"PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD HAVE HOMELANDS WHERE THEY ARE LIVING IN, BUT PALESTINIANS HAVE HOMELAND WHICH LIVES IN THEIR HEARTS"
Zahi Khouri: Four decades of occupation
'I don't know what I would do if my daughter had to go through that humiliation." A U.S. congressman said those words to me while watching Qalandia checkpoint, the key Israeli roadblock between occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank . As we mark the 40th anniversary of the 1967 war and Israel 's military occupation of Palestinian territory, his comment is particularly poignant. As both a Palestinian and an American, I wonder what my fellow Americans would do if they lived for 40 years with every aspect of their lives controlled by a foreign army, or what members of Congress would do if they had to pass through an occupier's checkpoint on Capitol Hill.
Israel launches limited ground invasion of southern Gaza
Launching the incursion from the Sufa crossing on Monday morning, Palestinian security sources have reported that the Israeli army established a presence one kilometer into the Gaza Strip, ransacking and occupying two homes in the Rafah area. Eyewitnesses reported that after arresting several residents and damaging a number of homes, the military ordered all residents of between the ages of 16 and 46 to evacuate their homes and gather in the town's main square.
Qassam, mortars fired from Gaza strike western Negev
There were no reports of casualties in any of the attacks. Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces sent ground troops and more than 15 tanks backed by helicopters into the Gaza Strip, pushing about a kilometer into Palestinian territory. The radio noted that for the first time after weeks of daily rocket attacks, not a single Qassam rocket was fired into Israel overnight Sunday and during morning hours Monday.
PM: Israel will not negotiate, Gaza operations to continue
"These operations are producing results and will continue so long as they contribute to the preservation of our security interests and to the defense of the citizens of Israel," said Olmert. "We will not let Hamas be the one to decide on a cease-fire," he said
Hamas delegation rejects Gaza-specific ceasefire
The Hamas delegation to Egypt has reportedly rejected any ceasefire with Israel which does not apply to both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The current draft initiative outlined by President Abbas indicates that Hamas must halt the fire of rockets into Israel before a ceasefire is implemented in Gaza and later spread to the West Bank . Israel currently rejects Hamas calls to extend the ceasefire to the West Bank, arguing that such a move would prevent Israel from apprehending so-called "wanted Palestinians" from the area.
Prior to Abbas-Olmert talks, Hamas shells Eretz checkpoint in northern Gaza
The armed wing of Hamas fired mortar shells on the Israeli military checkpoint of Eretz in northern Gaza, slightly wounding four Israeli soldiers, on Sunday. The checkpoint is a major transport artery for the 1.4 million people of the Gaza Strip. Since the eruption of the second Intifada in 2000, the Eretz checkpoint, also known as Beit Hanoun checkpoint, has been frequently closed by the Israeli army under the stereotypical pretext of security. As a direct result, tens of thousands of Gaza workers and travelers have been denied access to Israel and the West Bank .
Former Israeli chief rabbi advocates carpet-bombing Gaza
All civilians living in Gaza are collectively guilty for Kassam attacks on Sderot, former Separdi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has written in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings. He also said it was forbidden to risk the lives of Jews in Sderot or the lives of IDF soldiers for fear of injuring or killing Palestinian noncombatants living in Gaza. "If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand," said his son, chief rabbi of Safad Shmuel Eliyahu. "And if they do not stop after 1,000 then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop." In the letter, Eliyahu quoted from Psalms. "I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them and I will not desist until I have eradicated them."
Ali Abunimah: Top Israeli rabbis advocate genocide
This kind of genocidal hatred of Palestinians is not unusual in Israel. What used to be unusual was for it to be spoken so brazenly and openly. Of course we know what would happen if a Muslim or Palestinian religious figure made such a statement. We know the international outcry when Iran's President Ahmadinejad made statements calling for the elimination of Israel. Will all those EU officials who curried favor by condemning Ahmedinejad take an equally strong and public stance against Israel's former chief rabbi? Will they demand that Olmert publicly repudiate the letter he received? A Muslim making such statements about Jews would certainly be banished from traveling to the United States, and could end up in Guantanamo for much less.
Israel rejects Amnesty report urging end to West Bank 'fence'
In a report timed to coincide with this week's 40th anniversary of the 1967 Six Day War, Amnesty on Monday also called for Israel to dismantle West Bank settlements and roadblocks, for the Palestinians to end attacks on Israeli civilians and for the international community to monitor both sides. Vice Premier Shimon Peres, speaking on Israel Radio, said the West Bank barrier had proven its worth as an obstacle to suicide bombings. Raji Sourani, head of the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights said what was needed was a peacekeeping force. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel already had sufficient oversight built into its own systems.
