site. "
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404823470& pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Two-time Refugee and a Tent in Occupied East Jerusalem
[Occupied East Jerusalem] Less than a five minute walk from my room at the Ambassador Hotel, Fawziya Khurd and international supporters began living in a tent, because the Israeli police enforced a court order to throw her and her spouse, Mohammed out of their home, which they had been living in since 1956. The day before my last visit, Mrs. Khurd/Um Khammal [mother of Kammal] became a widow when Mohammad expired secondary to the stress of home eviction by Israel.
Smoke 'em out...
A few weeks ago, the Israeli government decided to 'cut off' funding for illegal outposts in the West Bank. It seemed like relatively good news and I even considered posting about it at the risk of giving the Zionist regime undue credit. For those who don't know, outposts are settlements built without the Israeli government's approval and technically illegal (of course, all settlements are illegal in the eyes of the international community). There are close to 250 settlements in the West Bank, at least 100 of which are outposts. Despite the fact that the state of Israel does not officially recognize these colonial constructions, they have been underhandedly supporting them for years. While the government's decision may have seemed like a good thing, it was little more than a meaningless declaration that is unlikely to bring any action-the current administration is in no position to actually take on the settlers, even if it wanted to.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2008/11/smoke-em-out.html
Rights group: Only 6% of abuse claims against IDF yield charges
The Israel Defense Forces indicted just 6 percent of all soldiers accused of criminal offenses against Palestinians between September 2001 and the end of 2007, an Israeli human rights group said Wednesday. The Yesh Din group said that from the beginning of the second Palestinian uprising, more than 1,200 investigations into suspect activities by Israeli soldiers were conducted, but only 78 of the investigations resulted in charges being filed.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1041246.html
Rights group: Few Israeli soldiers prosecuted
The Israeli military indicted just six per cent of all soldiers accused of criminal offences against Palestinians between September 2001 and the end of 2007, an Israeli human rights group said on Wednesday.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10262733.html
Palestinians petition to dismantle Amona
The issue of Amona returned to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday, when 10 Palestinian farmers who own land on the site of the illegal outpost filed a petition, demanding that the government evict the 40 families living on the outskirts of Ofra. "This petition involves an illegal site which was established without permission and in gross violation of the law," wrote the petitioners' attorney, Michael Sfard. "The site includes a large number of mobile structures, a number of wooden structures, sheds, agricultural storehouses and one stone building. The trespassers on the petitioners' land declared that it was a settlement named Amona without a permit and in violation of the law."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404836582& pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Palestinian Forces Dilute Hebron's Volatile Brew
HEBRON, West Bank — It was a scene that revealed both its medieval origins and its contemporary significance. On one side of the concrete schoolyard sat the Rajabi clan, wearing their finest kaffiyeh headdresses. On the other side were the Ajnounis, similarly decked out. These ancient Hebron families had been feuding in the lawlessness of this city, leaving nine dead in recent months. Yet here they were last week, brought together by the newly installed Palestinian security forces, and being obliged to reconcile.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/world/middleeast/26hebron.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
The Rights of Women as Casualties of War
Qurban-Bibi and Nahil Abu-Rada are two women, one Afghan and the other Palestinian, who made news with similar tragedies. But their losses also helped further delineate the plight of millions of women in war zones and poor countries. The United Nations news service reported on the troubles of Qurban-Bibi, a pregnant woman who simply needed to reach a hospital. Doctors had instructed that she must deliver in an equipped medical facility, considering her previous Caesarean delivery. The desperately poor husband and her brothers opted for a delivery at home, citing the unaffordable taxi ride. The woman almost bled to death. When the delivery turned for the worst, the family rushed her to Faizabad hospital in a nearby province. Her life was saved, but, evidently not that of her baby.
