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| Conflict |
Gaza: 6 dead in Palestinian infighting
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/31/2007
Teenager, security officer among those killed in exchange of fire between Hamas, Fatah gunmen in southern Gaza - Anniversary celebrations for the Fatah movement turned violent in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis after nightfall Monday. Medics said six Palestinians were killed and some 30 others were wounded as rival factions exchanged fire following Hamas’ ban of all Fatah gatherings. Fatah officials said that Hamas security forces has been arresting Fatah operatives throughout the coastal territory since the early morning hours and conducting raids on Fatah offices, confiscating movement paraphernalia to prevent planned rallies from going forward. One Fatah supporter, a teenager, and two Hamas members were shot dead at a demonstration commemorating Fatah’s 43rd anniversary in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. more..
Five killed as violence erupts at Fatah rally in Gaza Strip
Avi Issacharoff and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
Five Palestinians were killed after nightfall on Monday as anniversary celebrations for the Fatah movement turned violent in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Medical officials said one of the dead was a Hamas police officer, another was a teenager and a third was a Fatah supporter. About 30 people were wounded, they said. Fatah marks the anniversary of its founding on January 1, but Hamas banned Fatah marches. All over Gaza, Fatah backers fired rifles in the air and set off fireworks. These were the first fatalities in Fatah-Hamas fighting since November 11, when Hamas forces opened fire on a huge Fatah rally, killing eight and wounding about 85. Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Hamas Islamists on Monday to agree to early elections and to open a "new page" by ceding control of the Gaza Strip and holding reconciliation talks with his Fatah faction. more..
Three die as Gaza factions clash
BBC Online 12/31/2007
Three people have been killed and a number wounded as the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas clashed in the south of the Gaza Strip. Three people were shot dead at a Fatah rally in the town of Khan Younis, at least one of them a Hamas policeman. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier called for a "new page" to be opened in ties between Fatah and Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June. However, a Hamas spokesman said Mr Abbas’s speech offered nothing new. The fighting in Khan Younis erupted when Fatah attempted to hold a rally. The group celebrates the anniversary of its foundation in 1965 on 1 January. Hamas said Fatah gunmen had opened fire from rooftops while Fatah said Hamas forces had raided houses, arresting dozens of Fatah members, the Associated Press reports. "Police tried to disperse [the] small Fatah demonstration in Khan Younis... more..
Gazan pilgrim killed and four injured by Israeli fire at Erez crossing
Ma’an News Agency 12/31/2007
Gaza Ma’an A Palestinian female Hajj pilgrim was killed and at least four other pilgrims were injured on Sunday evening as the Israeli forces opened fire at the crowds of pilgrims at Erez crossing in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, Ma’an’s reporter said. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an that the Israeli soldiers fired randomly at the crowds of pilgrims while they were waiting for inspection killing Khaldiyya Hamdan 55 and injuring four others including one seriously injured. Seven hundred pilgrims returned to Gaza Strip on Sunday via Jordan after they completed the Hajj annual pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. The pilgrims were taken to the Israeli side of Beit Hanoun (Erez crossing) in 12 buses. Those 700 pilgrims had headed to Saudi Arabia through Erez crossing in coordination with the Palestinian minister of endowment in the Ramallah-based caretaker government. more..
OPT: Gunfire kills one Palestinian pilgrim, wounds four
Reuters Foundation, ReliefWeb 12/30/2007
GAZA, Dec 30 (Reuters) - At least one Palestinian was killed and four others were wounded by gunfire while crossing from Israel into the Gaza Strip on Sunday after completing the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca, Palestinian medics said. The medical workers said the pilgrims had been hit by Israeli gunfire at the Erez border crossing. Witnesses said soldiers first fired into the air and then at the crowd of pilgrims. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the army was not aware of any shooting in the area. Palestinian officials said about 700 pilgrims had crossed back into Gaza on Sunday, having returned from Saudi Arabia via Jordan. A separate group of more than 2,000 returning Palestinian pilgrims were stranded in Egypt, unable to return to Gaza because Israel was insisting that they go through Israeli border checks. more..
2007: Shin Bet sees drop in terror attacks but more use of rockets
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/31/2007
Security forces say that while terror groups were only successful in carrying out one suicide bombing in 2007, they were able to fire over 1,200 Qassam rockets at Israeli targets. Gaza become the focal point of Palestinian terror this year, but organizations there are working tirelessly to aid their counterparts in the West Bank - The annual Shin Bet security report released on Tuesday shows a continued decline in the volume of suicide bombings inside Israel during 2007 but warns of a sharp increase in rocket attacks over the course of the year. The decrease in suicide bombings was primarily attributed to improved cooperation between the IDF and Israeli police forces. The Shin Bet successfully thwarted 29 terror attacks in 2007; six of these were attempted suicide bombings inside Israel. The study reported several significant changes in the region, with... more..
