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International Middle East Media Center

Palestinian From Hebron Sentenced To Three Years For Faxing Death Threat To Netanyahu
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Thursday February 11, 2010 - 02:53, Israeli Ynet News reported Wednesday that a Palestinian man from the southern West bank city of Hebron was sentenced to three years for sending a fax to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, threatening to kill him.

More Attacks Against Reporters In The West Bank
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Thursday February 11, 2010 - 02:30, Palestinian reporters, either working for local or international agencies, were repeatedly subjected to attacks by the Israeli army, but recently such attacks witnessed a sharp increase leading to injuries, damage to equipment, and to preventing them from performing their duty.

Following the killing of an Israeli soldier, Troops Kidnap Six Palestinians In Jenin
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Thursday February 11, 2010 - 00:24, The Israeli army invaded Al Khiljan village, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and kidnapped six members of the Al Khatib family, including four brothers. The invasion came after Mahmoud Al Khatib reportedly killed an Israeli soldier on Wednesday.

Troops Detain Two Civilians, Attack And Search Homes in Hebron City
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Wednesday February 10, 2010 - 18:22, Two Palestinian civilians were detained by Israeli troops, on Wednesday, during house search targeting the city of Hebron and nearby town.

Beit Sahour Residents Protest Work Carried Out at Osh Grab
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Wednesday February 10, 2010 - 18:16, Members of the town of Beit Sahour, along with members of the international community, protested at the site of former military base Osh Grab, on Wednesday, against work carried out at the site by the State of Israel. Israel claims that it wishes to build a new watchtower on the site.

Israeli Troops Attack Palestinian Farmers & Internationals in Southern West Bank
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Wednesday February 10, 2010 - 16:03, Israeli troops fired tear gas at Palestinian famers and their international and Israeli supporters, on Wednesday, at the town of Yatta southern West Bank.

Egypt Detonates Rafah Tunnel
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Wednesday February 10, 2010 - 10:09, The Egyptian security forces detonated, on Tuesday, a tunnel on the Gaza-Egypt border in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Settler Security Guard Shoots Palestinian Teen in Northern West Bank
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Wednesday February 10, 2010 - 09:36, Local sources have reported that an 18-year old teenager from the Palestinian village of Iraq Burin, near Nablus, was shot by an Israeli security guard from the settlement of Har Bracha, wounding him in the knee.

Israel Bombards the Gaza International Airport
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Wednesday February 10, 2010 - 09:20, The Israeli air force fired, on Tuesday evening, several missiles at the Gaza International Airport, east of Rafah city, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Arab Parliamentarians To Visit Gaza Mid February
IMEMC 10 Feb 2010 - Wednesday February 10, 2010 - 09:00, A group of 15-25 Arab Parliamentarians are expected to visit the Gaza Strip in the middle of this month to express support to the Palestinian people living under siege in the Gaza Strip. Egypt approved their entry through the Rafah border terminal.

Ma'an News

Blackouts turn off life in Gaza
2/10/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an- As Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the Gaza Power Authority, the EU and international donors point fingers over the failure to provide adequate fuel for electricity generation in the Strip, the lives of residents again turned upside down as they faced life without power. "The blackouts cause a lot of trouble for merchants, factories, families and students, my wife has to work overnight sometimes when the electricity comes on to make foo for the family," Abu Khalil, who works in a Gaza shop said. "I leave home at 7am and return at evening and find no power, our lives are conducted in the dark," he said. Abu Khalil said he was worried about buying a generator, after two fires erupted in the last month from faulty models, and a third - improperly stored inside a home - resulted in the death of three children from carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Medics: 5 injured as unrest continues in Jerusalem camp
2/10/2010 - Jerusalem - Ma'an - Two teenagers and three journalists were injured in clashes between Shu'fat Refugee Camp residents and Israeli forces Tuesday evening. Medics at the scene said Ahmad Al-Hawas, 14, was shot in the leg and Naser Abu Asab, 15, was moderately injured after being assaulted by Israeli soldiers. Three journalists were injured while covering the confrontations, medics identified them as Ata Oeisat, Mahmoud Elian of the Al-Quds newspaper and Ahmad Gharabli from the French News Agency. These latest injuries followed confrontations between school children and border guards at the Shu'fat military checkpoint earlier on Tuesday, leading to the detention of 15-year-old Ahmad Jamil Abu Hamda and the injury of a soldier, witnesses said. Locals said soldiers used tear gas to disperse the crowds. Overnight a series of overnight raids saw border guards hand out dozens of notices for residents to turn themselves in for questioning at Israeli intelligence compounds in Jerusalem. 

