Shadi Fadda brings us today's headlines relating to Palestine and other news from around the internet.
Land theft / Settlers
Gaza's shrinking borders: 16 years of the Oslo process
[includes map of fishing limits] By Sharat G. Lin. Forty-two years of military occupation and sixteen years of the Oslo Process have made Gaza a smaller place. Already one of the most densely-populated strips of land in the world, its population has grown during this period from less than 360,000 in 1967 to 1.5 million today. Meanwhile, its borders have not only become more impermeable, but they have been progressively closing in on what some have called “the world’s largest open air prison.”
http://dissidentvoice.org/
Six settlers detained, 10 Palestinians injured in Sheikh Jarrah attack
Jerusalem- Ma’an – Members of the As-Sabbagh family were attacked in their home by four Israeli settlers who broke into the building in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Saturday morning, witnesses said. The settlers were attempting to steal the home and settle in it, witnesses said ... Residents of the neighborhood ran to help the family when they heard the noise of the initial break-in. Following the detention of the four settlers, several others came to the scene, later assaulting members of the Al-Ghawi family, injuring three. A total of ten Palestinians were injured in the scuffles, and an additional two setters were detained by Israeli forces.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
'Santa' protests Israeli wall in Bil'in
(with video) Palestinians dressed as Santa Claus marched against Israel’s separation wall on Christmas day in the West Bank village of Bil’in, west of Ramallah. Demonstrators carried a Christmas tree decorated with spent gas canisters and stun grenades fired by Israeli soldiers at previous demonstrations over the past five years. Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the Santa Clauses.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
For Palestinians, possession of used IDF arms is now a crime
By Amira Hass. The Israel Defense Forces consider it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a Palestinian to possess used IDF weapons, according to an indictment filed by the military prosecutor against Abdullah Abu Rahma of the West Bank town of Bil'in... In addition to charges of incitement and throwing stones, Abu Rahma was charged with illegal weapons possession due to his alleged possession of M16 rifle bullets and gas and concussion grenades - which, the indictment said, "the accused and his associates used for an exhibition that showed people the means used by the security forces." Abu Rahma's associates confirmed that empty concussion and gas grenades used by the IDF to disperse demonstrators were exhibited in Bil'in, adding that no one tried to conceal the nature of the exhibition. However, they said, M16 bullets were not part of the exhibit, nor were they found in a search of Abu Rahma's home.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Settlers attack Nablus greenhouse
Dozens of Israeli settlers destroyed parts of the Al-Juneidi green house in the Sahel Dir Sharef area west of Nablus on Friday night, the second settler attack on Palestinians in two days.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Assassinations / Extra-judicial executions
Israeli forces kill three in Nablus; Al-Aqsa threatens retaliation
...Israeli forces stormed the Old City of Nablus in the early hours of Saturday morning raiding several homes and killing three men affiliated with Fatah's military wing the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades ... Sources said two of the men were "killed in cold blood" by soldiers in their homes in the Old City ... In what is being billed as a response to the Thursday incident, Israeli forces imposed a curfew on the Ras Al-Ain neighborhood before dawn, closed off all the exits from the Old City and laid siege to the home of the Sakarji home. Director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Committees in Nablus Ghassan Hamdan told Ma’an that three Palestinian homes were besieged in the raid. He confirmed that Sakarji was shot in the head and chest “before the very eyes of his wife." While the second man, Abu Sharkh, was removed from his home and shot outside.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
WITNESS: Wife, brothers give accounts of Israeli assassinations
Nablus - Ma'an - Family members of the three slain Fatah members gave testimony around the last moments of their loved ones lives on Saturday, hours after the men were assassinated by Israeli forces in their own homes in Nablus ... “My brother was not armed, but we could see soldiers continue to ransack the house. For three hours, we didn’t know what was going on. After the soldiers left, we found Anan dead…bullets tore all his body and bones. They could have detained him, and he died believing he had been granted amnesty by Israeli forces. He left behind a widow, two sons, and five daughters,” added Farid.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
B'Tselem: IDF troops may have acted as executioners in Nablus
There is serious concern that IDF troops acted as executioners in the Friday night operation during which three Fatah terrorists involved in a West Bank shooting attack were killed, Human rights group B'Tselem stated Saturday. According to the organization, evidence found in the homes of the slain terrorists indicated that in two of the three cases, IDF soldiers did not apparently act as if conducting an arrest, but an assassination. The two dead men's families said that they were unarmed and did not try to escape, but were simply shot by troops at close range after the latter discovered their identities. There were no witnesses to the death of the third man, the group said.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
At militants' funeral, Palestinians vow revenge on Israel
