BilinFFJ
At 3:20am three Israeli army jeeps and many soldiers invaded Bil’in to arrest 21-year-old Yaseen Mohammad Yaseen. In the last six months the military has come to his home numerous times attempting to take him into custody...
Yassen had been avoiding his home in Bil’in for the last six months; only making short visits to see his friends and family. He had only been in the village for two days before tonight’s arrest. Tonight, friends of Yassen say that he told them he just wanted to see his family even though he knew that they would probably attempt to arrest him. After he had been taken away, his mother sat shaking outside the family’s house. She was heard yelling at the soldiers during the invasion, questioning how they would feel if their sons were taken away like this and they were unable to do anything about it. Full story
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
West Bank Popular Leaders Arrested in Ni’ilin
PalSolidarity
Ibrahim Amirah and Hassan Moussah, members of the [nonviolent] Popular Committee Against the Wall in Ni’ilin, were arrested tonight from his home during a night-time raid tonight. Amirah and Moussah, together with another man, Zaydoun Srour, were arrested under suspicion of organizing anti-Wall demonstrations in the village.
At around 3:00am tonight, a military force of 15 armored jeeps and about a hundred Israeli soldiers invaded the village of Ni’ilin and surrounded the home of Ibrahim Amirah, the coordinator of Ni’lin’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. After forcefully entering his home, soldiers extracted Amirah from his bed, searched the house and arrested him.
Amirah has previously been arrested twice under the same suspicion of organizing demonstrations against the Wall in Ni’lin, but was never charged. Protests have been held in the village since May 2008.
Hassan Moussah, a high school teacher in the village and a member of the Popular Committee, was arrested immediately when soldiers entered his home last night. Srour, a well known activist in the village, was detained alongside Amirah. A simultaneous raid was also carried in the village of Bil’in tonight, where soldiers arrested 21 year old Yassin Yassin.
The arrests today are an escalation of an ongoing and extensive Israeli attempt to suppress the Palestinian popular resistance generally, and repress its leadership particularly.
Yesterday, Israel staged a night raid into Area A, near the center of Ramallah, to arrest international solidarity activist Eva Nováková for overstaying her visa. Such an incursion into Area A over an expired visa is extremely unusual. A Czech national, Nováková served as the International Solidarity Movement’s media coordinator for the past three weeks. She was deported from the Ben Gurion airport at 6am this morning.
In the past month, since 16 December, the army has staged eleven night incursions into Ni’ilin. Since may 2008, when demonstrations began in the village, 94 residents have been arrested in connection to the protests. Similar raids have been conducted in the village of Bil’in – where 34 residents have been arrested in the past six month and the cities of Nablus, Ramallah and East Jerusalem.
Among those arrested in the recent campaign are also five members of the Bil’in Popular Committee, all suspected of incitement, and include Adeeb Abu Rahmah – who has already been held in detention for almost six months and Abdallah Abu Rahmah – the Bil’in Popular Committee coordinator.
Prominent Nablus grassroots activists, Wael al-Faqeeh, as well as Jamal Juma (East Jerusalem) and Mohammed Othman (Jayyous) of the Stop the Wall NGO, involved in anti-Wall and boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigning have also been arrested recently. All three are currently being held based on secret evidence and with no charges brought against them. Full story
Monday, January 11, 2010
Ackerman hosted meeting for firm in which he invested
JTA
A leading pro-Israel congressman hosted a business meeting in his offices between Israeli officials and a defense contractor in which he profitably invested.
A leading pro-Israel congressman hosted a business meeting in his offices between Israeli officials and a defense contractor in which he profitably invested.
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Middle East subcommittee, told the New York Daily News, which published the revelation Monday, that he did not profit in any way from the meeting between Alan Magerman, the founder of Xenonics, and two Israeli officials.
.....Business meetings benefiting involved lawmakers are banned under congressional rules.... Full story
U.S. to double weapons stockpile in Israel
JTA
The U.S. Army will double the amount of emergency military equipment it stockpiles in Israel.
The U.S. Army will double the amount of emergency military equipment it stockpiles in Israel.
Jerusalem and Washington agreed that Israel will keep $800 million worth of U.S. equipment, according to Monday's issue of the U.S. weekly Defense News publication, Haaretz reported.
Israel would be allowed to use the equipment in a military emergency, according to the report.
Missiles, armored vehicles, aerial ammunition and artillery ordnance already are stockpiled in Israel... Full story
Israel stages night-time Ramallah raid to arrest an international solidarity activist
PalSolidarity
A raid was conducted in Ramallah’s city centre [ to apprehend Eva Nováková, a Czech citizen, who took on the role of the International Solidarity Movement’s media coordinator three weeks ago.
A raid was conducted in Ramallah’s city centre [ to apprehend Eva Nováková, a Czech citizen, who took on the role of the International Solidarity Movement’s media coordinator three weeks ago.
Israeli soldiers raided the Ramallah home of Eva Nováková tonight at 3 am near the Manara square. The operation to apprehend Nováková, the ISM’s new media coordinator since three weeks ago, was carried out by a force of both soldiers and members of the “Oz” immigration police unit. During the raid, the army occupied a number of rooftops at a location adjacent to the Palestinian Police Ramallah headquarters. She is currently being held in Givon detention center awaiting deportation to the Czech Republic.
This recent military raid into Palestinian-controlled Area A comes amidst Palestinian discontent over continued incursions and arrests. Nováková’s Attoreny Omer Shatz stated: “The Israeli immigration police work under the authority of the Israeli ministry of the interior, and as such have no jurisdiction in the Occupied Palestinian territories. This arrest is part of the continued and illegal use of the immigration police against activists, for political purposes”
This raid follows an extensive arrest wave targeting grassroots activists and oragnizers throughout the West Bank. Such raids have been conducted in the villages of Bil’in – where 32 residents have been arrested in the past six month, Ni’ilin – where 94 residents have been arrested in the past 18 months, the cities of Nablus and Ramallah and East Jerusalem. The past three weeks have seen raids on ex-ISM bases in both Bil’in and Ni’lin also.
Among those arrested in this recent campaign are five members of the Bil’in Popular Committee have been arrested in suspicion of incitement, including Adeeb Abu Rahmah, who has already been held in detention for almost six months and Bil’in’s Popular Committee coordinator, Abdallah Abu Rahmah.
Prominent Nablus grassroots activists, Wael al-Faqeeh (Nablus) as well as Jamal Juma (East Jerusalem) and Mohammed Othman (Jayyous) of the Stop the Wall NGO, involved in anti-Wall and boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigning have also been arrested recently. All three are currently being held on secret evidence and with no charges brought against them. Full story
The looming war in Gaza: Can Obama stop it before it starts?
Ha'aretz - Bradley Burston
Next week, or the week after, Barack Obama may well see intelligence reports of tank battalions moving south and west along Israeli highways, and whole infantry brigades setting up camp in the western Negev.
The countdown to the Second Gaza War has begun in earnest. Date it, if you like, to Sunday, and a coolly terrifying analysis by Yom Tov Samia, former overall Israeli military commander of the Gaza Strip and the adjacent Negev.
Or date it, if you prefer, according to axiom of contemporary Israeli history which reads: A future war becomes practically inevitable the moment a key IDF reserve major general declares it so.
Alternatively, date it from the moment that selective amnesia allows Israeli political figures to court the illusion that Hamas can be invaded to death.
All this and more was to be had from an interview Samia gave Army Radio this week, which should give pause not only to the Palestinians and Israelis who may fall victim to a Second Gaza War, but to Washington as well.
If last year's brutal fighting is any indication - and there is every reason to believe that it is - a full-on drive to prevent the looming Israel-Hamas confrontation in the Strip belongs at the top tier of Obama's already staggering pile of priorities.
Another Gaza war, this one likely to be an even more bitter onslaught, could not only prove lethal to what is left of Israeli moral credibility, it could undermine and cripple Obama's military-political offensives in Iraq, Afghanistan and, slipping further down the slope, Yemen.
If Obama still nurses hopes of brokering a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, his first task must be defusing the war wagon before it once again engulfs Gaza.....
..............It is, of course, no coincidence that what may prove a crucial test of the Obama administration coincides with the anniversary of his taking office. Cast Lead, pointedly launched at the interregnum between the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama White House, ended with a unilateral Israeli case fire barely 48 hours before the president-elect took the oath of office.
At the time, a scandal-plagued, lethally unpopular prime minister desperate to redeem a reputation for military misjudgment that complemented his record of personal malfeasance, took advantage of a power vacuum in Washington to mount a war ..... Full story
Next week, or the week after, Barack Obama may well see intelligence reports of tank battalions moving south and west along Israeli highways, and whole infantry brigades setting up camp in the western Negev.
The countdown to the Second Gaza War has begun in earnest. Date it, if you like, to Sunday, and a coolly terrifying analysis by Yom Tov Samia, former overall Israeli military commander of the Gaza Strip and the adjacent Negev.
Or date it, if you prefer, according to axiom of contemporary Israeli history which reads: A future war becomes practically inevitable the moment a key IDF reserve major general declares it so.
Alternatively, date it from the moment that selective amnesia allows Israeli political figures to court the illusion that Hamas can be invaded to death.
All this and more was to be had from an interview Samia gave Army Radio this week, which should give pause not only to the Palestinians and Israelis who may fall victim to a Second Gaza War, but to Washington as well.
If last year's brutal fighting is any indication - and there is every reason to believe that it is - a full-on drive to prevent the looming Israel-Hamas confrontation in the Strip belongs at the top tier of Obama's already staggering pile of priorities.
Another Gaza war, this one likely to be an even more bitter onslaught, could not only prove lethal to what is left of Israeli moral credibility, it could undermine and cripple Obama's military-political offensives in Iraq, Afghanistan and, slipping further down the slope, Yemen.
If Obama still nurses hopes of brokering a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, his first task must be defusing the war wagon before it once again engulfs Gaza.....
..............It is, of course, no coincidence that what may prove a crucial test of the Obama administration coincides with the anniversary of his taking office. Cast Lead, pointedly launched at the interregnum between the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama White House, ended with a unilateral Israeli case fire barely 48 hours before the president-elect took the oath of office.
At the time, a scandal-plagued, lethally unpopular prime minister desperate to redeem a reputation for military misjudgment that complemented his record of personal malfeasance, took advantage of a power vacuum in Washington to mount a war ..... Full story
The use of Palestinian civilians as human shields
Ma'an
Part 15 of a series recounting the findings of South African jurist Richard Goldstone's UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.
At midnight on 10 January 2009, Israeli soldiers violently entered the home of Mahmoud Al-Ajrami, where he and his wife were sheltering underneath the stairs.
Soldiers threw a grenade and entered the house shooting. What Al-Ajrami says transpired over the next 48 hours left him with two fractured vertebrae as a result of beatings, and was one of four cases in which civilians were used as human shields that Richard Goldstone's UN inquiry investigated.
These civilians were allegedly forced to enter houses at gunpoint in front of or, in one case, instead of soldiers. Two incidents took place east of Jabaliya.
The case of Mahmoud Al-Ajrami
Al-Ajrami, a former foreign minister, testified in Gaza City last June. He resigned when Hamas took over and has not worked since. He, his wife and 15-year-old daughter lived in a house west of Beit Lahiya. His home was directly hit for the first time on 2 or 3 January 2009, according to him by tank shells and by missiles fired by Apache helicopters, which seriously damaged external and internal walls.
"I don't know why the Israeli army did what it did, especially since I was in a civilian house. There wasn't one bullet fired from my house or from the neighboring houses," he recounted. "And I asked this question to one of the officers later ... this question still challenges me."
Tanks that came into the area were initially positioned around 500 meters north of his house. As he told Goldstone, Al-Ajrami had decided not to leave because of his father's experience of leaving his home in Israel and not being able to return. But he decided that this was proving too difficult for his daughter. He called a taxi and his daughter moved to the house of an uncle in a safer area.
"The soldiers came in while firing and guns shooting. ... At one point we were facing them, so I started talking to them in a loud voice, telling them, 'we are here, we are the owners of this house, we are civilians,' and my wife was saying more or less the same. ..."
An officer ordered Al-Ajrami to lift his robe (he was in nightclothes) and turn around. "I was there with my wife, wearing pajamas and bathrobes, because this was January and you know it's very cold, and these are the coldest days of the year in Palestine," he said.
"One of them – actually there were about 20 to 25 soldiers inside the house, and like I said, we were in the corner, although we tried to get closer to them – and one of them yelled at us in broken Arabic and I couldn't understand him ... So when I got closer to him, he pointed his gun at me with the laser beam, of course, pointing at me, so I moved my hands and said, 'please, just stop, stop, don't shoot. I don't understand what you need, what you want.' ...
"His first question was 'what are you doing here,' and I said, 'this is my house, this is my home and it's quite natural to be at home, and I don't know, frankly speaking, what are you doing here, because my presence here is natural, your presence is not natural.' So he insulted me, using extremely crude words and he said, 'you have to remove your shirt, turn around.' I did, and he – maybe he expected me to be carrying a bomb ... Then he asked me to move ahead. ...
