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International Middle East Media Center

Settlers Open Fire At A Palestinian Woman In Hebron
IMEMC 27 Dec 2009 - Monday December 28, 2009 - 00:13, Fundamentalist settlers of the Karmeil illegal settlement opened fire on Sunday at a Palestinian woman herding her sheep, south of Hebron in the southern part of the West Bank.

P.A Complains To The US Over Nablus Assassinations
IMEMC 27 Dec 2009 - Sunday December 27, 2009 - 09:50, The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank filed a complaint to the United States after the Israeli army invaded the northern West Bank city of Nablus and executed three Palestinians on Saturday at dawn. The United States only demanded ‘explanations’ and called on both parties to continue their cooperation.

Gaza Aid Convoy Members Prepare For Hunger Strike
IMEMC 27 Dec 2009 - Sunday December 27, 2009 - 08:14, Members of the Viva Palestina international aid convoy to Gaza will begin a hunger strike at 11.25am local time tomorrow (27th) in protest at the Egyptian government's refusal to allow the convoy entry onto its soil.

Six Palestinians Killed in Nablus, Gaza
IMEMC 27 Dec 2009 - Saturday December 26, 2009 - 14:40, Israeli soldiers shot and killed on Saturday six Palestinians in two separate attacks in the northern West Bank City of Nablus, and in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Three Palestinians were executed in Nablus, and three were shot and killed near the ‘border fence’ in northern Gaza.

PCHR Weekly report: 28 abducted, including 12 children, in 20 Israeli invasions this week
IMEMC 27 Dec 2009 - Saturday December 26, 2009 - 01:32, According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights' Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, during the week of 16- 22 Dec 2009, Israeli forces Israeli forces conducted 20 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they abducted 23 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children. Israeli naval troops have continued to attack Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip.

Settler Killed In West Bank Shooting
IMEMC 27 Dec 2009 - Friday December 25, 2009 - 13:45, An Israeli settler was shot and killed on Thursday evening near the Jewish settlement of Einav, near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, Israeli sources reported.

Ma'an News

Barred from Egypt, Galloway group on hunger strike
12/27/2009 - London - Ma'an - Over 400 volunteers travelling with British MP George Galloway's aid convoy to Gaza declared a hunger strike on Sunday, protesting the Egypt's refusal to allow the convoy to dock in the port of Nuweiba, on the Sinai Peninsula. "Volunteers on the convoy are on a hunger strike and will only take fluids until the Egyptian side gives them the nod," said Alice Howard, the convoy's press officer. She said the hunger strike began at 11:25 on Sunday, marking the first attack on Gaza during Israel's three-week assault. The convoy has been stranded in Aqaba, Jordan, since Christmas Eve, when Egyptian authorities prohibited the convoy from docking at the Egyptian port of Nuweiba. "They told us to double back, return to Europe, then dock at the port of Al-Arish," Howard said. "We are strong willed people and we're not going anywhere "¦ the convoy will swell in size as we're stranded in Aqaba. 

Gaza Freedom Marchers: 38 detained by Egypt
12/27/2009 - London - Ma'an - Egyptian security forces detained 38 participants of the Gaza Freedom March from a hotel in Al-Arish on Sunday at noon, according to a statement issued by the event's organizers. "Egyptian security forces detained a group of 30 internationals in their hotel in Al-Arish and another group of eight at the bus station. They also broke up a memorial action commemorating the Cast Lead massacre at the Kasr An-Nil Bridge," the statement asserted. The Freedom March plans to bring more than 1,300 international protesters to Gaza this week to denounce the blockade of the Palestinian territory. The detainees include Spanish, French, British, American and Japanese nationals. Another group of eight people, including American, British, Spanish, Japanese and Greek citizens, were detained at Al-Arish bus station in the afternoon of 27 December, the organizers said. 