Some 10,000 people attended the funeral Saturday of three Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade operatives, killed in an overnight Israel Defense Forces raid near Nablus. Security officials said the three had been involved in the fatal shooting attack on Thursday that killed 40-year-old father of seven Meir Hai near the settlement of Shavei Shomron, where he lived ... The Nablus operation ended an extended lull during which the IDF refrained from any activities in the heart of Palestinian towns in the West Bank. IDF troops entered the casbah of Nablus as well as the Ras al-Ayin region.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
IDF lauds PA security establishment for conduct after Thursday shooting
Military sources note some 120 suspects have been detained by Palestinian security establishment since Thursday shooting attack ... Sources in the IDF lauded Saturday the Palestinian security establishment for its conduct following the shooting ambush Thursday, in which Meir Avshalom Hai was killed, calling it "determined and impressive." The sources noted that despite the PA forces' commendable conduct, the IDF had no choice but to independently act on apprehending the three persons responsible for the attack. All three were killed by the IDF during military activity in Nablus Saturday morning. IDF rejected Palestinian claims according to which there was no reason to kill the three ... "They acted with determination, but alongside that we have the responsibility to act against whoever executed the attack and settle the score with them," said a senior officer with the Central Command.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
PA working overtime to find shooters
25 Dec - Palestinian security forces arrest dozens of car thieves in West Bank in order to find leads on vehicle used by attackers who shot, killed Meir Avshalom Hai; Israel allows PA officers to continue working overnight
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Hamas: Israel recognizes only murder and terrorism
Hamas officials called the six Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces Saturday part of the policy of "hunting down resistance groups," and condemned vehemently the two attacks - the targeted extra-judicial executions of three Fatah-affiliated former fighters in the West Bank city of Nablus, coupled with a deadly airstrike on what Israel claimed were Palestinians attempting to infiltrate the country. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri called the assassinations a “war crime,” since all three Fatah members were shot at close range in or beside their homes after they had been detained by Israeli forces.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
PA: Israel dragging Palestine into cycle of violence
"Israel is attempting to trick the Palestinian people into a cycle of violence in order to avoid international pressure to stop settlement expansion and restart peace talks," Spokesman of the Palestinian president Nabil Abu Rdeina said Saturday. The comments came following two incidents on Saturday that saw six killed in the deadliest single day of the Israeli occupation since the end of the war on Gaza, whose anniversary is tomorrow ... According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the attack follows the first week since the beginning of 2009 that Israeli military and security activities throughout the West Bank ended with no Palestinian casualties.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Al-Aqsa Brigades: Israel opening gates of hell
Armed groups in the West Bank and Gaza threatened swift retaliation to the killings in Nablus and to the death of three other Palestinians by IDF fire near Gaza. ... Later Saturday, the Palestinian minister of interior and all of the commanders of the Palestinian Authority's security services arrived in Nablus to discuss IDF's operation. The security heads were instructed to maintain the relative calm in the West Bank, while al-Aqsa Brigades members were told to refrain from committing any acts of violence so as not to embarrass the Authority. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the IDF's activity in Nablus, and said the purpose of the targeted killings was to harm destabilize the security achieved by the PA.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Terror victim's son: We won't seek revenge, we're Jews
25 Dec - Meir Avshalom Hai, who was murdered Thursday in West Bank shooting, laid to rest in Jerusalem. His 16-year-old son Eliyahu says during funeral, "The difference between us and the Arabs is that we are human beings."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Other killings / violence
Israeli forces kill three youths near Erez crossing
Israeli forces keeping siege to Gaza shot at a group of youth near the northern border Saturday, killing three and injuring a fourth, sources confirmed. Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that the group of four was "a few meters away from the Gaza border fence near Erez," when Israeli forces opened fire on them ... Palestinian sources said the victims were likely scavenging for construction materials near the border, as Gazans continue to build mud-brick homes out of recycled cement from the rubble left from the last Israeli war on Gaza ... All three were residents of Al-Qaraya Al-Bedawiya (the Bedouin village) also known as Umm An-Sasser.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Palestine Centre for Human Rights weekly report 16-22 December
...Israeli forces conducted 20 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they abducted 23 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children. Israeli naval troops have continued to attack Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip. In addition, Israel has continued to impose a total closure and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world. Israeli troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank abducted 5 Palestinian civilians, including one child. Also this week, Israeli occupation forces ordered the demolition of a mosque and 9 houses in Jabal al-Mukabber village.
http://imemc.org/index.php?