Abe Hayeem: A monument to intolerance?
from guardian.co.uk World news: Israel and the Palestinian territories by Abe Hayeem
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/26/israelandthepalestinians-humanrights
Held at Einab Junction: Inside Israel's New Terminals
When I first visited the West Bank in 2003, checkpoints were controlled by young Israeli soldiers, nervously clutching their weapons and yelling at Palestinians to stay in line. When I returned in 2005, I found many checkpoints replaced by metal turnstiles into which Palestinians were herded to wait for soldiers to push a button, letting them through one by one or sometimes not at all. Each year I return, the method of control over Palestinian movement is further institutionalized, most recently Israeli terminal-style buildings, entirely separating soldiers from the Palestinians whose movement they are controlling.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2008/11/25/held-at-einab-junction-inside-israels-new-terminals/
Tutu, Obama and the Middle East, By Amy Goodman
As President-elect Barack Obama focuses on the meltdown of the U.S. economy, another fire is burning: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You may not have heard much lately about the disaster in the Gaza Strip. That silence is intentional: The Israeli government has barred international journalists from entering the occupied territory. Last week, executives from the Associated Press, New York Times, Reuters, CNN, BBC and other news organizations sent a letter of protest to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert criticizing his government?s decision to bar journalists from entering Gaza. Israel has virtually sealed off the Gaza Strip and cut off aid and fuel shipments. A spokesman for Israel?s Defense Ministry said Israel was displeased with international media coverage, which he said inflated Palestinian suffering and did not make clear that Israel?s measures were in response to Palestinian violence.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081125_tutu_ obama_and_the_middle_east/?ln
A Journey Through Occupation
I left Ramallah for the first time in three years last week en route to a company party in Jericho. The very fact of my imprisonment within Ramallah's borders is testament to the incredible pressure and whimsical laws an occupied people are subject to at the hands of their occupiers. An inane rule imposed by the Israeli military bans Palestinians born in Gaza or those who are residents of the Strip from entering the West Bank, (and vice versa) and with a wall of checkpoints choking every West Bank town, it is almost impossible for a Gazan in the West Bank to travel anywhere.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2008/11/journey-through-occupation. html
Israeli paper says Hizbullah wants Palestinians to avenge Mughniyeh
Hizbullah has outsourced its plans to avenge the assassination of senior commander Imad Mughniyeh to Palestinian militants, according to Israeli officials, over fears that a Hizbullah-led action would trigger a massive Israeli response against Lebanon.The Israeli officials quoted anonymously in The Jerusalem Post said.
Factionalism at Ain al-Hilweh delays handover of 'Prince of Al-Qaeda' to LAF
The capture of Abdel Rahman Awad, the elusive Fatah al-Islam fugitive, is being delayed due to the delicate politics that govern life in the sprawling Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp where he is thought to be hiding, Palestinian sources have told The Daily Star. Lebanese authorities have issued a warrantfor Awad's arrest.
Don't Suppress Carter (or Opportunities for Middle East Peace)
Now that the season of electoral expediency is over, Barack Obama owes Jimmy Carter an apology. At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the Party denied Jimmy Carter the traditional invitation to speak that is accorded its former presidents. According to The Jewish Daily Forward, "Carter's controversial views on Israel cost him a place on the podium at the Democratic Party convention in late August, senior Democratic operatives acknowledged to the Forward."
Palestinian history, in pictures
http://images.google.com/images?q=palestine+source% 3Alife&hl=en&sa=2
'Just Married'-now the trouble begins
On July 31, 2003, the Israeli Knesset enacted the Nationality and Entry Into Israel Law, prohibiting any residency or citizenship status to Palestinians who live in the territories and are married to Israeli citizens. The law, initiated in the midst of the second intifada by prime minister Ariel Sharon, impacted thousands of people and forced them to choose between their families and their homes. Against this backdrop comes journalist Ayelet Bechar's first feature-length documentary, "Just Married," which was recently screened at the Other Israel Film Festival in Manhattan. (Full disclosure: Bechar is a recent contributor to the Forward.)
