On Tuesday a group of six human rights activists traveled to the small village of Sarra, west of Nablus, in response to a plea from a local school headmaster about Israeli army harassment of schoolchildren: According to countless eyewitness reports, during the last week an Israeli military Humvee would arrive in front of the school as the children were coming out, and proceed to let off sound bombs, tear gas and fire rubber bullets.
Israelis invoke Area C and destroy northwestern West Bank homes: The Israeli authorities are escalated their campaigns in the northwestern West Bank province of Qalqilia. By accusing Palestinians of not obtaining licenses from the occupation authorities to build on their own land inside the West Bank, the Israelis are issuing more land confiscation and home demolition orders.
Old women step forward as 'martyrs': In the centre of Beit Hanoun, there is nothing left of the 800-year-old mosque but the minaret. It looks like a lighthouse stranded in a sea of rubble. People whose homes were demolished during the latest Israeli army incursion sit on plastic chairs around bonfires. At night they bunk down with the neighbours. 'I saw the Israeli soldiers eye-to-eye,' she said. 'They took my four-year-old grandson, Mahadi, who has Down's syndrome. They shook him and yelled: "Where are the guns?" Now he is traumatised and wets the bed every night.'
Dutch bank divests holdings in J'lem light rail, cites settlements: A Dutch bank has decided to divest itself of its holdings in a French company that is participating in building Jerusalem's light rail system, on the grounds that the project "is not in line with the United Nation's demand to stop all support for Israel's settlement activities." Work recently began on the railway's first line, which will run from Neveh Ya'akov to Mount Herzl, passing through parts of the city that Israel annexed in 1967 on its way.
Seeing the negative side of Israel's nationalism: The subsequent Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands rendered her an instant foreigner. Since returning in 1975, she has tried to obtain permanent residency status, but like tens of thousands of other Palestinians, she was given a tourist visa, which requires quarterly renewal. So she diligently left and came back. For 31 years. A Foreign Ministry spokesman recently told the British Daily Telegraph that Samara and people like her "are foreign nationals with no legal status, living [in the West Bank] as tourists while we turned a blind eye."
Palestinians: IDF troops kill 16-year-old stone-thrower in Nablus: Medical personnel said soldiers opened fire on protesters who were throwing stones at military vehicles at a refugee camp outside of Nablus. The youth was shot in the head and died on the way to hospital.
Child injured by setters fire in Hebron: Palestinian sources in Hebron reported that a six-year old child was shot by settlers fire near Khirbit Qalqas area, south of Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank. The child was walking with his parents near settlement road number 60 near the village.
Palestinian killed in Gaza, another seriously injured in Khan Younes: Palestinian security authorities on Sunday found a corpse of a 40 year-old Palestinian citizen in the center of Gaza and declared that the victim had been shot dead in various parts of his body. Security authorities started investigations to try determine circumstances of the killing of the man.
Gaza child dies of wounds sustained during Israeli attacks last month: The child was shot in the head by an Israeli army sharp-shooter during a military invasion to the town on November 25th, and was moved to an Israeli hospital, medical sources reported.
98 residents taken prisoner in Bethlehem in November: The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) reported that Israeli soldiers took prisoner 98 resident in several attacks and invasions carried by the army in the West Bank city of Bethlehem during the month of November.
Hamas suspends ceasefire talks following West Bank violence: The movement said in a leaflet sent to reporters that 'ongoing (Israeli) violence in the West Bank 'threatened' the fragile Gaza truce. The Hamas statement came as Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz repeated Israel's refusal to expand the ceasefire to the West Bank.
Qatar to pay wages of Palestinian education workers: "Qatar will pay the salaries of all the education employees, who are 40,000. This amount will total $22.5 million per month for the coming several months starting now," Ismail Haniyeh said, adding that Qatar was also studying giving an additional $7 million per month to the Palestinian health sector.
Abbas: Economic situation worsening: "Any delay in forming a national unity government means a worsening in the conditions of the Palestinians, especially in the economic conditions they are living," he said. Abbas, who had announced Thursday that talks to form a unity government with the radical Islamic group Hamas had failed, expressed hope Sunday for restarting them.
The Hidden Agenda of the War on Gaza: This policy is retribution for the Palestinian people's implementation of their democratic rights through the electoral process. Additionally, it is a policy meant to reshuffle the Palestinian political reality and force it to coincide with Israeli-American political objectives. Consequently, Israel's campaign of punishment is supported by the United States and Europe, with the collaboration of the Arab regimes and some Palestinian political parties.