Palestinian military groups fire projectiles at Israeli towns
Ma’an News Agency 12/31/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine PFLP, Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and the An-Nasser Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees PRC claimed responsibility on Sunday evening for firing two homemade projectiles at the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Separately, the military wing affiliated to Fatah, Al-Aqsa Brigades said their fighters launched a homemade projectile at Israeli western Negev. The military groups said in separate statements that their activity came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. [end]
The military wing of the PFLP hurls homemade projectiles at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 12/31/2007
Gaza The military wing of the Popular Resistance for the Liberation of Palestine PFLP, Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility on Monday for firing two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot in western Negev. They said in a statement that the Palestinian resistance will continue to bomb Israeli towns bordering Gaza Strip. [end]
Would-be suicide bomber belonged to Palestinian National Guard
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/31/2007
Palestinian security source tells Ynet suicide bombing thwarted by PA forces last week was meant to be carried out by National Guard officer belonging to Hamas - Palestinian security forces arrested a West Bank National Guard policeman planning a suicide bombing inside Israel last week, a Palestinian security source told Ynet on Monday several short hours after the PA announced it had thwarted a terror attack. The source said that after being taken into custody, the man was identified as belonging to Hamas. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki declined to elaborate on the identity of the would-be suicide bomber after making the announcement earlier in the day, but confirmed that a videotape of the bomber detailing his intentions to blow up an Israeli target was confiscated in the raid. more..
Hundreds partake in the funeral procession of Hebron man killed in Friday’s shooting
Ma’an News Agency 12/31/2007
Hebron Ma’an Hundreds of Palestinian citizens from Hebron in the southern West Bankparticipated on Sunday evening in the funeral procession of 22-year-old Basil Natsha who was killed in Friday’s shooting in which another Palestinian was killed in addition to two Israeli soldiers, Ma’an’s reporter said. The corpse of Natsha was delivered by the Israelis through Tarqumia crossing west of Hebron. Palestinian medical sources at Al-Ahli hospital in Hebron told our correspondent that the deceased received a gunshot to the forehead and there were deep wounds in his back and thigh in addition to bruises in the face and shoulder. The Natsha family commented on the incident saying that they had no idea about what had happened more than what they heard in the media. With regards to the reason why he was near the shooting area, the family said he was visiting relatives, and... more..
Palestinian security arrest two Hamas members in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/31/2007
Nablus Ma’an Hamas movement said on Sunday that the Palestinian security in the West Bank arrested two Hamas loyalists in Nablus in the northern West Bank and Hebron in the south. Hamas released a statement saying that the Palestinian security arrested one Hamas member in the village of Aqraba in Nablus district after pursuing him for over two months. They also arrested another one in Su’ir in Hebron district. [end]
Israeli forces arrest three brothers in Hebron and summon their father for interrogation
Ma’an News Agency 12/31/2007
Hebron Ma’an The Israeli forces arrested on Monday three Palestinian brothers from Hebron city in the southern West Bank and summoned their father to the office of Israeli intelligence in Kfar Azion, Ma’an’s reporter said. Eyewitnesses stated that the Israeli forces stormed Hasaka neighborhood in Hebron and arrested Sufyan, Ali and Abdul-Hamid Dandis. They added that the Israeli soldiers handed a warrant to the father demanding him to go to the Israeli intelligence headquarters in Azion between Hebron and Bethlehem. [end]
Knesset war report: IDF failed to eliminate Hizbullah rocket threat
Amnon Meranda, YNetNews 12/31/2007
Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee reveals findings of independent probe into Second Lebanon War, but refrains from making personal recommendations, citing ’that’s what the Winograd Commission is for’ - With the publication of the Winograd Commission’s report on the Second Lebanon War just days away, the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has issued its own report Monday on the war and its lessons. "The government and the IDF knew that by deciding to react to Hizbullah’s aggression (and the kidnapping of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev ) they might be subjecting large segments of the Israeli population to direct enemy fire," MK Tzachi Hangebi (Kadima), head of the committee, said in the report’s prologue. "The IDF was supposed to eliminate the threat of Hizbullah’s short-range rockets, but in... more..