Illegal settlers attack Palestinian farmers in a village near Ramallah
Settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and shepherds working on their land in the village of Deir Nitham Saturday afternoon. The farmers reported that they were working their land alongside some local shepherds when a group of armed Israeli settlers attacked them and beat them up. The settlers forced them from the land and told them not to come back. The settlers also took over the nearby natural water well that is used by the villagers to water their crops. Villagers stated that settlers now use it for swimming and are protected by the army while doing so. The setters come from the settlement of Homesh which is illegally built on land stolen from the village of Deir Nitham.
Palestinian prisoner loses eye from interrogation in Israeli detention camp
Asam Dabaya was kidnapped by the Israeli army while he was going to the city of Jericho were he works as a security officer in the Palestinian Authority. . . After telling the authorities that he had an eye problem, the interrogators hit his damaged eye in attempt to force a confession from him. The Israeli detention camp administration refused him medical help until his situation became critical, after which he was moved to a military hospital for treatment.
TV anchors and employees protest death threats
More than 50 anchors and employees of the Palestinian National TV, male and female, gathered to renounce a statement issued by the Sword of Islam group on Friday that vowed to behead female broadcasters who did not dress according to the Islamic code. Unlike many of their colleagues in secular regimes such as Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, most of the fifteen female anchors on Palestinian TV wear headscarves to comply with the Islamic dress tradition. However, they also wear Western clothing and make-up, which the extremist organization views as blasphemous.
High Court: Peace Now demonstration can go ahead in Hebron
The commander of Hebron Brigade, Colonel Yehuda Fuchs, told the court that the protest would lead to a breach of the peace by settlers, which could endanger the lives of demonstrators, local Palestinian residents, IDF soldiers and police. Judge Uzi Fogelman asked in response if it could be understood, therefore, that Fuchs would allow lawbreakers to prevent the demonstration from going ahead. Fuchs avoided answering the question.
IDF okays mass rally of settlers for rebuilding of West Bank enclave
IDF officers complained to Haaretz that the march would take up valuable resources as security forces deal with numerous security threats to settlements in the territories and in cities in Israel proper. In the past, the Yesha Council refrained from calling for re-populating the evacuated settlements. In a recent position leaflet, however, it called for the reconstruction not only of West Bank settlements such as Homesh, but also those in the Gaza Strip which were evacuated in August 2005.
Settler cleared of attempted murder charges in 2005 attack on Palestinian
Shimshon Citrin was acquitted Sunday of attempted murder charges over his involvement in an attempted lynch of a Palestinian youth on the eve of the disengagement in 2005. Citrin and another suspect were arrested after several television crews documented the attempted lynching of Hilal Majaida, 18. Citrin, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Nahniel, was convicted however of causing injury, aggravated assault, causing a disturbance, making threats and entering a restricted area.
Fighting spreads to Ein al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon
Reports say that two Lebanese soldiers were killed as they fought Jund al Sham fighters in the camp yesterday. Meanwhile the fighting continued in the Nahr al Bared refugee camp, as the Lebanese army bombarded the densely populated area in the hopes of rooting out the Fatah al Islam fighters. Thousands of people have fled the camps, but many are still inside, with aid scarcely able to reach them.
Refugee resentment simmers as fighting escalates
The top Palestinian leadership in Lebanon says it cannot guarantee it can control the reaction of the more than 400,000 Palestinians living in the 12 official refugee camps throughout the country if the Lebanese army's all-out assault on the besieged Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in the north causes a heavy civilian death toll. Hajj Rif'at, media director for the mainstream Fatah organisation and a spokesperson for the multi-party Palestinian Liberation Organisation, told IPS, "If the army invades [Nahr al-Bared], I think that there will be many more Palestinian victims from within the camp, and we refuse that the solution be at the expense of our children and women and the destruction of our camp."
Aijaz Zaka Syed: Why's Lebanon burning?
. . . as my hero Robert Fisk, offering another ringside view of another war in the Middle East says, there is something really 'obscene' about watching the ever suffering Palestinians get caught in another war that is not of their making. Thousands of Palestinians have escaped with only their clothes on the back. Hundreds of families have been torn apart as they ran for their lives once again in their eventful history. The fact that most of these families are the survivors of the 1982 Invasion by Israel and the subsequent Sabra and Shatila massacres by Ariel Sharon's goons only underscores the never-ending tragedy that is the Palestinian existence. How long will the Palestinians have to pay for the crimes that they have not committed?
UNRWA appeals for $12.7 million as clashes spread
Richard Cook, UNRWA's director in Lebanon, said the $12.7m was an assessment of the cost of delivering assistance to the displaced over the coming 90 days. He highlighted the "unsustainable" situation in neighbouring Baddawi camp, 10km from Nahr al-Bared, where over 20,000 people have fled. He confirmed the agency was looking for free land with adequate sanitation facilities on which to erect temporary accommodation to ease the massive overcrowding in Baddawi, where the population of the camp has more than doubled since the start of the crisis.
