Sunday, December 21

Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines December 21, 2008 ~

Six months of 'truce': 23 Palestinians killed, 62 injured and 38 kidnapped
(20 Dec) During six months of declared truce, Israel carried out 193 violations until December 18, 2008. Most of the violations were carried out in recent weeks. The Israeli army killed 22 Palestinians, mainly fighters. 62 Palestinians, including nine fishermen, were wounded in recent Israeli attacks, and the army resumed the shelling of civilian areas and infrastructure. The army also kidnapped 38 Palestinians, all fishermen and farmers. Although the truce deal required Israel to open up border terminals, the Israeli Army kept the borders closed, and only opened them intermittently, and, for the most part, barred the entry of basic supplies to the Gaza Strip. Basic goods, gas, and various essential fuels remained in short supply. Several patients died due to the ongoing Israeli siege, increasing the number of patients that have died as a result of the siege to 271....
http://www.imemc.org/article/58084

Legal report: IOF killed 50 Palestinians during calm
(21 Dec) GAZA, (PIC)--The Israeli occupation forces have repeatedly violated the calm agreement forged with Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip since 19th June 2008 killing 50 Palestinians in the process, a legal report said on Sunday. The international Tadamun (solidarity) institute for human rights said in its report that the lull was brittle ever since it went into effect. It noted that the IOF soldiers violated the calm many times through different methods such as incursion, assassination, detention, demolition of homes, closure of Palestinian societies, escalation of settlement activity and the siege. The report underlined that the IOF troops killed 50 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip including 25 in the latter including 21 in shelling operations.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Woman injured by shrapnel from Israeli shell in northern Gaza
(21 Dec) Gaza – Ma'an-A Palestinian woman was moderately injured by shrapnel from an Israeli artillery shell in the town of Beit Hanoun, in the northern the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening. Witnesses said Israeli artillery shelled a house in the eastern section of Beit Hanoun, near the border with Israel. Separately, a group of Palestinian fighters say they were unharmed after an unmanned Israeli drone aircraft fired a rocket at them near the Industrial Zone, east of the Ash-Shuja'iyyah neighborhood of Gaza city.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34144

Exchange of fire starts early; Gaza parents advised to keep children indoors
(21 Dec) Thirteen homemade projectiles and several mortar shells were fired by Palestinian armed factions on Sunday, two days after a six-month old truce between Israel and Palestinian factions expired. After an initial salvo of projectiles, an Israeli aerial drone fired two missiles at a projectile launch site near Qlebo Dome in the northern Gaza Strip. Director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Palestinian Health Ministry Muawiya Hassanain told Gazans to exercise extreme caution and prevent children from playing in open fields. He also recommended keeping streets clear so ambulances can move quickly in case of emergency.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34129

Palestinians fire 14 Qassams into Israel, injuring one person
(21 Dec) Palestinian militants on Sunday morning fired 14 Qassam rockets and three mortar rounds into Israel, lightly injuring one person and damaging a private home. Rescue services said one rocket scored a direct hit on a house in the town of Sderot, causing damage to the building. The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad took responsibility for Sunday's rocket fire.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048541.htm

Al-Aqsa Brigades fire projectiles from Gaza in response to killing of fighter
(21 Dec) The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility on Sunday for firing five homemade projectiles from Gaza at the Israeli towns of Ashkelon, Sderot and Sa'd Kibutz. The group said in a statement that two projectiles were launched at Sderot, two at Askelon and one landed in the main square at Israeli Kibutz of Sa'd. In a statement the organization said the homemade rockets were "natural retaliation" for Israel's killing on Saturday of Ali Hijazi, a local leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades in northern Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34134