In the name of peace, Israelis and Palestinians should become European
Cambridge, Mass.-Scratch just a bit under the hope generated by the coming electoral changes in Washington, Jerusalem, and maybe Ramallah, and you discover deep despair about the possibility of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. The roads taken in the last 15 years in pursuit of a deal – the negotiations since Oslo, the unilateralism of the Gaza disengagement, and even the violence since the (second) Intifada – all failed.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1126/p09s01-coop.html
Daoud Kuttab: What Preoccupies Young Palestinian Minds
The occupation is foremost on Palestinian youth's mind. This was made clear in the Palestinian village of Beita, near Nablus, at an event held on November 17: the opening of the youth development resource centre, funded by USAID and some private international technical companies. The audience included US Undersecretary of State James K. Glassman, responsible for public diplomacy and public affairs, Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine, Jean Case, chief executive officer of the Case Foundation (the two are co-chair of the US Palestinian public-private partnership), senior Palestinian officials, town leaders and practically all 8,000 residents of Beita.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=4&id=3889
Gaza hip-hop trio overcomes many obstacles to transmit music to world
Three young Gaza residents harboring no small amount of frustration have found a creative outlet to transmit their message to the world. The three comprise "Black Unit Band," a hip-hop trio making music in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, not always the friendliest breeding ground for Western culture. But even getting music made depends on Israel's goodwill. The studio in which Black Unit Band was recording their first album closed down recently due to power outages, brought on by Israel's refusal to let fuel into the coastal territory.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040937.html
Dr. T. Jayasinghe: Olive Culture in Palestine
Olive branch is a universal symbol of peace. This was highlighted when Chairman Yasser Arafat raised the olive branch in UN assembly and declared that he is for peace in Palestine. Unfortunately olive tree continues to be an object of conflict in Palestine.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=4&id=3888
Dance shows solidarity with Gazans
Humanitarian supplies and journalists are barred by Israel from entering. But defiant visitors can still trickle in by sea, while smuggled goods arrive through tunnels underground. And in the latest effort to break the isolation of Gaza, Palestinian dancers from Ramallah performed live for Gazans, via satellite.
An interview with Khalifa Natour and Ofira Henig
In Spitting Distance, a one-man show performed by Khalifa Natour and directed by Ofira Henig, was recently staged at the Sydney Opera House (See review). Henig and Natour discussed the production with the World Socialist Web Site. [Ofira Henig] Henig is currently artistic director of the Herzliya Ensemble, having previously held that position at the Lab Theatre, the Israel Festival and the Khan Theatre. She also worked as a drama coach at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in Moscow in the mid-1990s and has directed numerous dramas in Israel and in Europe and the US. Some of these include, The Town of the Little People, Back to the Desert, The Seagull, Sky, Scenes from an Execution, The Wedding, Alice in Wonderland and The Screens.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/inte-n24.shtml
Amid poverty, a Renaissance villa in the West Bank
A Palestinian tycoon has created a tranquil paradise on a Holy Land mountaintop, with a replica of a famous Renaissance villa, sculpted gardens and a wrought-iron pavilion that once belonged to a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. But even one of the West Bank's richest men cannot entirely shut out Israel's military occupation — army bases and Israeli settlements occupy hills surrounding the 100-acre estate.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmNtKogSxT9g3Aicol8lbRwm jccwD94MIBE80
Tuesday: 1 US Soldier, 4 Iraqis Killed; 7 Iraqis Wounded
Excerpt: At least four Iraqi were killed and seven more were wounded in a day of light violence. Also, a U.S. soldier died of non-combat causes in Diyala province. Meanwhile, it is the last day of debate before parliament votes on a proposed U.S.-Iraq security agreement.
http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=13814
2 US servicemen killed in Iraq shooting
AP-The U.S. military says two American troops have been killed after coming under small-arms fire while distributing humanitarian aid in northern Iraq.
Iraq to hold referendum on US pact
Iraq's parliament has agreed to put a controversial deal allowing US troops to stay in the country for another three years to a public vote. MPs on Wednesday decided to make the pact dependent on a national referendum-to be held in 2009-after delaying by 24 hours their vote on the deal.
Lawmakers say vote on SOFA most likely on Wednesday
BAGHDAD /Aswat al-Iraq: Lawmakers from two different parliamentary blocs said that the vote on the U.S. troop withdrawal agreement is most likely to occur during Wednesday's session. "The general atmosphere between lawmakers regarding the vote on the deal during tomorrow's session is positive," Jalal al-Din al-Saghier, MP from the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), [...]
http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=103694
Dueling interpretations hang over U.S.-Iraq security pact
McClatchy Newspapers-WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has adopted a much looser interpretation than the Iraqi government of several key provisions of the pending U.S.-Iraq security agreement, U.S. officials said Tuesday — just hours before the Iraqi parliament was to hold its historic vote.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20081125/wl_mcclatchy/3109552
Iraq's Nouri Maliki may gain power with U.S. security agreement
An increasingly bold Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has sanctioned politically charged arrests of prominent Sunnis, personally supervised military operations and moved to sideline rivals in recent months, actions that have evoked memories of the country's authoritarian past.