Ban: Israel’s Gaza blockade ’unacceptable’
12/27/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza on Sunday in a message marking the one-year anniversary of the attack on the Palestinian territory. Issued through his spokesperson, Ban's message said "There is a sense of hopelessness in Gaza today for 1. 5 million Palestinians, half of whom are under eighteen. Their fate and the well-being of Israelis are intimately connected. "Ban called on Israel "to end the unacceptable and counterproductive blockade of Gaza, facilitate economic activity and civilian reconstruction, and fully respect and uphold international law. " He also called on Hamas to "to bring an end to violence and fully respect and uphold international law. "Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in June 2007 after Hamas took full control of the territory. 

Gaza blockade continues, Israel opens one crossing
12/27/2009 - Gaza - Ma'an - Southern Gaza's Kerem Shalom crossing will be opened for 86 truckloads of aid entering the Gaza Strip including limited amounts of cooking oil, crossings official Raed Fattouh said. Israel will also permit a shipment of cut flowers, to be exported to Europe, Fattouh added. It would be the second shipment allowed out in as many weeks, and the second since April 2009, when 72,000 carnations were exported at the request of the Dutch government. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), last week Israel allowed in only one fifth of pre-siege supplies, mostly food and hygiene items. No reconstruction materials were permitted into the Strip last week. Last week Israel continued its siege of Gaza by sea, with six recorded incidents in the last week of Israeli naval vessels opening fire on Gaza fishing dinghies. 

Gaza officials say land contaminated by Israel
12/28/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agenies - Palestinian officials reaffirmed earlier claims that Gaza's soil was contaminated by chemicals released by Israeli weapons during last year's war on Gaza, a statement from the de facto government Ministry of Agriculture said on Saturday. On the eve of the anniversary of the war on Gaza, the Ma'an Development Center lead a workshop and planning session with local partners to analyze data collected over the past week on land that was declared unfit for human use. The workshop looked at the effects of suspected contamination of Gaza farmland by Israeli weapons used during the war. Nizar Al-Wahidi, the deputy director of planning and policy in the Palestinian agriculture ministry, estimated that the prohibition on farming in some areas would affect the livelihoods of 8,478 farmers and 33,000 agricultural workers. -- Links: UNEP: Environmental Assessment of the Gaza Strip following the escalation of hostilities in December 2008 – January 2009 and Al Dameer: Health and Environmental Problems in the Gaza Strip Lead to an Increase in Birth Defects, Abortion, and Cancer. . . . 

Palestinian woman unharmed after settler opens fire
12/28/2009 - Hebron - Ma'an - An Israeli settler opened fire at a woman while she was herding sheep near Hebron on Sunday, Palestinian and Israeli sources said. Witnesses identified the woman as Khadra Al-Hathalin, saying she collapsed and fainted during the incident, in which a settler fired from the Caramel settlement, adjacent to the Palestinian village of the same name. The same witnesses said Israeli forces arrived on the scene and transferred the woman to the police station inside the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron. An Israeli military spokesman, however, said the woman had regained consciousness and departed before an army medical unit arrived. An Israeli security source confirmed that a civilian settler indeed opened fire, but said the shooter was acting as a guard and that he only fired in the air. The settler was concerned because Al-Hathalin was moving toward the settlement, the source added, apparently chasing after a goat. 

Study: 77% of Gaza women subject to abuse
12/27/2009 - Gaza - Ma'an - A study by the Palestine Women's Information and Media Center found that 77. 1% of women in Gaza are subjected to violence. The study used focus groups conducted during 24 workshops and 350 interviews with women from different Gaza Strip districts. The study was conducted in the last quarter of 2009. According to the study, 63. 7% of the respondents were responsible for earning a living for their families, while 66. 3% of them depend mainly on humanitarian aid. Of those surveyed,52% live under the poverty line, subsisting on less than 474 US dollars per month while 36% live on less than 180 US dollars a month. The study found 39% of the respondents were forced to leave school at early age due to poverty or early marriage, and 68. 4% of respondents who identified themselves as working women said they cannot dispose of their salaries as they see fit. 