2 children hurt in West Bank
25 Dec - A 14-year old boy from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar underwent an operation Friday due to wounds he sustained from stones thrown at him by Palestinians. In another incident, a 4-year old girl was lightly wounded by a Molotov cocktail.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
PFLP-GC fighters report clash with Israeli army
The Jihad Jibreel Brigades said a group of fighters launched an RPG at Israel near Beit Lahiya on Saturday morning. A statement from the group said the attack occurred at 1am, with fighters clashing with Israeli troops attempting to enter the Strip through its northern border. They said no fighters were injured in the clash. An Israeli military spokeswoman said officials in the army were not aware of the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Blockade
Israel to allow glass into Gaza
24 Dec - Washington – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon lauded Thursday Israel’s decision to comply with his request and allow glass to be transferred into the Gaza Strip.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Rafah crossing to be open in both directions for four days next week
Despite earlier announcements that the crossing would be closed until January, Egyptian officials will open the Rafah crossing for four days next week, three for general traffic and a fourth for Egyptian citizens... Each day 10-12 buses loaded with 60-70 passengers each will leave Gaza ... Hamad said those wishing to travel must register with the Ministry of the Interior, and added that most who have already registered have Egyptian residency (6,000) and are students (700). The crossing was last opened two months ago and saw a total of 6,000 individuals travel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Report: 1,200 smuggling tunnels into Gaza
Egyptian state newspaper al-Ahram reported on Saturday of the Hamas smuggling tunnel industry in Gaza. According to the report, some 1,200 tunnels operate on the border between Egypt and the Strip, with the costs of digging out each tunnel reaching some $50,000.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Smuggling quickened fearing tunnel collapses
Dozens of smuggling tunnels are expected to collapse any day as Egyptian workers continue to bore 25-meter plates of steel into the earth along the Gaza border, smugglers said Friday. Witnesses said four tunnels already collapsed this week at the northern end of the border near the Salah Ad-Din Gate. As a result, two Palestinians were killed and a fire erupted in one of the tunnels. Expecting more collapses, tunnel owners quickened the pace of goods deliveries while old tunnels near the Salah Addin Gates were abandoned. Even residents of the Egyptian city of Rafah have said they are worried that their homes might collapse or crack as a result of work on the underground steel wall.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Egypt closes three smuggling tunnels
Egyptian authorities said three smuggling tunnels were closed and their contents seized during an operation at the Gaza border area on Saturday. Sources said a large amount of goods was taken in what security personnel labeled a "security campaign" that began Friday. Two of the tunnels reportedly emerged in an Egyptian mosque in Rafah, located 100 meters away from the Gaza border.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Testimony: Minor works for a living in Gaza tunnels
'Imad a-Natur, 17, has worked for two years in Rafah tunnels used for smuggling goods from Egypt. A-Natur's father is ill, and he left school to support his parents and seven siblings. He lives with the constant fear of the frequent bombings of the tunnel
http://www.btselem.org/
First anniversary of the assault on Gaza
Dear President Mubarak: The Gaza people need our moral support on this difficult anniversary
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUBARAK FROM THE GAZA FREEDOM MARCH December 26, 2009 Dear President Mubarak; We, representing 1,362 individuals from 43 countries arriving in Cairo to participate in the Gaza Freedom March, are pleading to the Egyptians and your reputation for hospitality. We are peacemakers. We have not come to Egypt to create trouble or cause conflict. On the contrary....
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
Gaza Freedom March interview on Democracy Now
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now! interview Gaza Freedom Marchers Hedy Epstein and Medea Benjamin
http://endtheoccupationblog.
Solidarity march in France on first anniversary of war on Gaza
PARIS, (PIC)-- A solidarity march is expected in the streets of the French capital on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of the Israeli bloody war on the Gaza Strip that killed 1,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,000 others mostly women and children. Well informed sources said that the march, organized by a number of European societies, would start in the afternoon with the participation of thousands of Arabs and Muslims along with French and other foreign sympathizers.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Hamas grip on Gaza tighter a year after war
GAZA (Reuters) – One year after Israel struck at the Gaza Strip, the Islamist Hamas group which rules the enclave remains defiant and in full control, rebuilding its strength and shrugging off criticism from Palestinian opponents.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
One year after Cast Lead
By Uri Avnery. Did we win? Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the Gaza War, alias Operation Cast Lead, and this question fills the public space. Within the Israeli consensus, the answer has already been given: Certainly we won, the Qassams have stopped coming. A simple, not to say primitive, answer. But that is how it looks to the superficial observer ... What were the real aims of those who started the war? I believe that they were as follows, in order of decreasing priority:
- To overthrow the regime in Gaza, by turning the life of the inhabitants into such hell that they would rise up against Hamas.