'Israel has given up its sovereignty over territory near Gaza'
(21 Dec) Residents of a Gaza-area community on Saturday accused the government of having abandoned them in the face of ongoing cross-border attacks by Palestinian militants. Earlier Saturday, Vice Premier Haim Ramon blasted Defense Minister Ehud Barak's policy on the Gaza Strip as a "total failure" as Palestinian militants in the coastal territory pounded southern Israel with a barrageof rocket and mortar fire. In light of the upsurge in cross-border attacks from Gaza, Kibbutz Movement Secretary-General Ze'ev Shor called on Barak and Olmert to declare the reinforcement of homes in Gaza-area Israeli communities as a national priority.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048327.html

Israel set to carry out targeted assassinations against Gaza faction leaders
(21 Dec) Israeli security sources indicated a confrontation with Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip is imminent and that there is little chance of a détente after days of fire from both sides. According to Radio Israel the army will carry out ground and air attacks on the Gaza Strip Sunday, they will aim weapons at military and factional leaders carrying through with earlier threats of targeted assassinations. The siege will continue. In the past targeted assassinations have resulted in tens of civilian deaths, since the civilian centers in the Gaza Strip are densely populated and high-ranking officials are not likely to be in the field launching projectiles. The Israeli sources explained that the military would "not necessarily" be conducting widespread ground invasions, indicating targeted air attacks.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34128

Israeli minister advises Hamas leaders to remain indoors during daylight hours
(21 Dec) Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Zahhar should avoid moving freely during the day, Israeli Minister of Transportation Shaul Mofaz told Israeli Army Radio Sunday afternoon. Mofaz's comments seem to affirm the new Israeli position on military retaliations for Palestinian projectile launches from the Gaza Strip..."There is only one way to respond to the escalation by Hams," Mofaz added. He also expressed incredulity over the fact that it is a "terrorist" organization that is determining the fate of the ceasefire.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34132

Top official: Decision on Gaza op made
(21 Dec) The decision has been made: Right now Israel has to work towards getting international legitimization for an operation in Gaza, a senior source in Jerusalem told Ynet on Sunday. "(Israel's) actions depend only on the tactical conditions and the operational possibilities," added the source. "Israel will react with all due force to any provocation by Hamas."... IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenaziwas reportedly instructed to order the Israel Defense Forces to begin targeting quality Islamic Jihadmarks. The Islamic Jihad had claimed responsibility for the recent rocket salvos in the western Negev.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3641853,00.html

It's Hamas who decides
(21 Dec) By Zvi Bar'el. What suspense, what panic ensued at the end of the week. Will Hamas extend the cease-fire or won't it?How exactly should Khaled Meshal's "no" be interpreted, along with Mahmoud Zahar's "maybe" and Ismail Haniyeh's vague mutterings?In the communities of the western Negev, quotes from Al Jazeera have become more important than what Tzipi Livni or Ehud Barak have to say. It is not the state that will determine what happens, it is the organization. And the organization decided-no more cease-fire.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048369.html

Egypt holds extensive contacts to renew Palestinian-Israel lull
RAMALLAH, Dec. 20 (Xinhua)--The Egyptian leadership is holding intensive contacts to renew a lull that ended on Friday between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, a senior Fatah movement's official said Saturday. Azzam el-Ahmed, head of the Fatah movement's block in the Palestinian parliament, known as the PLC, said there are intensive contacts held by Egypt with all parties concerned to renew the ceasefire agreement. "I expect that the truce with Israel will be renewed within the coming a few days," said el-Ahmed, one day after Gaza militant groups held Israel responsible for ending the truce. Meanwhile, earlier on Saturday, Hamas leader in Gaza Atef Odwansaid in a statement that there is a possibility to renew the truce in the Gaza Strip with Israel.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/20/content_10531305.htm

Despite snubbing unity talks, Hamas waiting for Cairo call on issue of truce
(21 Dec) European officials contacted Hamas offering to broker a renewal of the ceasefire with Israel, but informed sources say Gaza leadership is waiting for Egypt to step in and resume its role as mediator...Despite snubbing Egypt's reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah, Gazan leadership indicated that it did not want to bypass Egypt in any renewal efforts. Palestinian Authority (PA) personnel said they contacted Hamas in Gaza as well as Egyptian mediators urging both sides to contact each other and renew discussions. Sources indicated that Hamas has not stipulated new conditions for a ceasefire, but wanted assurances that Israel would cease its attacks on the coastal region and open crossing points.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34125

