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IDF soldiers get cash reward for refusing to evict settlers
Tomer Zarchin, Ha’aretz 12/1/2008
Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan has instructed police to launch an investigation regarding a ceremony that was held to praise soldiers who refused an order to evict settlers from the Hebron market. During the ceremony these soldiers received payment as reward for their refusal. The order was given following a police investigation that raised suspicion that soldiers were incited to refuse commands, an act which under Israeli law is a crime in itself. Nitzan also ordered an investigation into an ad published on the Internet by a group called the Headquarters to Save the People and the Land of Israel, which is suspected to be the organization responsible for orchestrating the ceremony for the soldiers. The ad states that any soldier that resists orders to evict the residents of the Hebron house will receive monetary reward of several thousand NIS. more.. e-mail
Qassam strikes residential area in central Sderot
Yanir Yagna in southern Israel, Ha’aretz 12/1/2008
A Qassam rocket fired by militants in the Gaza Strip struck a square in the center of the southern town of Sderot on Sunday. No injuries or damage were reported in the attack. Over the weekend, eight Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously, when a barrage of mortar shells fired from Gaza hit an army base near the kibbutz Nahal Oz. Among the wounded was Noam Nakash, whose leg was amputated as a result of the wounds incurred during the attack. Six of the wounded were still hospitalized on Sunday, two in serious condition, one moderately hurt and three with minor wounds. "Last night I saw the news about the mortar shells," Nakash’s father told Haaretz on Saturday, "and I saw that some had been wounded. I tried to call Noam but he didn’t answer so we called one of his friends. more.. e-mail
Three Palestinian fighters wounded by Israeli fire in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Three Palestinian fighters were injured late on Saturday night by Israeli shelling after reportedly hurling an explosive device at Israeli special forces who entered the Gaza Strip east of Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp. According to An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, Israeli soldiers were also injured in the event. The Brigades said their attack came in retaliation for “ongoing Israeli aggression” in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, An-Nasser Brigades said in a statement which also affirmed that “Jihad” is the best tool for liberating the Palestinian lands. At mid day a homemade projectile landed in an open area in the Israeli border town of Sderot, causing no damage. No Palestinian group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided again to keep the border. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli artillery wounds three fighters in central Gaza Strip
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/30/2008
The Salaheldin brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, announced on Sunday that three of its fighters were shot and wounded by Israeli artillery fire to the east of Maghazi Refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. A statement by the brigades, emailed to press, read that the Israeli artillery shelling came after a group of fighters planted an explosive device for an Israeli special undercover force in east of Maghazi. The statement added that at 11:15 pm yesterday night, the brigades fighters spotted an Israeli military undercover force and then exchanged gun fire, as three fighters were wounded. In the meantime, Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, announced that Gaza’s crossings would remain closed due to continued homemade shells fire from Gaza into nearby Israeli towns. more.. e-mail
IOF shelling wounds 3 PRC fighters
Palestinian Information Center 11/30/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces at a late hour on Saturday shelled and wounded three fighters affiliated with the armed wing of the popular resistance committees in central Gaza Strip. The Nasser Salahuddin Brigades said in a communiqué that its members had blasted an explosive device in an IOF invading force that infiltrated into central Gaza east of Maghazi refugee camp. It stressed that casualties were inflicted in lines of the invading troops, and added that three of its fighters were injured in the ensuing IOF shelling. The armed wing underlined that the attack was in response to the IOF incursions and aggressions on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Al-Aqsa brigades claim responsibility for projectile attack; no injuries repoted
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for launching a projectile at Sderot on Sunday evening. The Brigades said in a statement that the attack came in retaliation for ongoing Israeli atrocities. Israeli media sources said the projectile landed in an empty field in the western Negev and reported no injuries. [end]
Olmert to bring for cabinet vote plan to fortify Gaza-area homes
Tomer Zarchin, Ha’aretz 12/1/2008
The prime minister will submit a proposal to the government next Sunday that would pave the way for the completion of the reinforcement of homes in the region surrounding the Gaza Strip, state prosecutors told the High Court on Sunday. The western Negev has been repeatedly pounded by Palestinian rocket and mortar fire for the last seven years. In February 2008, the government sanctioned a plan calling for the safeguarding of homes that lie within a range of 4. 5 kilometers from the Gaza security fence. The proposal includes the addition of bomb-proof rooms in ground-floor homes as well as residences with easily penetrable roofs. State prosecutors said the additional funds needed to continue the project should it be approved is just part of the government plan to expedite infrastructure development and economic growth, which is aimed at preparing Israel for a possible recession. more.. e-mail
Rightists to march in Israel’s largest Arab city Dec. 15th
Tomer Zrachin and Yoav Stern, Ha’aretz 11/30/2008
Right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel will hold a march in Umm al-Fahm, Israel’s largest Arab city on December 15th. In late October the High Court of Justice agreed to allow Ben-Gvir and Marzel to lead a march through Umm al-Fahm in mid-November. The march will not take place in the center of town, but will pass through adjacent areas. The march still must gain approval of the chief of Israeli police before it will be allowed to proceed. If it is approved, it will require the deployment of large police forces in order to secure the participants. Leaders of the Umm al-Fahm municipality have vowed to not allow the parade to happen, even if it gains police approval. Peace Now General Secretary Yariv Oppenheimer blasted the move, saying "the miserable decision to allow this racist march embarrasses Israeli democracy. " more.. e-mail
100 Zionist settlers attack Palestinian homes in Al-Khalil
Palestinian Information Center 11/30/2008
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Tens of Zionist settlers from Kiryat Arba settlement and Al-Rajabi building, which has been occupied by settlers for 20 months now, wreaked havoc in Palestinian citizens’ homes and property in Al-Khalil on Saturday. Local sources in Wadi Al-Hussein valley, where the Rajabi building is located, said that more than 100 settlers launched a series of systematic attacks against the citizens and their homes and prevented civilians from moving across the sole street linking the area to the Ibrahimi Mosque. They said that the assaults damaged a number of houses, noting that the Israeli occupation forces stationed nearby did not interfere to stop the attacks that targeted 15 homes. The locals said that three Palestinian boys were injured when they were assaulted by those settlers while they were carrying goods to a grocery store. more.. e-mail
Undercover Israeli force seizes Palestinian near Tulkarem
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2008
Tulkarem – Ma’an – An undercover Israeli military force arrested an Al-Aqsa Brigades activist from east of Tulkarem on Sunday. The main was said to have been "wanted" by Israeli authorities. Local sources identified the man as 21-year-old Nasser Khayri Hannun. He was at a car wash when the undercover force stormed the area, seized Hannun and was followed by a back-up patrol to cover the exit of the force. The young man, from the northern West Bank village of Anabta, was seized near his home. According to locals he was an activist for the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah. [end]
Likud MK calls for using Palestinian prisoners as human shields against Qassam rockets
Yanir Yagna, Haaretz Correspondant, Ha’aretz 11/30/2008
Following a barrage of mortar shells and Qassam rockets that wounded 8 Israel Defense Forces soldiers near the border with the Gaza Strip on Friday, a Likud MK proposed using Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners as human shields to deter future rocket attacks. MK Gilad Erdan suggested Israel build an open-air, unprotected detention facility in the Western Negev, where the majority of rockets and mortars from Gaza land, and fill it with militants currently held in Israeli jails. Also on Saturday, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said that Israel is "very close to a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip. " "We have to find the right time, but these actions give us no choice and therefore, a large-scale operation is closer than ever," Vilnai said. "The truce is important for us, and also for them, because we control the border crossings and the other side is worried about the strength of the IDF. " more.. e-mail
11 hurt in Hebron clashes
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/29/2008
Violent Saturday in Hebron: Palestinians, settlers hurl stones at each other near disputed home in West Bank city; Jewish teens, two Border Guard officers among injured. No arrests made in connection with clashes - Tensions growing near disputed house in Hebron:Eleven people were wounded Saturday during clashes between settlers and Palestinians hurling stones at each other near the disputed Hebron house slated for evacuation. The wounded include two lightly injured Border Guard officers. No arrests were made in connection with the violent incidents. Police in Hebron received reports of stone throwing in the area from the IDF Saturday afternoon. Army, police, and Border Guard forces arrived at the scene in order to quell the clashes between Palestinians and Jews. Seven Palestinians were hurt as a result of stone throwing. Two of them were evacuated from the scene by the Red Crescent. more.. e-mail
Israeli desecration of Islamic cemetery in East Jerusalem
Maisa Abu Ghazaleh - Palestine News Network, International Middle East Media Center News 11/29/2008
Jewish extremists continue their attacks on Arab property in Jerusalem, but this time not on the living. The target is an historic Islamic cemetery as the Israelis are already desecrating Maman Allah (Mamilla) for a "Museum of Tolerance. "Mohammed Dajani told PNN today that his family tomb was destroyed in East Jerusalem’s Jabal Seyun, Mount Zion. "Extremists belonging to a Jewish school removed some of the graves and headstones, while the administration demolished the wall which protected the cemetery for hundreds of years. "The Chairman of the Committee for the Care of Islamic Graves, Mustafa Abu Zahra, said that the occupation authorities demolished the cemetery fence. The Israeli administration is sponsoring projects in the area affecting the cemetery that is one dunam with approximately 200 graves. Abu Zahra said that the cemetery dates back to Salah Addin. more.. e-mail
Israel prepares for demolishing whole neighborhood in Jerusalem
Palestinian Information Center 11/29/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Islamic-Christian front for the defense of Jerusalem warned that a group of Zionist settlement enterprises especially the Israeli municipality had earmarked more than $300,000,000 for the demolition of a whole neighborhood in the Silwan town called Al-Bustan located southeastern of Jerusalem’s old city. Dr. Hasan Khater, the secretary-general of the front, explained that the Israeli municipality of occupied Jerusalem and other settlement enterprises, namely, the east Jerusalem development company, the authority of archeology, the authority of nature and the Elad foundation allocated the money to destroy all houses, buildings and Arab remains in the neighborhood in order to judaize it. Dr. Khater also said that the IOA will displace more than 1,500 Palestinian natives from the neighborhood in order to build a Jewish neighborhood in its place, pointing. . . more.. e-mail
IDF troops exchange fire with Palestinian gunmen in southern Gaza Strip
Jpost.com Staff, Jerusalem Post 11/30/2008
IDF troops on Saturday night were exchanged gunfire with Palestinian gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip. There were no reports of wounded among the soldiers. According to initial reports, two Palestinians approached the security fence south of Kissufim and opened fire at a group of paratroopers, who returned fire, forcing the attackers to flee. [end]
Vilnai: Israel nearing wide-scale Gaza op
Ilana Curiel, YNetNews 11/29/2008
Following mortar attack on IDF base which left eight soldiers injured, deputy defense minister says ’their provocations don’t leave us with much choice’. Likud MK Erdan suggests moving Palestinian prisoners to unfortified detention facility in Gaza vicinity - Israel is nearing a wide-scale operation in the Gaza Strip, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Saturday, several hours after eight Israel Defense Forces soldiers were injured in a mortar shell attack on the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel. "There’s no doubt we’re getting closer to a wide-scale operation in Gaza, but it will be different from what took place in the past," Vilnai said during an event in the southern city of Beersheba. The truce is important to us and to them, as we control the crossings and the other side is afraid of the IDF’s strength. But we must find the right time for an operation. Their provocations are not leaving us with much choice. " more.. e-mail
Gaza mortar shells injure eight soldiers, one loses leg
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/30/2008
Eight Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded Friday evening, two seriously, after mortar shells fired by Gaza Strip militants hit a military base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the western Negev. The soldiers were evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva and the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. Doctors had to amputate the leg of one of the soldiers, who was brought to the hospital in a serious condition. "Unfortunately, we had no choice but to amputate his leg, in hopes that we managed to save the other leg," a doctor told Army Radio yesterday. "He is currently on a ventilator and unconscious. "The incident began when a cell of four Palestinian militants approached the strip’s perimeter fence, apparently in order to plant explosive devices. An IDF force opened fire on the militants, wounding three of them. more.. e-mail
Soldier loses leg in mortar attack
Ilana Curiel, YNetNews 11/29/2008
Doctors manage to save one of legs of Sergeant Noam Nakash, who was seriously wounded by mortar shells fired at Nahal Oz military base. ’He always informed me about mortars landing in the area but told me I had nothing to worry about,’ his mother tells Ynet - Sergeant Noam Nakash, 21, of Beersheba, who serves as a company sergeant major at the communications branch at the Nahal Oz base, lost his right leg Friday night in a mortar shell attack on the southern Israel base. He was evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Center in Beersheba, where he underwent surgery for seven hours. His condition was defined as serious but stable. Under Fire8 soldiers injured in mortar attack / Palestinians fire barrage of mortar shells on IDF base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz in southern Israel. Two mortars land within base, hitting officers’ and female soldiers’ quarters. more.. e-mail
Qassam rocket lands south of Ashkelon
Ilana Curiel, YNetNews 11/29/2008
No injuries in latest rocket attack; Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for strike - A rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip Saturday afternoon landed south of Ashkelon. The Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, which followed a rocket fired at the same area earlier. Gideon Sharabi, the regional security chief, told Ynet that the Red Color alert was activated in the area and that a loud blast followed soon after. "No injuries or damages were caused," he said. "The rocket hit an open area"¦our efforts to pinpoint the landing site are continuing. " Earlier Saturday, authorities discovered that a mortar shell landed in the greenhouses of a Gaza-region community. The shell was apparently fired during the offensive targeting a nearby military base overnight. more.. e-mail
Vilna’i: Large-scale Gaza op looming
Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post 11/29/2008
Israel is quickly approaching a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna’i said Saturday, in response to a mortar attack the previous night on an IDF base that wounded eight soldiers. Two soldiers- one of whom lost a leg -were in serious condition after a mortar shell fired from Gaza hit inside the base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack. On Saturday afternoon, a Kassam rocket struck a field south of Ashkelon. Sgt. Noam Nakash of Beersheba, a member of the base’s C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence) team, was seriously wounded in the mortar attack. Doctors initially feared they would have to remove both of Nakash’s legs but in the end they only amputated the right one. more.. e-mail
Al-Qassam launches ten projectiles toward Israeli military post
Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas’s militant wing claimed responsibility for firing three mortar shells toward an Israeli military post near Gaza City on Friday night, according to a statement received by Ma’an on Saturday morning. The Al-Qassam Brigades is the militant wing of the Hamas movement, which separately launched seven more projectiles from Beit Hanoun, near a memorial statue east of Gaza City. Israel announced that homemade projectiles fired from Gaza landed in Sha’ar Hanegev on Saturday, as well. No casualties were immediately reported. [end]
Settlers, Palestinians clash in Hebron
Ap And Jpost.com Staff, Jerusalem Post 11/29/2008
Palestinian and Jewish residents of Hebron were hurling rocks at each other in a flare-up of tensions in the West Bank city on Saturday. The IDF said that the fighting took place next to a house of disputed ownership where settlers are staying. Medics said four Palestinians were moderately wounded before Israeli security forces got the situation under control. Settlers said that five Jewish youths were injured in the violence. The disputed house, which settlers call Beit Hashalom, has been a source of controversy in recent weeks after the High Court of Justice ruled that security forces could evacuate it. Settlers moved into the structure in March of 2007, claiming that they bought it from Palestinian Faez Rajabi. He denied the sale. The ruling sparked a wave of protest by settlers and right-wing activists who have warned that they would strongly resist the move. more.. e-mail
IDF soldiers: We tried to no avail to have base near Nahal Oz relocated
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/30/2008
Israel Defense Forces soldiers and their commanding officers stationed at the military base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz for the past year and a half have been trying to get the base moved as a result of mortar fire. IDF troops serving at the base say they have approached their superiors from the Northern Command and requested that the military base be relocated to the area near Kibbutz Reim in the Eshkol Regional Council. The soldiers say that a second option they suggested was additional reinforcement of the military base against mortar and Qassam rocket fire. Each time, they say, their requests were met with answers such as "We are handling the situation," "Soon," and "The move is being planned. " In the meantime, the soldiers say, their worst fears have been realized, as eight IDF soldiers were wounded Friday evening, two seriously,. . . more.. e-mail
Palestinian resistance shells Israeli military base, wounding 8 soldiers
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 11/29/2008
After an Israeli invasion on Friday wounded three Palestinians, the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip fired two homemade shells at an Israeli military base, wounding officers and soldiers in their barracks. According to Israeli sources, the shells hit a soldiers’ barracks and an officers’ quarters, wounding eight -- two of them critically. The head of an Israeli kibbutz near the base told the Israeli paper Ha’aretz, "I immediately called on all kibbutz members on the loudspeaker to enter the fortified areas. We then searched for the landings, but fortunately for us it did not happen at the kibbutz but at the base facing us. The army told us to remain near fortified rooms. " Palestinian resistance groups have long asserted their internationally-recognized right to resist military occupation. The Israeli military has occupied all Palestinian land (the West Bank and Gaza. . . more.. e-mail
2 Qassam fighters, 10 IOF soldiers wounded in exchange of shelling
Palestinian Information Center 11/29/2008
KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Two members of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, were wounded on Friday while confronting an Israeli occupation forces’ raid east of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip. Medical sources told the PIC reporter that the two were moderately injured in the clash in Farahin area east of Khan Younis. Local sources said that Qassam fighters fired five mortar shells at the advancing troops who shelled the area and inflicted the casualties. The sources said that the attack started when IOF tanks fired three shells at a group of resistance fighters in the area before an IOF special unit advanced into it. Fierce clashes erupted but the targeted group of fighters managed to escape unharmed. In retaliation to the IOF attack, the armed wing fired three mortar shells at the Israeli military base in Nahal Oz east of Gaza city on Friday night while. . . more.. e-mail
One dead, several injured by Israeli shells east of Khan Younis; seven projectiles launched by brigades in response
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Gaza - Ma’an – The Al-Qassam Brigades launched five homemade projectiles at Israeli targets, and the Al-Mujahidin Brigades another two following the death of one activist by Israeli shells north east of Khan Younis Friday afternoon. One man was reported dead and several others injured after Israeli warplanes launched three rounds of shells at An-Nasser Brigades activists, from the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), in the town of Al-Qarara. Director of Ambulances and Emergency at the Ministry of Health Dr Mu’awiya Hassanein said three men were transported to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. He also confirmed three loud explosions were heard in the region, and said ambulances were unable to reach the remote area where the shells hit immediately. Hassanein indicated medical staff had heard reports of one man killed and several others injured. more.. e-mail
Eight IDF soldiers wounded in mortar barrage on western Negev
Amos Harel and Yanir Yagna, and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 11/29/2008
Eight Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded Friday evening, two seriously, after mortars fired by Gaza Strip militants hit a military base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the western Negev. The soldiers were evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva and to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the small Popular Resistance Committees, an ally of the Islamic Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. The military base is located near a fuel terminal that supplies much-needed gasoline and cooking fuel to impoverished Gaza. According to the Israeli military, Palestinian militants fired a total of 11 mortars at southern Israel from Gaza on Friday. Three of them landed at the base, the military said. The mortar barrage came after earlier on Friday an IDF patrolclashed with Palestinian. . . more.. e-mail
5 youths arrested near Hebron house
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/28/2008
Four boys arrested for cutting Kiryat Arba fence, girl detained for throwing stones -Several youths were arrested early Friday morning near the disputed house in Hebron, after police caught them destroying property and throwing stones. Police reported that, about an hour and a half after midnight, forces caught four boys, aged 14 to 16, cutting the fence around the settlement of Kiryat Arba, which is adjacent to the disputed house. They denied the charges. According to police, the four are residents of Jerusalem and not Hebron, and as such, police intend to release them and ban them from the area. At around the same time, police forces detained a 17-year-old girl who was throwing stones at an Arab neighborhood in Hebron. The girl, also not a resident of the city, was questioned but did not cooperate with police. more.. e-mail
Report: Eight soldiers injured in Nahal Uz projectile attack
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an/Agencies - Israeli news agencies were reporting late Friday night that at least eight Israeli soldiers were injured in projectile attacks on a Nahal Uz military base near the Gaza Strip. Earlier reports indicated that up to ten soldiers had been wounded in the separate projectile attacks. "A barrage of mortar shells" rained down on the Israeli town of Nahal Uz, where two slammed into a nearby military base, injuring the soldiers, according to Israeli news agency Yedioth Ahronot. The agency also reported that the injured soldiers were taken for medical treatment, where doctors said their injuries ranged from light to critical. The two projectiles launched from the Gaza Strip hit an officers’ quarters building and a soldiers’ barracks, the agency claimed. Others landed nearby, although no injuries were reported by Friday night other than the reported eight soldiers taken for medical treatment. more.. e-mail
Israeli tanks enter Gaza
Middle East Online 11/28/2008
GAZA CITY - Israeli troops backed by tanks mounted an incursion into the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, shelling Palestinian areas, witnesses said. The Israeli army confirmed it conducted an operation along the border, saying troops shot and apparently killed a Palestinian, while witnesses spoke of two dead. "A unit conducting a routine patrol along the border fence" spotted armed men who were setting explosives by the fence, a military spokeswoman claimed. One resistance fighter "was apparently killed" in an exchange of fire near the city of Khan Yunis, she said. A small resistance group, the Popular Resistance Committees, said one of its fighters escaped an Israeli strike during the incursion. "The three wounded were evacuated," said Muawiya Hassanein, who heads the emergency services in Gaza. A truce went into force on June 19 between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. . . more.. e-mail
IDF clashes with gunmen in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 11/28/2008
Paratrooper unit spots cell approaching border fence near Khan Younis in attempt to plant explosive device. Gaza sources say four injured in clash with soldiers - Four Palestinians were injured Friday in an IDF attack east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources had initially reported that at least one Palestinian gunman had been killed, but later revealed that he had returned to his home unharmed. According to the report, the gunman had lain on the ground while the soldiers fired at the cell, and when the operation was over he returned to Gaza. The incident began when a paratrooper unit spotted a group of Palestinians attempting to place an explosive device near the border fence in the area. As the soldiers began approaching the place, the gunmen opened fire at them, and the force responded with gunshots. more.. e-mail
7 soldiers hurt in mortar shell attack
Jpost.com Staff And Ap, Jerusalem Post 11/28/2008
Seven IDF soldiers were wounded after Palestinian terrorists fired mortar shells at an IDF base in Nahal Oz on Friday evening. The soldiers were taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, and an additional soldier was treated for shock Israel Radio reported. The Popular Resistance Committees - an alliance of various Palestinian armed factions - claimed responsibility for the attack. One soldier was suffering shrapnel wounds to the head and was in critical condition. The other six were lightly wounded. Two female soldiers were among the seven wounded. One shell landed inside the base, while two others landed in open fields. RELATEDKassam hits house in Eshkol regionTwo additional shells landed in the area of a nearby kibbutz, but no additional casualties or damage were reported. more.. e-mail
8 soldiers wounded in mortar attack
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/28/2008
Palestinians fire barrage of mortar shells on IDF base near Nahal Oz in what Hamas claims is response to earlier clash between troops, gunmen. Two shells land within base, hitting officers’ and soldiers’ quarters -Eight IDF soldiers were injured Friday when a barrage of mortar shells was fired from Gaza towards an army base near the southern town of Nahal Oz. Two of the soldiers were seriously wounded, and one of them suffered a head injury. The other six were lightly to moderately injured. All eight were evacuated to hospitals in Ashkelon and Beersheba. Two of the mortars landed inside the base. One fell on the officers’ quarters and another fell on the female soldiers’ quarters. According to international reports, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility for the attack. more.. e-mail
PPP denounces Israeli attacks on Khan Younis villages
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Khan Younis – Ma’an – The People’s Party of Palestine (PPP) denounced the ongoing Israeli attacks on the residents of the Gaza Strip near the city of Khan Younis after Israeli warplanes shelled the area. The party said in a statement that Israeli attacks are proof that the country has violated the truce. The statement went on to say the shell attacks on the villages of Abasan Al-Kabiraand Al-Qarara east of Khan Younis that resulted in the destruction of homes and fields must be seriously opposed by international organizations. [end]
Gaza mortars wound Israeli soldiers
Al Jazeera 11/29/2008
At least six Israeli soldiers have been wounded when mortars fired by Palestinian fighters from Gaza landed in a military base in southern Israel. Israel’s rescue service said one of the soldiers was critically injured, and the others were slightly or moderately hurt. According to the Israeli military, armed Palestinians fired a total of 11 mortars at southern Israel on Friday. Three of them landed at the base in the western Negev desert. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from any Palestinian group. Earlier in the day, Palestinian gunmen clashed with Israeli troops elsewhere along the volatile Gaza-Israel border. Gaza’s ruling Hamas faction said two of its fighters were wounded in an Israeli air strike. more.. e-mail
IDF soldiers clash with Gaza militants, injuring two
News Agencies, Ha’aretz 11/29/2008
Israel Defense Forces soldiers clashed with Palestinian militants in the southeastern Gaza Strip near the border with Israel Friday, injuring at least two, witnesses said. An IDF spokeswoman said Israeli soldiers were on a routine patrol along the border fence, northeast of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, when they identified a number of Palestinian militants who tried to place explosives near the fence. The spokeswoman said the militants opened fire at the Israeli patrol, which returned fire and claimed to have hit one of them. She said the militants also fired at least three mortar shells at the Israeli force during the confrontation. The latest clash comes after the sides made attempts over the past week to restore a fragile informal truce between Hamas and Israel, which has been thrown into doubt since a November. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli troops wound three during Gaza incursion
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 11/29/2008
GAZA CITY: Three Palestinians were wounded when Israeli troops backed by tanks invaded the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, medics and witnesses said. "The three wounded were evacuated," said Muawiya Hassanein, who heads the emergency services in Gaza. He said no one was killed in the operation. Witnesses earlier spoke of two deaths while the Israeli Army said one Palestinian appeared to have been killed. The Israeli Army confirmed it conducted an operation along the border and said there had been an exchange of fire with militants near the city of Khan Yunis. "A unit conducting a routine patrol along the border fence" spotted armed men who were setting explosives by the fence, a military spokeswoman said. A small resistance group, the Popular Resistance Committees, said one of its fighters escaped an Israeli strike during the invasion. more.. e-mail
Israeli occupation alleges Palestinian resistance possesses long-range missiles
Palestinian Information Center 11/28/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Hebrew sources alleged Thursday that, according to Israeli security departments, the Palestinian resistance factions possess "advanced weapons" that could hit the city of Bir Al-Sabei (Bir Sheba). The Hebrew Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted the security sources as also alleging that the Lebanese Hizbullah party was the sources of those weapons, and that those weapons could threaten tens of thousands of Israeli settlers dwelling in the area. Palestinian sources described the Israeli allegations as an attempt by the Israeli occupation to magnify weapons possessed by the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip with the aim to justify the unjust economic siege, and to justify any military step the IOF troops could take against the tiny Strip in the future. Moreover, the Hebrew sources claimed that Hamas Movement possesses big stock of 122 mm Grad missiles. . . more.. e-mail
US businessman who funded Beit Hashalom purchase comes to back claim
Tovah Lazaroff And Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post 11/26/2008
Morris Abraham, whose family lived in Hebron in the 1920s, arrived from New York Wednesday and announced that it was he who had funded the purchase of the disputed four-story building on the edge of Hebron for $1 million. In the latest effort by Hebron Jewish community to thwart an evacuation of the building, which it calls Beit Hashalom, a press conference was held Wednesday afternoon in which activists offered documents, a video, an audio recording and personal testimony in an effort to prove out of court that Hebron’s Jews had purchased the building. Its Palestinian owner, Faez Rajabi, has rejected that claim. Although the issue of ownership is still under legal review, last week the High Court of Justice ruled that the state could evict the nine families living in the building. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that he planned to remove the residents soon. more.. e-mail
Dozens of armed Israeli settlers attack Palestinian-owned property in Hebron
International Middle East Media Center News 11/26/2008
At least 40 armed Israeli settlers attacked yesterday night Palestinian properties, owned by local Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron. Witnesses said that the settlers punched wheels of parking cars, smashed windows of houses and hurled stones at Palestinian houses. Israeli media sources reported that the Israeli army chief of the middle area in the West Bank had earlier met with the settlers leaders, calling on them to evacuate a Palestinian house, the Israeli high court ordered its eviction. However, the settlers did not comply and vandalized the neighborhood, where the said house is located. The Palestinian Hebron Reconstruction Committee had succeeded in extracting the said high court’s ruling after settlers took over the house of Alrejbi family in Hebron in March2007. Owner of the Palestinian building, Fayez Alrejby, has repeatedly appealed to the court, since his building was confiscated by the Israeli settlers. more.. e-mail
’Federman can return to family home’
Jerusalem Post 11/26/2008
A Jerusalem District Court judge on Wednesday said the army’s order declaring the land on which right-wing activist Noam Federman’s house is located near Kiryat Arba [settlement] a closed military zone was illegal and should have not been issued. Court rules right-wing activist Federman can return to site of destroyed home Judge Moshe Drori’s criticism of the conduct of the police and the army on the night Federman’s house was demolished and his questioning of the legality of the entire procedure has no practical significance. His comments were only indirectly related to the issue confronting him, which was whether to grant the state’s request to immediately bar Federman from entering the West Bank. He was not asked to rule, nor did he have the authority to rule, on the closure order or the demolition of Federman’s house. more.. e-mail
Israel goes to war over Hebron’s ’House of Peace’
Donald Macintyre, The Independent 11/27/2008