- To return to the Government and the army their self respect, which had been severely damaged in Lebanon War II.
- To restore the deterrent power of the Israeli army.
- To stop the Qassams.
- To free the captive soldier, Gilad Shalit.
What would Jesus do in Gaza?
By Christopher Dickey, Newsweek. Maybe it seems beside the point, even on the eve of Christmas, to ask ourselves what would Jesus do in the Holy Land today. The narrow confines of Gaza, Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria are places where God's love was long ago supplanted by war for land and ill will among men. It has been a year now since the bloody and fruitless Israeli effort to crush Hamas in what amounts to a massive prison for a million people. Peacemakers in the Middle East are rarely blessed, and often reviled; just ask special envoy George Mitchell. And the truth rarely sets anyone free, as proved most recently by the fact-filled United Nations report by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, which was dissed by Washington and dismissed by Israel.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/
GAZA: ONE YEAR ON: Politics hamper Gaza reconstruction
By Basel Almisshal. ...But the necessity for reconstruction in Gaza did not begin in the wake of Operation Cast Lead - it goes back further to Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Israel destroyed its settlements that were built on 60 per cent of the Gaza Strip and left behind tremendous amounts of rubble that derailed Palestinian plans to develop these areas. Despite the withdrawal, Israel continued small-scale incursions on Palestinian towns and refugee camps, destroying Gaza's infrastructure piecemeal. Since 2007, Israel has restricted freedom of movement for people, goods and finances, and prohibited any building material, such as concrete, timber, glass and steel from entering Gaza.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
US Campaign to End the Occupation: a holiday message
From US Steering Committee member Phylllis Bennis. ...let me tell you why you should join me in supporting one particular important organization--the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation-especially in this holiday season, and at this particular political moment ... The work of the US Campaign is crucial ... The US Campaign brings together more than 300 organizations in a broad national coalition, dedicated to changing US policy toward Israel/Palestine to support human rights, international law, and equality ... Please donate.
http://endtheoccupationblog.
Other news
Hamas to make swap decision in three days
Hamas said on Friday that it will respond within three days to Israel’s latest response in talks toward a prisoner swap that would secure the release of a thousand Palestinian prisoners in return for a soldier held in Gaza. A member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Izzat Ar-Resheq said the body would discuss the issue during meetings in Damascus and hand its response to the German mediator within two to three days.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Palestinian officials confiscate merchandise produced in settlements
By Amira Hass. Palestinian officials are confiscating merchandise produced in West Bank settlements as part of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's plan to remove all goods made in the settlements from Palestinian markets by the end of next year. Sources in the National Economy Ministry said that NIS 651,982 worth of goods were confiscated and disposed of in the second week of December alone. The goods included Ahava cosmetics and toiletries, plastic products, long-life milk made in the Golan, Mei Eden mineral water and pastries from the Atarot industrial park.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Earliest proven case of leprosy found in Israel
(AFP, 22 Dec) Hebrew University says DNA of shrouded man from first century found in Jerusalem has revealed earliest proven case of Hansen's disease
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Opinion / Analysis
In Bil'in we carried a wooden coffin called "International Law"
Pamela Olson, who is working on a book called Fast Times in Palestine, is back in Oklahoma after a year or so visiting the occupied territories. She filed a long post on her last days in the West Bank. She gave us permission to excerpt two portions: a photo essay about a recent protest in Bi’lin over the confiscatory wall, and a discussion with two western friends just before she left about the importance of showing Palestinians as ordinary people to the west.
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
Palestine/Israel: A single state, with liberty and justice for all, regardless of religion
By Susan Abulhawa with Ramzy Baroud. Prior to the establishment of Israel, Palestine had been multi-religious and multi-cultural. Christians, Muslims and Jews, Armenians, Greek Orthodox, to name a few, all had a place there; and all lived in relative harmony. Other nations fought wars and waged epic struggles to attain the kind of coexistence that was already a reality in Palestine. But while the world strives toward the noble truths that we are all created equal, Israel legislates the notion of a Chosen People with exclusive rights and privilege for Jews.
