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The Occupation Report Receiving This Newsletter Purpose of this Newsletter September 4, 2006 Reports Sources WAFA Palestine News Agency
Palestinian Information Center
Palestine News Network
Jerusalem Post Israel National News Ha'aretz Incursions, invasions, and arrests, etc. Gaza Strip: An Israeli special unit stormed the eastern area of Khouza'a, in the eastern part of the Khan Younis governorate, and arrested Eid Qdeeh, 60. (1) The Israeli occupation forces stayed in Khouza'a town six hours, destroying land owned by Palestinians and a number of greenhouses, as well as farm buildings. Israeli bulldozers uprooted more than 100 olive trees and razed "scores of dunams" of arable land in Khan Younis. (2) "Scores of dunums" would be most easily translated as "dozens of acres," in language that Americans are familiar with, provided they are talking about four score or higher. At dawn, Israeli warplanes fired two missiles at the home of Khalil Abu Fool, (a similar PNN article spells his name Khalil Abu Haboub) a commander in the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the Jabaliya Refugee Camp. The home was leveled to the ground. The Israeli army command phoned the home minutes before the raid, telling them to evacuate the home. Five Palestinians were hospitalized due to psychological problems resulting from the explosions. Israeli helicopters had been hovering all night long over the Gaza Strip, while armored vehicles were mobilized along the eastern borders. There were rumors that the Israeli command was pondering a large-scale invasion of one of the Gaza Strip areas to rescue the captured Israeli soldier. This could cost the life of Shalit, following which Israel could hold the Palestinian Authority responsible and launch revenge attacks. (9) West Bank: "Massive forces" of Israeli soldiers stormed Nablus city, the Balata and Ein Al Maa refugee camps, and Til village, where they launched a search campaign and arrested six Palestinians. In Qabatiya near Jenin, Israeli soldiers broke in and arrested four Palestinians including three brothers of the Assaf family. In Tarqoumia town near Hebron Israeli soldiers arrested two Palestinians. (1) Israeli soldiers stormed Hebron in one of their actions. They started taking over the house of Maysoon Misk, 38, and she tried to stop them from using her house as a watchtower in the city. Soldiers hit her with rifle butts in the head, witnessed by her sister Ghadeer, and Maysoon lost consciousness and was carried to a hospital. Journalists tried to cover the Israeli attack on the Abu Katila neighborhood of Hebron as Israeli soldiers pushed into the western part of the city and stormed several houses. WAFA photographer Abu Allan, Reuters photographer Nayef al-Hashlamoun, and freelancer Najih al-Hashlamoun were beaten up by the Israeli soldiers. (3) Before dawn, Israeli soldiers stormed Kafr Dan village west of Jenin. Troops had imposed the siege on the village since late Sunday. During the siege in the morning, Israeli patrols went through the western and eastern suburbs of the village and clashed with resistance fighters for two hours. Ibrahim Abed, 24, a resistance fighter with the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was wounded with a bullet in his thigh. He had been on the Israeli army wanted list for several years, and, for that reason Kafr Dan village was the target of repeated incursions. (6) Later, over 15 military vehicles stormed Qabatiya town south of Jenin, and opened fire on Palestinians, wounding Rabee' Turkman, 22, Ahmed Nazzal, Muhammad Abu El-Rub, and Muhammad Ikmeel. "They were taken to the hospital to receive medicine." (4) 20 Israeli patrols broke into several homes in the town, where they arrested four youths. There were violent confrontations between heavily armed Israeli units and young men throwing stones. In this incursion, the Israeli troops shot Rabi Turkman, 22, in the thigh. Soldiers partially destroyed the home of Ziyad Al-Hafez. (6) Land confiscation Israeli soldiers seized three dunums (about three quarters of an acre) of Palestinian land east of Bethlehem for "military purposes", according to an order passed by the commander of the army and the West Bank. This order confiscated three dunums and 900 meters of land in Harmala village owned by Palestinian Bedouins. The commander justified the order by saying it was necessary to ward off terrorist operations. One of the land owners, Mohammed Atiya Subaih, said the confiscation would deprive his family members of the ability to reach their farmlands. (11) The tiny village of Qusin is about to be closed from all sides by a fence and barbed wire. Barbed wire extends to the Beit Eiba checkpoint. There is a checkpoint in Qusin. The fence extends south and will close off Jit and Sarra villages southwest of Nablus, turning the area into a closed military zone, with all movement prohibited. Israeli factories occupy much of the confiscated land. One of them produces contaminated smoke all day long. Israeli forces confiscated 2,000 dunums of Palestinian land (about 500 acres), and the only entrance to Qusin village will be the Beit Eiba checkpoint. When the closure is complete Qusin residents will not have access to a hospital. They are concerned that the land confiscation and wires are a prelude to extension of the Wall. (12) "In the largest wave of new settlement construction activity approved by the Olmert government since it came into office, the Housing Ministry issued tenders Monday morning for the construction of 690 new housing units in the territories." These are apartments to be built in large settlements. There will be 342 units in Betar