|
Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
|
I would like to wish a happy new year 2007 to all my readers, and esspecially to those living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories under Zionist Apartheid Regime.
Shadi
Making the law a laughingstock
Virtually not a week goes by without a new revelation, each more sensational and revolting than the previous one, about the building spree in West Bank settlements, in blatant violation of the law and in complete contradiction to official government policy. All this is happening with the knowledge of the defense officials responsible for enforcing the law in the territories, and with cooperation - by commission or omission - from the political echelon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807444.html
Editorial: Israeli derails progress with West Bank move
Now the decision to build homes for 23 Jewish families on land that would almost certainly be evacuated in any conceivable peace agreement has put in jeopardy these small but important steps toward peaceful progress. At the same time, it has empowered the extremists.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/stories/MYSA123006.1O.westbank2ed.1a62253.html
U.S. Catholics All for Disinvestment
U.S. Roman Catholics have come out squarely against Israel in a new poll by a Catholic publication. In a survey conducted by The Tablet, a majority of those questioned agreed that they ֲ“would disinvest from companies whose products are used by the Israeli government in the occupied territoriesֲ”. In the poll of more than 2,800 people, 68.5 per cent supported disinvestment while 75 per cent called for the ֲ“removal of Jewish West Bank settlementsֲ”.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=118389
Not the Bethlehem of our thoughts
Christmas in Bethlehem this year was the most difficult in memory. This reality probably wouldn't surprise most Americans who have a general sense of Middle East conflict. However, a survey we commissioned reveals that Americans are ignorant of many other basic facts about Bethlehem. Most Americans cannot identify our town's location, its inhabitants, or the cause of Bethlehem's demise according to most of its residents, Israeli military occupation.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/12/31/sansour-bethlehem/
Arab League: Water has always been one of the most important motives driving Israeli strategy
An Arab League report released Sunday indicated that Israel is the cause of the water problems in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and controls 80 percent the water resources. The project focused on Israel's control and use of Palestinian water, and that of Jordan and Syria. “Israel seeks to control most of the water resources in the Golan Heights and southern Lebanon, the last of which was only meters away from the cease-fire line between Syria and Israel.”
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23445/1/
Guns are the preferred toy for many on Eid Al Adha
It is plastic toy gun season again. Eid Al Adha brings the money and the children rush to the shops to purchase the gun they have had picked out for months. But these are not just any guns. Born, and being raised, under military occupation is rearing a generation of sophisticates in the weapons business.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1336
Palestinian sources: Deal struck to free Gilad Shalit
Under the terms of the deal, Hamas will transfer to Israel a videotape showing Gilad Shalit alive, and in return Israel will release a small number of prisoners in its jails. But uncertainty marred the reports of a breakthrough Sunday afternoon, as the Prime Minister's Office denied having any knowledge of such drastic developments in the affair.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807644.html
Prisoner-swap deal expected to be declared during Mubarak-Olmert summit
The Ramattan News Agency reported on Sunday that a prisoner swap deal that would see the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel is expected to be declared during a summit between Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Egyptian President, Hosney Mubarak this week.
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23447/1/
Fatah official to represent Beit Hanun shelling victims at Defense Ministry
"I know that after the whole media circus around this tragedy [ends], they'll be left by themselves with their suffering," Abu Zayda told Haaretz. "Besides the political issue, which bothers everyone, these people's rights have to be protected." Nineteen Palestinians were killed in the shelling, and dozens wounded. The IDF attributed the incident to a technical error.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807421.html
Democracy not working for Palestine
The Palestinian territories may have descended into full-scale civil war by next week. If not, it will be mainly because Fatah realizes it is too weak to win against Hamas, especially in the Gaza Strip. Democracy does not seem to be serving the Palestinian people very well.
http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=102&cat=48&id=803341&more=
Gazans fear radio rhetoric may cause war
The fighting between Hamas and Fatah militants hasn't played out just in the streets of the Gaza Strip. The rivals also pummeled each other over the airwaves with such epithets as "mercenary death squads," "child killers" and "Zionists."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061231/ap_on_re_mi_ea/gaza_radio_wars_1
IDF to ease restrictions on West Bank population from Monday
Defense Minister Amir Peretz also authorized an additional relaxation of restrictions: He has decided to allow Christian Palestinians from Gaza to visit Christian holy sites in the West Bank and permit Israeli Arabs to visit relatives in Palestinian territory, which Israelis are forbidden to enter.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807458.html
US$ 450m humanitarian appeal for Palestinians
United Nations agencies and NGOs have launched a US$450 million emergency appeal for humanitarian aid for the Palestinians – the biggest-ever for the Palestinians and the third-largest in the world.