They were then taken to a neighboring house where soldiers took his ID card and checked it on a laptop.
"And then he said, 'well, you're going to stay with us' and he started then asking the questions, 'I'm gonna give you five minutes and then you will have to tell us in detail where is [captured Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit. Where are the Hamas tunnels located and where are the Hamas militants, where are the rockets' and so on."
Al-Ajrami responded that he could not provide that information because he did not know, that he was previously a member of the Fatah administration. "So he said, 'well, I'll come back to you.' ... He told me, 'if you don't speak we will take you and we will kill you,' and I remember exactly what he said, 'if you don't talk we will take you and shoot you,' and he repeated the same sentence over and over again. So I said, 'I don't have any information. I don't know what I can tell you.'" ....
.........Al-Ajlami was handcuffed and blindfolded. Two or three soldiers took him by the shoulders and forced him to walk in front of them. His wife tried to go with him but they pushed her back into the room. It was by now around 2am. "My wife had her hands tied, was hanging to my robe, and she said 'please take me with him' and she was screaming and she said, 'I'm not going to leave him, take me with him.' One of the soldiers pushed her back, so she fell on the ground and he said, 'no, you are not to move.' So I left.
'I thought they were going to shoot me'
The soldiers took Al-Ajlami up to the second floor of the building and threw him off. He landed on rubble and fainted. When he came to, he had severe pain in his right side and had difficulty breathing. He found out later that he had broken four ribs and he had severe bruising down his right leg...
....It was raining and still dark. Four soldiers forced him to stand. He was moaning with the pain but did not want them to hear. "I didn't want to scream. I tried to hold myself, I tried to restrain myself. They put me up and I had to walk but I was in extreme pain...."
The soldiers pushed him against a wall and walked away. He thought they were going to shoot him. He was still blindfolded. "I tried to look from underneath the blindfold, I saw the soldier's feet, and I heard [from a witness] later on that when they brought him to join me, he saw them holding their guns and pointing their guns at me and he thought that they were going to shoot me and shoot him also."
Early the next morning, the soldiers took him and another man (whom he subsequently found out to be his neighbor Abbas Halawa) and forced them to walk in front of them. Al-Ajrami was blindfolded and a gun was held to the back of his head........ Full story and photos from Jan. 10, 2009
Part 15 of a series recounting the findings of South African jurist Richard Goldstone's UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.
At midnight on 10 January 2009, Israeli soldiers violently entered the home of Mahmoud Al-Ajrami, where he and his wife were sheltering underneath the stairs.
Soldiers threw a grenade and entered the house shooting. What Al-Ajrami says transpired over the next 48 hours left him with two fractured vertebrae as a result of beatings, and was one of four cases in which civilians were used as human shields that Richard Goldstone's UN inquiry investigated.
These civilians were allegedly forced to enter houses at gunpoint in front of or, in one case, instead of soldiers. Two incidents took place east of Jabaliya.
The case of Mahmoud Al-Ajrami
Al-Ajrami, a former foreign minister, testified in Gaza City last June. He resigned when Hamas took over and has not worked since. He, his wife and 15-year-old daughter lived in a house west of Beit Lahiya. His home was directly hit for the first time on 2 or 3 January 2009, according to him by tank shells and by missiles fired by Apache helicopters, which seriously damaged external and internal walls.
"I don't know why the Israeli army did what it did, especially since I was in a civilian house. There wasn't one bullet fired from my house or from the neighboring houses," he recounted. "And I asked this question to one of the officers later ... this question still challenges me."
Tanks that came into the area were initially positioned around 500 meters north of his house. As he told Goldstone, Al-Ajrami had decided not to leave because of his father's experience of leaving his home in Israel and not being able to return. But he decided that this was proving too difficult for his daughter. He called a taxi and his daughter moved to the house of an uncle in a safer area.
"The soldiers came in while firing and guns shooting. ... At one point we were facing them, so I started talking to them in a loud voice, telling them, 'we are here, we are the owners of this house, we are civilians,' and my wife was saying more or less the same. ..."
An officer ordered Al-Ajrami to lift his robe (he was in nightclothes) and turn around. "I was there with my wife, wearing pajamas and bathrobes, because this was January and you know it's very cold, and these are the coldest days of the year in Palestine," he said.
"One of them – actually there were about 20 to 25 soldiers inside the house, and like I said, we were in the corner, although we tried to get closer to them – and one of them yelled at us in broken Arabic and I couldn't understand him ... So when I got closer to him, he pointed his gun at me with the laser beam, of course, pointing at me, so I moved my hands and said, 'please, just stop, stop, don't shoot. I don't understand what you need, what you want.' ...
"His first question was 'what are you doing here,' and I said, 'this is my house, this is my home and it's quite natural to be at home, and I don't know, frankly speaking, what are you doing here, because my presence here is natural, your presence is not natural.' So he insulted me, using extremely crude words and he said, 'you have to remove your shirt, turn around.' I did, and he – maybe he expected me to be carrying a bomb ... Then he asked me to move ahead. ...
They were then taken to a neighboring house where soldiers took his ID card and checked it on a laptop.
"And then he said, 'well, you're going to stay with us' and he started then asking the questions, 'I'm gonna give you five minutes and then you will have to tell us in detail where is [captured Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit. Where are the Hamas tunnels located and where are the Hamas militants, where are the rockets' and so on."
Al-Ajrami responded that he could not provide that information because he did not know, that he was previously a member of the Fatah administration. "So he said, 'well, I'll come back to you.' ... He told me, 'if you don't speak we will take you and we will kill you,' and I remember exactly what he said, 'if you don't talk we will take you and shoot you,' and he repeated the same sentence over and over again. So I said, 'I don't have any information. I don't know what I can tell you.'" ....
.........Al-Ajlami was handcuffed and blindfolded. Two or three soldiers took him by the shoulders and forced him to walk in front of them. His wife tried to go with him but they pushed her back into the room. It was by now around 2am. "My wife had her hands tied, was hanging to my robe, and she said 'please take me with him' and she was screaming and she said, 'I'm not going to leave him, take me with him.' One of the soldiers pushed her back, so she fell on the ground and he said, 'no, you are not to move.' So I left.
'I thought they were going to shoot me'
The soldiers took Al-Ajlami up to the second floor of the building and threw him off. He landed on rubble and fainted. When he came to, he had severe pain in his right side and had difficulty breathing. He found out later that he had broken four ribs and he had severe bruising down his right leg...
....It was raining and still dark. Four soldiers forced him to stand. He was moaning with the pain but did not want them to hear. "I didn't want to scream. I tried to hold myself, I tried to restrain myself. They put me up and I had to walk but I was in extreme pain...."
The soldiers pushed him against a wall and walked away. He thought they were going to shoot him. He was still blindfolded. "I tried to look from underneath the blindfold, I saw the soldier's feet, and I heard [from a witness] later on that when they brought him to join me, he saw them holding their guns and pointing their guns at me and he thought that they were going to shoot me and shoot him also."
Early the next morning, the soldiers took him and another man (whom he subsequently found out to be his neighbor Abbas Halawa) and forced them to walk in front of them. Al-Ajrami was blindfolded and a gun was held to the back of his head........ Full story and photos from Jan. 10, 2009
Army Installs Roadblocks Near Jenin
IMEMC
Israeli soldiers installed on Sunday at dawn two military roadblocks south of Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank, and searched dozens of vehicles and residents. Local sources reported that the soldiers interrogated a number of residents; no arrests were reported.
...... a number of Israeli army vehicles invaded at dawn the village of Zabbouba, west of Jenin, broke into and ransacked a local taxi office. Full story
Israeli soldiers installed on Sunday at dawn two military roadblocks south of Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank, and searched dozens of vehicles and residents. Local sources reported that the soldiers interrogated a number of residents; no arrests were reported.
...... a number of Israeli army vehicles invaded at dawn the village of Zabbouba, west of Jenin, broke into and ransacked a local taxi office. Full story
Israel Demolishes 30 Structures Near Nablus
IMEMC
Israeli soldiers demolished on Sunday morning 30 structures in Khirbit Tana, a small village near Beit Forik, east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The destruction caused by the latest Israeli violation rendered more than 180 villagers homeless.
Khirbit Tana - File; Image, Land Research Center
The attack was carried out during early morning hours on Sunday as the army surrounded the area and invaded it.
One of the demolished structures is a local school ...
The Palestine News Agency, WAFA, reported that Ghassan Douglas, in charge of the settlements file in the northern part of the West Bank, said that this attack is not the first, and that Israel wants to remove the residents from the area and from their lands to replace them with Jewish settlers.
In February on 2009, the Israeli High Court issued a ruling that cannot be appealed, stating that all structures in Khirbit Tana must be demolished, and that the Palestinian farmers should be removed from the village.
Tana is inhibited by 50 Palestinian families who own farmlands and depend on agriculture as their main sources of livelihood.
The villagers are originally from Beit Forik as they owned lands before Israeli illegal occupied the West Bank in 1967.
.... Should the villages be removed from their lands, Israel would annex 18.000 Dunams (4447.89 Acres). The lands are owned by hundreds of residents of Beit Forik. Full story
Gaza: a child dies because of the siege and a man reported dead at a tunnel site
IMEMCA Palestinian child was reported dead on Monday after he was unable to leave the Gaza Strip for the medical care he urgently needed.
Three year old Mayisarah Mussa had a heart condition, but doctors were unable to treat him in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing siege. Doctors said that he needed an operation to save his life but the Israeli military did not give his family the necessary permission required for any resident of the Gaza Strip to travel.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, with Mussa's death the number of patients who died because of the Israeli siege has now reached 368. The Israeli military started its siege on the Gaza Strip in June of 2006.... Full story
Israel to build wall along Egyptian border
Ma'an
Israel approved on Sunday the construction of a barrier along its border with Egypt, Israeli media reported on Monday. [Map]
"I took the decision to close Israel's southern border to infiltrators and terrorists. This is a strategic decision to secure Israel's Jewish and democratic character," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement.....
...Israel’s border with Egypt spans approximately 266 kilometers and the new wall is tipped to cost Israel more than 270 million US dollars, taking two years to complete. The new wall will be accompanied by advanced security and monitoring installations.
Egypt’s steel wall
Meanwhile, Egypt began constructing a steel wall along the [Egypt-Gaza] border that will extend underground in an attempt to cut off a network of smuggling tunnels. The tunnels are a lifeline for Palestinians living under an Israeli-led blockade..... Full story
Israel approved on Sunday the construction of a barrier along its border with Egypt, Israeli media reported on Monday. [Map]
"I took the decision to close Israel's southern border to infiltrators and terrorists. This is a strategic decision to secure Israel's Jewish and democratic character," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement.....
...Israel’s border with Egypt spans approximately 266 kilometers and the new wall is tipped to cost Israel more than 270 million US dollars, taking two years to complete. The new wall will be accompanied by advanced security and monitoring installations.
Egypt’s steel wall
Meanwhile, Egypt began constructing a steel wall along the [Egypt-Gaza] border that will extend underground in an attempt to cut off a network of smuggling tunnels. The tunnels are a lifeline for Palestinians living under an Israeli-led blockade..... Full story
Activists enter Gaza buffer zone
Ma'an
Dozens of Palestinian and foreign activists began on Monday the first of weekly demonstrations against Israel’s creation of a buffer zone between the Green Line and the northern and eastern borders of the Gaza Strip. [Map]
Saber Az-Za’aneen, coordinator of the local committee that organized the protests, said they were joined by foreign participants in the intended "security zone," reaching approximately 100 meters of the separation wall in Beit Hanoun.
Az-Za’aneen told Ma’an that the committee hopes to see participation grow, in order to protect farmers, who are most affected by the decision, and to assist them in gaining entry to their agricultural land.
[Israeli forces have shot at least 35 Palestinian farmers and other civilians since the declaration of the Jan 18, 2009 ceasefire; of these, seven were killed. List]
The Israeli army dropped leaflets across Gaza, informing its residents of the new areas that are no longer accessible to the population. Full story
Dozens of Palestinian and foreign activists began on Monday the first of weekly demonstrations against Israel’s creation of a buffer zone between the Green Line and the northern and eastern borders of the Gaza Strip. [Map]
Saber Az-Za’aneen, coordinator of the local committee that organized the protests, said they were joined by foreign participants in the intended "security zone," reaching approximately 100 meters of the separation wall in Beit Hanoun.
Az-Za’aneen told Ma’an that the committee hopes to see participation grow, in order to protect farmers, who are most affected by the decision, and to assist them in gaining entry to their agricultural land.
[Israeli forces have shot at least 35 Palestinian farmers and other civilians since the declaration of the Jan 18, 2009 ceasefire; of these, seven were killed. List]
The Israeli army dropped leaflets across Gaza, informing its residents of the new areas that are no longer accessible to the population. Full story
Lawyers to boycott military courts in Ofer prison
Ma'an
Lawyers representing Palestinian prisoners in Israel announced on Monday that they will boycott all legal proceedings held at the Ofer prison, in a statement issued by the Palestinian Prisoners' Society.
The boycott is a response to a military order which prohibits the entry of the detainees' families and West Bank lawyers to be present at any of Ofer's military courts.
Israeli authorities had told the lawyers concerned that the decision had been overturned but relatives and West Bank lawyers hoping to attend a hearing on Monday at Ofer were refused entry, the statement said.
The Israeli authorities' decision constitutes a clear violation of international law, the statement concluded, highlighting that it contravenes all laws guaranteeing the right to a public hearing and appropriate pleading.
Prohibiting the defendant from meeting with his or her lawyer further comprises an infringement of internationally recognized legal ethical standards.
Israel's military courts are widely condemned as arbitrary and illegal, in itself a violation of the Geneva Convention to which Israel is a signatory. Full story
More information on PPS
Lawyers representing Palestinian prisoners in Israel announced on Monday that they will boycott all legal proceedings held at the Ofer prison, in a statement issued by the Palestinian Prisoners' Society.
The boycott is a response to a military order which prohibits the entry of the detainees' families and West Bank lawyers to be present at any of Ofer's military courts.
Israeli authorities had told the lawyers concerned that the decision had been overturned but relatives and West Bank lawyers hoping to attend a hearing on Monday at Ofer were refused entry, the statement said.
The Israeli authorities' decision constitutes a clear violation of international law, the statement concluded, highlighting that it contravenes all laws guaranteeing the right to a public hearing and appropriate pleading.
Prohibiting the defendant from meeting with his or her lawyer further comprises an infringement of internationally recognized legal ethical standards.
Israel's military courts are widely condemned as arbitrary and illegal, in itself a violation of the Geneva Convention to which Israel is a signatory. Full story
More information on PPS
Medics: Israeli strike kills 3 in central Gaza
Ma'an
At least three Palestinians were killed by Israeli aircraft fire in central Gaza early Sunday evening, medics reported.
They were identified as Hasan Al-Qatarawi,22, and Awad Nasir, 29, both from from Deir Al-Balah, as well as Hudayfa Hams, 23, from Nusseirat refugee camp....... Full story
At least three Palestinians were killed by Israeli aircraft fire in central Gaza early Sunday evening, medics reported.
They were identified as Hasan Al-Qatarawi,22, and Awad Nasir, 29, both from from Deir Al-Balah, as well as Hudayfa Hams, 23, from Nusseirat refugee camp....... Full story
Islamic Jihad warns of impending Israeli incursion into Gaza
Ma'an
The Islamic Jihad movement warned on Monday of a major Israeli incursion in the Gaza Strip after the recent escalation in Israeli air raids and artillery fire, in which three of the movement’s operatives were killed on Sunday evening.
Senior Islamic Jihad leader Khalid Al-Batsh in a statement said the Israeli assault clearly indicated that Israel’s was in preparation for a major military operation in the Strip by using political and media campaigns to foster international support for "such aggression."... Full story
The Islamic Jihad movement warned on Monday of a major Israeli incursion in the Gaza Strip after the recent escalation in Israeli air raids and artillery fire, in which three of the movement’s operatives were killed on Sunday evening.
Senior Islamic Jihad leader Khalid Al-Batsh in a statement said the Israeli assault clearly indicated that Israel’s was in preparation for a major military operation in the Strip by using political and media campaigns to foster international support for "such aggression."... Full story
Unrecognized Bedouin village opens day care center
Ma'an
The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages in the Negev (RCUV) inaugurated a day care center in As-Shahabi on Monday, the first of its kind for the village’s Bedouin population.
The site of the new Day Care and Community Center, formally a mosque, was donated by a member of the village. Additional funds were raised by communities in the Negev to help with the renovation and the cost of running it.
“For the last four years the government of Israel has been demolishing every new structure built in the unrecognized villages, making the available standing structures rare, and in strong demand for young couples wishing to marry. In this context, the donation of the structure is even more astounding,” said Dr Yeela Livnat Raanan in a statement.
As-Shahabi is an unrecognized village of approximately 2,000 residents located on their historical land. It has no piped water, electricity, roads, other infrastructure or services... Full story
The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages in the Negev (RCUV) inaugurated a day care center in As-Shahabi on Monday, the first of its kind for the village’s Bedouin population.
The site of the new Day Care and Community Center, formally a mosque, was donated by a member of the village. Additional funds were raised by communities in the Negev to help with the renovation and the cost of running it.
“For the last four years the government of Israel has been demolishing every new structure built in the unrecognized villages, making the available standing structures rare, and in strong demand for young couples wishing to marry. In this context, the donation of the structure is even more astounding,” said Dr Yeela Livnat Raanan in a statement.
As-Shahabi is an unrecognized village of approximately 2,000 residents located on their historical land. It has no piped water, electricity, roads, other infrastructure or services... Full story
Palestinian shot in Hebron by Israeli forces
Ma'an
Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man near the southern entrance to Hebron in the West Bank.
Israeli soldiers prevented Palestinians from assisting him, and then took him to an unknown location, sources told Ma'an.
...Israeli media reported that Israeli district police in Hebron opened fired at the Palestinian driving near Bani Na'im. According to the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth, an investigation was launched after the incident, revealing that a car was stolen.
........In a related event, 10 Israeli policemen and detectives were arrested on Sunday on suspicion of abusing an alleged Palestinian car thief, according to The Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli newspaper. Full story
Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man near the southern entrance to Hebron in the West Bank.
Israeli soldiers prevented Palestinians from assisting him, and then took him to an unknown location, sources told Ma'an.
...Israeli media reported that Israeli district police in Hebron opened fired at the Palestinian driving near Bani Na'im. According to the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth, an investigation was launched after the incident, revealing that a car was stolen.
........In a related event, 10 Israeli policemen and detectives were arrested on Sunday on suspicion of abusing an alleged Palestinian car thief, according to The Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli newspaper. Full story
Medics: 2 killed by Israeli fire in north Gaza
Ma'an
Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli artillery in the northern Gaza Strip Sunday morning...... they were shot by tank fire near an excavation site at the former Dugnit settlement.
.......Late Thursday night, Israeli warplanes carried out a series of raids on sites throughout the Gaza Strip, killing three Palestinians. A Palestinian was seriously injured in a Israeli artillery shelling on farmlands east of the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp. Full story
Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli artillery in the northern Gaza Strip Sunday morning...... they were shot by tank fire near an excavation site at the former Dugnit settlement.
.......Late Thursday night, Israeli warplanes carried out a series of raids on sites throughout the Gaza Strip, killing three Palestinians. A Palestinian was seriously injured in a Israeli artillery shelling on farmlands east of the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp. Full story
Minister of Prisoners' Affairs demands release of pre-Oslo detainees
Ma'an
Palestinian Minister of Detainees' and Prisoners' Affairs Issa Qaraqe demanded the release of 320 prisoners detained before ratifying the Oslo Accords in 1993, which consecutive Israeli governments have refused to release, according to a statement issued on Saturday.
“Israeli good will towards a Palestinian prisoner release deal would reveal the extent to which Israel’s intentions are honest in building a just peace with the Palestinians. The issue of prisoners cannot be subject to Israeli unilateralism such as imposing conditions and discriminatory rules,” Qaraqe said.
The minister noted that the issue of Palestinian prisoners is a focal and important requirement as outlined by President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday in his eight points to return to negotiations with Israel, which include a halt to settlement construction and policies carried out with the intent to separate Jerusalem from the occupied Palestinian territories.
The release of prisoners should be in accordance with a timetable relating to a final peace agreement within the next two years, he added, maintaining that Jerusalem detainees could not be exempt from any deal... Full story
More information on prisoners
View Video
Palestinian Minister of Detainees' and Prisoners' Affairs Issa Qaraqe demanded the release of 320 prisoners detained before ratifying the Oslo Accords in 1993, which consecutive Israeli governments have refused to release, according to a statement issued on Saturday.
“Israeli good will towards a Palestinian prisoner release deal would reveal the extent to which Israel’s intentions are honest in building a just peace with the Palestinians. The issue of prisoners cannot be subject to Israeli unilateralism such as imposing conditions and discriminatory rules,” Qaraqe said.
The minister noted that the issue of Palestinian prisoners is a focal and important requirement as outlined by President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday in his eight points to return to negotiations with Israel, which include a halt to settlement construction and policies carried out with the intent to separate Jerusalem from the occupied Palestinian territories.
The release of prisoners should be in accordance with a timetable relating to a final peace agreement within the next two years, he added, maintaining that Jerusalem detainees could not be exempt from any deal... Full story
More information on prisoners
View Video
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Deported BU student to receive degree in Gaza
Ma'an
Finishing her classes over the phone and e-mail, Berlanty Azzam, pulled out of a car, handcuffed, blindfolded and deported from the West Bank to Gaza in October, will be awarded her degree on Sunday, officials from Bethlehem University announced.
In a statement issued Saturday, the university said a Sunday mass in Gaza's Church of the Holy Family would be held to honor Berlanty,21, and confer on her a Bachelor of Arts degree. The student was denied permission by Israeli courts to return to Bethlehem to complete her degree.
A court battle saw Israeli rights group Gisha defend the young woman. The appeal was rejected despite the Israeli army's admission that Berlanty posed no security threat to Israel........
Curran said the letter-writing campaign from BU supporters activated during Berlanty's trial would be continued, with university staff encouraging donors, visitors and international figures to register their objection to the Israeli policy and help get the students admitted to the university permission to leave Gaza.
"We are trying to keep the positive momentum going," Curran said, "we want to help realize students' right to freedom of education." Full story
Finishing her classes over the phone and e-mail, Berlanty Azzam, pulled out of a car, handcuffed, blindfolded and deported from the West Bank to Gaza in October, will be awarded her degree on Sunday, officials from Bethlehem University announced.
In a statement issued Saturday, the university said a Sunday mass in Gaza's Church of the Holy Family would be held to honor Berlanty,21, and confer on her a Bachelor of Arts degree. The student was denied permission by Israeli courts to return to Bethlehem to complete her degree.
A court battle saw Israeli rights group Gisha defend the young woman. The appeal was rejected despite the Israeli army's admission that Berlanty posed no security threat to Israel........
Curran said the letter-writing campaign from BU supporters activated during Berlanty's trial would be continued, with university staff encouraging donors, visitors and international figures to register their objection to the Israeli policy and help get the students admitted to the university permission to leave Gaza.
"We are trying to keep the positive momentum going," Curran said, "we want to help realize students' right to freedom of education." Full story
Hamas: Soldier killed by Egyptian bullet, not Palestinian
Ma'an
Hamas members were not behind the shooting death of an Egyptian soldier during protests that turned violent earlier int he week, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Ma'an on Saturday.
“Hamas has information that confirms the Egyptian soldier was shot by the Egyptian forces opening fire at Palestinian protesting the attack against the Lifeline [British Member of Parliament George Galloway's] convoy,” the official said.... Full story
Hamas members were not behind the shooting death of an Egyptian soldier during protests that turned violent earlier int he week, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Ma'an on Saturday.
“Hamas has information that confirms the Egyptian soldier was shot by the Egyptian forces opening fire at Palestinian protesting the attack against the Lifeline [British Member of Parliament George Galloway's] convoy,” the official said.... Full story
Day 14: Flour mill targeted 'for the purpose of denying sustenance'
Ma'an
art 14 of a series recounting the findings of South African jurist Richard Goldstone's UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.
When the Al-Bader flour mill was destroyed on 9 January, the strike happened without prior warning, raising questions about the efficacy or seriousness of the warnings system used by Israeli forces during their devastating assault on Gaza last winter.
Odder still was that in two prior instances, Israel did warn mill owner Rashad Hamada that its jets intended to strike immanently, leading to two evacuations of the mill, neither of which ended in strikes.
On 30 December 2008, a recorded warning was left on the flour mill’s answering machine by Israeli forces, indicating that his building should be evacuated immediately. The approximately 45 workers in the mill at the time were evacuated.
"We received a recorded message by telephone on a landline asking us to evacuate the mill. This call came from Israel," Hamada said, in testimony to Richard Goldstone's UN inquiry.
"We evacuated the factory of all workers, a total evacuation and waited until the next day. The factory was not hit."
Following the evacuation, Hamada called a business associate in Israel, explained what had happened and asked him for advice. The associate spoke with contacts in the Israeli military, and had been told that, although the mill had been on a list of proposed targets, they had decided not to proceed with the strike. Hamada did not receive any information as to why his mill might have been targeted.
Based on these conversations and the fact that there had been no strike, the mill's employees returned to work the next day. Work continued for a number of days as flour ran out across the Strip, until a second recorded warning was received on or around 4 January 2009.
"We received another message," Hamada said. "We were told to evacuate the factory. The factory was evacuated."
Again, there was no attack. "They were put into a state of fear as a result of the false alarms," Goldstone's report states.
Hamada received a call later in the week from his business associate in Israel, who said Israeli forces told him the mill would not be hit. The employees returned to work in light of the information.
Then on 9 January, without warning, "we received a call from the guard telling us that the factory was targeted by air with a missile and that it had caught fire. After 15 minutes, he called us again and told us that there are tanks approaching the area and that the factory was targeted with tank fire. We immediately informed the [Red Cross] and the Civil Defense in order to put out the fire in the mill," Hamada said.
The flour mill was hit by an airstrike, possibly by an F16. The missile struck the floor that housed one of the machines indispensable to the mill’s functioning, completely destroying it. In the next 60 to 90 minutes the mill was hit several times by missiles fired from an Apache helicopter. These missiles hit the upper floors of the factory, destroying more key machinery.
Hamada recounted: "What happened at the mill is a total destruction, a total destruction of the whole production line of the factory. Because this factory, in fact, is vertical, the equipment is set vertically. There are six floors. The production line was destroyed from the sixth floor to the ground floor. Three floors, the fifth, sixth and fourth, were destroyed including all the equipment, total destruction, therefore the building and the equipment. And the other three floors, the first, second and third floors, they were totally burned."
Adjoining buildings, including the grain store, were not hit. The strikes entirely disabled the factory, which has remained in disrepair because of the siege on building supplies. Even amid subsequent food shortages, a large amount of grain remains at the site but cannot be processed.
"During the war, the mill was working 24 hours a day and we had also been working 24 hours a day one month prior to this date; we were working around the clock," Hamada said. "As for the targeting, it is because a flour mill [was] working. There were four flour mills that were not producing and were not targeted."
Israeli forces occupied the disabled building until around 13 January. Hundreds of shells were found on its roof after the soldiers left. They appeared to be 40-mm grenade machine-gun spent cartridges.
Attacks on the foundations of civilian life in Gaza
Goldstone's team said Hamada and his brother provided information that was corroborated by other representatives of the Gaza business community with whom the investigators discussed the context and consequences of the strike on the flour mill.
The consequences of the strike on the flour mill were significant, his report states. Not only are all the employees out of work, the capacity of Gaza to produce milled flour, the most basic staple ingredient of the local diet, has been greatly diminished. As a result, the population of Gaza is now more dependent on the Israeli authorities’ granting permission for flour and bread to enter the Gaza Strip.
"From what we could see on the ground and from what we had in Gaza, this flour mill was the only flour mill for the past ten years providing for the needs of the Gaza Strip in wheat," Hamada said. "It is well-known everywhere in Gaza. And in Israel, they know that Al-Bader Flour Mill [which is] the strategic reserve of flour for the strip, was there."
"There is no flour mill that works except ours and it was shelled. I do not want to give conclusions. It is well-known, this is a flour mill that works and that provides for the needs of the country. It was targeted because we are in a state of war. There is no peace. What I know is that war is war. We hope that all of this will end and will be replaced by peace and that we will forget about these hearings."
The Israelis have apparently not investigated the flour mill's destruction, according to the report, nor made any suggestion that the site was targeted for military purposes.
Nevertheless, Hamada rejected any suggestion that the building was at any time used for any purpose by Palestinian armed groups. They pointed out that all of the buildings and factories were surrounded by a high wall and manned by at least one guard at night.
"There is no resistance there," Hamada said. "After the end of the war, I went to have a look and I asked are there any combatants that died here, any Israelis that died? Not at all, nobody told me of any kind of resistance in the whole area."
I do not know what they were targeting, I wasn't there," Hamada conceded. "However, I saw the results of the firing in the flour mill, ... Testimony has to be real, it's a word of truth, I cannot tell you what they targeted or who they targeted. What I did see are the empty bullets in the factory, on the factory roof, that's what I saw."
He added, however, that "All the factories in the eastern region were destroyed. Did they also have resistance? I don't know, but what I do know is that vital factories were targeted. Why? Because war is war, I say it again, and we want peace, enough war."
Addressing the UN mission directly, Hamada added: "We do not want words, we want acts. We want the United Nations to take action. We have been suffering for two full years under siege. We did not see the United Nations doing anything for us. We see that in Darfur there is a problem, the whole world goes running to Darfur, in Cambodia and Laos, everywhere in the world, but here, when we speak of the Palestinian people, everybody closes his ears, they do not want to hear about us or our problems."
Starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited
No other buildings in the industrial compound belonging to the Hamadas were damaged at the time of the strikes. "It appears that the strikes on the flour mill were intentional and precise," Goldstone's final report states. ...... Full story
art 14 of a series recounting the findings of South African jurist Richard Goldstone's UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.
When the Al-Bader flour mill was destroyed on 9 January, the strike happened without prior warning, raising questions about the efficacy or seriousness of the warnings system used by Israeli forces during their devastating assault on Gaza last winter.
Odder still was that in two prior instances, Israel did warn mill owner Rashad Hamada that its jets intended to strike immanently, leading to two evacuations of the mill, neither of which ended in strikes.
On 30 December 2008, a recorded warning was left on the flour mill’s answering machine by Israeli forces, indicating that his building should be evacuated immediately. The approximately 45 workers in the mill at the time were evacuated.
"We received a recorded message by telephone on a landline asking us to evacuate the mill. This call came from Israel," Hamada said, in testimony to Richard Goldstone's UN inquiry.
"We evacuated the factory of all workers, a total evacuation and waited until the next day. The factory was not hit."
Following the evacuation, Hamada called a business associate in Israel, explained what had happened and asked him for advice. The associate spoke with contacts in the Israeli military, and had been told that, although the mill had been on a list of proposed targets, they had decided not to proceed with the strike. Hamada did not receive any information as to why his mill might have been targeted.
Based on these conversations and the fact that there had been no strike, the mill's employees returned to work the next day. Work continued for a number of days as flour ran out across the Strip, until a second recorded warning was received on or around 4 January 2009.
"We received another message," Hamada said. "We were told to evacuate the factory. The factory was evacuated."
Again, there was no attack. "They were put into a state of fear as a result of the false alarms," Goldstone's report states.
Hamada received a call later in the week from his business associate in Israel, who said Israeli forces told him the mill would not be hit. The employees returned to work in light of the information.
Then on 9 January, without warning, "we received a call from the guard telling us that the factory was targeted by air with a missile and that it had caught fire. After 15 minutes, he called us again and told us that there are tanks approaching the area and that the factory was targeted with tank fire. We immediately informed the [Red Cross] and the Civil Defense in order to put out the fire in the mill," Hamada said.
The flour mill was hit by an airstrike, possibly by an F16. The missile struck the floor that housed one of the machines indispensable to the mill’s functioning, completely destroying it. In the next 60 to 90 minutes the mill was hit several times by missiles fired from an Apache helicopter. These missiles hit the upper floors of the factory, destroying more key machinery.
Hamada recounted: "What happened at the mill is a total destruction, a total destruction of the whole production line of the factory. Because this factory, in fact, is vertical, the equipment is set vertically. There are six floors. The production line was destroyed from the sixth floor to the ground floor. Three floors, the fifth, sixth and fourth, were destroyed including all the equipment, total destruction, therefore the building and the equipment. And the other three floors, the first, second and third floors, they were totally burned."
Adjoining buildings, including the grain store, were not hit. The strikes entirely disabled the factory, which has remained in disrepair because of the siege on building supplies. Even amid subsequent food shortages, a large amount of grain remains at the site but cannot be processed.
"During the war, the mill was working 24 hours a day and we had also been working 24 hours a day one month prior to this date; we were working around the clock," Hamada said. "As for the targeting, it is because a flour mill [was] working. There were four flour mills that were not producing and were not targeted."
Israeli forces occupied the disabled building until around 13 January. Hundreds of shells were found on its roof after the soldiers left. They appeared to be 40-mm grenade machine-gun spent cartridges.
Attacks on the foundations of civilian life in Gaza
Goldstone's team said Hamada and his brother provided information that was corroborated by other representatives of the Gaza business community with whom the investigators discussed the context and consequences of the strike on the flour mill.
The consequences of the strike on the flour mill were significant, his report states. Not only are all the employees out of work, the capacity of Gaza to produce milled flour, the most basic staple ingredient of the local diet, has been greatly diminished. As a result, the population of Gaza is now more dependent on the Israeli authorities’ granting permission for flour and bread to enter the Gaza Strip.
"From what we could see on the ground and from what we had in Gaza, this flour mill was the only flour mill for the past ten years providing for the needs of the Gaza Strip in wheat," Hamada said. "It is well-known everywhere in Gaza. And in Israel, they know that Al-Bader Flour Mill [which is] the strategic reserve of flour for the strip, was there."
"There is no flour mill that works except ours and it was shelled. I do not want to give conclusions. It is well-known, this is a flour mill that works and that provides for the needs of the country. It was targeted because we are in a state of war. There is no peace. What I know is that war is war. We hope that all of this will end and will be replaced by peace and that we will forget about these hearings."
The Israelis have apparently not investigated the flour mill's destruction, according to the report, nor made any suggestion that the site was targeted for military purposes.
Nevertheless, Hamada rejected any suggestion that the building was at any time used for any purpose by Palestinian armed groups. They pointed out that all of the buildings and factories were surrounded by a high wall and manned by at least one guard at night.
"There is no resistance there," Hamada said. "After the end of the war, I went to have a look and I asked are there any combatants that died here, any Israelis that died? Not at all, nobody told me of any kind of resistance in the whole area."
I do not know what they were targeting, I wasn't there," Hamada conceded. "However, I saw the results of the firing in the flour mill, ... Testimony has to be real, it's a word of truth, I cannot tell you what they targeted or who they targeted. What I did see are the empty bullets in the factory, on the factory roof, that's what I saw."
He added, however, that "All the factories in the eastern region were destroyed. Did they also have resistance? I don't know, but what I do know is that vital factories were targeted. Why? Because war is war, I say it again, and we want peace, enough war."
Addressing the UN mission directly, Hamada added: "We do not want words, we want acts. We want the United Nations to take action. We have been suffering for two full years under siege. We did not see the United Nations doing anything for us. We see that in Darfur there is a problem, the whole world goes running to Darfur, in Cambodia and Laos, everywhere in the world, but here, when we speak of the Palestinian people, everybody closes his ears, they do not want to hear about us or our problems."
Starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited
No other buildings in the industrial compound belonging to the Hamadas were damaged at the time of the strikes. "It appears that the strikes on the flour mill were intentional and precise," Goldstone's final report states. ...... Full story
Palestinian farmers flee settler mob
Ma'an
Three Palestinian farmers fled an attack initiated by 40 settlers from the illegal settlement of Beit Eyin on Saturday...
"While Jabher Mohammed Jaber Slieby, 42, his brother Hassan, 37, and their relative Fathi Ahmad Jaber Sleibi, 42, were working on their lands in the area of Wad Abu Rish, they were attacked by around 40 settlers from Beit Eyin who hurled stones at them using sling shots. None of them were harmed," said Mohammad Awad, the PSP spokesman.
An Israeli patrol was present at the scene, near Beit Ummer to the north of the West Bank city of Hebron, and tried to prevent the settlers from attacking the farmers, Awad said, adding that the farmers "fled, fearful they would be harmed."
...Israeli soldiers continue to block the nearby area of Safa, preventing people in the area from leaving freely, Awad said.
... on Thursday an Israeli soldiers attacked and injured Palestinian shepherds from the Musa Raba’i family, as they grazed their sheep in Humra valley, near the village of At-Tuwani in the south Hebron hills. "The soldiers also attacked the internationals accompanying the shepherds and broke a video camera. Before leaving the area the soldiers arrested one of the shepherds, Musab Musa Raba’i," a statement from the organization said. Full story
Three Palestinian farmers fled an attack initiated by 40 settlers from the illegal settlement of Beit Eyin on Saturday...
"While Jabher Mohammed Jaber Slieby, 42, his brother Hassan, 37, and their relative Fathi Ahmad Jaber Sleibi, 42, were working on their lands in the area of Wad Abu Rish, they were attacked by around 40 settlers from Beit Eyin who hurled stones at them using sling shots. None of them were harmed," said Mohammad Awad, the PSP spokesman.
An Israeli patrol was present at the scene, near Beit Ummer to the north of the West Bank city of Hebron, and tried to prevent the settlers from attacking the farmers, Awad said, adding that the farmers "fled, fearful they would be harmed."
...Israeli soldiers continue to block the nearby area of Safa, preventing people in the area from leaving freely, Awad said.
... on Thursday an Israeli soldiers attacked and injured Palestinian shepherds from the Musa Raba’i family, as they grazed their sheep in Humra valley, near the village of At-Tuwani in the south Hebron hills. "The soldiers also attacked the internationals accompanying the shepherds and broke a video camera. Before leaving the area the soldiers arrested one of the shepherds, Musab Musa Raba’i," a statement from the organization said. Full story
Your Palestinian Gandhis Exist ... in Graves and Prisons Calling Bono
CounterPunch - Alison Weir
Dear Bono,
In your recent column in the New York Times, "Ten for the Next Ten," you wrote: "I’ll place my hopes on the possibility — however remote at the moment — that...people in places filled with rage and despair, places like the Palestinian territories, will in the days ahead find among them their Gandhi, their King, their Aung San Suu Kyi."
Your hope has already been fulfilled in the Palestinian territories.
Unfortunately, these Palestinian Gandhis and Kings are being killed and imprisoned.
On the day that your op-ed appeared hoping for such leaders, three were languishing in Israeli prisons. No one knows how long they will be held, nor under what conditions; torture is common in Israeli prisons.
At least 19 Palestinians have been killed in the last six years alone during nonviolent demonstrations against Israel’s apartheid wall that is confiscating Palestinian cropland and imprisoning Palestinian people. Many others have been killed in other parts of the Palestinian territories while taking part in nonviolent activities. Hundreds more have been detained and imprisoned.
Recently Israel has begun a campaign to incarcerate the leaders of this diverse movement of weekly marches and demonstrations taking place in small Palestinian villages far from media attention.
The first Palestinian Gandhi to be rounded up in this recent purge was young Mohammad Othman, taken on Sept. 22 when he was returning home from speaking in Norway about nonviolent strategies to oppose Israeli oppression and land confiscation. He has now been held for 107 days without charges, much of it in solitary confinement.
The second was Abdallah Abu Rahma, a schoolteacher and farmer taken from his home on Dec. 10, the only one to be charged with a crime. After holding him for several days, Israel finally came up with a charge: “illegal weapons possession” – referring to the peace sign he had fashioned out of the spent teargas cartridges and bullets that Israel had shot at nonviolent demonstrators. (One such cartridge pierced the skull of Tristan Anderson, an American who was photographing the aftermath of a nonviolent march, causing part of his right frontal lobe to be removed.)
The third was Jamal Jumah’, a veteran leader in the grassroots struggle, who was taken by Israeli occupation forces on Dec. 16th and is now being held in shackles and often blindfolded during Kafkaesque Israeli military proceedings.
Palestinians have been engaging in nonviolence for decades.
When I was last in Nablus I learned of a massive nonviolent demonstration that had occurred in 2001 – estimates range from 10,000 to 50,000 Palestinian men, women, and children taking part in a nonviolent march. All sectors of Nablus had joined together in organizing this – public officials, diverse parties, religious, secular, Muslim, Christian.
Modeling their action on images of Dr. Martin Luther King, they marched arm-in-arm, believing that Israel would not kill them and that the world would care. They were wrong on both counts. Israeli forces immediately shot six dead and injured many more. And no one even knows about it. At If Americans Knew we are currently working on a video to try to remedy the last part; there’s nothing we can do about the dead.
But there’s a great deal you can do, Bono. You can use your talent and celebrity to tell the world these facts. You can write a New York Times op-ed about the Palestinian Gandhis in Israeli prisons and call for their freedom. You can sing of these Palestinian Martin Luther Kings you wished for, and by singing save their lives.
For the reality is that nonviolence is only as powerful as its visibility to the world. When it is made invisible through its lack of coverage by the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN, Fox News, et al, its practitioners are in deadly danger, and their efforts to use nonviolence against injustice are doomed.
In the New York Times you publicly proclaimed your belief in nonviolence. Now is your chance to demonstrate your commitment.
* * *
Killed by Israeli forces while demonstrating against the Israeli wall being built on Palestinian land [http://palsolidarity.org/2009/06/7647]
5 June 2009:
Yousef ‘Akil’ Tsadik Srour, 36
Shot in the chest with 0.22 calibre live ammunition during a demonstration against the Wall in Ni’lin... Full story
Amnesty calls for Israel to release anti-wall activists
Ma'an
Amnesty International launched a letter-writing campaign aiming to secure the release of three Palestinian activists engaged in the struggle to bring down Israel's separation wall in Palestinian areas.
The campaign, launched last week, asks Amnesty supporters the world over to write a letter to Brigadier General Avihai Mendelblit, Military Advocate General at the Israeli Defense Forces.
The website has an automatic send function and a form letter, which supporters can fill out and add to, then send directly to the military official.
The letter refers to the three men, Jamal Juma, Abdallah Abu Rahma and Mohammed Othman, as "human rights activists who have been campaigning for years against the fence/wall by raising awareness about its negative impact on Palestinians, organizing grassroots opposition to it and peacefully demonstrating against it."
The letter goes on to remind Mendelblit that "in 2004 the International Court of Justice issued a unanimous advisory opinion stating that the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is contrary to international law and that sections already built there should be dismantled."... Full story
Amnesty International launched a letter-writing campaign aiming to secure the release of three Palestinian activists engaged in the struggle to bring down Israel's separation wall in Palestinian areas.
The campaign, launched last week, asks Amnesty supporters the world over to write a letter to Brigadier General Avihai Mendelblit, Military Advocate General at the Israeli Defense Forces.
The website has an automatic send function and a form letter, which supporters can fill out and add to, then send directly to the military official.
The letter refers to the three men, Jamal Juma, Abdallah Abu Rahma and Mohammed Othman, as "human rights activists who have been campaigning for years against the fence/wall by raising awareness about its negative impact on Palestinians, organizing grassroots opposition to it and peacefully demonstrating against it."
The letter goes on to remind Mendelblit that "in 2004 the International Court of Justice issued a unanimous advisory opinion stating that the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is contrary to international law and that sections already built there should be dismantled."... Full story
Friday, January 8, 2010
20 West Bank Demonstrators Injured in Nabbi Saleh
Press Release
As part of a recent surge in popular protest in the West Bank, about 300 demonstrators occupied and blocked the main road in near the Halamish settlement for over two hours. The demonstrators, twenty of which were injured by rubber-coated bullets, protested recent land grabs.
About 300 people took to the street today in the West Bank village of Nabbi Saleh, north-west of Ramallah, in protest of recent land grab by the adjacent Jewish-only settlement of Halamish. The protesters occupied and blocked the main street leading to the settlement, and amidst clouds of tear gas and whizzing rubber-coated bullets, managed to hold it for over two hours. A group of demonstrators also managed to reach the area that was recently taken over by settlers.
For more details: Jonathan Pollak 0546327736
Settlers who came down from Halamish threw stones and shot live rounds at demonstrators. Soldiers who were present took no actions to stop them. Following the demonstration the army invaded Nabbi Salleh, where clashes ensued.
Twenty of Nabbi Saleh's residents were struck by rubber-coated bullets, and dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation.
Bassem Tamimi, one organizers of the demonstration said that “For three weeks we have been prevented from reaching our land for because of the settlers who occupied it. In any reasonable place, we would be allowed to just drive them out by force, but they have the army on their side even though the law is on our side. Under the occupation we are not even allowed to merely protest.”
Demonstrations were also held today in N'ilin, Bil'in – where a journalist and a demonstrator were lightly injured, and in alMaasara where the army invaded the village.
The Iran Nuclear Trigger Forgeries
CounterPunch - Gareth Porter
New revelations about two documents leaked to The Times of London to show that Iran is working on a "nuclear trigger" mechanism have further undermined the credibility of the document the newspaper had presented as evidence of a continuing Iranian nuclear weapons program.
A columnist for the Times has acknowledged that the two-page Persian language document published by The Times last month was not a photocopy of the original document but an expurgated and retyped version of the original.
A translation of a second Persian language document also published by The Times, moreover, contradicts the claim by The Times that it shows the "nuclear trigger" document was written within an organization run by an Iranian military scientist.
Former Central Intelligence Agency official Philip Giraldi has said U.S. intelligence judges the "nuclear trigger" document to be a forgery, as IPS reported last week. The IPS story also pointed out that the document lacked both security markings and identification of either the issuing organization or the recipient.
The new revelations point to additional reasons why intelligence analysts would have been suspicious of the "nuclear trigger" document...... Full story
Friday Protest in al-Ma’sara village ends with Military Aggression
IMEMC
Today’s weekly non-violent protest in the village of al-Ma’sara, West Bank, ended with a violent outburst by the Israeli military as they marched in to the village.
The protesters, with numerous local residents, internationals, and anti-Zionist Israelis in attendance, marched peacefully through the village to the sounds of chants calling for the end of the construction of the separation wall being constructed at the edge of their village, separating the local farming communities from their lands.
The construction of the wall began in 2003, and has been deemed illegal by international courts.
As the demonstration ended, a young child threw a small stone that struck an armored jeep, local sources stated. The Israeli military responded with an unnecessary display of force, marching towards the protesters, shoving them back with the butts of their rifles.
IMEMC were on hand to observe a resident of the village struck multiple times by a member of the Israeli military for doing nothing more than stand his ground, and refuse to be forced back. As small skirmishes broke out the military became more heavy handed forcing protesters back to the beginning of the residential section of al-Ma’sara.
A stand off occurred, with the protesters determined not to allow a military incursion into the village. This was to no avail. The military started rolling sound bombs into the crowd, forcing the protesters to disperse. As the peaceful protesters turned to run, the Israeli military began to target members of the crowd, throwing the sound bombs directly at them.
As the forces marched further into the village, they became ever more violent towards those who refused to back down, including those from all camps in attendance.
Eventually the march came to a stand, and after many tense minutes the military and the protesters agreed that both would back away to their separate areas.
These non- violent protests have been running every Friday for three years, with constant acts of aggression coming from the Israeli military. Since the turn of the year the violence and aggression has escalated. Full story
Nine Palestinians Wounded By the Israeli Military in Hebron
IMEMC
Nine Palestinian residents were wounded in separate Israeli military attacks targeting the villages of Sa’ir and Yatta, in the Hebron district, in the southern part of the West Bank.
Medical sources reported that soldiers opened fire at Majed Jaradat, 16, near Nabi Yousf junction, in Halhoul town, north of Hebron.
He was hit by two rounds of live ammunition in his abdomen and arm; his condition was described as serious....
Two Palestinians were also wounded on Thursday after the army opened fire at them at the entrance of Sa’ir town, north of Hebron...
In Yatta town, six family members were wounded after Israeli soldiers attacked their home, and struck them with batons and rifle-butts in Al Tawana area.
A wounded family member, identified as Mosab Raba’ey, was kidnapped by the soldiers. Full story
Troops attack a Palestinian family in Hebron
IMEMC
Israeli soldiers attacked on Thursday a Palestinian family in Al Tawana, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and kidnapped one family member.
Local sources reported that soldiers attacked six family members after breaking into their homes. Soldiers attacked the residents with batons and rifle-butts; five were hospitalized in Abu Al Hasan Al Qasem hospital in Yatta city.
The sixth family member, Mosab Raba’ey, was also wounded and was kidnapped by the soldiers. He was moved to an interrogation center in the city.
.........Attacks against Palestinian families in Hebron, especially in the center of the city, are meant to push the families out of their homes to replace them with Jewish settlers.
Jewish settlers have an illegal outpost in Al Tiwani; they took over some Palestinian homes while the army continued to provide them with protection although they are heavily armed and they initiate the attacks against the Palestinian residents.
Besides Jerusalem and the ongoing illegal takeover and demolishing of Palestinian homes in the Old City, Hebron is the only West Bank city were thousands of settlers actually live in settlements and outposts in the center of the city...... Full story
Israeli Army Invades Bil’in, Soldiers Say “we Are Just Doing Our Job”
IMEMC
In a rather familiar scene in the village of Bil’in near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli troops invaded the village, once again, and stormed the house of Rani Ayoub, a local peace activist. The invasion comes one day after the army raided the village to kidnap some children.
... 30 to 40 Israeli military jeeps invaded the village before the soldiers broke into the home of Ayoub and searched it.
Ayoub was kidnapped by the army four weeks ago after the army broke into home and was moved to the Al Mascobiyya (The Russian Compound) Israeli interrogation center in Jerusalem. He is being held there without visitations, not even from a lawyer.
Iyad Burnat, head of Bil'in's Popular Committee say's the occupation soldiers were on a trawling exercise, seeking documentation and Rani Ayub's mobile phone, the FTJ reported.
Some activists tried to challenge the soldiers for their repeated and illegal invasions to the village, the leading in nonviolent resistance against the Annexation Wall and settlements.
One of the soldiers said that they are here “to talk”, while another soldier said that he is “just doing his job”.
On Wednesday, Israeli forces invaded Bil’in in an attempt to kidnap a number of children but the alertness of Hamde Abu Rahma, a local photographer, exposed the attempt after revealing the soldiers hideout between the olive trees.
The soldiers were practically camping there and getting ready for another night raid against the village; they had mattresses and camping gear.
Two week ago, soldiers kidnapped Ammar Rayed Al Khateeb, 13, and Samir Jadallah Al Khateeb, 14.
The two were playing in an olive grove on the outskirts of the village. Ammar was released in the following day.
... Abdullah Abu Rahma, head of the Bil'in Popular Committee was kidnapped by the Israeli troops several weeks ago and Israel charged him with the “position of arms”.
The arms he “possessed” were spent gas canisters that were fired by the army at the nonviolent protesters. Full story
http://imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57562
Image from previous kite-flying in Gaza, when Gaza children tried to break world recordIMEMC
Dozens of children in the Gaza Strip launched balloons carrying the pictures of their parent and family members who were killed by the Israeli army during Israel’s illegal war against the coastal region one year ago.
The event took place in Abu Ja’far Al Mansur School for Boys in the Al Atatra area that was heavily bombarded during the war.
The children carried posters slamming the silence of the international community while Israel was pounding civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip.
They demanded prosecuting Israeli military and political leaders for their crimes against the Palestinians.
One of the children who lost his sight after the army bombarded his home said “Why was I blinded? What did I do? What crime did you commit? Why can’t we live like other children do, in peace and security?”
The Israeli army killed more than 1600 Palestinians, most of them children, women and elderly, during the war one year ago. Approximately 6000 Palestinians were wounded hundreds seriously.
During the war, the armed bombarded mosques, schools, hospitals, UNRWA facilities, roads, and civilian homes. Full story
UN: Israeli damages payment for Gaza destruction not finalized
Ma'an
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky ..... said an accord had been reached "in principal," but that details would be disclosed when it had been concluded and a payment made.
An assessment made by a team of UN officials in Gaza the summer after Israel's war on the area assessed damage to a UN warehouse and three schools at 11.4 million US dollars.
Destruction to the central warehouse saw hundreds of tons of food and medicine incinerated.
The UN report said the issue was one of those on the agenda during a recent discussion between Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak over the phone.
The UN said it is waiting for a "green light" from the Israeli Government... Full story
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky ..... said an accord had been reached "in principal," but that details would be disclosed when it had been concluded and a payment made.
An assessment made by a team of UN officials in Gaza the summer after Israel's war on the area assessed damage to a UN warehouse and three schools at 11.4 million US dollars.
Destruction to the central warehouse saw hundreds of tons of food and medicine incinerated.
The UN report said the issue was one of those on the agenda during a recent discussion between Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak over the phone.
The UN said it is waiting for a "green light" from the Israeli Government... Full story
Israeli jets attack targets across Gaza, killing 3
Ma'an
Israeli warplanes carried out a series of raids on sites throughout the Gaza Strip late Thursday night, witnesses said and Israel's military confirmed.
Three citizens were killed and two others injured in the Israeli raids that targeted a tunnel near Rafah crossing south of Gaza.
Medical sources in Abu Yousif An-Najjar hospital identified the dead as Barakat Abu Shalouf, Odai Abu Heesh, 15, and Naser Al-Mahmum, 22.
Muawiya Hassanein, the Gaza Health Ministry's director of ambulance and emergency services said the jets struck four areas in total.
Early reports from Al-Jazeera said a missile killed one Palestinian and injured two inside a smuggling tunnel along the Gaza-Egypt border. Locals reported to Ma'an that smoke was rising above the tunnel area just after midnight.
At least two missiles landed in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, one of them near a school, and a third between Khan Younis and Rafah. Jets were still flying overhead the area early into Friday morning.... Full story
Israeli warplanes carried out a series of raids on sites throughout the Gaza Strip late Thursday night, witnesses said and Israel's military confirmed.
Three citizens were killed and two others injured in the Israeli raids that targeted a tunnel near Rafah crossing south of Gaza.
Medical sources in Abu Yousif An-Najjar hospital identified the dead as Barakat Abu Shalouf, Odai Abu Heesh, 15, and Naser Al-Mahmum, 22.
Muawiya Hassanein, the Gaza Health Ministry's director of ambulance and emergency services said the jets struck four areas in total.
Early reports from Al-Jazeera said a missile killed one Palestinian and injured two inside a smuggling tunnel along the Gaza-Egypt border. Locals reported to Ma'an that smoke was rising above the tunnel area just after midnight.
At least two missiles landed in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, one of them near a school, and a third between Khan Younis and Rafah. Jets were still flying overhead the area early into Friday morning.... Full story
In photos: Christmas controversy in Bethlehem
Ma'an.......the annual arrival of Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III outside the Nativity Church. Prominent Christian figures refused to welcome him, however, holding banners condemning alleged leases of church land to Israeli developers for the construction of new settlements....
... The PA had earlier refused church requests to prevent his entry to Bethlehem by force. The Council of Arab Orthodox Institutions had also asked the Ramallah-based government to intervene and nullify the land sales, which the PA views as an internal church matter.
......... "The Holy Land is not for Sale or Lease," one banner reads... Full story
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Basic Academic Freedoms and Rights Violated in Israel and Palestinian Territories
Canadian Association of University Teachers
The academic freedom and professional rights of higher education teaching personnel in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza are increasingly under assault as a result of the continuing political conflict in the region, according to a report released today by Education International and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.
......The study, The Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, found that the strong polarization of opinions within Israel over the political conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has generated several prominent academic freedom controversies in recent years. In addition, proposed changes to the governance of Israeli universities threaten to weaken institutional autonomy and academic freedom.
However, it is in the Palestinian territories that the report finds the most serious violations of basic academic freedoms and rights.
“Many of the violations of academic freedom in the West Bank and Gaza are a result of the Israeli occupation,” says Robinson. “Israel unquestionably has legitimate security concerns and has a right and responsibility to defend its citizens. However, as documented in the report, the near complete blockade of the Gaza Strip and the tight travel restrictions imposed on residents within the West Bank go beyond what can be reasonably justified and have seriously disrupted the work of Palestinian scholars.”
Limits imposed on freedom of movement within the Palestinian territories make it difficult and in many cases impossible for Palestinian academics and students to attend conferences or study abroad, and have forced local universities to shut down early and to close entirely for extended periods. There are bans on the import of certain research equipment and materials needed to pursue scholarly activities, and many academics face arbitrary arrest and detention by both Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
The report argues that the restrictions on academic freedom are undermining the democratic development of the West Bank and Gaza and are frustrating the peace process.
“Israeli and Palestinian universities and colleges have a critical role to play in helping find peaceful solutions to the conflict,” says Monique Fouilhoux, deputy general secretary of Education International. “But they can only do this if their scholars are free to express their views and debate controversial matters without fear of recrimination.”
The report recommends ways that higher education associations and unions worldwide can provide expertise and support.... Full story
The academic freedom and professional rights of higher education teaching personnel in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza are increasingly under assault as a result of the continuing political conflict in the region, according to a report released today by Education International and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.
......The study, The Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, found that the strong polarization of opinions within Israel over the political conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has generated several prominent academic freedom controversies in recent years. In addition, proposed changes to the governance of Israeli universities threaten to weaken institutional autonomy and academic freedom.
However, it is in the Palestinian territories that the report finds the most serious violations of basic academic freedoms and rights.
“Many of the violations of academic freedom in the West Bank and Gaza are a result of the Israeli occupation,” says Robinson. “Israel unquestionably has legitimate security concerns and has a right and responsibility to defend its citizens. However, as documented in the report, the near complete blockade of the Gaza Strip and the tight travel restrictions imposed on residents within the West Bank go beyond what can be reasonably justified and have seriously disrupted the work of Palestinian scholars.”
Limits imposed on freedom of movement within the Palestinian territories make it difficult and in many cases impossible for Palestinian academics and students to attend conferences or study abroad, and have forced local universities to shut down early and to close entirely for extended periods. There are bans on the import of certain research equipment and materials needed to pursue scholarly activities, and many academics face arbitrary arrest and detention by both Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
The report argues that the restrictions on academic freedom are undermining the democratic development of the West Bank and Gaza and are frustrating the peace process.
“Israeli and Palestinian universities and colleges have a critical role to play in helping find peaceful solutions to the conflict,” says Monique Fouilhoux, deputy general secretary of Education International. “But they can only do this if their scholars are free to express their views and debate controversial matters without fear of recrimination.”
The report recommends ways that higher education associations and unions worldwide can provide expertise and support.... Full story
Israeli jets attack targets across Gaza
Ma'an
Israeli warplanes carried out a series of raids on military sites throughout the Gaza Strip late Thursday night, witnesses said and Israel's military confirmed.
Muawiya Hassanein, the Gaza Health Ministry's director of ambulance and emergency services, told Ma'an he was not aware of any casualties. He said the jets struck four areas in total.
Al-Jazeera reported that a missile killed one Palestinian and injured two inside a smuggling tunnel along the Gaza-Egypt border. Ma'an could not immediately confirm the report, although locals reported smoke rising above the tunnel area just after midnight.
At least two missiles landed in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, one of them near a school, and a third between Khan Younis and Rafah. Jets were still flying overhead the area early into Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Ma'an's correspondent said two missiles struck a military target in the Gaza City neighborhood of Zaytoun. Residents also said a missile hit the center of the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the country's air force struck four targets in total.
Among them were a weapons manufacturing facility in Gaza City and three tunnels, two along the Egyptian border and another near the border with Israel in central Gaza, she said, alleging that the third tunnel was intended for attacks on Israel.
The official said the airstrikes, among the most wide-scale attacks since Israel's devastating assault last winter, came in retaliation for the 10 mortar shells reportedly launched toward southern Israel on Thursday.
She told Ma'an the country's military "will not tolerate the firing of rockets by terror organizations at Israel and will continue to respond against attempts to disrupt the calm in Israel's southern communities."
Early Thursday morning, Islamic Jihad's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, said one of its members, Usama Zuheir Al-Qassas, died during what the group termed a "Jihad mission" in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. The circumstances of the death were unclear.
Later, the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for firing three rounds of mortar shells on Thursday afternoon. There were no reports of injuries or damage. At least 11 rounds were fired by mid-afternoon, and Israeli news reports said 10 of the mortars struck the southern Negev. One of the projectiles landed near the Kerem Shalom crossing, prompting its closure.
The three barrages appeared to be the largest attack on southern Israel since the end of its Operation Cast Lead, which left some 1,400 Palestinians dead. Projectiles have been intermittently launched at Israeli targets in clusters of two to four, with no more than two barrages in a single day. The PRC said the first launch of two launches included eight, and the second an additional four mortars.
After the first two launches, Israeli forces dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets into areas in northern and eastern Gaza (pictured above), warning Gazans to stay away from the border area. Shortly after the third attack, Palestinians in Jabaliya reported hearing explosions, although no evidence of Israeli artillery fire or airstrikes was reported.
'Take responsibility for your future'
The leaflets, which residents said were dropped in northern and southern Gaza, warned Palestinians not to approach within 300 meters of the Israeli border, and against digging tunnels into Egypt.
One reported that the "prohibited zone" includes border areas in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabaliya in the north, Khan Younis, Khuza’a, and Abasan in the center, and Rafah in the south. A second warned Palestinians against using tunnels to circumvent the Israeli blockade of the territory.
"Terrorists, tunnel owners, and the smugglers of military equipment know for certain that the continuation of terrorist attacks, the smuggling of military equipment, and the digging of tunnels will be targeted by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], but they continue to work in your residential areas and seek refuge among you," according to the flier, which was written in Arabic.
"The digging [of] tunnels under your houses and the smuggling of military equipment into Gaza constitutes a threat to your lives, the lives of your children, and family, and your property," it added. "Do not stay idle and let the terrorists use you. They will not stand beside you when harm is done to you and your property. ... Take responsibility for your future."
The leaflet also lists an email address and a phone number urging Palestinians to provide information about smugglers and tunnel operators.
A military spokesman confirmed that the leaflets were dropped from air force planes, warning that anyone who comes within 300 meters of the border is "putting themselves at risk," warning against weapons smuggling.
The spokesman said "the IDF will operate against anyone who harbors terrorists."
Following the first wave of mortar attacks, Israel announced that the Kerem Shalom crossing point was closed after sources said a mortar shell fired from Gaza landed in the area. Palestinian officials said between 86 and 96 trucks had been scheduled to deliver aid to Gaza.
Israel shut down its borders with Gaza after the elected Hamas government took full control of the territory in June 2007. The closure has reduced imports of vital goods to one-fifth of pre-blockade levels and prevented the Strip's 1.5 million residents from leaving. Full story
Israeli warplanes carried out a series of raids on military sites throughout the Gaza Strip late Thursday night, witnesses said and Israel's military confirmed.
Muawiya Hassanein, the Gaza Health Ministry's director of ambulance and emergency services, told Ma'an he was not aware of any casualties. He said the jets struck four areas in total.
Al-Jazeera reported that a missile killed one Palestinian and injured two inside a smuggling tunnel along the Gaza-Egypt border. Ma'an could not immediately confirm the report, although locals reported smoke rising above the tunnel area just after midnight.
At least two missiles landed in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, one of them near a school, and a third between Khan Younis and Rafah. Jets were still flying overhead the area early into Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Ma'an's correspondent said two missiles struck a military target in the Gaza City neighborhood of Zaytoun. Residents also said a missile hit the center of the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the country's air force struck four targets in total.
Among them were a weapons manufacturing facility in Gaza City and three tunnels, two along the Egyptian border and another near the border with Israel in central Gaza, she said, alleging that the third tunnel was intended for attacks on Israel.
The official said the airstrikes, among the most wide-scale attacks since Israel's devastating assault last winter, came in retaliation for the 10 mortar shells reportedly launched toward southern Israel on Thursday.
She told Ma'an the country's military "will not tolerate the firing of rockets by terror organizations at Israel and will continue to respond against attempts to disrupt the calm in Israel's southern communities."
Early Thursday morning, Islamic Jihad's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, said one of its members, Usama Zuheir Al-Qassas, died during what the group termed a "Jihad mission" in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. The circumstances of the death were unclear.
Later, the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for firing three rounds of mortar shells on Thursday afternoon. There were no reports of injuries or damage. At least 11 rounds were fired by mid-afternoon, and Israeli news reports said 10 of the mortars struck the southern Negev. One of the projectiles landed near the Kerem Shalom crossing, prompting its closure.
The three barrages appeared to be the largest attack on southern Israel since the end of its Operation Cast Lead, which left some 1,400 Palestinians dead. Projectiles have been intermittently launched at Israeli targets in clusters of two to four, with no more than two barrages in a single day. The PRC said the first launch of two launches included eight, and the second an additional four mortars.
After the first two launches, Israeli forces dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets into areas in northern and eastern Gaza (pictured above), warning Gazans to stay away from the border area. Shortly after the third attack, Palestinians in Jabaliya reported hearing explosions, although no evidence of Israeli artillery fire or airstrikes was reported.
'Take responsibility for your future'
The leaflets, which residents said were dropped in northern and southern Gaza, warned Palestinians not to approach within 300 meters of the Israeli border, and against digging tunnels into Egypt.
One reported that the "prohibited zone" includes border areas in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabaliya in the north, Khan Younis, Khuza’a, and Abasan in the center, and Rafah in the south. A second warned Palestinians against using tunnels to circumvent the Israeli blockade of the territory.
"Terrorists, tunnel owners, and the smugglers of military equipment know for certain that the continuation of terrorist attacks, the smuggling of military equipment, and the digging of tunnels will be targeted by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], but they continue to work in your residential areas and seek refuge among you," according to the flier, which was written in Arabic.
"The digging [of] tunnels under your houses and the smuggling of military equipment into Gaza constitutes a threat to your lives, the lives of your children, and family, and your property," it added. "Do not stay idle and let the terrorists use you. They will not stand beside you when harm is done to you and your property. ... Take responsibility for your future."
The leaflet also lists an email address and a phone number urging Palestinians to provide information about smugglers and tunnel operators.
A military spokesman confirmed that the leaflets were dropped from air force planes, warning that anyone who comes within 300 meters of the border is "putting themselves at risk," warning against weapons smuggling.
The spokesman said "the IDF will operate against anyone who harbors terrorists."
Following the first wave of mortar attacks, Israel announced that the Kerem Shalom crossing point was closed after sources said a mortar shell fired from Gaza landed in the area. Palestinian officials said between 86 and 96 trucks had been scheduled to deliver aid to Gaza.
Israel shut down its borders with Gaza after the elected Hamas government took full control of the territory in June 2007. The closure has reduced imports of vital goods to one-fifth of pre-blockade levels and prevented the Strip's 1.5 million residents from leaving. Full story
Day 12: The shooting of Amal, Souad, Samar and Hajja
Ma'an
Part 12 of a series recounting the findings of South African jurist Richard Goldstone's UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.
In the late morning of 7 January 2009, one year ago today, Israeli tanks moved onto a small piece of agricultural land in front of the of the house of Khalid Abd Rabbo and his wife Kawthar...
Speaking to Richard Goldstone's UN inquiry, Khalid recounted: "On January 7 at 12:50pm the Israeli army bulldozed our garden and the Israeli tanks were positioned in front of our house. They started yelling at us through the speakers and asked us to leave the house."
Moments earlier, at 12:30pm, megaphone messages telling all residents to leave were heard across the neighborhood. According to one witness’s recollection, a radio message was also broadcast by Israeli forces around 12:30pm announcing that there would be a temporary cessation of shooting between 1 and 4pm that day, during which time residents of the area were asked to walk to central Jabaliya.
"Of course this happened when Israel had declared [a] ceasefire for four hours, January 7 from 1:00-4:00pm, and that was a truce back then and that’s when wounded civilians could be rescued, and in spite of all of that, in spite of all of this declaration, the Israeli army was there right in front of our house not attempting to move," Khalid said.
Responding to the messages, Khalid, his wife Kawthar, their three daughters, nine-year-old Souad, five-year-old Samar, and three-year-old Amal, and his mother Hajja Souad stepped out of the house, all of them carrying white flags. Less than 10 meters from the door was a tank, turned toward their house. Two soldiers were sitting on top of it having a snack. It was 12:50pm.
"So we stood by our entrance and holding flags, white flags. The tanks were seven meters away from our house."
The family stood still, waiting for orders from the soldiers, but none was given. "[W]e were by the entrance holding white flags and waiting for them to tell us what we should do, whether to go back inside the house or move to somewhere else. They did not say anything to us. There were two soldiers sitting on top of the tank. One of them was eating chips. The other one was eating chocolate. We were looking at them like what are we supposed to do, where should we go, but no reaction from them whatsoever."
Without warning, a third soldier emerged from inside the tank and started shooting at the three girls and then also at their grandmother. Several bullets hit Souad in the chest, Amal in the stomach and Samar in the back. Hajja Souad was hit in the lower back and in the left arm.
“They starting shooting at the children with no reason, no reason, with no explanation, no pretext," Khalid said. "My daughter, three years old, [her] stomach was, hit and her intestines were coming out. So really I was amazed at how could a soldier be firing at my daughter? So I carried my daughter, three years old. She could hardly breathe. Like I said, her stomach was wounded.
"My other daughter was also wounded in her chest. So I took both of them, Samar and Amal, inside the house. My wife and my mother and my other daughter Suad were still outside. All of a sudden my wife joined me carrying Suad. She was wounded also. Her chest was wounded by many bullets. My mother, 60 years old, she was carrying the white flag and she was wounded on her forearm and also in her stomach.”
Khalid and Kawthar carried their three daughters and mother back inside the house. There, they and the family members who had stayed inside tried to call for help by mobile phone. They also shouted for help and a neighbor, Sameeh Al-Sheikh, an ambulance driver who had his ambulance parked next to his house.
Sameeh put on his ambulance uniform and asked his son to put on a fluorescent jacket. They got in the ambulance, had driven a few meters from their house, when Israeli soldiers ordered them to halt and get out of the vehicle. Sameeh protested, saying he had heard cries for help from the family and intended to bring the wounded to hospital. The soldiers ordered him and his son to undress and then redress. They then ordered them to abandon the ambulance and to walk toward Jabaliya.
"So we were all inside the house and we started calling the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross], the ambulances, anybody to come and rescue us but nobody came and all of a sudden we heard an ambulance but all of a sudden nothing, silence. But later, we saw that the Israeli soldiers asked the ambulance drivers to come out of the car, to undress, and they bulldozed the ambulance with the tank."
Not like before , when civilians were safe
Khalid's family decided to stay inside the house, all gathered on the ground floor, as they had done safely during previous Israeli incursions into the neighborhood.
According to Khalid: "Our house, or our area rather, was subjected to many incursions and each and every time the army would invade the area, would come into our houses, but no harm was done to civilians or to children. Last time, that is before the last war on Gaza, that was on January 3, 2008, the Israeli army came in our house and stayed three days and destroyed many things inside the house but left without harming the civilians or the children. Now during the last war that is on January 7, 2009, actually the ground war had already started and we heard that Israel had declared war on Hamas.
"We are civilians. We have nothing to do with Hamas and we were used to have the Israeli army come into our area," Khalid recalled in his testimony to Richard Goldstone's UN inquiry. "So I thought this time we could stay in our houses. We had nothing to do with Hamas. We did not pose any danger to Hamas. The war, the ground war, started on Gaza and as of the first half hour approximately on January 4, the Israeli army controlled the whole area. There was no resistance in the area. It’s an area nearby the Israeli border. Of course we were inside the houses. We were surprised because the war went on for four days while we were still inside our houses."
On 7 January 2009, however, when Amal and Souad died of their wounds, the family decided that they had to make an attempt to walk to Jabaliya. They would take Samar, the dead bodies of Amal and Souad, and their grandmother to hospital.
"My mother, 60 years old, was also dying. I was helpless. I didn’t know what to do for my children. There was my daughter dying in front of me. So I carried her and left the house even if I had to die myself because I couldn’t take it anymore. So I carried my daughter and left the house again so that the soldier, he might as just well kill my daughter and kill myself because I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t let my children die in front of me."
Khalid explained: "From 12:50 until 2:50 we were stuck inside the house. Once again, like I said, I went out to the soldier. They were there, three of them, and there was a Merkava tank positioned in front of the house. I was carrying Samar, even if I had to die, and I was surprised because the third soldier looked at me and two minutes later he went inside the tank and then he came out and he moved his hand just, you know, telling me you can go ahead. So I immediately went back home inside the house and told them we’re going to die anyway. So we don’t want to die inside the house. Let’s die outside the house. Let’s move.
"Although inside the house there [were] more than 25 children, my brothers, my sisters, my dad, my mom. So we had to bring children’s mattress to put my mom on top of the mattress because she was very tired. I carried my daughter Suad, three years old. She was dead… While we were moving, every ten meters they were shooting, once above our heads and the other time by our feet. "
Khaled and Kawthar, as well as other family members and neighbors, carried the girls on their shoulders. Hajja Souad was carried by family and neighbors on a bed. Samar was transferred to Ash-Shifa Hospital and then, through Egypt, to Belgium, where she was still is in hospital at the time of writing.
"So we were trying to move and every now and then we would fall down. We walked for almost a kilometer and a half until we reached the edge of Jabaliya downtown. Of course, we reached the Kamal Idwan Hospital and they confirmed that the three of them were martyred…surprisingly enough they told me that Samar, no, she had survived and she was moved to Ash-Shiffa Hospital. I took the bodies of my two daughters in order to bury them. We didn’t have any time. This was an outrageous war and the Israeli army was moving around. So we had to bury them, Amal and Suad, and wait until they would bring Samar because we thought and we knew that Samar was going to die. "
According to her parents, Samar suffered a spinal injury and will remain paraplegic for the rest of her life. "Samar, of course, and with God’s will, Samar survived, survived so that she would be the witness before the world for the atrocities," Khalid said. "Samar survived, paralyzed. She can move only her arms. She can speak but the rest is paralyzed. She can speak for herself and she can tell her tragedy."
According to Khalid, "I haven’t seen [Samar] since the events. My tragedy is still going on. It’s not over. So what crime did I commit? I have always been a peace-loving person. I’m for peace. I’ve always supported peace and despite [all that] happened to me I’m asking the world please, please help us live in peace. The Israeli army knows that, that I’ve never been a terrorist.
"... why did it happen to me, why did they come to my house, kill my children without having committed any crime. What did I do?
"There was no war. It was cold-blooded murder of children. That was not just accidental. No, the soldier even chuckled, like I said. I know that Israel has a very sophisticated technology and that every operation it carries out is actually filmed and I’m asking Israel please broadcast the film of the killing of my children. Did you see my children carrying any rockets?"
No home to return to
When Khalid returned to his home on 18 January 2009, his house, as most houses in that part of Izbat Abd Rabbo, had been demolished. He drew the UN fact-finding mission's attention to an anti-tank mine under the rubble of a neighbor's house.
He added: "I call upon the international community and ask the international community why my children were cold-bloodedly killed? Why were they fired on? My mother, 60, she was hit in her chest; my daughter Suad, eight years, in her chest; Samar, four years, in the chest; Amal, three years, in the chest, and this is despite the fact that they are all different sizes, all the targeting was at the chest......... Full story
Part 12 of a series recounting the findings of South African jurist Richard Goldstone's UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.
In the late morning of 7 January 2009, one year ago today, Israeli tanks moved onto a small piece of agricultural land in front of the of the house of Khalid Abd Rabbo and his wife Kawthar...
Speaking to Richard Goldstone's UN inquiry, Khalid recounted: "On January 7 at 12:50pm the Israeli army bulldozed our garden and the Israeli tanks were positioned in front of our house. They started yelling at us through the speakers and asked us to leave the house."
Moments earlier, at 12:30pm, megaphone messages telling all residents to leave were heard across the neighborhood. According to one witness’s recollection, a radio message was also broadcast by Israeli forces around 12:30pm announcing that there would be a temporary cessation of shooting between 1 and 4pm that day, during which time residents of the area were asked to walk to central Jabaliya.
"Of course this happened when Israel had declared [a] ceasefire for four hours, January 7 from 1:00-4:00pm, and that was a truce back then and that’s when wounded civilians could be rescued, and in spite of all of that, in spite of all of this declaration, the Israeli army was there right in front of our house not attempting to move," Khalid said.
Responding to the messages, Khalid, his wife Kawthar, their three daughters, nine-year-old Souad, five-year-old Samar, and three-year-old Amal, and his mother Hajja Souad stepped out of the house, all of them carrying white flags. Less than 10 meters from the door was a tank, turned toward their house. Two soldiers were sitting on top of it having a snack. It was 12:50pm.
"So we stood by our entrance and holding flags, white flags. The tanks were seven meters away from our house."
The family stood still, waiting for orders from the soldiers, but none was given. "[W]e were by the entrance holding white flags and waiting for them to tell us what we should do, whether to go back inside the house or move to somewhere else. They did not say anything to us. There were two soldiers sitting on top of the tank. One of them was eating chips. The other one was eating chocolate. We were looking at them like what are we supposed to do, where should we go, but no reaction from them whatsoever."
Without warning, a third soldier emerged from inside the tank and started shooting at the three girls and then also at their grandmother. Several bullets hit Souad in the chest, Amal in the stomach and Samar in the back. Hajja Souad was hit in the lower back and in the left arm.