Military extends woman’s administrative detention for 40th time
2/10/2010 - Nablus - Ma'an - An Israeli military court operating in the West Bank detention center of Salem in Jenin delayed the hearing of a young woman, and extended her detention for the 40th consecutive time. Sanabel Nabegh Breik, 19,from Nablus, was detained a year ago on charges of involvement with the Fatah movement. Following the court hearing, Breik's mother said "The Israeli [military] judges have decided to review the case until March 16. "Breik's mother added that, following each trial in front of a military tribunal, her daughter would be transferred to the hearing in a vehicle used to transport prisoners and underwent harsh treatment at the hands of Israeli authorities. [end] 

Military vehicles deployed around Jerusalem refugee camp
2/10/2010 - Jerusalem - Ma'an - Israeli border guards and police continued operating in the Shu'fat Refugee Camp on Wednesday, following clashes which began on Monday, in the northern quarter of East Jerusalem. Ma'an's correspondent reported dozens of military vehicles being deployed around the camp, particulary at it's western entrance - the site of ongoing confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians. On Tuesday evening two teenagers and three journalists were injured in clashes between Shu'fat Refugee Camp residents and Israeli forces. Medics at the scene said Ahmad Al-Hawas, 14, was shot in the leg and Naser Abu Asab, 15, was moderately injured after being assaulted by Israeli soldiers. Three journalists were injured while covering the confrontations, medics identified them as Ata Oeisat, Mahmoud Elian of the Al-Quds newspaper and Ahmad Gharabli from the French News Agency. 

Jerusalem community centers shut down for `affiliation with Hamas`
2/10/2010 - Jerusalem- Ma'an - The Israeli police department ordered the closure of the Sur Baher Cultural Forum and a kindergarten housed in the former Dar Al-Hadith Society buidling, saying they were affiliated with Hamas, community leaders said. The orders, issued in the name of Israeli police chief Dudi Cohen, require the community institutions to shut down on 28 February for a period of one year. Head of the Sur Baher Cultural Forum Sufyan Jadallah said police broke into his home and forced him to travel with them to the center and open its main gate. Police then conducted a search of the building, ransacked its contents, confiscated a laptop and delivered the closure order, he said. Jadallah denounced the closure, saying it targeted a grassroots Palestinian organization that represents the Palestinian community in Sur Baher, and not a political party. 

Israel bulldozes area around Beit Sahour family park
2/10/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli bulldozers prepared for the military take-over of a family recreation park in the town of Beit Sahour on Wednesday afternoon, preventing local journalists from accessing the area. The park compound, in the map pictured, was a Jordanian army base taken over by Israel during the 1967 war and abandoned in 2006. Grants from governments including the United States helped turn the area into a family picnic area including a modest climbing wall and playbround for local residents. In recent years Israeli settler groups had threatened to take over the space, and Israeli media outlets reported in January that the military intended to re-occupy the area. Following the announcement, Beit Sahour residents - who own the land on and around which the Jordanian base was built - pledged to work the land and re-establish their presence there. Formerly adjacent to an Israeli military base, the land had fallen into disuse and was often declared a closed zone. . . . 

Tree planters say soldiers used riot dispersal methods on volunteers
2/10/2010 - Hebron - Ma'an - International and Palestinian tree planters were dispersed with tear gas and sound bombs as they attempted to work land belonging to local farmers on Wednesday, the Palestinian solidarity project said. Media spokesman for the project Mohammad Awad said the volunteers, participating in the "voluntary day to protect lands under threat of confiscation" brought 500 olive tree seedlings to lands registered to Hasan Awad, Husam Ahmad Bahar and Ibrahim Abed Al-Hamid Abu Maria. Shortly after the group started planting, Israeli soldiers descended on the area from near the Karmi Zur settlement, 19% of which is built on Palestinian owned land, according to Peace Now, and residents say much of the rest of the land belonged to the village of Beit Ummar. Awad said soldiers attacked the group and fired teargas as well as sound bombs at them until they retreated from the area. 