From the inside, it could at first sight be a squat anywhere in the developed world. The bare concrete floors, the nylon doors, the shafts of sunlight peeping between the roof’s breeze-blocks indicating where the winter rain will come in and the electric generator show the occupants have had to improvise. The brightly coloured letters of the alphabet pinned to the unpainted wall of one family apartment testify to the presence of infants. But even if the letters were not Hebrew and the nearest neighbours were not Arab, you would quickly realise that this was different. One wing is for the teenage boys, many with knitted kippas characteristic of the militant "hilltop" Jewish settler youth, the other for the girls, many of whom are out gathering rocks that could soon be needed to repel invaders, most likely Israeli police and military. more.. e-mail
Barak: We will evacuate settlers from Hebron house, by force if necessary
Tomer Zarchin and Amos Harel and The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 11/27/2008
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the state would use force to evacauate settlers illegally inhabiting a house in the West Bank city of Hebron, if the squatters do not vacate the premises voluntarily. A High Court of Justice ruling issued last week gave the settlers three days to evacuate, but a loophole was found allowing them to remain for a full 30 days before any force could to be taken. Barak said the the High Court decision nevertheless stipulates that the house must be evacuated, if not voluntarily then by force. He said the police would attempt the first round of evacuation, and the Israel Defense Forces would be summoned in if reinforcement was needed. Court: State acted unlawfully on Federman Farm - Also on Wednesday, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the state acted unlawfully in removing far-right settler. . . more.. e-mail
U.S. buyer of controversial Hebron house moves in ahead of eviction threat
Nadav Shragai and Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/27/2008
The Jewish-American man who says he purchased the House of Contention in Hebron moved in to live there yesterday, joining the 16 Jewish families already residing in the building and hundreds of rightist activists who have come to prevent security forces from evicting the tenants. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Chief-of-Staff Gabi Ashkenazi also visited the West Bank city yesterday to approve the Israel Defense Forces plan for the eviction. The tour was preceded by several attempts by the defense establishment to negotiate with the settlers and persuade them to leave of their own volition. A High Court of Justice ruling last week gave the settlers three days to evacuate, but a loophole was found allowing them to remain for a full 30 days before any force could be taken. Morris Abraham claims he legally purchased the property from a Palestinian, but the alleged. . . more.. e-mail
Barak: 'Attacks carried out by settlers against the soldiers jeopardize state authority'
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/27/2008
Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, visited on Wednesday the southern West Bank city of Hebron as tension is gradually increasing between Israeli soldiers and settlers as the settlers refuse to evacuate a Palestinian home in the city. Barak said that two brigades will be in charge of evacuating the settlers from a home which belongs to Al Rajabi Palestinian family. The first brigades would be formed by the Israeli police and the second would be formed by the army. The settlers still reject to leave the home even after the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered them to voluntarily leave the building. Barak said that the settlers were very violent on Tuesday at night and attacked Israeli soldiers and Palestinian property. "Every attack against personnel who represent the state, soldiers, policemen and observers, is an attack against the Israeli democracy", Barak said, "We must. . . more.. e-mail
One injured in Qalandia refugee camp clash
Ma’an News Agency 11/26/2008
Ramallah – Ma’an – A Palestinian teenager was injured in clashes with Israeli troops north of Jerusalem at Qalandia Refugee Camp on Wednesday. The 17-year-old, Khair Allah Adib Al-Jamal of the Bet Suriq village was seriously injured in the clashes, medical sources reported. The boy was taken to a government hospital in Ramallah, where doctors called his condition serious. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said that he had thrown a molotov cocktail at Israeli troops and that soldiers had fired toward him in response. [end]
Palestine Today 1102608
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/26/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 00s || 2. 74 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Wednesday November 26 2008 China called on Israel on Wednesday to allow flow of goods and commodities in Gaza, as Israel continues to close all Gaza’s border crossings for more than three weeks now. This news and more are coming up, stay tuned. The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, called on Israel to allow further food and medicines supplies in Gaza as a humanitarian crisis in looming in the coastal territory. This call comes in the backdrop of a severe humanitarian conditions, with the people lacking essential goods and commodities such as cooking gas, fuel and food items for more than three weeks now. Meanwhile, the Israeli military kept Gaza’s border crossings closed today , under. . . more.. e-mail
Report: IOF troops were ordered to assassinate Palestinians in cold-blood
Palestinian Information Center 11/26/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- A report prepared by the Israeli Haaretz newspaper revealed that the IOF troops under official written orders carried out cold-blooded assassinations against Palestinian resistance fighters and commanders classified as wanted even in cases where it was possible to arrest them. The newspaper said that Israel approved assassination plans in the West Bank and also sanctioned in advance and in writing the killing of Palestinian civilians during assassination operations. The report, which is based on summaries of discussions that took place between major Israeli officers, unveiled that Israel had postponed several assassinations against Palestinians if they coincided with the arrival of a senior US official in the region. According to the report, many assassinations were carried out despite the decision made by the Israeli higher court which banned assassination if the target could be arrested. more.. e-mail
VIDEO - New system has soldiers in virtual battleground killing militants from a distance
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 11/26/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for November 25, 2008 - The Israel Defense Forces has found a way to target Gaza Strip militants from kilometers away, with just three pushes of a button. It may look like a video game, but it’s actually a new system called "The Seer Shoots," which has entered operation in recent days on the Gaza Strip border. Several of these domes were recently installed along the Israel-Gaza border. But you won’t find the shooter inside, but rather in a virtual battleground, operating a heavy machine gun from a kilometer away. [end]
Israeli reseals Gaza Crossings
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/25/2008
Israeli sources reported that Israel sealed the Gaza Strip crossings once again on Tuesday after claiming that two homemade shells were fired on Sunday at an Israeli area adjacent to the Gaza Strip. On Monday Israel allowed 42 trucks filled with humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip and some foreign media agencies were allowed into the coastal region. Yet, media blackouts imposed by Israel remains in effect. Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said that the crossings leading to Gaza were closed "due to security concerns", and added that media outlets would not be allowed into Gaza because "Israel does not want to take responsibility for the safety of the reporters". Olmert is currently in an official visit to Washington. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces destroy Palestinian greenhouses and farms in Gaza
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 11/25/2008
Local sources report that a group of Israeli-armored bulldozers and tanks invaded the al-Fukhari neighborhood east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Tuesday morning, and bulldozed a number of farms. According to eyewitnesses, the bulldozers crushed a number of Palestinian greenhouses and razed potato fields belonging to Palestinian farmers. The invasion was the first in several days, after a calm that followed a two week assault on all parts of Gaza. That assault threatened to break a ceasefire that had allegedly been in place for three months (Israeli forces had violated the ceasefire dozens of times, but the two week assault was the first flagrant violation). The local sources reported that nine tanks and two bulldozers invaded the neighborhood at dawn, with the soldiers firing machine guns from the tanks. more.. e-mail
Israel tanks invade east of Khan Younis
Palestinian Information Center 11/25/2008
JABALIYA, (PIC)-- A number of Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded Tuesday morning east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, and destroyed Palestinian agricultural lands. Palestinian eyewitnesses told the PIC that about seven tanks and a number of bulldozers stormed the Fakhari area in Khan Younis and flattened vast tracts of agricultural land. In another development and during a ceremony held to honor the families of Palestinian martyrs, MP Fathi Hammad that his Movement would remain adherent to the path of resistance until the liberation of the whole Palestinian land. Hammad highlighted that Al-Qassam Brigades would enhance its battle against the Israeli occupation, warning that the Grad rockets would be ready to teach Israel unforgettable lessons if it persisted in its aggression on the Palestinian people. more.. e-mail
Olmert hints: No forced evacuation of Hebron house; Barak to review army
Aluf Benn and Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/26/2008
WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted yesterday that the government will not forcibly evacuate settlers from the so-called "House of Contention" in Hebron, but will instead settle for preventing settler attacks on their Palestinian neighbors. Speaking with reporters during his trip to Washington, Olmert said: "I read the High Court of Justice’s decision closely. It ordered the house’s occupants to vacate within three days, and if they do not, [it said], the government will have to do so. But it did not explicitly order the government to do so. There is something less than completely unequivocal in the wording the court chose. "However, he added, "The repeated attacks on Palestinian civilians and property are clearly intolerable, and we will have to act against them with full force. more.. e-mail
Israeli military invades Jenin, erects a checkpoint in another area
International Middle East Media Center News 11/25/2008
Israeli military invaded on Tuesday the West Bank city of Jenin and erected a checkpoint on the entrance of the Yamoun town. Witnesses said that a large Israeli military contingent invaded the Jenin city, deploying soldiers in many streets amidst a barrage of heavy gun fire and sound grenades firing. In the Yamoun town, near Jenin, the Israeli soldiers erected a checkpoint and begam searching passing cars and residents. [end]
Israeli forces detain four civilians in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 11/25/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces detained four civilians across the West Bank at dawn on Tuesday. Israeli sources claimed that the four are from the list of “wanted” resistance fighters in Bethlehem, Hebron and Qalqilia, and confirmed that they have been been taken in for interrogation. [end]
Palestine Today 112508
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/25/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 30s || 3. 22 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Tuesday November 25 2008 Petroleum officials in Gaza complained today that the fuel allowed by Israel yesterday was not enough to generate electricity as other types of fuel are still lacking in the Strip. This news and more are coming up, stay tuned. Mr. Mahmoud Alkhuzendar, head of the petroleum stations society in Gaza , announced today that nearly 53,000 gallons of crude oil , Israel allowed in yesterday only generates electricity for 30 hours. Alkhuzendar added that other needed types of fuel like cooking gas, Benzene or gasoline are still lacking in the Strip for three weeks now. In the West Bank, Israeli military invaded today the Jenin city and deployed soldiers in many streets, with no causalities or arrests reported. more.. e-mail
Egypt deploys 400 policemen along Rafah crossing
Palestinian Information Center 11/25/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hebrew radio reported that the Egyptian authorities on Monday deployed 400 additional policemen along the Rafah border crossing lest it is breached by the besieged Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. This deployment happened in light of the suffocating Israeli siege imposed on Gaza and the UN warnings of an imminent humanitarian disaster if Israel continued to close the crossings. The Hebrew radio also said Tuesday that amid complete secrecy, a high-ranking US security delegation accompanied by Egyptian officers visited and inspected on Monday the Egyptian side of borders with Gaza and the Rafah crossing. John Ging, the director of UNRWA operations, had stated Monday that the people of Gaza are in not in need of words of sympathy but rather need tangible action. The Israeli Haaretz newspaper said Tuesday that the Israeli government softened its position. . . more.. e-mail
Qassam fired from Gaza
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 11/25/2008
Ceasefire broken once again as rocket lands in Eshkol Regional Council; no injuries or damage reported -Despite attempts at prolonging the ceasefire with Hamas, a Qassam rocket was fired Tuesday from the southern Gaza Strip. The rocket fell near a kibbutz in Eshkol Regional Council, near the border fence. No injuries or damage were reported. In response to the fire Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that the border crossings into the Strip would remain closed on Wednesday. On Monday Barak addressed the issue of the fragile ceasefire in a speech before the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "In the months before the truce there were 500 incidents of high-trajectory fire every month. Since the beginning of the lull, we’ve had about 10 such incidents a month," he said, adding that "I don’t regret one month of calm. more.. e-mail
Palestinian fighters ’shell Israeli position’ from Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 11/25/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian fighters said they shelled an Israeli special forces position east of Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, midway down the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday morning. The An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said they fired four mortar shells at the post at dawn. The group said the shelling was in retaliation for “ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank. ”[end]
Israel seals Gaza again after retaliatory rocket fire
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 11/26/2008
GAZA CITY: Israel again sealed the borders of the impoverished Gaza Strip on Tuesday following rocket fire, with Palestinian officials saying the territory’s sole power plant was forced to shut down because of the crippling blockade. Palestinian fighters in Gaza fired a rocket at southern Israel on Monday, causing no casualties or damage, an Israeli military spokesman said. Gaza’s power plant, which provides 25 to 30 percent of the energy used in the territory, ground to a halt on Tuesday, according to Kanaan Obeid, assistant director of the enclave’s energy authority. "Despite deliveries of fuel on Monday, the power plant stopped functioning because of breakdowns in the production units," he said. He said the frequent shutdowns of the plant caused by fuel shortages damaged parts that cannot be replaced because of the blockade. more.. e-mail
IDF to leave historic Jerusalem camp next week
Jerusalem Post 11/25/2008
A historic central Jerusalem military camp which was used by the IDF since the establishment of the State of Israel sixty years ago and dates back to the middle 19th century is being converted into a haredi residential complex, with the compound’s historic Ottoman buildings to be preserved as public sites. The Schneller Camp, named after the German Lutheran missionary who originally established the complex 150 years ago, is now most commonly known for its military health clinic, although it has housed an array of army units over the last decade and a half, including the district military headquarters of the Home Front Command. The land on the compound, which is located on the edge of the city’s Mea Shearim neighborhood, was sold by the Defense Ministry to haredi entrepreneurs four years ago at over NIS 80 million for the construction of a 620-unit haredi residential complex, said Col. more.. e-mail
Settler leader: Hebron evacuation will be met with force greater than Amona
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 11/25/2008
Daniela Weiss, a prominent settler leader and former head of the Kedumim council, said on Monday that activists would resist attempts to evacuate Hebron’s House of Contention with force much greater than ever used in the past. "We will not be like Gush Katif and we will not hug," Weiss told Army Radio. "We will resist the evacuation of the ’House of Peace’ with great force, much greater than what we did in Amona. "Weiss stressed that those who oppose the evacuation "are not Christians who turn the other cheek. "Right-wing activists on Monday announced plans to hold a mass march to the House of Contention - as on Tuesday in an effort to block its evacuation. MK Zevulun Orlev (National Union - National Religious Party) visited the Hebron house on Monday morning and said that despite the High Court ruling to evacuate the site, the state is entitled to use its judgment and not vacate the house of its Jewish residents. more.. e-mail
’There will be war over House of Peace,’ adamant Hebron settlers guarantee
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 11/24/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for November 24, 2008 Hebron has largely emptied of the thousands of Jews who arrived over the weekend to commemorate the death of the biblical matriarch, Sarah. But a few hundred very determined right-wing activists have stayed behind to prepare for what they suggest will be a nasty struggle with Israeli security forces. Hebron’s settlers have only grown steadily more aggressivein rhetoric since the High Court of Justice ruled last week that they must evacuate the so-called "House of Contention," which they call the "House of Peace. " Additional settlers from all over the West Bank have been streaming into Hebron since the ruling to fortify the house and step up what they are trying to paint as legitimate resistance against Israeli state oppression. more.. e-mail
Palestinian fighter succumbs to wounds; Israeli forces shoot man in northern Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 11/24/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A Palestinian fighter died on Monday of wounds he sustained in an Israeli raid in Gaza on 15 November, medical sources said. Fawzi Hamad an activist in the An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, died early on Monday. Meanwhile, medical sources said on Monday that Israeli forces shot a Palestinian civilian in the leg near the northern border of the Gaza Strip. The man said he was hunting birds in the Abu Safiyah when he was shot. [end]
Israeli forces seize three Gazans in Tulkarem
Ma’an News Agency 11/24/2008
Tulkarem – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized three young Palestinian men, all of whom were originally from the Gaza Strip, from their house near the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Monday morning. A Palestinian security source reported the names of detainees as follows: Ramzi Dahrouj, Ahmad Al-Loh and Mansour Al-Kanshan. They were arrested in the village of Izbat Al-Jarad, east of Tulkarem. Eyewitnesses reported that a large force of Israeli vehicles and soldiers raided the area at dawn while firing sound grenades. Israeli troops stormed a number of houses, ordering sleeping residents into the street. [end]
Israeli troops kill suspected drug smuggler on Egyptian border
Ma’an News Agency 11/24/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – An Israeli border guard shot dead asuspected drug smuggler on the Egyptian border on Monday morning, south of the Israeli town of Mitzpe Ramon. According to Israeli sources, two other people were wounded in the shooting. Israeli officials told reporters that the group was dropping sacks of drugs on the Israeli side of the border order for accomplices to collect them. According to the official account, Israeli troops began chasing the men, calling on them to stop. When they were ignored, they fired at the lower part of the men’s bodies. Several sacks containing drugs were found at the scene of the incident and were taken for examination. After being shot, the three men were taken by helicopter to the Soroka Medical Center in the city of Beersheba. One of the men was seriously hurt in the stomach, while the other suffered severe wounds to his leg. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces seize young man in Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 11/24/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces detained a young man in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday, even as the man was on his way to report to Israeli authorities. The man, 21-year-old Ali Moussa Nawawrah, had been summoned to the Israeli detention center in the settlement Etzion, his family said. Nawawrah was headed there when he was arrested. During the arrest, Israeli vehicles surrounded Nawawrah in the Jabal Al-Mawaleh neighborhood of Bethlehem. Israeli forces raided Nawawrah’s house a few days ago and delivered a letter calling on him to surrender. [end]
Settlers agree to relocate Migron outpost to nearby settlement
Tomer Zarchin, Ha’aretz 11/24/2008
The state has reached an agreement with the Yesha Council of Settlements to relocate the recently dismantled West Bank outpost of Migron to a the nearby Adam settlement. The state attorney’s office told the High Court of Justice Monday that following intensive negotiations, IDF officials and settlement leaders struck a deal to permanently move Migron to the Adam settlement, in the Binyamina Regional Council. Yesha Council announced in August that it planned to complete the necessary preparations needed to relocate Migron as soon as possible. The Adam settlement - where land is already being prepared for housing - was chosen as an alternative, following consultations in early November with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Some two weeks ago, the Yesha Council told the Defense Ministry it accepted. . . more.. e-mail
Study: Over half of Sderot residents are Qassam casualties
Ilana Curiel, YNetNews 11/24/2008
Research published by trauma center indicates large percentage of residents of rocket-plagued town suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder - Over half of Sderot residents have been hurt - physically or emotionally - during Qassam barrages of the past seven years, determined a research document published by Natal, the Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War. The study, which was presented by Director of the Natal Community Staff Dr. Rony Berger at a conference on trauma medicine in Beersheva on Monday, shows that almost a third of the beleaguered town’s residents are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. A third of Sderot students, ages 13 to 18, have trauma-related learning disorders. The research, conducted in conjunction with Dr. Mina Zemach and the Dahaf Polling Institute, was conceived in order to compare Sderot to Gaza vicinity communities and to towns out of rocket range. more.. e-mail
Mujahedin Brigades say Israeli house demolitions could spur attacks
Ma’an News Agency 11/24/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Mujahedin Brigades, an armed Palestinian group, said on Monday that Israeli house demolitions could trigger renewed attacks against Israel. “The house demolition policy practiced by Israel makes us realize and be sure that the only way to resist the Israelis is by resistance,” said The Al-Mujahedin Brigades spokesman Abu Bilal. Abu Bilal said in a statement that the group is monitoring Israeli house demolitions in the West Bank and especially Jerusalem. He said his group would not “remain silent” in the face of these demolitions. Israel demolished the sixth Palestinian house in three weeks in East Jerusalem on Monday. [end]
Palestine Today 112408
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/24/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 00s || 2. 74 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Monday November 24 2008 As the Israeli military continues closure of Gaza’s crossings for the third week consecutively, reports said Israel would reopen one of such crossings partially today. These news and more are coming up stay tuned. Israeli media sources reported Monday that the Israeli military would reopen one of Gaza’s crossings partially today to allow in some food assistance into the besieged Gaza Strip. The sources reveled that the Kerem Shalom crossing would be reopened today as the Palestinian resistance factions agreed yesterday night to stopping homemade shells fire from Gaza into nearby Israeli towns. The Gaza Strip lives a tight closure of commercial crossings for three weeks. . . more.. e-mail
Two Palestinians wounded in an Israeli shelling to Gaza
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/23/2008
Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported on Saturday at night that two Palestinians were wounded in Israeli artillery shelling to Beit Hanoun town, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The sources added that one of the wounded residents suffered moderate wounds. The Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported that the army fired a surface-to-surface missile at the town. Furthermore, the army shelled several homes in Al Qarara town, east of Khan Younis, in the southern parts of the Gaza Strip. Also, WAFA reported that soldiers stationed east of Khan Younis, opened fire at a number of homes in the area causing damage; no injuries were reported. Meanwhile, Israeli sources reported that Palestinian fighters fired two homemade shells at Sderot town, and one shell at (Asqalan) Ashkelon; no injuries were reported. more.. e-mail
Barak orders Israeli army to continue Gaza blockade
Ma’an News Agency 11/23/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to keep the Gaza Strip crossing points closed on Sunday. Israeli authorities were preparing to reopen the crossing points, yet after Palestinian fighters launched homemade projectiles last night towards Israeli targets, it was decided that the borders would remain closed. Later on Sunday, an agreement was reached between Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip and Israel, according to an announcement from Hamas. The agreement centers around a pledge to stop firing on Israeli targets in return for Israel opening crossing points into the besieged strip, a top Hamas leader said. ***Updated 12:25 Bethlehem time more.. e-mail
A group of fighters survive an Israeli military attack in Gaza
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/23/2008
A group of Gaza fighters survived today morning an Israeli military attack in northern attack, media sources reported. A large explosion was heard in the southern entrance of the northern city of Beit Hanoun, witnesses said. Witnesses added that a group of fighters were seen in the scene of the explosion , as an apparently Israeli land-to-land missile was fired in the place. Spokesman of the Israeli army, Afihay Ader’y, was quoted by Palestinian media outlets as saying that the attack targeted a group of ’militants’. " we confirm targeting a group of missiles launchers in northern Gaza, who fire missiles toward the areas, close to northern Gaza", the Israeli army spokesman explained. Meanwhile, Israeli media sources reported that three homemade shells landed earlier in the day into the southern Israeli towns of Ashkelon (Almajdal) and Sderot, with no causalities reported. more.. e-mail
IDF: Retaking Gaza will cost NIS 17 million a day
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/24/2008
Reoccupation of part of the Gaza Strip, should the government agree to it, will cost NIS 17 million per day, according to the Israel Defense Forces. That sum would only be enough to cover the immediate humanitarian needs of the Palestinian population that would be under the control of Israel, the IDF said during a recent defense establishment discussion of the options regarding the Strip. That assessment relates only to the specific section of Gaza the IDF is liable to capture if a major operation takes place. The amount was calculated about a year ago, when Israel was preparing for the possibility of recapturing the Strip during an escalation of violence there. The basic needs covered by the money are those an occupying force is obligated to provide for under international law, such as baby formula, diapers and a basic food package for all residents. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces seize three Palestinian youths near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 11/23/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – Israeli forces arrested on Saturday evening three Palestinian youths from the northern West Bank village of Zabbuba, west of Jenin, after ransacking their homes. Palestinian security sources named the arrestees as 20-year-old Bilal Zaghal, 17-year-old Munir Jaradat and 19-year-old Adnan Sha’ban. Local sources told Ma’an that Israeli military patrols besieged the three homes and forced residents to evacuate "for inspection" before arresting the three youths. [end]
Army chief: We must uphold rule of law in Hebron
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 11/23/2008
During visit to IDF induction base, Gabi Ashkenazi says most West Bank settlers good people but ’small part are not’, vows to deal with lawbreakers -After a relatively peaceful weekend at the disputed house in Hebron which the High Court of Justiceordered be evacuated, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Sunday, "It is very important that we uphold the rule of law. "Speaking at the IDF induction base in Tel Hashomer, Ashkenazi added that most of the residents of the West Bank were good, quality people. Nonetheless, Ashkenazi said, "Unfortunately, a small part is not like that. "We will deal with the lawbreakers. I am also sorry for some of the things that were said, that even contradict the Jewish tradition, and we are still committed to upholding the rule of law and so we shall"¦we will prefer talking and will utilize every way we can, because at the end of the day the law is the law and we will uphold it. more.. e-mail
NY resident: We’ll stay in Hebron till the end
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/23/2008
Settlers living in Hebron’s disputed house pledge nonviolence, but warn forcible eviction will meet fierce resistance. Among those who moved into building recently are Brooklyn residents Nahum and Revital Almagor, their 15-year-old daughter - The disputed house in the West Bank city of Hebron saw a tense, but quiet weekend, during which only a handful of clashes erupted between security forces and members of the city’s Jewish community. On Sunday, thousands of worshipers who arrived on the premises as a show of support left Hebron, as only 20 families and about 300 youths chose to stay in the house, ahead of its evacuation. The controversy surrounding the house stems from opposing proprietary claims: The settlers claim the house was bought by a member of the community, while its Palestinian owner denies the sale, claiming the Jewish settlers living in the house are squatters. more.. e-mail
Palestinian Jerusalemite dies after Israeli police assault
Palestinian Information Center 11/23/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The 62-year-old Palestinian, Mohammed Al-Kurd, died in occupied Jerusalem on Saturday night, after two weeks of the Israeli policemen’s assault on him in his home and forcing him out of it along with his elderly wife. Medical and local sources said that Kurd was beaten by the Israeli policemen who forced him and his wife out of their home two weeks ago in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem. The sources said that the old man was assaulted despite being crippled and suffering several diseases, and noted that the policemen prevented the ambulance from carrying him to hospital and left him in the cold for long hours, which further worsened his condition. Kurd’s funeral is scheduled to take place on Sunday. He had pitched a sit-in tent along with his wife in front of their confiscated home, which was delivered to Israeli settlers, but were repeatedly driven away by the occupation police. more.. e-mail
Israeli military on alert as 20,000 settlers descend on Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 11/21/2008
Hebron - Ma’an - Backup Israeli soldiers were called to the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday as thousands of settlers arrived to visit the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque for an annual Jewish holy feast. But the timing of the tradition this year could escalate an already hostile environment, as soldiers were previously deployed to support police attempting to evacuate an illegal outpost within a Palestinian’s home. An Israeli high court issued the order earlier this week, but so far the Jewish settlers inside have refused to leave. Israeli sources within the military declared a state of alert upon the arrival of the estimated 20,000 settlers from outside the city on Saturday, with plans to spend time at the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque, which was closed to Palestinians for two days in light of the festivities. Sources inside the settlement outposts in central Hebron told Ma’an that several. . . more.. e-mail
IOF troops raid the central Gaza Strip, the resistance shells Kisufim
Palestinian Information Center 11/21/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- IOF troops conducted an incursion Friday morning into the Wadi al-Salaqa to the east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses confirmed to the PIC correspondent that a number of Israeli armoured vehicles invaded the eastern area of Deir al-Balah amidst random firing at Palestinian homes. Palestinian resistance confronted the invading forces which tried to raid a house. The Naser Salah al-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees declared firing a mortar at the Kisufim military post while the Nosoor Falastine Brigades decalred firing three home made missiles at the same position and said that the firing of the missiles was in response to "Zionist occupation aggressions. "The IOF has seriously violated the truce on 4th November and killed six resistance fighters. Since then the IOF killed 17 Palestinians. more.. e-mail
Barak maintains Gaza closure as projectiles fired on Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 11/21/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Israel maintained the closure of commercial crossings into the Gaza Strip for the 17th day in a row on Friday as Palestinian resistance groups continued to launch projectiles toward Israeli targets nearby. The head of the de facto Finance Ministry told Ma’an that the closure is causing untold human suffering on the local population. De facto Minister Hatem Owedah told Ma’an that "the closure of these crossings is causing endless suffering to Gazans. ”Israeli military sources said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had decided to keep the borders closed Friday as a result of continued attacks on Israeli sites. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, a militant wing affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, claimed responsibility for launching three projectiles against Sderot, Israel on Thursday night, according to a statement sent to Ma’an. more.. e-mail
20,000 Jewish pilgrims to descend on Hebron amid settler violence
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/22/2008
The security forces are gearing up for trouble this weekend when 20,000 Jews are expected to descend upon Hebron for an annual pilgrimage. Officials fear the combination of the crowd and tensions over the planned evacuation of the so-called House of Contention could prove to be an explosive mix. On Thursday, angry settlers attacked Israel Defense Forces soldiers, vandalized Palestinian property and scrawled "Mohammed is a pig" on a local mosque after the High Court of Justice ruled earlier this week that the house must be cleared of its Jewish residents until another court decides whether Jews or Palestinians are the legal owners. Coming at the same time,this weekend’s planned pilgrimage will commemorate the death of the Matriarch Sarah, whom the Bible says was buried in Hebron. more.. e-mail
Jewish pilgrims stoke tensions caused by illegal colonists in Hebron
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 11/22/2008