’Just the beginning of an all-out war’
12/27/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - During the first four minutes of Israel's devastating winter assault on the Gaza Strip, launched 11:25am local time one year ago today, over 60 warplanes struck 50 targets, ultimately killing and injuring hundreds by midnight. At least 228 Palestinians lost their lives during the opening hours of the offensive, including 25 women and children, making 27 December 2008 the deadliest day for the local population in the occupied territories since Israel first invaded in 1967. Medical officials say some 700 Palestinians were injured by nightfall, 140 of them seriously. Hospitals turned away patients as doctors performed multiple surgeries in the same operating theaters, as well as in ordinary examination rooms. "The situation - actually there was chaos, total chaos," according to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Strip, Mahmoud Daher, who. . . 

Living in rubble, Gaza unchanged one year on
12/27/2009 - Gaza - Ma'an - The war might as well have ended yesterday for all the rubble, desolation and uncertainty. With the onset of winter, survivors living in makeshift shelters are still searching for more permanent living quarters. Finding a way to make a living is not much easier, families say, and there is little support from the government, which says it can do nothing until Israel lifts its blockade. The Gaza government's Ministry of Public Works Undersecretary Ibrahim Radwan said all reconstruction efforts came to naught because of the ongoing siege. Struggling with both issues, the Al-Athamneh family recently moved into one of the mud-brick homes constructed by the UN Relief and Works Agency, when lobbying efforts to bring in cement failed. The family is grateful for the home, but the location of the building kilometers from their demolished community meant uprooting social ties. 

Israel releases Hamas lawmaker
12/27/2009 - Hebron- Ma'an - Israel released on Sunday a Hamas-affiliated member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) who was originally arrested in 2006. Lawmaker Muhammad At-Tal was first detained by the Israeli military in June 2006 following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by fighters from Gaza. At-Tal was seized by Israeli soldiers in his hometown of Adh-Dhahariya, south of the West Bank city of Hebron. Eight government ministers and 20 members of parliament were taken the same night. Hamas is now negotiating with Israel a potential prisoner exchange that would secure Shalit's release along with that of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. [end] 

Israeli soldier shot dead by comrade
12/27/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - One Israeli man shot dead another in a mall in the southern city of Beersheba on Sunday morning, a police spokesman said. "One male opened fire in another male in a mall. It was a criminal incident," Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told Ma'an in a phone call. Reuters news agency reported that both the shooter and the victim were Israeli soldiers. According to Israeli media, the wounded man received medical treatment on the scene, and was then hospitalized. He later died, according to reports. The gunman was reportedly arrested. [end] 

Al-Qassam: Ready to confront next offensive
12/28/2009 - Gaza - Ma'an - Abu Obeida, spokesman of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said that it is its right to manufacture and possess weaponry and to upgrade its methods to keep up with Israeli technology. At a news conference in Jabaliya, he added, "The Al-Qassam Brigades are today more capable of confronting the occupation. "He added, "It stands steadfast in the face of Israeli threats of waging a new war, saying, 'We do not have any option but resistance and to fight back. '. . . We're confident that next battle will be failure for the occupation and will be more painful. "Abu Obeida added that "the occupation knows nothing but the language of force, not the one of denunciation. "He urged Israel not to "rush into declaring victory, deceiving the Israeli public, because the goals of the Israeli army were destroyed by the steadfastness of Gaza. "

PA under pressure to cut ties with Israel
12/27/2009 - Gaza - Ma'an - The Palestinian Authority came under pressure on Saturday to end security cooperation with Israel in the wake of the slaying of six Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. "It was a message to the Palestinian rivals to unify their efforts to confront the occupation," said Mustafa Sawwaf, the editor of Gaza's Filastin (Palestine) newspaper. "What happened Saturday is evidence of the occupation's policy of revenge, and an attempt to spark a new cycle of violence on the anniversary of the Gaza war; it should alert us all that this is a time to activate the resistance," Sawwaf said during an interview Saturday night. In a statement, the Leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) urged the PA to end both political negotiations and security coordination with Israel in the wake of the killings. The group said negotiations with Israel this stage would be "absurd," and security coordination would "provide cover for the perpetration of these crimes. 