Report: IDF kills 2 Gaza militants trying to place bomb near fence
Yuval Azoulay, Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
Israel Defense Forces troops shot and killed two Palestinian militants Sunday as they tried to place a bomb on the security fence along the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported. On Saturday, two Palestinians who were carrying knives were detained for interrogation at a roadblock outside the West Bank city of Nablus. Also on Saturday, an explosive device detonated near an IDF patrol along the Gaza border fence, damaging an IDF vehicle, and 15 mortar shells were fired at Israel from Gaza over the weekend. No injuries were reported in any of these incidents. A gag order was lifted Saturday on a joint Shin Bet-IDF operation in which a truck loaded with six tons of potassium nitrate was captured at a West Bank checkpoint a few weeks ago. It appears that the chemical compound was hidden in sugar bags belonging to the European Union humanitarian aid. more..
Hamas member remains in critical condition after stabbing in Tyre
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 12/31/2007
TYRE: A Hamas member was fighting for his life after he was stabbed in the head on Saturday at the Rashidieh refugee camp in Lebanon in an attack which the Palestinian Islamist group blamed on rivals Fatah. "When Bassel al-Ashkar, 30, returned home, he was attacked by four members of Fatah who stabbed him in the head and back, then opened fire on his house to terrorize him family," said Hamas official Abu Khaled Jihad. Following the attack at the camp in Tyre, Ashkar was taken to hospital in the southern town where he remained in a critical condition, Jihad added. Hamas members at the Jabal Amel Hospital reported tensions were high in the camp, which according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees is home to almost 30,000 people. The Hamas official said the attack was related to a recent Fatah decision to ban Hamas members from hanging photos and banners in... more..
Israeli Premier: no advancement at peace until PA meets its security obligations
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/30/2007
Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said on Sunday that Israel would not advance peace with the Palestinians until the Palestinian Authority meets its security obligations. Olmert was speaking to a regular cabinet meeting on Sunday, addressing a series of issues including the latest Palestinian attack on Israelis in the West Bank city of Hebron. "Unless the Palestinian Authority fulfills the security demands , Israel will not be able to make any progress on the ground", Olmert was quoted as saying. Palestinian-Israeli peace talks have not advanced since the U. S-sponsored peace summit has been launched in November27, with Israel declaring new settlement plans, which Palestinian view a stumbling block in the road to peace. On Friday two Israelis were killed in a drive-by shooting attack by Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled area of Kiryat Arba’ settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron. more..
A senior Israeli army official says Israel might stay in Gaza one year and a half
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/30/2007
Israeli army senior official, Ghabi Ashkenazi, stated Sunday that the Israeli army- once it invades Gaza- will stay over there for one year and a half. Ashkenazi, who serves as the Israeli army’s chief of staff, was speaking during a closed security meeting on a potential large-scale attack on the Gaza Strip. "It will be clear whether we or the Palestinians will eventually be defeated in case we massively invade Gaza", Ashkenazi told the meeting. Askenazi cited possible prolonged stay in Gaza to Israeli army’s willingness to stop, once and for all, the Palestinian homemade shells fire from Gaza onto nearby Israeli towns. During the meeting, reported by Israeli media sources, the Israeli military discussed a plan to completely control Gaza, in case a massive attack is carried out. The plan includes control over large Gaza Strip’s cities like Gaza Rafah and Gaza, dismemberment... more..
Palestinian security detain six Hamas members in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/30/2007
Nablus Ma’an Palestinian security forces seized six Hamas supporters in the West Bank, Hamas claimed on Sunday. Three of the arrests took place in Hebron, and the other three in Nablus. [end]
Israeli incursion leaves one Palestinian activist dead in southern Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/30/2007
Gaza Ma’an The corpse of a Palestinian man killed by Israeli forces during an incursion into the southern Gaza Strip arrived at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday afternoon. Muawiya Hassanein, the director of Ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry said that 22-year-old Adel Qishta had been killed Saturday night near Kerem Shalom crossing. The WAED society for Palestinian prisoners and freed prisoners described the killing of Qishta as "execution" by Israeli forces. The group also said the deceased was affiliated with Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, and that he was killed while he was trying to block the Israeli incursion into the Ash-Shuka neighborhood. more..
IDF kills 2 terrorists near Gaza security fence
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 12/30/2007
Palestinian gunmen shot dead while attempting to plant explosive device along security fence north of Kerem Shalom crossing. Army officials say terrorists looking to kidnap more soldiers into Strip - IDF soldiers on Sunday shot dead two Palestinian terrorists who were attempting to plant an explosive device along the security fence separating Israel from the Gaza Strip. The soldiers spotted the gunmen near the fence north of the Kerem Shalom crossing and opened fire. They proceeded to cross the border into Gaza, where they found weapons, the explosive device and militaryvests on the terrorists’ bodies. Army officials said Palestinian terrorists were continuously attempting to plant bombs along the fence and then detonate them by remote control as IDF vehicles approached. "Although we have so far been able to thwart these attempts, terror organizations define... more..
Gunmen open fire on Hadera kiosk; none wounded By
JPOST.COM STAFF, Jerusalem Post 12/31/2007
Gunmen opened fire on a kiosk in Hadera on Sunday night. No one was wounded in the shooting, the background to which was a feud between two gangs of Arab Israelis over a girl, police said. Police were investigating whether the attack was an attempted murder and were searching for the assailants who fled the scene. [end]
Palestinians: IDF troops kill pilgrim at Erez Crossing
Jerusalem Post 12/31/2007
IDF troops on Sunday night killed at least one Palestinian pilgrim returning from Mecca and wounded four others at the Erez Crossing, Palestinians reported. The army said the reports were being checked. [end]
Palestinians: IDF kills Gazan en route from hajj
News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
At least one Palestinian was killed and four others were wounded by gunfire while crossing from Israel into the Gaza Strip on Sunday after completing the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Palestinian medics said. The medical workers said the pilgrims had been hit by Israel Defense Forces gunfire at the Erez crossing on the northern Gaza border. Witnesses said soldiers first fired into the air and then at the crowd of pilgrims. An IDF spokeswoman said the army was not aware of any shooting in the area. Palestinian officials said about 700 pilgrims had crossed back into Gaza on Sunday, having returned from Saudi Arabia via Jordan. Earlier this month, Israel agreed to let about 900 Gaza pilgrims travel through Israeli territory en route to Mecca. Egypt moves stranded Palestinian pilgrims to Sinai camps A separate... more..
Pinpoint attacks on Gaza more precise
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
Among those who attended last week’s pilots’ graduation at the Israel Air Force base in Hatzerim was Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin. Why would a busy man like Diskin take the trouble of going to a military ceremony at a distant base in the Negev? The answer has to do with the tight cooperation between the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces, particularly the air force, as reflected in fighting in the territories. The Shin Bet and the IAF (in some cases the IDF Southern Command is also involved) are responsible for the most lethal part of combating terror organizations in the Gaza Strip: the assassinations from the air, for which Israel coined the euphemism "pinpointed thwarting." This past month alone, at least 40 armed terrorists were killed in IDF air attacks. Lately, the thwartings have indeed become more worthy of the title "pinpointed. more..
Israel captures truckload of bomb chemicals in W. Bank
Yuval Azoulay and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
The Israeli authorities captured a truck loaded with six tons of potassium nitrate at one of the West Bank crossings several weeks ago. The information was released for publication yesterday. The chemical compound, used by terrorist groups to manufacture explosives, was disguised in sugar sacks marked as part of European humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the territories. In other West Bank news, two Palestinians were caught with knives in their possession yesterday at the Hawara checkpoint, near Nablus. A bomb went off yesterday near an IDF patrol along the perimeter fence in the central Gaza Strip. No one was hurt but an army jeep was damaged. Some 15 mortar shells were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip over the weekend. There were no casualties. On Friday night, the IDF arrested 7 Palestinians in Hebron, according to Palestinian security officials. more..
Blocking the escalation
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
The effort by the security forces to capture those who carried out the shooting attack where two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed west of Hebron on Friday is doubly important this time. It hopes to pay back the terrorists and keep them from attacking again, but it is also designed to nip in the bud the creation of a new Jewish terror organization in the West Bank. An analysis of incidents in the past few decades in which Jews struck at Palestinians shows that right-wing terror groups grew amid Jewish settlers’ increasing fears for their safety and progress in the peace talks that would lead to the evacuation of settlements. The latter concern helped form the terror group that operated in the West Bank in the first years of the second intifada. A few members were arrested and tried for attempting to plant bombs in Arab schools, but the Shin Bet security service also blames... more..
Surviving hiker recounts Friday`s shooting attack in Hebron Hills
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
The sole survivor of Friday’s terror attack on hikers near Hebron, Naama Ohion, is a first-year law student at Ono College in Kiryat Ono. She is the second-oldest daughter of Amram and Simone Ohion, among the veteran settlers of Kiryat Arba. Ohion, together with two friends who were shot to death by terrorists, Ahikam Amihai and David Rubin, were among the main activists in a group of Kiryat Arba young people known for their volunteer work in Sderot and elsewhere. The group also organized an annual bicycle ride from Kiryat Arba to Jerusalem in memory of Yitzak Boanish, the town’s security officer who was killed a few years ago in a terror attack in Hebron, together with the commander of the Israel Defense Forces Hebron Brigade, Dror Weinberg, and others. Ohion, born and raised in Kiryat Arba, did her national service as a tour educator... more..