HEBRON, Occupied West Bank: Israel beefed up security on Friday as 25,000 Jewish pilgrims were expected in the Occupied West Bank city of Hebron amid fears of violence as a group of colonists defied an Israeli eviction order. Dozens of police and troops took up positions outside the house where about 100 settlers and their supporters have vowed to resist any attempt to enforce the High Court order. From the roof of the four-storey building, which houses a small army observation post, armored vehicles could be seen patrolling the road leading from the Kiryat Arba settlement to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the city center, both about 500 meters away. "We have almost doubled our forces," an officer said in reference to the police and army deployment in Hebron, as pilgrims flocked into the volatile city to mark the biblical story of Abraham’s purchase of the land that now houses the Tomb of the Patriarchs, holy to both Jews and Muslims. more.. e-mail
Jewish settlement in Hebron bans rioting youths
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/21/2008
Hours before Chayei Sarah Shabbat begins with thousands expected to attend reading in Hebron, Jewish settlement spokesperson says troublemakers sent away - "We have evacuated a number of rioting youths. We are making great efforts to put an end to recent events and I hope we will succeed," Noam Arnon, spokesperson for the Jewish settlement in Hebron said on Friday ahead of the reading of the ’Chayei Sarah’ weekly portion (lit. ’The Life of Sarah,’ Genesis 23:1-25:18). Around noon heavy traffic was felt in Hebron and the surrounding areas. According to estimates, some 20,000 people are expected to spend Shabbat in the city. Security forces have been preparing for the weekend since Thursday, and while the night passed without any irregular incidents, tensions between Hebron’s right-wing activists and security forces in the area have been felt. more.. e-mail
Hilltop youth not impressed by calls for passive resistance to Hebron house eviction
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 11/21/2008
When residents of the so-called House of Contention in Hebron awoke yesterday, they were shocked to learn of the previous night’s clashes between settlers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers. They were equally shocked by the graffiti proclaiming "Mohammed is a pig" that had been scrawled on the walls of a nearby mosque and Palestinian houses. But it did not take them long to figure out who was responsible: dozens of teens from the northern West Bank who had relocated to the Hebron area earlier this week to participate in the struggle after the High Court of Justice ordered residents to vacate the house until another court decides whether Jews or Palestinians own it. The residents promptly gathered the teens for a stiff lecture. "We don’t intend to wage our struggle this way, or through any kind of violence," declared one. more.. e-mail
Livni on disputed Hebron house: Entire public defying court order
Ynet, YNetNews 11/21/2008
’Situation in which rightists are defying High Court’s ruling is intolerable,’ Kadima chairwoman says -While a tense calm is prevailing in Hebron, Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni lashed out again at extreme right-wing activists who have said they would defy the High Court’s ruling on the disputed house in the West Bank city and resist any attempt to evacuate it. " This situation is intolerable in my opinion. There is an entire public that is not respecting the court’s ruling and the government’s decisions; they are also harming IDF soldiers," Livni told Channel 2 Friday evening. "I hope the authorities act in unison against this phenomenon, be it in Hebron, Arab communities in the Negev or anywhere else. We mustenforce the norms, values and the law. "Around noon heavy traffic was felt in Hebron and the surrounding areas ahead of the reading of the ’Chayei Sarah’ weekly portion (lit. more.. e-mail
Israel keeps blockade imposed on Gaza, militants fire more rockets
Xinhua News Agency, ReliefWeb 11/21/2008
GAZA, Nov 21, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX News Network) --Israel has kept on Friday a strict blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for 17 consecutive days, while Gaza militants continued launching homemade rockets at southern Israeli towns and communities. Palestinian officials warned that the ongoing strict siege imposed on 1. 5 million people in the Gaza Strip for more than two weeks "would cause a severe humanitarian crisis due to the shortage of basic needs of food and fuel. " Hatem Eweida, an official in the Hamas-ruled ministry of economics, said in a statement sent to reporters that the ongoing blockade imposed on Gaza "would mount the population’s suffering. " "Due to the ongoing siege, we have severe shortage of basic food products in addition to the shortage of medicines, fuels, cooking gas and the industrial diesel used for operating Gaza main power station," said Eweida. more.. e-mail
This Week in Palestine Week 47
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/21/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 11 m 00s || 10. 00 MB || This Week in Palestine, Week 47 This Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org, for November 15 through 21, 2008. GENERAL LEDE: As the senior Palestinian and Israeli Politicians meet for talks, Israel tightens the siege on the Gaza Strip and continue its attacks on the West Bank obstructing any chances to advance peace talks, these stories and more are coming up, stay tuned. Nonviolent Report Let us begin our weekly report as usual with nonviolent actions in Palestine. Palestinians mark the International Children Day with nonviolent demonstrations in several parts of the West Bank, in addition to the protests against the wall and settlements. Maasara A woman and a child were wounded during an anti-wall nonviolent protest in the village of Al-Ma’asara near Bethlehem on Friday. more.. e-mail
Israel maintains Gaza closure
Middle East Online 11/21/2008
JERUSALEM - Israel said on Friday it will maintain its closure of the Gaza Strip despite international concern over a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent Palestinian territory. "This decision was taken because of the continuation of Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israel," said Peter Lerner, a defence ministry spokesman. A flare-up of violence on November 4 prompted Israel to tighten a blockade it has imposed since the democratically elected Hamas movement seized power in Gaza in June 2007. Since the recent surge in violence, only 33 truckloads of basic supplies as well as limited quantities of fuel have been allowed into the impoverished coastal strip. The United Nations has urged Israel to reopen the crossings, saying the closure of Gaza contravenes international law. more.. e-mail
Qassam hits Ashkelon’s industrial zone
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 11/21/2008
Rocket fired from northern Gaza Strip lands in open area in seaside city; two mortar shells fired at Kissufim area in southern Israel. No injuries or damage reported in both incidents - A Qassam rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip on Friday morning landed in an open area in the city of Ashkelon’s southern industrial zone. There were no reports of injuries or damage. Two mortar shells were fired at the Kissufim area in southern Israel. There were no injuries or damage in this incident as well. The Salah al-Din Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committee’s military wing, claimed responsibility for the mortars fired at Kissufim. Workers at the Ashkelon industrial zone told Ynet they heard the explosion very well. One of them said, however, that "in recent days there have been a lot of blasts and supersonic explosions and one can no longer know if it’s a Qassam or an IDF activity. more.. e-mail
Settlers desecrate mosque and cemetery in Hebron
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 11/21/2008
HEBRON, Occupied West Bank: Jewish settlers angry at an Israeli court order for their eviction from a house they occupied in Hebron desecrated a mosque and tombs in the Occupied West Bank city before dawn on Thursday, witnesses said. The settlers scrawled "Mohammad is a pig" and "Death to the Arabs" on the front of a mosque and drew the Israeli emblem, the Star of David, on several gravestones in a Muslim cemetery, the witnesses said. The mosque and cemetery both lie near the Hebron house where dozens of hard-line Jewish colonists are defying the order by the Israeli High Court setting last Wednesday a deadline for them to leave or face eviction. Israeli soldiers are on round-the-clock patrol in the tense neighborhood. The ruling, which was slammed by settler leaders, follows a series of violent clashes between Israeli security forces and hard-line Jews seeking to erect unsanctioned outposts in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967. more.. e-mail
Hamas gunman killed in Gaza explosion
Jerusalem Post 11/20/2008
Palestinian sources on Thursday claimed that a Hamas man had been killed by an IDF tank shell near the Karni crossing, in the Gaza Strip. Gaza factions claim they will honor truce with Israel Hamas said the man was a member of the organization’s lookout unit and had been "killed in action. " The IDF denied the report, saying that there had been no shooting incidents in the area and that the man had probably been killed by an errant Palestinian mortar shell. Meanwhile, Israel Radio reported that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh had met with the leaders of the various armed Palestinian factions in the Strip. [end]
Qassam hits Negev as Ashkelon residents protest Gaza rockets
Haaretz Service, Reuters and the Associated Press, Ha’aretz 11/21/2008
Palestinian militants fired a Qassam rocket into the western Negev on Thursday as Ashkelon residents protested against an upsurge in cross-border attacks from Gaza. The Qassam attack was the latest violation of a five-month Israel-Hamas truce in the Gaza Strip. The rocket, which struck an open area in the Sha’ar Hanegev regional council, caused neither casualties nor property damage. Dozens of Ashkelon residents held the protest at the entrance to the southern city. "I call on every parent in the state, on every mother and every father, to cooperate with us, to join our protest, and to demand that the government promise [us] quiet and security," said one of the demonstrators, speaking to Israel Radio. Gunmen from Gaza have fired dozens of rockets at Israel in the past two weeks after Israel launched a raid it said was. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli army detains several Palestinians in the West Bank
International Middle East Media Center News 11/20/2008
Israeli military detained late on Wednesday night more than 20 Palestinian residents in the occupied West Bank, as it dismantled a sit-in tent in the occupied east Jerusalem. Palestinian security sources and witnesses said today that the Israeli troops attacked a number of West Bank cities , such as Nablus, Qalqilia, Tulkarem and Ramallah, detaining 21 residents. In the occupied east Jerusalem, Israeli soldiers rampaged a sit-in tent in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem, erected by a Palestinian family. The tent was erected by the Alkurd family after Jewish extremist groups had displaced them from their home. Hatem Abdelqader, a Palestinian lawmaker for Jerusalem, said that the tent was erected in a bid of protest at the their displacement some time ago. Witnesses said that tension is currently overwhelming in the area. more.. e-mail
Palestinian tries to stab soldier at checkpoint
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/20/2008
Troops manning crossing west of Nablus manage to subdue man who lunged at female soldier with knife, take him into custody - A stabbing attack was thwarted at the Beit Iba checkpoint on Thursday evening after soldiers were able to prevent a Palestinian man from harming one of their female colleagues. The man arrived at the crossing, located northwest of the West Bank city of Nablus, withdrew a knife and lunged one of the female soldiers manning the checkpoint. The soldiers were able to subdue the attacker before any injuries were caused. In a subsequent search of the man’s belongings troops uncovered an improvised explosive device (IED) and several rifle bullets. The explosives were disposed of in a controlled manner by Border Guard sappers. The would-be stabber was arrested and taken for questioning. more.. e-mail
IDF troops thwart stabbing attempt
Jerusalem Post 11/20/2008
IDF troops foiled a stabbing attempt north of Nablus on Thursday evening. A Palestinian reached a checkpoint and pulled out a Stanley-knife while undergoing a security check conducted by a female soldier. Before the Palestinian managed to stab the soldier soldiers of the Shimshon Battalion who were on the scene overpowered the Palestinian. An improvised explosive device was found in the Palestinian’s belongings, as well as several 5. 56mm bullets. The improvised bomb was detonated by sappers and the man was taken for interrogation by security forces. Earlier, a Palestinian was arrested in the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus, carrying a knife with a 10-centimeter blade in his belongings. He was also taken for questioning. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces raid north Tulkarem, storm Palestinian home
Ma’an News Agency 11/20/2008
Tulkarem – Ma’an – Israeli forces raided the neighborhood of Qaffin in northern Tulkarem at dawn on Thursday, according to witnesses. Local sources reported that 15 military vehicles stormed the northern West Bank village, an operation conducted under "intensive shooting of bullets and sound bombs. " Israeli sources also stormed the house of Sami Mustafa Tu’mah in the eastern neighborhood of the village, destroying property inside. No arrests or detentions were immediately reported. Palestinian youths threw stones and empty glass bottles at Israeli soldiers during the confrontation. No injuries had been immediately reported by Thursday morning. [end]
Israeli forces seize two Tamoun residents
Ma’an News Agency 11/20/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – Israeli military forces detained two residents of the West Bank town of Tamoun early on Thursday morning, according to witnesses. Local Palestinian sources told Ma’an that “Israeli troops invaded the town at dawn, broke into several homes and arrested Akram Bani A’udah and Ahmad Bsharat. ”The two were taken to an undisclosed location. It was not immediately clear why Israeli forces abducted the two men, and the military spokesperson did not announce whether or not the two were charged with crimes or under what pretext, if any, they were seized from their homes. [end]
Israeli army raids agricultural aid office near Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 11/20/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli soldiers raided a municipal agricultural assistance office in the village of Tuqu, south of Bethlehem, on Thursday, local sources said. Israeli troops destroyed the interior of the office and seized farmers’ documents. On Wednesday Israeli soldiers also invaded the village, arresting 30 people and placing the town under curfew. [end]
Palestinian indicted for Jerusalem stabbing
Aviad Glickman, YNetNews 11/20/2008
Muhammad al-Badan, 21, from Tekoa charged with murdering 86-year-old Avraham Ozeri in Jerusalem last month -A Palestinian man from the village of Tekoa was indicted at the Jerusalem District Court Thursday for murder, attempted murder and staying in Israel illegally. The man, 21-year-old Muhammad al-Badan, stabbed 86-year-old Avraham Ozeri to death in the city last month. According to the indictment, about a month ago al-Badan decided to carry out a terror attack against Jews. He bought a knife in Bethlehem for this purpose and then entered Israel illegally through the village of Beit Jala in east Jerusalem. Al-Badan arrived at the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo and wondered the streets in search of a potential victim. At some point he was spotted by a police patrol, and the officers approached him and asked to examine his papers. more.. e-mail
IDF troops foil attempted stabbing attack near Nablus
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 11/21/2008
Israel Defense Forces troops on Thursday prevented a Palestinian from stabbing an IDF woman soldier near the West Bank city of Nablus. Troops overpowered the assailant and in a subsequent search, found an explosive device on his person. The incident occurred at the Beit Eiba checkpoint. Another Palestinian was arrested on Thursday at the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus, after troops discovered he was carrying a knife with a four-inch blade. In September, an IDF soldier lost his vision in one eye after a Palestinian woman threw acid in his face at the Hawara checkpoint. [end]
Al-Aqsa Brigades launches projectile toward Kfar Azza
Ma’an News Agency 11/20/2008
Gaza - Ma’an - The Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for a projectile launched toward the Israeli town of Kfar Azza, east of Gaza City, on Thursday, according to a statement sent to Ma’an. The statement from Al-Aqsa announced that the internal Ayman Jude Group had fired the projectile. It claimed the shelling was in response to "Israeli massacres against our people in the Gaza Strip," according to the statement. [end]
DFLP affiliate launches projectile toward Ashkelon
Ma’an News Agency 11/20/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A group affiliated with the National Resistance Brigades, the militant wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), claimed responsibility for launching a projectile at Ashkelon, Israel late on Wednesday night. A group within the National Resistance Brigades, calling itself the "Projectile Unit," sent a statement to Ma’an claiming responsibility for the attack. The Brigades-affiliate launched the attack in retaliation for "ongoing Israeli atrocities" in the Gaza Strip, according to the statement. [end]
Qassam fighter killed in 'Jihad mission'
Palestinian Information Center 11/20/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- A member of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas Movement, died on Thursday while on a "Jihad mission" in Gaza, the armed wing said. The QB said in a communiqué that Mohammed Al-Ar’ir, 20, was killed when he was on a "Jihad mission" east of Gaza city but would not elaborate. It underlined that he had an honorable record in lines of the armed wing. The Israeli occupation forces killed 17 Palestinian fighters, mostly affiliated with the QB, since 4/11/2008 in a series of aerial raids and incursions into the Gaza Strip in violation of the calm agreement signed over five months ago between the Palestinian factions and the IOF. [end]
Israeli soldiers ordered to travel in convoys on Egyptian border amid abduction fears
Ma’an News Agency 11/20/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli soldiers on the Egyptian border have been ordered to travel only in convoys, underlining fears that soldiers might by captured by Palestinian fighters, Israeli media reported on Thursday. Soldiers in the border area are now banned from travelling alone, underlining Israeli concerns that a new abduction could take place, similar to the one carried out by Hizbullah in 2006 that lead to that year’s Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Israeli soldiers serving in outlying border posts have also complained about a lack of basic services, including garbage collection, and insufficient food and water. Troops fear that the mandatory convoys will worsen their situation. more.. e-mail
Cabinet finds funds to reinforce homes in Sderot region
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/20/2008
The cabinet made a U-turn yesterday regarding anti-missile reinforcements for communities near the border with Gaza. One week after the cabinet rejected a proposal by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his deputy to increase protection against rocket damage in the area, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the High Court of Justice that he intends to find the money to carry out the work. The new funding source: Finance Minister Roni Bar-On’s new national economic stimulus plan. On November 12 the cabinet discussed a proposal made by Barak and Deputy Defense Minister MK Matan Vilnai (Labor) to increase by about NIS 500 million the budget for reinforcing Israeli homes near the border with the Gaza Strip. In February, the cabinet approved the first stage of the program, including reinforcing communities within 4. more.. e-mail
Tamir: Hamas is heavy burden on our soldiers
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/20/2008
Tensions eased along the Gaza Strip border yesterday, after two weeks of exchanges of fire. However, military sources said the situation still remained far from a return to a full cease fire. The Israel Defense Forces had orders to act with restraint yesterday as commanders gained the impression that Hamas wants to resume the truce and is reining in the smaller militant Palestinian factions, the sources said. Two Qassam rockets landed in an open area south of Ashkelon yesterday and a mortar shell fell in the western Negev. Shots were fired at an IDF unit close to the border in the northern Gaza Strip. Nobody was hurt. Outgoing Gaza division commander Brigadier General Moshe Tamir yesterday described Hamas as the cruelest, most fanatic enemy he had ever encountered. Tamir spoke at the ceremony for incoming division commander Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg. more.. e-mail
Ashkelon: Hundreds protest Qassam barrages
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 11/20/2008
Residents of southern city rally against government inaction in face of increased, improved rocket attacks from Gaza -Hundreds of people gathered at the main junction at the entrance to Ashkelon, Thursday afternoon, to rally against the lack of fortifications in the city to protect residents from ongoing barrages of rockets launched from Gaza. Dozens of rockets have been launched at the western Negev in the past two weeks, one of which was a longer-range Grad rocket that wounded 15 in an Ashkelon shopping mall last Wednesday. Residents of the southern city had previously been largely out of rocket range. Children in the crowd dropped to the ground as protest organizers blared a Color Red alert. Other protesters carried signs reading, "Don’t abandon children in the field," "Who will save my house? " and "Ashkelon deserves to have quiet. " more.. e-mail
Explosion kills Hamas man in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 11/20/2008
Palestinians say Hamas member Muhammad al-Arir killed by IDF fire in Gaza. Israel denies carrying out attack, says explosion was internal incident - An explosion in the Gaza Strip killed a member of the Hamas Islamist group on Thursday, hospital staff and witnesses said. Palestinian sources reported that Muhammad al-Arir was killed from IDF fire near the Sajiya neighborhood east of Gaza City. According to the sources, al-Arir was killed from an Israeli tank shelling and was transferred to Shifa Hospital. An Israeli army spokesman said Israel was not involved in the blast and had not carried out any attacks in the area. Israeli sources believe al-Arir was killed in an internal incident. On Saturday Palestinians reported a gunman was killed in an IDF aerial attack in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, and another gunman was critically wounded. more.. e-mail
A Hamas fighter killed by an Israeli tank shell
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/20/2008
The Alqassam brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas party announced on Thursday that one of its fighters was killed by an Israeli tank shrapnel to the east of Gaza city. Palestinian medical sources said that Mohammad Alaraeer, 21 , was killed instantly after having been shot with tank sharpenl just close to the Nahal Auz fuel terminal in eastern Gaza city. Dr. Mo’awiya Abu Hasanin, chief of emergency and ambulance service at the Hamas-run health ministry confirmed no other casualties in the area. From his part, spokesman of the Alqassam brigades, Abu Obaida, told media outlets in Gaza that the latest killed fighter planted yesterday night an anti-tank explosive device on the eastern Gaza-Israel border lines" " While the fighter was heading today morning back to the area to dismantle the device, an Israeli tanks shot a shell on him, dismembering his body and making the device explode", Abu Aobaida explained. more.. e-mail
Qassam lands in western Negev, no injuries
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 11/20/2008
Palestinians fire rocket from northern Gaza towards Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, no injuries or damage reported - Palestinian gunmen fired a Qassam rocket from northern Gaza towards the western Negev on Thursday afternoon. The rocket landed in an open area in the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, no injuries or damage were reported. Earlier in the day Defense Minister Ehud Barak addressed the current situation in the region, saying "the recent waves of rocket attacks are a result of our operations, which have resulted in the killing of 20 Hamas gunmen. We will continue to operate with determination, but if the other side works towards restoring the calm, it will find us willing to do the same. "In recent days the relative calm has been restored to the communities in southern Israel, though the week began with a series of rocket barrages that endangered the shaky ceasefire with Gaza’s armed groups. more.. e-mail
IDF envisions army of animal robots for rescue missions, military ops
Ofri Ilani, Ha’aretz 11/21/2008
A cat-bot that climbs the walls using its claws, a dog-droid that responds to human movements, and a robot which releases glue through its wheels while scaling buildings met Wednesday in Herzliya. This might sound like the beginning of a joke or a description of the scene of a science fiction movie like Star Wars. In reality though, this was the scene at a robot exhibition held on Wednesday at a conference in the central coastal town. The wall-scaling robot may look like a small mechanical toy, but in practice it is quite a sophisticated device: it is capable of crawling up vertical walls, can turn corners without falling, and successfully navigate through obstacles without difficulty. The robot is the offspring of a family of robots which were developed by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev ? a project which was launched following. . . more.. e-mail
Palestine Today 112008
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/20/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 30s || 3. 22 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Thursday November 20 2008 The Hamas-run agriculture ministry in Gaza warned on Thursday of an imminent nutrition crisis in the Gaza Strip due to the continuation of the Israeli closure of Gaza’s border crossings. In the West Bank, the Israeli military detained more than a dozen of Palestinian residents. These news and more are upcoming, stay tuned. United Nations Secretary Genearl, Ban Ki-Mooon, voiced on Thursday his concern over the growing humanitarian difficulties in the Gaza Strip, due to Israeli closure of Gaza’s border crossings. Ki-Moon phoned Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, calling on the Israeli government to ease entry of goods and basic commodities to the coastal territories. more.. e-mail
Security forces brace as settlers arrive in droves to Hebron
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/21/2008
Tens of thousands expected to enter West Bank city over weekend, with many planning to remain in disputed house intended for evacuation. Settler violence against troops has escalated sharply over past few days, rattling nighttime footage captures rioting mob attacking security forces - Security forces deployed throughout Hebron on Thursday evening in anticipation of another night of public disturbances in the West Bank city by extreme-right activists. Although the High Court’s ruling on the evacuation of the disputed house near the Tomb of the Patriarchs has not yet been carried out, tensions between Jewish settlers and law enforcement are at a boiling point. The IDF, Border Guard and the police have all reinforced their men on the ground in preparation for the arrival of some 20,000 people to Hebron ahead of the reading of the ’Chayei Sarah’ weekly portion (lit. more.. e-mail
Dichter: Disputed Hebron house will be evacuated
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/20/2008
In meeting with senior police, Shin Bet and IDF officials, internal security minister says High Court’s decision to evacuate disputed Hebron House will be carried out in full. IDF soldiers spent morning painting over anti-Muslim graffiti sprayed by settlers on Hebron mosque - Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter announced on Thursday that the High Court’s ruling regarding the evacuation of the disputed house in Hebron will be carried out in full. During a meeting with police Commissioner Dudi Cohen and representatives of the IDF and the Shin Bet, Dichter said that "the rule of law in Israel is not a recommendation but rather an objective that must be achieved in its entirety. "This message must be conveyed to the police and all other security branches," he added. Meanwhile, IDF soldiers spent the great part of the day painting over anti-Muslim graffiti sprayed by settlers on a local mosque. more.. e-mail
Settler Rabbi: The State of Israel is an Enemy of the People
Nadav Shragai, MIFTAH 11/20/2008
"The state of Israel has become the enemy of the people and the land of Israel," settler rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe said Tuesday during an emergency meeting on the state’s plan to evacuate a house in Hebron whose ownership has been at the center of a bitter dispute for over a year. The four-story building became a flash point for tensions when settlers moved in early last year after claiming to have purchased it from a Palestinian. But the Palestinian denies the claim and Israeli authorities have not recognized the sale as legal. Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday said the settlers will be evacuated from the building, but that defense officials will sit down with them first to try to persuade them to leave voluntarily. The Supreme Court has given the settlers until noon Wednesday to leave the house. They say they aren’t budging. The court says if the settlers do not leave willingly they will be evicted within 30 days. more.. e-mail
Hebron: Rightists injure soldier, desecrate graves
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/20/2008
Tensions surrounding disputed Hebron house continue to run high as settlers clash with local Palestinians, pour turpentine on soldier, spray ’Muhammad the pig’ graffiti on mosque - Dozens of Right-wing activists clashed with Palestinians Wednesday night near a disputed house in Hebron, injured an IDF soldier and desecrated Palestinian graves. None of the rioters was arrested, but security sources vowed to bring the offenders to justice. The High Court of Justice ruled this week that the house, which is inhabited by settlers, should be evacuated until the question of its ownership can be established. In recent days the settlers’ violence in Hebron has increased, and activists at the place have turned throwing stones on Palestinians and their houses into a routine thing. During a confrontation that erupted at the place tonight, IDF and police forces. . . more.. e-mail
Soldier hurt in Hebron settler violence
Yaakov Katz And Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post 11/20/2008
The defense establishment will respond harshly to attacks by far-right activists in Hebron, a senior officer in the IDF Central Command said Thursday after activists clashed with security personnel overnight and vandalized a nearby Muslim cemetery. Tensions reach boiling point in Hebron - "Violence against security forces cannot be allowed to continue," the officer said. "We will respond with the means that are at our disposal. " Also on Thursday, Rabbi Col. Moshe Hagar-Lau, a battalion commander in reserve duty and head of the Yatir pre-military yeshiva academy in the South Hebron Hills, speaking from Hebron, said that any attempt to forcibly evacuate settlers from a disputed building in the city would be met with severe violence. "The political echelon has no mandate to do anything controversial right now," Hagar-Lau said. more.. e-mail
Gush Katif petitioners seek to replace ’biased’ judge
Tomer Zarchin, Ha’aretz 11/20/2008
Attorneys representing dozens of Gush Katif evacuees last month appealed to Jerusalem Magistrate Court President, Judge Amnon Cohen, with a request to remove Judge Anna Schneider from the handling of petitions relating to the Evacuation-Compensation Law. A similar letter was sent to Cohen by the Committee of Gush Katif Residents. They argue that Schneider, who until three years ago served as the Knesset’s legal adviser, took part in 30 sessions of Knesset committees between 2004 and 2005 dealing with the law. She also took part in a tour of the Gaza Strip prior to the evacuation organized by the Knesset’s Finance Committee. In September, Judge Cohen determined that Schneider exclusively would handle appeals of the Sela Disengagement Administration’s eligibility committee decisions relating to compensation for evacuees. more.. e-mail
Palestinian, Israeli officials alarmed by Hebron settlers’ attacks
Ma’an News Agency 11/20/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian and Israeli officials voiced concern on Thursday after Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron. During a rally on Thursday, settlers attacked Palestinian locals while others wounded an Israeli soldier by splashing turpentine on him as he tried to prevent them from throwing stones at Palestinians. Settler groups have been outraged at a court ruling allowing the Israeli army to remove settlers from a Palestinian-owned house they have illegally occupied in Hebron since 2007. The house belongs to the Rajabi family. The court gave the settlers until noon on Wednesday to leave, and the Defense Ministry has been attempting to persuade the settlers to leave peacefully. The settlers have vowed to resist the eviction order. more.. e-mail
Two Molotov cocktails hurled at Israeli cars near Hebron; none wounded
Jerusalem Post 11/20/2008
Palestinians hurled two Molotov cocktail bottles at a military vehicle and an Israeli car near Hebron on Thursday night. No one was wounded and the cars were not damaged. [end]
Barak: Security forces hope Hebron settlers will leave voluntarily
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 11/19/2008
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday said a group of settlers will be evacuated from a disputed building in the West Bank city of Hebron. But Barak said defense officials will sit down with the settlers first to try to persuade them to leave voluntarily. The Supreme Court has given the settlers until noon Wednesday to leave the house. They say they aren’t budging. The court says if the settlers do not leave willingly they will be evicted within 30 days. Settlers moved in last year saying they bought the property legally from a Palestinian. The Palestinian denies the claim and Israeli authorities have not recognized the sale as legal. The court ruled that the settlers must turn the house over to the state until a different court decides who the legal owner is. more.. e-mail
Israeli military continues rampage in the Taqou’ village
International Middle East Media Center News 11/19/2008
Israeli military continued on Wednesday rampage throughout the West Bank village of Taqou, detaining dozens of youth after ransacking many houses. The Israeli soldiers, backed by armored vehicles imposed a curfew on the village and began ransacking many houses and local community organizations, leading scores of youth to the local secondary school for girls, witnesses said. The soldiers also took over roof tops of a number of houses, turning them to military outposts as the military jeeps sealed off all entrances leading to the village, witnesses added. Palestinian sources confirmed that the Israeli soldiers harassed a number of children in front of the houses. Among those harassed were Hussam Abu Mefreh and Ahmad Abu Mefreh, a 12 year-old. more.. e-mail
Israeli military detains four residents from Nablus City
International Middle East Media Center News 11/19/2008
Israeli military detained on Wednesday four Palestinian residents from the West Bank city of Nablus, as the soldiers ransacked the detainees’ houses. Witnesses said that a large Israeli contingent , made up of several armored vehicles, cordoned off the Balata refugee camp on the southern outskirts of Nablus city. The witnesses added that the Israeli military attack on Balata has been concentrated in several neighborhoods, especially at the Jamasin and old mosque. The attack resulted in the detention of Hussam Hassan, Tha’er Altirawi, Mohammad Morshed and a fourth whose identity is still unknown, Palestinian security sources revealed. The sources made clear that the Israeli soldiers broke into a number of houses , before detaining the said residents. more.. e-mail
14 Palestinians seized by Israeli forces in West Bank raids
Ma’an News Agency 11/19/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized as many as 14 Palestinians during overnight raids throughout the West Bank on Wednesday. The Israeli military reported that it arrested 14 people in Bethlehem, Qalqiliya, Ramallah and Hebron and transferred them for interrogation. Eight people were taken in one such raid in Al-Fawwar Refugee Camp, south of the city of Hebron. Local sources told Ma’an that Israeli troops raided the camp at dawn and searched a number of houses. The detainees have not yet been identified. Some 20 people were arrested in the camp during a similar raid on Tueday. Meanwhile Israeli forces detained three young men and assaulted a fourth in Balata Refugee Camp on the outskirts of the city of Nablus. Local sources told Ma’an that Israeli forces raided the camp at dawn and stormed a number of houses. more.. e-mail