Israel revokes amnesty of pardoned Fatah affiliate
2/10/2010 - Nablus - Ma'an - The Israeli government revoked the full amnesty granted to a previously "wanted" Palestinianfor a partial agreement, sources said Wednesday. Mahdi Maraqa, 33, from Nablus, and once affiliated to Fatah's paramilitary organization the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, will from Wednesday on be detained by Palestinian authorities at 8pm daily and spend the night in a detention center. Additionally, the Palestinian Authority was been ordered to prohibit Maraqa from leaving area A, the only part of the West Bank under full Palestinian control following the Oslo Accords in 1993. In accordance with Israel's amnesty offer to "wanted" Palestinian combatants, Maraqa was transferred to the PA Juneid Prison in Nablus in November 2008, and asked to hand in all arms and denounce Palestinian militancy. In return, those pardoned will not be subject to Israeli assassinations. 

Army raids home of alleged attacker
2/11/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Twenty-five Israeli military jeeps on Wednesday evening surrounded the Jenin-area home of a Palestinian Authority police officer accused of killing an Israeli soldier hours earlier near Nablus. The home of Muhammad Al-Khatib in the village of Ya'bad was placed under curfew as Israeli authorities questioned his relatives over allegations he attacked a soldier, the army said. Forces questioned Al-Khatib's mother and brothers, the family said. The army also searched the home for "incriminating evidence," according to a military spokesman, after Al-Khatib allegedly stabbed a soldier through an open window of his military car while waiting at a traffic light near the Tappuh junction and the Za'tara checkpoint. According to the military, the injured soldier lost consciousness whilst fleeing the scene and crashed into a nearby barrier. 

One Gaza crossing partially open, no exports
2/10/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - Israeli authorities partially opened the Kerem Shalom crossing into southern Gaza to allow the transfer of humanitarian aid andquantities of domestic gas and industrial fuel, Palestinian border crossing official Raed Fattouh said. Fattouh said that 75 truckloads of aid will enter Gaza via its southern crossing, as well as an unspecified amount of domestic gas and industrial fuel for Gaza's ailing power plant. Meanwhile, the Karni crossing to the north of Gaza will remain closed, Fattouh added. Reports in the Israeli daily Haaretz said officials were preparing to seal the bulk goods crossing at Karni, reportedly until Hamas no longer rules the Gaza Strip. The report could not be confirmed. No exports were permitted from Gaza despite an ongoing Dutch government program to support strawberry and carnation farmers in the Strip. 

Israeli forces detain Palestinian in Hebron-area town
2/10/2010 - Hebron - Ma'an - Israeli forces detained a resident from Yatta, south of Hebron, on Wednesday and took him to an unknown location, Palestinian Authority security forces said. Sources said "Israeli forces invaded the town and arrested Iyad Mahmoud Khalil Abu I'beid, 28, after breaking into his home and ransacking its contents. "[end] 

PFLP: Repression in Shu’fat camp must end
2/10/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - The constant harassment and repression of Palestinians in the Shu'fat Refugee Camp, ongoing since Monday, must come to an end, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine demanded Wednesday evening. The faction called on Palestinians to unite in the face of the violence, and stop the constant police raids and rampant damage to civilian properties in the camp. Unrest followed the invasion of dozens of forces on Monday as the Israeli army detained dozens of camp residents. Palestinians in the camp responded by stone throwing, answered in turn by a heavy military presence at all entrances to the camp, heightened following each protest by residents. A schoolboy was detained near a checkpoint Tuesday, and clashes again erupted Wednesday as more arrests were made. The PFLP said solders were randomly detaining dozens including young boys. 

Palestinian forces dismantle unknown object
2/10/2010 - Jenin - Ma'an -Palestinian national forces, intelligence forces and the Jenin police dismantled an unknown object on the Jenin-Arabah road on Tuesday. Brigadier Mohammad Alawneh said that they received a call from one of the residents informing them that a strange object lay on the road, a police report said. Police and the various Palestinian forces immediately responded to the call and dismantled the object, the report concluded. [end] 

De facto cabinet applauds response to Goldstone report
2/10/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - Members of the de facto government praised those behind the body's response to the Goldstone report, and called on the international community to "sue Israeli war criminals in international courts" during its weekly cabinet meeting held on Tuesday. Cabinet members also applauded what they termed a "Palestinian uprising" in the Shu'fat Refugee Camp in Jerusalem, which has been the site of confrontations since Monday. "The people's uprising, which came in response to Israeli aggressiveness, asserts that all attempts to tame the Palestinian people and kill the spirit of resistance in the West Bank are doomed to failure," cabinet members said. The cabinet also reviewed Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Sha'ath's recent two-day visit to the Gaza Strip, and dubbed the move a step toward fastening bilateral reconciliation efforts between the rivaling Hamas and Fatah factions. 

