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www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=657003
IDF shells northern Gaza after Qassam lands near Sharon’s Sycamore Ranch
Ha’aretz 12/13/2005
A Qassam rocket fired yesterday from the Gaza Strip landed close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Sycamore Ranch in the Negev. The rocket slammed into the Mekorot water utility’s facility adjacent to the ranch, causing damage but no injuries. The army’s early-warning system picked up the rocket’s movement toward Sderot yesterday afternoon, and residents of the town were instructed to take shelter for the first time in several weeks. Shortly thereafter, it emerged that the rocket had flown past the town and struck the Mekorot pumping facility, between Sderot and Sycamore Ranch.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3183050,00.html
Israel opposes convoy passage from Gaza
YNetNews 12/12/2005
Israel refuses to allow passage of Palestinian convoys from Gaza to West Bank through Israel set for Thursday; insists PA take steps against terror before talks resume — Israel has insisted it will not allow the passage of Palestinian convoys through its territory on Thursday, despite pressures exerted by the United States and American mediation attempts. “The prime minister’s decision from last Monday after the bombing attack in Netanya still stands,” a diplomatic source in Jerusalem stated.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656882
Gunmen shut down Gaza elections office in protest
Ha’aretz 12/12/2005
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – A group of masked Palestinian gunmen from the ruling Fatah Party raided the election office in the central Gaza town of Deir el-Balah and forced it to close Monday to protest their party’s plans to appoint candidates for upcoming elections instead of holding primaries. Fatah canceled its Nov. 28 Gaza primaries after gunmen disrupted at least a dozen polling places, firing in the air and stealing some ballot boxes. Many Fatah leaders hoped the primaries would help clear out the party’s entrenched, corruption riddled old guard and replace them with younger, more popular, leaders.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15434&Itemid=1
Army plans to evacuate Al Hathaleen tribe near Hebron
International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2005
A Palestinian expert in lands and settlement activities warned on Monday that Israel is preparing a new plan to evacuate Al Hathaleen tribe in the West Bank city of Hebron from their area. Abdul-Hadi Hantash, an expert in settlements and maps, the advisor of a Palestinian Department in charge of monitoring the Wall and Israeli settlement activities, said that this plan will cause catastrophic effects on the residents. A military order carrying number 05-196 was issued by the Israeli army to confiscate 1365 Dunams of farmlands from Al Hathaleen tribe for the construction of the Separation Wall in the area.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15426&Itemid=1
Israeli Navy fires at a Palestinian fishing boat, fisherman injured
International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2005
A Palestinian security source reported, on Monday at dawn, that one Palestinian fisherman was injured, near Khan Younis shore, after the Israeli Navy fired with it automatic fire at the boat. The source stated that Mahmoud Azeez Baker, 18, was moderately injured and was admitted to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli Navy ships fired at several fishing boats while the fishermen were fishing. The army claimed that its boats fired at a boat which was attempting to smuggle arms into Gaza. Last Saturday, December 10, the Israeli Navy fired at a Palestinian fishing boat near the Gaza Shore, killing one resident.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656974
EU holds back report criticizing Israeli activity in East Jerusalem
Ha’aretz 12/13/2005
The European Union on Monday decided against publishing a report on East Jerusalem that is highly critical of Israeli settlement activity and the security barrier Israel is constructing to keep out Palestinian attackers. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who chaired an EU foreign ministers meeting, said publishing the report now was inappropriate as Israel was heading for national elections and the EU does not want “to get embroiled in domestic (Israeli) politics in the run-up to elections. “
www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=1057
Inter-Palestinian Controversy over Truce Heats up
Palestine Media Center 12/12/2005
US Administration, Congress Weigh in on PNA, Hamas — The ongoing Israeli violations and extra-judicial killings as well as Israel’s political indecision ahead of the upcoming elections in March have put the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the anti-occupation groups on opposite sides of the argument over the renewal of the truce with the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Meanwhile the US Administration and Congress are weighing in on both the PNA and the Palestinian anti-occupation factions. . . . The Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas,” the Islamic Jihad, and other anti-occupation factions have already announced that the truce will not be renewed when it ends at the year end, citing as reasons Israel’s ongoing assassinations and refusal to release Palestinian detainees in the jails of the IOF.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656473
World Bank: Israel promised not to seal Gaza after terror attacks
Ha’aretz 12/12/2005
The Israeli government has promised in writing not to prevent cargo from entering and leaving the Gaza Strip, regardless of the security situation inside Israel, according to a paper prepared by the World Bank for a conference of donor nations that will take place in London on Wednesday. The paper states that during negotiations with James Wolfensohn, the Quartet’s envoy for the disengagement, Israel submitted a non-paper in which it stated that the Karni Checkpoint, which is the principal cargo terminal between Israel and Gaza, “shall operate in an uninterrupted manner in order to facilitate the transit of cargo and goods.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15425&Itemid=1
Army reopens the Erez Crossing
International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2005
A Palestinian security source reported on Monday morning that the Israeli army reopened the Erez (Beit Hanoun) Crossing, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and allowed workers and traders to cross. The Erez crossing was closed of the Netanya suicide bombing last week, five Israelis were killed in the blast and dozens were injured. Dozens of workers managed to cross on Monday into Israel after going through harsh procedures of search and questioning regarding their destination before they were allowed to cross.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3182286,00.html
U.S.: Implement convoy agreement
YNetNews 12/10/2005
Following Netanya bombing, PM decides to delay implementation of convoy agreement allowing Palestinians to move in protected convoys between Gaza, West Bank; U. S. trying to mediate in order to prevent expected political crisis — David [Welch], an aide to U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has been trying to prevent an expected political crisis following Israel’s decision to delay the implementation of parts of the crossings agreement following the deadly terror attack in Netanya. The most serious disagreement focuses on Israel’s decision not to allow the passage Palestinian convoys between Gaza and the West Bank following the bombing.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656069
Quartet to Israel: Gaza convoys must start this week
Ha’aretz 12/11/2005
Israel must fulfill all its obligations under last month’s Rafah agreement with the Palestinian Authority by this coming Wednesday, when an international conference of donor states will open in London, the United States and other members of the Quartet demanded this weekend. In particular, they said, Israel must resume talks with the Palestinians on running regular convoys between Gaza and the West Bank – which, under the agreement, were supposed to start this Thursday – and significantly ease movement restrictions within the West Bank.
