|
Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
|
Bulldozing the rule of law
In the first years of the occupation, Israel regularly "requisitioned'' land, ostensibly to meet provisional military needs. Palestinian residents retained ownership, but not control, of their real estate. On some of that land, the government established settlements. Facing court challenges in the 1970s, the state argued that the new communities served Israel's security and were not permanent.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378513004&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israelis adopt what South Africa dropped
In principle, the purpose of military occupation is different from that of apartheid. It is not designed as a long-term oppressive regime but as an interim measure that maintains law and order in a territory following an armed conflict and pending a peace settlement. But this is not the nature of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Since 1967 Israel has imposed its control over the Palestinian territories in the manner of a colonizing power, under the guise of occupation.
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2006/11/29/1129edcarter.html
Report: Yaalon escapes arrest in New Zealand
Former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon escaped an arrest during a visit to New Zealand. The warrant, which was filed by a New Zealand citizen against Yaalon for alleged war crimes, was cancelled at the last minute after the local Justice Ministry interfered, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported Thursday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3334597,00.html
Army levels several houses south of Bethlehem
The Israeli army leveled two Palestinian houses located in the Iskarba area, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Thursday. The houses are located on lands belonging to Mohamed Odah and Taysser Odah nearby the illegal Israeli settlement block of Kfar Atzion.
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22987/1/
Army levels a number of shops in Salfit
The Israeli army leveled to the ground three Palestinian owned shops in the West Bank city of Salfit. The shops are located just on the outskirts of the city near the entrance of the illegal Israeli settlement of Ari'al.
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22979/1/
In pre dawn invasions to several West Bank areas the army takes prisoner 21 residents
Israeli army sources said that the arrest campaign troops conducted in the West Bank on Thursday at dawn targeted what the army calls "Wanted Palestinians." None of these families were told why their relatives were taken, nor were they told where they were taken to.
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22973/1/
AIC Member Ahmad Abu Hannya Placed in Administrative Detention for an Additional Six Months
Ahmad, coordinator of the AIC youth group in Bethlehem, was detained at a checkpoint on his way to work on 18 May 2005 and placed in administrative detention, which is imprisonment without trial or charges. As with all of the approximately 600 Palestinian administrative detainees currently being held by Israel, Ahmad and his attorney are not even permitted to know the evidence against him.
http://www.alternativenews.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=634&Itemid=1
Human Rights Watch Must Retract Its Shameful Press Release - By Norman Finkelstein
After Palestinians spontaneously responded to that "unknown voice on a cell phone" by putting their own bare bodies in harm's way, HRW rushed to issue a press release warning that Palestinians might be committing a "war crime" and might be guilty of "human shielding." ("Civilians Must Not Be Used to Shield Homes Against Military Attacks"). In what must surely be the most shocking statement ever issued by a human rights organization, HRW indicted Palestinian leaders for supporting this nonviolent civil disobedience:
http://www.counterpunch.org/finkelstein11292006.html
UN report: “Israel violated all articles of Crossings agreement”
Number of roadblocks increased by 44%, and movement between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is totally blocked, the report added, the West Bank is currently divided in 10 isolated sections. The agricultural sector suffered a 30 Million US Dollar loss this year, the shelling and bulldozing of agricultural hothouses and barracks caused additional 6 Million US Dollar losses, and 4200 employee in the agricultural sector are jobless.
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22996/1/
EU diplomat: Olmert refused European force to oversee ceasefire
According to a senior European diplomat, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel was not interested in a European force to uphold the ceasefire with Palestinians at a meeting Tuesday with European Union ambassadors in Herzliya.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3334610,00.html
Haneya: talks on unity gov't face differences
"Unity is the national interest of the Palestinians," said Haneya, adding that Palestinian factions have agreed to set up a unity government based on a prisoners' document. The document, which calls for a two-state solution, also guarantees Hamas to participate in the government.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-11/30/content_5414435.htm
Abbas aide: PA Chair rules out more unity gov't talks with Hamas
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will no longer pursue unity talks with the ruling Hamas movement and instead will convene a supreme committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization to decide how to proceed, a top Abbas aide said Thursday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/794840.html
Al Aqsa brigades says it will not abide to the truce since it excludes the West Bank
The Al Aqsa brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement, issued a statement on Thursday declaring its position that it will not abide to the truce since its excludes halting the Israeli attacks, and invasions in the occupied West Bank.
