Conflict..

12-year-old boy shot in head as Israeli forces invade Khan Younis Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Gaza – Ma’an – A 12-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and seriously injured when several Israeli military vehicles entered the Al-Faraheen neighborhood of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday morning. Palestinian medical sources said that Imad Qdaih was shot in the head and was evacuated to Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Eyewitnesses said that eight military vehicles and three bulldozers invaded the area at 4am and began digging up agricultural lands, demolishing houses and apprehending Palestinians. Clashes erupted between the invading forces and Palestinian gunmen. No casualties have been reported. The military wing affiliated to Islamic Jihad said their fighters fired several mortar shells towards at the invading Israeli forces. more.. e-mail Israeli forces kill twice in S Gaza Strip, bulldoze agricultural lands Palestine News Network 5/1/2008 Rafah / PNN -- After Wednesday’s killing in the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli forces killed again. Early Thursday in Rafah Israeli forces targeted the Shaboura area, hitting a member of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed resistance wing of Hamas. Later in the afternoon Israeli forces attacked Khan Younis, killing a 55 year old man and injuring three more Palestinians. Early this morning Israeli forces stormed eastern Khan Younis, also in the southern Strip. Yesterday, Wednesday, Israeli forces killed a worker in the area, who was also a resistance member, at a car painting factory and injured six people, including a child. Official Palestinian sources reported that large numbers of Israeli forces carried out extensive raids throughout the Strip, pointing out that at dawn Israeli special forces infiltrated eastern Khan Younis. more.. e-mail Hamas military leader killed in Gaza air raid Middle East Online 5/1/2008 GAZA CITY - An air strike on Thursday killed a Hamas military leader in Gaza who took part in the 2006 capture of an Israeli soldier, the Israeli military said. The Israelis "targeted and identified hitting Nafiz Mansur, a Hamas terror operative who was involved in terror attacks against Israel," it said in a statement." Mansur was involved, among other attacks, in the capture of Gilad Shalit," it said in reference to the Israeli seized by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid from Gaza claimed by Hamas and two other armed groups. The statement said the militant also bore responsibility for the killing of two Israeli soldiers in a July 2006 attack, and took part in setting up a suicide assault on a border post on April 19 this year. The Islamist Hamas movement confirmed Mansur’s death and said it would "respond to this crime at the adequate time and place. more.. e-mail Israeli forces apprehend 10 West Bankers Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces raided several West Bank districts in the early hours of Thursday morning, arresting ten ’wanted’ Palestinian activists. Israeli sources said on Thursday that ten "wanted Palestinians" were seized in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron. All the arrestees have been transferred to interrogation centres. Palestinian security sources in Bethlehem said Israeli forces apprehended an officer in the Palestinian preventive security services from his home at Al-Azza refugee camp north of Bethlehem. [end] Death toll in Gaza rises to 3 in 24 hours Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Gaza – Ma’an –Less than 24 hours after Palestinian factions agreed on an Egyptian-proposed bilateral ceasefire with the Israelis in the Gaza Strip, the death toll due to Israeli attacks in the sector has risen to three, with the shooting of an elderly man from Khan Younis. Muhammad Abu Duqqa was shot in the head by Israeli forces which invaded the Al-Faraheen neighborhood of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Muawiyya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian health ministry, stated that Israeli forces targeted a group of activists in Al-Faraheen neighborhood of Khan Younis injuring three of them. They were evacuated to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Also on Thursday, a Palestinian activist from Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades was killed and a 13-year-old girl was injured when an Israeli reconnaissance plane fired a missile at Shabora. . . more.. e-mail Palestinian security arrest 4 Hamas members in the West Bank Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Nablus – Hamas said on Thursday that the Palestinian security services affiliated to the Fatah-led caretaker government in the West Bank arrestedfour Hamas affiliates on Wednesday morning. The movement said in a statement that a university student affiliated to Hamas was seized in Hebron in the southern West Bank. In Ramallah, in the central West Bank, a student from Birzeit University was seized at a Palestinian military checkpoint, according to the statement. Two other Hamas loyalists were seized in the Tulkarem district in the northern West Bank, the statement added. [end] An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades claim shooting of Israeli soldier Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing affiliated to the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades claimed on Thursday that their fighters shot and injured an Israeli soldier while he was on top of a military tank in Al-Faraheen east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that they filmed footage of the shooting. [end] PFLP military group fire two projectiles at western Negev Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades announced on Thursday that a group of their fighters launched two homemade projectiles at the western Negev Israeli towns. They said in a statement that the shelling was in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip. [end] Qassam barrage hits western Negev Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 5/1/2008 Western Negev suffers barrage of ten Qassams. One lands in Sderot, causing shock to high school students. Another damages kibbutz home - At least ten Qassam rockets were fired from Gaza on Thursday afternoon. Seven fell in the area of Sderot, and at least two fell in open spaces near Ashkelon. One of the rockets fell near a high school in