www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1920074,00.html
Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran
The Sunday Times 12/11/2005
ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed. The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations. . . . . A “massive” Israeli intelligence operation has been underway since Iran was designated the “top priority for 2005", according to security sources. Cross-border operations and signal intelligence from a base established by the Israelis in northern Iraq are said to have identified a number of Iranian uranium enrichment sites unknown to the the IAEA.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3182412,00.html
Report: Israel prepares to strike Iran
YNetNews 12/11/2005
PM Sharon orders IDF to prepare for attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities by end of March 2006, British newspaper Sunday Times reports; intelligence officials say Iranian uranium enrichment facilities already active — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has instructed the IDF to prepare for the possibility of a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities by the end of March 2006, the Sunday Times reported. According to the British newspaper said that the order was relayed to the army after intelligence officials warned the government that Iran has already activated uranium enrichment facilities hidden at civilian locations.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656042
Militant dies of wounds incurred in IAF airstrike on Thursday
Ha’aretz 12/11/2005
A third Palestinian militant died Saturday of wounds incurred in an IAF airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip earlier in the week, Palestinian hospital officials said. The strike was carried out Thursday after a suicide bombing at a Netanya mall on Monday killed five people. Two militants died immediately after missiles struck a house near the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya where members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades had holed up.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656333
Palestinian militant killed in botched West Bank grenade attack
Ha’aretz 12/11/2005
A Palestinian militant was killed on Sunday when a grenade he tried to throw at Israel Defense Forces troops exploded prematurely in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, witnesses and the IDF said. They said 18-year-old Ayad Hashash, member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, attempted to attack soldiers scouring Balata refugee camp in Nablus for militants. Later on Sunday afternoon, soldiers in Nablus shot and wounded a Palestinian who tried to throw a concrete block at them. Another Palestinian sustained burns also in the Nablus area when he tried to throw a firebomb at IDF troops.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15435&Itemid=1
Army arrests youth, claim he attempted to stab a soldiers
International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2005
Israeli soldiers arrested on Monday afternoon, one Palestinian youth from the West Bank city of Jenin at the entrance of Salem military camp, west of city in the West Bank. The youth, Amir Mahmoud Al Na’aj, 16, was arrested after he attempted to stab a soldier guarding the gate which leads to the military camp, army source claimed. Soldiers arrested the youth and took him to Salem military camp; he will be transferred later on to an interrogation center, army source said.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=%2FSho
Chair of panel that rejected Sakhnin land request is far-right activist
Ha’aretz 12/13/2005
An Interior Ministry panel responsible for determining municipal borders has rejected a request made by the Sakhnin municipality to increase the land under its jurisdiction at the expense of the surrounding Misgav Regional Council. Haaretz discovered that the panel’s chairman is an active member of Avigdor Lieberman’s far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party and has been so for more than a year. Geographer Gideon Biger was involved in writing the party’s platform and has expressed support for transferring the Israeli Arab city of Umm al-Fahm and the “triangle” region, also largely populated by Israeli Arabs, to the Palestinian Authority as part of a territorial exchange.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656900
Shin Bet nabs Palestinian who was allegedly paid by Hezbollah
Ha’aretz 12/12/2005
The Shin Bet security service has arrested a Palestinian militant in the West Bank city of Nablus suspected of being paid up to US$3,000 by Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrilla movement to carry out attacks on Israelis, security officials said Monday. The militant, Majdi Amar, belongs to the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a Palestinian armed group with links to the ruling Fatah party. While Hezbollah paid Amar to attack Israelis, the Palestinian Authority paid him up to US$700 not to carry out attacks, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6JZD
BR?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Israel reopens Gaza crossings after one-week closure
ReliefWeb 12/12/2005
GAZA, Dec 12, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — Israel on Monday opened the crossings on the eastern and northern borders of the Gaza Strip after a one- week closure, Palestinian security sources said. Israel decided to open Erez Crossing and Karni commercial passage to Palestinian workers and goods flow, the sources said. Israel imposed a full closure on Gaza and the West Bank following a suicide bombing attack last Monday in Netanya, Israel, which killed five Israelis.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15436&Itemid=1
One resident killed, one injured in Gaza
International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2005
A Palestinian security source in Gaza reported on Monday afternoon, that one resident was killed, another injured, after unknown gunmen opened fire at them in the center of Gaza City. The source identified the resident as Fadi Abdul-Basit Al Kafarna, 23, a Palestinian policeman. Dr. Jom’a Al Saqqa, head of the public relations department at Al Shifa hospital in Gaza, reported that Al Kafarna died of a gunshot injury in his head. Resident Ayman Saleh Khaleefa, 33, the friend of Kafarna, was seriously injured in his head, and was admitted to the intensive care unit after surgery. The incident is more likely related to a dispute between the families of Al Kafarna and Al Masry in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4863
Israeli Bulldozers Destroy Palestinian House in Jerusalem
WAFA 12/12/2005
JERUSALEM, December 12, 2005, (WAFA)- Israeli bulldozers destroyed Monday a three-story house in the old city of the occupied East Jerusalem, witnesses said. Witnesses told WAFA that the bulldozers demolished the house of Ahmed Abu Dhaim which hosts at least 30 people. Following the attack, tens of Jerusalem citizens clashed with the Israeli occupation soldiers. Worthy mentioning, the Israeli authorities prevent Jerusalem original citizens from building or reconstructing their houses while allow colonizers to build houses on Palestinian-owned land seized by the Israeli occupation. Several colonizing projects are being built in Jerusalem with approval of the Israeli Government. [end]
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4858
IOF Arrests 6 Citizens in Nablus
WAFA 12/12/2005
NABLUS , December 12, 2005 (WAFA)- Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested Monday six citizens in the West Bank(WB) city of Nablus, witnesses said. They added that Israeli soldiers, backed by armoured vehicles, swept into the city amid intensive fire shooting, besieged number of houses and arrested six citizens, leading them into an unknown location. In the meantime, Jenin city is still under strict closure for the third consecutive day. WAFA reporter said that IOF closed the city, prevented access inside-outside.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656020
IDF finds tunnel used for smuggling terrorists from Gaza to Israel
Ha’aretz 12/11/2005
Israel Defense Forces troops on Saturday uncovered a tunnel used for smuggling Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip to Israel. The tunnel, the first one exposed since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in August, was found near the Erez crossing. The tunnel was dug under the Beit Hanun municipality’s garbage dump, an area that cannot be observed by IDF troops. Soldiers discovered the tunnel while carrying out construction work near the site.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4852
IOF Kidnaps 3 Teenagers in WB
WAFA 12/11/2005
RAMALLAH, December 11, 2005, (WAFA)- Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Sunday kidnapped three teenagers near Ramallah, local sources said. The sources revealed that an Israeli force kidnapped Ahmed H. Abu Adi 16, Khaled Abdu 17 and Ahmed M. Abu Adi 17, near the town of Kofr Nima, south of Ramallah. The sources added that the teenagers were kidnapped while they were at orchards of the town. [end]
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4849
8 Citizens Arrested in WB
WAFA 12/11/2005
JENIN, December 11, 2005 (WAFA)- Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested Sunday eight citizens in the West Bank (WB), cities of Jenin, Bethlehem and Hebron, witnesses said. They added that the Israeli soldiers, backed by helicopters, swept, at dawn, into Jenin city amid an intensive fire shooting, launched a wide search campaign and arrested five citizens. In Bethlehem, security sources said that Israeli soldiers, backed by armoured vehicles, moved into al-Fardees village, east of the city, besieged the house of Hassan Abu Mohammed and under a gunpoint they led him into an unknown spot.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4847
IOF Kills Citizen and Arrests 3 others in WB
WAFA 12/11/2005
NABLUS, December 11, 2205, (WAFA)-Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed Sunday at pre-dawn a Palestinian citizen and arrested three others in the West Bank (WB) city of Nablus, WAFA correspondent said. He added that the citizen Iyad Mohammed Al-Hashash 19, of Balata refugee camp, east Nablus, was killed as IOF stormed the camp amid intensive fire shooting, while three other citizens were arrested and led to Hawarah Israeli camp, north the city. [end]
