Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Meanwhile in Palestine

Thirty Days Against Borders - Children of Nablus against the Occupation: School children from Nablus dressed up like Native Americans will gather in a peaceful demonstration at Huwarra checkpoint. Over four weekends in January and February, Palestinian, Israeli and international peace organizations will gather at both sides of Huwarra Checkpoint to protest against the regime of barriers which severely retricts movement in the West Bank. They will sing and play, have a photo exibition and in other ways demonstrate for peace.

Five killed as internal tensions resurface in Gaza Strip: In the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis, three security officials loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were killed Wednesday afternoon when unidentified gunmen attacked their vehicles, hospital officials said.

Bodies of a Woman and child found in Gaza: Dr. Mou'awiah Hassanin, director of the emergency department in the Palestinian ministry of health reported that Sami Ashour, 14, was found dead near a gas station in central Gaza strip, Dr. Hassanin added that the boy was beaten up on the head very badly, shot in the back and his body had torture marks. Apparently, the two cases are separate, however, this indicates a serious alarming situation in the Gaza Strip regarding the security situation.

Unknown gunmen abduct a Palestinian security officer in the southern part of Gaza Strip: Eyewitnesses reported that the gunmen opened fire at Mo'taz Al Tawil, 40, an officer working with the Palestinian Preventative Security forces, while he was leaving a mosque in Khan Younis at dawn.

Israeli army invades Nablus and Tubass: three residents abducted among an injured man. The Israeli army invaded the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Tubass on Wednesday at dawn, attacked residents' homes, wounded one resident and abducted three including the wounded, Palestinian sourcess reported.

Fatah official: Hamas training in Iran, Lebanon: "We are sure according to information that we have that Hizbullah prepares Hamas for a confrontation with us (Fatah) and with Israel. None of these preparations takes place in Gaza, but they take place in Lebanon, in Iran and in other places where the Iranian and Hizbullah experts train Hamas militants," the senior Palestinian intelligence official told WND.

Marking the territory: At 6:30 last Friday morning, two cars waited for soldiers to open the checkpoint at the eastern entrance to Ramallah. This checkpoint is only for diplomats, Palestinian VIPs, journalists, employees of international organizations and anyone whose presence is welcomed by the military authorities. The checkpoint obligates thousands of villagers living in the vicinity to travel from 30 to 60 kilometers, instead of three to four km, so the settlers of Beit El and Psagot and of the outposts of Migron and Givat Asaf can exercise their landlordism.

Americans, Europeans told: Leave Gaza: The Palestinian security establishment has advised American and European citizens to leave the Gaza Strip following kidnapping warnings, Israel Radio reported Wednesday. The warnings were also aimed at United Nations Relief and Works Agency personnel who are in Gaza to aid Palestinian refugees. However, the UNRWA said that they did not intend to pull their workers out of the area.

Hamas claims Shalit progress, Israel says it's all 'spin': Israeli officials on Tuesday continued to dismiss various reports about an impending deal for the release of kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit as "media spin," even as Hamas sources were saying that the movement has agreed to release Shalit in return for "several hundred" Palestinian prisoners.

Arab MKs: We’ll torpedo budget if funds not given to Arab sector: The two MKs have demanded that $980 million of the funds allocated to developing the Galilee be transferred to Arab villages, and for hundreds of millions of shekels to be dedicated toward developing Arab communities in the Negev. They also asked the Education Ministry to build more classrooms for Arab students. Majadele told Haaretz Tuesday that he had been in contact with the Finance Ministry over the matter for a number of weeks.

Haniyeh cuts short tour of Arab world: The aides said Haniyeh would return to Gaza on Thursday to attend to "work" instead of traveling to Jordan, which has offered to host a meeting between Haniyeh and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement in an effort to defuse deadly tensions between their factions.

Mubarak-Olmert summit seeks to relaunch Mideast peace talks: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Thursday in a bid to relaunch the stalled Middle East peace process and to bolster Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in his standoff against the ruling Hamas party.

Netanyahu: Pensions cut – Arabs' birth rate declined: In his speech, Netanyahu referred to the cuts in child pensions, saying that since they were implemented "two positive things happened: Members of the haredi public seriously joined the workforce. And on the national level, the unexpected result was the demographic effect on the non-Jewish public, where there was a dramatic drop in the birth rate."

No comments: