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International Middle East Media Center

Nine German Physicians Arrive In the West Bank To Perform Sensitive Surgeries
IMEMC - Friday February 19, 2010 - 00:42, Palestinian sources reported Thursday that nine physicians, including a professor in medicine, arrived in the central West Bank city of Ramallah to perform sensitive surgeries.

Nablus Fighter Dies on Wounds Suffered In 2002
IMEMC - Friday February 19, 2010 - 00:22, Palestinian sources reported Thursday that a fighter died at hospital in Berlin – Germany of wounds suffered during an attack targeting Alon Moreh settlement near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, in 2002.

The Israeli military detains 11 Palestinian civilians form the West Bank
IMEMC - Thursday February 18, 2010 - 17:44, Eleven Palestinian civilians were detained on Thursday by Israeli troops during military invasions targeting West Bank communities.

Israeli tanks and bulldozers level two homes and uproot farm lands in central Gaza
IMEMC - Thursday February 18, 2010 - 17:22, Israeli tanks and a number of bulldozers leveled on Thursday two Palestinian homes and uprooted farm lands at central Gaza Strip.

Bedouin Youth Killed During Scuffle With Russian Jews In The Negev
IMEMC - Thursday February 18, 2010 - 12:51, A Bedouin youth was killed on Wednesday at night and another youth was seriously wounded during a scuffle that took place between Bedouins and a group of Russian Jews in Be’er Sheva, south of the country.

3.5 Tons Of Explosives Located Near Gaza Border
IMEMC - Thursday February 18, 2010 - 11:24, A senior Egyptian security source reported on Thursday evening that the Egyptian Border Police located and confiscated 3.5 Tons of explosives near the border area in Rafah.

New Excavations Under the Walls Of Jerusalem’s Old City
IMEMC - Thursday February 18, 2010 - 06:07, The Al Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage reported that the Israeli authorities started new excavations under the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem., The foundation stated that most of the digging is now concentrated in Bad Al Amoud (Damascus Gate) and Bab Al Sahera (also known as Herod's Gate), in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Palestinian Child Wounded By Settlers in Hebron
IMEMC - Thursday February 18, 2010 - 02:13, A group of fundamentalist settlers attacked on Wednesday a Palestinian child in the southern West Bank city of Hebron causing concussions and bruises that required hospitalization.

Soldiers Invade Salfit village, Break Into Municipality Building
IMEMC - Thursday February 18, 2010 - 02:02, Israeli soldiers invaded on Wednesday afternoon the village of Kufr Ad Deek village, near the central West Bank city of Salfit, and broke into its local council building.

Awad: “Reconstruction Donations Never Reached Gaza”
IMEMC - Thursday February 18, 2010 - 01:47, Dr. Mohammad Awad, secretary-general of the Council of Ministers at the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, stated that the promised Arab and international aid donations, allocated for rebuilding the Gaza Strip, never made it to the coastal region.

Ma'an News

Nine more demolition orders bring village total to 26
2/19/2010 - Jenin - Ma'an - Bringing the number of homes and agricultural structures to be demolished in Barta'a Ash-Sharqiya to 26, Israeli forces invaded the village at noon on Thursday to deliver eight orders for home destructions and one for a chicken coup, residents said. Member of the village council Tawfiq Qabaha said the families affected by the orders include: Rami Saleh Qabaha, Nael Ibrahim Yousef Qabaha, Mohammad Taysir Ash- Sheikh Ali, Muhanad Yousef Qabaha, A'yesh Mustafa Qabaha, Mohammad Hatem Ahmad Qabaha, Ala Hatem Ahmad Qabaha, Yahya Yousef Qabaha, Ahmad Saleh Qabaha. The orders follow one week after a pre-dawn raid saw Israeli soldiers hand five families demolition orders. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHAR) noted that already in 2010, 37 Palestinian owned structures in Area C have been demolished, displacing 109 Palestinians, compared to the 2009 monthly average of 16 structures demolished and 27 persons displaced. 