Sderot, while another fell in a kibbutz in Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, damaging a house. The other rockets landed in open spaces in the area of Sderot and Ashkelon, and one has not yet been found but is estimated to have landed near Erez crossing. Four Sderot residents were treated for shock, including three high school students. Eli Edri, principal of the religious Sderot high school next to which the rocket hit, told Ynet: "Unfortunately this is the daily reality we are faced with. more.. e-mail Israeli tank hit by RPG, Islamic Jihad’s military wing claim Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Gaza – Ma’an – The military wing affiliated to Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility on Thursday for firing a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) from a distance of 60 metres at an Israeli tank in the Al-Faraheen neighborhood of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the tank was hit and caught on fire. [end] The Israeli army invades Bethlehem and kidnaps one civilian Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 5/1/2008 The Israeli army invaded the Al Azza Refugee camp located in the southern west Bank city of Bethlehem and kidnapped one civilian on Thursday at dawn. Local sources reported that a number of army vehicles stormed the camp on Thursday at dawn, troops searched the house of Firass Jabir, 27, then kidnapped him and took him to unknown location. [end] IOF troops kidnap 30 Palestinians during incursion into Khan Younis Palestinian Information Center 5/1/2008 KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- A large number of IOF troops reinforced by tanks, bulldozers and aerial cover invaded amid intensive gunfire at dawn Thursday the Farahin neighborhood in the east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip and kidnapped 30 Palestinians. Palestinian local sources told the PIC reporter that the invading IOF troops stormed many houses moving from one house into another through demolishing the internal walls and kidnapped 30 Palestinian citizens, while the military bulldozers were sabotaging agricultural lands in the area. For its part, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced in a communiqué received by the PIC that its fighters engaged in fierce clashes with the invading troops and fired four mortar shells at them. In a monthly report received by the PIC, the international Tadamun (solidarity) society for human rights stated that the IOF troops killed. . . more.. e-mail Three people, including a farmer, killed in separate Israeli army attacks on Gaza Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 5/1/2008 The Palestinian death toll out of Israeli army attacks on Gaza today has risen to three including a civilian man, as a small-scale incursion is taking place in southern Gaza. Medical sources reported that three Palestinians including a farmer, have been killed in less than 24 hours in different parts of the Gaza Strip. Mohammad Abu Daqqa, was shot dead in the head after the Israeli army incurred into the Faraheen neighborhood of the Khan Younis city, in southern Gaza Strip today morning. Also, three other men, said to be resistance fighters, were wounded in the Israeli incursion into the Faraheen area, as the total number of those wounded in the past 24 hours mounted to 10, medics added. In the Rafah city in southern Gaza Strip, an Israeli drone fired a missile on a Palestinian man, while walking down in the streets of Shaboura neighborhood in Rafah, killing him instantly and wounding critically a passerby 13-year-old girl. more.. e-mail Army kills a Palestinian fighter, injures two children during separate attacks in southern Gaza Rami Al Meghari & Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 5/1/2008 Palestinian sources reported that one Palestinian fighter was killed and two children were injured by Israeli army fire in separate attacks targeting the southern part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning. The Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, stated that an Israeli unmanned airplane fired missile at Nafith Manssour, 40, a leader in the brigades and killed him. Witnesses said that Manssour was walking in one of the streets of Al Shabura Refugee camp located near Rafah city when the unmanned airplane attacked him. He suffered critical wounds and died of his wounds later on. Khoulod Ingeliy, a bystander child was injured in the attack medical sources reported. Meanwhile Imad Kadeh, 12, sustained critical wounds after he was shot by the Israeli army in the head during and invasion targeting Al Faraheen area east of Khan Younis town located in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail Israeli forces arrest 6 Palestinians near Jenin; ransack charity Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Jenin – Ma’an – Israeli forces arrested five Palestinians from the northern West Bank towns of Fahma and one from Ya’bad near Jenin on Thursday. Palestinian security sources said that an Israeli military force stormed Fahma overnight and raided several houses before arresting five men, saying they had thrown stones at Israeli military patrols. Other Israeli forces raided Ya’bad and arrested one man. Separately, more than 15 Israeli military vehicles stormed the city of Jenin, besieging the headquarters of the Prisoners Supporters Society. They then stormed the building, confiscating computers and other equipment. [end] Palestine Today 050108 Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 5/1/2008 Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB ||Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday May 1st 2008. The Israeli army invades Gaza, kills one Palestinian fighter and injures two children while in the West Bank troops kidnap 10 civilians. News Cast Palestinian sources reported that one Palestinian fighter was killed and two children were injured by Israeli army fire in separate attacks targeting the southern part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning. The Qassam Brigades the armed wing of the Hamas movement stated that an unmanned Israeli airplane fired a missile at Nafith Manssour, 40, a leader in the brigades and killed him. Witnesses said that Manssour was walking in one of the streets of Al Shabura Refugee camp located near Rafah city when the unmanned airplane attacked him, he sustained critical wounds and died later in the hospital. more.. e-mail

Diplomacy..