The cease-fire will go up in flames: There are plenty of examples. In January 2002, after several months of quiet, the Tanzim activist Raed Karmi was assassinated in Tul Karm. Dichter, who was then the head of the Shin Bet, pushed for this action, of course. Immediately afterwards, Fatah began its suicide bombing attacks. Several months later, the Tanzim announced a unilateral cease-fire. Shortly thereafter, in July 2002, Salah Shehadeh was assassinated in Gaza in a one-ton bombing, which also killed 15 innocent residents.
Gaza group warns women to cover heads: The group, Just Swords of Islam, directed its warning to female students at universities and colleges who do not wear hijab head coverings according to Islamic tradition, the Jerusalem Post said Sunday. The group said followers in Gaza City recently threw acid in the face of a young woman they said was dressed "immodestly."
Report: PM to meet high-ranking Saudis soon in new peace bid: The Sunday Times of London has reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will soon meet high-ranking Saudi officials to discuss future peace talks with moderate Arab countries, and that Olmert held a preliminary meeting with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a close advisor to Saudi King Abdullah, in Amman at the end of September.
19 percent growth in export to Arab countries: The growth in export to Egypt was influenced by the coming into effect of the QIZ agreements, which allow for tariff-free exporting from Egypt to the United States of products of traditional industries, subject to the acquisition of raw materials from Israel.
Protesters demand Canada end its support of Israel in Middle East conflicts: Protesters holding banners with slogans such as "Boycott Israeli Apartheid" fought gusting winds to stay upright while shouting "shame." They denounced Prime Minister Stephen Harper's depiction of Israel's rocket campaign in Lebanon in the summer as a "measured" response.
Time to pack? We're really good in history. The right-wing opposition competes with the Olmert-Lieberman government over the question of who scares us more on the Iran question; who will cause more involuntary-immigrants not to come, more Israelis to leave the country, and more former Israelis not to return?
Nablus village school children terrorized by IOF: Israel creates new ministry to deal with Iran threat. The Israeli government has approved the creation of a new ministry for strategic affairs, to be headed by a controversial ultra-nationalist and deal mainly with Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Minister: IDF can't even defend itself: These failures were discovered following a surprise security investigation that was executed on the base. The investigators discovered smug guards, faulty equipment, and pedestrians being able to walk in and out of the base freely.
Protesters in Bil'in demand access to the isolated orchards to plant them: Abu Rahma added that the residents have been trying to access their orchards to plant them since three weeks, but the army barred them from driving their tractors and other heavy tools into their orchards which threatens the agricultural season for the villagers who depend on agriculture as their main source of livelihood.
Jerusalem Barrier Causes Major Upheaval: The manager of a clinic switches from car to motorcycle to speed blood samples to the lab. A homeowner abandons his suburban villa for a small city apartment. A college student leaves home two hours early for what used to be a 30-minute trip to class. The lives of tens of thousands of Jerusalem's Arabs have been changed in ways big and small by a 60-mile, $465 million ring of walls and fences _ Israel's biggest undertaking in the city since it captured and annexed the Arab sector in the 1967 Mideast War.
Palestinian activists resist settlers calling for further confiscation: Approximately 150 Israeli settlers from the Efrat Settlement bloc, illegally built in the West Bank's Bethlehem District, arrived in Al Khader Friday. The settlers drove their cars on the settler-only Road 60 to the southwestern Bethlehem village. They raised banners in Hebrew calling to destroy Al Khader with more settlement roads and the Wall running through the center of the town.
The highest proportion of the disabled are Palestinian: Sunday marks the day to remember the disabled throughout the international community. At this time, Palestinians mark the occasion by bringing attention to the plight of the local community. Throughout the international community, the highest proportion of disabled are Palestinian due to the Israeli policy of shooting to maim, rather than kill. Israeli soldiers are taught to aim at the knees of children instead of to kill them, bringing generations of handicapped into Palestinian society.
Hamas slams PLO decision to stop forming national unity government: Calling on Abbas to come back to the negotiation table, Hamas has heavily attacked the PLO. "It seems the PLO needs to be reformed, and Hamas has often demanded this," Barhoom said. He added that the PLO's executive committee "convenes only to topple Hamas and the government it leads, and always approves Fatah's determination."
CAN JIMMY CARTER DO FOR PALESTINE WHAT JACK MURTHA DID FOR IRAQ? Other than 2002 Nobel Prize Laureate, Jimmy Carter, no American politician has spoken honestly about Israel's occupation of Palestine. No American politician has addressed Israel's mistreatment of the Palestinians. Not because the mistreatment doesn't exist. But because acknowledging it brings accusations of anti-semitism and the potential to lose an election.
“Peace worker’s tales of war”: Sharon was put in prison after being banned from a peace conference in Bethlehem on December 21 last year, spending 11 days behind bars. Although her time in prison was hard, she wasn’t subjected to the same abuse as some of her fellow peace workers. “My colleague Vic was beaten by seven guards to try and convince him to get on the plane back. They just shouted at the girls,” she said.