Bardawil: No contact with Hamas to extend calm
(21 Dec) GAZA, (PIC)--Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil, the spokesman of Hamas's parliamentary bloc, has emphatically denied presence of any Arab or regional contacts with Hamas Movement to extend the calm agreement with the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip. He said that rumors about Egyptian pressures on Hamas were mere "test balloons" to probe Hamas's wish to renew the calm, adding that calm with the Israeli concept is "meaningless".
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/


Shin Bet chief: Hamas rockets can hit outskirts of Be'er Sheva
(21 Dec) He told a meeting of the cabinet that rockets could also hit Kiryat Gat and Ashdod, cities which thus far were seen as beyond range. Hamas' armed wing used the last six months of relative calm to improve its medium and long-range rockets and mortars, he said. "We believe that if we strike at significant assets, they will respond with longer-range fire," Diskin said. Hamas officials, meanwhile, are not ruling out a renewal of suicide bombings in Israel. Ayman Taha, a Hamas representative in Gaza, told Haaretz that under the current conditions, no cease-fire is in effect whatsoever. "Rocket fire is in the hands of the military wing. It will decide how to react," he said. "Resistance must continue in every way and by every means, as long as the occupation continues."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048576.html

Livni and Netanyahu vow to topple Hamas rule
(21 Dec) JERUSALEM (Reuters)-The two leading candidates to become Israel's next prime minister vowed on Sunday to topple Hamas's government in the Gaza Strip, ratcheting up tensions after a six-month-old cease-fire ended in violence. The threats by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and right-wing Likud party chief Benjamin Netanyahu followed a cabinet meeting in which outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert cautioned against rushing into a large-scale operation in the Hamas-ruled enclave in response to escalating rocket fire by militants.
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnTRE4BK0QG.html

Talk with Hamas
(21 Dec) By Gideon Levy. With the exception of a few loud-mouthed politicians including Kadima head Tzipi Livni who have elections in mind, most level-headed politicians know the truth: There is no military solution. No wide-scale or small operation; no targeted killing or bombing will help, nor is there a military solution for the situation of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit. So what's left to do but shrug?Gaza is banished and impoverished, Sderot is threatened and despaired and no one dares try to break the vicious cycle... What everybody already knew to be false-that the political choice of a people could be changed through violence, that the Gazans could be made into Zionists by being abused-was tried anyway. Now we have to finally change direction, to do what nobody has tried before, if only because we have no other choice.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048368.html

Jordan sends aid convoy to Gaza
AMMAN, Dec. 21 (Xinhua)--Jordan on Sunday sent an aid convoy to the Gaza Strip, which faces serious humanitarian crisis under Israeli siege, according to Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO). Ten trucks laden with food and medical supplies have crossed King Hussein Bridge leading to the Gaza Strip, said Rajab Zubaydah, the assistant of JHCO secretary general, adding that another 22 trucks laden with humanitarian aid are expected to depart on Monday. Zubaydah said that the convoy is sent in cooperation with the Armed Forces Crisis Management Center and the Palestinian National Authority.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/21/content_10533106.htm

Egypt Red Crescent to deliver aid to Gaza
(21 Dec) The Egyptian Red Crescent said on Sunday it would send five trucks carrying food and medical aid to the Gaza Strip. An Egyptian official at the Rafah border crossing with the coastal strip said Egyptian authorities had agreed with Israel to allow the trucks in on Monday. Mohamed Orabi, the head of the organisation in North Sinai, said the trucks were loaded with 40 tons of flour, 20 tons of rice and some medical supplies. In the past, Egyptian authorities have prevented scores of activists, mainly from the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, from delivering aid to the Gaza Strip.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3642089,00.html