Rice: Israelis and Palestinians must agree on final borders The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 5/2/2008 "Israeli and Palestinian negotiators should decide once and for all where to draw the line between Israeli and Palestinian territory, ending the argument over Jewish housing expansion on disputed ground," U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday. Rice also warned that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank do not equal a fait accompli that the houses or towns would remain in Israeli hands under a final settlement of the six-decade conflict. The settlement issue has seriously clouded the progress of peace talks that were inaugurated with high hopes by U. S. President George W. Bush more than six months ago. There has been little visible progress since, and Palestinians suspect Israel is increasing the pace of expansion in a deliberate land grab while closed-door negotiations continue. more.. e-mail Middle East peace must include solution for Palestinian refugees, Ban Ki-moon says United Nations News Service, ReliefWeb 4/29/2008 A sustainable peace in the Middle East will have to factor in a viable and just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a United Nations meeting convened in Paris to assess the condition of the refugees and examine the role of the world body in alleviating their plight. ‘The Palestinian people’s desire or right to live a normal daily life in their own sovereign land remains undiminished, as do the individual and collective rights of Palestine refugees,’ Mr. Ban said in a message to the conference, read out by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Angela Kane. ‘This year marks the 60th year of Palestinian dispossession, an anniversary that underlines the importance and urgency of finding a solution to the question of Palestine and of addressing the plight of the Palestine refugees,’ he noted. more.. e-mail Ma’aleh Adumim mayor: I got impression that gov’t plans to divide J’lem Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 5/2/2008 Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday secretly toured the E-1 area between the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, where a plan for the construction of large Jewish neighborhood has been frozen for several years, at the behest of the United States. Livni toured the area accompanied by Ma’aleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel, who later said he got the impression that the government was planning to divide Jerusalem. The tour took place as part of a process of ongoing negotiations over the borders of a future Palestinian state. Israel wants to keep the Adumim settlement bloc inside its territory in a final peace agreement with the Palestinians. Livni refrained from promising Kashriel that the construction plan will be unfrozen, but stressed that the issue is up for discussion. more.. e-mail Top U.S. official: America would look favorably on PA request for additional funding Reuters, Ha’aretz 5/2/2008 The United States would look favorably on a request from the Palestinian Authority for more funds to plug a budget shortfall, the top U. S. aid official said on Thursday. Henrietta Fore, administrator of the U. S. Agency for International Development, is in London for a meeting on Friday of international donors who last December pledged 7. 4 billion Euros to the Palestinians over three years to support efforts to find peace in the Middle East. The quartet of Middle East peace mediators -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- will also meet in London on Friday. A report from the International Monetary Fund, released in advance of Friday’s meeting, said the Palestinian Authority faced a 400 million Euro budget shortfall in the second half of the year. more.. e-mail Mofaz, at Yale: Iran could have nuke bomb technology this year The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 5/2/2008 Transportation Minister and former defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Wednesday that Iran could have nuclear bomb technology as early as this year. Speaking at Yale University, Mofaz warned that Iran is progressing steadily with its nuclear program and will have the knowhow to build a bomb within months, his spokeswoman Talia Somech said. Speaking on Israeli Army Radio Thursday, Mofaz said Israel should be prepared for such a scenario. Mofaz was in the U. S. holding talks with American intelligence officials. In addition to his tenure as defense minister under former prime minister Ariel Sharon, Mofaz has also served as the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office would not comment on Mofaz’s assessment of the Iranian program. more.. e-mail Mofaz in Yale: All’s fair in fight against Iran’s nuclear program Ynet, YNetNews 5/1/2008 Transportation minister travels to US to meet senior officials on Iranian threat; warns Iran is just months away from point of no return. ’We have to make sure history will never repeat itself,’ he says -Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz spoke at Yale University on Wednesday. In his speech he linked the Nazi atrocities to the Iranian threat: "Israel will not tolerate a nuclearIran ; and I’d like to believe that the rest of the world will not allow it to happen. All is fair in the efforts to make sure it doesn’t’ happen." Mofaz arrived in the US as the minister charged with Israel’s strategic dialogue with the US. The transportation minister held several meetings with US officials regarding the Iranian threat, including one with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. . . ." The Iranian regime is the number one threat to mankind in the 21st century. It is a multi-dimensional, multi-armed threat, which increases every day, every hour." more.. e-mail Neturei Karta: Zionism Jewish nation’s true Holocaust Neta Sela, YNetNews 5/1/2008 Son of Arafat cabinet member says during rally ’Holocaust a God-given decree used by Zionists to attain reparations’ -A demonstration against nationalizing Holocaust Remembrance Day was held in Jerusalem on Thursday by ultra-Orthodox group Neturei Karta. Israel Meir Hirsch, son of Moshe Hirsch, who served as an honorary member of deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s cabinet for Jewish Affairs, participated in the event. According to Hirsch, the demonstration was aimed at "showing that Zionism is the Jewish nation’s true Holocaust. The Jewish nation endured many massacres and murders throughout its 2000 year exile, and the Holocaust, a God-given decree, was of the body and not of the soul,"� said Hirsch." We can’t comprehend god-given decrees, it is not our business. However, it is clear that the real Holocaust is that Zionism took a nation and assimilated it to the gentile nations in the State of Israel,"� he added. more.. e-mail Dubai begins to comply with calls to boycott settlement financier Press release, Adalah-NY, Electronic Intifada 5/1/2008 In a sudden reversal, just 16 days after Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev publicly announced plans to open two new jewelry stores in Dubai this year, a high-level Dubai government official said that Leviev had no trade license to open a store in the Emirate. The report in the 30 April edition of Dubai’s Gulf News followed a flurry of media coverage of the 18 April call by Palestinians and New York activists for Dubai to boycott Leviev’s businesses over his companies’ settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Issa Ayoub, a spokesperson for Adalah-NY, an activist group leading a boycott campaign against Leviev, commented, "We’re gratified that, by refusing trade licenses for Leviev, Dubai has joined the growing movement to boycott Leviev’s companies due to their violations of international law and human rights abuses in Palestine and