Academic to quit post in anger over Israel: Professor Reinhart, who will give a public lecture at the University of Melbourne tomorrow night, said Israel's walling of the large and prosperous West Bank was cutting off the Palestinian people from their lands and each other. She said she could no longer live in Israel while it did what she said was the first attempt in history to imprison a nation with a wall that cut off villages from their farmland.
Text of ‘Status of Jerusalem’ statement from Catholic, Christian Holy Land leaders: A new and concerted effort to reach a definitive agreement that respects and assures the special status of Jerusalem as an “open city” and that rejects unilateral decisions and imposed solutions is needed to secure “a total definitive and just peace,” said a Catholic patriarch and other Catholic and Christian religious leaders representing faith communities here. Decrying the erection of walls that deny access to “many of our faithful … from the precincts of the holy city”
Jewish and Palestinian organisations defy EU secrecy: Pierre Galand, Senator in the Belgian Parliament and Chair of the European Co-ordinating Committee on Palestine (ECCP) said: “European diplomats had the courage to stress the alarming situation in East Jerusalem. In order to force the EU member states to respect their own commitment to International Law and Human Rights, we will publish the report on East Jerusalem on our websites, despite the EU refusal to do so.”
French embassy cancels N.Y. book launch over author's Israel views: The French Embassy on Monday canceled a New York party for a book about Vichy France's collaboration with Nazi Germany because of the author's postscript that says Israel has oppressed Palestinians.
Israel willfully kills two civilians at Nablus checkpoints: Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) positioned at military checkpoints in Nablus killed two Palestinian civilians in less than 24 hours in two separate crimes. These latest crimes prove IOF's disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians. PCHR condemns these crimes and asserts that the failure of the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949 to hold Israel accountable for crimes committed against Palestinian civilians serves to encourage IOF to commit more of such crimes.
Evangelicals invest $40m. in aliya: A Jerusalem-based Evangelical Christian organization announced Tuesday that it had assisted 100,000 Jewish immigrants to move to Israel over the last decade and a half. The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem said that it had invested $40 million in the immigration project, which has focused on Jews from the former Soviet Union, since its inception in 1989.
Israeli troops enter West Bank political capital: Around 30 military jeeps drove into the centre of the city and took up position around several houses in Ramallah where shooting rang out from both Israelis and Palestinians, an AFP correspondent said.
Prisoners' association shut down in Israel and West Bank: The Observatory has been informed by several reliable sources, including the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), the Law in the Service of Mankind (Al-Haq), Defense for Children International - Palestine Section (DCI-PS), and the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah), about the closing down of the offices of the organisation "Ansar Al-Sajeen" (Prisoners Friends' Association) in Israel and in the West Bank.
Gaza - ICRC Bulletin No. 10 / 2006: In the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued attacks against militants and destruction of houses and workshops allegedly storing or manufacturing weapons. There were also brief incursions into a number of other areas.
Egypt: Internal feud in PA ruining chance for peace: "Those leaders and the Palestinian people will find out that they are losing a chance and a mobility that should have taken place and we lost it," he said. "The Palestinian prime minister rejects this initiative; then why doesn't he search for another one?" Abul Gheit said, according to the interview.
Qatar submits new proposal for settling Hamas-Fatah differences: The chair of Fatah's parliamentary faction, Azzam al-Ahmed, emphasized to Haaretz yesterday that Abbas is committed to the six-point document that was agreed upon with Qatar. "Abbas declared that a week ago, and he does not intend to change his position," Ahmed said. "We are waiting for an answer from Hamas."
Hamas: Ready to negotiate based on Qatari plan: The spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, told reporters that Hamas is not prepared to renounce violence or recognize Israel as demanded by the international community. However, he said the group is ready to continue negotiations based on the Qatari plan and hopes to hold a meeting with PA President, Mahmoud Abbas, this week.
Banks required to report PA transactions: Banks and credit companies will be required to report the transfer of any sums reaching over NIS 5,000 (USD 1,800) to and from residents and businesses in the Gaza Strip. The banks are also required to halt any transaction made by "suspicious" parties (in accordance with information provided by the Shin Bet and international officials).
Dor-Alon resumes fuel supply to PA: So far, the PA has amassed a debt of NIS 350 million (roughly USD 82 million), and Dor-Alon has refused to ease the terms of the contract. In response, the PA announced they will terminate the contract with Dor-Alon starting January 1, 2007. Dor-Alon immediately stopped supplying the fuel to the PA, which in turn began buying fuel from Paz.
Through the gate and over the wall: The most impressive examples of discriminatory urban development, however, are in Israel. The West Bank is dotted with walled Jewish settlements, with surveillance cameras forming a second, immaterial wall. When complete it will stretch for more than 700km. Its presence hinders peace, disrupts the local economy, divides fields, villages and neighbourhoods, and prevents the flow of Palestinian workers into Israel and between localities. It obstructs social life as well.
When migrants look like terrorists: The four people killed recently along the Israel-Egypt border appear to have little in common: two Egyptian policemen, a Bedouin drug smuggler and a Sudanese refugee. However, the circumstances of their deaths share a very obvious factor: They are the direct result of the Israel Defense Forces' new border policy.
Olmert's true colors: He embroiled Israel in a superfluous and failed war, and this week threatened to join up with the most Kahanist politician active in Israel since the death of Rehavam Ze'evi. What is happening to us, to our Ehud Olmert? Nothing. Olmert is coming back to himself. A year and a half ago, it seemed that he stood behind Ariel Sharon's decision to dismantle the settlements in the Gaza Strip. Olmert grew up, they said then.
Say yes to Syria: The convergence plan - the sole reason for his victory in the in the elections - has been defined by Olmert as irrelevant. The evacuation of the illegal outposts has been postponed indefinitely. And, if this were not enough, he became a staunch peace refuser when he rejected entirely all of Syrian President Bashar Assad's attempts to open negotiations on peace in return for the Golan Heights.
It was us who 'told you so': "The holding of 3.5 million Palestinians…," in Sharon's words, is the suicide of Israel as a Jewish state. "Holding them under occupation" and a regime of separation is the suicide of Israel as a democratic state. The phenomenon of illegal outposts and attacks on Palestinians by some settlers – attacks that could not be stopped even by the attorney general's calls, Supreme Court rulings, and government decisions – those mark Israel's suicide as state ruled by law and order.
Carlos Santana to perform in Jerusalem: Yediot Aharonot reported over the weekend that the 10-time Grammy winner is scheduled to perform in Jerusalem next spring as part of Bridges of Music, an international project created to advance peace and understanding in conflict zones around the world. Previous Bridges of Music concerts have taken place in Indonesia, Cuba and Ireland.
Dayan mulled Golan withdrawal, Yom Kippur War journal reveals: Upon visiting both fronts, Dayan suggested a major withdrawal. Although the story about the southern front has been widely reported, Dayan's suggestion that Israel consider abandoning the Golan Heights due to Syrian military pressure was not made known. Later on, when reservists reached the northern front, Dayan recovered and spoke about the Golan Heights in altogether different terms.
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