Arab League chief criticizes Hamas
12/27/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa criticized Hamas on Saturday for not signing Egypt's recent proposal for reconciliation with Fatah. "I can't find one good reason why Hamas doesn't sign the inter-Palestinian reconciliation agreement," Mousa said in an impromptu speech at a session of the Arab Parliament. Moussa described the status of the Palestinian cause as "foggy," as a result of both Israeli policies and the Hamas-Fatah rivalry, which he said "stabbed the future of the Palestinian cause. " He said that no peace agreement would be reached with Israel without East Jerusalem as capital a Palestinian state. "A new Jerusalem must be created for the Arabs if East Jerusalem is to be Israel's. We are demanding that Jerusalem which was occupied in 1967 be capital of the Palestinian state," he said. 

Report: US seeks clarification about Nablus killing
12/27/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - The US President Barack Obama's administration asked Israel to explain a raid on Nablus in which special forces killed three Palestinian men, an Israeli newspaper reported on Sunday. The daily newspaper Haaretz said Israel's National Security Adviser Uzi Arad shared intelligence with the US officials reportedly linking the men to the fatal shooting of a settler on Thursday. Unnamed Israeli sources told the newspaper that the Obama administration did not formally protest or complain about the incident, but only sought clarifications, passing on a complaint from the Palestinian Authority. A senior US official quoted in the article said the United States sought to calm the situation and "encouraged both sides to continue their security cooperation. "The PA complained to the US on Saturday that Israel had violated agreements by invading Area A of the West Bank, which is supposed to be under full Palestinian control. 

Netanyahu: Prisoner deal not close
12/27/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his negotiators were still a long way from reaching a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas. "If a deal does come to fruition, I will bring it to the government for a debate and approval. However, at this stage we are not close to a deal," he said during a meeting with members of his Likud party according to Israel's Haaretz newspaper. He also drew a link between the prisoner deal and the killing of three Palestinian men in Nablus on Saturday. Netanyahu said the men had recently been released from prison. Israel alleges that the three were behind the death of a settler on Thursday. Under the terms of a proposed prisoner exchange, Israel would release approximately 1,000 Palestinians in return for the release of a soldier held captive by Palestinian fighters in Gaza. 

Haniyeh: Resistance pushed Israel out of Gaza
12/27/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Palestinian Prime Minister of the de facto government in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh declared victory over Israel in an interview published on Sunday. He told Jordan's Al-Ghad newspaper on the anniversary of the beginning of Israel's last war on Gaza that the victory stemmed from Israel's failure to achieve its stated objectives for the war, which ranged from halting the flow of projectiles from Gaza into southern Israel, to routing the Hamas movement entirely. The deposed prime minister claimed it was the Palestinian resistance in Gaza that drove out the Israeli forces in an unconditional retreat. Though Gazans endured 22 days of constant Israeli bombardment "from the air, the sea and the land," he said they "defied the conspirators with their fortitude. " "Any new war with Gaza will not be a picnic as your collaborators have informed you," Haniyeh added. 

UAE donates 18 ambulances to Gaza
12/27/2009 - Al-Arish - Ma'an - Egyptian authorities have completed all arrangements to allow into the Gaza Strip 18 ambulances donated by United Arab Emirates through Rafah crossing, Egyptian security officials told Ma'an on Sunday. The source explained that the ambulances arrived in the city of Al-Arish on Sunday morning and that Egyptian authorities contacted the Palestinian side to arrange the delivery on Sunday afternoon. With this consignment, the Gaza Strip will have received 650 ambulances from different donors in 2009. [end] 

Nasrallah: Egypt must stop Gaza border wall
12/27/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday called on Egypt to stop building a steel wall along the Gaza border that could obstruct smuggling tunnels which provide a lifeline for the blockaded territory. "In addition to the siege there has been news about [building] a steel wall "¦ to terminate the thin veins which are giving some life and some hope to Gaza," he said, according to Reuters. "We call on the government in Egypt and the leadership to stop the wall and flooding the tunnels and to end the siege otherwise it should be condemned by all Arabs and the Muslims," he said. The tunnel industry has mushroomed since Israel's 2007 imposition of a blockade, slashing imports of goods to one-fifth of previous levels. The tunnels now provide medicine, food, fuel, appliances and other items in far greater quantities Israel allows though official channels. 