Newly released British Intelligence documents reveal Israeli involvement in 1976 hijacking
The hijacking of an Israel-bound plane in 1976 by a Palestinian resistance group was used by multiple Israeli administrations as justification for their continued military occupation of Palestinian land. With the latest revelation, it appears that the Israeli government may have been manipulating the crisis in a blatant attempt to criminalize the Palestinian resistance movement. British diplomat D.H. Colvin wrote in the document that an unnamed intelligence contact told him, "The hijack was the work of the PFLP, with help from the Israeli Secret Service, the Shin Bet."
Detainee loses fingers as army breaks into detention facility
The Popular Committees in Nablus stated that Wajeeh Eshtiyyeh was injured when he picked up a gas bomb fired by the soldiers who broke into the Gabloa' facility. They reported that the army is using gas bombs that explode when touched or carried. Azmi Shiokhy, head of the Committees, stated that Eshtiyyeh needs immediate surgery and appealed for the Red Cross to interfere and stop the violations and illegal practices against the detainees.
Water and resistance
With Israeli control over water resources, and Palestinians captive to Israeli water companies, Abdul-Latif asks, "Where is the infrastructure for this 'Palestinian state'?" On the surface, this might simply appear to be another development project, one that is similar to many others around the world. However, in this context of ongoing Israeli colonization and occupation of Palestinian life and land, such simple acts of waste water treatment and sustainable development are not only peacebuilding initiatives in their own right but they also become powerful acts of nonviolent resistance.
Israel distances itself from full Gaza ground invasion over fears of war with Syria
According to Haaretz.com, highly-placed sources within the Israeli military fear the possibility of a coming war with Syria over the coming months, an event that, if the military was already engaged in Gaza, would stretch Israeli forces to the breaking point. Haaretz also reports that a war with Syria was the subject of a large military exercise last month. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967 and in a move not recognized internationally, unilaterally annexed the area in 1981.
Living the lives of others – by Akiva Eldar
Forty years ago today was the last day the citizens of Israel were a free people in their own land. It was the last day we lived here without living other people's lives. After that day, we started paying the price for living the lives of others. . . Leibowitz predicted that the corruption that is characteristic of any colonialist regime would not spare Israel. He also warned against the collapse of social structures and the corruption of man - Arab and Jew alike.
Egyptian police seize 1.5 tonnes of explosives in central Sinai
They said they suspected the material had been destined to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip. One Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that security forces on a routine patrol found the explosives packed in 40 sacks and hidden in a mountainous area. . . Tensions have also mounted recently between Egyptian police and Sinai Bedouin who took to the streets in April over the deaths of two Bedouin in a chase with the police.
Two 12-year-olds killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on Friday
The children were scavenging building materials and scrap metal from the site when they were fired upon by Israeli forces stationed at the nearby border with Israel, eyewitnesses reported. The children killed today were likely gathering scrap metal to sell for food for their families. Israeli commanders have previously made public their 'shoot-to-kill' policy for areas near the border fences and abandoned Israeli settlements. In one such pronouncement, an Israeli general stated, "Anything that moves in these areas, even if it's a three-year old, must be killed."
Palestinian boy dies of wounds sustained in Israeli attack
Hamza Al Masri, 16, suffered extensive wounds last month when Israeli military forces fired at his family house in Beit Lahia near Gaza, causing injuries to many family members. His brother Shadi currently lies in an intensive care unit after sustaining extensive wounds in the same attack. The number of deaths caused by Israeli attacks since the 17th of last month has risen to 50, with 82 injured. Of the number injured, 28 remain in a serious condition.
PCHR weekly report on Friday, June 1: Soldiers killed 19 Palestinians, injured 54 and kidnapped 76
The PCHR reported that two of the 19 residents who were killed during the past week were extra-judicially executed by the army in the occupied West Bank and twelve Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military continued its invasions and attacks in the occupied territories and injured 67 Palestinians; most of the casualities were civilians. 54 of the injured residents were wounded by Israeli military gunfire in the Gaza Strip, as the army stepped up its aerial strikes and shelling attacks. A total of 46 missiles were fired by the army against civilian houses and parliamentarian sites.
Nablus attacks leave Old City in tatters
As part of a predawn raid on Friday, Israeli forces blew up concrete barriers blocking entrance to the Old City of Nablus, cutting electricity, damaging water and sewage networks and damaging homes and local businesses in the process. Three members of the Palestinian cabinet later visited the city to examine the damage, estimated at between $100,000 and $150,000. The Palestinian Minister of Information, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi referred to the situation in Nablus as "out and out war" and accused the Israeli administration of "choking the city with barriers."
Israeli troops kidnap the deputy mayor of Nablus on Thursday
Engineer Mahdi Al Hanbaly was heading back from Ramallah after participating in a conference discussing the Israeli abductions of Palestinian officials, union leaders and members of city councils in the West Bank. It is worth mentioning that Nablus mayor Adli Ya'ish, and Nablus municipal council member Fayyad Al Aghbar were recently kidnapped by the Israeli forces.
Todays Headlines from Palestine brought to you by: Shadi Fadda
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