PFLP fighters say three projectiles fired from Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 11/19/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian fighters say they fired three homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Kfar Aza from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon. The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed the attack in a statement. The group said that “resistance remains the preferable choice of the Palestinian people against Israeli assaults. ”Israeli media reported that three projectiles landed in a different area, near the town of Zikim, north of the Gaza Strip, causing no injuries or damage. Kfar Aza is east of Gaza. [end]
Israeli Incursion into South Gaza
BBC News, MIFTAH 11/19/2008
The Israeli military has launched an incursion into the Gaza Strip and clashed with Palestinian gunmen there. Witnesses say the Israeli troops were accompanied by bulldozers which have been destroying agricultural land east of the town of Rafah, in southern Gaza. There was no immediate reports of any injuries or deaths. Meanwhile, Israeli defence officials say they have re-imposed a total closure of the border crossings into the Gaza Strip. A convoy of 33 trucks of humanitarian aid was allowed in on Monday, but United Nations officials say the supplies will run out within days. Israel says it has tightened its blockade of Gaza in response to recent rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, which have caused minor damage but no casualties. Gaza mapA coalition of aid agencies which had been due to hold a meeting in Gaza held the event in the car park at Erez, the main crossing for people into Gaza, instead, in protest after they were denied entry to the Strip. more.. e-mail
Israel reinstitutes Gaza blockade after brief respite, UN reports
United Nations News Service, ReliefWeb 11/19/2008
Israel reinstituted its blockade of the Gaza Strip today after a brief respite to let humanitarian aid pass through on Tuesday, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said today, describing the situation as "desperate" and "unacceptable. " No fuel, humanitarian supplies or commercial commodities were allowed into Gaza today, according to the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO). Mr. Holmes – who is also Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs – told journalists in Geneva that the closure was seen as collective punishment. Half the population of Gaza was under 15 and were being held hostage by the situation. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday to urge him to facilitate the freer movement of urgently needed humanitarian supplies and of UN personnel into Gaza. more.. e-mail
Settlers stand by refusal to get out of Hebron home
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 11/20/2008
HEBRON, Occupied West Bank: About 100 Jewish colonists on Wednesday defied a High Court order to evacuate a house in the flashpoint Occupied West Bank city of Hebron, and braced for possible confrontation with police. "I fear excesses as we don’t control all those who support our cause," said Malakhie Levinger, mayor of the nearby Kyriat Arba settlement. Settlers have distributed cycling helmets to teenagers in readiness for any confrontation. "We won’t use violence but we will not allow anyone to hit our children with impunity," said Uri Ariel, an MP of the National Union party. The settlers rallied support from religious and right-wing politicians and from fellow hard-line settlers across the Israeli-occupied West Bank to resist Sunday’s order. The court ruling set a Wednesday deadline for the settlers to move out. more.. e-mail
Hebron building left alone - for now
Jerusalem Post 11/19/2008
Fearing extreme violence, the IDF does not plan to evacuate the disputed four-story building in Hebron this week, senior defense officials said on Wednesday. Initially it was expected that the IDF would move immediately to forcibly remove the nine families who live there once the court-ordered deadline for their voluntary exit expired Wednesday morning. According to defense officials, the decision to postpone the evacuation was made due to festivities planned for the weekend in the Jewish section of the city and concern that right-wing activists would barricade themselves in the building, known as Beit Hashalom. It is located on Worshipers’ Way, the road that leads between the Kiryat Arba settlement and the Cave of the Patriarchs. This weekend, in honor of the reading of the Torah portion that describes Abraham’s purchase of the Cave of the Patriarchs, thousands of worshipers are expected to spend Shabbat in the city. more.. e-mail
Hebron settlers headed for showdown with Israeli troops over house
Ma’an News Agency 11/19/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli settlers are bracing for a showdown on Wednesday as the Israeli military prepares to carry out a court order to evacuate a settler-occupied house in the West Bank city of Hebron. Settlers moved into the four-story building in early 2007, claiming they purchased the property from a Palestinian who denies the sale ever took place. Israeli authorities have not recognized the sale as legal. Israel’s highest court gave the settlers until noon on Wednesday to leave the house, at which time police and military forces would be authorized to remove them by force Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he would execute the order, but only after attempting to persuade the settlers to leave peacefully. A few hundred Israeli settlers, protected by thousands of soldiers, live in the heart of the of Hebron, a Palestinian city of 250,000 inhabitants. more.. e-mail
Palestine Today 111908
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/19/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 00s || 2. 74 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Wednesday November 19 2008 The Israeli military kept up on Wednesday closure of the Gaza border crossings for more than two weeks now as the Israeli military carried out a series of attacks on the West Bank. These news and more are coming up stay tuned. Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, decided during a meeting with his senior security officials, to keep up closure of Gaza’s crossings for the sixteenth day consecutively. The Israeli decision comes despite repeated warnings by international humanitarian bodies that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is on the brink of collapse. In the West Bank, the Israeli military invaded the Taqou’ village , imposing a strict curfew and detaining several residents in the area. more.. e-mail
Cobras return to action after crash
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 11/20/2008
Investigation into deadly crash responsible for grounding Cobra helicopters for over a month concludes incident was caused by unprecedented technological malfunction; IAF orders all choppers to undergo preemptive maintenance -The IAF’s Cobra helicopters are set to reclaim their place in the sky after an investigation left them grounded for over a month. The Cobra crash responsible for the grounding, which took place in early September near Kibbutz Ginegar in the north, was found to have been caused by a rare incident of rotor detachment. Two reservist pilots were killed in the crash: Major Shai Danor, 35, from Rosh HaAyin, and Major Yuval Holtzman, 40, of Matan. Immediately after the crash IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Ido Nehoshtan ordered all of the helicopters grounded, and appointed an investigating committee to inquire into the matter. more.. e-mail
Palestinian 'terror' group gloats over Zikim closure
Ali Waked, YNetNews 11/19/2008
’The Israelis make threats, but after each threat they withdraw and evacuate,’ PRC spokesman says after IDF recruits vacated from base near Gaza. Adds: Palestinians’ faith and determination will bring more victories -"The evacuation of Zikim serves as further proof that the IDF is going from defeat to defeat," a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) told Ynet after the military base, a basic training facility located in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip, marked the end of its instructional activities on Wednesday. "It began with the withdrawal from Lebanon (May 2000), the pullout from Gaza (August 2005), the defeat in theSecond Lebanon War (summer 2006) and, of course, the daily beating from the Palestinian resistance," Abu Abir said. "Zikim won’t be the last place from which Israelis will be evacuated. more.. e-mail
VIDEO - 2 Qassams land near Ashkelon
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 11/19/2008
(Video) Few hours after Zikim army base holds closing ceremony, two rockets fired from Gaza Strip land in area; no injuries or damage caused - VIDEO -Two Qassam rockets fired from the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday landed in the Zikim area, south of Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported. The rockets were fired a few hours after the IDF’s Zikim military base, a basic training facility located in the vicinity, held a festive ceremony marking the end of its instructional activities in the area. On Tuesday afternoon, three Qassam rockets went off in open fields in the western Negev, with no damage or injuries reported. Two mortar shells were also fired at the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council on Tuesday, with no injuries or damage caused. Video courtesy ofInfolive. more.. e-mail
East Jerusalem home demolished; Israel to build new road in its place
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli forces demolished the home of Jamal Dahoud Abu Sneineh in the Al-Isawiya neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Tuesday. Troops of Israeli police and military border guards descended on the area in the early afternoon and closed off the streets. A number of armed guards entered the home and threatened the Abu Sneineh family at gunpoint to leave the home or they would be shot. The Israeli army forcibly pushed back bystanders and forbid anyone to approach the area as the bulldozer went to work on the building. Abu Sneineh said Israeli officials notified him that his home would be demolished because it was too close to the Hebrew University and the municipality wanted to build a road on the site where his home is. Israeli police demolished three houses in Silwan and one in the Shu’afat neighborhood on 5 November, provoking clashes with Palestinian youths that left seven injured. more.. e-mail
Israeli military invades Rafah city in southern Gaza
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/18/2008
Israeli military bulldozers, backed by armored vehicles, swept early on Tuesday morning into the eastern borders of Rafah city in southern Gaza Strip. Witnesses said that the Israeli bulldozers began razing farm lands just 50 to 100 meters depth into Palestinian areas, mainly in the Alnahda neighborhood. Witnesses added that the Israeli armored vehicles moved towards the Gaza international airport, and that they also razed farm lands in the area. Meanwhile, the Alqassam brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas party, fired a Qassam homemade shell at the invading force, witnesses confirmed. Such a development comes as Israel continues to close the Gaza border crossings today, and Gaza-based resistance factions continue to respond with homemade shells fire onto nearby Israeli towns. Some Israeli officials were reported as warning of carrying out a large military offensive against the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
In night of mass arrests Israeli forces detain at least 30 across West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli forces launched a wide-scale arrest campaign against Palestinian youth in the West Bank before sunrise on Tuesday. More than 30 individuals were taken, mostly from the Al-Fawwar refugee camp south of Hebron in the southern West Bank, and mostly men under thirty. Dozens of Israeli military vehicles carried out the biggest invasion of the Al-Fawwar camp in six months. Several houses were inspected and ransacked, and families were forced at gunpoint to leave their homes to the street. Israeli forces claimed two hunting rifles were seized from the camp as well as 100 bullets and military equipment. Local sources estimated that 20 youth from the camp were detained. Those identified were:13-year-old Ashraf An-Najjar18-year-old Ahmad Abu Awwad18-year-old Ahmad Awad18-year-old Mousa Al-Azza18-year-old Muhannad. . . more.. e-mail
Israel arrests Fatah leader for possession of hunting rifle
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Nablus - Ma’an - Israeli forces arrested a Fatah leader in a village near the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday for possession of a hunting rifle. Palestinian sources told Ma’an that Israeli troops seized 22-year-old Jamal Thabet, a member of the local Fatah committee, from his house in the village of Azmut. israeli troops in eight military vehicles also attacked a student’s house with in the same area. [end]
Settlers block road near Nablus, stone Palestinian cars
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Nablus - Ma’an - Israeli settlers blocked the bypass road linking the West Bank cities of Nablus and Qalqilia, near the village of Madama on Tuesday night, witnesses said. Hassan Zyadeh a municipal council member in Madama said the settlers prevented Palestinian vehicles from passing into the village and pelted their cars with stones. Madama is bordered to the south by the Yizhar settlement, which has been the source of dozens of violent attacks on Palestinians over the months, including beatings and stonings. [end]
Youth arrested, stripped at Beit Iba checkpoint for allegedly carrying explosives
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces closed the Beit Iba checkpoint west of Nablus on Tuesday after suddenly surrounding a young boy claiming he was in possession of an explosive device. Ma’an’s cameraman captured the incident as Israeli soldiers forced the boy to strip in the road then transfer him to a military vehicle. Soldiers brought out an explosives detector and claimed to detonate a pipe bomb that the youth was carrying. Bystanders doubted whether the boy was indeed carrying any explosives, since several incidents have been recorded in the Nablus governorate of boys being falsely accused and detained. On Monday Israeli forces closed the other major road to the Nablus governorate to the south of the city. Two young boys were detained at the Huwwarah checkpoint south of Nablus after they Israeli soldiers claimed they were carrying knives; the boys were transferred to an unknown location and remain in Israeli custody. more.. e-mail
Six Palestinians wounded in an Israeli invasion to Bethlehem
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/18/2008
Palestinian medical sources in Bethlehem reported on Tuesday at night that six Palestinians were mildly wounded by Israeli military fire during an evening Israeli military invasion to the city. Israeli soldiers, supported by at least twenty armored military vehicles and jeeps, invaded Bethlehem from several directions while under-cover forces of the Israeli military invaded Al Saff Street in the center of the city. Soldiers then surrounded for four hours the house of Khalid Al Doury, and forced the residents out before violently searching the property causing damage. Dozens of Palestinian youth hurled stones at the invading forces while the army fired live rounds, rubber-coated bullets and gas bombs. Six residents were mildly wounded and received the needed medical treatment. The army and the under-cover forces withdrew from the city later on without abducting any resident, local sources reported. more.. e-mail
Palestinian fighters say they fired six projectiles from Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Gaza - Ma’an – Palestinian fighters claimed to have fired six homemade projectiles at Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the An-Nasser Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for launching two projectiles at the Israeli border town of Sderot. Separately the Al-Quds Brigades the military wing of Islamic Jihad claimed to have launched four projectiles at the town of Nahal Oz on Tuesday. The Al-Quds Brigades said the attack was “in response to Israeli crimes. ”No one was injured. [end]
Rockets, mortar shells hit south
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 11/18/2008
Attacks continue as Palestinians fire rockets, mortar shells on Shaar HaNegev Regional Council; no injuries or damage reported -Tension rose in the south once again on Tuesday as three Qassam rockets were fired from Gaza. The rockets landed in open areas in Shaar HaNegev Regional Council. Two mortar shells followed the rocket barrage. No injuries or damages were reported. On Sunday two Qassam rockets were fired at Sderot, causing a scare among residents of the Negev as they landed after the "Color Red" anti-rocket alert system failed to go off. No injuries were reported in the attack. The IDF said that the attack was unusual as it came from deep within the Strip, as opposed to the area close to the border fence. More than 10 rockets were fired throughout Sunday. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said over the weekend that "there is no such thing. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli tanks, bulldozers invade southern Gaza; blockade resumes
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Gaza/Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded the southern end of the Gaza Strip, near the city of Rafah at 9am on Tuesday and began razing agricultural lands. Three tanks and two bulldozers breached the Gaza border and went 50-100 meters into the An-Nahdah neighborhood east of Rafah, just meters away from the ruins of Gaza International Airport. Bulldozers remained in the area at press time. The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military branch, reported launching a projectile at the military vehicles as they rolled across the border. Separately, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades , said it spotted, then exchanged fire with undercover Israeli forces at the northern end of the Gaza Strip, in the Al-Bura neighborhood of Beit Hanoun. more.. e-mail
IOA exploits world’s preoccupation with economic crisis to judaize Jerusalem
Palestinian Information Center 11/18/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The PA Islamic Christian authority formed to support Jerusalem and holy shrines has warned that the Israeli occupation authority was exploiting the world’s preoccupation with the economic crisis to launch an all-out war on occupied Jerusalem. Dr. Hassan Khater, the authority’s secretary general, said in a press release that the Israeli offensive on Jerusalem was now clear more than ever before. He drew the attention to the fact that the IOA was launching a large-scale demolition process of Arab buildings and suburbs that started in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. He explained that the IOA started to flatten Arab homes in the suburb and displace its inhabitants in preparation for wiping it off the map of Jerusalem and build Jewish quarters on its ruins to tighten the noose o the Old City and to disintegrate the Arab suburbs northeast of the occupied city. more.. e-mail
MK moves into disputed Hebron building
Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post 11/18/2008
Lugging a red suitcase and calling on other politicians to join him, MK Nissim Ze’ev (Shas) defied an evacuation order by the High Court of Justice and moved Tuesday afternoon into the disputed four-story Hebron building, whose tenants have until Wednesday morning to vacate the premises. "I will stay here as long as I need to, until the army comes. I hope that if we are here, the army won’t come," said Ze’ev, as he came to take up residence at Beit Hashalom. The eviction order was issued Sunday, spurring the Hebron Jewish community and right-wing activists throughout the country to launch protest actions. They have pledged not to abandon the structure, located on the main road between Kiryat Arba and the Cave of the Patriarchs. On Tuesday night, some 1,000 activists gathered in Kiryat Arba to listen to rousing speeches against the eviction, after which four new. . . more.. e-mail
Collaborator in Gaza sentenced to 15 years in prison
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A suspected collaborator in the Gaza Strip was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the de facto government’s Court of First Instance. According to the court decision, 12 years were given for “contacting security affiliated to a foreign entity” and 3 years for “weakening resistance morale. ”The court convened several hearings to examine evidence against the man, and the court decided the material proved his guild of collaborating with Israel. Last week in a Bethlehem military court a collaborator was sentenced to death. Human Rights institutions appealed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to stay the sentence. [end]
IDF Home Front links Ashdod up to rocket-warning system
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 11/19/2008
The Home Front Command connected the city of Ashdod to the Color Red rocket warning system in recent days, following an Israel Defense Forces estimate that Hamas now possesses long-range rockets capable of reaching the coastal city. Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai visited the city Monday to supervise preparations, noting that "the cease-fire is crumbling. " At least 13 Qassam rockets and three mortars were fired on the western Negev Monday from the Gaza Strip. No one was injured. Seven rockets were fired in a single morning barrage at the communities of the Eshkol regional council, located along the southern border of the Strip. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Sderot Monday along with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. more.. e-mail
New IDF Gaza commander to take post
Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post 11/18/2008
A changing of the guard at the helm of the IDF’s Gaza Division is to take place Wednesday morning, despite the continued Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. IDF tanks enter northern Gaza; Ashdod preparing for rockets attacks Last week, Chief of General Staff Lt. -Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi postponed the ceremony, at which Brig. -Gen. Eyal Eizenberg is to replace Brig. -Gen. Moshe Tamir. That move was interpreted as a possible indicator that Israel was considering launching a wide-scale operation inside Gaza. "This is not the case," a senior IDF source said Tuesday. "Israel is working to keep the cease-fire alive and Hamas ultimately wants the same. " RELATEDOver 10 Kassams fired at South on MondayLivni: Hamas to blame for Gaza’s fate On Tuesday, Palestinians fired at least three Kassam rockets and two mortar shells. . . more.. e-mail
Palestinian military groups continue projectile launches towards Israeli targets Monday night
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Several homemade projectiles and mortar shells were launched from the Gaza Strip overnight Monday, most hit targets near Israeli towns in the western Negev according to statement from Palestinian military groups. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said in a statement that the group’s fighters fired three homemade projectiles and three mortar shells at Sderot and Kfar Sa’d in the western Negev. The Brigades’ statement said the shelling was meant to assert that “resistance would continue. ”Separately, the Al-Mujahidin Brigades, affiliated with the Fatah party, launched two homemade projectiles towards Sderot. They announced in a statement that the ceasefire agreement would not prevent them from continuing to resist Israeli aggression. more.. e-mail
Palestine Today 111808
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/18/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 00s || 2. 74MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Tuesday November 18 2008 The Israeli military invaded today the eastern parts of Rafah city in southern Gaza as the Israeli troops detained scores of Palestinian residents from various West Bank areas. This news and more are coming up, stay tuned. Israeli troops invaded earlier today the southern parts of the Gaza Strip, just east of Rafah city. The troops, accompanied with bulldozers, razed some arable lands in the area. The Alqassam brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza, announced its fighters defended the invaded area with firing homemade shells onto the Israel troops. Israeli officials, including the prime minister, the foreign minister and the defense minister, had. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli military detains scores of Palestinians from the various West Bank areas
International Middle East Media Center News 11/18/2008
The Israeli military detained on Tuesday 32 Palestinian residents from different parts of the occupied West Bank, media sources and witnesses reported. Palestinian security sources said earlier today that the Israeli military invaded the Alfawar refugee camp in the southern Hebron city last night and that the Israeli soldiers rounded up 11 residents from there. Also, the sources added that the Israeli troops took prisoners four other residents from the Nablus city. Two out of these detainees were rounded up at the Hewarra checkpoint in southern Nablus. [end]
Al-Aqsa Brigades claim shooting attack on settler near Qalqilia
Ma’an News Agency 11/18/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah claimed to have opened fire on an Israeli settler’s car near the West Bank city of Qalqilia on Tuesday afternoon. In a statement the organization claimed that the settler was “seriously wounded” in the attack. The group said the attack was a response to “endless Israeli aggression against Palestinians. ”An Israeli military spokesperson had no information the attack. more.. e-mail
Settler rabbi: State of Israel is an enemy of the people
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 11/19/2008
"The state of Israel has become the enemy of the people and the land of Israel," settler rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe said Tuesday during an emergency meeting on the state’s plan to evacuate a house in Hebron whose ownership has been at the center of a bitter dispute for over a year. The four-story building became a flash point for tensions when settlers moved in early last year after claiming to have purchased it from a Palestinian. But the Palestinian denies the claim and Israeli authorities have not recognized the sale as legal. "Anyone who tries to raise a hand at the peace house in Hebron will long for Amona, and will find that Amona was nothing," MK Aryeh Eldad of the National Union- National Religious Party said, referring to the violent riots during the 2005 disengagement when Israeli authorities evacuated the Gush Katif settlement of Amona. more.. e-mail
Meir Porush’s son beaten as haredi confrontations continue
Matthew Wagner, Jerusalem Post 11/18/2008
In another incident demonstrating the escalating tensions between rival camps within the haredi community, the son of United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush was beaten and knocked to the ground Monday. Yisrael Porush confirmed that he had been attacked but added that he did not want to provide details of the incident for fear it would lead to the desecration of God’s name. The Ger hassidic sect, the nation’s largest, has been embroiled in a serious dispute with a constellation of smaller hassidic sects represented by Porush’s Shlomei Emunim faction in Agudat Yisrael. The tension between the two groups intensified after Rabbi Ya’acov Aryeh Alter, the Gerer Rebbe, did not support Porush in the Jerusalem mayoral elections. Many Ger hassidim actually voted for his secular rival, Nir Barkat, helping him win. Porush’s followers, who feel the Ger hassidim broke an unwritten. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli forces detain 14 Palestinians across West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 11/17/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces detained fourteen civilians across West Bank before daybreak on Monday. Israeli sources said their forces detained fourteen “wanted” resistance fighters from Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron and the Jordan valley, and confirmed that the men were taken in for questioning. [end]
Settlers threaten ’Amona’-style riots over Hebron eviction
Nadav Shragai and Tomer Zarchin, Ha’aretz 11/18/2008
The High Court on Sunday instructed settlers occupying a house in Hebron to evacuate it within three days, but a coalition of right-wing organizations, MKs and West Bank rabbis said they plan to oppose the move firmly. In an emergency meeting on Sunday in the settlement of Kiryat Arba - the house is located between the settlement and Hebron - the opponents of the evacuation pledged that the settlers would not be removed by Wednesday as the court had demanded. Their resistance, they said, would be "uncompromising, but not violent. ""If the house is evacuated, there will be Amona part two here," said a participant at the meeting, referring to the February 2006 clashes between settlers and security forces during the evacuation of a West Bank outpost. The emergency meeting was organized by Rabbi Dov Lior, the head of the rabbinical committee in Judea and Samaria and the rabbi of Kiryat Arba. more.. e-mail
’Ramle woman indicted for aiding Gaza terrorists’
Elie Leshem, Jerusalem Post 11/17/2008
Somaiya Abu Ghanem, a 21-year-old resident of Ramle, was indicted Monday in the Petah Tikva District Court for contact with a foreign agent, the Prime Minister’s Office announced. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), in cooperation with the Israel Police, arrested her on December 28, the statement said. According to the indictment, in September 2008, Ghanem was contacted by Gaza-based Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorists, who sought her assistance in kidnapping an Israeli. Ghanem allegedly expressed her willingness to aid the terrorists. In the investigation, it also emerged that Ghanem was allegedly asked to assist in bringing a woman suicide terrorist from Gaza into Israel and to lead her to a crowded place, the statement said. Ghanem worked as a teacher’s aide at a Ramle kindergarten and was due to begin university studies. more.. e-mail
Report: Israel demolished 90 Palestinian houses since Annapolis
Palestinian Information Center 11/17/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The applied research institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ) reported that Israel, since the Annapolis conference held in October last year, has embarked on building tens of thousands of settlement units in the West Bank and demolished 90 Palestinian houses at the pretext of illegal construction. In a report, ARIJ said that Israel uses the pretext of unlicensed building as an excuse to displace Palestinians from their lands in blatant violation of international law. The report underlined that 55 Palestinian houses were demolished by the IOA in occupied Jerusalem, where Israel aims through the demolition of homes to empty the holy city from its native residents. The report noted that the IOA handed the Palestinian citizens in different West Bank areas more than 400 demolition orders which threatens more Palestinian families with displacement. more.. e-mail
8 Qassams hit western Negev
Ilana Curiel, YNetNews 11/18/2008
Most rockets believed to have landed in open areas in Eshkol Regional Council; no injuries reported, several houses sustain damage. Transfer of 30 trucks of humanitarian equipment into Gaza scheduled for Monday put on hold following attack - Eight Qassam rockets were fired at communities in the western Negev’s Eshkol Regional Council on Monday morning. There were no reports of injuries but several houses were damaged. Residents of the Eshkol Regional Council were ordered to enter fortified rooms. The Al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing, claimed responsibility for the attack. Following the barrage, the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip was put on hold. Several explosions were heard south of Sderot at around 10:10 am. Most of the rockets landed in open fields, but one exploded in a kibbutz in the area, damaging a number of houses. more.. e-mail
IDF brass slams ’war-mongering’ by top ministers
Amos Harel Avi Issacharoff Barak Ravid and Yanir Yagna, Ha’aretz 11/18/2008
Senior Israel Defense Forces officers yesterday criticized certain cabinet ministers for beating the drum for military action in the Gaza Strip. The General Staff officers called for weighing more aggressive action against Hamas if the rocket fire into the Negev from the strip continued. However, they do not support reoccupying the territory at this stage. Top IDF brass also expressed concern that some politicians were trying to drag the IDF into the political debate. Meanwhile, the fighting in Gaza continued yesterday: The IDF killed four Palestinians from the small Hamas-allied group, the Popular Resistance Committee, who were about to launch Qassams, and a Sderot man sustained minor injuries when a Qassam landed near his home. A spokesman for the group, Abu Mujahid, said the tahadiyeh (lull) with Israel was over as a result of the killing of four of its men. more.. e-mail
IOF troops round up more Palestinians
Palestinian Information Center 11/17/2008
JENIN, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces at dawn Monday rounded up four Palestinian young men including two brothers in Burkin village, west of Jenin city, local sources reported. They said that three of the abducted youths are teenagers and the fourth is a student in the Arab American University in Jenin. Locals in Ya’bad also reported that the IOF soldiers detained a young man and beat up a 7-year-old child during their incursion into the village. The Hebrew radio earlier quoted the IOF command as saying that 14 "wanted" Palestinians were arrested at dawn Monday in Ramallah, Nablus, Al-Khalil cities and Jordan Valley. It said that the Palestinians were held in police stations for interrogation. more.. e-mail
Nineteen-year-old Al-Aqsa activist arrested by Shin Bet for planning attack in Israel
Ma’an News Agency 11/17/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli intelligence services detained 19-year-old Al-Aqsa activist Sumayya Abu Ghanem from her home in Ramla south east of Tel Aviv one month ago, according to information released on Monday. According to Israeli sources Abu Ghanem was suspected of planning attacks against Israeli Jewish targets inside Israel. Information detailing the arrest was released on Monday by the Shin Bet, the Israeli General Intelligence unit. [end]
Ramla woman charged for attempt to aid terrorists
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/17/2008
Kindergarten aide arrested, charged with intent to assist Fatah’s military wing with kidnapping of Jews, smuggling of suicide bomber into Israel from Gaza -The Shin Bet and the police suspect that a 21-year old Israeli woman from Ramla was asked by terrorists to assist them in the execution of attacks in Israel. The information was cleared for publication Monday after Petah Tikvah’s District Court indicted the young woman on charges of contacting a foreign agent. Sumiya Abu Ranem, resident of Ramla, is employed as a kindergarten aide in the city. She had planned to start studying at an Israeli university this year, but her plans were thwarted by her arrest several weeks ago. Police asserted that operatives from the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, contacted Abu Ranem and asked her to assist them in kidnapping a Jew, and she expressed a willingness to do so. more.. e-mail
Ramle woman arrested on suspicion she planned to assist suicide bombing
Yuval Goren and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 11/18/2008
The Shin Bet security service and the Israel police recently arrested Sumiya Abu Aanam, a young woman from Ramle suspected of planning to carry out a terror attack at the behest of militant Palestinian group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. A gag order on the case was lifted Monday, revealing that Abu Aanam, a 21-year-old teacher’s aide at a Ramle kindergarten, was arrested at the end of October. She was set to begin studying at an Israeli university this week. The police investigation revealed that shortly before her arrest, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade activists from Gaza contacted Abu Aanam and asked her to help them kidnap a Jewish Israeli. She apparently voiced willingness to assist. The young woman was also asked to help smuggle a female suicide bomber from Gaza into Israel and to take her to a busy area. more.. e-mail
Palestine today 111708
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/17/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 30s || 3. 22 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Monday November 17 2008 As the humanitarian situation in Gaza is on the brink of collapse due to the Israeli closure, Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert denied during a meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas there is any humanitarian crisis in the coastal Strip. This news and more coming up stay tuned. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza warned today of stoppage of hospital services at major Gaza hospitals due to the continued Israeli closure of border crossings over the past two weeks. A ministry statement read that major services at such hospitals will stop unless power supplies return to normal, warning of lack of spare parts at such hosipitals. more.. e-mail
Gaza fighters launch up to 14 projectiles into Israel
Ma’an News Agency 11/17/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian military organizations launched as many as 14 homemade projectiles into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday, a day after Israeli forces killed four Palestinian fighters. The rockets were the latest attacks in an ongoing cross-border conflagration in which 15 Palestinians have been killed. As of Monday only one Israeli was lightly injured and others treated for shock after a projectile landed in a residential yard in the town of Sderot. The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for a total of ten projectiles, fired in three separate attacks. At noon the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for launching eight projectiles into the Eshkol area, east of the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. In the late afternoon the group said it fired one projectile at the same area, and another at “the Western Negev. more.. e-mail