PRC: We’ll hold Shalit until demands met
12/27/2009 - Gaza - Ma'an - The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) vowed on Sunday to keep Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captive until Israel meets Palestinian demands. The PRC is one of the factions that have been holding Shalit since 2006. The groups, led by Hamas, are demanding the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his freedom. The group said in a statement issued on the anniversary of Israel's war on Gaza, "The Palestinians will stay and will not bow and will gain triumph. ""These sacrifices are the price to be paid for triumph and freedom," it added. The group also denounced a steel wall Egypt is building underneath the border with the Gaza Strip in a bid to cut off underground smuggling tunnels. "The metal wall Egypt is building funded by US and planned by Israel is an assault on the life of the Palestinians in Gaza," the group said. 

Abbas: We’ll go after Israeli war criminals
12/27/2009 - Ramallah - Ma'an - Marking the anniversary of the Israeli assault on Gaza, President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to seek prosecution for Israeli leaders he termed war criminals. "While commemorating the first anniversary of the Israeli offensive on Gaza, we reiterate that we are determined to go after the war criminals who committed the most gruesome crimes against innocent children, the elderly, and women in every international court until they receive their just penalty," he said. In a statement, Abbas added, "The Israeli army, which is placing the residents of Gaza under siege and potentially renewing the offensive, is imposing a siege on the other part [of Palestine], the West Bank, through settlements that confiscate lands, by uprooting trees, demolishing homes, and expelling residents, in addition to the arrests of thousands and continuing the policy of assassination, as we saw in Nablus on Saturday. 

Haniyeh to UN: Don’t let Israel escape justice
12/27/2009 - Gaza - Ma'an - De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon not to let leaders of the Israeli army "escape punishment and being brought to courts" for alleged war crimes during the assault on Gaza last winter. But he accused the UN of complicity in the International Quartet's refusal to negotiate with Hamas, and urged the world body to withdraw its membership from the group, which is also made up of the EU, US and Russia. "It is inappropriate for the UN to place a siege on a nation that is under occupation," Haniyeh said in speech in Gaza City, the same day the secretary-general urged Israel to lift its blockade in a message marking the one-year anniversary of the Gaza war. The Hamas leader and deposed Palestinian prime minister also called on the US administration to "stand with and recognize Palestinian rights, without which no stability of calm will ever be achieved in the region. 

Four arrested at Hebron archaeological site
12/27/2009 - Hebron - Ma'an - Palestinian Authority tourism police said on Sunday they arrested four people for unauthorized excavations near Beit Ula, west of Hebron on Sunday. The police said they seized a metal detector and digging equipment after finding the four during a routine patrol at the Tel Jela archeological site. The four were taken for questioning, the police said. [end] 

In photos: Fayyad mourns Nablus dead
12/27/2009 - Prime Minister Salam Fayyad extends his condolences to the families of the three men assassinated in an Israeli raid on the Old City of Nablus early Saturday morning. Hours earlier, some 20,000 mourners attended funerals for the men, all members of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Bodies are removed and transported to a hospital early Saturday. Israeli forces assassinated the three as they slept, family members said. Raed Sakarji's relatives survey the bloody aftermath of his assassination. The operation was apparently in retaliation for the shooting death of a settler. Israeli forces remained in the city until the funerals ended on Saturday afternoon. As they withdrew, Palestinian youths threw rocks. 

PSE drops: Al-Quds Index down 0.33% on Sunday
12/27/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Stocks on the Palestine Securities Exchange in Nablus fell on Sunday. At the close of trading, the Al-Quds Index stood at 484. 41, 1. 6 points (0. 33%). Trading volume was 1,073,357 shares, a total value of 1,374,255. 03 US dollars. The shares of 21 companies were traded. The shares prices of seven companies rose, and 11 fell. The top five gainers were PLAZA by 4. 62%, GCOM by 3. 96%, VOIC by 2. 67%, BPC by 2. 19%, PEC by 1. 96% The top five losers PRICO by 4. 00%, AIG by 3. 75%, NSC by 3. 57%, LADAEN by 3. 23%, AHC by 2. 38% [end] 

Ha'aretz Defense page

Uruknet

Gazan children bear 'scars of war'
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - Samar Zaquot sits in front of a portrait of her eldest brother, Mohammed, that almost reaches from the floor to the ceiling of her parents' front room in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Mohammed was 20 when he was killed by an Israeli rocket while having a picnic with friends, just before Israel's Gaza offensive began...