Angola. more.. e-mail Hamas asks UN to assume responsibility towards Gazan unemployed workers Palestinian Information Center 5/1/2008 GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement has called on the UN on the occasion of May Day to assume its humanitarian and relief responsibilities towards unemployed Palestinian workers in Gaza Strip which is a "disaster area that lacks minimum life prerequisites". Hamas in a statement on the occasion that falls on the first of May said that 200,000 Palestinian workers are out of jobs and have been deprived of their incomes for 8 years. They are no longer capable of feeding their children due to the "Zionist oppressive siege", it added. The Movement asked UNRWA to develop its work programs and to increase assistance to workers to cope with the growing level of the disaster. It then turned to the Arab countries and asked them to play an effective role towards that "army of unemployed" who were greatly affected by the "Zionist crimes", and urged Palestinian entrepreneurs abroad to invest in. . . more.. e-mail UK PM, Blair chair Middle East investment talks in London ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jerusalem Post 5/1/2008 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor, Tony Blair, made a rare public appearance together Thursday to kick off 24 hours of Middle East diplomacy aimed at spurring investment in the occupied territories. Brown opened the conference by calling for more private sector investment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He said such investment was vital for peace. "There is an economic prize before us," Brown said." There is a real chance to build on the ingenuity and skills of the Palestinian people to build real peace and prosperity in the region." However, a meeting of ministers from the so-called Middle East Quartet of peacemakers will take place on the sidelines of the conference. more.. e-mail Secretary-General, in message to Paris Conference, says 2008 marks ‘sixtieth year of Palestinian dispossession’, underlines urgency of finding solution to question United Nations Secretary-General, ReliefWeb 4/29/2008 Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the United Nations International Conference on Palestine Refugees, delivered by Angela Kane, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, in Paris, 29 April: I send warm greetings to the participants of the United Nations International Conference on Palestine Refugees, held under the auspices of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. This year marks the sixtieth year of Palestinian dispossession, an anniversary that underlines the importance and urgency of finding a solution to the question of Palestine and of addressing the plight of the Palestine refugees. The Palestinian people’s desire or right to live a normal daily life in their own sovereign land remains undiminished, as do the individual and collective rights of Palestine refugees. more.. e-mail United Nations International Conference on Palestine Refugees opens in Paris United Nations General Assembly, ReliefWeb 4/29/2008 Individual, Collective Rights of Palestine Refugees Remain Undiminished, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Says - PARIS, 29 April -- ‘The Palestinian people’s desire to or right to live a normal daily life in their own sovereign land remains undiminished, as do the individual and collective rights of Palestine refugees,’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message to the opening session of the United Nations International Conference on Palestine Refugees. In a statement read out by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Angela Kane, the Secretary-General noted that 2008 marked the sixtieth year of the Palestinian dispossession. At Annapolis, the international community had come together to support efforts that would lead to an end of the conflict. more.. e-mail Egyptian Security Chief to visit Israel in the coming days Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 5/1/2008 Israeli media sources reported on Thursday that the Egyptian Intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, is expected to visit Israeli in the coming few days to receive Israel’s response on the truce offer mediated by Egypt and agreed on by Palestinian factions. On Wednesday several Palestinian factions have agreed to a ceasefire with Israel. The Palestinian factions, including Hamas and 11 smaller groups agreed in Cairo on Wednesday to proposals that include a six-month truce, a prisoner exchange and reopening of the border crossings between Gaza, Israel and Egypt. The truce deal, which was mediated by Egyptian security officials, will take effect in Gaza first then will include the West Bank in later stages. However, no date was set for implementing the truce deal yet. On the ground, Israel continued to attack the Gaza Strip, and on Thursday the army invaded several parts of the southern. . . more.. e-mail Tel Aviv rejects Palestinian truce proposal Middle East Online 5/1/2008 TEL AVIV - Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit on Thursday insisted the Egyptian-mediated Gaza truce proposal must be rejected." We must break Hamas, not hold negotiations with them," Sheetrit, a member of the security cabinet, told public radio." The armed forces must attack [Hamas] night and day to break their arms and their legs," he said. According to Sheetrit, Hamas "would exploit any truce to gain strength, perfect its weapons and prepare for the next confrontation." Sheetrit made the comments a day after 12 Palestinian resistance factions agreed to the proposed truce during talks with Egyptian mediators, who will now travel to Israel to submit the plan. The deal for an initial six-month "period of calm" has been accepted by the democratically elected Hamas, while Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, from rival Fatah, has given the negotiations unconditional support. more.. e-mail Barak: Concessions in face of evil recipe for Holocaust Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 5/1/2008 In ceremony closing Holocaust Remembrance Day at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, defense minister says, ’lesson learned from WWII is that conciliation and surrender in the face of evil a recipe for Holocaust’ -"The Jewish nation has never had this much power to deter and defend itself as well as a basis and a guarantee for achieving peace and security,"� Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday night during a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai amid the incessant Qassam attacks on Israel’s southern region. At the beginning of the ceremony the participants were instructed on how to act in case the "Color Red" alert system is activated." Anti-Semitism, tyranny and desire to murder have never vanished from the world," Barak added, "the lesson of the Second World War is that conciliation and surrender in the face of evil are a recipe for a holocaust. more.. e-mail Hamas retorting to Rice’s statement: The people elected Hamas Palestinian Information Center 5/1/2008 GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas on Thursday affirmed that it was elected by the Palestinian people and could not be isolated while commenting on American secretary of state Condoleezza Rice’s statement that her administration would continue to isolate Hamas. Rice, speaking last night during a meeting with American Jews in Washington, said that the US would continue to isolate Hamas until it accepts the so called "peace option". She also accused Hamas of fighting on behalf of Iran to destabilize the region. Dr. Ismail Radwan, one of Hamas’s political leaders in Gaza, said in a press release, that Rice’s statement was an interference in internal Palestinian affairs. He said that the current American