The Israeli army invades Kufer Dan village and damages the electricity network
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/29/2007
An Israeli army force invaded the village of Kufer Dan located west of Jenin city in the northern part of the West Bank on Saturday at dawn. Local sources reported that troops conducted a house to house search in the village; no kidnappings were reported but the troops damaged some of the residents’ homes. The sources added that during the invasion in the village troops opened fire randomly at the homes and other buildings in the village; some rounds hit the local power generator causing a total black out in the village. [end]
Hamas: PA forces detain 14 Hamas members in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/29/2007
Nablus Ma’an Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces detained 14 members of Hamas in the West Bank on Friday, the movement said. According to a Hamas statement, the security sources detained a Hamas supporter named Yousif Al Matur from the village of Sa’ir, north of Hebron. In Nablus, the group said, the Palestinian Authority’s forces detained two men named Sahib Ash Sha’er and Sahib Azem from the town of Sabastiya,and Muhamad Rihan and ’Isam Rihan from Tal Ba’d, near Nablus. Others were arrested in the town of Ras Al ’In. [end]
Israeli troops seize Al-Aqsa Brigades commander, four others in connection with Hebron shooting
Ma’an News Agency 12/29/2007
Hebron Ma’an Israeli forces seized the field commander of the military wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades in the West Bank city of Hebron and four other Al-Aqsa Brigades members on Friday. The raid comes a day after Palestinian fighters killed two Israeli settlers in a drive-by shooting near Hebron. The Al-Aqsa Brigades Media Center said commander Ahmed Muhammad Abu Sitteh, also known as Abu Suleiman, was detained late on Friday night and taken to an unknown location. Israeli officials confirmed the raid and the detention of the five Palestinians, accusing them of involvement in Friday’s drive-by shooting that killed two off-duty Israeli soldiers, both residents of the Kiryat Arba settlement, near Hebron. The Al-Aqsa Brigades denied any involvement in the attack. Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for the shooting on Friday. more..
Chemicals used in making explosives caught at West Bank checkpoint
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 12/30/2007
In a joint operation of the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces several weeks ago, a truck was caught at one of the crossing points in the West Bank carrying approximately 6. 5 tons of potassium nitrate intended for use by militants in the Gaza Strip, the IDF announced in a statement Saturday. Potassium nitrate is a banned substance in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank due to its use by militants for the manufacturing of explosives and Qassam rockets. "The terror organizations disguised the Potassium Nitrate in sugar bags that were marked as being part of the humanitarian aid provided by the European Union," the IDF said. "This is another example of how the terror organizations exploit the humanitarian aid that is delivered to the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip with Israel’s approval. more..
Hamas’ military wing claims several attacks on Israeli forces
Ma’an News Agency 12/29/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility on Saturday for several attacks on Israeli forces in and near the Gaza Strip. On Saturday the group said it launched five homemade projectiles at the Israeli military installation at Nahal Oz, east of Gaza. On Friday the group also fired six projectiles at Nahal Oz. Earlier on Friday they fired six projectiles at an Israeli military jeep in northern Gaza, two at jeeps near Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, and six at an unspecified military site north of Gaza. The brigades said in a statement that the shelling came in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories. more..
Fatah, DFLP military wings launch two projectiles
Ma’an News Agency 12/29/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wings of Fatah and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot, north of the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The Al-Aqsa Brigades and the National Resistance Brigades said the attack was a response to Israeli crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. [end]
Al-Aqsa Brigades fighters survive reported Israeli attack in Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/29/2007
Gaza Ma’an Several members of the military wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, survived an Israeli assassination attempt near Kisufim crossing in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the fighters said. They said they had been the target of a surface-launched missile. [end]
Men arrested after Hebron attack
Al Jazeera 12/29/2007
Palestinian officials have said arrests made after a shootout in which two Israelis and a Palestinian are proof that security in the West Bank is improving. "We have succeeded after several hours in arresting two members of the group behind the attack in Hebron," Riyad al-Malki, the Palestinian information minister, said on Saturday. "This is a very big achievement and proves we can take over responsibility in all the Palestinian territories," he said. On Friday, Palestinian men opened fire on three Jewish settlers hiking near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, killing two of them. The two settlers, who were later identified as off-duty soldiers, fired back at the car, killing one Palestinian. Criminal intention The attack was the deadliest on settlers in the Israeli-occupied... more..