Olmert pledges to spur fortification efforts
Aviad Glickman, YNetNews 11/17/2008
In response to court petition filed by southern communities, prime minister says fortification of homes threatened by Qassam rockets can be sped up if state approves Finance Ministry’s plan for development of infrastructure -Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to spur the fortification of houses in Sderot and the Gaza vicinity communities, a government statement said Monday. The statement was made in response to a petition filed by residents with the High Court of Justice. The residents filed the petition after the Cabinet announced its decision not to increase funding for the fortification of houses within the realm of Qassam rockets. The statement explained why this decision was altered. It said Olmert had held a discussion on the global financial crisis, during which the Finance Ministry presented a plan on manners of dealing with its effects. more.. e-mail
IDF releases video of Gaza gunners firing rockets at Israel
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 11/17/2008
The Israel Defense Forces released a video on Sunday evening showing militants in the Gaza Strip in the process of firing rockets at Israel. The video was released just hours after Israel Air Force troops killed four Palestinian gunners at a launching pad in northerern Gaza. The video shows militants positioning a rocket launcher and distancing themselves from it before opening fire. Meanwhile, a Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip struck a residential yard in the southern town of Sderot on Sunday, leaving one person with light shrapnel wounds. Several other people were treated for shock. This was the third rocket to hit the Negev on Sunday, as violence between Israel and the coastal territory continued for a second week. more.. e-mail
Over 10 Kassams fired at South
Yaakov Lappin, Jerusalem Post 11/17/2008
Palestinian factions in Gaza continued their rocket assault on the South on Monday, firing over 10 rockets into Israel. Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza continues to hail down on Israel Two Kassam rockets struck the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council Monday evening; no injuries or damage were reported. During the afternoon, shortly after a tour of Sderot conducted by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and British Foreign Minister David Miliband, two Kassam rockets landed in the Eshkol Regional Council, damaging a greenhouse. During the tour, Barak said he told the British foreign minister that "no country can accept continuous and indiscriminate shelling of its citizens from a foreign entity, and Israel will not accept this either. more.. e-mail
Hamas fires rockets into south Israel
Donald Macintyre, The Independent 11/15/2008
Hamas militants fired four Katyusha rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon yesterday as escalating violence threatened to end a five-month ceasefire that both sides insist they want to maintain. The rocket attacks, which caused no injuries, came after an Israeli airstrike which the military said was against rocket-launching militants in northern Gaza. Palestinian medics said two gunmen were lightly injured. One Israeli was lightly wounded in a salvo of rockets fired at the border town of Sderot. The renewed fire came amid international calls for a reopening of the crossing which has been sealed for 10 days, blocking the movement of humanitarian goods and keeping diplomats and journalists out of the Strip. The closure began, along with the degradation of the ceasefire, after a raid by Israeli troops into Gaza which the military said was to thwart the use of a tunnel to kidnap Israeli soldiers. more.. e-mail
Israeli DM greenlights settlement construction despite peace
Xinhua News Agency, ReliefWeb 11/14/2008
JERUSALEM, Nov 14, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX News Network) -- Israeli DM greenlights settlement construction despite peace commitment: report Israeli DM greenlights settlement construction despite peace commitment: report Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has sanctioned dozens of construction projects in Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank during recent months, local daily Ha’aretz reported Friday. Some of the permits were granted to settlements east of the separation fence, which are beyond the areas Israel defines as " settlement blocks" and expects to retain under its control in a peace agreement with the Palestinians, according to the report. These approvals by the defense minister, who ordered in January that all construction projects in the West Bank be brought to him for authorization, came despite Israel’s commitment to the Road Map, a U. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces detain six Palestinian citizens from the West Bank; raid Tuqu
Ma’an News Agency 11/14/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Israeli forces detained six Palestinian citizens and stormed one village across the West Bank before daybreak on Friday. Israeli sources said that the troops arrested six "wanted" Palestinians from Al-Ubeidieh in the Bethlehem governorate, from Hizma and Abu Dis in the central region and the village of Beit Ur near Ramallah. The village of Tuqu south of Bethlehem was also raided, with no detentions reported. In Ubeidieh Israeli forces detained 22-year-old Bassem Muhammad Rabay’a. All detainees were taken to an unknown location for questioning. [end]
Israeli soldiers detain, rob shooting suspect in Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 11/14/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli soldiers broke into three homes owned by a Palestinian family near Nablus on Thursday night, stole thousands of shekels inside and destroyed property inside, relatives told Ma’an. Forces also arrested Mohammad Badran at his home, where they robbed the family of NIS 50,000 and JD 800, according to a complaint filed with the Palestinian coordination office in Nablus. Israeli media reported that Badran may have been involved in the shooting death of an Israeli citizen inside the Green Line. An investigation into the incident by the Palestinian Authority found that no basis for charging the man, but Israeli forces detained him on Thursday. [end]
Hamas militants fire rockets into southern Israel
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian 11/14/2008
Hamas militants in Gaza fired several rockets into southern Israel today, while Israel kept its crossings into the territory closed as a five-month ceasefire appeared to be collapsing fast. Violence has returned to the Gaza Strip in the past 10 days. In two separate operations Israeli forces have killed a total of 10 Hamas gunmen. Hamas, and other militant groups, have responded with several days of rocket fire. Today rockets, including longer-range Grad missiles, hit the Israeli towns of Sderot and Ashkelon. The Israeli military fired at rocket launchers in Gaza and two Palestinian gunmen were reported injured. Israel kept its crossings into Gaza shut for the 10th straight day, meaning no food, humanitarian supplies or fuel were delivered. Gaza’s sole power plant shut down on Thursday night bringing some blackouts in Gaza City, although electricity delivered over power lines from Israel and Egypt continues to arrive. more.. e-mail
Qassam Brigades: Fridays shelling is just a taster
Palestinian Information Center 11/14/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said on Friday that the truce will not stop them from retaliating to Israeli occupation atrocities against the Gaza Strip and that they will choose the time, the place and method of retaliation. Abu Obaida, spokesman of the brigades, said in a press statement which was published on their website on Friday: "The calm was on condition that [Israeli] occupation abides by it, the occupation broke it, thus we have the right to retaliate to all breaches [of the truce]. The occupation has clearly breached the calm when it assassinated a number of resistance heroes, especially from the Qassam Brigades. "He added that the Qassam Brigades has its own way of retaliating to such atrocities warning the Israeli occupation of sever retaliation if it continued with its aggressions stressing that what happened on Friday was meant to be a simple message to the occupation. more.. e-mail
1 injured in Qassam attack in Sderot
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 11/14/2008
Israeli aircraft bombs ring of rocket launchers in northern Strip shortly after Qassam attack on western Negev. Rocket hits electric pole near house, leaving 80-year-old woman lightly injured. Palestinians say at least three members hit. EU external relations commissioner urges Israel to open Gaza crossings - As rocket barrages fell on southern Israel Friday, European Union Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner called for Gaza crossings to be opened and the delivery of fuel and good to be resumed. " I am profoundly concerned about the consequences for the Gazan population of the complete closure of all Gaza crossings for deliveries of fuel and basic humanitarian assistance," Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement. She called on Israel to re-open the crossings for humanitarian and commercial flows, in particular food. . . more.. e-mail
Five rockets slam into Ashkelon area
Jpost.com Staff, Yaakov Lappin And Ap, Jerusalem Post 11/14/2008
Following the morning’s Kassam rocket strikes on Sderot and the Sha’ar Hanegev region, the Ashkelon area also came under attack on Friday afternoon. Five Grad-type Katyusha rockets were fired at the region, one of which hit the city center and another that landed on its outskirts. Three more struck open areas. Shortly afterwards, another Kassam rocket landed in a kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council. Also, a mortar shell exploded near the Kissufim area. Three people were sent into shock as a result of the attack and were evacuated to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital. Earlier Friday, Gaza terrorists fired ten Kassams at the South, one of which lightly wounded an elderly woman in a Sha’ar Hanegev kibbutz. RELATEDIsrael insists cease-fire can holdPerfume, Viagra, lions and fuel Four other. . . more.. e-mail
Gaza: 16 projectiles and Israeli counter-attack leave Israeli, 4 Palestinians injured
Ma’an News Agency 11/14/2008
Gaza - Ma’an – The Abu Ali Mustafa, An-Nasser and Al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the launch of 11 projectiles which landed near Ashkelon at dawn on Friday, and another five launched at 11:30. In response to the first set of projectiles, the Israeli army launched an airstrike against the area they believed the projectile to have been fired. The Israeli army said two Palestinians were wounded in this attack. Palestinian medical sources confirmed that four resistance fighters were taken to hospital with serious injuries after being injured in the Al- Atatra area north of Beit Lahia. They would not comment in the identities or affiliations of the fighters. The brigades are the armed wings of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the armed wing of Hamas respectively. more.. e-mail
Hamas fires heavier rockets at Israel
Abed Shana, ReliefWeb 11/14/2008
GAZA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Hamas Islamists fired their longest-range rockets at a southern Israeli city on Friday after an Israeli air force attack on their Gaza stronghold, in the 11th day of skirmishes threatening a five-month-old truce. A statement from the armed wing of the Islamist group said Hamas fired five 1960s-era, Soviet-made Grad rockets at an Israeli town, the longest range weapon they have claimed to shoot at the Jewish state. Israeli rescue services said five rockets struck the southern coastal city of Ashkelon but caused no casualties. The Grad has a maximum range of 25 km (15 miles). Palestinian medical workers said two Hamas fighters were wounded in a morning strike by the Israeli air force, which an Israeli military spokesman said was ordered in response to a Hamas rocket attack. more.. e-mail
Party affiliates claim responsibility for Gaza projectile attacks
Ma’an News Agency 11/14/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian resistance factions on Friday claimed responsibility for shelling Israeli settlements and towns near Gaza City. The National Resistance Brigades, an armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), said in a statement received by Ma’an that homemade shells were fired on Sderot and other nearby Israeli military posts in Kesofem and Sofa. The Ahmad Abu Ar-Rish Brigades, which is affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) shelled Sderot with two homemade devices, according to a separate statement. The Al-Aqsa Brigades, which is affiliated with Fatah, claimed responsibility for shelling Sderot, as well. more.. e-mail
Barak approved settlement expansion in recent months
Palestinian Information Center 11/14/2008
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli Haaretz news paper revealed, in an article published on Friday, that the Israeli war minister Ehud Barak "has approved dozens of construction projects in the West Bank in recent months, contradicting Israel’s commitments to the Road Map". It was also revealed in the article that some of these projects were in settlements that lie east of the apartheid wall being built by the occupation on West Bank lands creating facts on the ground ahead of reaching a final settlement with the Palestinians. "Some of the permits for construction projects were granted in settlements to the east of the separation fence," the article read and noted that the constructions contravene Israel’s road map obligations. The report also reveals that Barak has authorised the construction and marketing of hundred of housing units and plots in various West Bank settlements since April this year. more.. e-mail
IOA builds shopping center, conference hall next to Aqsa Mosque
Palestinian Information Center 11/14/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- After it had built a synagogue near the Aqsa Mosque, the Israeli occupation authorities started the construction of a shopping center and a conference hall next to the Muslim holy shrine, Palestinian and Israeli sources revealed Thursday. According to the sources, the Israeli archeology bureau and El-Ad society were illegally carrying out the construction works without permits from concerned authorities under the cover of carrying out archeological excavations. The Hebrew Ha’aretz newspaper revealed that the illegal excavations were uncovered after a number of Palestinian citizens living in the Arab-dominated Selwan suburb, which is close to the Aqsa Mosque filed a petition at the Israeli high court seeking the halt of the constructions. The Israeli "peace now" movement also condemned the construction works and joined the protesting Palestinians in filing the petition. more.. e-mail
This Week in Palestine week 46
IMEMC News - Audio DEpt, International Middle East Media Center News 11/14/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 11 m 30s || 10. 00 MB || This Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org, for November 8 through 14, 2008. LEDE: The Palestinian national dialogue is not progressing as the parties fail to meet, meanwhile, Israeli troops continue to invade the West Bank as the 1. 5 million Gazans are sinking into darkness for lack of fuel, These stories and more are coming up, Stay tuned. Nonviolence: Let us begin our weekly report as usual with nonviolent actions in Palestine, where Palestinians commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the 20 anniversary for the Palestinian declaration of independence through nonviolent actions against the settlements and the wall. Ma’asra On Friday, Israeli troops assaulted nonviolent anti-wall protestors in the West Bank village of Al-Ma’asara in Bethlehem. more.. e-mail
GA Magazine / The Internet intifada
Benjamin Hartman, Ha’aretz 11/14/2008
The struggle for the Holy Land may be the world’s most ancient conflict. But in one respect, at least, the weapons and the battleground could not be more cutting-edge. This is the realm of the "virtual intifada," digital combat played out in cyberspace by intensely partisan pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli activists-cum-hackers, or in the vernacular of the Information Age, "hacktivists. "One incarnation of this online political activism has hitched its battlewagon to the stars of social networking, taking advantage of the runaway popularity of sites like Facebook and MySpace. At the forefront of pro-Israel hacktivists are the shock troops organized as the Jewish Internet Defense Force, a group best known for its activities against anti-Israel groups on Facebook, the social networking colossus whose members may establish and join network groups based on a wide variety of interests. more.. e-mail
Qassams strike near southern towns of Ashkelon and Netivot
Amos Harel and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 11/14/2008
Qassam rockets fired by Gaza militants hit near Ashkelon and Netivot on Thursday, widening the scope of cross-border violence that has threatened to unravel a shaky Israel-Hamas truce. The rocket that struck Ashkelon hit an open area near the southern town. No one was wounded and no property damage was caused in the attacks. Earlier Thursday, The Israel Defense Forces announced it would delay thereplacement of its top Gaza commander due to recently the increased tensions on the border. Brigadier-General Moshe (Chico) Tamir was scheduled to be replaced by Brigadier-General Eyal Eisenberg on Friday, but a military official announced that the prior’s term has been extended until further notice. Early Thursday, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired at least five mortar shells and one Qassam rocket at the western Negev, Army Radio reported. more.. e-mail
New synagogue opens old wounds in Jerusalem
Reuters, YNetNews 11/13/2008
Newly reopened temple in capital’s Old City causes concerns among local Arab residents who blame Israeli authorities for trying to shift religious balance in favor of Jews - A synagogue newly reopened in Jerusalem’s Old City has worried Arab neighbors and Palestinian leaders who accuse Israel of using its political power to push them out and shift the city’s religious balance in favor of Jews. Israelis say the work in the Muslim Quarter merely restored a building wrecked during 19 years of Arab control before Israel captured the Old City in 1967, but Palestinians complain they live under an unequal rule. Sixty years on, Jerusalem, where a new mayor will be elected this week, still lies at the heart of stalled efforts to broker a peace settlement. Nowhere are conflicts over land as up-close and personal as in the narrow lanes inside its ancient walls. more.. e-mail
Gazans shell Israel for 9th day in row
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 11/14/2008
Palestinian militants fired Qassam rockets and mortar shells at Israel for the ninth consecutive day yesterday with at least five Qassam rockets and six mortar shells landing in open fields surrounding the Gaza Strip in the morning. Three more rockets fell in open areas near Sderot last night. No injuries were reported. Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces decided to delay the departure of its outgoing Gaza Division commander, Brigadier General Moshe Tamir, who was slated to be replaced by Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg yesterday, because of the escalation in violence. "The decision [to keep Tamir in his position] was made due to tensions in the region over the last few days," an IDF spokesman said in response. Most of the rockets and mortar shells were fired by Palestinians in the early morning hours of yesterday morning. more.. e-mail
Gaza commander replacement put off due to clashes
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 11/13/2008
Swearing-in ceremony of new Gaza Division chief, Brigadier-General Eyal Eisenberg, postponed in light of ’possibility of continued attempts by Hamas and terror elements to disturb stability in the region’. Popular Resistance Committees: IDF in panic over our modest rockets -Outgoing Gaza Division Commander Brigadier-General Moshe Tamir will remain in office until the situation in the Strip cools down, it was decided on Thursday, the day Brigadier-General Eyal Eisenberg was scheduled to be sworn in as Tamir’s replacement. The decision was made by IDF Southern Command Chief Major-General Yoav Galant and Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, following days of tension around the Gaza Strip and a number of clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers. Gaza BorderIDF thwarts terror cell’s attempt to infiltrate Israel/ IDF force spots terror cell about to break into Israel through border fence. more.. e-mail
Gaza mourns four slain fighters; armed groups launch rockets
Ma’an News Agency 11/13/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinians in the Gaza Strip mourned on Thursday four men who were killed in a battle with Israeli forces on Wednesday. The funeral began at a local mosque in the town of Al-Qarara, where the men were killed. Ahmad Bahar, a member of the Palestinian Parliament and a Hamas leader, joined the prayer. From there a somber funeral mach proceeded a local cemetery. The mourners called for revenge the deaths of Mahmoud Siyam, Rami Freinah, Muhsen Al-Qidrah and Isma’il Abu Al-Ola, who were killed in a truce-violating Israeli incursion. Fighters reactSeparately armed Palestinian groups unleashed a barrage of homemade rockets and mortar shells at Israeli areas bordering the Gaza Strip overnight in response to Israel’s killings of the four. No one was injured by the rockets, which are likely to further strain a five-month old truce between Israel and the Hamas-controlled government in the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
Lebanon collaborators mull leaving Israel
Middle East Online 11/13/2008
QLAYAA, Lebanon - Bshara Rizk awoke at dawn and headed home, making his way through mine-infested fields and climbing over a barbed wire fence that stood between him and his native Lebanon. Bloodied but euphoric, he arrived in his hometown of Qlayaa, located just across the border from Israel, where he exclaimed to the local priest: "I’m back. " Rizk, 24, had been living in a northern Israeli town since 2000, when his father’s mainly Christian militia, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), followed its Israeli allies as they withdrew back across the border, after a long and brutal occupation of south Lebanon. For eight years, Rizk worked at a factory in Israel, but most SLA members never felt welcomed in Israel. "I never felt complete there and I always wanted to go back to Lebanon," the burly Rizk said following his return home on a Thursday back in June. more.. e-mail
Israeli troops seize student from home near Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 11/13/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized a Palestinian university student while raiding the village of Al-Ubeidiya, east of the city of Bethlehem, early on Thursday. Palestinian security sources reported to that five military vehicles invaded the village at 2am. Israeli troops searched a house owned by Jamal Mahmoud Rabay’ah ,then detained his 22-year-old son Ra’fat, a student at Hebron University. [end]
Israeli army invades Madama, south of Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 11/13/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – The Israeli army invaded the West Bank village of Madama south of the city of Nablus and ordered the residents to stay inside their homes on Thursday evening. A Member of the village council, Hasan Ziyadah told Ma’an that “ten Israeli military jeeps invaded the villages and started to search, combing the bypass road that leads to the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Yizhar. ”No confrontations or injuries were reported during the incursion. [end]
Israel says it detained five Palestinians in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 11/13/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli troops seized five Palestinians during overnight raids in the West Bank, Israeli radio reported on Thursday morning. The detentions reportedly occurred in the cities of Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron. [end]
The migraine that is Migron
Aluf Benn, Ha’aretz 11/13/2008
Nothing underscores the government’s weakness and its capitulation to the settlers more than the continued existence of the illegal outposts, as promises for their evacuation, made to the Americans, are continually broken. At present, the one person paying the political price of this state of affairs is Ehud Barak, whose Labor Party is steadily fading in the polls. Barak did not create the problem, but as defense minister, charged with responsibility for the territories, and as Labor chairman, the supposed head of the peace camp - he should be leading the charge against the outposts. But he doesn’t. Apparently, he feels a certain kinship with the settlers, and this sufficed to arouse the left’s old suspicions about Barak: that he was and remains a hard-headed, security-minded type. more.. e-mail
Palestine Today 111308
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/13/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 2 m 30s || 2. 29 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Thursday November 13 2008 Palestinian concerned bodies warned today of an imminent shutting down of Gaza’s sole power plant as well as halt of work at many local bakeries in the coastal territory, as Israel continues to close border crossings. The Palestinian local popular committee for breaking the Israeli siege on Gaza announced today that the Gaza power plant, which provides Gaza with electricity, is about to shut down shortly as Israel continues to close border crossings. Also, the committee added that many of Gaza bakeries will about to stop working because of shortage of flour as Israel denies access of 30 trucks, loaded with wheat. more.. e-mail
PFLP, 'Hizbullah' claim responsibility for projectile attack
Ma’an News Agency 11/13/2008
Gaza –Ma’an – The Abu Ali Mustafa brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and a group calling itself “Hizbullah,” claimed responsibility for firing one homemade projectile at an Israeli target “in the Western Negev. ”In a statement the factions said “The shelling is response of the latest Israeli attack during which four resistance fighters were killed, and as affirmation of the option of resistance. ”Around the same time Israeli media reported that a projectile landed on the outskirts of the city of Ashkelon, north of Gaza, causing no damage. [end]
DFLP fire two projectiles at Israeli armored vehicles east of Juhor Ad-Dik
Ma’an News Agency 11/13/2008
Gaza – Mayan- The National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine fired two homemade projectiles assembled Israeli armored vehicles east of the area of Juhor-Ad Dik. The brigades added in a statement that the attack was a response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians. [end]
Israelis attack Gaza again, kill four resistance fighters
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 11/13/2008
GAZA CITY: Four Palestinian militants were killed and an Israeli soldier was wounded Wednesday as Israel launched an attack on the Gaza Strip in the latest flare-up to rattle a nearly five-month truce. After the Israeli move into the coastal enclave, militants also fired several mortar rounds into Israel and the Israeli military responded with two air strikes just inside Gaza, the Zionist state’s military said. Witnesses said the four Palestinians who died were members of the Islamist Hamas movement that controls Gaza. An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers exchanged fire with gunmen who attempted to place an explosive device near the border in the central Gaza Strip. The gun battle broke out after Israeli armored vehicles crossed into the territory near the city of Khan Yunis, Palestinian witnesses and security officials said. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces destroy two houses in West Bank village
Ma’an News Agency 11/12/2008
Ramallah - Ma’an - Israeli forces demolished two houses in the West Bank village of Shaqba, west of the city of Ramallah, on Wednesday afternoon, citing a lack of building permits. A total of 18 people lived in the two homes. The houses belonged to the family of Bassem Hassan Subhi Ibrahim. Israeli authorities delivered demolition orders for another five houses. Hard-to-obtain building permits are often used as a pretext to demolish Palestinian homes throughout the occupied territories. In 2006 three houses were destroyed in the same village. [end]
An Israeli military force abducts three Nablus residents
International Middle East Media Center News 11/12/2008
An Israeli army contingent abducted on Wednesday three Palestinian resident from the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinian security sources said that an Israeli contingent invaded several neighborhoods in the city as a special undercover Israeli army unit was deployed in one of the city’s streets. The sources confirmed that the special force abducted three Palestinian residents , identified as Samer & Amjad Mabrouk as well as Dawood Abu Dawood, then took them to unknown destinations. Also, the Israeli forces took over the house of Nasif family in Nablus’ Almadallah Aljadida neighborhood, turning it into a military outpost. [end]
Mortars and rockets hit Negev, after deadly IDF raid near Gaza
Amos Harel and The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 11/13/2008
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday fired a number of mortar shells and at least two Qassam rockets at the western Negev, hours after Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed four Hamas gunmen near the Gaza border. Neither the shells nor the rockets caused any damage or injuries, according to Army Radio. Earlier Wednesday, soldiers opened fire on a group of Palestinian gunmen they saw approaching the security fence. The militants were trying to lay an explosive device near the fence, the army said. The incident began when soldiers from the IDF Paratroopers Brigade saw the group of Palestinians moving toward the border fence near the central Gaza town of Khan Yunis. The troops subsequently opened fire on the militants. Dring an ensuing gunbattle, a number of mortar shells were fired at the IDF troops and an explosive device was detonated, according to the army. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces seize Palestinian man during raid east of Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 11/12/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Israeli forces seized a young man at dawn on Wednesday from the West Bank village of Ash-Shawawra, east of the city of Bethlehem. Palestinian security sources reported to Ma’an that about six military patrols entered the village and stormed and searched the house of the Al-Khatib family. The invading troops later withdrew, taking with them 23-year-old Amjad Mahmoud Al-Khatib. [end]
Palestine Today 111208
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/12/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 30s || 3. 22 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Wednesday November 12 2008 Israeli military killed in Gaza today four Hamas fighters and abducted in the West Bank three Palestinian residents. These developments come in the backdrop of a failed Palestinian national unity dialogue. These news and more are upcoming, stay tuned. The Israeli military invaded early on Wednesday the southern Gaza Strip village of Alqarrara, killing four Hamas fighters in the area. Witnesses said that Israeli drones fired two missiles towards a number of resistance firghters, 300 meters depth into Palestinian-controlled territories. Also, the witnesses said that the army bulldozers demolished a Palestinian home, after forcing inhabitants out. more.. e-mail
Palestinians killed in Gaza raid
Al Jazeera 11/12/2008
Four Palestinian fighters have been killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border. The Israeli army said one of its soldiers was also wounded in Wednesday’s clashes. The army said Palestinian fighters fired several mortar rounds into Israel and that it responded with two air strikes just inside Gaza. Witnesses said the four Palestinians who died were members of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers exchanged fire with fighters who attempted to place an explosive device near the security fence in the central Gaza Strip. "Throughout the exchange of fire a number of mortar rounds were fired at IDF (military) forces and an explosive device was detonated," she said. The IDF force identified hitting four gunmen. Grenades and various weapons were found on their bodies. A soldier was hospitalised with light wounds, she said. more.. e-mail
An Israeli attack on Gaza leaves four fighters killed
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/12/2008
In a new fresh Israeli attack on southern Gaza today, Israeli military killed four Palestinian resistance fighters. Earlier in the day, an Israeli contingent swept into the Qarrara town in southeastern Gaza, as Israeli drones rocketed a group of fighters, while the latter were defending the area. Dr. Mo’awiya Abu Hasanin, chief of hospital and emergency department at the Hamas-run ministry, confirmed to IMEMC that corpses of the four killed were found earlier in the day in eastern Qarrra town in southern Gaza. Abu Hasanin denied reports that a Palestinian woman was injured during the Israeli attack, asserting all those killed were resistance fighters. The Alqassam brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza, declared four of its fighters were killed by the Israeli troops. Meanwhile, Israeli sources claimed that an Israeli drone spotted a number of ’militants’,. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli forces kill four Palestinian fighters in Gaza incursion
Ma’an News Agency 11/12/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli forces killed four Hamas-affiliated Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip near the town of Al-Qarara on Wednesday, medics on confirmed. Witnesses said Israeli warplanes fired two missiles during fighting between the armed men and Israeli tanks who had invaded. One missile was fired at a mosque, and the other exploded near a school, where the fighters were located. Other witnesses reported a different version of the airstrike. According this account, three missiles landed near houses belonging to two families named Aal Muhanna and An-Naja, and another landed near the Al-Islah mosque. The four slain men were identified as Mahmoud Siyam, Rami Freinah, Muhsen Al-Qidrah and Isma’il Abu Al-Ola. Earlier on Wednesday Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers invaded the Gaza Strip east of Al-Qarara, sparking clashes with Palestinian fighters. more.. e-mail
Two Kassam rockets fired at Israel
Yaakov Lappin, Jerusalem Post 11/12/2008
The cease-fire with Hamas appeared to falter once again after the IDF thwarted an attempt by Palestinian gunmen to plant an explosive device along the Gaza border on Wednesday. IDF troops kill four terrorists near Gaza border Paratroopers on patrol identified a group of gunmen some 300 meters inside Gaza, near the Kissufim border crossing, and opened fire in their direction, the IDF said. Four Palestinian gunmen were killed in the ensuing exchange of fire. The soldiers crossed the border and entered the Strip in pursuit of the gunmen, and the terrorists set off explosives during the incident. RELATEDVideo:UNRWA spokesman says children in Gaza shouldn’t be punished One IDF soldier suffered light wounds to his hand and was evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for treatment. more.. e-mail
6 mortar shells fired at western Negev
Ali Waked, YNetNews 11/12/2008
Several hours after IDF kills four terrorists attempting to carry out attack in Gaza region, Palestinians target southern Israel; no injuries or damages reported in attack, local residents urged to stay close to fortified sites - Palestinians fired six mortar shells at open areas in the western Negev Wednesday afternoon. No injuries or damages were reported in the attack, which followed the killing of four terrorists earlier in the day. Following the thwarted attack, authorities raised the alert level at Gaza-region communities for fear of a Palestinian response in the form of rocket or mortar fire. Local residents were urged to remain close to fortified sites in case of more attacks. more.. e-mail
Four Qassam fighters killed during Israeli aerial attack in Khan Younis
Palestinian Information Center 11/12/2008
KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Four Palestinians fighters affiliated with Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, were killed during confrontations with air-backed IOF troops who invaded Wednesday afternoon east of the Qarara town in Khan Younis. The PIC reporter said that an Israeli warplane fired at least one air-to-ground missile at a group of Al-Qassam fighters as they were engaging the invading IOF troops in the area in an armed clash. The reporter added that Israeli warplanes also fired two missiles at the Ma’arri school in Qarara, while an Israeli tank opened fire at the houses east of the town without any reported injuries. Qassam sources told the PIC reporter that Al-Qassam fighters spotted the infiltration of Israeli military force into the east of Qarara and engaged in direct clashes with it, pointing out at the time of reporting that heavy fighting is still taking place as more military reinforcements arrived in the area. more.. e-mail
IDF kills four Hamas gunmen in tactical shift in Gaza