www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/updates_news/news/pilgrims_wall.htm
Pilgrims bump into Israel’s Security Fence
By Ed O’Loughlin, Palestine Monitor/The Age 12/10/2005
WITH Christmas approaching, the West Bank city of Bethlehem fears that new Israeli travel restrictions could stifle the foreign pilgrim trade in the birthplace of Jesus. The opening of a purpose-built “border terminal” built in Israel’s new wall between Bethlehem and Jerusalem in mid-November is imposing delays of up to two hours on tourist coaches that would previously have passed in a few minutes, people in Bethlehem say. Foreign visitors leaving the city through the terminal are now required to get off their buses and pass through a network of metal barriers and turnstiles to be searched and have their passport checked. “It is putting a huge strain on local tour operators and it creates a huge delay for tourists coming into Bethlehem,” said Carol Dabdoub of Open Bethlehem, a group dedicated to improving the West Bank city’s access to the outside world. . . . . Israel says the new complex of concrete buildings and metal control cages is one of 16 being built around Jerusalem to “facilitate” Palestinian travel. Palestinians and some Israeli rights groups allege that the new terminals inside the West Bank are part of a long-term Israeli annexation strategy closely linked to the continuing expansion of Jewish settlements and the construction of a massive wall and fence complex inside the occupied Palestinian territory – construction condemned as illegal by the international court in The Hague.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=657004
Sharon Mall’s security guards leave en masse
Ha’aretz 12/13/2005
Seven security guards at Netanya’s Sharon Mall have quit, while several others are planning to resign by the week’s end, one week after a suicide bombing there killed five people and wounded 95. Citing a number of reasons for their decision, the guards primarily complained about their wages, the way in which management treats them and the constant fear of terror attacks. The security guards added that mall management had removed the death notices they had posted after the bombing to commemorate the death of fellow security guard Haim Amram, who was killed in last Monday’s attack.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3183334,00.html
Qassam lands in western Negev
YNetNews 12/12/2005
Rocket lands in open area, no injuries reported — A Qassam rocket landed in open space in the western Negev desert Monday afternoon. No injuries or damage have been reported in the latest strike. The rocket landed next to a site belonging to Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, and the sound of the explosion was clearly heard throughout the region. In response to the latest attack, the IDF directed artillery fire at rocket launching sites in the northern Gaza Strip.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4862
Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Calls for EU Practical Acts to Protect Jerusalem
WAFA 12/12/2005
EAST JERUSALEM, December 12, 2005, (WAFA)- State Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Hind Khouri, called on the EU Foreign Ministers to have practical steps for peace and hope in East Jerusalem. In a statement issued Monday, Khoury said that the East Jerusalem has become a hostage as a result of the Israeli measures. She appealed the European Union foreign ministers meeting, held Monday in Brussels, to make practical decisions to translate the suggestion, of the heads of the diplomatic missions, on the city into reality.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656537
Foreign Ministry slams EU talks with Hezbollah, Hamas
Ha’aretz 12/12/2005
The Foreign Ministry believes that the European Union has violated international law by talking to Hezbollah and by planning to make contact with Hamas. An internal ministry document obtained by Haaretz states that contact with representatives of these two groups is contrary to international law. “Several countries have adopted a policy that includes entering into official talks with representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah, or refraining from taking harsh measures against their involvement in terrorism,” the document states. “From a legal standpoint, such political considerations cannot justify activity that is contrary to international law. “
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4866
Abbas: Fateh List for PLC Elections to be Announced in Hours
WAFA 12/12/2005
RAMALLAH, December 12, 2005 (WAFA) – “We are in the final stages to announce the final list of Fateh Candidates for the forthcoming legislative elections,” President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters as he arrived in Ramallah Monday evening. He added that this will take hours before we send the list to the Central Election Commission (CEC), asserting that none of Fateh leaders may form an alternative list. CEC has announced that it will not accept any candidacy list for both lists and constituencies after next Wednesday midnight.
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=12354
President Abbas Urges National and Islamic Factions to Extend Truce with Israel
International Press Center 12/11/2005
GAZA, December 11, 2005, (IPC) – – President Mahmoud Abbas called on Palestinian resistance factions to maintain commitment to the cease-fire declared on 8 February in Sharm Al Sheikh summit. “We should move ahead with this calm until security and stability have been reached in the homeland, until our people feel no fear from the threat of tanks and aircraft,” Abbas said at a ceremony in Gaza City where he laid the foundation stone of Justice Palace. “Anyone who commits acts of provocation against others, especially against Israel, should know that he is acting in an irresponsible way against the common interests of his homeland and his own people,” Abbas added.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656087
Hamas aims to win 60 percent of PLC seats
Ha’aretz 12/13/2005
Umm Musab and Umm Bakhar have been the most prominent Hamas propagandists in the West Bank over the last few months. Umm Musab is the wife of Sheikh Hassan Yousef Musab, a senior Hamas official from Ramallah whom Israel Defense Forces troops arrested about a month ago during a wave of arrests of Hamas activists; Umm Bakhar is the widow of Sheikh Jamal Mansour, a senior Hamas man in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, who was assassinated at the beginning of the intifada. . . . The two women’s activities illustrate the sincerity and thoroughness with which Hamas is relating to the elections, especially the way in which it circumvents the limitations imposed by Israel on it. In a wave of arrests, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service have nabbed hundreds of Hamas activists, including at least 20 activists expected to run for parliamentary elections in the last few months.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/suffolk/4521694.stm
Sniper target laser ‘fell on man’
BBC 12/12/2005
A UN relief worker claimed he was targeted by an Israeli army sniper just after his colleague had fallen wounded. An inquest into the death of UN worker Iain Hook has reopened at Ipswich. Paul Wolstenholme’s written evidence said he was in the compound at the time of the shooting and a sniper’s red laser beam fell on him. Det Supt Roy Lambert showed pictures to the inquest which he said indicated the sniper knew he was shooting into the UN compound at Jenin and had a clear view. Iain Hook, 54, of Felixstowe, Suffolk, died as he tried to negotiate the rescue of his colleagues inside the West Bank refugee camp in Jenin, where he had been working for six weeks.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4861
Detainee Sentenced to Life Term
WAFA 12/12/2005
JENIN, December12, 2005, (WAFA)- Salem Israeli military court sentenced Monday a prisoner to life imprisonment term, Palestinian Prisoner Society said. In a statement, (PPS) revealed that the court ruled against Samer Abu Diak from Seilat azzaher village in Jenin to lifetime imprisonment. It also said that Rami Qandeil was sentenced to 43 months in prison. The Society added that the court postponed the trial of three detainees from al-Yamoun village to next January.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4860
IOF to Transfer Citizens of Al-Hazalein in Hebron
WAFA 12/12/2005
HEBRON, December12, 2005 (WAFA) -An expert in the field of lands and colonization warned Monday of an Israeli plan aiming at transferring citizens of al-Hazalein area in the West Bank city of Hebron. Adviser to State Ministry of Colonization and the Aparthied Wall Affairs, Abd al-Hadi Hantash cautioned against an Israeli plan to forcibly evacuate al-Hazalein Arab citizens through seizing their lands. He told WAFA that Israeli Occupation Forces recently issued a military order to seize 1365 Dunams of their lands for the construction of the Apartheid Wall. [end]
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4859
Israeli High Court Orders Hearing over Ban on Students to their Studies in WB
WAFA 12/12/2005
TAL AVIV, December 12, 2005 (WAFA)-Israeli High Court ordered a hearing over ban on students traveling from Gaza to their studies in the West Bank(WB). In a press release on Monday, Gisha: Center for the Legal Protection of Freedom of Movement said that the hearing, which will take place by early January, will address the request of 10 students, residents of Gaza, who have been prohibited from reaching their studies in Bethlehem, in the field of occupational therapy.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15427&Itemid=1
Patriarch Sabbah participates in a procession against the Wall in Aboud
International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2005
Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah joined the residents of Aboud village, near Ramallah, Israeli and international peace activists in a peaceful procession against the Separation Wall in the village, Al Quds daily newspaper reported. Several political figures and Muslim Sheikhs also participated in the procession which took off on Sunday morning, following prayers at the villages’ churches.