Police probe disappearance of holy relic from Rachel’s Tomb
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 12/29/2007
The police have been investigating in recent months the disappearance of an ornamental curtain covering the front of the Holy Ark in the chapel at Rachel’s Tomb near the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The curtain, or parochet, originally belonged to Joseph’s Tomb. However, following the Israel Defense Forces’ evacuation of the site after the outbreak of the second intifada, the tomb had been demolished by Palestinians and a mosque was erected in its stead. The parochet was then moved to Rachel’s Tomb in northern Bethlehem for public display. Thousands of visitors passed the parochet in recent years; some lit candles for remembrance and others prayed. It is still unclear how someone managed to remove this important item from its heavily fortified place. Some suspect that the disappearance has to do with an ongoing dispute over the control of Rachel’s Tomb. more..
IDF soldiers killed on hike in West Bank eulogized for courage
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 12/30/2007
The funeral procession for Ahikam Amihai and David Rubin, the two soldiers who were shot to death by terrorists while hiking near Hebron, set out Saturday from Kiryat Arba, where the men lived, to the cemetery on Jerusalem’s Mt. Herzl. While eulogizing his friends, Benia Sarel, his voice choked with tears, discussed the profound cultural gaps between himself and and settlers from Kiryat Arba his age and what he termed the "low/lowland state." "Tomorrow morning," Sarel told the thousands who gathered in Kiryat Arba, "the entire state that lives in the lowland will wake up and be interested in how many centimeters Ninet’s hair grew [referring to the recently shaven pop star]. All the army office clerks and draft evaders hadn’t managed to wake up before you already managed to march, hike, fight and die. more..
2 Israelis killed, one hurt in W. Bank shooting attack
Amos Harel and The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 12/29/2007
Two Israelis were killed and a third was wounded Friday in a drive-by shooting in the south Hebron Hills are of the West Bank. The two, who were on leave from the army, were hiking in the area of the Talam and Adura settlements with a female resident of Kiryat Arba when a group of four terrorists opened fire on them from a Jeep. Palestinian sources have stated that IDF troops have raided a hospital in Hebron searching for a gunman believed wounded in the attack. The IDF has not confirmed the report. The victims, named as David Rubin and Ahikam Amihai, managed to return fire, reportedly killing one of the terrorists. Both men were in elite units of the IDF, with Rubin serving as a sergeant in the Israeli Naval commandos and Amihai as a corporal in the Israel Air Force commandos unit. more..
Undercover Israeli forces kill one of Ahmad Qurei’s bodyguards near Ramallah
Ma’an News Agency 12/28/2007
Bethlehem Nablus Ma’an Undercover Israeli forces killed a body guard assigned to protect the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, former Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei, in the West Bank town of Beituniya, near Ramallah on Friday morning. Medical sources confirmed that the victim was twenty-three-year-old Mu’tasim Ash-Sharif, an officer in the Palestinian Presidential Guards, the elite 17 Forces and one of Qurei’s personal guards. Witnesses said the undercover Israeli soldiers stormed Ash-Sharif’s house in Beituniya and shot him. The witnesses said Ash-Sharif did not resist his attackers. Ash-Sharif died in an ambulance en route to the government hospital in Ramallah. Ash-Sharif was not considered "wanted" by Israel any reason. Qurei was not in the vicinity at the time of the attack. more..
In Hebron shootout, two Israeli soldiers, two Palestinians killed
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/28/2007
Four Palestinian fighters fired shots at three Israeli soldiers Friday near Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, killing two, and Israeli soldiers chased down the fighters, killing two and injuring the other two. The soldiers were apparently off-duty at the time they were fired upon, as the three also lived as settlers in the Hebron area, in addition to being part of the occupying army. Israeli authorities have regularly moved hundreds of thousands of members of the civilian population into the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories to live on stolen Palestinian land, in direct violation of international law. Hebron is known as the area in the West Bank where the most violent Israeli settlers live, and Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the area take place on a nearly daily basis. more..
News in Brief
Ha’aretz 12/28/2007
Ban on evacuating Hebron settlers upheld The Military Appeals Committee decided yesterday to not to change the injunction preventing the evacuation of Jewish settlers from a house near Hebron that they moved into 10 months ago. In rejecting a request from the Military Attorney General, the committee accepted the postion of attorney Nadav Haetzni, who represents the Jewish community in Hebron, and was critical of the way the state has handled the issue. The committee pointed out that on one hand the state argues that "the deal for the purchase of the asset was legal" yet on the other hand it is trying to "prevent the use of the asset by its owner... without offering compensation or another alternative." (Nadav Shragai) Third of Israelis think they’re overweight Thirty-five percent of Israelis believe they are overweight, but 66 percent of this group are not doing anything about it, according to a Market Watch survey. more..