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 11/13/2008
The Israel Defense Forces killed four Hamas gunmen near the Gaza border yesterday. Although Israel claims to remain committed to the lull (the tahadiyeh) with Hamas, the IDF has changed its tactics on the Gaza Strip border. In the past two weeks, IDF units have crossed into the Gaza Strip several times to strike at terrorists and foil potential attacks. One Israeli soldier was lightly wounded in the action. A Hamas spokesman told Haaretz that the group was not about to cancel the truce but intended to reexamine it. In response to the Israeli strike, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired six mortar shells and two Qassam rockets at the western Negev, causing no injuries or damage. Defense sources told Haaretz that the army is now authorized to act within what the IDF calls the "security parameter" - a several-hundred-meter strip beyond the border fence. more.. e-mail
Cabinet: Extra NIS 500m need to reinforce Gaza-area homes not available
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 11/12/2008
The security cabinet on Wednesday rejected a request by the Defense Ministry for an extra NIS 500 million to reinforce Israeli communities within the range of Gaza rocket fire. The treasury has argued that additional funds are not available for reinforcing homes. However, Defense Minister Ehud Barak says the extra money is needed to provide protection against rockets for an additional 4,700 housing units. Since the ceasefire began in June about 400 miguniot, concrete structures that provide protection against rocket fire, have been placed at schools and school bus stops in border communities. The Defense Ministry has been preparing to manufacture an additional 80 shelters which are to be installed at factories and in agricultural areas, and it will also act to reinforce farm tractors. more.. e-mail
Israeli special forces seize three PFLP fighters in Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 11/12/2008
Nablus - Ma’an - Israeli special forces seized three resistance fighters affiliated with the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in the west of Nablus at dawn on Wednesday. Ma’an’s correspondent reported names of detainees as follows: 33-year-old Amjad Mabrouk, 28-year-old Samer Mabrouk and 40-year-old Daoud Abu Daoud. [end]
Undercover Israeli forces snatch Palestinian man at gunpoint in Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 11/11/2008
Jenin – Ma’an – Undercover Israeli forces on Tuesday afternoon seized a Palestinian man off the streed in Jenin Refugee Camp in the northern West Bank. Local Palestinian security sources told Ma’an that undercover Israeli operatives arrested 39-year-old Mahmoud Amarna from in front of his house in the Tal’at Al-Khubz neighborhood in Jenin refugee camp. The sources explained that a white Volkswagen stopped next to Amarna and three masked men in civilian clothes seized him at gunpoint. Then they left through the southern entrance to Jenin. Witnesses said that four Israeli military vehicles imposed a flying (as hoc) checkpoint near the southern entrance to Jenin and stopped Palestinian vehicles in order to protect the undercover forces. more.. e-mail
Special undercover Israeli military unit abducts a Jenin resident
International Middle East Media Center News 11/11/2008
Special undercover Israeli unit abducted on Tuesday a Palestinian resident from the West Bank city of Jenin, media sources and witnesses reported. Local media sources and witnesses confirmed that a special undercover Israeli military unit, disguised in Arab clothes, swept with civilian cars into the Jenin refugee camp, abducting Mahmoud Amarna,36, and taking him to unknown destination. This attack is a part of daily Israeli military assaults on Palestinian cities, towns, villages and refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. Israel currently detains more than 11,000 Palestinians including women and children inside jails in Israel and in the occupied West Bank. [end]
Israeli forces detain 9 around Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 11/11/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Israeli forces detained nine Palestinians from the Hebron governorate on Tuesday morning. ISraeli sources claimed the men were "wanted" resistance fighters, four of whom were detained from Hebron city and the remaining five from the outlying areas. [end]
Israeli forces raid neighborhoods across Nablus; set up post on residential roof
Ma’an News Agency 11/11/2008
Nablus/Salfit – Ma’an – Israeli forces raided the northern West Bank city of Nablus before dawn on Tuesday and raided several neighborhoods. Israeli forces set up a military monitoring post on roof of house owned by Nassif family in the city, and no arrests were reported. [end]
Palestine Today 111108
IMEMC News - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center News 11/11/2008
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file|| 3 m 30s || 3. 22 MB Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www. imemc. org for Teusday November 11 2008 Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas criticized on Tuesday the Hamas party in Gaza as ’ failing’ the Cairo-hosted national unity conference. Meanwhile, Israeli military detention campaigns continued in the West Bank. These news and more coming up, stay tuned. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, blamed today the ruling Hamas party in Gaza for obstructing an expected Cairo-hosted dialogue for Palestinian national unity. Abbas urged the Arab states league to take a stance in light of such a development. The rival Fatah party of Abbas and the Hamas party in Gaza, were expected to attend a national unity conference in Cairo to end division and come out with a national unity government. more.. e-mail
Election violence: Haredim riot in Jerusalem
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 11/11/2008
Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews clash with police on municipal election day as haredim try to prevent voters from getting through. Officer, security guard lightly injured in two separate incidents - Elections for local authorities continued across Israel Tuesday afternoon with most of the nation’s eyes on Jerusalem, where things are heating up. Tuesday afternoon dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews tried to prevent voting at the Beit Israel neighborhood ballot in Jerusalem, apparently following disputes between different ultra-Orthodox groups. Police and Border Guard police officers arrived at the scene to clear the rioters, and clashes broke out as the ultra-Orthodox began throwing stones, leaving one officer with light head injuries. The officer was taken to hospital for treatment, and one of the stone-throwers was detained for questioning. more.. e-mail
3 Akko Arabs indicted for torching hesder yeshiva
Ahiya Raved, YNetNews 11/11/2008
State files arson, conspiracy, weapons manufacturing charges against three of northern city’s residents for setting local Talmudic seminary on fire; claim act motivated by revenge - The State Prosecutor’s Office indicted three of Akko’s Arab residents for arson on Tuesday, in connection with the torching of one of the northern city’s hesder yeshivas two weeks ago. The incidents occurred on the heels of the Yom Kippur riots which riddled city streets for several days. According to the indictment, filed with the Haifa District Court, Ibrahim Bayuni (29), Khaled Shaaban (20), and Salah Titti (20) set fire to the Northern Wind Hesder Yeshiva offices by hurling a Molotov cocktail into the building. The act, said the prosecution, was motivated by revenge for the way the Jewish residents of Akko conducted themselves during the riots. more.. e-mail
Barak seeks OK to hit residential areas
Yaakov Lappin, Jerusalem Post 11/9/2008
Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on the government on Sunday to examine ways of approving IDF action against residential areas in Gaza from which rockets are fired at Israel. Speaking during the weekly cabinet meeting, Barak said many rockets were fired from the vicinity of residential homes and schools, precluding an Israeli response due to fear of harming civilians. Around 60 rockets and an unknown number of mortars have fallen on western Negev communities since last Tuesday evening, when the IDF raided a tunnel 250 meters inside Gaza that the army said was about to be used to kidnap troops. In response, Barak has ordered all border crossings with Gaza to remain shut until further notice. The Defense Ministry has also called on the government to approve an extra NIS half-billion to construct rocket-proof protective structures and complete safety rooms for 4,400 Israeli housing units in the Gaza periphery. more.. e-mail
Qassam hits Negev region; no injuries
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 11/10/2008
Rocket fired from northern Gaza lands in open area. ’We feel helpless; you hear the Color Red alert system and pray for a miracle,’ Kfar Aza resident says -A Qassam fired by Palestinians in northern Gaza Sunday night landed within the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council’s limits. No injuries or damage were reported. At around 11:10 pm a loud blast was heard in the western Negev area. The rocket apparently landed in an open field. Ophir Libstein of Kfar Aza said the rocket attack underscored the urgency of the petition filed on behalf of the residents of Israeli communities surrounding Gaza demanding that the government complete thefortification of their homes. " We feel helpless; you hear the ’Color Red’ (rocket alert system) and pray for a miracle," he said. " Earlier Gaza residents reported ofsporadic electricity blackouts, and Palestinian. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli military invades a West Bank village, detains residents
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/9/2008
Israeli military invaded early on Sunday the West Bank village of Eidieya near the Bethlehem city , as the Israeli soldiers rounded up several Palestinian residents in other parts of the occupied West Bank. Witnesses said that the Israeli troops broke into a restaurant during invasion of the Eidieya village. Meanwhile , Israeli soldiers detained today a Palestinian youth from the nearby village of Dar Salah. In addition, the Israeli troops swept into the Nour Shams refugee camp in the outskirts of Tulkarem city, causing panic and fear among the residents, witnesses said. Witnesses added that the Israeli soldiers opened heavy random fire throughout the camp, messing up with many houses, before detaining four residents. more.. e-mail
Hundreds of ultra-orthodox Jews pray at Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 11/9/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Dozens of armored buses brought hundreds of ultra-orthodox Jewish worshippers to pray at Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Tour buses lined the streets on the western side of the seperation wall, and roads were blocked off from Tantur to the Beit Jala (Gilo) checkpoint as hundreds of worshipers in black coats and hats gathered in the area. The mass prayer gatherings were organized by the Mosdos Kever Rachel (Rachel’s Tomb Institute) around the date believed to be the anniversary of Rachel’s death. The official date set by the group is 9 November, but worshipers overwhelmed the area on Saturday evening as well. The Institute runs a Jewish religious school at the tomb, and funds a daily bullet-proof bus service that brings Jewish worshippers from Jerusalem to the tomb. more.. e-mail
Blackouts in Gaza after Israel stops fuel
Ali Waked and AP, YNetNews 11/9/2008
Fuel shipments halted Wednesday following rocket attacks on Negev; Palestinian official says Strip will be plunged into total darkness Monday if shipments aren’t resumed -Gaza residents are experiencing sporadic electricity blackouts, and Palestinian officials are blaming Israel for cutting off fuel shipments to their power plant. Israeli military administration spokesman Peter Lerner says the Palestinians warned their Gaza City electricity plant would run out of fuel Monday if shipments aren’t resumed. He said the shipments were stopped last Wednesday because of Palestinian rocket attacks. Kanan Obeid, chairman of Gaza’s Hamas-run Energy Authority, also said the Strip would be plunged into total darkness unless the fuel shipments are resumed. According to him, one of the power plant’s turbines has already been deemed inoperative, and the remaining turbines will stop functioning on Monday. more.. e-mail
Blackouts flicker through Gaza as power station runs out of fuel
News Agencies, Ha’aretz 11/10/2008
Gaza residents were experiencing sporadic electricity blackouts on Sunday night as Palestinian officials blamed Israel for cutting off fuel shipments to their power plant. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Peter Lerner, said the Palestinians had warned Israel that their Gaza City electricity plant would run out of fuel Monday if shipments were not resumed. Lerner said the shipments had been stopped last Wednesday because of Palestinian rocket attacks, which began in response to an IDF raid on the coastal territory. The Defense Ministry said Sunday that no decision had yet been made about renewing the fuel supplies. The Gaza City plant provides about a quarter of Gaza’s electricity. Most of the rest comes directly over lines from Israel, though Egypt also provides a small amount. more.. e-mail
Israeli defense minister asks for a response to Gaza homemade shells fire
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/9/2008
Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, asked on Sunday for a government response to homemade shells fire onto nearby Israeli areas, as cabinet member Benjamin Beneleizer, called for stopping fuel supplies to Gaza. Barak’s request came during a weekly cabinet meeting Sunday morning, discussing a variety of issues, including latest developments on the ground in Gaza following Israeli attacks on the coastal region last week. The Israeli defense minister was quoted by Israel’s radio station-Arabic service, as saying that " it is an imperative to respond to sources of the homemade fire from Gaza’. The radio also quoted Israeli infrastructure minister, Benjamin Beneleizer as asking stoppage of fuel supplies to the coastal territory, in response to the homemade shells fire. Today’s reactions came in the wake of a series of deadly Israeli army attacks on Gaza last week, in which 8 residents including 6 fighters were killed. more.. e-mail
Barak: Israel should consider firing back at Qassam launchers
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 11/10/2008
Defense Minister Ehud Barak urged the cabinet on Sunday to consider discussing in its next session the use of counter fire in response to the Qassam rockets being launched at the Negev from the Gaza Strip. During a debate on the matter of reinforcing Gaza-area homes, Barak suggested that the matter of responsive fire be raised during the cabinet’s next meeting on Wednesday. The defense minister stressed that the most recent Israel Defense Forces operation, which was carried out to destroy a tunnel from the coastal territory believed to be intended for abducting soldiers, was a "defensive raid. " "The operation does not give the Palestinian organizations justification for breaching the calm," he said. Barak was referring to the barrage of Qassam rockets which were launched following the raid. more.. e-mail
National Security Cabinet to discuss fortifications Wednesday
Roni Sofer, YNetNews 11/9/2008
Defense Ministry demands NIS 500 million in order to provide safe rooms for Gaza vicinity residents, but Finance Ministry says request for funds not mentioned in last budget meeting - The National Security Cabinet will discuss Wednesday a request for additional NIS 500 million (about $132 million) in funds for the protection of Gaza vicinity communities, the cabinet determined during its weekly meeting Sunday. The funds would be used to create individual shelters and secure rooms for over 4,400 homes in the region. During the cabinet meeting, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, himself a resident of the southern city of Ashkelon, emphasized that "the capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad have changed compared to what was expected over the past two years as planned regarding the fortifications for Gaza vicinity communities. more.. e-mail
Faithful fight at Jerusalem church
Al Jazeera 11/10/2008
Israeil police have made two arrests after fighting erupted between Armenian and Greek Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity’s most sacred sites - the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. An Armenian and a Greek Orthodox monk were arrested after the brawl, police said on Sunday. Dozens of worshippers, dressed in traditional vestments of their sects, kicked and punched each other, knocking down tapestries and overturning decorations at the site in east Jerusalem. Police officers eventually restored order at the church, which followers believe is both the traditional site of the crucifixion and contains Jesus’s tomb. Both sides blamed each other for the violence, with one Armenian monk saying that Greek Orthodox worshippers attempted to place their monk inside the tomb - which he said is not permitted. more.. e-mail
Once again, monks come to blows at Church of Holy Sepulcher
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 11/10/2008
Israeli police rushed into one of Christianity’s holiest churches Sunday and arrested two clergyman after an argument between monks erupted into a brawl next to the site of Jesus’ tomb. The clash broke out between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection. It began as Armenian clergymen marched in an annual procession commemorating the 4th-century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus. It ended with the arrival of dozens of riot policemen who separated the sides, seizing a bearded Armenian monk in a red-and-pink robe and a black-clad Greek Orthodox monk with a bloody gash on his forehead. Both men were taken away in handcuffs. Six Christian sects divide control of the ancient church. more.. e-mail
VIDEO - Mass exercise tests IDF’s ability to fight two-front war against Syria, Hezbollah
Channel 10 and Haaretz Staff, Ha’aretz 11/9/2008
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for November 9, 2008. The Israel Defense Forces Northern Command concluded a large-scale exercise Thursday which simulated a double-front conflagration with Syria and Lebanon. The drill, codenamed "Shiluv Zro’ot III" (Crossing Arms III), was the second largest of its kind since the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Among this week’s exercises was a strategic-level simulation involving all IDF commands. Speaking before subordinate officers, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that the importance attached to Crossing Arms III stemmed from the fact that it involved all IDF operational arms, and from the fact that it was put together in a way which internalized the lessons of the Second Lebanon War. After the drill concluded Thursday, Ashkenazi said he was "very pleased with the seriousness shown and the progress made. more.. e-mail
Israeli forces enter Gaza in north and south, igniting clashes with NRB, Al-Qassam
Ma’an News Agency 11/8/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers entered Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and began bulldozing lands in the area, eyewitnesses told Ma’an on Saturday morning. Palestinian resistance factions say they tried to block the invading forces and impede their progress deeper into the Palestinian territory. Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades reported having fired at and hit an Israeli soldier while he was on top of a military vehicle advancing into the area. According to Israeli media forces entered Gaza to "neutralize two explosive devices," and the Israeli military deny that any shots were fired. In the north of Gaza more incursionsAt dawn on Saturday Israeli forces entered Gaza near the Erez crossing. The act sparked clashes between Israeli forces and the National Resistance Brigades (NRB), the military wing affiliated to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). more.. e-mail
IDF operating in southern Gaza
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 11/8/2008
Troops detonate 2 explosive devices along border fence; Palestinians claim 4 injured, a claim IDF denies - IDF forces operated in Gaza early Saturday in order to neutralize two explosive devices on the Palestinian side of the borer fence between Israel and the coastal enclave. Palestinians claimed that the forces, operating in the southern part of the strip near Khan Younis, infiltrated far beyond the border fence and injured four Palestinians, apparently by shooting. An Israeli military spokeswoman denied there was any shooting, saying troops detonated the devices in a controlled manner, with no reported casualties. During the ceasefire with Hamas, 20 explosive devices were uncovered along the border fence. Nine rockets were fired at Israeli towns on Friday, following an IDF operation to detonate a weapons’ smuggling tunnel. more.. e-mail
IDF attacks rocket-launcher in Gaza; Qassam hits south
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 11/8/2008
Forces attack Qassam-launcher in northern Strip as part of return to old policy; shortly after strike rocket lands south of Ashkelon; no injuries reported -The IDF attacked a Qassam-launcher in northern Gaza Saturday evening, and a short while later a rocket fired from the Strip landed near Zikim, south of Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported in the rocket attack. The IDF attack appears to signify a return to the army’s previous policy in Gaza, particularly in light of this week’s ground operationto destroy a tunnel that was meant to be used to kidnap an Israeli soldier. Forces are now authorized to open fire at Palestinian rocket launching cells prior to, during or shortly after their attempt to fire Qassams toward Israel’s southern region. The IDF’s Home Front Command and the Gaza Brigade are on high alert due to the continuous rocket attacks and other. . . more.. e-mail
IDF unit comes under anti-tank fire
Yaakov Lappin, Jerusalem Post 11/8/2008
IDF units patrolling the border fence with Gaza came under anti-tank missile fire on Saturday evening, the army said. No soldiers were hurt during the incident. The IDF Spokesman said soldiers were on a routine patrol near the Karni Crossing, on the northernborder with Gaza, when an anti-tank missile was fired in their general direction. The soldiers returned fire, but no casualties were identified on the Gazan side. Earlier, on Saturday morning, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on IDF soldiers after the army discovered two explosive devices planted on the southernborder with Gaza, near Khan Yunis. Army sappers neutralized the explosives with a controlled explosion, before gunmen in Gaza fired at the troops. Soldiers returned fire, but did not identify casualties on the Palestinian side. The IDF said soldiers were operating on the border area which fell under Israeli sovereignty. more.. e-mail
IOF troops bulldoze lands in southern Gaza Strip
Palestinian Information Center 11/8/2008
KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces on Saturday advanced into east of Khuza’a town in Khan Younis district, south of the Gaza Strip, and bulldozed agricultural lands, local sources said. They told PIC reporter in the area that the IOF soldiers advanced in three tanks and two bulldozers and leveled sand hills and combed the area going as near as 100 meters east of a school in Khuza’a town. The sources pointed out that the Palestinian farmers could not reach their lands near the border fence fearing for their lives due to the continued shooting at them by soldiers in military watchtowers and army jeeps that monitor the border strip. The IOF troops blasted an explosive device that was planted by the Palestinian resistance elements near the border fence east of Khuza’a. A group of foreign activists accompanied Palestinian farmers to their fields on Thursday. more.. e-mail
Al-Qassam snipes Israeli soldier in Khan Younis
Palestinian Information Center 11/8/2008
KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, reported Saturday that its snipers managed to shoot directly at an Israeli soldier during fierce confrontations with the invading IOF troops in Khuza’a town, east of Khan Younis. Al-Qassam Brigades declared its responsibility for sniping the soldier in retaliation to the Israeli military aggression on the Palestinian civilians east of Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis city and killing six of Al-Qassam fighters. Palestinian local sources told the PIC reporter that the Palestinian resistance spearheaded by Al-Qassam fighters managed to repel the invading troops out of Khuza’a, adding that there were no reported injuries among Palestinian citizens. more.. e-mail
13 Qassams fired at Negev over weekend
Avi Issacharoff and Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 11/9/2008
Palestinian militants fired at least 13 Qassam rockets and one mortar round into Israel over the weekend from the Gaza Strip. No injuries or damage to property were reported. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the Friday launches which, along with Israeli incursions, threatened to end the shaky cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. Two of the homemade rockets struck an open field south of Ashkelon, others struck areas in the western Negev. Further, while operating inside the Strip to defuse explosives placed along the border fence, IDF soldiers wounded four Palestinians. Additionally, the Israel Air Force destroyed a Qassam launcher in the northern Strip. Sources within the defense establishment say that despite the exchanges of fire, Hamas is not interested in renewing the fighting with Israel and breaking the six-month cease-fire the organization declared with Israel in June. more.. e-mail
Barak seeks NIS 500m for shelters
Amos Harel and Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 11/9/2008
During this morning’s weekly meeting, the cabinet is slated to discuss Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s request for a NIS 500 million addition to the budget for reinforcing Israeli homes near the border with the Gaza Strip. The ministers will also be briefed by Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai on the progress of home reinforcements as well as on the development of the Iron Dome missile interception system. The treasury argues that additional funds are not available for reinforcing homes. However, the Defense Minister says the extra money is needed to provide protection against rockets for an additional 4,700 housing units. Since the ceasefire began in June about 400 miguniot, concrete structures that provide protection against rocket fire, have been placed at schools and school bus stops in border communities. more.. e-mail
More rockets hit Israel following deadly incursion into Gaza Strip
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 11/8/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday fired six rockets into southern Israel without causing casualties or damages, the Israeli military said. The attack followed an Israeli violation of a truce with Gazan militants which saw soldiers from the Jewish state invade the coastal enclave and kill seven Palestinians. The incursion also prompted fighters to fire rockets into Israel on Thursday. Islamic Jihad claimed the attacks on Friday, saying in a statement issued in Gaza that they were a response to "the Zionist aggressions. "Despite breaking the de facto cease-fire, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said on Thursday that Israel favored an extension of the six-month Gaza truce that followed months of deadly clashes. Hamas said they would consider the proposal. Israel has imposed a devastating blockade on the coastal enclave since Hamas ousted. . . more.. e-mail
Jihad: We’ll cease rocket fire if Israel stops its ’aggression’
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 11/8/2008
The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a series of rocket attacks on Israel on Friday, on the third consecutive day of renewed rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Gaza militants pounded southern Israeli territory on Friday with nine Qassam rockets. Two of the homemade rockets struck an open field south of Ashkelon, others struck areas in the western Negev. There were no injuries or damages reported in any of the Qassam attacks. An Islamic Jihad spokesman said the group would consider stopping launching rockets if Israel ceased its actions. "It depends on Israel, if they stop their aggression and abide by the truce we are ready to consider stopping firing," Abu Ahmed of the Islamic Jihad armed wing said. Islamic Jihad said its gunmen had launched 14 rockets against Israel during. . . more.. e-mail
Southern Israel hit by Gaza rockets
Al Jazeera 11/7/2008
Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip have launched rockets into southern Israel. No injuries or damage was reported on Friday, the third successive day of hostilities that threatens to unravel a five-month-old truce between the enclave’s Hamas rulers and the Israeli government. Islamic Jihad has claimed responsbility for the latest rocket attack. According to the Israeli military, at least three rockets were fired. Palestinian fighters and the Israeli military have largely held their fire since a June 19 truce. But the lull ended on Tuesday after Israeli troops launched an incursion into Gaza to destroy what they said was a tunnel dug near the border aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers. Fighters killed Seven fighters were killed during the operation and dozens of rockets were fired into Israel in response. more.. e-mail
Al-Quds claims responsibility for Sderot shelling
Ma’an News Agency 11/7/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for shelling the nearby Israeli town of Sderot with six homemade projectiles, in addition to firing others toward Ashkelon on Friday. Al-Quds told Ma’an that “the Israeli air force shelled the launching pad that fired four projectiles at Sderot north of Gaza but there were no injuries. ”The Brigades also affirmed that the shelling was in response to the latest Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, during which seven Palestinians were killed. “This is an affirmation of the right to self defense,” the unnamed Al-Quds source said. Israeli media sources also confirmed that Ashkelon was shelled with two homemade projectiles, but that no injuries were reported there either. more.. e-mail
Four projectiles land near Sderot; Al-Quds and Hizbullah Brigades claim responsibility
Ma’an News Agency 11/7/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the four home-made projectiles that landed in the Negev desert before sunrise on Friday morning. The statement from the Brigades said the projectiles were aimed at Sderot, an Israeli town north east of the Gaza Strip. A second statement was issued by the Hizbullah Brigades, who also claimed to have been responsible for the early Friday projectile launch. The latest attack is was said by both Brigades to be in direct response to the Israeli invasions and shelling in the Gaza Strip which took place on Tuesday. According to Israeli Army Radio no injuries were reported. ***Updated 12:12 Bethlehem time more.. e-mail
5 Kassam rockets slam into w. Negev
Jerusalem Post 11/7/2008
Southerners woke up to another day of rocket attacks Friday as Palestinian terrorists fired five Kassams at western Negev neighborhoods. The rockets landed in the Sderot, Eshkol and Sha’ar Hanegev regions. No one was wounded and no damage was reported. One of the Kassams landed near a kibbutz reservoir, while a second hit the fence surrounding another western Negev kibbutz. The other rockets hit open areas. The Islamic Jihad’s armed wing claimed responsibility for the attacks. Meanwhile, the Ashkelon Parents Association decided to hold a partial strike on Friday morning in protest of, what they called, the government’s failure in dealing with the renewed rocket-fire. more.. e-mail
5 Qassam rockets hit south
Shmulik Hadad, Ali Waked, YNetNews 11/7/2008
Palestinian terrorists fire two rockets at Sderot area; three more rockets land in open areas in western Negev; no injuries reported in rocket barrage. Islamic Jihad: Attacks response to ’Zionist aggression’ - Rocket attacks go on:Palestinian terrorists fired five Qassam rockets at Gaza-region communities Friday morning. Two rockets reportedly landed in the Sderot area, while three other rockets landed in open areas in the western Negev. No injuries were reported in the rocket barrage. The al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the attack. One of the rockets reportedly landed near a water reservoir at a southern kibbutz. Another rocket hit the fence of a western Negev kibbutz. Meanwhile, the alert level in the south was raised ahead of the opening of the school day. more.. e-mail
Court: Federman can stay in West Bank
Aviad Glickman, YNetNews 11/7/2008
Jerusalem court rejects Prosecutor’s Office request to ban rightist activist from Judea and Samaria - The Jerusalem Magistrate’s court rejected Friday the Prosecutor’s Office’s second request to ban rightist activist Noam Federman from Judea and Samaria, after he was indicted for aggravated assault of a police officer. Judge Shulamit Dotan ruled Friday that the Prosecutor’s Office petition to forbid Federman from entering Judea and Samaria is premature, and that the rightist activist should be allowed to see the evidence against him before any decision on the matter is taken. On Thursday, the judge rejected the first request made by the Prosecutor’s Office because it failed to hand over the required documents to Federman. Upon entering the hearing, Federman told Ynet that the prosecutors’ request is "ridiculous. more.. e-mail
Owner of disputed house in Hebron threatens to sue State
Zvi Zinger, YNetNews 11/7/2008
American-Jewish businessman whose disputed purchase of property inflamed conflict in Hebron claims h will sue government, prevent his community members from investing in Israel if court evicts Jewish settlers living there -"If the Jewish settlers are evicted from the ’peace house’, I will file legal suits against the Israeli government and anyone involved in the eviction," said the Jewish businessman whose purchase of a building in Hebron inflamed rigorous conflict between the city’s Jewish and Palestinian residents. Morris Abraham, 40, is a member of the Syrian-Jewish community in New York. His great-grandfather was a resident of Hebron during the 1929 riots, and Abraham claims his investment in various projects in the city is personal. "I love Israel and especially Hebron," he told Yedioth Ahronoth. more.. e-mail
Gaza-region parent: Rocket fears are back
Ilana Curiel, YNetNews 11/7/2008
Southern residents readjust to life under Qassam threat in wake of latest attacks - In recent days, western Negev residents have had to readjust to the routine of living under the Qassam rocket threat, after long months of calm. Yaniv, a father of four at a southern Kibbutz, told Ynet that "everything is back, the fears are back," a short while after Islamic Jihad fired a rocket barrage from Gaza Friday morning. The only way to cope with the situation is to hug and kiss his children, Yaniv said. "The older ones are trying to be strong, but the young girls took it harder," he said. "After the lull was violated and a rocket landed in our kibbutz, it took my 9-year-old a long time to overcome the anxiety. There is no control over the fear, it doesn’t work like that. " Yaniv said he feels more secure when his children are at their fortified school or kindergarten. more.. e-mail
Palestinians injured in mysterious explosion near Dir Al-Balah
Ma’an News Agency 11/7/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Three Palestinians were injured Friday night in a mysterious explosion at the entrance Dir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources told Ma’an that “three residents were lightly injured in a mysterious explosion while traveling through the entrance” of the city. [end]
Israeli airstrike kills Islamic Jihad leader in northern Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 11/6/2008
Gaza - Ma’an – An Israeli spy plane killed a leader in the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, on Wednesday in the northern Gaza Strip as a fragile ceasefire appeared on the verge of collapse. Al-Quds Brigades field commander Ghassan At-Toramsi was killed instantly by the airstrike that targeted him on Abu Eita street in the Tel Az-Za’tar neighborhood. Medics found it hard to identity At-Toramsi because his body was torn to pieces in the bombardment. The Israeli attack shortly came after the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for launching two homemade rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot, which caused no damage. Those projectiles were fired in retaliation for an Israeli attack on Tuesday night that killed six Palestinian fighters. Islamic Jihad was the first to respond to the Israeli attack, followed by other armed groups. more.. e-mail
Palestinian farmer seriously wounded in northern Gaza
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/6/2008
Palestinian medical sources and eyewitnesses reported on Thursday that Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian farmer after surrounding him in his own farm in Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The sources stated that the farmer was working in his farm when the army intensively fired at him and the farm. The farmer was seriously wounded. Meanwhile, the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for exchanging fire with a group of Israeli settlers and soldiers east of the Gaza Valley area, east of Al Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. The Brigades added that this attack comes as an initial retaliation to the Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip and the killing of six Hamas fighters and one fighter of the Islamic Jihad. more.. e-mail