administration, similar to past ones, is supportive of the "Zionist enemy", and described Rice’s statement as "hostile to the Palestinian people". more.. e-mail Jihad: We won’t sign cease-fire, but won’t be first to violate it Yoav Stern, Ha’aretz 5/1/2008 Islamic Jihad said on Thursday it would not formally sign onto an Egyptian-brokered truce with Israel but would not be the first to violate it. Egypt is expecting Israel to accept and implement the cease-fire proposal agreed on by the Palestinian factions, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s bureau chief said Wednesday. But a number of factions were equivocal in their support for a ceasefire, and some said they reserved the right to retaliate against Israeli attacks. In a new statement, Zeyad al-Nakhala, deputy to exiled Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Shallah, said the group could not be a party to a truce agreement that did not also apply at the onset to the occupied West Bank." But we will not be the first to violate or undermine it, and we will give a chance for the reopening of (the Gaza Strip’s border) crossings and alleviating the suffering of our people," Nakhala said. more.. e-mail Hamas: We will not remain silent vis-à-vis occupation crimes Palestinian Information Center 5/1/2008 GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement on Thursday said it won’t remain silent vis-à-vis Zionist occupation’s "brutal" crimes the latest was the assassination of a field commander in the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. Hamas spokesman in Khan Younis, south of the Strip, Hammad Al-Ruqub said that all options before the Palestinian people were open to retaliate to the IOF aggression as long as it was foiling all attempts to secure calm. Ruqub said in a press release that the IOF troops’ crimes at a time efforts are being made to reach a truce re-affirm the Israeli occupation’s "bloody policy" and insistence on retaining a state of instability in the region. He pointed out that such crimes indicate that the "enemy only understands the language of blood and force". more.. e-mail Hamas TV claims ’Satanic Jews’ planned, perpetrated Holocaust Anat Rosenberg, Ha’aretz 5/2/2008 Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV aired a documentary on April 18 claiming that Jews planned and perpetrated the Holocaust in order to rid the nation of the "burden" of the weak and disabled. Palestinian Media Watch, a group that monitors Palestinian Arabic language media and schoolbooks, uploaded part of the program onto YouTube in a segment called "Hamas Holocaust Perversion: Jews Planned Holocaust to Kill Handicapped Jews." The Al-Aqsa TV clip edits together footage from the World War II Nazi Genocide, showing Jews being rounded up and taken to a train as well as emaciated corpses lying in a pile, alongside images of Israeli leaders David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir. The accompanying commentary claims that Ben Gurion said "the disabled and handicapped are a heavy burden on the state." more.. e-mail Young, but not guarded Zvi Bar''el, Ha’aretz 5/2/2008 "Israel will not extract a tahadiyeh [cease-fire] from Hamas from a position of victory," Mushir al-Masri, the secretary general of the Palestinian parliament’s Hamas faction, asserted on Monday. His statement, issued following the report of the killing of an entire Palestinian family this week, apparently by Israel Defense Forces missiles, was intended to make it clear that the situation was a matter of a duel between equals in status, if not equals in capability. The rockets that were fired into Israel afterward were intended to prove that point. They were also intended to set the tone for the talks held in Egypt the following day, between Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and the different Palestinian factions. Hamas knew that despite the disagreement over the "Gaza first" issue - Islamic Jihad wants the tahadiyeh agreement to cover the West Bank as well - Suleiman would be able to present an agreed-upon plan to the Israeli government. more.. e-mail In the holiday spirit Yossi Verter, Ha’aretz 5/2/2008 Ever so slowly, the blown-up reactor is being pushed aside by the messages that have been exchanged between Israel and Syria under Turkish auspices. Strangely, the voices of those cabinet ministers and Knesset members belonging to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima party, and who are opposed to negotiations with Syria, have been more numerous than those of the opposition. These party members are considering their future in the next Knesset, perhaps back in the ranks of the Likud. Not a single one of Kadima’s top brass has mustered the courage to defend the person who is both their party leader and the prime minister. Olmert and his bureau have neither confirmed nor denied talks with Syria. They have left the headlines to the Turks and the Syrians. Opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud also kept mum, even though every whisper. . . more.. e-mail Report: Rights group shows clear anti-Israel bias Ynetnews, YNetNews 5/1/2008 Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of ’collective punishment’ in way that is applied to no other country on earth, NGO Monitor charges; HRW dismisses report, says NGO Monitor needs better understanding of international law - Despite some improvement, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization continues to display a "clear, identifiable political bias in both the quality and quantity" of its Israel coverage, a recently released report charges. Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor this week released its report on HRW’s 2007 activities, with a particular focus on the group’s repeated allegation that Israel is inflicting "collective punishment" on Gaza residents. According to the report, HRW accuses Israel of "collective punishment" in a way that is applied to no other country in the world. NGO Monitor’s report notes that Russia’s 1999 policy of denying power,. . . more.. e-mail Mayor of San Francisco leads mission to Israel Globes Online 5/1/2008 A San Francisco and Silicon Valley delegation includes top high tech and venture capital executives. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is leading a high-level mission to Israel this week. The trip, almost unprecedented in scope, will see some 100 San Francisco-area leaders explore possibilities of investment, cooperation, and business partnerships with local Israeli companies. The mission is being organized by San Francisco’s Jewish Community Federation (JCF) which represents the Jewish community throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including much of the Silicon Valley region. Silicon Valley is considered to host the world’s largest concentration of venture capital and technology companies. The delegation of business leaders and investors are active across the area’s high-tech, bio-tech, investment, and real-estate scenes as well as other local industries of strategic importance. more.. e-mail Bishops told to remove crucifixes at Jerusalem’s Western Wall Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Bethlehem - Ma’an - Irish religious leaders on a visit to the Middle East were unable to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Thursday morning after a security official ordered them to remove their crucifixes, Yussef Dorkhom, Counsellor for the General Delegation of Palestine said in a press release. The local bishop accompanying the delegation, Dr Munib Younan, told the officials the request was a breach of a protocol agreed between the Israeli government, the Christian leadership in the city and the Jewish Rabbinate. The matter is expected to be discussed between the leaders and Israeli officials at a forthcoming meeting. [end]

Human Rights..