www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/updates_news/news/latin_patriarch_slam_fence.htm
Latin Patriarch of J’lem slams West Bank separation fence
Palestine Monitor 12/11/2005
The top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land planted an olive tree Sunday on the planned route of Israel’s separation barrier in a West Bank village and prayed for the wall’s removal, saying it is serves no purpose. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, visited the barrier in the village of Abud that Israel says it needs to keep Palestinian attackers out. “This position and the confiscation of lands have no reason at all. (The wall) doesn’t benefit the security of either Israel or anybody else. Our prayers are for the removal of this physical wall currently under construction and the return of our lands and your lands to you,” Sabbah told his audience, a group of some 1,000 protesters and believers who traveled with him to the planned route of the wall.
www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=3&id=895
ISM Report: Resistance to Israel’s Apartheid Wall Continues in Aboud
Palestine Media Center/International Solidarity Movement 12/12/2005
The villagers of Aboud have taken up a campaign of nonviolent resistance against the Israeli Aphartied wall which will steal agricultural land, olive trees and water resources. On the second demonstration there, we touched the core of Palestinian popular resistance. The whole village decided that the popular movements that lead the first Palestinian Intifada, they will express their resistance through the power of the people. They decided to fight for their freedom without weapons, to resist armed only with their faith and spirit.
www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2005/153-2005.htm
PCHR Condemns Attack on CEC Office in Deir al-Balah
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 12/12/2005
An armed group, calling itself the “al-Aqza Martyrs Brigades – al-Yasser Brigade,” stormed the office of the Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC) in Deir al-Balah on Monday morning. The group demanded the staff to close the office, in protest to the way in which candidates of Fatah movement for the Palestinian parliamentary elections were selected.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4855
Israeli and Palestinian HR NGO’s Prosecute Israeli Air Force
WAFA 12/11/2005
TEL AVIV, December 11, 2005, (WAFA)- A Palestinian and an Israeli HR NGO’s have filed a joint appeal requesting an injunction from the Israeli High Court to stop “sonic booms” by the Israeli Air Force over the Gaza Strip. In a press release issued Sunday, both Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)-Israel and the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCHMP) said that the appeal is a continuation of the original principle petition filed on 2 November 2005 by the two organizations. . . . PHR-Israel and GCHMP have declared the use of sonic booms illegal, as it is collective punishment against the entire population of the Gaza Strip.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4853
Al-Sourani Stresses: “Dichter Should be Sued, Justice Would Prevail”
WAFA 12/11/2005
NY CITY, December 11, 2005 (WAFA) – Director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Raji al-Sourani, stressed Sunday the necessity of suing Avi Dichter, the former Director of Israel’s General Security Service (GSS), for his responsibility of the killing and injury of 165 citizens in a 2002 air strike in Gaza. The US Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and PCHR brought a class action lawsuit Thursday against Dichter on behalf of the Palestinians who were killed or injured in a 2002 air strike in Gaza. The attack occurred just before midnight on July 22, 2002, when the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) dropped a one-ton bomb on al-Daraj, a residential neighborhood in Gaza City.
www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1664215,00.html
Calls grow for withdrawal of Nobel prize
The Guardian 12/10/2005
Israeli group objects to award for ‘warmongers’ ˇ Game theory used for political bias, say critics — A group of Israeli intellectuals and activists has demanded that the Nobel prize committee withdraw the award for economics to be made today to an Israeli mathematician and his American colleague on the grounds that they are “warmongers”. The critics accuse Professor Aumann – a member of the hawkish thinktank, Professors for a Strong Israel, which believes the Jewish state should retain the occupied territories – of using his mathematical theories to promote his political views. “Aumann uses his analysis to justify the Israeli occupation and the oppression of the Palestinians,” the petition says. It describes Professor Schelling’s theories as directly inspiring the US military strategy in Vietnam, including the indiscriminate bombing of civilians. “This strategy resulted in 2 million civilian deaths and was a complete failure in realising its objectives,” the petition says.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656037
Adalah boycotts forum due to presence of ex-police chief
Ha’aretz 12/10/2005
The Israeli Arab advocacy organization Adalah will not participate in an upcoming conference organized by the Israel Democracy Institute in protest of the participation of retired Major General Alik Ron, who was the commander of the police’s northern district during the October 2000 riots. In a letter to the IDI sent Friday, Adalah demanded that its name be removed from the list of participants. “Our agreement was never given to any representative of the Israel Democracy Institute to participate in any forum together with Alik Ron,” the letter wrote. [See also:
www.%20adalah.%20org/eng/index.%20php
Adalah]
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/12/10/iof-continues-harrasing-jayyous-villagers/
IOF Continues Harrasing Jayyous Villagers
International Solidarity Movement 12/10/2005
Today, 11th December 2005, at 2:30am, the IOF troops invaded the west bank village of Jayyous. They searched houses and arrested theVice President of the Jayyous municipality, Mr. Issam Muhammad Hassan Shbaita. Mr. Shbaita is known as a local human rights activist for his work that coordinated with international organizations that helped to resist the Israeli occupation. More recently, Mr. Shbaita was known for his efforts in joining the international calls for the release of the four kidnapped Christian Peacemaker Teams activists in Iraq.
www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos17449.html
The joint struggle against the separation fence in Bil’in and Al-Jib 9-12-05
A-Infos 12/9/2005
The two themes of this Friday demonstration were the planting of olive trees saplings to replace the olive trees robed by the companies building the big Modi’in Elit settlement on the lands of Bil’in, and the call for the release of the two peace activists kidnapped in Iraq who were previously active in our region against the separation fence. As usual, the demonstration started at noon with a march from the center of the village towards the route of the separation fence in building. Participated in it about 100 people. About 50 activists of the Bil’in village, about ten people from other villages and students of the Bir-Zeit university, about twenty international activists, and 30 Israelis from the Anarchists Against The Wall initiative and others. . .