http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=13075
Lieberman vs. Livni: First solve security problem
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman opened a front of his own against Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's plan to promote the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3346780,00.html
NIS 50.6 bn 2007 defense budget okayed in preliminary vote
A special Knesset committee approved the 2007 defense budget totaling NIS 50.6 billion on Sunday, with only three out of the ten committee members present at the vote.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807767.html
Canada probing abuse claims of asylum seekers from Israel
In 2005, 679 Israeli citizens sought asylum abroad, mainly in Canada. Some 200 requests were approved, mainly of citizens of the former Soviet Union who came to Israel but left claiming they were persecuted, because of their origin or religion.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807457.html
Abbas and the rockets
Then and only then can the cry for justice resonate with a powerful moral depth. If Palestinians can stand up for the principle of justice and speak out against the killing of Israelis, then their cries for justice when Israelis kill Palestinians will carry the moral weight of righteousness.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3346525,00.html
Help, he wants peace!
No one could better describe the panic that Syrian President Bashar Assad is arousing in Israel. Attacks are something we understand, and escalation is also a user-friendly concept for Israelis. Therefore, it appears that peace has no meaning unless it comes in the form of an attack.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807441.html
Palestine v/s Palestine
A surge of initiatives is sweeping the Middle East. Tzipi Livni has an initiative. Hamas has an initiative in the form of a document. Abu Mazen has an initiative. Syria has invited Israel to negotiations. Olmert is considering the credibility of the invitation, and whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ready for it. Egypt also has a continued initiative that has been there for decades. Washington has a vision that needs translation into, perhaps, civil wars in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon.
http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/OPED/12-2006/Article-20061231-d87af926-c0a8-10ed-0095-49af0b5795ef/story.html
Politics in Palestine in 2006
In February Ismail Haniya took the reigns as Prime Minister and began organizing the government after initial attempts at a national unity government failed. Hamas was in charge and in turn, charges of corruption were levied against past government officials. Many began to be investigated and some were arrested by Palestinian security.
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23442/1/
In the IDF's backyard
This not-so-small group proved utterly incompetent during the war, and in some of the cases abandoned its responsibilities. Yet it remains in charge of providing the North with essential services, as if nothing happened in July-August 2006. On Friday, the IDF completed its in-house investigations on its wartime performance. Meanwhile, the civil authorities continue to operate much as they did five months ago.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807443.html
Bad odors prompt Jordanian complaint
Jordan's King Abdullah demanded that Israel close down a pen at Kibbutz Eilot, north of Eilat, used to keep cows, for bad odors which he said were blown over the border by winds last week and disturbed his stay in Aqaba.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3346759,00.html
Israeli vice PM applauds Saddam execution
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Sunday that the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was "justice for history," Israel Radio reported.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-12/31/content_5554876.htm
Saddam execution immoral
Those are the American occupiers and their yes-men in Iraq. But I will first say what I already said in the past: Saddam Hussein was a cruel dictator who led a totalitarian regime. And those who carried out the brutal verdict against Saddam are those who are leading a government that brought anarchy and disaster to Iraq and divided the Iraqi people to ethnicities and murderous militias that kill dozens of Iraqis every day.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3346540,00.html
Palestinians publicly mourn Saddam, set up condolence tents
In Jenin in the northern West Bank, about 700 people held a mock funeral and chanted "death to Bush," "death to al-Maliki" and "death to al-Sadr," referring to U.S. President George W. Bush, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and Muqtada al-Sadr, the powerful, radical Shiite Iraqi cleric.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807455.html
2006 'deadliest year' for journalists since 1994
"Since the beginning of the war [in 2003], 139 journalists have been killed in Iraq, more than double the number of journalists killed during 20 years of war in Vietnam," the RSF report said. "In almost 90 percent of cases, the victims have been Iraqi journalists. Investigations have been extremely rare or else never took place," the report added.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/807789.html
Rafsanjani: Sanctions will backfire
Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani said Sunday that Iran will never give up its right to possess nuclear technology and that western and Middle Eastern countries will suffer as a result of UN-imposed sanctions on his country.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3346711,00.html
Europeans denounce Hussein's execution
The death penalty is anathema across Europe, and opposition to the execution of Saddam Hussein was nearly unanimous among its leaders Saturday. At the same time, however, many were torn between those strongly held beliefs and revulsion for the former Iraqi dictator's record of atrocities.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-deathpenalty31dec31,0,33710.story?coll=la-home-headlines |
| For further information contact Shadi Fadda |
|
|