Gaza health system fails children despite success
2/19/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - The chief of Pediatric Surgery at the European Hospital in Gaza Dr Jihad Abu Dayyah lead a team of Palestinian physicians in an eight-hour surgery that saw the successful transplant of an esophagus in a child. One month earlier, however, a two-year-old boy died from congenital heart failure that could not be treated in Gaza. According to a report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) the boy's death occurred while he waited to the day of his appointment at the Wolfson Medical Center in Israel, which was set up on 19 January, after being previously postponed. As the General Director of the hospital, Abdul Latif Al-Hajj, praised the team of doctors and noted the success of the rare operation "even though the economical situation is deteriorating and the siege on the strip," not all patients are lucky enough to receive treatment at home or at all. 

PA jails journalist for ’undermining authority’
2/18/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - A Palestinian Authority military court sentenced a Nablus journalist to a year and a half in prison on Tuesday, in a move condemned by rights groups. Tariq Abu Zaid, 35, was charged with "undermining the status of the [Palestinian] Authority and resisting [its] public policy. "The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) called the sentence "an assault on the freedom of opinion and expression and press freedoms. " PCHR reported that a special military court in Nablus, chaired by Brigadier Abdul Karim Al-Masri, also found Abu Zaid guilty of "resisting the public policy of the Palestinian Authority" in violation of article 179 of the Palestine Liberation Organization Revolutionary Penal Code of 1979. Abu Zaid is a correspondent for Hamas-linked Al-Aqsa television. He was arrested by the PA's Military Intelligence Service on 15 August 2009. 

Israeli forces cross into Gaza Strip
2/19/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - Israeli forces entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a soldier was injured by a bomb planted at the border, the military said, confirming reports of an incursion following a blast hours earlier. "This morning, an IDF soldier was lightly injured when an explosive device was detonated against a force patrolling the Israeli side of the central Gaza Strip's security fence," a military spokesman told Ma'an. "While searching the area, IDF soldiers discovered a second explosive device, which was detonated in a controlled manner by IDF sappers," the spokesman added. "The IDF holds Hamas responsible for maintaining the peace and quiet in the Gaza Strip. " Bulldozers demolished two homes belonging to Ali and Salem Suleiman Ibn Said northeast of Deir Al-Balah, both on the outskirts of Al-Masaddar, and large swaths of olive groves, relatives said by phone. 

Mayor: Israeli forces raid municipality building
2/18/2010 - Salfit - Ma'an - Israeli forces raided a village municipality building near the northern West Bank town of Salfit on Wednesday, an official said, searching for part of an iron gate erected by the army that had gone missing. In a statement, the mayor of the Salfit-area village of Kafr Ad-Dik said soldiers threatened him personally over the iron structure, which was set up at a military checkpoint between his village and Deir Ballout. Mayor Jamal Ad-Dik said the army made unspecified threats of reprisals were the gate not immediately returned. He condemned "this attack" on the municipality building, "supposedly to look for that gate," and also the hostile remarks allegedly made to him by soldiers operating in the area. An Israeli military spokesman said he was not familiar with the incident. . . . . 

Friday: Thousands to mark 5 years of protest in Bil’in
2/18/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Organizers of Bil'in's weekly anti-wall protest expect thousands to turn out on Friday and mark the fifth year of popular action against the continued confiscation of village land by Israel's separation wall. Caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and leaders of all political factions will be among the demonstrators, a statement from the Bil'in Popular Committee said. The anniversary will also be a cause to celebrate, coming just one week after an Israeli court ordered that the route of the wall be rerouted. The changes should see Palestinians from the area granted better access to their lands. Over its five years of protest, Bil'in has seen a sharp increase in violence and repression, with regular night raids targeting protest organizers, thousands injured by riot-dispersal equipment alongside real bullets, and the death of a Palestinian man last year after a tear-gas canister was shot at him from a high-velocity gun. Basem Ibrahim Abu Rahmeh was 29 years old when he was. killed. 

Gaza: Karni crossing re-opens after sudden shut-down
2/19/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - Two Gaza crossings are expected to partially open on Thursday, for the transport of limited aid, fuel and exports, crossings liaison officer Raed Fattouh said. The bulk goods crossing at Karni is expected to allow the transport of 114 truckloads ofwheat and animal feed following its sudden closure on Wednesday, when Israeli forces announced a security threat and shut down the area. Last week, Israeli media predicted the total closure of the crossing, citing the proximity to the densely populated Gaza City as part of a series of threats to the area. One projectile was fired at a military station near the terminal late last year. At the southern crossing, Kerem Shalom, 118 to 128 truckloads of aid and commercial goods were expected to make their way into Gaza, while one to two truckloads of cut carnations will be exported under a Dutch government program supporting Gaza farmers. 