Abbas to meet with Sarkozy in coming weeks
2/10/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on 22 February, a Palestinian official announced on Wednesday. The official said Abbas will urge Sakrozy to support indirect negotiations with Israel. "Abbas will also demand that the French president support negotiations with the 1967 borders as their basis," the official added. On Monday, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Abbas agreed to proximity talks with Israel, under the auspices of the US - a suggestion put forward by US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell during his visit to the region two weeks prior. However, chief Palestine Liberation Organization negotiatior Saeb Erekat quickly denounced the speculation concerning US facilitated proximity talks as both premature and unhelpful andthat they are waiting to hear from the. . . 

PA ambassador presents credentials to Mozambique
2/10/2010 - Ramallah -Ma'an - Fayez Abed Al-Jawwad officially presented his credentials as the new Palestinian Authority ambassador to the President of Mozambique Armando Emà lio Guebuza. After presenting his credentials, Abed Al-Jawwad reviewed with Guebuza the latest political updates in Palestinian and regional, and ways of improving bilateral relations with Mozambique. Abed Al-Jawwad further met with Minister of Foreign Affairs for Mozambique to discuss Palestinian concerns. Guebuza confirmed his support for the two-state solution and his solidarity with the Palestinian people. [end] 

PPP marks 28th anniversary by calling for reconciliation
2/10/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - Supporters of the Palestinian Peoples' Party (PPP) organized rallies on Wednesday across the Gaza Strip and its refugee camps, marking the party's re-establishment with a call for national unity. Member of the PPP's politburo, Nafeth Ghuneim said "the central committee of the party decided to expand the celebrations of the party's re-founding in a way that would pressure the parties to speed up signing the Egyptian proposal as a step on the way to ending division and restoring unity. "The event was organized to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the re-founding the PPP, which is an offshoot of the Palestine Communist Party founded in 1919. The largest celebration is expected in Beit Lahiya. . . . . 

PLC members form committee to review Gaza aid
2/10/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - A committee was formed last month under caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and is in the process of reviewing the needs of Gaza residents, a Fatah official reported Wednesday. Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Fatah's bloc, Mohammad Hejazi, said "the committee was formed almost a month ago and held a series of meetings. The members from Gaza were in charge of specific files. "Involved parties, and the executive authoritymust urgently adopt the needs of Gaza, which are increasing everyday because of the continued Israeli siege and severe shortage in the UNRWA budget that cover a significant part of the requirements of Palestinian refugees in Gaza. "Hejazi further called on international donors to swiftly contribute to paying UNRWA's budget deficit in order to offer more aid to Palestinian refugees. " 

PA calls Israeli corruption story `smear campaign` against Abbas
2/10/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Palestinian Authority officials dismissed the intelligence officer behind allegedly leaked videotapes cataloguing government corruption more than two years ago, secretary-general of the Palestinian president's office At-Tayyib Abdul Rahim said Wednesday. The leaked reports were reported by Ma'an in August, and the story reappeared in the Israeli press this week, with Channel 10 reporting it had more than 400 documents supporting corruption claims. The story ran with the lead that the PA had refused to comment on the issue. Angered over what he called the persistent misleading reports over the matter, Abdul Rahim said Fahmi Shabana, a low-level officer who leaked the tapes was charged with collaboration and dismissed for the leak as well as "several other immoral and dishonest offences. " The PA official said the government was "not surprised by the frantic. . . " 

Motorsport federation racers to receive tax waivers on new cars
2/10/2010 - Ramallah - Ma'an - Palestinian car racers will have more travel freedom than ever before, and increasing support from the government, officials from the Motorsport Federation announced Sunday as they handed out awards to the nation's top ten drivers. At a reception in the Grand Park Hotel in Ramallah motorsport chief Khaled Kaddura said he was proud to announce ramped-up efforts to see "racers' [and their] cars travel to any country to participate in foreign races. "Minister of Transportation with the caretaker government Sa'dy Al-Krunz said the popularity of Palestinian car racing had seen the nation's flag flown across the Middle East, and announced a decision to waive the taxes on cars purchased by racers imported into the West Bank. Vice Governor of the Ramallah Layla Ghannam said she supported the sport despite its high costs,. . . 

Ha'aretz Defense page

Uruknet

Gaza Energy Crisis Averted - For Now
Uruknet February 10, 2010 - Pressure exerted on the Palestinian Authority (PA) by international and regional officials has given Gazans a last minute reprieve, albeit temporary, from plunging into darkness and plummeting temperatures. "The emergency has been temporarily halted after the PA released urgent funds to finance two fuel tankers entering Gaza on Sunday," says Osama Dabou from Gaza’s Power Plant (...