Israeli military detains eight Palestinian residents in the West Bank
International Middle East Media Center News 11/6/2008
Israeli military detained early on Thursday eight Palestinian residents from various parts of the West Bank, media sources and witnesses reported. The sources said that the Israeli troops attacked the cities of Bethlehem, Ramallah and Hebron and that the soldiers ransacked houses before rounding up the detainees and taking them to interrogation centers. Israeli arrest campaigns throughout the West Bank tale place almost on daily basis as the Israeli military continues to hold a tight grip of the region since 1967. Israel holds more than 11,500 Palestinian prisoners including women and juveniles inside many detentions facilities in both the West Bank and Israel. [end]
Israeli forces impose curfew in Al-Khadr village near Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 11/6/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an - Israeli forces imposed a curfew and raided houses in the village of Al-Khadr, near the city of Bethlehem, on Thursday morning. Local sources said that one young man has been arrested, but his identity could not be determined. Witnesses told Ma’an that 15 military vehicles invaded the old city of the town, raiding schools and houses, including one owned by Abdullah Ahmad Da’dou. Witnesses say that schools are under seige, although classes are continuing inside. Israeli troops have deployed tear gas and sound grenades. Israeli sources claimed on Thursday that a Molotov cocktail was thrown at an Israeli car on bypass road 60 near the village. The road is separated from the village by an 8 to 12 meter concrete barrier. more.. e-mail
DFLP fighters launch projectiles at Israeli kibbutz
Ma’an News Agency 11/6/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) claimed responsibility on Thursday for attacking Israeli Kibbutz of Kfar Aza with two homemade projectiles fired from Gaza. Israeli sources reported this afternoon that just one projectile fired from northern Gaza landed near a Kibbutz, causing no damage. “The shelling came in response to the Israeli ongoing violations against the Palestinians and as a confirmation that we [the brigades] to go with the Intifada and resistance until the occupation is out. ”Israeli forces have killed seven Palestinians in three days in the Gaza Strip in attacks that have imperiled a ceasefire that went into effect in June. In response to the Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks, Palestinian fighters have begun to launch homemade rockets into areas bordering Gaza for the first time in months. more.. e-mail
Israel raids Gaza Strip as violence escalates
Middle East Online 11/6/2008
GAZA CITY - A Palestinian activist died in an Israeli raid after rockets were fired on Israel Wednesday, Palestinian and Israeli sources said. Ghassan el Taramse, 19, a member of the Al-Qods Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, was killed by a ground to air missile in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical officials said. An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the attack and calimed it "targeted a group that fired rockets at Israel". Since late Tuesday seven Palestinian activists have died in Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip. More than 50 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel on Wednesday after Israeli forces killed six resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip, in the most serious incidents since a truce went into effect in June. At least 546 people -- nearly all of them Palestinians -- have been killed since Israeli-Palestinian. . . more.. e-mail
Qassam hits western Negev; no injuries
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 11/6/2008
Rocket fired from northern Gaza Strip lands outside kibbutz near border fence; no injuries or damage reported. Tuesday night’s IDF attack on Gaza tunnel breaks months of calm as over 50 rockets are fired into Israel in two days - A Qassam rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip landed near a kibbutz by the border fence on Thursday. No one was injuries and no damage was cause. Over 50 Qassam rockets were fired on Israel since Tuesday, and a defense establishment source told Ynet on Wednesday that "the next 24 hours could determine whether the calm in the Gaza Strip will continue, and we are prepared for all possibilities". Palestinian sources reported that a member of the Islamic Jihad’s military wing was more.. e-mail
IOF raid kills Palestinian fighter
Palestinian Information Center 11/6/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- A Palestinian member of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad Movement, was killed at a late hour on Wednesday in an Israeli air raid north of the Gaza Strip. PIC reporter in the area said that an IOF reconnaissance plane fired a missile at Ghassan Al-Taramsi, 23, while walking east of Jabalia refugee camp killing him instantly and injuring three passersby. He said that ambulance cars rushed to the scene and carried the casualties, noting that the martyr’s body was shredded. The victims of IOF aggression over the past 24 hours thus rose to 7 martyrs, six of them affiliated with the Qassam Brigades the armed wing of Hamas Movement. The Hebrew radio, meanwhile, said that war minister Ehud Barak ordered the closure of the Gaza Strip’s commercial crossings for the second day until further notice due to the firing of rockets at adjacent Israeli positions and settlements. more.. e-mail
One fighter killed in northern Gaza
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/6/2008
Palestinian medical sources reported that one fighter was killed on Wednesday evening and four other residents were wounded after the Israeli air force fired a missile at a group of fighters in Tal Al Za’tar area, east of Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The sources stated that the missile was fired at a group of fighters, members of the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad. Medical sources at the Kamal Adwan Hospital identified the slain fighter as Ghassan Al Taramisy, 29. His body was severely mutilated due to the blast. The sources added that one of the four wounded Palestinians is in a serious condition. Furthermore, eyewitnesses reported that several military vehicles invaded an area east of Al Shujaeyya neighborhood, east of Gaza city and fired rounds of live ammunition in different directions. more.. e-mail
Palestine Today 110608
IMEMC News - Audio Report, International Middle East Media Center News 11/6/2008
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 Center www. imemc. org for Thursday November 06 2008 Israeli military detained today several Palestinian residents from different West Bank cities as the Israeli troops shot and killed a resistance fighter in northern Gaza overnight. These news and more are coming up, stay tuned. Israeli soldiers rounded up on Thursday seven Palestinian residents from the West Bank cities of Tulkarem, Nablus and Hebron. The arrests took place in the early hours of Thursday as the Israeli soldiers ransacked the Palestinian homes. Meanwhile, the Israeli troops shot and killed overnight a Palestinian fighter and wounded two others in the northern Gaza Strip. Tension has escalated in Gaza over the past 48 hours after the Israeli military. . . more.. e-mail
Islamic Jihad activist seized by Israeli forces from Nablus street
Ma’an News Agency 11/6/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Undercover Israeli forces seized on Thursday an Islamic Jihad activist from a city street in Nablus, in the northern West Bank. Eighteen-year-old Suhieb Al-Kharaz told Ma’an about the abduction of the man, who is his uncle. “Undercover Israeli forces who were riding in a civilian vehicle loaded with furniture had stopped in front of a grocerywhich belongs to the Al-Kharaz family and arrested my uncle Mohammad Ziad Makawi Al-Kharaz, who is 42 years old, and withdrew shortly after without shooting. ”[end]
Two seized by Israeli forces in Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 11/6/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces seized two Palestinians from their homes in Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem at dawn on Thursday. A Palestinian security source said that Israeli forces raided several houses and detained 30-year-old Jihad Sa’id Abu Sh’irah and 23-year-old Omar Khalil Aziyah. The source added that the Israeli forces raided the house of Mohammed Aziyah without any arrests. [end]
Olive grove fire forces Huwwara checkpoint closed
Ma’an News Agency 11/6/2008
Nablus – Ma’an – Flames engulfed a field of olive trees near the Huwwara Israeli military checkpoint south of Nablus on Thursday, forcing the checkpoint to close until Palestinian fire crews arrived in the area. Local sources speculated that the fire was the result of arson. [end]
Diplomacy
Israel agrees to free 250 Palestinian prisoners
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 12/1/2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas amid persistent violence around the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The move followed a pledge by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during talks with Abbas on November 17, their first such meeting in two months. The names of those to be freed will now be drawn up by a special committee according to criteria which rule out the release of prisoners "with Jewish blood on their hands. " Israelis will also be able to lodge objections to any candidates identified for release. "President Abbas asked for the release of Palestinian prisoners and Olmert himself announced the Israeli government decision to free 250 of them early in December," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP. more.. e-mail
Libyan vessel expected in Gaza Monday amidst Israeli threats to intercept it
Palestinian Information Center 11/30/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the chairman of the popular committee against the siege on Gaza, has telephoned Libyan vessel Marwa on Sunday, saying that the boat was on its way to Gaza, and was expected to anchor in Gaza Monday morning although the Israeli occupation navy threatened to intercept it. According to Khudari, the Libyan boat, which is fully loaded with relief items and medicines among other basic goods for the besieged Palestinians in Gaza, had arrived to the Egyptian port of Bur Sa’id, and that it would enter the Palestinian national territories on Monday. He added that official and popular reception will be accorded to the first Arab vessel sailing to Gaza with the aim to break the unjust siege. Four foreign vessels carrying relief items to the 1. 5 million people in the tiny Strip had earlier anchored in Gaza waters, paving the way for others to take action towards ending the siege. more.. e-mail
Israel continues to close Gaza crossings for the 26th day
Palestinian Information Center 11/30/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority announced that Gaza Strip commercial crossings would remain closed on Sunday for the 26th consecutive day ignoring warnings of imminent human catastrophe in the beleaguered Strip. Israeli war minister Ehud Barak ordered the continued closure of those crossings at the pretext that locally made missiles were still being fired from the Strip at Israeli targets. Palestinian resistance factions in the Strip fire their crude missiles in relation to Israeli occupation forces’ incursions or shelling in violation of the calm agreement. MP Jamal Al-Khudari warned last night that the Gaza electricity generation station would stop functioning anew after the limited quantity of fuel that Israeli allowed in a few days ago had been used up. He said that basic services in Gaza such as electricity, water and sewage were rapidly crumbling other than the escalating health, fuel and wheat crises. more.. e-mail
Israeli official: Abducted PLC members to be released in coming year
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Buried in a report on the Sunday decision to release 250 Palestinian prisoners was information concerning the fate of dozens of members of Palestine’s Legislative Council (PLC), abducted from Ramallah shortly after the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. According to information in the Israeli daily Haaretz, the so called "bargaining chips" are serving varying sentences between two and three years long. A handful of the ministers seized in 2006 have already been released. The men were all charged in an Israeli military court. According to Haaretz the men were taken in “order to trade them for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. ” The report goes on to say the men will “have to be released” even if no deal is struck with the factions in Gaza holding Shalit. The Hebrew edition of the paper quoted an Israeli official as saying that the captured. . . more.. e-mail
PA, Hamas praise prisoner release
Herb Keinon And Jpost.com Staff, Jerusalem Post 11/30/2008
Senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat on Sunday afternoon praised the cabinet’s approval of a pledge made by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to release 250 Fatah prisoners as a goodwill gesture to mark the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Government approves release of Palestinian prisoners, expresses objection to five Erekat said the prisoners’ issue was a top priority for the Palestinian people, Army Radio reported. He added that Israel had not yet notified the Palestinian Authority whether jailed Fatah-Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti would be released. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum also approved of the decision. "We praise the release of every Palestinian prisoner from Israeli jails and await their return to their homes and families, as they were arrested due to a policy of crime and terror," the Hamas spokesman said. more.. e-mail
Israel to free jailed Palestinians
Al Jazeera 11/30/2008
The Israeli cabinet has given its approval to release a new batch of 250 Palestinian prisoners. The prisoners, a fraction of the 11,000 Palestinians held, will be released in the occupied West Bank before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Israeli officials said on Sunday. Ehud Olmert, the acting Israeli prime minister, had promised to free the prisoners on November 17 during a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president. "This is a confidence-building measure," Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert, said. He said Israel will release prisoners from the Fatah faction and other non-Islamist groups. ’Jewish blood’ The names of those to be freed will now be drawn up by a special committee according to criteria which rule out the release of prisoners "with Jewish blood on their hands". more.. e-mail
Across the chasm
Benjamin Pogrund, The Guardian 11/30/2008
A single conference held in two places underlined the practical difficulties of achieving peace in Israel-Palestine - With the Middle East peace process moribund, Palestinians are searching for other ways to achieve freedom. That is what people in civil society, despairing of their leaders, whether Fatah or Hamas, are doing. Three months ago a group of 45 Palestinians reported on options to end Israeli occupation, arguing for closing down the negotiation process with Israel. Last week, theIsraeli-Palestinian Centre for Research and Information held a meeting in Jerusalem to examine a confederation of Israel and Palestine with Jordan. It was hailed as desirable and inevitable - but only feasible after a Palestinian state comes into being. Another potentially important step was taken this week with a two-day conference - "Towards a sustainable peaceful solution" - hosted by the Palestinian Centre for. . . more.. e-mail
Israeli cabinet approves release of 250 Palestinian prisoners
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/30/2008
In its weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, the Israeli government approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners, the outgoing Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, pledged tow weeks ago. According to Israeli media outlets, the cabinet’s decision was a ’good-will’ gesture to Palestinian Authority’s president Mahmoud Abbas, who involved in peace talks with Israel following the Islamist Hamas’s takeover of Gaza last year. The outlets said that the list of would-be prisoners will not include prisoners of any Palestinian Islamic party, but rather of the secular Fatah party of Abbas, who holds a sway in the West Bank. Israeli foreign minister, Tsibi Livni, agreed to the decisions , but emphasized on the need that Israel should simultaneously take tough actions against the Hamas party in Gaza, which continues to shun peace talks with Israel until Israel halts attacks against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. more.. e-mail
Cabinet okays release of 250 Palestinian prisoners
Haaretz Staff and Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/1/2008
The cabinet yesterday approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture toward Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The prisoners will be released to the West Bank, where Abbas’ government holds sway, before next week’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, officials said of the decision. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had promised to free the prisoners during a meeting earlier this month with Abbas, who launched peace talks with Israel a year ago, following Gaza’s violent takeover by Hamas. "This is a confidence-building measure," said Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev. Regev also said that Israel will release prisoners from the ranks of Abbas’ secular Fatah faction and other non-Islamist groups. "This is a national priority for every Palestinian household," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said, welcoming the cabinet decision. more.. e-mail
EU paper on solving Mideast conflict worries Israel
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 12/1/2008
Israeli officials are deeply concerned over an internal European Union document outlining the EU’s plans for advancing an Israeli-Palestinian deal in 2009. Inter alia, it calls for increased pressure on Israel to reopen Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, including Orient House, which formerly served as the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in the city. The document, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz, was written by the French Foreign Ministry, as France currently occupies the EU’s rotating presidency. It is slated to be discussed next week at a meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers, and Israel is trying to get various elements changed before then. Titled "The EU Action Strategy for Peace in the Middle East: The Way Forward," the document proposes various steps the EU should take in 2009 on both the Palestinian and the Syrian tracks, with emphasis on the former. more.. e-mail
Al-Qassam Brigades: All armed factions will meet in Gaza to discuss truce
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Al-Qassam Brigades have called an all-factions meeting in Gaza in advance of the 18 December expiration of the truce between the factions and Israel. The truce, although still in-force on paper, has been violated dozens of times over the past month and several factions have declared the agreement defunct. Regardless of the daily projectile firings and maintained closure of the Gaza Strip crossings – measures the truce sought to halt - the Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has called parties together to “identify a clear and unified attitude towards it. ”Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said the proposed meeting will consider points: the ongoing Israeli violations of the terms of the truce and continued blockade; the necessity for a national consensus on any decision taken regarding truce; Palestinians’ interests and; the input of all concerned sides especially Egypt, who initially brokered the agreement. more.. e-mail
Islamic Jihad: Not committed to Gaza truce
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said on Sunday that it is not committed to a shaky five-month old ceasefire with Israel as long as Israeli military action and the siege of Gaza continue. “In light of the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip killing more than 17 people this month, the continuation of closing crossing points and tightening the siege, it is a duty of Al-Quds Brigades to retaliate for that aggression,” said Abu Hamza, the spokesperson of the Islamic Jihad’s armed organization. Egypt brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas-run government of Gaza in June. At the time Hamas secured the agreement of all the armed groups in Gaza. The commitment of these groups to the ceasefire has been shaken by threeweeks of Israeli incursions and a strict blockade of the Strip. He also said homemade projectiles that were launched on Saturday towards. . . more.. e-mail
National Resistance Brigades: truce needs to recognize right to resistance
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian factions must reach a consensus on the status and future of the truce with Israel, which must recognize the right of factions to resistance, said spokesperson of the National Resistance Brigades Abu Salim on Sunday. The Brigades sent a statement to Palestinian media outlets responding to Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, statement calling for an all-factions meeting in Gaza to discuss the state of the truce. “We need to learn from this current truce and reevaluate it,” said the National Resistance Brigades, echoing the Al-Qassam statement. They added, however, that any agreement with Israel over renewed terms of a truce would have to recognize the factions’ right to resist, and respect the terms of the truce. more.. e-mail
Lebanese gov’t recognizes ’state of Palestine’
The Media Line News Agency, Jerusalem Post 11/30/2008
The Lebanese government has approved forming full diplomatic relations with what it calls the "state of Palestine," and is elevating the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Beirut to the status of an embassy. No date has been set to carry out the decision, which was announced by Lebanese Information Minister Tariq Mitri. The PLO is regarded by the Arab League as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. The organization is currently headed by Mahmoud Abbas, who is also president of the Palestinian Authority. RELATED The Media LineHilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said he thought the move showed the government in Beirut was trying to show support for ’Abbas’ administration. more.. e-mail
Olmert: No doubt Mumbai attack targeted Jewish institutions
News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/1/2008
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday he was pleased with India’s cooperation throughout the deadly Mumbai attacks, toning down criticism voiced by Israeli security experts of the Indian military’s handling of the standoff. Olmert’s comments appeared to be aimed at heading off tensions with India, an important Israeli ally. Speaking at the weekly meeting of his Cabinet, Olmert said there had been proper and correct cooperation with India throughout the crisis. Olmert said there was no doubt the attacks targeted Jewish institutions. While noting that Israel had offered assistance, he said there was never any talk of sending in Israeli forces. "I’m pleased with this cooperation and take this opportunity to thank the Indian government for deciding to keep us updated throughout the events", he said. more.. e-mail
Bush to PM: Why give away Golan for free?
Aluf Benn, Ha’aretz 11/30/2008
WASHINGTON - U. S. President George Bush believes that Israel is offering Syria the Golan Heights without getting anything in exchange, according to sources briefed on his White House meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week. After Olmert updated Bush on Israel’s indirect talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, the U. S. president demanded, "Why do you want to give Assad the Golan for nothing? " the sources said. "It’s not for nothing," Olmert insisted. "It’s in exchange for a change in the region’s strategic alignment. "Bush persisted: "Why should you believe him? " And to that, Olmert did not reply. The Bush administration has long had reservations about Israel’s talks with Syria and refuses to play any active role in them. Infuriated by Syria’s involvement in anti-American terror in Iraq, as well as its undermining of Lebanon’s fragile democracy, Bush preferred. . . more.. e-mail
Hamas: Attack on army base does not spell lull’s end
Ali Waked, YNetNews 11/29/2008
Gaza group says Friday’s rocket fire on IDF base was response to Israeli violations of ceasefire agreement -Despite Friday’s rocket attack on the IDF base in Nahal Oz, which left eight soldiers wounded, sources within Hamas signaled Saturday that the group is still interested in continuing its ceasefire with Israel. Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said that the shooting on Nahal Oz was "a natural reaction to the enemy’s crimes, to the blockade (on Gaza) and the closing of the Gaza crossings. " The act, he stressed, "was not meant to violate thetruce. We are simply responding to the enemy’s violations. "Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades added that the Palestinian organizations will convene in the next few days to discuss the future of the ceasefire, which is scheduled to elapse on December 19. more.. e-mail
Israel to free Hamas ’bargaining chips’ arrested over Shalit
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 11/30/2008
Israel will soon be freeing all the "bargaining chips" it arrested in 2006 in order to trade them for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit: Dozens of Hamas parliamentarians, along with several Hamas ministers, will have to be released within the next year, even if no deal for Shalit is struck, because they will have finished serving their two- to three-year sentences. "Everyone understands that the arrests of these men will not have helped Shalit much," a security official involved in the affair said. On June 29, 2006, four days after Shalit was kidnapped, Israel arrested dozens of Hamas members throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including eight ministers in the Hamas government and some 20 Hamas parliamentarians. Others were arrested in the following weeks. more.. e-mail
Indirect prisoner-swap talks resume under Egyptian mediation
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/29/2008
Palestinian sources reported on Saturday that a Hamas delegate will be heading to Cairo soon in order to resume the Egyptian mediated indirect prisoner-swap talks between Hamas and Israel. Israel recently proposed the release of 220 detainees from a list of 450 detainees presented by Hamas. The list of detainees suggested by Hamas includes detainees who are sentenced to very high terms and leaders of resistance groups. Hamas officials said that the Israeli offer is insufficient while Israel rejected the list presented by Hamas and decided to increase pressures on the Gaza Strip by carrying invasions and intensifying the siege. Meanwhile, Israeli sources reported that Israel’s outgoing, scandal burdened, Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and his defense minister, Ehud Barak, will practice "exceptional efforts" in order to achieve a prisoner-swap deal with Hamas before the general elections in Israel. more.. e-mail
Israeli cabinet to approve the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners
Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli cabinet ministers are expected to approve the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners during its weekly Sunday meeting. The prisoner release will come in advance of the Muslim Edi Al-Adha, a celebration commemorating the willingness of Abraham to obey god and sacrifice his eldest son. This year the holiday falls on 8 December. According to Israeli radio those slated for release are Fatah-affiliates. The list of prisoners was prepared by Israeli public security and the Ministry of Justice, and will be published pending approval by the cabinet ministers on Sunday. [end]
Israeli leaders call for war in Gaza, Likud MK calls for using detainees as human shields
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center News 11/30/2008
Several Israeli right wing leaders called for a full invasion into the Gaza Strip especially after eight soldiers were wounded by Palestinian homemade shells. A Likud member of Knesset called for establishing an open air prison in the Negev area in order to imprison Hamas and Islamic Jihad members in it as use them as human shields against Qassam shells. The eight Israeli soldiers were wounded after Palestinian fighters struck the Nahal Oz military base with several homemade shells. Two of the soldiers are in serious conditions. Palestinian armed groups said that the shelling comes in retaliation to the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip and the ongoing siege which led to the death of hundreds of patients. Likud member of Knesset, Gilad Ardan, said that Israel must establish an open air, unprotected detention camp in the western Negev in order to use the Palestinian. . . more.. e-mail
Al Marwa, the first of several Arab ship to break the Gaza Siege
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center News 11/30/2008
Palestinian Legislator, head of the Popular committee Against the Siege, Jamal El Khodary, stated on Sunday that the Lybian ship "Al Marwa" will reach the Gaza port on Monday, and added that this ship is one of several Arab ship which will challenge the Israeli siege and deliver humanitarian supplies to the residents of the Gaza Strip. On Saturday, El Khodary phoned the Lybian Health Minister, Dr. Mohammad Rashed, and thanked him, the Lybian resident and the Lybian people for their efforts to break the Israeli siege. The independent legislator added that this ship is the first Arab ship challenging the siege but will be followed by additional ship that would sail in solidarity with the Palestinian people. He added that the the Popular Committee Against the Siege will continue the preparations for the arrival of A Marwa on Monday in order to deliver the aid and medicine to the residents of the coastal region. more.. e-mail
Madi: The Israeli siege on Gaza unprecedented
Palestinian Information Center 11/29/2008
DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Dr. Arafat Madi, the head of the European campaign to lift the siege, stated that the unjust Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip is unprecedented, strongly denouncing the western complicity in the blockade as expressed a week ago by EU official Javier Solana. During the Arab international right of return forum held in Damascus, Dr. Madi also criticized some Arab countries for participating in the siege as if the people of Gaza are not Arab or Muslims. The head of the European campaign underlined that the reports conveyed by media outlets did not reflect the scary image of the Israeli siege on Gaza, describing what is happening in Gaza as genocide in every sense of the word. He also pointed out that the Gaza people no longer blame the Arab leaders because they gave up confidence in them long time ago, but they put the blame on the active forces in the Arab and Islamic. . . more.. e-mail
EU development commissioner calls blockade collective punishment
Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel expressed his “increasing concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza,” in a Saturday press release. "I am extremely concerned by the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by the continued closure of the Gaza crossings,” Michel stated. His statement stressed the point that since 4 November only the Karem Shalom crossing has been open, and even then only for a total of four days. Michel noted that only a limited amount of food and supplies were allowed into Gaza on 17, 24, 26 and 27 November. Though he stressed his earlier condemnation of Palestinian projectile attacks, he said called the continued closure of Gaza crossings “a form of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians, which is a violation of International Humanitarian Law. more.. e-mail
Libyan health minister: Our hospitals open for all Palestinian patients
Palestinian Information Center 11/29/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Mohamed Rashid, the Libyan minister of health, on Saturday highlighted the solidarity of his government and people with the besieged Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, stressing that Libya’s hospitals are open for all Palestinian patients at any time. During a phone call with MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of the popular committee against the siege in Gaza, Dr. Rashid hailed the steadfastness and fortitude of the Gaza people, stating that Libya is always with the Palestinian people against the blockade, aggression and the Israeli occupation. Official Libyan sources had reported on Tuesday that a Libyan ship left the Zuwara port, west of the Lybian capital, and is currently heading to the Gaza Strip carrying humanitarian aid. The ship, which is the first Arab ship to challenge the Israeli siege, is expected to reach Gaza in five days. more.. e-mail
Eden Springs in Scotland buckles under pressure
Stop The Wall 11/29/2008
As a result of an intensive boycott campaign, Israeli water cooler company Eden Springs has been forced to close its East of Scotland depot. According to an industry insider, in recent months the company has lost hundreds of contracts across Scotland, which is an anomaly in an industry that is generally expanding. Among Eden Springs’ major losses are contracts with East Lothian and West Lothian Councils, Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and Caledonian MacBrayne Ferrries, which is the sole link between the mainland and Scotland’s many islands. Stevenson College, the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations, as well as a number of Scottish trade union and student bodies have all voted to boycott Eden springs explicitly on the grounds of their violations of international and human rights law. Eden Springs operates in the occupied Golan Heights, removing water from the Salukia Spring and selling it around the world. more.. e-mail
Al-Agha calls for unconditional talks and international pressure
Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008
Gaza - Ma’an - Egypt must end the Palestinian division without any preconditions and must start immediately, said member of the Executive Committee of Palestinian Liberation Organization and head of national action committee Zakariyah Al –Agha. Speaking at a sit-in organized by the committee for national action on Saturdayin front of the UN building in Gaza City Al-Agha called on Palestinian organizations and civil society to step up and pressure their governments to step up to the discussion table. Marking the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinians Al-Agha called on international and human rights organizations to help pressure Israel to lift the siege on Gaza so Palestinian attention can go back to unity. After his speech Al-Agha handed he reprehensive of UN in Gaza a memorandum for UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon which detailed the harsh living conditions of the people in Gaza. more.. e-mail
Egyptian police attack Gaza solidarity march
Stop The Wall 11/29/2008
On 26 November, Cairo University students organized a demonstration in protest of the ongoing siege of Gaza. The action was violently suppressed by Egyptian police. In downtown Cairo, Egyptian students held a mass march and demonstration, calling for an end to the siege on Gaza. According to press reports, a 600 strong state police force attacked the demonstration, clashing with 300 students. Police violently beat people with batons in an attempt to break up the protest. The Egyptian government is keen to crush protest against both its policies and that of the Occupation. Similar actions in solidarity with the Palestinians have been violently put down, solidarity activists beaten and arrested, and attempts by Egyptian opposition groups to send supplies to the beleaguered Strip have been aborted by the Mubarak regime. more.. e-mail
Haneyya calls on Egypt and Saudi Arabia to ease travel of Gaza pilgrims
Palestinian Information Center 11/29/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- Ismail Haneyya, the premier of the PA caretaker government, on Friday appealed to the Egyptian authorities and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz to facilitate the travel of Gaza pilgrims in order to perform the Hajj this year. Haneyya told a press conference that his government did not object to the travel of pilgrims from Gaza who are registered by the PA in Ramallah despite its reservations in this regard. The premier welcomed every Arab resolution that would ease the suffering of Gaza people and strengthen the Palestinian steadfastness in the face of the Israeli occupation, but he pointed out that the Arab foreign ministers’ decisions did not break the siege or open the Rafah border crossing. The premier said that Israel flouted all understandings of the Egyptian-brokered truce through its closure of the crossings, adding that if Israel wanted to maintain the calm, it has to abide by its obligations. more.. e-mail
Al-Mujahedin Brigades: We will never give up any part of Palestine
Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A militant group affiliated with Fatah said on Saturday that it would never give up any part of Palestine, according to a statement received by Ma’an. The Al-Mujahedin Brigades apparently sent the statement, which read: "Palestine is our land and it belongs to Palestinians. "It also said that "Israel has no right to our property. " "The resolution to divide Palestine into two parts is totally rejected," the statement added, insisting that "resistance" is the only way to "take back Palestinians’ rights. " [end]
