News from around the Globe

Ahmadinejad: Occupation of Palestine a Tragedy
Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made reference to the PA (Palestinian Authority) today, stating, “Palestine was occupied under the guise of assisting WWII survivors.”

The Iranian leader went on to call the situation a “tragedy,” questioning if the world can permit it to continue.

“The tragedy,” added Ahmadinejad poses a threat to the Middle East.

Jewish rabbi calls for extermination of all Palestinian males

A Jewish rabbi living in the West Bank has called on the Israeli government to use their troops to kill all Palestinian males more than 13 years old in a bid to end Palestinian presence on this earth.

Extremist rabbi Yousef Falay, who dwells at the Yitzhar settlement on illegally seized Palestinian land in the northern part of the West Bank, wrote an article in a Zionist magazine under the title "Ways of War", in which he called for the killing of all Palestinian males refusing to flee their country, describing his idea as the practical way to ensure the non-existence of the Palestinian race.

"We have to make sure that no Palestinian individual remains under our occupation. If they (Palestinians) escape then it is good; but if anyone of them remains, then he should be exterminated", the fanatic rabbi added in his article.

Falay is not the first to have called for such extreme measures. Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Kach movement, called for "the transfer of Israel's Arab population to Arab (or other) lands." (As it states on the group's website). Followers of Kahane have been connected to a number of murders of Palestinians, particularly in the Hebron area in the southern West Bank. In the most well-known of such attacks, 29 Palestinians praying in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron were gunned down by Baruch Goldstein, a follower of Kahane, in 1994, with Israeli soldiers looking on and allowing the gunman to reload his automatic machine gun and continue killing innocent civilians. In response to that massacre, the Israeli authorities punished the Palestinian victims by taking over the Ibrahimi mosque and turning half of it into a synagogue, where Israeli settlers go to pray each week. And each year, on the anniversary of the massacre, Israeli settlers in Hebron dress up like Baruch Goldstein and parade through the streets of Hebron, firing guns in the air.

The Kach movement recognizes the 'transfer' of 750,000 Palestinians that took place in 1948 in order for the state of Israel to be created on their land, but argues on their website that this 'transfer' was incomplete, and that all Palestinians must be sent away, or killed, in order for Israel to remain a 'Jewish state'. Their platform reads, "In a genuinely 'JEWISH State', how can an Arab be an equal when that State has an Independence Day celebrating his defeat. Its flag isn't that of its people. He isn't trusted to serve in the army. His cousin born in Haifa [sic] and fled during the 1948 War of Independence cannot return... yet any Jew who never lived there before is welcomed with open arms. In short, Israel is his enemy's country, not his. So how can an Arab truly be a loyal citizen in a Jewish State? Simply, they cannot, and they must go!"

The idea of extermination of Palestinians, or their 'transfer' into other countries, is not only a view held by extremists on the fringes of society. Prominent Israeli politicians have also made calls for a 'transfer', or ethnic cleansing, based on race. Just last week, on September 11, 2006, an Israeli member of Parliament called explicitly for the transfer of Palestinians (whow he referred to as 'Arabs') from the West Bank (which he referred to as 'Judea and Samaria', the biblical name for the region where the majority of Palestinians now live).

"We have to expel most Arabs from Judea and Samaria," Eitam said at a memorial service for Lt. Amihai Merhavia, a soldier who was killed in South Lebanon in July. "We can't deal with all these Arabs, and we can't give up the territory, because we've already seen what they do there. Some of them might have to stay under certain conditions, but most of them will have to go." Despite a law that would strip Israeli parliament members of their immunity to prosecution if they are found make explicitly racist statements, no investigation of Eitam has occurred on this matter, and there was no condemnation of his statement by the Israeli government.


UN says Israeli overuse of cluster bombs in Lebanon 'defies belief'

Following on a statement by an Israeli commander that the Israeli army fired at least 1.2 million cluster bomblets on Lebanon during the war, the majority of which were fired when hostilities were largely over, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator verified that number and harshly criticized the Israeli use of cluster bombs.

“The outrageous fact is that nearly all of these munitions were fired in the last three to four days of the war,” David Shearer, the United Nations (UN) humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, told a news conference in Beirut Tuesday.

The United Nations coordinator added, "Most bomblets were fired by the time the conflict had been largely resolved in the form of Resolution 1701", adding, “We know these (cluster) munitions have a failure rate and it seems to me extraordinary that they were fired off in the last hours of the war into areas where civilian populations were known to be going,” Shearer said.

“For a humanitarian person, it defies belief that this would happen.”