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/12/09/three-new-olive-trees-successfully-p
lanted-in-bil%e2%80%99in-palestinian-man-hit-by-rubber-coated-bullet/
Three New Olive Trees Successfully Planted in Bil’in; Palestinian Man Hit by Rubber Coated Bullet
International Solidarity Movement 12/9/2005
Villagers from Bil’in, supported by international and Israeli activists, succeeded in planting three new olive trees at the construction site of the illegal apartheid wall, close to their village on the West Bank. Soldiers responded to this practical and symbolic gesture with brute force and by shooting tear gas and rubber coated bullets at the non-violent demonstrators. At 12:15, about 200 Palestinians, accompanied by 50 International and Israeli activists, started to walk toward the construction site of the wall. Still far away from the line of soldiers that awaited them, they were nevertheless fired on with tear gas canisters. . .
www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1664737,00.html
‘We’re trapped … books free our minds’
The Guardian 12/11/2005
In the third week of our appeal, Conal Urquhart reports on the Palestinian institute making sure children don’t grow up illiterate — Nadeen cradles her folder. She carefully lays it on the table and takes out four books, a notebook, a pencil and what looks like a passport. The ‘passport’, she says, contains a list of the books she has read recently. She enjoys holding the books and turning them around in her hands and pointing out characters. Nadeen Hawareen, aged seven, from Ramallah is one of thousands of Palestinian children who are offered lessons, books and activities by the Tamer Institute. She has been taught to use the books to trigger her imagination.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3183073,00.html
Survey: Leftists prefer Palestinians to settlers
YNetNews 12/12/2005
While most Israeli Jews rank Palestinians first on their hostility scale, left-wing Israelis hate settlers more, new survey reveals — Israelis who support left-wing parties are more hostile toward Jewish settlers than they are toward the Palestinians, a new survey reported by Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on Monday revealed. The survey, which was conducted by Prof. Dalia Mor of The College of Management in Rishon Letzion, aimed at examining the attitudes of 500 Jewish respondents toward the different sectors in Israeli society: Ashkenazi Jews, Sepharadic Jews, secular Jews, settlers, ultra-orthodox Jews, rightists, leftists, Israeli-Arabs, Palestinians, new immigrants, settlers and foreign workers.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AF0928AC-CF1F-4E69-9DDC-E7D031E1838B.htm
Opinion poll: Fatah ahead of Hamas
AlJazeera 12/12/2005
The ruling Fatah faction has a strong lead over Hamas six weeks before the Palestinian parliamentary election, a new opinion poll shows. In findings published on Monday, a total of 37% of voters questioned by Bir Zeit university said they would vote for Fatah, against 20% who opted for Hamas while a further 13% said they would cast their ballots for independents or smaller parties. The remaining 30% said they were still undecided how they would vote on 25 January in what will be only the second elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council.
www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2005/152-2005.htm
PCHR Organizes a Workshop on Mechanisms of Legal Protection for Victims of Violence against Women
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 12/12/2005
The Women’s Rights Unit at PCHR organized a workshop titled “Mechanisms of Legal Protection for Victims of Violence against Women. “Counselor Suleiman al-Dahdouh, Deputy Head of the Council of Legislations and Legal Opinions; Major Einas Shalabi, director of the female police; representatives of a number of women’s organizations; and a number of jurists and specialists participated in the workshop. The workshop was organized at PCHR’s office in Gaza City.
www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2005/154-2005.htm
PCHR Hosts a Delegation from the International Legal Assistance Consortium
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 12/12/2005
A delegation from the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) conducted a 2-day visit to the Gaza Strip on 11 and 12 December 2005. The visiting delegation consisted of Ms. Agneta Johansson (ILAC Deputy Director); Ms. Anne Ramberg (Secretary General of the Swedish Bar Association); and Dr. Phillip Tahmindjis (Programme Lawyer in the International Bar Association). The visit aimed at watching the situation in the Gaza Strip after the implementation of the disengagement plan, and to discuss training for Palestinian lawyers in the fields of human rights, the independence of the legal profession, and the ethical practice of the law.
www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1665210,00.html
Israeli consul attacks Spielberg’s Munich as ‘problematic’
The Guardian 12/12/2005
Israel’s consul-general in Los Angeles has lambasted Steven Spielberg’s film about the 1972 Olympic massacre in Munich as a “superficial”, “pretentious” and “problematic” work that draws an incorrect moral equation between Mossad agents and Palestinian terrorists. Speaking to Israeli radio, Ehud Danoch, said: “As a Hollywood movie, I assume that it will be defined as a well-made film, but from the standpoint of the messages it sends, the messages are problematic. “
www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=2&id=1209
BADIL: Rule of Law Includes Palestinian Right of Return
Palestine Media Center 12/12/2005
Anniversary of GA Resolution 194(III) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — The right of refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes, lands and properties is a universal human right. The 2005 United Nations Principles of Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons reaffirm this right. The willingness of states to promote and facilitate the return of refugees and displaced persons is a key indicator of their respect for the rule of law. [See also:
www.%20badil.%20org/
BADIL]
english.wafa.ps/cphotonews.asp?num=1004
Signing of Memorandum between Sweden and PNA
WAFA 12/12/2005
RAMALLAH, December 12, 2005 (WAFA)- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the Swedish government singed Sunday a memorandum for mutual consultation aimed at scheduling the Swedish financial support for this year. Signed by Minister of Planning, Ghassan al-Khatib, and the Swedish Consul General in Jerusalem, Nils Eliasson, the memo will spell out the mechanism of spending $50 million donated from Sweden.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6JZDH9?OpenDocument
Truce dialogue renewal only after legislative elections – Hamas
ReliefWeb 12/12/2005
GAZA, Dec 12, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — A senior Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) official said on Monday that Hamas wouldn’t accept any dialogue on truce with Israel before holding the Palestinian legislative elections on Jan. 25, 2006. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Hamas has informed Egypt that it prefers to resume the Palestinian national dialogue after the elections. However, Hamas spokesman in Gaza Mushir al-Masri told reporters that his movement is not intending to renew the truce with Israel amid the Israeli aggression.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4864
Ministry of Tourism Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Geneva City
WAFA 12/12/2005
BETHLEHEM, December 12, 2005, (WAFA)- The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities signed a memorandum of understanding with a delegation from Geneva city of Switzerland. The memo was signed by Palestinian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ziad Bandak, and the Representative of Switzerland to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Jean-Jacques Joris. According to the memorandum, Switzerland will support maintaining the Palestinian cultural heritage and archeological sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and to began primary steps for establishing an archeological museum.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/745BE45E-F343-4A2F-8424-16CEE6A4E660.htm
Israel accused of stalling on Gaza
AlJazeera 12/11/2005
Israel has been accused of not keeping its commitment to clear the rubble of demolished Jewish settlements more than three months after it withdrew from the Gaza Strip. Muhammad al-Samhuri, head of a technical team responsible for post-Israeli withdrawal projects, said: “Israel has not kept to its commitment to clear the rubble, which is an enormous obstacle to any development project. “No project has been carried out and nothing has changed in the areas evacuated by the settlers and [Israeli] army. “ But removing the thousands of tonnes of rubble should begin within a month now that a UN-Israeli agreement has been signed on funding, said Timothy Rothermel, a senior official from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). . .