Two Palestinians, two settlers injured in clashes in Hebron
Reuters, Ha’aretz 11/30/2008
face eviction. About 150 settlers, some armed, moved into the building, on the boundary line of Palestinian neighborhoods, in March 2007, saying they had bought it from its Palestinian owner. The man denies having sold the building. The Defense Ministry said it was negotiating with the settlers to leave the building voluntarily within a 30-day period allowed under Israeli law. Hebron, in the West Bank, has been a flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Some 650 settlers live in fortified enclaves guarded by IDF troops in the heart of the city of 180,000 Palestinians. [end]
Sheikh Salah: Israeli leaders murderers, criminals
Sharon Roffe-Ofir, YNetNews 11/29/2008
Leader of Islamic Movement’s northern Branch slams Israel for committing ’war crimes’ - Israeli leaders are "murderers and criminals" engaged in "war crimes," a top Arab-Israeli leader said Saturday in the wake of IDF operations in the Gaza Strip. "Thanks to just and fair courts around the world, we shall persecute them everywhere," Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement’s northern branch, said in a Nazareth speech. Thousands arrived to watch the speech, delivered in the framework of a protest against the Gaza siege. In his address, Salah slammed "Israel’s cowardly occupation," noting that "we heard in the Israeli media that the leadership of Israel’s occupation fears a military operation in Gaza. " "How shameful," Salah added. "Did your fear, you bunch of cowards, prompt you to introduce the siege on Gaza? An ongoing siege on our sturdy people in the Gaza Strip. more.. e-mail
OPEC announces US $3 million for Palestinian Solidarity Day
Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an -While delivering a statement Friday on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the director-general of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) announced a US $3 million grant to United Nations (UN) operations in Palestine, according to a statement. Director-general Suleiman Al-Herbish announced a US $3 million grant to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA). Al-Herbish said the OFID grant would help provide essential food supplies and medicines to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, where newly-enforced, strict closures are preventing the population from accessing essential goods. Al-Herbish recounted OFID’s commitment to easing the hardships suffered by the Palestinian people, which date back almost three decades when the institution issued its first grant to the territory. more.. e-mail
Obama seeks Lebanon stability
Daily Star 11/29/2008
BEIRUT: United States President-elect Barack Obama expressed hope that Lebanon would be a stability factor and not an explosive one, adding that Washington will not compromise with Damascus at the expense of Lebanon. The daily An-Nahar on Friday, quoting a Lebanese official who visited Obama advisers recently, said the newly elected president is "aware that fundamental problems suffered by Lebanon primarily originate from Syria and Iran. They are also linked to the Arab-Israeli conflict. "Obama’s advisers said Lebanon, unlike the period of the 1975-90 Civil War, does not face a "real problem" that necessitates foreign protection. They pointed to three problems Lebanon was facing, including Hizbullah’s arms, the implicit wish of the Syrian regime to maintain its hegemony over Lebanon, and the incomplete implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. more.. e-mail
Abbas wants 'peace on all fronts'
Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The “peace option” is still a reasonable and viable strategic choice for the Palestinian people, affirmed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a Saturday evening speech. Speaking at the funding development conference in Doha, Qatar Abbas affirmed that the Palestinian leadership would not spare any effort to show the world that it will be “peace on all fronts” for Palestine. Abbas also promised to work to combat extremism and violence, and demanded those involved in the Arab Peace Initiative redouble their efforts to push for a just and comprehensive peace in Palestine. Any peace, he affirmed, must be based on Israel’s withdrawal to the 1967 borders and include the return of East Jerusalem as a capital for the Palestinian state. Turning his attention to Gaza Abbas called the situation in Gaza an “unprecedented human tragedy due to the blockade which. . . more.. e-mail
Holy Land Custos visits Bethlehem, Nativity Church
Ma’an News Agency 11/29/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, custos to the Holy Land, on Saturday visited the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. Pizzaballa was officially hosted in the city of the Nativity, where he is scheduled to provide over a mass on Sunday on the occasion of Saint Catherine’s Day in Bethlehem. The custos was received in the main square of the Nativity Church by Bethlehem Governor Salah Ta’mary, as well as the city’s minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khuloud D’eibis, the mayor of Bethlehem, Victor Batarsa and mayor of Beit Sahour, Hani Al-Hayik. A number of Christian clerics and onlookers attended, as well. The custos thanked Palestinian officials and citizens for the warm reception, telling them that he hopes "peace will dominate in the region and the suffering of the Palestinian people will come to an end. more.. e-mail
U.S.-funded youth center aims to lure Palestinian teens from extremism
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 11/30/2008
A U. S. -funded youth center that has opened in the West Bank village of Beita is meant to show America at its can-do best: It will teach English and computer courses, hoping to provide an antidote to political extremism along the way. But if organizers hope the locals will also learn to love America a little - that’s a much harder sell. Many Palestinians believe the U. S. routinely sides with Israel and thus is directly responsible for their hardships under Israeli occupation, such as the ubiquitous army roadblocks that disrupt movement in the West Bank. Beita, a village of 10,000 residents - about 1,500 of them unemployed - is no exception. Ayman Yamak, an 18-year-old accounting student from Beita, said he’s eager to take courses at the center, but that won’t change his negative view of the U. more.. e-mail
Erekat verbally attacks Moallem, disturbs meeting of Arab foreign ministers
Palestinian Information Center 11/27/2008
CAIRO, (PIC)-- PA official Saeb Erekat traded verbal altercations with Syrian foreign minister Walid Al-Moallem during the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers held Wednesday in Cairo after the latter made statements in favor of the Hamas Movement and the Gaza Strip. Informed media sources said that the verbal argument, which was strongly resented by Syrian officials, started when Erekat provocatively responded to Moallem’s statements the thing which ruined the atmosphere of the meeting. The sources explained that Erekat was unreasonably provoked when the Syrian foreign minister wished that the other Palestinian rival had attended the meeting and called for sending humanitarian aid convoys to the besieged Gaza people. The Syrian minister also underlined in his speech that the call for early elections would deepen the internal Palestinian rift. more.. e-mail
Screwing the Iranians
Yossi Melman, Ha’aretz 11/30/2008
Mossad chief Meir Dagan promised to block Iran’s nuclear program, shortly after taking the job more than six years ago. He promised to do so in a letter he sent to Mossad department and unit heads, and to the heads of Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet security services. Veteran and senior Mossad officials tried to prevent him from doing so. Talk about interference, postponement, interruption, they said - don’t promise. Those same senior officials first attributed Dagan’s ambition and pretensions to his inexperience, but later came to understand that the promise was a product of overconfidence. Since Dagan joined the Mossad, he has behaved like a bull in a china shop. He has closed departments, made structural changes, alienated veterans, insulted senior officials and made promises he didn’t keep - including his promise to block Iran’s nuclear program, which continues advancing at a steady pace. more.. e-mail
Lebanon offers formal recognition to state of Palestine
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 11/29/2008
BEIRUT: Lebanon has decided for the first time to establish diplomatic relations with the state of Palestine, and has approved the opening of an embassy in Beirut. "The cabinet has approved the establishment of diplomatic relations with the state of Palestine," Information Minister Tarek Mitri said following a Cabinet meeting late on Thursday. A Palestinian embassy would replace an office in Beirut representing the Palestine Liberation Organization, but Mitri said no date had yet been fixed to implement the move. The PLO, which is headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and groups the main Palestinian political movements, is recognized by most countries as representing the Palestinian people. Abbas’ predecessor the late Yasser Arafat symbolically proclaimed the state of Palestine in 1988 but the Palestinians have yet to win formal independence. more.. e-mail
Egyptian sources: Rafah crossing to open Saturday for three days
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – The Rafah crossing into and out of the Gaza Strip will open for three days starting on Saturday to allow Palestinian pilgrims to travel for Hajj, according to Egyptian sources. But the de facto Interior Ministry still maintains that the crossing is closed, insisting that it has not received information on its opening and that the Ramallah-based caretaker government’s directing of residents to go to Rafah is misleading. The Awqaf Ministry released a list of names permitted to leave for Hajj beginning on Saturday, and numbering 3,200. Previously, the ministry had organized a sit-in at the crossing to protest its closure. [end]
Qatari relief vessel to sail to Gaza soon; Libyan vessel to arrive Gaza Monday
Palestinian Information Center 11/28/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The chairman of the Popular Committee against the Siege on Gaza MP Jamal Al-Khudari has declared the start of the "vessel peaceful uprising" to break the unjust siege on Gaza, adding that a Qatari vessel would sail within few days from Cyprus to Gaza. The Qatari vessel, according to Khudari, was the second Arab vessel to be dispatched to the besieged Gaza Strip after Libya dispatched the Marwa vessel carrying relief items worth of 15 million dollars. It is scheduled to arrive Monday the shores of Gaza. The Palestinian official announced the good news as he inaugurated an exhibition of pictures reflecting the adverse results of the Israeli economic blockade on the 1. 5 million Palestinian people living there. More than 260 Palestinian patients have died so far after the Israeli occupation government decided to seal off all crossing points of the coastal Strip. more.. e-mail
Bahrain demands end of Gaza siege, shoulders cost of treating its patients
Palestinian Information Center 11/27/2008
MANAMA, (PIC)-- Bahraini foreign minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Khalifa has asserted that King of Bahrain Sheikh Hamad Al-Khalifa had given instructions to treat all Gaza patients at the kingdom’s expense. He pointed out that the monarch ordered the formation of a team at the foreign ministry to follow up the issue of helping patients to travel to hospitals and receive suitable treatment. The Bahraini chief diplomat had held a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Ghait in Cairo and discussed working jointly to alleviate the suffering of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip through allowing transfer of patents to hospitals and extending material assistance to them. In Gaza, medical sources reported that the number of siege victims among patients in the Strip had risen to 261 after a 34-yerar-old mother of five children died on Wednesday. more.. e-mail
Jordan: Israeli Blockade against Gaza Strip Must Be Stopped
Jordan Foreign Ministry, Palestine Media Center 11/27/2008
Foreign Minister Salaheddin Al Bashir underlined on Tuesday the importance of the international community movement to end the crisis of Palestinians in Gaza. "The Israeli blockade against Gaza Strip must be stopped, crossing points mush be opened and aid must be allowed to Gazans," said Al Bashir. The minister made his remarks during two separate meetings with EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Mark Otte and United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Robert Serry. He reiterated the importance of the UN and EU roles in pushing forward the efforts designed to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict according to the two-state solution. He also urged the two bodies to help creating the suitable atmosphere to reach the agreement. more.. e-mail
Gov’t anti siege committee asks for expediting Arab relief convoys
Palestinian Information Center 11/27/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The caretaker government’s anti siege committee has asked the Arab foreign ministers to expedite implementing their decision and send immediate relief convoys via Rafah crossing to the beleaguered Gaza Strip. The committee said in a press release on Thursday that the Palestinian people were in dire need of such assistance in the light of the tightened Israeli closure of all crossings. The delay in sending aid would mean the fall of more victims and the deterioration of the humanitarian and health disaster in the Strip, it added. Alaa Al-Batta, the committee’s spokesman, appreciated the Arab FM decision to send foodstuff and medicine to Gaza, hoping that it would materialize soon, especially when citizens were impatiently waiting for that assistance. He said that sending the aid would help alleviate the citizens’ suffering and enhance their steadfastness in face. . . more.. e-mail
Livni: Western world under attack
Ronen Medzini, YNetNews 11/28/2008
Foreign minister tells press conference no details on Chabad attack in Mumbai can be divulged until Indian commando completes operation within; Israeli security personnel, medical teams standing by as battle resumes on third floor -Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni convened a press conference Friday in which she stated that Foreign Ministry personnel were awaiting the end of the Indian commando operation in the Mumbai Chabad house. "It appears the incident is over," she said. "The senior security officer and his people asked permission to enter the premises but then more shooting and explosions broke out. " Livni said Indian security forces were still in the building, moving from floor to floor of the building in an attempt to clear it of terrorist presence. She added that ZAKA and medical teams were standing by. more.. e-mail
Saudis to lobby Obama on Arab strategy for peace process
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Arab League countries will appeal to the new United States presidential administration to utilize an Arab strategy as a guiding document for the Israel-Palestine peace process, according to statements by Egypt’s foreign minister on Friday. Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit said on Friday that Saudi Arabia will transfer a document on the initiative to President-elect Barack Obama sometime in the near future. Saudi Arabia is the rolling president of the Arab Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The initiative must be signed by the secretary general of the Arab League first, however, which Foreign Minister Al-Gheit said had not yet been done. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership welcomed the decision by the Arab League-affiliated body, which first asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to hold off on negotiations with Israel pending approval of the document. more.. e-mail
Security and Defense: The operation’s a success, but will the patient survive?
Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post 11/27/2008
Slowly, and without a great deal of fanfare, the West Bank is once again being filled with Palestinian security forces. This isn’t the result of a peace deal, like the 1993 Oslo Accords, which paved the way for the deployment of PA forces in Ramallah, Jericho and the Gaza Strip. This time, it is being done within the framework of a new program - the "bottom-up paradigm" - which defense officials said this week they hoped would be effective in curbing Hamas expansion in the West Bank. Since the beginning of the year, newly trained and beefed-up Palestinian forces have deployed in a number of cities - Jenin, Nablus, Hebron - and soon they will be in Bethlehem, as well. The plan was the brainchild of Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayad, who, together with strategic advisers in his Ramallah office, saw a need to deploy strong forces on the ground, to enforce law and order. more.. e-mail
Oxford Research Group (ORG): Why the Arab Peace Initiative Now?
Oxford Research Group - ORG, Palestine Media Center 11/27/2008
The Arab Peace Initiative (API), proposed in March 2002 by all 22 members of the Arab League, offered a definitive end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, full recognition for the State of Israel, and the establishment of normal relations and mutual guarantees of future security. In exchange, the API asked for full Israeli withdrawal from lands occupied in June 1967, including Syrian and Lebanese territories, a just settlement to the Palestinian refugee problem ’to be agreed upon’ in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194, and the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem. The meeting recognised the API as a remarkable and historic document, effectively reversing the three ’noes’ of the 1967 Khartoum Arab Summit (no peace, no recognition, no negotiation with Israel). more.. e-mail
Israeli forces remove roadblock for 'security reasons' near Qalqiliya
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an – A roadblock preventing vehicles from travelling from the village of Kfil Haris to Haris, both south east of Qalqiliya, was removed by the Israeli army on Friday for “security purposes. ”The block, initially a large mound of earth and rocks piled in the center of the roadway and later replaced with an iron barred structure at the main gate to Kifl Haris, prevented the use of the 5 kilometer road to the nearby Haris. The closed road runs near the illegal Israeli settlement Ariel. The roadblock was put in place shortly after the outbreak of the second Intifadah, and travel on the road has been restricted by Israeli forces which protect a “buffer zone” near the settlement and the settler bypass road, which also runs on the lands of Kifl Haris. With the removal of the block, according to the office of the Qalqiliya municipality, all roads in the district are now open and Palestinians can expect free travel. more.. e-mail
Hamas: no plans for reviving prisoner swap talks despite Israeli report file opened
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – There has been no change in the now stalemate prisoner-swap talks between Israel and the factions responsible for the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, said Hamas leader Ayman Taha on Friday. Taha explained the freeze by saying Israel presented an inflexible position and was unwilling to work to complete an exchange deal. He also said Hamas would be open to Egyptian intervention to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli radio reported that Hamas had agreed to restart talks with Israel on the release of Shalit, and said a Hamas delegation was preparing to travel to Cairo in order to address the issue. The Israeli report came early on Friday, after which Taha confirmed talks were frozen and no plans to move them forward were in place. more.. e-mail
European Police delegation visits Jenin as part of support mission
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Jenin - Ma’an – A delegation of European Police visited the Jenin district police headquarters on Friday as part of a three year EU program aimed at providing enhanced support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in establishing sustainable and effective policing arrangements. In 2005 the EU pledged to support the creation of a Palestinian police force by providing up to 50 experts for constant consultation and dialogue over issues arising with the construction of the new forces. The mission was termed Eupol Copps. The experts provided resources on managing, financing and structuring police forces. According to the Jenin police public relations department the EU officers were welcomed to the station in order to follow up on the delivery of several pieces of police equipment. The delegation was recently in Bethlehem running a training exercise on the use of motorcycles in policing urban areas. more.. e-mail
PLO to file complaint with UN Security Council over Gaza siege
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Beirut – Ma’an – A committee head within the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) met with senior Lebanese officials in Beirut on Friday. Qais Abu Lelia is the head of the PLC’s Social Affairs Committee and a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)’s politburo. After meeting with Lebanese officials, Abu Leila spoke to reporters at a news conference in Beirut, where he expressed gratitude for Lebanon’s position on Palestine, particularly regarding the siege on the Gaza Strip and recent fuel embargo, both of which "put the lives of patients at risk and increase the suffering of residents. " Abu Leila also affirmed that the Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) would appeal to the United Nations (UN) Security Council over the Israeli siege and other "attacks on the Palestinians. more.. e-mail
Foreign press unhappy with Israel journalist ban
Middle East Online 11/28/2008
The Israeli government has offered no plausible explanation for its unprecedented ban on international journalists entering the Gaza Strip, representatives of the foreign media said at a news conference Thursday. With the ban entering its fourth week, appeals to the Israeli government from foreign governments, the United Nations and the leaders of major news organizations have gone unanswered, the journalists said. Earlier this week, the Foreign Press Association, which represents international media operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories, asked Israel’s Supreme Court to overturn the travel ban. The court gave the government 15 days to respond. "We believe the current denial of access amounts to a serious violation of freedom of the press, and runs counter to Israel’s own claims that it is a democracy that respects media liberties," said the association’s chairman,. . . more.. e-mail
US Jewish group urges Obama to move embassy to Jerusalem
Ma’an News Agency 11/28/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an/Agencies - A group of American Orthodox Jews demanded on Friday that President-elect Barack Obama move the United States (US) Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to a report from Agence France-Presse (AFP). At the site of a piece of land proposed by the US Congress for the future US Embassy to Jerusalem in 1995, dozens of members of the US Jewish Orthodox Union sang the American national anthem and held banners, one of which read "President Obama: The US embassy (sic) belongs in Israel’s capital. " The international community does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as it illegally occupies East Jerusalem, which is to be the future capital of the State of Palestine. No country’s embassy is located in what Israel claims is its capital; rather, most were built in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. more.. e-mail
Clinton signs for Obama’s dream team
Leonard Doyle in Washington, The Independent 11/22/2008
Hillary Clinton has finally agreed to become President-elect Barack Obama’s Secretary of State and spearhead efforts to restore America’s credibility in the world. Once confirmed, Mrs Clinton will be the highest-ranking cabinet official in the next administration and she is expected to become a powerful diplomatic force, dealing with some of the international community’s most intractable problems, including terrorism and climate change. News of her readiness to accept the job came as the Obama transition team said that the new Treasury Secretary will be Timothy Geithner, a decision that sent stocks soaring. He is highly respected and will replace Hank Paulson. This transition is the most sensitive because of the magnitude of the credit crisis, and markets have become increasingly concerned that there is a power vacuum at the heart of economic policy, just when new. . . more.. e-mail
Barak lets passage of supplies into Gaza
Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post 11/26/2008
Calling the closure of the Gaza border "collective punishment" and demanding that Israel allow humanitarian aid into the area in spite of Palestinian rocket attacks, the United Nations asked for $462 million on Wednesday to continue its assistance to Palestinians in 2009. This is the largest sum the United Nations has requested from donor countries for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, said Filippo Grandi, the deputy commissioner for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. He spoke with journalists at a Jerusalem press conference launching the drive, which aims for $9m. more than last year’s request of $453m. Only $313 of that amount (69 percent) was actually funded. Given that only 67% of the $4. 7 billion worldwide drive for humanitarian assistance in 2008 was funded, United Nations officials in Jerusalem said the money. . . more.. e-mail
Arab foreign ministers to discuss Palestinian divide and reconcilliation
Ma’an News Agency 11/26/2008
Cairo – Ma’an – The foreign ministers of Arab states will meet on Wednesday to discuss the Palestinian internal political crisis, the Palestinian-Israel peace process and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza. The recently-planned summit will be held at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit is expected to give a presentation reviewing Egypt’s efforts to achieve Palestinian unity. Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hussam Zaki said, “The minister will present a clear picture for everyone and highlight the ‘point’ at which dialogue ended. ”Zaki also confirmed that Cairo will continue working to unite Palestinians and believes that all the Arab ministers support and bless their efforts. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said on Tuesday that he refuses to blame one specific Palestinian side for aborting the dialogue. more.. e-mail
Palestinians demand bold action from Arab League to end Gaza siege, restore unity
Ma’an News Agency 11/26/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinians are hoping that the Arab states’ foreign ministers meeing taking place in Cairo on Wednesday will help resolve two crises: the internal Palestinian political division and the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip. The Arab League ministers face an uphill battle though, as plans for a summit of Palestinian factions collapsed earlier this month, and Israel tightened its blockade of Gaza, further punishing its 1. 5 million residents. Palestinian officials urged the League to take decisive action to lift the blockade. In the street in Gaza, ordinary Palestinians are exhausted from three weeks of constant power cuts and shortages of basic food supplies. Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, said nothing should prevent the foreign ministers from ordering Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing with Gaza and thereby break the siege. more.. e-mail
Bid to ease Palestinian divide
Al Jazeera 11/26/2008
Arab foreign ministers have begun meeting in Cairo to lay the groundwork for national reconciliation talks between the main Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah. The emergency meeting on Wednesday came three days after Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, threatened to call early elections if the two sides failed to soon resolve their differences. The Fatah-allied president largely controls the occupied West Bank whereas Hamas runs the Gaza Strip. In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Ismail Haniya, the deposed Palestinian prime minister, said Fatah must stop arresting Hamas members in the West Bank before his group will join the talks. "The campaign launched by the security forces in West Bank must come to an end," he said. more.. e-mail
Haneyya gov’t urges Arab League to stand at equal distance from rival parties
Palestinian Information Center 11/26/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian government headed by premier Ismail Haneyya called on the Arab League to stand at an equal distance from both Palestinian rivals in order to heal the internal rift and to take a decision to break the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. In a statement received by the PIC, the government strongly denounced the Israeli closure of crossings, considering it a blatant violation of human rights and international law. The government appealed to the international community and human rights organizations to urgently intervene to save the Palestinian people in Gaza from the slow killing caused by the Israeli siege. The statement hailed Syria for urging the Arab League to include the issue of the siege on the agenda of the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in order to activate the League’s previous resolutions on breaking the siege by all means especially the opening of the Rafah border crossing. more.. e-mail
Gov’t committee against siege invites Arab FM to meet in Gaza
Palestinian Information Center 11/26/2008
GAZA, (PIC)-- The government committee to break the siege on Gaza has called on the Arab foreign ministers to hold their Wednesday meeting in the Gaza Strip to get acquainted with the suffering of its population. Ala’a Al-Batta, the committee’s spokesman, said in a statement, "We appeal to the Arab foreign ministers who will meet in Cairo to travel to Gaza immediately and to hold their conference in it to break the siege imposed on the Strip". The statements of sympathy and emotions are no longer convincing in light of the serious deterioration in the humanitarian conditions that affected all aspects of life in the Strip, he elaborated. Batta urged the Arab chief diplomats to implement the Arab League resolutions that stipulated breaking the siege on Gaza. Meanwhile, Ismail Haneyya, the premier of the PA caretaker government, denounced the continued siege on Gaza in a televised interview with Al-Jazeera TV network on Tuesday evening. more.. e-mail
Palestinian factional power struggle may bar pilgrims from visiting Mecca
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 11/27/2008
The ongoing power struggle between the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and Hamas’ government in Gaza may prevent several thousand Palestinian Muslims from the Gaza Strip from fulfilling their religious obligation of visiting Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The pilgrimage dispute is connected to the Gaza authorities’ insistence that all pilgrims leaving the Strip register for the trip in Gaza, not in Ramallah. But in accordance with Saudi Arabia’s standing arrangement with the Palestinian Authority, Saudi immigration and pilgrimage authorities demand all Palestinian traffic into Saudi Arabia be coordinated through Ramallah. Riyadh has set a quota of 2,300 pilgrims from Gaza and an additional 5,700 from the West Bank. Yet so far, Saudi Arabia has not granted entry visas to Palestinians who file their pilgrimage requests from Gaza. more.. e-mail
Libyan ship departs on siege-defying mission to Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 11/26/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – A ship has set sail from Libya on Wednesday on a siege-defying voyage to the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said. Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Jamal Al-Khudari, who is also the head of the Popular Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza said the ship contains 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid. If successful, the ship would be the fourth such vessel to reach Gaza in defiance of the Israeli military blockade of the coastal territory. A group of international and Palestinian activists calling themselves the Free Gaza movement sailed to Gaza three times since August. The ship is the first such action by an Arab government. Al-Khudari Libyan officials told him that the aid was sent by the Libyan republic under the supervision of its Foreign Ministry. He affirmed that if ship could makes land in the Gaza Strip, a series of other ships will follow. more.. e-mail
Palestinians: Libya sends ship to Gaza in bid to break blockade
Haaretz Service and Reuters, Ha’aretz 11/27/2008
Libya has recently sent a ship carrying 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza, Palestinian media outlets reported Wednesday, in an attempt to break the blockade Israel has imposed on the coastal territory. The Palestine News Network reported on Tuesday that supplies were official aid from Libya, a state with which Israel has no diplomatic relations. The network quoted Libyan officials as saying that, "The Palestinians are starving from this attack. "There is also political isolation and the media is ignoring the situation. This mission was not created to show our messages of solidarity, but to provide concrete assistance. "The International Middle East Media Center, a Palestinian news organization, quoted a Gaza official as calling on other Arab states to flout the blockade. more.. e-mail
Libyan aid ship sets sail to Gaza
Deutsche Presse Agentur - DPA, ReliefWeb 11/26/2008
Gaza City_(dpa) _ A Libyan ship set sail to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, carrying aid to the residents of the besieged enclave, a Palestinian official said. Jamal al-Khodary, the head of the Popular Committee against the Siege on Gaza, said the ship set out on its voyage from the port city of Zuwarah on the Mediterranean Sea with 3,000 tons of medical supplies and humanitarian aid on board. "The aid is donated by the Libyan state and its people," al-Khodary told reporters in Gaza, adding the voyage was one of a series of Arab attempts to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Earlier this year, several vessels with foreign pro-Palestinian activists on board, succeeded in docking at Gaza’s seaport as Israel stopped short of implementing threats to intercept them. Those journeys were organized the US-based Free Gaza movement. more.. e-mail
UAE voices concerns over non-delivery of its aid to Palestinians
Emirates News Agency, ReliefWeb 11/26/2008
The United Arab Emirates yesterday condemned Israel’s continuous policy of siege and closure in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as the main cause behind the unprecedented deterioration in the humanitarian economic and social situation in Palestine. The UAE voiced grave concern over obstacles set by Israel in the way of delivery of its humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians. ’This policy has contributed to aggravating deprivation and stalling the ongoing political process between the Palestinian and Israeli parties,’ said H. E. Ambassador Ahmed A. Al-Jarman, the Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations, in a statement to the UN General Assembly session on Question of Palestine. The UAE called on the international community to provide necessary protection to the Palestinian people and double humanitarian and development aid to the Palestinian National Authority. more.. e-mail
UAE voices concerns that aid not reaching Palestinians
Ma’an News Agency 11/26/2008
Bethlehem - Ma’an - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) accused Israel on Wednesday of refusing to deliver donated aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, according to a statement received by Ma’an. The statement called Israel’s siege "the main cause behind the unprecedented deterioration in the humanitarian economic and social situation in Palestine. " The UAE also voiced concern over obstacles supposedly set by Israel in the way of delivering its humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians. "This policy has contributed to aggravating deprivation and stalling the ongoing political process between the Palestinian and Israeli parties," said Ambassador Ahmed Al-Jarman, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the United Nations (UN). The UAE also called on the international community to "provide necessary protection to the Palestinian people and double humanitarian and development aid" to the Palestinian Authority (PA). more.. e-mail
Israel to allow 40 truckloads of food into Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 11/26/2008
Gaza – Ma’an – Israel will momentarily ease its blockade of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, allowing a shipment of food through the Kerem Shalom border crossing. Nasser As-Serraj, the assistant undersecretary of the Ministry of National Economy in the Gaza-based government said Israel had notified the government that 40 truckloads of food would be allowed in. Twenty of the truckloads are designated for international aid organizations such as the United Nations. The other 20 contain meat and dairy products for private sector firms. After more than a year of closure, Israel has imposed a near-total blockade on the tiny Strip since a 4 November military incursion there. The closure of the borders has caused the power plant to shut down due to lack of fuel and spare parts. There have also been food shortages, as international aid agencies suspended operations. more.. e-mail
Israel to allow 40 aid trucks into Gaza