Unemployed workers in Gaza stage May day protest against Israeli embargo Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Gaza – Ma’an – Hundreds of unemployed Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip rallied on Thursday in a May Day protest at the dire conditions they are enduring under the Israeli-led embargo. In an expression of their despair, the rallying workers performed the absentee prayer - an Islamic prayer similar to a funeral prayer, that is usually performed for fighters missing in actions. Many of the workers held up signs offering their body parts for sale to raise money to feed their families. Others set fire to their work tools which they now deem useless. Abu Muhammad, an unemployed worker told Ma’an’s reporter, "I came here to announce that I am willing to sell my body parts because I have no other way to provide basic food for my family, and the situation is getting worse." Other workers said they frequently hear about aid shipments reaching the coastal sector but claim they have never received any of the much-needed aid. more.. e-mail Infant dies after being denied medical treatment outside of the Gaza Strip Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 5/1/2008 The ongoing Israeli siege over the Gaza Strip led to the death of a sick four-month old Palestinian infant after the Israeli authorities barred his transfer to a specialized hospital outside the Gaza Strip. The ongoing siege led to the death of 140 patients in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported that Naseem Al Biok, 4 months old, died on Wednesday at a local hospital in Gaza. Physicians attempted to transfer him abroad for medical treatment as the ongoing siege emptied Gaza hospitals from the needed medical equipment and medications. Currently, there are dozens of patients who suffered from serious illnesses and are facing death due to the unjust siege. A total of 140 patients died due to the siege, most of the casualties were children and elderly. more.. e-mail The Israeli army attacks a local NGO in Jenin and confiscates property Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 5/1/2008 The Israeli army attacked on Thursday morning Anssar Al Sagien, a local NGO located in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Local sources reported that Israeli troops invaded the city of Jenin and surrounded the building were the society offices are located. Soldiers then searched the offices and confiscated documents and computers that belong to the organization. Anssar Al Sajeen is a local Palestinian NGO that deals with the Political Palestinian Prisoners detained by the Israeli army, by providing them with training courses, education, and aid work. [end] Jenin: the Israeli army kidnaps five children Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 5/1/2008 Five Palestinian children were kidnapped by the Israeli army during a pre-dawn invasion targeting the village of Fahmah, located near the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday. Witnesses reported that troops and army jeeps entered the village from several directions, during the invasion troops searched and ransacked a num,ber of homes then took the five children and left the village. Local sources identified those five kidnapped as; Syif Sa’abnah, 13, Sufiyan Sa’abnah, 14, Shadi Sa’abnah, 16, Mohamed Marab’ah, 15, and Abed Al Fatah Nawasrah, 14. [end] Independent committee confirms Hamas’s charges on Barghouthi’s death Palestinian Information Center 4/30/2008 RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- A neutral investigation carried out by the Independent Palestinian Bureau for Citizen’s Rights to vet reasons behind the death of  Majd Al-Barghouthi asserted that he was tortured to death at the hands of the PA intelligence in Ramallah city. Al-Barghouthi was an Imam of a local mosque before he was arrested by the PA intelligence and confined in the PA prisons. The man was also a well-known reformist, and known to be a cadre of Hamas Movement in the city. According to the report of the bureau, Al-Barghouthi was severely tortured and wasn’t accorded proper judicial procedures, including denying him an attorney to defend him, that, according to advocates, gravely violates the PA basic law. Signs of beating and torture were very clear on Barghouthi’s body although the PA intelligence department tried to hide the truth about Barghouthi’s real cause of death. more.. e-mail Two detainees to file a complaint of abuse to the Israeli High Court of Justice Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 5/2/2008 Monqith Abu Roomy, director of the Media Office at the Asrana (Our detainees) Center, stated that he was contacted by two detainees who informed him of torture and abuse during interrogation at the Al Maskobiyya Israeli detention center in Jerusalem. The two detainees, Hasan Omar Al Arameen, and Dirgham Omar Al Arameen, stated that interrogators at the interrogation facility were very harsh in dealing with them, tortured them, practiced psychological pressures on them by threatening to harm them in different ways, and continuously insulted them. They added thatthe Israeli interrogators also had with them Arab interrogators, apparently from Jerusalem, who also threatened to harm them and violated their rights. The two detainees said that they have the names of the Arab interrogators but opted not to reveal their names as they intend to file a complaint to the Israeli High Court. . . more.. e-mail Leftist group: Police barring us from monitoring Hebron settlers Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 5/2/2008 The group "Shovrim Shtika" (breaking the silence) said that the police have recently begun barring the organization from touring Hebron to monitor the actions of settlers. The main reason for this, according to the group, is the fact that the police has surrendered to the policies of the settlers in Hebron and Kiryat Arba. The police, for their part, describe the "Shovrim Shtika" tours as a "platform for extreme left-wingers to enter the Jewish territory and create an imbalance in the area." The police maintain that they have not done anything that deviates from the law. An altercation erupted Thursday between activists and settlers from Hebron and Kiryat Arba. Yehuda Shaul of "Shovrim Shtika", who has been organizing tours of Hebron for three years, said that he arrived in Kiryat Arba and turned with his group to show them an outpost outside. . . -- See also: Breaking The Silence more.. e-mail Israelis raid ceremony honoring Workers Union in East Jerusalem Mesa Abu Ghazaleh, Palestine News Network 5/1/2008 Jerusalem -- Israeli intelligence stormed the Jerusalem offices of the Palestinian Trade Workers Union yesterday. The timing for Wednesday’s raid was during a reception held to honor the Union as Thursday is the International Day of Workers, May Day. The Israeli forces searched the offices and the identification of all