Palestinians: Israel Navy fires on fishing vessel off Gaza shore. The vessel caught fire, but no one was hurt, the security officials said. Also in Gaza, an 11-year-old boy died of injuries he sustained two weeks ago in an Israeli military operation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, hospital doctors said.
Gunbattle near Abbas' Gaza residence wounds nine: The fighting started about 3 p.m., when police tried to arrest several members of the Abu Amra family in connection with drug and weapons smuggling and charges of stealing government land. Members of the family, which live in large, Bedouin-style tents on government land near Abbas' residence, responded with a major counterattack, using assault rifles, and rocket propelled grenades to try to drive off the police, security officials said.
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.
Twilight Zone / Shock corridor: For three months now, the government health services serving Palestinians in the West Bank have been closed down. Dozens of rural clinics are no longer open and government hospitals are barely operating. Health-service workers who have not received most of their salaries for the past nine months - because of the boycott which Israel and the world declared on the Palestinian Authority government - have declared a strike, which has gotten worse: Since Monday the hospitals have only been accepting patients whose life is in immediate danger.
New UN resolutions back Palestinian right to a state: In a separate resolution topping 150 "yes" votes declared any attempt to impose Israel's laws, jurisdiction and administration on Jerusalem illegal, and therefore null and void. It was approved by a vote of 157-6 with 10 abstentions.
Israel: UN resolutions don't advance peace: The resolutions, which were accepted by a decisive majority, called Israel to dismantle the (ILLEGAL) settlements, withdraw from (OCCUPIED) East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as well as all territories (OCCUPIED) captured in (SINCE) 1967. The GA also called for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
German FM reiterates political support to Abbas: In a joint news conference after an hour-long meeting with Abbas in Gaza city, Steinmeier said that he believed Abbas was the capable person to reach understandings with Israel on the way towards reinforcing stability in the region.
60 years after Partitioning of Palestine, residents stranded between checkpoints, Wall & settlements: Last Wednesday, November 29, was the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, the UN Partition Plan for partitioning Palestine of November 29, 1947. It was considered the first decision that called for partitioning Palestine and the creation of two Arab and Jewish states. Now, as 2006 is passing away, the Palestinians are living between checkpoints, isolated behind the huge concrete Walls and more than 160 settlements hotting several hundreds of thousands of settlers have been constructed.
President Stresses Muslim Support for Palestine: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a meeting with the Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah in Doha on Friday stressed the need for strong support by the world Muslims for the Palestinians.
Protesters in Bil'in demand access to the isolated orchards to plant them: Residents of Bil'in village, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, accompanied by Israeli and international peace activists held the weekly nonviolent protest against the Israeli Annexation Wall and the isolation of the Palestinian orchards. The protesters also marked the Partitioning Day of Palestine and protested the Israeli policies of annexing the Palestinian lands.
Protesters get a mauling in Bil’in: At today's peaceful protest against the apartheid wall in Bil'in the IOF lashed out at activists with fists and batons, and arrested one Israeli activist. One activist had blood streaming down his face from the assault and had to have his head bandaged by medics on the scene.
ISRAEL-OPT: For farmers, much of their land remains out of reach
Israel's West Bank barrier has separated Palestinian villages along it from around 60 percent of their farmland. With Israeli authorities reducing the number of permits they grant to those wanting to access this land, Palestinians face losing their farmland altogether.
IDF soldier gets two weeks for shooting Palestinian: Haytem Yasin, 25, was shot by the soldier on November 4, at the roadblock of Asira al-Shemaliya. Since the incident he is being treated at Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva, where he is in serious condition as a result of major abdominal injuries. According to testimonies collected by the human rights group B'Tselem, Yasin was shot after he told the soldiers that they should not ask women to run their hands over their bodies as a means of searching for concealed arms.
Diabetic journalist imprisoned without trial on hunger strike: Farag is protesting the Israeli administration's decision to isolate him in solitary confinement for two months. The journalist is prohibited from mixing with the rest of his colleagues, or to listen to the radio, watch television, or read newspapers or magazines.
Fall in love only with Jews: Arab citizens have to marry among themselves, or emigrate from Israel. Any possibility of marrying an Arab from a different state or the territories will be blocked by the citizenship law or the law on illegal aliens.
Muezzin's life lies sunk in a Gaza mosque's ruins: Commanders sent in armored bulldozers to knock down its ancient walls, which dated to the 13th century. "They came and they crushed it," said Kafarneh, sitting in the shadow of the mosque in Beit Hanoun's Martyrs Square, large mounds of brick and rubble lying behind him.