Gaza crossings report on weekly civilian traffic
2/19/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an -The Gaza Crossings Monitoring Committee said Egyptian officials will likely open the Rafah crossing Friday for travelers moving in and out of the coastal region. The body issued its crossings report, compiled by observers with the organization each day the civilian terminals in the north and south of the Strip are opened. Information from the last three weeks indicates: 17-18 February, Erez: 112 enter, 137 exit, Rafah: 162 enter, 25 exit / 10-11 February, Erez: 155 enter, 135 exit, Rafah: 161 enter, 28 exit / 3-4 February, Erez: 135 enter, 198 exit, Rafah: 123 enter, 23 exit. The 137 who left Gaza Wednesday include 102 Gaza residents, 34 international passport holders and one Palestinian citizen of Israel. Egyptian officials noted that most of those returning to Gaza via Rafah were patients referred for medical treatment who had finished their hospital stays and were heading home. 

IN PHOTOS: Palestine’s sole woman cab driver
2/19/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Sabreen Manasra is the first Palestinian woman known to make a living driving a public taxi. This photo essay by Ma'an photographer Haytham Othman shows Mansara at work and with her family at home. On Monday a Palestinian company announced plans to bring women-only taxis - a phenomenon already popular in Beirut and elsewhere - to the conservative West Bank city of Hebron. Hazem At-Takrawi, the director of the Ishraqat training and development firm, said on Monday that his company is already training women to drive the female-only cabs. As in Beirut, the cars would be pink, he told anchor Adel Eghraieb on the television show "On the Table. "Asked whether Hebron and Palestinians in general would accept the idea, At-Takrawi said the company already commissioned a survey that found that 95% of Palestinians would accept the new cabs. 

Salah Ad-Din fighter sentenced to 25-year jail term
2/18/2010 - Gaza - Ma'an - ABeersheba court sentenced Gaza resident and member of the Popular Resistance Committees' An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades on Wednesday to 25 years in prison for his role in an attack on the Erez checkpoint. The accused, Mamdouh At-Tanany, is from the Jabaliya refugee camp. He stood trial in an Israeli military court and was found guilty of participating in an attack on the terminal, the only civilian crossing between Gaza and Israel, during which forces penetrated into Israel and clashed with troops for three hours near the Natif Hatsarah settlement north of the crossing. A statement from the Salah Ad-Din Brigades said the sentence would not deter their fighters from continuing their resistance activities. . . . . 

In photos: Church of Jacob`s Well in Nablus
2/18/2010 - MaanImages /Rami Swidan: 1-2 -- A view of the Church of Jacob`s Well near the northern West Bank city of Nablus on 18 February 2010. Traditionally associated with the religious figure Jacob, the church sits atop a deep well. In Christian tradition, it marks the site where Jesus offered a Samaritan woman water from its spring. 3-7 -- The church, an Eastern Orthodox monastery, lies on the edge of the Balata refugee camp, the most populated such camp in the occupied Palestinian territories. Once neglected, the monastery underwent a major restoration overseen by the Palestinian Authority shortly after its establishment in 1994. 8-10 -- A view of stained glass windows inside the church. Its Christian iconography has been the subject of disputes between the local Christian minority and Israeli settlers, who also consider the site holy. Abuna Philoumenos, the monastery`s late priest, was hacked to death by axe-wielding settlers in 1979. 

Cartoonists in Israel take aim at Mossad
2/19/2010 - Jerusalem - Ma'an - Political cartoonists working for Israeli newspapers this week turned their attention away from Rafiq Husseini, the Palestinian Authority official who disgraced by a sex tape. The new target of the cartoonists is a subject that is usually off-limits: Mossad. The shift in focus took place as suspicion mounted that the spy agency was involved in the assassination in January of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai. The details of the plot itself provided ample fare for satire: CCTV footage showed the assassins were dressed as tennis players. Dubai police said the operatives used wigs and false beards. In keeping with its policy of "ambiguity" on the matter, Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the killing. But the cartoons, like Israeli press at large, simply assume that Mossad was behind the hit. 