http://fairuse. 100webcustomers.com/itsonlyfair/latimes0553.html
US: SOFA does not mean what Iraqis think it means
Officials in Washington said the administration has withheld the official English translation of the agreement in an effort to suppress a public dispute with the Iraqis until after the Iraqi parliament votes. There are a number of areas in here where they have agreement on the same wording but different understandings about what the words mean," said a U.S. official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/56474.html
Iraqi Sunnis unconvinced of U.S. pact on eve of vote
Reuters-The Iraqi parliament's biggest Sunni bloc said it wanted guarantees of a public referendum on a U.S. security pact before it backed the deal in a vote in parliament on Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081125/wl_nm/us_iraq_pact
Discontent over Maliki threatens US-Iraqi security pact
Wednesday's vote on a security pact to allow US troops to remain in Iraq for three more years is being seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Maliki's performance.
Iranian leaders speak on U.S.-Iraqi pact
"The views of the Iraqi Parliament and senior clerics regarding the Iraq-U.S. security pact, which is based on maintaining sovereignty of Iraq and its national consensus, are confirmed by the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said in statements carried by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/11/24/iranian_ leaders_speak_on_us-iraqi_ pact/c678/
Some fearful Christians hope to flee Iraq
AP-Young Christian women in tight jeans mingle easily with Arab matrons draped in black, head-to-toe robes. Both church spires and mosque minarets rise above the low-slung houses. Violence is rare.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_ christian_flight
Iraq jails 'terribly overcrowded'
The BBC uncovers evidence of serious overcrowding and poor living conditions in one of Iraq's prisons.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7748795.stm
Behind bars
BBC given exclusive access to a Baghdad prison.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7748016.stm
President Bush Meets with Prime Minister Olmert of Israel
Olmert to Bush: "I will never forget that you have removed one of the most threatening strategic dangers from Israel's side, in Iraq.."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/11/20081124-3.html
Olmert: U.S. never advised Israel to use restraint against Iran
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday the United States has not advised Israel to restrain itself from taking any action it deemed necessary against Iran's nuclear program. See also: "Amid several bellicose comments about the possibility of an impending Israeli strike against Iran Israeli Defense Ministry officials say they have been contacted by US officials who have asked them to refrain from launching any attacks against Iran until after President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. Likewise, the officials reportedly have cautioned Israel not to launch its long-reported ground invasion of the Gaza Strip until after the inauguration."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040931.html
Israel asks Bush to explain its 'special relationship' with U.S. to Obama
WASHINGTON-Israel is asking U.S. President George W. Bush to describe to his successor, Barack Obama, the American commitment to ensure that its strategic deterrence is not compromised. The subject was the focus of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's farewell meeting in the White House on Monday with Bush and top administration officials. "I discussed with the president and his most senior staff issues connected to the core of the special relationship between Israel and the U.S., strategic matters of the utmost importance, and the ability to preserve those ties in the coming years," Olmert told reporters Tuesday.
For Biden, No Portfolio but the Role of a Counselor
Mr. Biden has been keeping up with his outreach to foreign leaders; two weeks ago he called the three leading candidates for prime minister of Israel, Tzipi Livni, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/us/politics/26biden.html
Blair's private life', claims ex-US navy operator
Faulk also said he heard "pillow talk" phone calls of Iraq's first interim president, Ghazi al-Yawer, another key US ally, when he worked as a US Army Arab linguist assigned to a US National Security Agency (NSA) facility at Fort Gordon, Georgia, between 2003 and 2007.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/24/tony-blair-united-states-intelligence
No Amnesty for Bush Administration, Say Torture Opponents
Excerpt: Judging by the rare leaks from President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, investigations and prosecutions of high-level George W. Bush administration officials for torture and war crimes are a distant prospect. But likely or not, that won't stop pundits from debating the question of whether those officials responsible should be held accountable.
http://www.antiwar.com/ips/gharib.php?articleid=13816
Yes We Can If We Will It
"That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another. The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews, cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down." (Barak Obama, Berlin, July 24, 2008)
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14412
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