Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Meanwhile in Palestine

One house leveled by the army in Hebron: However, he appealed to the Israeli supreme court and he won a preventive court ruling to cease the demolition. However, regardless of the court ruling, the army unlawfully demolished the house. This is the second time that the army levels a house in Wadi Al Suman neighborhood despite a court ruling demanding a freeze of the demolition.

Army demolishes two homes in Hebron: Army claims that the house was illegal constructed. The leveled house is only a few hundred meters away from the Kharishna Israeli illegal settlement outpost. Eyewitnesses reported that soldiers forced the family out of their home, while settlers gathered there to “celebrate” the leveling of the Palestinian house.

Palestinian families separated by Israel take action:
Hundreds of foreign nationals packed into the Al-Bireh Municipality Hall to listen to legal experts explain the options available to them in light of Israel's refusal to permit foreign nationals access to the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The audience was full of families with children, fearful that they will be forced to separate within days.

ISRAEL-OPT: Wall creates Palestinian cultural divide:
“The Israelis are cutting the Jerusalem Palestinians off more and more from the West Bank Palestinians, physically and culturally. They want the Jerusalemites to identify more with Arab-Israelis and become quieter,” she said. “They are starting to think of each other as different. Those with Jerusalem IDs begin to think that the West Bankers don’t like them because they can get into the city. But they are the same Palestinians from the same land and culture,” she said.

Status of Palestinian villages outside fence not up for review:
The government has no plans to change the status of nine Palestinian villages located within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem but outside of the separation fence, despite the fact that it does not provide these communities with vital services and that residents of the towns must cross through roadblocks daily.

Army takes four prisoners from two villages near Rammallah: In Dir Ghassanah, more than 14 army jeeps stormed the village, attacked residents houses and took Mamdouh Al Bargothi, a teacher at the local school, prisoner and moved him to an unknown destination. Soldiers also fired rounds of live ammunition and tear gas at the school children who were on their way to school.
Several school girls injured as army takes over one house in a village near Hebron:Later soldiers attacked the girls school in the village and fired tear gas bombs at the classrooms and the school playground causing several chocking cases as a result of gas inhalation, medical sources reported.

Two laws, one trap for family unification: The proposed new Citizenship Law and the Illegal Residents Law (Amendment No. 19 to the Entry into Israel Law) are so much alike that it begs the question of why both are being put forth. Both call for a dramatic closure of Israel's gates to non-Jews, especially residents of the Palestinian Authority. Both tread a thin line between constitutionality and non-constitutionality. The similarity between the bills is so great that one must question whether the Justice Ministry is proposing them both in order to turn up the heat and guarantee that at least one of them is passed?

The checkpoint generation: For nearly a month now, a young Palestinian has been hospitalized at Beilinson Hospital; soldiers shot him at a checkpoint in northern Nablus on Saturday, November 4. Haitem Yassin, 25, is conscious now, but he is still hooked up to a respirator. In recent days, he has been suffering from a high fever, apparently caused by an infection in his abdomen, which was wounded in the shooting. His family is still waiting for a report from the hospital about the number or type of bullets that caused the serious injury.

Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu to head UN mission to Beit Hanun: Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has been named to head a United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun, where at least 18 civilians were killed earlier this month, UN officials said Wednesday.
UN rights chief warns of 'climate of impunity' in Middle East:
UN human rights chief Louise Arbour warned of a "climate of impunity" operating in the Palestinian territories and urged Israel to carry out credible and transparent probes into civilian deaths resulting from military action.

Al- Haq 's Press Release on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People: Both Israel and the international community have repeatedly failed to meet their international legal obligations with regard to the OPT. Consequently, the full realisation of the fundamental rights of Palestinians, including the right to self-determination, remains as distant as ever.

Al-Aqsa: Release Palestinian or we'll fire Qassam: The Hebron police received a report Monday afternoon from a 9-year-old Palestinian girl, who claimed that her 20-year-old sister was kidnapped by unknown assailants near the Beit Hagai settlement in Mount Hebron. According to the Palestinians and the family, the settlers kidnapped their daughter.