Al-Aqsa fighter succumbs to injuries in Berlin
2/19/2010 - Nablus - Ma'an - A Palestinian operative affiliated with Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades died in Berlin on Thursday, sources said. Dia Faeq Salawda, 23, was seriously injured during an attack on the illegal Elon Moreh settlement south of Nablus in 2002. Salawda was treated at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, before being transferred to Jordan, and finally Germany, where he died. [end] 

Deibes: PA will include Area C in plans
2/19/2010 - Jericho - Ma'an - The Palestinian Authority plans to include Area C in it strategic planning in an effort to lay the groundwork for a future state, Tourism Minister Khouloud Deibes said on Thursday. Deibes made this remark following a meeting in Jericho with a visiting delegation from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She also said her ministry is committed to attracting private sector investment to tourism-related projects in the West bank, particularly north of the Dead Sea, and also attract more tourists to the area. The minister led the delegation on a tour of archaeological sites in the Jericho area, including Tel As-Sultan, and Hisham's Palace, which is under renovation. She said the PA is working to have Jericho, a 10,000-year-old city, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Oslo Peace agreements of the 1990s ceded certain parts of the West Bank to the PA. 

Interpol issues alert over Dubai suspects
2/19/2010 - Washington - Ma'an - The international police agency Interpol placed 11 members of the alleged hit team that killed Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh on its most wanted list on Thursday. Interpol said it issued the "red notices" for individuals at the request of police in Dubai, which released the names and photos of the suspects on Monday. "Since INTERPOL has reason to believe that the suspects linked to this murder have stolen the identities of real people, the Red Notices specify that the names used were aliases used to commit murder," the agency said on its website. Interpol's "red notices" are not arrest warrants, but are intended to help national authorities locate and extradite wanted criminals. Mabhouh was found dead in his Dubai hotel room on 20 January. This week Dubai authorities issued arrest warrants for 11 suspects they said traveled to the emirate on European passports that now appear to be false. 

PA minister urges Italy to boycott settlement goods
2/18/2010 - Ramallah - Ma'an - Palestinian Authority Economy Minister Dr Hassan Abu Libda on Wednesday brainstormed ways to educate the Italian pubic about Israeli settlement products and strategies to boycott them in the country. A delegation, visiting the Ramallah Ministry of the National Economy headquarters, was lead by a deputy from the Italian foreign minister's office, a statement said Wednesday. The group met with an agenda to strengthen Italian-Palestinian relations, and directly addressed the issue of a boycott of settlement goods, a statement said. The cabinet of the Ramallah-based Palestinian government voted on Monday to approve a law prohibiting the entrance of settlement goods into areas controlled by the PA. During the weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah, ministers said they approved the legislation as settlements amount. . . 

PA customs agents continue to enforce settlement goods ban
2/18/2010 - Ramallah - Ma'an - Approximately one and a half tonnes of cardboard two tons of processed pastry dough produced in settlements built on Palestinian lands in the West Bank were seized by Palestinian police said customs officers on Thursday. The public relations and information office said it was waiting for the go-ahead from the Internal Market Organizing Committee for the destruction of the goods. During the raids, officers also found 28 gallons of oils marketed as olive oil but not meeting minimum health or quality standards, officers said. [end] 

UN envoy: Quartet to back PA autonomy
2/18/2010 - Hebron - Ma'an - Robert Serry, the UN special envoy to the Middle East peace process, hinted on Thursday that the international community would pressure Israel to cede parts of the occupied West Bank to Palestinian Authority control. Serry said the International Quartet, made up of the UN, EU, US and Russia, will express support for PA demands on the Israeli government to transfer Areas B and of the West Bank C into A, under full Palestinian control, on the road to establishing statehood. Speaking during a visit to the West Bank city of Hebron, which is divided between PA security autonomy and Israeli military control, Serry told Ma'an, "if Israel is serious about the peace process, and the two-state solution, and wants to see an end to the occupation, we should back Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's successful program. " 

PFLP, Hamas discuss unity in Beirut
2/18/2010 - Beirut - Ma'an - Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine officials welcomed a delegation of Hamas leaders into their Beirut headquarters on Wednesday, for discussions on the re-initiation of factional talks on Palestinian unity. Marwan Abdul Al, a PFLP politburo member, headed up the discussions, while the Hamas delegation was fronted by Ali Barakeh, a statement from the Palestinian Authority representative office in Lebanon said. The political leaders sat to discuss a PFLP proposal to reunify Palestinian factions, which the statement described only as a plan that would "activate the Palestinian political framework and encourage cooperation and understanding. "Abdul Al wrote in the statement that the PFLP effort was the result of an urgent need to find grounds for party negotiations and to work on reasonable and achievable expectations. 