http://dissidentvoice.org/
Dead in its tracks
Palestinian unity is still unreachable, writes Saleh El-Naami. The delegation of independent Palestinian public figures that recently met with Egyptian General Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman was surprised to learn that Palestinian national dialogue is frozen until Hamas agrees, without preconditions, to the Egyptian reconciliation proposal. Their surprise stems from a general impression in Gaza and the West Bank, enforced by leaks to the media, that Cairo is preparing another reconciliation plan, aiming to convince Hamas to sign off on it and end divisions plaguing the Palestinians.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/
Not all refusal is the same
By Ze'ev Sternhell. Since the first evidence of the organized Jewish uprising in the West Bank, which is now assuming unprecedented proportions, great efforts have been made to create an artificial symmetry between the systematic rebellion in the settlements and the refusal to serve in the territories that was prevalent at the beginning of the decade. To understand how fundamentally distorted this comparison is, we should point out a few facts.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
2 types of Zionism
By Gadi Taub. ...The settlers’ Zionism is a “Zionism of land,” while most of us endorse a “Zionism of state.” These two types of Zionism are easy to confuse ... What we are dealing with here is the difference between means and ends. In the settlers’ view, the State is a means for realizing “our obligation to the Land of Israel through Aliyah and settlement work” (as noted in the founding document of the Gush Emunim settlement movement.) Yet in the view of mainstream Zionism, the settlement enterprise is a means for reinforcing the State’s sovereignty. As time passes, it turns out that this difference is in fact an abyss. Two worldviews will be facing off for a head-on clash ... Israel must make it clear to the settlers that Zionism will not tolerate any attempt to place the land above the state we established on this land.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Iraq
Friday: 27 Iraqis killed, 83 wounded
Excerpts: At least 27 Iraqis were killed and 83 more were wounded in both Ashura-related violence and other attacks. In northern Iraq, Shabaks and Christians fought over decorations at a church. A roadside bomb in Sadr City killed six pilgrims and wounded 26 more. In Sinjar, three Peshmerga fighters were killed and 10 more were wounded during a car bombing. Three guards were wounded during a scuffle over decorations at a church in Bartala. The incident allegedly began when black drapes hung to mark the Ashura holiday were removed in order to celebrate Christmas Mass, but a second source reported that 100 Shabak minority groups members attacked the church because they believed a Christian had torn up a picture of a Shabak cleric. At least three other people were wounded....
http://original.antiwar.com/
Iraq inquiry reveals chaos that led Britain to war
Evidence details ignorance, hasty plans and a one-sided relationship with the US -- the most damning charge emerging from the Iraq war inquiry so far is that Britain went to war on a wing and a prayer. The main charges, after four weeks of cross examination, are that Britain had minimal influence over American diplomatic and military strategy, did not plan correctly for the aftermath of war, and utterly misconstrued post-war Iraqi society.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/
U.S. / Other world news
The law's the problem in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, there are three principal legal references: constitutional law, the Qur'an, and the system of customary law known as farhang, the most dominant and strictest version of which is called Pashtunwali (the way of the Pashtuns) ... farhang and privatised violence are precisely what Mohammad sought to ban through Qur'anic law, which went beyond the personal domain and instituted a code that gave some rights to women.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
A day after assault, no word on fate of Yemeni-American cleric
(AP) Sanaa, 26 Dec - A day after Yemeni forces, backed by the United States, launched an airstrike on a meeting of suspected al-Qaida leaders, it remained unclear Saturday whether an extremist Yemeni-American cleric linked to the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings was among those killed in the assault.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Obama aide calls Israel her 'homeland' and a 'healthy democracy'
The neocon cabal is going crazy over comments supportive of J Street from Hannah Rosenthal, Obama’s aide in charge of fighting anti-Semitism. It’s really amazing that the neocons have been able to hurt J Street, a mainstream group if ever there was one, a group that turned its back on the powerful Goldstone report that describes the moral corruption of Israeli society.
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
If this street gets cleaned then the terrorists win
By Adam Horowitz. The South Florida Sun Sentinel is reporting that right-wing Jewish extremist, and one time vice-chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition of South Florida, Joe Kaufman is leading the charge against one of this country’s greatest security threats: the Adopt-A-Street program in Florida’s Broward County. Kaufman is incensed that the county had the short sightedness to allow the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to participate in its "adopt a street" program. And he’s not taking it lying down.
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
US Muslims join Jews for Christmas Day mitzvah
(AP) For first time, Muslims to join Jews for largest annual day of volunteering. Organizers say it's a small but significant step in diffusing tensions, promoting good will between religions
http://www.ynetnews.com/
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www.TheHeadlines.org
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