The American-Israeli War on Gaza
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - One year ago today, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, a murderous full-scale military assault on the small, densely populated, and defenseless Gaza Strip. The operation resulted in the massacre of over 1,300 Palestinians, the vast majority civilians, including hundreds of children. This includes only those killed directly by military attacks. The actual casualty figure from Israel's...

New Iran protests
Uruknet There were those, some months back, who tried to characterise the Iranian reform movement as a flash-in-the-pan upsurge of the "Gucci crowd", a collective bed-wetting of the bourgoisie... The characterisation of the Iranian movement in those terms was false in several ways. For a start, notwithstanding the 'confessions' issuing from various protesters tortured by the basiji, there is no evidence...

Israel seeks bids for hundreds more Jerusalem settler homes
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - Israel has invited tenders for the building of hundreds of more homes in Jewish settlements in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, the independent Channel 10 television said on Sunday. In all, the housing ministry sought bids for the construction of 692 new homes in the settlements of Neve Yaacov, Pisgat Zeev and Har Homa, among a dozen...

Video: Gaza Lives On
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - One year later, it is very important to remember what happened in Gaza. But it is more important to realize the aspirations of the Palestinian people in Gaza. They deserve our solidarity, respect and reverence. They deserve justice. It is the duty of every person to contribute to break the unprecedented siege and bringing the criminals...

Iran: The Civil Resistance Breaks Through the Censorship, Again
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - While this CNN report - one that depends (again) on citizen journalist videos taken this weekend in Iran under a government-ordered ban on foreign and domestic media coverage of a resurgent opposition - largely succeeds at breaking the information blockade, I would quibble with correspondent Reza Sayah's characterization of the struggle as "a face-off between the...

ISRAEL HAS "DONE ENOUGH" FOR THE PEACE EFFORT.....
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday urged Israeli diplomats to show the world that Israel has "done enough" in its efforts to try to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians. There! You got it direct from the horse's pig's mouth. Lieberman was speaking at the conference of Israeli diplomats that I mentioned yesterday...

Locals say settlers fired on Palestinian woman
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - Israeli settlers opened fire on a woman while she was herding sheep near Hebron on Sunday, onlookers said. Witnesses identified the woman as Khadra Al-Hathalin, saying she collapsed and fainted during the alleged attack, in which settlers reportedly fired from the Caramel settlement, adjacent to the Palestinian village of the same name. The onlookers also said...

Climaxing Collective Psychosis
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - ...And what about the millions of Iraqis, ARAB Iraqis, who were meat for the continuous Ashura festivities, what about them ? What about the crimes committed on them, what about the horrors they endured, what about their losses, their grief, their exile, their..... What about them ARAB Iraqis, raped, tortured, murdered, OCCUPIED by the collective hands of...

'Punish, humiliate, terrorise'
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - As the one year anniversary of Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip is marked, it is vital to re-examine Operation Cast Lead within the wider context of Israel's approach to both Gaza and the Palestinians. There is a danger that the scale of the devastation and the international protests which followed the war can deflect attention...

Gaza one year ago: I prayed to my god to be the first in my family to die' 
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - I finished my work in Khan Younis at 10 o'clock, and rode a car to Gaza City. I reached there at 11. I decided to drink some coffee with my friend who was working in a company beside the legislative council and the academy for police. I stayed there till 11:30, I decided to leave, my...

Video: The Children of Gaza share their experiences of "Cast Lead"
Uruknet December 27, 2009 - The first Israeli airstrikes of "Operation Cast Lead" took the people of Gaza by surprise. School children were among those going about their ordinary lives on the day of the attack. Their world was flung quickly into chaos. Some of them told Al Jazeera their recollections of the horror...

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