Lebanese ship to set sail to Gaza in two weeks

(21 Dec) BEIRUT, (PIC)--The Lebanese "Fraternity" vessel is to set sail from Lebanon to Gaza on 3rd January 2009 carrying medical and food consignments along with representatives of various public institutions and forces. Coordinator of the Lebanese national committee to break the siege on Gaza Mu'in Bashur told the fifth meeting of the committee that contacts were ongoing with activists in Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Sudan and Bahrain to coordinate the sail of ships from those Arab countries together from Larnaca port to Gaza. He said that the ships would carry a number of messages the first to the people of Gaza that they are not alone, and the second to the official Arab regimes that they should bear their historic responsibility towards breaking the siege, and third to the silent international community regarding the siege on one and a half million Palestinians.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

His Beatitude Patriarch Fouad Twal in Gaza City asks "Where are the peacemakers?"
(21 Dec) The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal visited Gaza on Sunday where he denounced the Israeli siege on the area and expressed his hope that the Palestinian people will close ranks and solve their problems rather than waiting for external mediators. Twal criticized Israel for barring Gazan Christians from visiting Bethlehem during Advent and Christmas. He called visiting the Holy Land a right granted by God, and said neither state nor any person had the right to prevent worshipers from making such a holy pilgrimage. He said both the Church and the Christian community had strong feelings for the people of Gaza, adding that "What hurts Muslims hurts Christians," and vice versa.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34139

Paralysed girl awaits life-or-death ruling
(21 Dec) THE life of Marya Aman, a seven-year-old Palestinian girl who was paralysed in an Israeli missile strike, may be saved next month if a landmark ruling by Israel's high court says she can remain in the country. According to lawyers close to the case, Israel's defence ministry has made a key concession by agreeing to fund her treatment in a Jerusalem hospital where she receives round-the-clock nursing care. The lawyers are quietly optimistic that the court will grant permission for Marya, her five-year-old brother and her father to stay in Israel so that her horrific injuries can continue to be treated. They hope the court will order the ministry to pay about £10,000 a month to fund her treatment permanently.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5375373.ece

Israeli TV reporter unveils military plan to destroy Gaza tunnels
(19 Dec) Israeli TV unveiled new engineering techniques that will allow troops to destroy the extensive tunnel network snaking beneath the Gaza-Egypt border. According to a recently filmed report Israeli soldiers have completed 16 months of special drills and plan to destroy over 600 tunnels. The Israeli army has detailed information about the tunnels including the differences between those used for smuggling food, weapons, and individuals.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34098

Egypt: An open Rafah would destroy the Palestinian cause

(19 Dec) Egyptian officials said the Rafah crossing will stay closed despite recent Arab calls for its opening,...Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Husam Zaki defended Egypt's policy saying that by opening the Gaza Strip crossing Egypt would allow Israel to wash their hand of Gaza, and the burden of the occupation would fall on Egypt.Foisting the consequences of the Israeli occupation and siege of Gaza onto Egypt would put the issue of Palestinian autonomy in Gaza at an impasse. The only result of opening Rafah would be an end to the Palestinian cause, Zaki said.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34097

Looking out for number one
(21 Dec) By Zvi Bar'el. "Egypt will not tolerate an Islamic emirate on its eastern borders," warned the chairman of the Egyptian parliament's foreign relations committee, Mustafa al-Faqi, referring to the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. Hamas claims that Egypt is not a "fair intermediary" between it and Fatah, and Al-Faqi didn't really try to find middle ground between the two organizations. . . Egypt sees Hamas and Iran as a single bloc bent on destroying the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). As far as Cairo is concerned, Hamas is not a national Palestinian organization but a branch of the Islamic Republic, meant to expand Iran's sphere of influence in the Middle East... But while Egypt is trying to withstand public pressure to free Gaza from the economic blockade, Jordan is getting closer to Hamas.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048378.html