Ilit, and 348 units in Ma'ale Adumin. Betar Ilit is southwest of Jerusalem, "home to a poor Orthodox population of over 25,000", with one of the fastest growth rates in Israel. Israel is trying to connect Ma'ale Adumin to Jerusalem. (13) Palestinian lawlessness Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar stopped to offer condolences to one of the Ministry's employees over the death of his sister. Apparently, he angered at least one of those present in the house of the employee during his visit, who insulted the Minister. Immediately after leaving the house, the Minister's car was stoned, and its rear window was smashed. The Minister's bodyguards got him away safely. At that time, two suspended employees of the Foreign Ministry, Ahmed Subh and Ibrahim Khreisha, verbally attacked the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority on Palestine TV. The source intimates that this verbal attack was apparently the cause of the assault on the Minister's car. (5) Palestinian prisoners The military court in the Ofer jail renewed an order detaining physics professor Essam Al-Ashkar for another six months without charge or trial. The Prisoners' Support Society stated that Ashkar, 50, had been sentenced to six months of administrative detention in March, 2006. He was suffering from hypertension and was rushed to the hospital more than once after his life was threatened due to sudden and high rises in his blood pressure. The society charged Israel with meaning to impede academic studies in Palestine, and urged world universities to pressure Israel to forced to respect academic officials and free all detained professors. (10) Palestinian resistance Two Palestinians stabbed an Israeli man at a checkpoint near Qalqilya. The victim said that his attackers stole his car and drove away. (17) Palestinians threw rocks at vehicles traveling past the settlement of Efrat in Gush Etzion Monday evening. No one was reported injured. There was damage caused to several Israeli cars. In a separate incident Palestinians threw a can of paint that an Egged bus passing Neveh Daniel. There were no injuries. (18) Restrictions in movement Following the discovery of a large tunnel at the Karni Crossing, which was blown up by Israeli forces, the Israeli army opened the Karni Commercial Crossing Monday morning. The crossing had been closed for two weeks because of warnings of planned terrorist attacks. (20) The Israel-Hezbollah fight The first Qatar Airways plane landed at Beirut carrying 142 passengers, after checking with Israel for permission to land. (15) Hezbollah leaders allege that the Israeli Air Force was carrying out sorties over Lebanon and the Israeli army had not fully withdrawn from the south of the country. They also demanded that Israel lift the air and sea blockade. (16) Miscellany Jamal Al-Khudari, Palestinian Authority Telecommunications Minister, who had resigned from his post, withdrew his resignation after Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, refused the resignation at Khudari's house, in a meeting attended by several cabinet ministers and officials. The Prime Minister did not accept the resignation because there was no reason given. Khudari had heard that some exploited his resignation to lash back at the government, and thus decided to retract it. (7) A random sample of 1,046 adults in the Gaza Strip supported a national unity government (79.3%), but a large number (43%) said the government would not be able to end the Israeli-American-led siege on the government and people. 40% thought it would. 59% supported Hamas' leadership of the new government. 34% opposed it. 81% "expressed satisfaction over the performance of factions capturing the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, over the exchange deal, while 70% refused any delayed release of Palestinian prisoners in return for freeing Shalit." (8) North West Bank Jenin District strikers have pitched a tent in the middle of Jenin. Sheikh Tariq, of the local strikers committee, said this was done to remain in permanent communication with the Palestinian public. He invited the general population to support the strike. He is suggesting a general commercial strike for Tuesday. (12) My question: how do you strike against the people who are really taking your money away from you, namely the Israeli and American governments? Italy, England, Portugal, Spain, and Germany refuse to allow El Al Airlines cargo planes with Israeli military equipment that come from US military bases to land and refuel. This forces these cargo planes to carry barely half of their 90-ton capacity because they cannot refuel en route. In 1992 of cargo-bearing El Al 747 crashed into an Amsterdam apartment building. "The plane's cargo included bullets, and spare parts for AIM-9 Sidewinder and Patriot missiles." (14) "In recent months, a number of senior IDF officers have been compelled to cancel visits to Europe after they learned they faced the risk of being placed under arrest for alleged war crimes." What's going on? "Foreign Ministry officials report that in recent weeks, private individuals and organizations alike, operating in Europe, are working to gather information to be used as evidence against IDF officers and government ministers." (19) ----------------------------- Samples of this newsletter may be found at http://aberdeenpublishing.com/ocreport.eml . That "eml" extension means that people with Internet Explorer and Outlook Express can see it. Others may not unless their programs recognize the "eml" extension. Links for buying my book, Awakened, may be found at http://aberdeenpublishing.com. -- Jerrold Cohen, Ph.D
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