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3182621,00.html
Iranian asks Israel for help
YNetNews 12/11/2005
Official Iranian representative approaches Israeli professor during Amman conference, asking her to help his country join prestigious scientific project — An official Iranian representative has asked Israel to help his country join a prestigious scientific project in which a number of Middle Eastern countries are taking part, Israel’s leading newspaper YediothAhronoth reported Sunday. . . . The project deals with building and operating a research-scientific particle accelerator, which is being constructed in the al-Balqa University in Jordan.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4854
Abu Rdaina Calls for Protecting Palestinian Democracy from Israeli Practices
WAFA 12/11/2005
GAZA, December 11, 2005, (WAFA)- Spokesperson of Presidency, Nabil Abu Rdaina, called Sunday the Quartet Committee and the international community to protect the Palestinian democracy from the Israeli practices. In a statement issued Sunday night Abu Rdaina called the Quartet Committee and the international community to immediately intervene to end the Israeli atrocious measures against the imminent legislative elections and the whole Palestinian democracy. He reiterated that the latest Israeli practices, target hampering the electoral process and curbing the Palestinian democracy.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=657014
Laborites in South threaten to strike party
Ha’aretz 12/13/2005
The heads of the Labor Party branches in the south of the country are threatening to close the branches and prevent all election-related activities, if their reserved spot on the party’s Knesset list does not move up from No. 30 to No. 23. Labor officials decided last week to give the southern representative the 30th spot, which polls indicate is an unrealistic spot on the list. In the last two elections, the Negev representative got No. 23.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3183489,00.html
Peretz to meet with American poll guru
YNetNews 12/12/2005
Stanley Greenberg, who led former PM Barak to overwhelming elections victory six years ago, is back; meanwhile, Labor leader’s daughter, known as his good luck charm, returns from Britain to help father — Will he do it again? World-renowned American pollster Stanley Greenberg, who led former Prime Minister Ehud Barak to an impressive elections win in 1999, will be arriving in Israel to meet with Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz. The poll guru is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days in order to look into the possibility of joining forces with Peretz.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656781
Peretz: No part in bid to oust prime minister, form new government
Ha’aretz 12/12/2005
Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz on Monday denied any role in a fresh initiative by a group of Likud MKs to muster the 61 MKs needed to force the president to ask a member of the opposition to form an alternative government, so as to oust Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and postpone the elections until November 2006. To gain the needed backing, the Likud would need the agreement of Shinui, the National Religious Party and especially Labor, which has so far rejected the proposal out of hand.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656947
MK Omri Sharon asks to postpone his trial until after March elections
Ha’aretz 12/12/2005
MK Omri Sharon on Monday asked Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court to postpone the continuation of his trial until after the March general elections. In November, Sharon reached a plea deal with prosecution in a trial on corruption charges in connection with fund-raising activities for one of his father’s election campaigns. He agreed to admit to charges of falsifying corporate documents, perjury and to violating the party funding law. The prosecution is seeking to imprison Sharon, but the Knesset member’s defense team is aiming to convince the court to sentence their client to public service.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3182649,00.html
MKs slam Mofaz for Likud defection
YNetNews 12/11/2005
Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, several other MKs respond to Mofaz’s decision to leave Likud for Sharon’s new Kadima party — Senior Likud members leaving the party and joining Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Kadima party has become a regular occurrence over the past several weeks. Last week Tzachi Hanegbi defected to Kadima and on Sunday morning, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced his decision to quit the Likud for Sharon’s new party. . . . “A person who says he is staying in Likud one day and then defects from the party the next day because of one poll is inflicting a major blow to politicians’ credibility,” he said.
www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2005/151-2005.htm
PCHR Publishes a New Report Titled “Palestinian Legislative Council: Evaluation of Performance in the Ninth Term”
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 12/11/2005
On 11 December 2005, PCHR published a new report titled “Palestinian Legislative Council: Evaluation of Performance in the Ninth Term. “ This is the eighth in a series of reports published by PCHR in the context of its efforts to monitor and evaluate the performance of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) since its inauguration in 1996. The report discusses the PLC’s performance on the levels of legislation, monitoring and accountability during the period 11 March 2004 – 9 March 2005.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4865
Signing of Agreement to Reinforce Work of Local Governments
WAFA 12/12/2005
RAMALLAH, December 12, 2005, (WAFA)- The Ministry of Local Government (MOLG) signed an agreement with US Agency for International Development (USAID) to reinforce the work of local governments in OPT. In a ceremony held Monday in Ramallah city, the agreement signed by Minister Local Government, Khaled al- Qawasmi and Samah Khori, on behalf of USAID Mission Director James Bever. The agreement budget estimated to $21 million will help reinforce the role of local governments in the Palestinian society.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RMOI-6J
Z85R?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
The United States and Israel sign a $50 million agreement on scanning equipment for crossings
ReliefWeb/USAID 12/10/2005
The United States and Israel signed an agreement Thursday evening to provide state-of-the-art scanners and other inspection equipment to facilitate the passage of people and goods at crossing points between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. U. S. Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones, USAID Mission Director James Bever, Director General of the Ministry of Defense of Israel Jacob Toren, and Head of the Financial Department of the Ministry of Defense Yosef Schtraus participated in the signing ceremony.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3183241,00.html
Kadima party buries 2006 State Budget
YNetNews 12/12/2005
Sharon, fellow party members decide not to submit 2006 State Budget proposal for a Knesset vote, as it has no chance of passing; as a result, interim government expected to operate in accordance with last year’s budget. Sharon asks Kadima ministers to be on the alert for possible Likud-Labor attempt to topple prime minister, bring elections forward. . . The Sharon government seems to be in a jam, as it cannot realize changes in its priorities within the budget’s framework.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656992
Barak accused of maneuvering for Labor Party position
Ha’aretz 12/13/2005
Several senior Labor Party officials, including associates of party chairman Amir Peretz, accused Ehud Barak on Monday of standing behind the plan to give the party’s 4,000 convention delegates, rather than the more than 10,000 registered Labor voters, the power to elect candidates for the party’s Knesset list. Barak associates denied the charge. The proposal was brought for a vote before Labor’s committee for party affairs on Sunday, resulting in a draw between supporters of open primaries and supporters of a vote by convention delegates.
stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/1056.shtml
Norwegian government party to launch boycott campaign on Apartheid Israel
StopTheWall.org 12/8/2005
The Socialist Left Party, a member of the center-left Norwegian government is to officially launch a solidarity campaign for Palestine beginning in the New Year. The campaign will focus on a consumer boycott of Israeli products and will push for a ban on any arms trade between the Norwegian government and the Israeli regime. After reactions in Parliament, the news of the campaign has already started a heated debate in Norwegian media bringing wider publicity and debate into the boycott and sanctions campaign.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3183066,00.html
Poll: Kadima party gaining strength
YNetNews 12/12/2005
Yedioth Ahronoth, Dr. Mina Tzemach poll shows Sharon’s Kadima party gaining strength with addition of Mofaz, set to gain 41 Knesset seats in upcoming March general elections; another survey says Mofaz’s credibility tainted due to his defection from Likud — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Kadima party is gaining strength with the addition of Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and is set to gain 41 Knesset seats in the upcoming March general elections, a poll conducted by Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth and Dr. Mina Tzemach showed.