If Gaza falls . . .
(LRB, 1 Jan 2009 issue) By Sara Roy. How can keeping food and medicine from the people of Gaza protect the people of Israel?How can the impoverishment and suffering of Gaza's children – more than 50 per cent of the population – benefit anyone?International law as well as human decency demands their protection. If Gaza falls, the West Bank will be next.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html

Israeli Supreme Court ruling allows wall to separate Jerusalem residents from city
(20 Dec) The Israeli Supreme Court has rejected a petition by Palestinian residents of three Jerusalem neighborhoods demanding that Israel re-route its separation wall in order to remain inside the city. The court's refusal to intervene on 25 November means that Israel will continue to build its wall along a route that will leave residents of Ras Khamis, Shufat Refugee Camp, and part of the town of Anata, on the eastern side of the Wall, isolated from the rest of Jerusalem, although residents possess Israeli-issued identification cards marking them as Jerusalem residents. "If they will be trapped on the West Bank side of the wall it drives them into poverty. Their places of work are in Jerusalem," said attorney Daniel Seideman in an interview with Ma'an's correspondent in Jerusalem.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34119

Al-Kurd tent demolished for fourth time; Islamic Judicial Council condemns act
(32 Dec) The Protest Tent of Umm Al-Kurd was demolished for a fourth time Sunday. The elderly woman was evicted from her home by an Israeli court order stating the building, constructed 50 years ago, did not have the proper permits. Umm Al-Kurd's husband died the day after the family was evicted; she set up a protest tent on property near the site of her demolished home which has been destroyed four times since November.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34137

Popular resistance challenging new settlement that will add to separation of Jerusalem and Bethlehem
(21 Dec) Jerusalem /Maisa Abu Ghazaleh – One of the most well-organized communities in the fight against settlement, Al Walajeh Village, is under new threat. Already the village between Bethlehem and Jerusalem was cut in half over the past several years and decades ago its hills were taken for settlements. The Wall is taking even more of its land and now reports indicate that Israeli forces intend to build a new settlement, Givat Yael, on Al Walajeh land.
http://english.pnn..ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4262&Itemid=1

Maisa', a child growing up imprisoned behind the Annexation Wall
(20 Dec) Maisa' Hani Omar, 11, from Mas'ha village west of Salfit district and south of Nablus and Qalqilia. She resembles a unique story in the history of mankind. She lives alone with her family in a house totally surrounded by the Annexation Wall, barbed-wires, Iron gates and above all soldiers, armored vehicles and armed settlers.
http://imemc.org/article/58087

Palestinian prisoners declare hunger strike after violent clashes with Israeli guards

(21 Dec) "The strike is ongoing until the prisoners' demands are granted by the prison administration. Otherwise, escalating actions will be taken," said Mahmoud As-Sa'di, a prisoner and a spokesman for the detainees in the Ofer prison camp. Eight prisoners and two Israeli guards were injured when guards water cannons, tear gas, and rubber-coated bullets to suppress a prisoner demonstration. The prisoner said they were protesting an invasive search of prisoner property.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34143

Minister of Prisoners' Affairs demands followup after clashes between Israeli guards and Palestinian prisoners in Ofer
(21 Dec) Minister Ashraf Al-A'jrami demanded immediate access to Israel's Ofer Prison near Ramallah to visit the prisoners involved in Saturday's clashes. Al-A'jrami said Sunday that he wished to meet with representatives from the prisoners involved in the clash with Israeli prison wardens that lead to eight Palestinians and two Israelis being injured and dozens of tents burned. He demanded that International organizations including the Red Cross collect first hand reports from the incidents to make sure Israeli prison officials are abiding by international law.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34141

Hamas: PA security services arrest 44 supporters in West Bank
(21 Dec) Nablus – Ma'an – The Palestinian Authority (PA) has arrested 44 Hamas-affiliates in the West Bank in recent weeks, said a statement from the party on Sunday.[list of names of those arrested follows]
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34131