laborers in attendance. At the Qalandiya Checkpoint in Ramallah, enroute to East Jerusalem, Israeli forces prevented the passage of the Secretary-General of the General Federation of Trade Unions in Palestine, Shaher Saad. He was not allowed to participate in the ceremony honoring trade unionists, although he had an Israeli-issued permit to travel from one city to the next. The Adviser to the Minister for Jerusalem, Hatem Abdel Qader, spoke during the ceremony of the importance of union work and laborers in the community. He congratulated the workers and trade unionists and the General Federation of Trade Unions of Palestinian and all workers of the world. more.. e-mail UNRWA Chair to British Parliament: shameful to witness what is happening in Gaza Mohamed Arabi, Palestine News Network 5/1/2008 London / PNN -- Members of British Parliament and its International Development Committee are aware of the recent reports regarding the situation in Palestine. They expressed deep concern over reports coming from local and international humanitarian organizations concerning the happenings in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Committee members have gained a clear understanding in the deterioration since the Annapolis Conference in the United States held in November 2007. Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, former presidential candidate and Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative reports that Israeli attacks are up 300 percent since Annapolis. The siege and attacks on the Gaza Strip have worsened, while settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has also increased. In this context the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees spoke to the British Parliament’s committee via satellite from Gaza. more.. e-mail Murdered Palestinian intelligence officer buried Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Ramallah – Ma’an – The family of a Fatah-affiliated Palestinian intelligence officer who was abducted and killed in Gaza City two weeks ago, agreed finally to bury his body after being requested to do so by the Fatah leadership. 35-five-year-old Sami Khattab, from Deir Al-Balah, was found dead near the abandoned Israeli settlement of Netzarim on April 15. Medics at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said the body showed signs of torture. His family had refused to bury the body until the details of his murder and the perpetrators were made public. Fatah spokesperson in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Azzam Al-Ahmad on Thursday appealed to the Khattab family to go ahead with the funeral, saying "The details of the murder are evident, especially that signs of torture were detected on the body." Khattab’s family had previously accused the Palestinian internal security services of murdering him. more.. e-mail European campaign: a halt of MSF medical relief portends health disaster Palestinian Information Center 5/1/2008 BRUSSELS, (PIC)-- The European campaign to lift the siege warned that Medecins Sans Frontiers’ announcement that its medical relief operations will have to stop completely in the Gaza Strip during the next four days because of lack of fuel is portending an unprecedented health and humanitarian disaster. In a press release from Brussels a copy of which received by the PIC, Dr. Arafat Madi , the spokesman for the campaign, stated the continuance of the Israeli siege without making practical steps to pressure the Israeli occupation to lift it means that consecutive humanitarian catastrophes will take place, not only in the health sector but in all walks of life of one and a half million Palestinians in Gaza who lose everyday one patient at least because of the lack of medicines and the restrictions imposed on their travel to receive medical treatment abroad. more.. e-mail ’We didn’t eat at all in the day,’ says father plunged into poverty Donald Macintyre, The Independent 5/1/2008 In theory Adeeb Yusef, 45, who has seven children, is luckier than some others in Gaza. As a refugee he receives, like more than 700,000 Gazans, at least a quarterly consignment of basics such as flour, oil, sugar and a few cans of meat from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). In better days which lasted throughout the worst of the intifada, Mr Yusef wouldn’t have dreamt of even collecting the ration because he got up at 4am each morning to go to work as a welder in Israel or at the now-flattened Erez industrial zone in north Gaza, earning from 1,000 to 1,200 shekels (£147 to £176) a week. But his present plight goes deeper than the real humiliation of a once-proud provider becoming wholly dependent on aid. On Wednesday this week, Mr Yusef explains, his family didn’t eat during daylight at all." We had our breakfast in the evening. . ." more.. e-mail LEBANON: Palestinians protest exclusion as government moots minimum wage Hugh Macleod/IRIN, IRIN - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 5/1/2008 BEIRUT, 1 May 2008 (IRIN) - With inflation in double digits and the cost of living rising, the government has proposed raising the minimum wage for the first time in a decade, but Palestinians say they continue to be marginalised in the labour market. - Slideshow of Palestinian camps in Lebanon - Several hundred Palestinians protested at the edge of Shatila camp in south Beirut on 30 April ahead of the 1 May labour day holiday, traditionally a time for workers’ to air their grievances." We are humans, we have the right to live," shouted the protesters." We are half humans in Lebanon." Palestinians in Lebanon are barred from working in 70 professional vocations. They cannot work as lawyers and doctors, and cannot own or inherit property. more.. e-mail Taking Back the Land: Non-violent resistance in Palestine International Womens’ Peace Service 5/1/2008 IWPS House Report No. 107 - Today, for a few hours, Palestinians took control over an illegal Israeli settler outpost on the outskirts of Ramallah. Replacing Israeli flags with Palestinian ones, Mohammed Al-Khattib and other members of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall, accompanied by Israeli anti-occupation activists from Anarchists Against the Wall and international activists from the International Solidarity Movement and the International Women’s Peace Service, non-violently took over the site for more than 3 hours. The illegal settler outpost, which is made up of a number of cargo containers, was set up two months ago on privately owned Palestinian land which straddles Area A and Area C of the Occupied West Bank, when Israel occupation forces withdraw from a checkpoint on the land to a nearby military based. more.. e-mail ISM: Summer Against Apartheid International Solidarity Movement 5/1/2008 ISM Statements SUMMER CAMPAIGN 2008 - ‘Summer Against Apartheid’The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is issuing a call-out for office and field volunteers for its "Summer Against Apartheid" in the West Bank and Gaza strip. Whether it’s for a week or three months, you can help provide protection during non-violent demonstrations as well as help ensure that Palestinian voices will be heard. The 2008 ‘Summer Against Apartheid’ runs from May 28th until August 2nd, with volunteer training sessions to be held every Wednesday and Thursday Why are so so urgently needed? Below are just four reasons. 