Raids in West Bank continue — Peretz:
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said yesterday that Israel would continue its arrest raids in the West Bank, saying the tenuous, two-day-old truce with Palestinian militant factions applied to the Gaza Strip only.

Rice will tell Abbas 'Don't miss opportunity': Rice will pledge America's aid in strengthening Abbas' position, the sources said, but will stress that the United States expects results from him in return. Israeli officials said Washington understands that further progress depends on the success of the cease-fire, which took effect on Sunday.

Olmert to meet Rice Thursday: Rice, who has come to the area to conduct talks, will be meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before meeting Olmert. The decision to meet PM Olmert was made Wednesday. On Tuesday Olmert's associates said, "there is no point in a meeting between Rice and Olmert at this time."

Egyptian border guards refuse entry to Haniyeh entourage: Egyptian security officials at the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday turned back several bodyguards and aides accompanying Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on his first visit to Egypt.

Palestinian FM enters Gaza Strip carrying case with $20M in cash:
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar on Tuesday entered the Gaza Strip carrying a suitcase containing $20 million in cash. Al-Zahar raised the funds, which he brought in through the border with Egypt, over the past two weeks during a series of visits to several Arab countries.

Israel to purchase anti-Kassam system: The defense establishment plans to make an official decision in the coming days to invest $300 million in an anti-Kassam and anti-Katyusha defense system under development by Rafael - Israel's Armament Development Authority, The Jerusalem Post has learned. According to the plan, a combination of a laser and an anti-Kassam missile interceptor will be operational for deployment outside the Gaza Strip within a year and a half.

The 8th London Palestine Film Festival 2007 Calls for Submissions: The London Palestine Film Festival 2007 is calling for submissions. The festival is scheduled to run for two weeks, starting Friday April 27th 2007 at the Barbican Arts Centre in London.

Racism, Resistance and all that Jazz:
Britain’s Respect party organsied Monday a ‘night of live music and spoken words’ in London, where giant Israeli-born jazz artist Gilad Atzmon and jazz author Martin Smith coordinated to perform a spectacular show entitled ‘Jazz, Racism and Resistance.’ The show was meant to symbolise the strong link between jazz music and the struggle for justice, whether present in the civil rights movement's fight against segregation or in the current fight for the rights of the Palestinian people.

No clinic? No school? We'll open one: Today, three years after the construction of the [security] wall there, the signs of neglect and disorder are clearly apparent, even at the entrance of the neighborhood, which is right after the Qalandiyah checkpoint. That checkpoint, and the wall that runs south and north of it, give the once-fashionable Palestinian suburb the look of a slum in a Third World city.

Just do it: It is good that the prime minister is promising a significant improvement in the quality of our neighbors' lives on the road to creating a two-state reality. It is good that the prime minister understands that after he failed in one war, he must try to prevent the next war through a political initiative. However, Olmert is Olmert is Olmert. As such, the life expectancy of the Sde Boker plan he announced this week is about as long as the life expectancy of the convergence plan he announced much less than a year ago.

Cease the fire in the West Bank, too: Against this backdrop, it is difficult to understand the opposition of certain Israel Defense Forces officers, and the reservations expressed yesterday by the defense minister, with regard to an expansion of the cease-fire to the West Bank as well - especially given the Palestinians' declarations that they would be interested in expanding the cease-fire.
Baker Panel Aide Expects Israel Will Be Pressed: An expert adviser to the Baker-Hamilton commission expects the 10-person panel to recommend that the Bush administration pressure Israel to make concessions in a gambit to entice Syria and Iran to a regional conference on Iraq.

Palestinian PM pushes 1967 borders proposal:
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday set the tone for his first foreign tour since taking office by promoting a Palestinian initiative based on an independent state on land outside Israel's 1967 borders.

Bedouin citizens of Israel denied water as means of transfer: The Water Tribunal Supported the Government's Policy of Seeking to Move Arab Bedouin Citizens of Israel from their Land in the Naqab by Upholding Decisions of the Water Commissioner not to Supply them with Drinking Water.

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