IOF troops storm Ramallah, Tulkarem

(21 Oct) RAMALLAH, (PIC)--Israeli occupation forces stormed the cities of Ramallah and Tulkarem in the West Bank on Sunday and freely moved in the cities while PA security elements were noticeably off the streets of both cities. Media reporting of the storming, which was covered live, showed the soldiers riding in their jeeps and in front of them and moving slowly and freely in the streets with no presence of PA security apparatuses which claimed they were responsible for defending the country. Abu Abir, the spokesman of the Salahuddin Brigades, the armed wing of the popular resistance committees, in Gaza said that the PA security war on resistance and its elements allowed such a scene to happen.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/


Israeli troops stole money from West Bank home during raid, resident says
(21 Dec) A Palestinian resident of the West Bank town of Far'un says that Israeli soldiers stole 500 Israeli shekels (134 US dollars) while raiding his home on Sunday. Bassam Abed Ar-Rahman told Ma'an that Israeli troops forced his family out of the house, destroyed the interior of the home, and questioned his sons Hamed and Ahmad. No one was arrested. Far'un is south of the city of Tulkarem. [End]
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34140

Taxi strike averted; some fixed fares to be reconsidered; bus strike still in effect Sunday
(20 Dec) The comprehensive transit strike in the West Bank Sunday will not include taxis, said Palestinian Minister of transportation Mashhur Abu Daqa on Saturday. According to the minister government offices were able to reach a deal with the Drivers' Union, but not with the Union of Bus Companies, so the transit strike will only affect buses, not service or private taxis.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34122

Israeli forces claim bombs discovered near Jenin
(20 Dec) Israeli forces claimed on Saturday morning to have discovered homemade explosive devices in a deserted house in the northern West Bank town of Qabatia, west of Jenin. Palestinian security sources told Ma'an's reporter that Israeli patrols raided Qabatia at 1:30 am and ransacked a deserted house, claiming they found homemade bombs. The sources added that Israeli forces set fire to the devices, detonating them, which resulted in material damage to the area before they withdrew through Jenin to the Al-Jalama Checkpoint. No arrests were reported.[End]
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34107

'Mohammed's a pig', 'Death to Arabs' sprayed on Jaffa mosque
(21 Dec) Extremists spray-painted "Mohammed's a pig" and "Death to Arabs" early Sunday on the walls and doors of the Sea Mosque in Jaffa, sparking the fury of the Islamic Movement in the mixed Arab-Jewish city. The hate slogans also included "Kahane was right," a reference to the slain Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the outlawed anti-Arab Kach movement, and "No peace without the House of Peace," alluding to the Hebron structure from which dozens of far-right activists were evicted earlier this month.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048562.html

Israel's Arab parties elect chairmen
(20 Dec) Barakeh, Tibi and Zahalka to stay on as leaders of their respective parties. Balad secretary-general says government 'forced Bishara out of the country'
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3641598,00.html

Haredi, religious residents clash in Beit Shemesh
(21 Dec) Growing tensions between ultra-Orthodox and religious residents in the town of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, have recently escalated into violence as three teen girls were beaten up by haredim who claimed they were "immodestly" dressed... "My daughter was completely hysterical," said the girl's father. "She came home all beaten up and filthy." He added that he was shocked to discover that the attack was not perpetuated by "bored deprived youth but by adults over 40."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3641737,00.html

Spot the difference

(20 Dec) By Uri Avnery. IS THERE a real choice?In other words, are there any real differences between the three parties?... Not one of the three has stood up and told the public in simple words: I am going to make peace with the Palestinians in the course of 2009. This peace will include the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, with agreed minor border changes on the basis of 1:1, turning Jerusalem into the capital of the two states and agreeing on a reasonable solution of the refugee problem, a solution Israel can live with. Not one of the three has offered any peace plan at all. Only hollow words. Only spin.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1229805840/