US' Expanded Weapons Stockpiling in Israel
Uruknet February 10, 2010 - Sameh Habeeb, a young, independent, Palestinian journalist, lived in a modest house in the middle of Gaza City in December 2008. From his bedroom window, Habeeb reported to international news outlets exactly what he saw night after night during Israel's lethal 22-day assault. On one occasion, Habeeb told Truthout, "the Apache helicopter gunship hovered less than...

The false sacredness of the 1967 border
Uruknet February 10, 2010 - When the United States abandoned its demand that Israel freeze settlement construction as a prelude to restarting stalled Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, the Obama administration urged both sides to move straight into discussions about a future Palestinian state "based on the 1967 borders." Setting the border first, it was hoped, would automatically "resolve" the issue of the settlements,...

Gaza's defiant tunnellers head deeper underground
Uruknet February 10, 2010 - They are the real resistance. They are the lung through which Gaza breathes. True, missiles must pass along their subterranean tracks, Qassam rockets, too, Kalashnikov ammunition, explosives. But by far the greatest burden of the tunnellers of Gaza is the very life-blood of this besieged little pseudo-Islamic statelet: fresh meat, oranges, chocolate, shirts, trousers, toys, cigarettes,...

Finally, some Humanity out of the Silence.
Uruknet February 10, 2010 - I am touched, deeply touched by reading Hussein's Anwar last blog post about raped Iraqi women. I felt for many years, I was alone, talking about, denouncing, writing, crying out in the wild about the fate of rape victims in societies that are not only occupied but that also show no mercy to its women, when...

Israeli military vehicles deployed around Jerusalem refugee camp
Uruknet February 10, 2010 - Israeli border guards and police continued operating in the Shu'fat Refugee Camp on Wednesday, following clashes which began on Monday, in the northern quarter of East Jerusalem. Ma'an's correspondent reported dozens of military vehicles being deployed around the camp, particulary at it's western entrance - the site of ongoing confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians...

Palestinian Families Appeal to UN Over Israeli Construction of “Museum of Tolerance” on Jerusalem’s Historic Mamilla Cemetery
Uruknet February 10, 2010 - Palestinian families have filed a petition with the United Nations over the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s plans to build a "Museum of Tolerance" over the historic Muslim cemetery Jerusalem. Opponents of the project have long questioned how a monument to tolerance can be built on the remains of the graves of generations of Palestinian Muslims. We speak...

Silencing Palestinian voices in Jerusalem
Uruknet February 10, 2010 - Last week, the Israeli Ministry of Interior issued Palestinian geographer Khalil al-Tafakji with a six-month travel ban. Tafakji's activities are largely confined to surveying and cartography, he is not a politician. However, his work has created major obstacles for Israel's plans to Judaize the city of Jerusalem and decrease its Palestinian population. Tafakji is employed by...

Israeli warplanes fire on southern Gaza
Uruknet February 10, 2010 – Israeli warplanes fired on the southern Gaza Strip late Tuesday night, locals reported and the army confirmed. There were no immediate reports of injury...The airstrikes targeted the Yasser Arafat International Airport in Dahaniya, said BBC correspondent Shadi Al-Kashif. Five missiles struck the facility in total, Agence France-Presse quoted a witness as saying.

U.S. Non-Profit Targeted Rights Group over Goldstone
Uruknet February 9, 2010 - A campaign of attacks against the New Israel Fund (NIF), a U.S.-based progressive organisation that supports human rights groups in Israel, has gained attention in both the Israeli and U.S. media, raising questions about the role played by foreign non-profits and non-governmental organisations in influencing Israeli government policy. But an IPS investigation into publicly available tax...

Israeli Knesset decides not to return confiscated Arab lands
Uruknet February 9, 2010-- The Israeli Knesset (parliament) on Monday endorsed the second and third reading of a draft resolution allowing the return of confiscated lands to their real owners if they weren’t utilized but the new resolution excluded the lands confiscated from Palestinian citizens. Arab Knesset member Dr. Jamal Zahalka condemned the resolution, asserting that the Israeli MPs exerted tremendous...

What Israel gets away with
Uruknet February 9, 2010 - The following questions elicit the same answer in each instance. No other country in the world conducts itself at home and in world affairs with such impunity as Israel. This raises the question, why does Israel get away with it time and time again while other countries are condemned and punished? It is time that we...

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