Meanwhile, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland has called Israel “completely immoral” for using cluster bombs in residential areas.

Shearer, the UN humanitarian coordinator, said that Israeli authorities have not given any explanation as to why they fired so many cluster bombs just as the war was clearly drawing to a close, nor have they responded to a UN Request for the map coordinates of the cluster bomb strikes to hasten clearance efforts.

It is estimated that 30-40% of the cluster bombs which were fired by Israel failed to explode on impact, and remain a tremendous hazard for civilians who have returned home. Since the war's end, at least 15 civilians have been killed in encounters with unexploded cluster bombs, and 83 wounded, of whom 23 are children.

Only about 17,000 of the unexploded bomblets have been defused so far, and the United Nations says it could take up to 30 months to destroy most of the unexploded sub-munitions. The British-based LandMine Action group has said clearing the south could take a decade.

Clearance efforts have so far focused on villages, schools and playing areas, but will soon shift towards farmland, which provides 70 percent of household incomes in the south, said Shearer.

“The cluster munitions are stopping farmers from getting out to their fields and resuming their farming activities,” he said.

The statements from the United Nations officials verified the statement of the Israeli commander who resigned last week, who said at that time that the army he commanded had “covered towns with cluster bombs", admitting “what we did is insane and monstrous”. Over 1,000 civilians were killed during the 34-day Israeli invasion of Lebanon in July, many of them by U.S.-supplied cluster bombs fired by the Israeli military.


Female detainees facing severe punishment in Telmond

Detainee Suad Abu Hamad, from Nazareth, said that female detainees in Telmond Israeli prison are facing harsh procedures and collective punishment after the prison administration claimed that two detainees attempted to escape by “digging a tunnel” in one of the rooms.

The statement of Abu Hamad came on Friday September 17, during her meeting with Hanan Al Khateeb, a lawyer working with the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

Detainee Abu Hamad and three other detainees identified as Areen Ahmad, Abeer Amro and Shereen Al sheikh, were confined to solitary on September 12, 2006.

Abu Hamad stated that the Israeli Prisoner Authorities transferred the following detainees to Al Ramleh Prison for women; Laila Al Bokhary, Nisreen Abu Zeina, Tahani Zaki, Aisha Obeyyat, Ramah Habayib, Manal Ghanim, Lamya Galghoum, Sana' Amro, Suad Nazzal, Lina Hadaida, Hala Jaber, Maisoun Abu Aisha, Riham Abu Ayyash, Firyal Ja'ara and Amna Mona.

On September 12, prison administration in Telmond detention for women claimed that two detainees attempted to escape by digging a tunnel in room number 16.

The administration increased their punishment measures against the detainees after this claimed incident.

Meanwhile, the detainees in Telmond denied the allegations; detainee Suad Abu Hamad told the lawyer of the Prisoners Society that the prison administration brought workers who dug in room number 16 apparently for maintenance purposes, and then the prison administration claimed that the detainees were trying to dug a tunnel in order to escape.

Detainees in Israeli detention facilities and prisons are facing harsh living conditions, bad treatment and are denied of their medication rights.

Hundreds of detainees are barred from their visitation rights, isolated and tortured.

Sick detainees are not receiving the needed medical treatment and attention especially since there are hundreds of detainees who surfer from chronic diseases, disabilities and other diseases such as heart and kidney failure.

Israeli Prison Authorities still authorizes the usage of torture during interrogation, and is still keepings hundreds of child detainees imprisoned under harsh conditions and barred from their basic rights, such as the right to receive education and proper medical treatment.


Female detainees attacked in Telmond detention facility
The Tulkarem office of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported that female detainees in Telmond Israeli detention facility are facing repeated attacks and abuse by Israeli troops, and that these attacks have increased over the last several days.

The office released a statement saying that soldiers broke into the rooms of the female detainees, searched them and confiscated the their belongings. Also, soldiers attacked several detainees while searching them and searching their rooms and confined at least ten detainees to solitary.

The PPS added that soldiers used military dogs during the searches.

The detainees were also forced out of their rooms and were forced to stand under the son for several hours.

Soldiers also barred the detainees from watching satellite stations, barred them from visiting each other in the different sections of the facility and refused to remove the ten detainees from the solitary cells.

Soldiers claimed that the ten detainees attempted to escape from the detention facility.

The PPS appealed humanitarian organizations and the International Red Cross ti interfere “save the detainees from the Israeli illegal practices against them”.

There are 110 female detainees in Telmond living under very difficult conditions and barred from their basic rights, especially medical treatments, and their visitation rights.