The Israeli army kills on Palestinian fighter in Gaza, death toll stands at 7 on Friday
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/28/2007
Palestinian medical sources reported that one Palestinian fighter was killed and 5 others injured when Israeli jet fighters fired missiles at a group of resistance men in Khaza’a town in the southern part of the Gaza strip on Friday at dawn. Sources at the al Qassam brigades that armed wing of the Hamas movement said that the resistance fighter killed is one of their fighters. With today’s death the death toll in the Gaza strip since Thursday evening now stands at 7. Six Palestinian resistance fighters were killed on Thursday evening in three deferent Israeli army attacks, among those six was, Mohamed Abullah, 41, a top leader in the Islamic Jihad armed wing al Qudes brigades. more..
Al-Quds and An-Nasser Brigades fire homemade projectiles at Ashkelon
Ma’an News Agency 12/28/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility on Thursday night for launching a homemade projectile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, north of the Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the shelling was in retaliation for the assassination of one of their leaders, Abu Mirshid, who was killed in an Israeli attackon Thursday. Separately, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, also said they launched a homemade projectile at Ashkelon. They also said in a statement that the shelling was in retaliation for a series of assassinations of resistance fighters in Gaza Strip. more..
Palestinian security detain six Hamas members, group says
Ma’an News Agency 12/28/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces detained six Hamas members in the West Bank, Hamas is claiming. A Hamas statement said four of the detainees were from Nablus one from Salfit and another from Jenin, all in the northern West Bank. [end]
Two Israelis, two Palestinians killed in shooting near Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 12/28/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli military forces killed two Palestinian fighters after a drive-by shooting left two Israeli settlers dead the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday. Four Palestinians in a speeding car opened fire at two young men and a woman who were hiking near the Israeli settlement of Telem, close to the Palestinian village of Beit Kahil. The two men were killed and the woman survived. An Israeli patrol chased the car and eventually fought with the gunmen at the entrance of Beit Kahil, killing two of the Palestinians. The other two were injured but managed to escape. The Israeli Yesha news agency reported that the two men who were killed were soldiers. Other Israeli media said that the men were armed and managed to return fire. The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack in a press statement. more..
West Bank clash leaves three dead
BBC Online 12/28/2007
Two Israeli off-duty soldiers and a Palestinian have died in a shootout near the West Bank town of Hebron, Israeli officials have said. The two soldiers were attacked while hiking and returned fire with the assault rifles they were carrying. A female friend who was with the two men escaped the attack lightly wounded, the officials said. The town of Hebron is divided between Palestinians and Israelis, who live in the Kiryat Arba Jewish settlement. Search operation The two soldiers, Ahikam Amihai, 20, and David Rubin, 21, were hiking in the hills near Hebron, when Palestinian gunmen opened fire from a jeep, Israel Army radio reported. The pair were mistakenly described in previous reports as Jewish settlers. They managed to return fire, reportedly killing one of the attackers and seriously wounding another, before being shot themselves, the Israeli military said. more..
’Three dead’ in Hebron gun battle
Al Jazeera 12/28/2007
Two Israeli settlers and at least one Palestinian have been killed in a gun battle near the West Bank town of Hebron. The Palestinians opened fire on the settlers, who were off-duty soldiers, as they walked near Hebron, the Israeli military said. The settlers returned fire killing at least one of the Palestinians before they were shot dead. Israeli rescue workers said a third person, a woman in her twenties, hid from the attackers to avoid being shot. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group later claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack on the settlers. Reuters news agency said two Palestinians were killed in the exchange of fire. Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, described the incident as a "terrorist attack". more..
IDF kills former PA premier’s bodyguard during W. Bank raid
Yuval Azoulay and Amos Harels and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 12/29/2007
Israel Defense Forces troops killed one of Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia’s bodyguards on Friday during an arrest operation in Ramallah. Israel has been limiting its operations in the West Bank, ruled by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as it negotiates a peace agreement with Abbas’s moderate government. On Thursday, Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia announced that peace talks would continue after a spat over Israeli settlements. But late Thursday, the Israeli military sent a team into a suburb of Ramallah, the seat of Abbas’ government, to arrest one of Qureia’s bodyguards, a member of the Palestinian security forces who the military said was implicated in armed activity against Israel and had provided weapons to other militants. "He opened fire at troops and they fired back, killing him," the IDF said. more..