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/12/08/conference-in-bilin/
A Conference Against the Wall in Bil’in
International Solidarity Movement 12/8/2005
[BILIN, West Bank] In our village of Bilin, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, we are living an important but overlooked story of the occupation. Though Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza earlier this year, they are continuing to expand their West Bank settlements. On our village’s land, Israel is building one new settlement and expanding five others. These settlements will form a city called Modiin Illit, with tens of thousands of settlers, many times the number that were evacuated from Gaza.
www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=3&id=893
World Bank Report: Violence, Israeli Restrictions Could Stymie Palestinian Economic Growth
Palestine Media Center 12/11/2005
The Associated Press — The Palestinian economy will expand by at least 8 percent in 2005 with unemployment expected to fall sharply, but violence and Israeli restrictions could stymie growth, a World Bank report predicted Sunday. Growth was strong this year, raising personal incomes by an estimated 12 percent, the World Bank said. It attributed the expansion to increased government spending, Israeli demand for Palestinian merchandise and labor and a relaxation of Israeli border closings as violence declined. Five years of violence have devastated the Palestinian economy.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/HMYT-6JZT6W?OpenDocument
UNRWA inaugurates Saudi-funded Rafah Re-housing Project
ReliefWeb/UNRWA 12/11/2005
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) today laid the cornerstone for the “Saudi Project to Rehouse Homeless Refugee Families”, funded through a generous contribution of $20 million from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This grant, administered by the Saudi Fund for Development through UNRWA, will cover the construction of new shelters for over 800 homeless refugee families, three schools, a health centre, a mosque, a community centre, a market area and all related infrastructure works.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3183174,00.html
Defense ministry opts for U.K. jeeps
YNetNews 12/12/2005
Despite promise to Israeli jeep manufacturer, Defense Ministry set to buy 100 British Land Rover jeeps, forcing local factory to fire dozens of workers — Dozens of employees at the Vehicle Industries Ltd. Factory in Nazrat Ilit are likely to lose their jobs next week, after Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has decided that the Defense Ministry purchase Britain-made jeeps, instead of jeeps manufactured by the Israeli factory, Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Monday.
stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/1055.shtml
Don`t buy Israeli Apartheid! – Consumer Boycott in the UK Steps Up
StopTheWall.org 12/10/2005
On Saturday December 10th, branches of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK) kick-started the winter season of the Boycott campaign. Focusing on oranges, dates and avocados, the central aim of the campaign is to build the boycott of Israeli goods and encourage shoppers to let supermarkets know they will do this. Consumers in at least 15 cities across the UK will be highlighting their boycott of Israeli goods, and persuading others to do the same, to create solidarity with the Palestinian people.
www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,13031,1665930,00.html
Car bomb kills Lebanese journalist as UN attacks Syria over Hariri murder inquiry
The Guardian 12/13/2005
Politician and publisher feared life was in danger ˇ Report wants arrests for killing of Lebanese leader — A prominent Lebanese journalist and critic of Syria was killed by a car bomb yesterday hours before a UN report criticised the “slow pace” of Syrian cooperation with the investigation into the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. ibran Tueni, a politician and publisher of the liberal newspaper An Nahar, was killed near Beirut early yesterday morning, a day after flying back from France, where he had spent many months for fear that his life was in danger. His death provoked protests by Lebanese politicians and a large street demonstration in Beirut.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D67A531E-0F23-4661-AA63-61379F2E61AE.htm
New Mehlis report implicates Syria
AlJazeera 12/12/2005
New evidence has reinforced investigators’ belief that the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were probably involved in the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister, a UN inquiry says in its latest report. The 25-page report from the team of Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor, again accused Syria of trying to obstruct his inquiry when it demanded that he revise his findings after a key witness recanted his testimony. The report was delivered on the same day that a car bomb killed a prominent Lebanese journalist and lawmaker, Gibran Tueni.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2E720C63-3A9C-4748-A190-FFF674737003.htm
Protest in Egypt against ‘rigged’ vote
AlJazeera 12/12/2005
More than 200 have people protested in Cairo against what they say were rigged parliamentary elections in which the ruling party won 75% of the seats. On Monday the demonstrators from the Kefaya Movement also condemned the deaths of 12 people in violence during the elections, which took part in three stages over a month and ended last week. George Ishak, a Kefaya coordinator, said: “This is the first protest after the elections, against what happened in the elections – the forgery and the beatings that occurred. “
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656989
UN sources: We don’t intend to place sanctions on Syria
Ha’aretz 12/13/2005
United Nations sources told Haaretz on Monday that the world body does not intend to place sanctions on Syria in the wake of the release of the UN probe into the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister. The investigation has unearthed evidence that strengthens its suspicion of high-level Syrian and Lebanese involvement in the slaying, a report said Monday. The 25-page report accused Syria of trying to hinder the probe into Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 14 slaying.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6A0C96DD-6ABF-4E29-803E-ACCAAF8230C7.htm
Video shows Iraq jail torture
AlJazeera 12/12/2005
Aljazeera has airedfootage of tortured prisoners being held in a Baghdad jail run by the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Dozens of prisoners, mostly Sunni Arabs, were being kept in cramped rooms, Aljazeera’s correspondent reported. Some have been in prison for years. The prisoners collapsed and cried when they saw a camera, hoping that their plight would at last be known by people all over the world, the correspondent said. In the video aired on Monday, prisoners described their torture, which included electric shocks.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/93484F62-BB01-412B-A592-2C7AB1A8DF20.htm
US rules out security pledge for Iran
AlJazeera 12/13/2005
The Bush administration has said it does not guarantee security to Iran even if it agrees to stop its nuclear development programme. Adam Ereli, spokesman for the US State Department, said on Monday that Iran must first act like a responsible member of the international community and stop violating its agreements. “That would represent a sea change in its behaviour,” he said. “Then maybe other kinds of notions might be more palatable. “
Articles
stopthewall.org/latestnews/1058.shtml
The Wall in a Week: land theft and ghettoization step up another gear
By Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, StopTheWall.org 12/12/2005
This week has been marked by extensive land confiscation and isolation, from Tamoun in the northern Jordan Valley to Hebron in the South. House demolitions are taking place in the northwestern areas to completely depopulate areas isolated by the Wall and to create further space for settlement expansion.
In Jerusalem, a sophisticated scheme of ghettoization is preparing the ethnic cleansing of the city. A combination of ghetto gates, roads, tunnels and walls will ensure that most of the lands around Jerusalem are stolen and villages are completely isolated and controlled by the Occupation.