1. The recent Israeli orders to use live ammunition against demonstrations close to the apartheid wall, unless there are internationals or Israelis present [see link], means an international presence offers some. . . more.. e-mail Weekly Report on Israeli human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory 24 - 29 Apr 2008 Palestinian Centre for Human Rights - PCHR, ReliefWeb 4/30/2008 Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) - 9 Palestinians, including 5 children and a woman, were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip. - The victims include a woman and her 4 children who were killed when IOF shelled their house in Beit Hanoun town. - 29 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 6 children and a woman, were wounded by IOF. - A Palestinian civilian was wounded by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. - IOF conducted 36 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and 4 ones into the Gaza Strip. - IOF razed 140 donums (1) of agricultural land in the southern Gaza Strip. - IOF demolished a house and damaged agricultural areas in Beit Hanoun. - IOF arrested 37 Palestinian civilians and held at least 50 others for some time in the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail Israeli occupation’s war on Palestinian orphans in W. Bank Palestinian Information Center 4/30/2008 AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation soldiers have raided on Wednesday a cloth factory belonging to the Islamic charitable society in Al-Khalil city and confiscated everything inside it before issuing an order sealing it off for three years. In addition, the occupation army warned the public not to come close or enter it otherwise they will be jailed for five years. Local witnesses and workers in the factory asserted that large number of IOF troops backed by military vehicles and heavy trucks ransacked the factory after they forcibly broke its main gate. According to the witnesses, the occupation soldiers seized all the sewing machines inside the factory in addition to clothes of the Palestinian orphans living in the same building. The street where the society is located was sealed off by the soldiers who also banned journalists from covering the raid. more.. e-mail Israeli Arabs: Jewish youth must study Nakba Sharon Roffe-Ofir, YNetNews 5/1/2008 ’There must be symmetry. Palestinians study Holocaust, Jews should study Nakba,’ Arab sector representative says - The day in which Jews all over Israel stand in a moment of silence in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day always raises certain questions within the Israeli Arab population, mainly about their positions on the Holocaust and the Jewish history their children study in the Arab sector’s schools. Chairman of the Arab sector’s education follow-up committee, Nabiya Abu-Salah, claims that Arab students should study the Holocaust, but at the same time he expects the Jewish education system to devote teaching time to the Nakba (the expulsion of the Palestinian refugees from their land during the War of Independence)." There must be symmetry. Just as the Palestinians living in Israel need to study the Holocaust, Jewish youths should learn that a nation that was living here was exiled from its land," he said. more.. e-mail Al-Ayyam newspaper back on Gaza newstands after 78-day ban Ma’an News Agency 5/1/2008 Gaza – Ma’an – The Palestinian daily newspaper Al-Ayyam newspaper was back in circulation in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a 78-day ban. The magistrates court affiliated to the Hamas-run de facto government issued an order on February 6 2008 banning the distribution and printing of the newspaper in the Gaza Strip. The assistant undersecretary of the Palestinian Information Ministry in the de facto government, Hasan Abu Hashish, said that the decision to ban the newspaper came from the general prosecution and judiciary after the newspaper published a cartoon mocking the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC. ) Abu Hashish claims this violates the Palestinian press law of 1995. The PLC has filed a lawsuit against the newspaper over the cartoon. The court also ruled that the newspaper’s chief editor, Akram Haniyeh, and the cartoonist Al-Bukhari should be jailed for six months. more.. e-mail Put Your Body Where Your Heart Is - Break The Siege On Gaza! International Solidarity Movement 5/1/2008 On May 30th 2008, people of conscience from around the world will gather in Egypt to break through to the imprisoned people living inside the Gaza Strip. People will attempt to enter Gaza in an act to break the murderous siege and to stand in solidarity with those inside. The siege, brutally imposed by the Israeli government in June 2007, following over a year of sanctions has resulted in lethal denial of medical access, shortages of food, fuel and electricity, and stands as a grave act of collective punishment. It is time to stand up and shout, "No more!" It is time to show that we will not simply stand by while this atrocity is carried out, as our governments do nothing. It is time to use our bodies to prove what we believe is just in this world. Our governments have backtracked on their responsibility, as stipulated in past agreements, to facilitate and over see the flow of. . . more.. e-mail VIDEO - Israel’s African refugees Mat Heywood / Lihee Avidan, The Guardian 5/2/2008 Israel is now dealing with a wave of Christian and Muslim Africans, seeking refuge there. Looking for security they are turning to an accessible, wealthy country that has no policy with which to deal with them. [end] Court permits Nakba rally Sharon Roffe-Ofir, YNetNews 5/1/2008 Islamic Movement petitions court after state-appointed village head denies its request to hold rally marking Nakba next week - The Nazareth District Court granted Thursday a request by the Islamic Movement to mark the Nakba - a day commemorating the expulsion of the Palestinians in 1948, in Kfar Qana next Friday. The movement petitioned the court after Ilan Gavrieli, the village’s state-appointed head, denied its request to hold the rally." We were certain that the judge would accept our stance. Not allowing the event would have constituted a violation of the freedom of speech," said Sheikh Kamal Khatib, deputy head of the movement’s Northern Branch. This year the movement decided to link the Nakba events with ceremonies marking the birth of Prophet Muhammad and hold a big rally at the village’s stadium. more.. e-mail