Army shoots and kills a resident of Hebron: Bashar Al Ja'bari, 22, was going to pray the morning prayers in the Abraham Mosque, also known as the Tomb of Patriarchs, located in the old city, when soldiers stationed at a military checkpoint at the mosque entrance shot Al Ja'bari in the head and killed him.
Israeli soldiers open fire on Palestinian youths throwing stones: Palestinian sources in Nablus say Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian youth. The Palestinian sources say that the youth, Shadi Naif, was with several dozen youths who were hurling rocks at soldiers conducting a routine operation in the village. According to the sources two additional youths were seriously wounded by the Israeli soldiers fire, after which the soldiers left the village.
Palestinian dies of injuries in Gaza: Morad Abu Awad, in his 20s, was wounded 10 days ago during an Israeli incursion into a neighbourhood of Gaza City on an arrest operation. Medics said he had probably been a civilian.
Two weeks after his death, Palestinian resident identified by family: Palestinian medical source in Gaza reported on Friday afternoon that a resident who was shot and killed by the Israeli army two weeks ago and remained unknown was identified on Friday by family members.
Israeli court extends detention of wife of Palestinian minister: They added that Israeli military prosecution tabled an indictment list against Wadha accusing her of running the Afak (Horizon) studies center that was administered by her husband before his arrest.
PLO Executive Committee calls on Haniyeh to resign as PM: Abbas told top PLO officials during a special session in Ramallah on Friday that Hamas was to blame for the talks' failure. "[Chairman] Abbas stressed that there would be no dialogue with Hamas," said Tayseer Khaled, a member of the PLO's executive committee. "He said the dialogue ended and that Hamas bears the responsibility for the failure of the talks."
Hamas's Cairo messages: According to Hamas sources, Meshaal is demanding that Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured last June, be released in exchange for 1,400 Palestinian prisoners. The first batch of Palestinian prisoners would be released parallel with Shalit, though the deal will not go ahead in the absence of Israeli guarantees to Egypt that the second batch will be released. Hamas has selected the names of the 1,400 Palestinian prisoners -- including 120 women and 400 children -- involved.
No exit: Victimised by the Shia as part of the Sunni population, and by the Sunni in revenge for the privileged treatment they were granted by Saddam at the expense of Iraqis themselves, Palestinians are in the bad books of most, if not all, the fighting factions in Iraq today. As a result, many Palestinians, Nouicer said, have tried their best to escape the inferno in Iraq. The problem, he added, is that apart from those who had the resources and contacts to grant them alternative residence, the vast majority are without the means to alternate refuge.
Security officials said set to advise against expanded truce: "Rice asked to receive updates and she got them," he said. "It is difficult to say that we reached a specific point [in the meeting]. Abu Mazen [Abbas] explained to her that at this moment there is no progress in the matter of the unity government and if the Hamas stance remains unchanged, it is possible that in two or three months we will have to go to early elections."
UN: Israel breaks border agreement: The Agreement on Movement and Access, signed last November after the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, was meant to facilitate the movement of Palestinians and goods in and out of Gaza. It also promised Palestinian control over the Rafah crossing into Egypt by November 2006, after a transitional year of EU monitoring and Israeli video surveillance.
Tell us the truth: The first option, of isolation and pressure, was supposed to have led to re-elections in the Palestinian Authority, in the hope that Fatah would win the next time around. The second response, the one of acceptance, would have led to the recognition of Hamas as a new and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. These two options required that Israel make national-strategic decisions that could have become historic. However, the cabinet avoided making such decisions and thus failed miserably on both fronts.
Ya'alon still in New Zealand, despite arrest warrant for war crimes: The New Zealand Justice Ministry issued the warrant on Tuesday, several days after a request by a New Zealand resident that was co-signed by various local and international human rights organizations. Officials at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said they had received confirmation from the embassy in New Zealand that the charges have been dropped.
On ethnic cleansing and racism: Palestinians have been and remain victims of a determined ethnic cleansing policy that began in 1947-48 and continues today. Any act of collective punishment -- whether ethnic cleansing or genocide -- is often preceded and adjoined by a racist discourse that dehumanises the victim and justifies the crime on baseless grounds, a concoction of lies and fabrications that may appeal to national or religious psyches, but fails any test of law, morality or basic human norms.
In Palestine, a Dream Deferred: The chances of Palestinians overcoming exile and exercising their right of return seem as far away as ever. Hardly more promising are the immediate prospects for ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza in accordance with the international and Arab consensus, in place since at least 1976 and rejected by the United States and Israel.
The US and the Middle East: A “Grand Settlement” Versus the Jewish Lobby. Because of the refusal of the peace movement to take a stand and confront the Zionist Lobby, it is condemned to playing a passive ‘spectator role’ in the ‘Baker versus-Lobby’ battle for control over US Middle East policy.
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