1. Land Confiscation all over the West Bank — Bethlehem: In Beit Jala, al Khader and Husan, the occupation forces have confiscated 85 dunums to build a tunnel under the settler highway that isolates the villages from Jerusalem. As part of the “alternative roads” network, it will funnel Palestinians living in the villages west of Bethlehem (Batir, Husan, Nahaleen, Wadi Fukeen and al Walaja) through to Bethlehem. Once this tunnel is completed, all access and roads to the villages’ lands will be cut off and around 700 dunums of land will be isolated from the farmers of the villages west of Bethlehem.
Hebron: In Yatta (South Hebron), 610 dunums of land have been confiscated to complete the Apartheid Wall that stretches from Imneesel to the east. Once this section of the Wall is completed, 700 dunums of land will be isolated from the Palestinian owners behind the Wall…
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=656079
The safe passage: The history of a farce
By Gideon Levy, Ha’aretz 12/11/2005
Even the writers of the satirical program “Eretz Nehederet” could not have succeeded in composing such a farce. Anyone interested in understanding the essence of our relationship with the Palestinians is invited to read what was written in the newspapers during the past 12 years about “the safe passage” Israel promised to open in 1993 between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Anyone reviewing these press accounts will discover the main components characterizing Israel’s behavior toward the Palestinians – the evasiveness, the lack of a modicum of goodwill and the failure to honor agreements.
In the Haaretz archives, the curious reader can find 576 news items recounting the evolution of this grotesque saga, the final chapter of which – as of now – was written at the end of the week: “Israel cuts off talks with the Palestinians on the operation of buses between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in accordance with a decision made by the security-diplomatic cabinet in the wake of the terror attack in Netanya.”
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=9300
The Fate of Gaza
By Conn Hallinan, ZNet 12/11/2005
There is a moment in Jeffery Goldberg’s New Yorker profile of Brent Scowcroft, George Bush Senior’s former National Security Advisor, when the current Administration’s combination of arrogance and cluelessness crystallize. Over dinner, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice tells Scowcroft that the ‘good news’ from the Middle East is that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is pulling out of Gaza, the first step toward resolving the issue of a Palestinian state.
According to Scowcroft, he replied, ‘That’s terrible news. For Sharon this is not the first move, this is the last move … when he is out, he will have an Israel that he can control and a Palestinian state atomized enough that it can’t be a problem.’
Rice bristled and, says Scowcroft, ‘We had a terrible fight on that.’
It is difficult to find oneself on common ground with a man like Scowcroft, a protégé of serial killer extraordinaire, Henry Kissinger. He was part of the team that green lighted Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, which, according to the UN, killed over 200,000 people. There is a cold whiff of death about the man.
But he gets Ariel Sharon.
Maybe it is because, like Sharon, he is an ex-general, and understands the centrality of deception in the business of war. And the key to understanding the Israeli Prime Minister, says Knesset member Yossi Sarid, is to remember, ‘Sharon is a deceiver.’
www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=121105233916
A Warm Thought for a Cold Pillow; a Palestine Regained
By Jamil I. Toubbeh, Palestine Chronicle 12/12/2005
”I have an identity, a land I call my own, and a history that has witnessed 30,000 rising moons and two souls ascending to heaven a few hundred feet from my birthplace in Jerusalem..”
It took Zionism more than 100 years to conspire with willing Western and Eastern governments to cleanse Palestine of its indigenous population and bring to a close a thriving and unusual culture that has, because of its peoples’ love of the land, adopted and adapted from its numerous conquerors that which ensured its survival over time.
There is no Palestine today on any official map, only a biblical Palestine. There is no legal entity called ‘Palestinian’. What remains of Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank, has become “disputed lands”—lands detached of any historical link to Palestinians. Today, in Diaspora, our identity is a mix of identities that either emulates license plates in Israel’s “Occupied Territory”, or the variegated business cards exchanged on flights and discarded at the next connecting flight. “You’re born in Jerusalem, yes? You are Israeli?” Yes, I was born in Jerusalem; no, I am not Israeli; I am not Jewish. I was born in Jerusalem, Palestine, but my passport does not say I am Palestinian. It says I am from Jerusalem. Sorry about that. Jerusalem is a city and a country because the UN said so.
At least I have a sort of an identity, though it is one that I have to reveal cautiously, lest some patriot accuse me of an illegal act—traveling with an illegal identity. Jerusalem, Palestine!
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=9306
Concerning the ‘Working Definition of Antisemitism’
By Dror Feiler, ZNet 12/12/2005
To: Beate Winkler, Director, European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) Dear Beate Winkler,
At its conference in London in September 2005, European Jews for a Just Peace, a federation of Jewish peace organisations in ten European countries, noted that the EUMC had produced a highly problematic ‘Working Definition of Antisemitism’.
We have two comments, on process and on content: On process: We are concerned about the process that gave rise to the Working Definition and we respectfully ask the EUMC to clarify and explain it. It is vital that the European public — especially those individuals and groups whose cooperation you seek — perceive the process to be transparent and above-board. Regrettably, this is not the case with your ‘Working Definition of Antisemitism’.
…’Applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation’. This is a formulation that allows any criticism of Israel to be dismissed on the grounds that it is not simultaneously applied to every other defaulting state at the same time. As campaigners for a just peace in the Middle East we can affirm that it is thrown willy-nilly to stifle any and all but the narrowest criticism of acts of the Israeli government that are in prima facie breach of clause after clause of the 4th Geneva Convention. Or again, the democratic norm that all citizens in a state should be treated equally sometimes sits uneasily with some notions of Israel as a ‘Jewish state’ and it is not antisemitic to point this out or to suggest that Israel should, indeed, be a ‘state of all its citizens’.
Dror Feiler is the chair of European Jews for a Just Peace
www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=121105232252
Does Apathy Make Human Rights Day Meaningless?
By Bill Christison, Palestine Chronicle 12/12/2005
”The taboo on discussing the Israeli link to the war in Iraq introduces major distortions into practically every effort to examine the policies that are causing massive hatred of the U.S..”
The task was to talk for three minutes – not one second more – on the grounds of the New Mexico State Capitol building (commonly known as the Roundhouse) on December 10, 2005. The occasion was a Peace-with-Justice Rally celebrating the anniversary of the U.N. General Assembly’s adoption on December 10, 1948 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Challenged by the thought that people who would never listen for ten minutes might indeed listen for three, the author of this piece spoke the following. And he fervently believes every word of it.
We need to WAKE UP! The policies of the United States are a human rights disaster. Here we are, in December 2005, engaged in an orgy of shopping and consumerism, blatantly glorifying our wealth and utterly unconcerned with the picture this orgy presents to the world’s poor. The global policies of the U.S. are seen – and justly so – as greedy and immoral, policies that violate the human rights of the poor and the powerless everywhere.
At the same time we also glorify our military, and fight wars in which we kill and torture many people, wars that most of the world believes are designed to enlarge our own and our closest allies’ wealth and power. In the process, the military-industrial complex that runs the U.S. government rakes in obscene profits.
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