“They starting shooting at the children with no reason, no reason, with no explanation, no pretext," Khalid said. "My daughter, three years old, [her] stomach was, hit and her intestines were coming out. So really I was amazed at how could a soldier be firing at my daughter? So I carried my daughter, three years old. She could hardly breathe. Like I said, her stomach was wounded.
"My other daughter was also wounded in her chest. So I took both of them, Samar and Amal, inside the house. My wife and my mother and my other daughter Suad were still outside. All of a sudden my wife joined me carrying Suad. She was wounded also. Her chest was wounded by many bullets. My mother, 60 years old, she was carrying the white flag and she was wounded on her forearm and also in her stomach.”
Khalid and Kawthar carried their three daughters and mother back inside the house. There, they and the family members who had stayed inside tried to call for help by mobile phone. They also shouted for help and a neighbor, Sameeh Al-Sheikh, an ambulance driver who had his ambulance parked next to his house.
Sameeh put on his ambulance uniform and asked his son to put on a fluorescent jacket. They got in the ambulance, had driven a few meters from their house, when Israeli soldiers ordered them to halt and get out of the vehicle. Sameeh protested, saying he had heard cries for help from the family and intended to bring the wounded to hospital. The soldiers ordered him and his son to undress and then redress. They then ordered them to abandon the ambulance and to walk toward Jabaliya.
"So we were all inside the house and we started calling the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross], the ambulances, anybody to come and rescue us but nobody came and all of a sudden we heard an ambulance but all of a sudden nothing, silence. But later, we saw that the Israeli soldiers asked the ambulance drivers to come out of the car, to undress, and they bulldozed the ambulance with the tank."
Not like before , when civilians were safe
Khalid's family decided to stay inside the house, all gathered on the ground floor, as they had done safely during previous Israeli incursions into the neighborhood.
According to Khalid: "Our house, or our area rather, was subjected to many incursions and each and every time the army would invade the area, would come into our houses, but no harm was done to civilians or to children. Last time, that is before the last war on Gaza, that was on January 3, 2008, the Israeli army came in our house and stayed three days and destroyed many things inside the house but left without harming the civilians or the children. Now during the last war that is on January 7, 2009, actually the ground war had already started and we heard that Israel had declared war on Hamas.
"We are civilians. We have nothing to do with Hamas and we were used to have the Israeli army come into our area," Khalid recalled in his testimony to Richard Goldstone's UN inquiry. "So I thought this time we could stay in our houses. We had nothing to do with Hamas. We did not pose any danger to Hamas. The war, the ground war, started on Gaza and as of the first half hour approximately on January 4, the Israeli army controlled the whole area. There was no resistance in the area. It’s an area nearby the Israeli border. Of course we were inside the houses. We were surprised because the war went on for four days while we were still inside our houses."
On 7 January 2009, however, when Amal and Souad died of their wounds, the family decided that they had to make an attempt to walk to Jabaliya. They would take Samar, the dead bodies of Amal and Souad, and their grandmother to hospital.
"My mother, 60 years old, was also dying. I was helpless. I didn’t know what to do for my children. There was my daughter dying in front of me. So I carried her and left the house even if I had to die myself because I couldn’t take it anymore. So I carried my daughter and left the house again so that the soldier, he might as just well kill my daughter and kill myself because I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t let my children die in front of me."
Khalid explained: "From 12:50 until 2:50 we were stuck inside the house. Once again, like I said, I went out to the soldier. They were there, three of them, and there was a Merkava tank positioned in front of the house. I was carrying Samar, even if I had to die, and I was surprised because the third soldier looked at me and two minutes later he went inside the tank and then he came out and he moved his hand just, you know, telling me you can go ahead. So I immediately went back home inside the house and told them we’re going to die anyway. So we don’t want to die inside the house. Let’s die outside the house. Let’s move.
"Although inside the house there [were] more than 25 children, my brothers, my sisters, my dad, my mom. So we had to bring children’s mattress to put my mom on top of the mattress because she was very tired. I carried my daughter Suad, three years old. She was dead… While we were moving, every ten meters they were shooting, once above our heads and the other time by our feet. "
Khaled and Kawthar, as well as other family members and neighbors, carried the girls on their shoulders. Hajja Souad was carried by family and neighbors on a bed. Samar was transferred to Ash-Shifa Hospital and then, through Egypt, to Belgium, where she was still is in hospital at the time of writing.
"So we were trying to move and every now and then we would fall down. We walked for almost a kilometer and a half until we reached the edge of Jabaliya downtown. Of course, we reached the Kamal Idwan Hospital and they confirmed that the three of them were martyred…surprisingly enough they told me that Samar, no, she had survived and she was moved to Ash-Shiffa Hospital. I took the bodies of my two daughters in order to bury them. We didn’t have any time. This was an outrageous war and the Israeli army was moving around. So we had to bury them, Amal and Suad, and wait until they would bring Samar because we thought and we knew that Samar was going to die. "
According to her parents, Samar suffered a spinal injury and will remain paraplegic for the rest of her life. "Samar, of course, and with God’s will, Samar survived, survived so that she would be the witness before the world for the atrocities," Khalid said. "Samar survived, paralyzed. She can move only her arms. She can speak but the rest is paralyzed. She can speak for herself and she can tell her tragedy."
According to Khalid, "I haven’t seen [Samar] since the events. My tragedy is still going on. It’s not over. So what crime did I commit? I have always been a peace-loving person. I’m for peace. I’ve always supported peace and despite [all that] happened to me I’m asking the world please, please help us live in peace. The Israeli army knows that, that I’ve never been a terrorist.
"... why did it happen to me, why did they come to my house, kill my children without having committed any crime. What did I do?
"There was no war. It was cold-blooded murder of children. That was not just accidental. No, the soldier even chuckled, like I said. I know that Israel has a very sophisticated technology and that every operation it carries out is actually filmed and I’m asking Israel please broadcast the film of the killing of my children. Did you see my children carrying any rockets?"
No home to return to
When Khalid returned to his home on 18 January 2009, his house, as most houses in that part of Izbat Abd Rabbo, had been demolished. He drew the UN fact-finding mission's attention to an anti-tank mine under the rubble of a neighbor's house.
He added: "I call upon the international community and ask the international community why my children were cold-bloodedly killed? Why were they fired on? My mother, 60, she was hit in her chest; my daughter Suad, eight years, in her chest; Samar, four years, in the chest; Amal, three years, in the chest, and this is despite the fact that they are all different sizes, all the targeting was at the chest......... Full story
Report: Israel to pay $10 million in compensation to UN
Ma'an
Israel will pay 10 million US dollars in compensation to the United Nations for bombing its facilities during the offensive on Gaza one year ago, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.
...According to eyewitnesses, human rights groups, and two UN investigations into the matter, numerous UN installations were bombed during the war, including schools.
The central warehouse of the UN relief agency UNRWA was gutted in a fire that witnesses said was sparked by the incendiary white phosphorus shells fired by Israeli warplanes.
A UN investigation into the attacks on its facilities found Israel liable for the damage and asked that it pay 11.4 million US dollars.
More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the three-week offensive. Full story
Israel will pay 10 million US dollars in compensation to the United Nations for bombing its facilities during the offensive on Gaza one year ago, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.
...According to eyewitnesses, human rights groups, and two UN investigations into the matter, numerous UN installations were bombed during the war, including schools.
The central warehouse of the UN relief agency UNRWA was gutted in a fire that witnesses said was sparked by the incendiary white phosphorus shells fired by Israeli warplanes.
A UN investigation into the attacks on its facilities found Israel liable for the damage and asked that it pay 11.4 million US dollars.
More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the three-week offensive. Full story
Reports of 14 projectiles launched into Israel as fliers warn Gazans
Ma'an
The Popular Resistance Committees claimed a third round of mortar launches Thursday afternoon, following two early morning barrages aimed at Israeli targets in and around the Gaza Strip, sources said.
The total number of confirmed launches stood at 11 by the mid-afternoon, with three more reported after 2pm, while Israeli media sources said 10 of the mortars landed in the southern Negev. One of the projectiles landed near the Kerem Shalom crossing, prompting its closure.
.......After the first two launches, Israeli forces dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets into areas in the north and east of the Gaza Strip (pictured above), warning Gazans to stay away from the border area.
Shortly after the third launch, Palestinians in Jabaliya reported hearing explosions in the north, though no evidence of Israeli artillery fire or airstrikes was found.
Resistance Fighter Killed
In the early morning, Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, also said that one of its members, identified as Usama Zuheir Al-Qassas, died during what the group described as a “Jihad mission” in Rafah in southern Gaza. The circumstances of the death were unclear.
Leaflets
The leaflets, which residents said were dropped in northern and southern Gaza, warned Palestinians not to approach within 300 meters of the Israeli border, and also warned against digging smuggling tunnels into Egypt.
One flier says that the “prohibited zone” includes border areas in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabaliya in the north, Khan Younis, Khuza’a, and Abasan in the center, and Rafah in the south.
A second leaflet warns Palestinians against using smuggling tunnels to circumvent the Israeli blockade of the territory.
“Terrorists, tunnel owners, and the smugglers of military equipment know for certain that the continuation of terrorist attacks, the smuggling of military equipment, and the digging of tunnels will be targeted by the IDF, but they continue to work in your residential areas and seek refuge among you," the flier read in Arabic.
“The digging tunnels under your houses and the smuggling of military equipment into Gaza constitutes a threat to your lives, the lives of your children and family, and your property,” it added.
“Do not stay idle and let the terrorists use you. They will not stand beside you when when harm is done to you and your property."
“Take responsibility for your future,” it concludes.
The leaflet also lists an email address and a phone number urging Palestinians to provide information about smugglers and tunnel operators.
A military spokesman confirmed that the leaflets were dropped from air force planes, warning that anyone who comes withing 300 meters of the border is "putting themselves at risk," and also warning against weapons smuggling. The spokesman said "the IDF will operate against anyone who harbors terrorists."
Gaza Crossings Closed
Following the first wave of mortar launches, Israel announced that the Kerem Shalom crossing point was closed when sources said a mortar shells fired from Gaza landed in the area. Palestinian officials said between 86 and 96 trucks had been scheduled deliver aid to Gaza.
Israel shut down its borders with Gaza after the elected Hamas government took full control of the territory in June 2007. The closure has reduced imports of vital goods to one-fifth of pre-blockade levels and prevented the Strip’s 1.5 million residents from leaving... Full story
The Popular Resistance Committees claimed a third round of mortar launches Thursday afternoon, following two early morning barrages aimed at Israeli targets in and around the Gaza Strip, sources said.
The total number of confirmed launches stood at 11 by the mid-afternoon, with three more reported after 2pm, while Israeli media sources said 10 of the mortars landed in the southern Negev. One of the projectiles landed near the Kerem Shalom crossing, prompting its closure.
.......After the first two launches, Israeli forces dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets into areas in the north and east of the Gaza Strip (pictured above), warning Gazans to stay away from the border area.
Shortly after the third launch, Palestinians in Jabaliya reported hearing explosions in the north, though no evidence of Israeli artillery fire or airstrikes was found.
Resistance Fighter Killed
In the early morning, Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, also said that one of its members, identified as Usama Zuheir Al-Qassas, died during what the group described as a “Jihad mission” in Rafah in southern Gaza. The circumstances of the death were unclear.
Leaflets
The leaflets, which residents said were dropped in northern and southern Gaza, warned Palestinians not to approach within 300 meters of the Israeli border, and also warned against digging smuggling tunnels into Egypt.
One flier says that the “prohibited zone” includes border areas in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabaliya in the north, Khan Younis, Khuza’a, and Abasan in the center, and Rafah in the south.
A second leaflet warns Palestinians against using smuggling tunnels to circumvent the Israeli blockade of the territory.
“Terrorists, tunnel owners, and the smugglers of military equipment know for certain that the continuation of terrorist attacks, the smuggling of military equipment, and the digging of tunnels will be targeted by the IDF, but they continue to work in your residential areas and seek refuge among you," the flier read in Arabic.
“The digging tunnels under your houses and the smuggling of military equipment into Gaza constitutes a threat to your lives, the lives of your children and family, and your property,” it added.
“Do not stay idle and let the terrorists use you. They will not stand beside you when when harm is done to you and your property."
“Take responsibility for your future,” it concludes.
The leaflet also lists an email address and a phone number urging Palestinians to provide information about smugglers and tunnel operators.
A military spokesman confirmed that the leaflets were dropped from air force planes, warning that anyone who comes withing 300 meters of the border is "putting themselves at risk," and also warning against weapons smuggling. The spokesman said "the IDF will operate against anyone who harbors terrorists."
Gaza Crossings Closed
Following the first wave of mortar launches, Israel announced that the Kerem Shalom crossing point was closed when sources said a mortar shells fired from Gaza landed in the area. Palestinian officials said between 86 and 96 trucks had been scheduled deliver aid to Gaza.
Israel shut down its borders with Gaza after the elected Hamas government took full control of the territory in June 2007. The closure has reduced imports of vital goods to one-fifth of pre-blockade levels and prevented the Strip’s 1.5 million residents from leaving... Full story
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