Ha'aretz Defense page

Uruknet

Mossad Agents with Fake Pass in Malta
Uruknet February 18, 2010 - The assassination of Mohammed Mabhouh in Dubai was not the first International crime which Mossad death squads committed by using the fake or stolen European passports. There is a long record full of assassinations which were carried out by the Israeli death squads in Europe and in many other countries. The latest crime, the assassination of...

Israeli Abusive Administrative Detentions
Uruknet February 18, 2010 - ...Israel uses administrative detentions repressively, in violation of the letter and spirit of international law. In all cases, security considerations must be balanced against individuals' rights to due process and judicial fairness. Detentions based on secret evidence without trial or meaningful judicial review are "the most extreme measure that an occupying state may use against residents...

Gaza: A dark comedyAt first the Goldstone Report seemed a breakthrough. Now most hopes for justice have been dissipated
Uruknet February 18, 2010 - When Israel attacked Gaza just over a year ago, the Israeli government undoubtedly believed it could get away with murder with little damage to its reputation. The way that this would happen, however, was probably not envisioned. Neither the Israeli generals who ordered the attacks on civilians, civilian infrastructure, and whatever else was within sight, nor...

Israeli assassinations: passports to killOur government seems to be fine with letting the Israeli secret service wage its war with Hamas under a British flag
Uruknet February 18, 2010 - British passports are the property of the British government. When that government says and does nothing for six days after it was given evidence that Mossad agents stole the identity of six British citizens to assassinate a Hamas commander in Dubai, it starts to seem as if Israel was right to think it could get away...

Interpol releases 'wanted' notices for Israeli secret agents
Uruknet February 18, 2010 - Official "wanted" notices for a suspected team of Israeli secret agents accused of participating in the assassination of a Palestinian militant were released today. The faces of an 11-strong alleged hit squad appeared on the Interpol website this morning, some 48 hours after authorities in the United Arab Emirates issued arrest warrants for the killing last...

Construction continues in a quarter of West Bank settlements despite “freeze”
Uruknet February 18, 2010 - Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing had allowed contractors who had won the bid for new construction in the Betar Illit settlement

Israeli bulldozers raze private lands in Gaza
Uruknet February 18, 2010 - Israeli military vehicles breached the Gaza border Thursday morning, reaching 200 meters inside the central Gaza region near the Deir Al-Balah neighborhood. Witnesses said the vehicles were bulldozing private lands. The limited incursion followed local reports of of an explosion, allegedly an anti-tank shell launched at an Israeli jeep...

How did the assassins obtain British Passports?
Uruknet February 17, 2010 - The involvement of six British passport holders in the killing of senior Hamas official, Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, last month in Dubai was described in the Guardian today as "an extraordinary tale of modern-day espionage." The Brits in question have denied any part in the assassination and have proclaimed their innocence stating that their passports must have been...

Jerusalem’s Battle of the Graves
Uruknet February 17, 2010 - I carried a handful of ashes from my father’s cremates into the occupied Palestinian territories a few years ago, hoping to take them to his hometown, Nablus. At the border, the only available taxi was driven by an Israeli Moroccan Jew. Delighted I was an Arab, he immediately plunged into conversation and pointed out various landmarks...

The Long Arm of Israel better be amputated
Uruknet February 17, 2010 - We have learned in the last few days that the Dubai assassins were Mossad agents who stole identities of six UK citizens and faked at least five other European passports. Dubai Police yesterday presented footage of some of the 11 'Europeans’ suspected of killing Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.According to the Guardian, "Official sources said UK authorities...

PACBI: Intellectual responsibility and the voice of the colonized
Uruknet February 17, 2010 - The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) has recently encountered a number of projects that while intending to empower the colonized Palestinians, in essence end up undermining their will and choice of method of struggle for freedom, justice and self-determination. The publication of a new book entitled The Power of Inclusive...

Chalabi and Al-Lami work for Iran - That is news for you? .. ??? ??? ???
Uruknet February 17, 2010 -

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