Palestinian leader visits Chechnya
(20 Dec) GROZNY, Russia (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas arrived on Sunday in Grozny , the capital of Russia 's troubled republic of Chechnya , a Chechen presidential spokesman said. "Allah be praised for the opportunity to come here. I am glad to make this visit and am only sorry that it turns out to be so short," Abbas told reporters in the airport where he was met by Chechnya's President Ramzan Kadyrov . Abbas also hailed the situation in Chechnya, which "has greatly improved and continues to improve." "There are things that unite us ( Palestinians ) with the Chechens , and I am watching what is happening in the republic," he added.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081220/wl_mideast_afp/russiachechnyapalestiniansisraeldiplomacy_081220235417

Report: Syria won't renew talks until elections
(21 Dec) Arab sources tell Qatari daily 'Al-Watan' that Damascus intends to resume negotiations with Jerusalem only after Obama inauguration, completion of Israeli elections
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3642078,00.html

Diplomats: Assad says he won't restrain arming of Hezbollah
(21 Dec) Syrian President Bashar Assad has told a number of European foreign
ministers and senior diplomats this month that he would not lift a finger to restrain Hezbollah's arming in Lebanon. "I am not Israel's bodyguard," he reportedly said. The future of Syria's relations with Iran and Hezbollah is one of the main subjects Israel has raised in its indirect negotiations with Syria. Assad's remarks show no willingness for a concession to Israel on this issue, let alone an overall change of policy.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1048342.html

Saturday: 5 Iraqis killed, 7 wounded
(20 Dec) Excerpt: At least five Iraqis were killed or found dead and another seven were wounded. Meanwhile, the fate of 23 "coup plotters" remains unknown, as is the actual reason for their arrests. No Coalition deaths were reported, but parliament again rejected a law that would oversee operations by foreign countries.
http://antiwar.com/updates/

Iraqi deaths due to US invasion: 1,297,997
(21 Dec) The number is shocking and sobering. It is at least 10 times greater than most estimates cited in the US media, yet it is based on a scientific study of violent Iraqi deaths caused by the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003. That study, published in prestigious medical journal The Lancet , estimated that over 600,000 Iraqis had been killed as a result of the invasion as of July 2006 . Iraqis have continued to be killed since then. The graphic above provides a rough daily update of this number based on a rate of increase derived from the Iraq Body Count. (See the complete explanation.)
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

Iraqi PM not to sue Bush shoe thrower

BAGHDAD, Dec.. 21 (Xinhua)--Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Sunday that he will not file a lawsuit against the reporter who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad last week. "I will yield my personal right (to file lawsuit) over the Zaidi case, but I will not relinquish the right of the state of Iraq and its guest in suing Zaidi," Maliki told a news conference in Baghdad. "If the Iraqi judiciary releases Zaidi, we won't object that," Maliki said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/21/content_10533092.htm

Iraq MPs to vote on fate of non-US troops
(21 Dec) BAGHDAD (AFP) – A last-gasp compromise will allow the future of non-US foreign troops in Iraq to be put to the vote in parliament on Monday, the final day before lawmakers start their year-end break, MPs said. With the troops' UN mandate due to expire on December 31, there is too little time to push through a bill, so parliament will vote on a simple resolution allowing the government to finalise new arrangements.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081221/wl_afp/iraqbritainmilitarypolitics_081221143637

Iraq vows to expel Iranian opposition group
(21 Dec) BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq vowed on Sunday to oust members of the main armed Iranian opposition group from its soil, just days before Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is due on a trip to Tehran. The announcement was made during a visit by a government delegation to the camp in Iraq where about 3,500 members of the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) are based.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081221/wl_mideast_afp/iraqiranpoliticsopposition_081221180055

'Lethal warriors' in Iraq linked to string of crimes back home
(21 Dec) Men from the US Army's 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry regiment have been accused or convicted in a string of alleged robberies and domestic violence and random murder. Official denies any war link.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/mideastemail/la-me-battalion21-2008dec21,0,1382021.story

--
www.TheHeadlines.org
__._,_.___
Share:

0 Have Your Say!:

Post a Comment