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22991/1/
Sources: Rice will ask Olmert to lift roadblocks in West Bank
Rice's visit to Jerusalem is meant to show American support for the new negotiating process, official sources say. That began with the cease-fire, and should presumably lead to setting up a Palestinian national unity government. In the next stage, the U.S. is expected to help jump-start the political negotiations between Israel and the PA.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/794513.html
Mideast prisoner exchange on table
In a separate development, Palestinian officials quoted in London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat that the fractious Palestinian militant factions are united in their demand that high-profile prisoner Marwan Barghouthi be included in a prisoner exchange that would see the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1164884503978
Hundreds of Arab Bedouin are without Water, Because of Political Considerations
In a well-governed country which provides for the welfare of its citizens, the state supplies water to citizens as a basic necessity. However, in Israel in 2006, this commodity is supplied according to political considerations. Hundreds of Arab Bedouin families are living in the Naqab (Negev) in terrible conditions without infrastructure, and even without the supply of drinking water. According to a study commissioned by the Ministry of Health, this fact exposes most of these families to serious illnesses, including cholera, dysentery and typhus.
http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/nov06/adel.pdf
Weapons smuggled into Gaza despite ceasefire
Since Israel and Palestinian militants agreed to a ceasefire five days ago, Palestinians have continued smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip from neighboring Egypt, including several pieces yesterday, Israeli and Palestinian security officials told WND.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3334648,00.html
Abbas calls on Olmert to revive peace talks
Abbas relayed the message through US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after the two met Thursay afternoon in Jericho. Rice met later in the day with Olmert, and was meeting Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni later in the evening.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881790520&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Rice meets PM, praises Olmert's diplomatic plan
"Rice expressed her appreciation for Prime Minister Olmert's speech earlier this week and said that it was an important step that was likely to both contribute towards calm and advance the peace processes in the region," said the Prime Minister's Office in a statement. ( Does the speach differ a lot from Sharon's?! )
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/794544.html
Palestinian FM: We need unity government that doesn't comply with US demands
Meanwhile, Zahar said his government does not rely on the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "This endless series of meetings has achieved nothing for our people; instead, these visits come to justify more aggressions on the people."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-12/01/content_5415198.htm
IRCICA to Restore Ottoman Buildings and Monuments in Jerusalem
Having realized a project entitled “Mostar 2004” preserving the cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) is now taking action in Jerusalem. A sacred city according to all three celestial religions, Jerusalem’s historical buildings from the Ottoman period will be restored one by one.
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=culture&alt=&trh=20061130&hn=38822
Gaza and Darfur
As a zone of ongoing, large-scale bloodletting Darfur, in western Sudan, has big appeal for US news editors. Americans are not doing the killing, or paying for others to do it. So there's no need to minimize the slaughter with the usual drizzle of "allegations." There's no political risk here in sounding off about genocide in Darfur. The crisis in Darfur is also very photogenic.
http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20061218&s=cockburn
Will US position change?
President Bush's expected trip to Amman, just like the meeting between Vice President Cheney and Saudi King Abdullah, has the potential to affect Israel's diplomatic situation in the near future. These visits show that the American Administration is considering not only steps that would extract it from the Iraq mess, but even wider Middle-Eastern moves.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3333536,00.html
Security group: Start Saudi Plan talks
The Saudi plan, adopted at the Arab Summit in Beirut in March 2002, called on Arab states to "normalize relations" with Israel in return for the establishment of a Palestinian state following an Israeli withdrawal to the Green Line and a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN Resolution 194. This resolution called on Israel to allow the return of Palestinian refugees
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378514275&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
It seems to be serious this time
The process began with a Palestinian initiative. The Israeli prime minister did not have much choice nor did he have the option of refusing the proposal. After all, we have just emerged from one difficult war - can Israel continue to fight? And if it can, is it wise to do so when the president of the United States is in the region?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/794519.html
Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid
It's the title of a new book authored by former President Jimmy Carter, and according to this statesman who oversaw the first Middle East peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, the title was meant to provoke a much-needed discussion which rarely ever transpires in US politics and media.
http://www.cjnepal.org/story/431/palestine-peace-not-apartheid
France stands by US refusal to engage Syria
France and the United States agree there is no point in talking to Syria because the conditions for an honest dialogue do not exist, President Jacques Chirac said on Wednesday. His comment came as US President George W. Bush is under strong domestic pressure to talk to Syria and Iran in an effort to reduce sectarian violence and avert civil war in Iraq.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=77275
Ramle Mayor apologizes for offensive comments about Arab residents
"If they don't like it they should go live in Jaljuliya, that's an Arab name," Lavi was quoted as saying. "What happened, what? Because some Mohammed wants to change the name? He should change his Allah."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/794887.html
Arabic teachers: Security situation is damaging the subject's image
Carmit Bar-On, an Arabic teacher in Rosh Ha'ayin's Begin high school, is frustrated. The Internet site she set up for Arabic studies won a prize from the European Union, after competing with 800 educational sites from some 30 countries, but has received no recognition from the Education Ministry.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/794491.html
UN starts mapping disputed Shaba Farms on Lebanon border
Another issue delaying a solution to the problem of Shaba Farms stems from the disagreement between Lebanon and Syria on ownership. The Syrians refuse to define the borders in the Shaba Farms area, and claim the dispute will be resolved only when a diplomatic solution between Syria and Israel is achieved and the Golan Heights are returned to Syria.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/794497.html
Bush: U.S., Iraq agree to speed turnover of security responsibility
U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday that he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have agreed to speed a turnover of security responsibility to Iraqi forces, but that U.S. troops would remain in the country as long as needed to strengthen the prime minister's authority.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/794742.html |
| For further information contact Shadi Fadda |
|
|