Hikers killed in West Bank shooting were soldiers on leave
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 10/12/2007
Off-duty soldiers on hiking trip come under fire from Islamic Jihad gunmen in area south of Hebron. Soldiers were able to kill one attacker, wound another before succumbing to their injuries. Kiryat Arba council says Israeli leadership to blame for attack: ’Whoever sets terrorists free and gives them guns arms does not have to pull the trigger to be an accomplice’ - Two IDF soldiers on leave were killed on Friday in an apparent drive-by shooting south of Hebron. Cpl. Ahikam Amihai (20) and Sgt. David Ruben (21), both residents of the neighboring settlement of Kiryat Arba, were hiking through the Telem Creek area with an unnamed female companion when a group of four Palestinians drove up towards them and opened fire. Amihai and Ruben, who both served in elite commando units, were reportedly carrying their firearms with them and were able to return fire, killing one of the Palestinian gunmen and seriously wounding another. more..
Troops hunt for terrorists in Hebron hospital
Ali Waked, YNetNews 10/12/2007
IDF broadens search for Islamic Jihad gunmen who killed two off duty soldiers Friday afternoon to Palestinian hospital. Israeli officers praise conduct of slain commandos who managed to kill one terrorist, wound others during exchange of fire: ’They fought bravely till the bitter end’ - Palestinian sources reported Friday evening that IDF forces entered the al-Ahli hospital in Hebron to search among its patients for the Palestinian gunmen involved in the killing of two Israeli hikers earlier in the day. According to the report soldiers entered the hospital and are examining patients ID’s in an attempt to track down the cell members. Cpl. Ahikam Amihai (20) and Sgt. David Ruben (21), both residents of the neighboring settlement of Kiryat Arba, were hiking through the Telem Creek area with an unnamed female companion when a group of four Palestinians drove up towards them and opened fire. more..
IDF strikes kill eight militants in Gaza Strip
Yuval Azoulay and Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 12/28/2007
The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service killed eight Hamas and Islamic Jihad gunmen in three separate incidents in the Gaza Strip yesterday. Among the dead was the head of rocket and explosive manufacturing for Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Mohammed Abdallah Abu Murshad was killed together with two other operatives when he was struck by Israel Air Force missiles while walking in a refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. In another incident, an IAF aircraft fired at a car containing a large quantity of munitions in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing two Islamic Jihad operatives. A security source said they were on their way to a terror attack. Southern Command is gearing up for Qassam rocket fire from Islamic Jihad in response to the killings. more..
Israel assassinates eight Palestinians
Middle East Online 10/12/2007
GAZA CITY - Seven Palestinian fighters, one of them a senior commander, were killed and 16 other people wounded in the Gaza Strip on Thursday in four Israeli raids on the Hamas-run territory, medics and witnesses said. In the first Gaza raid three men -- two of them from the Islamic Jihad group and a third from the armed wing of Hamas -- were killed around the southern town of Khan Yunis. Six people were also wounded. The Israeli army said that infantry units backed by air power carried out a "routine operation" targeting gunmen who were firing rockets and mortars into Israel. "Units that entered several kilometres (miles) into the Gaza Strip were fired at by an anti-tank shell. They responded and hit three armed men," said a spokesman. Shortly afterwards, two Islamic Jihad fighters were killed and two wounded in an air raid in the central Gaza Strip, medics said. more..
This Week In Palestine - Week 51 2007
Ghassan Bannoura Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/28/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 14. 6 MB || Time 16m 0s || This Week In Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www. IMEMC. org, for December 22sec. , through December 28th, 2007. Palestinian and Israeli leaders meet this week while the Israeli army kill 12 Palestinians in the Gaza strip, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. Nonviolent Resistance in West Bank Let’s begin our weekly report with the nonviolent actions in Bethlehem and Ramallah. Bethlehem At least five hundred Palestinians, joined by a number of international solidarity groups and some Israelis attended a conference in Bethlehem on Friday organized by the Palestinian National Initiative to support the popular nonviolent resistance against the Wall and the Israeli occupation. Dr. more..
IDF kills eight militants in Gaza, including top Islamic Jihad commander
Yuval Azoulay and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/27/2007
Eight Palestinian militants were killed Thursday in three separate Israel Defense Forces strikes in the Gaza Strip, including Islamic Jihad’s top military commander in central Gaza. Mohammad Abu Murshud, who was in charge of manufacturing Qassam rockets and explosive devices, was assassinated along with two other militants in an Israel Air Force missile strike late Thursday carried out in cooperation with the Shin Bet. Earlier, the military foiled a major attack on troops when the IAF fired a missile at a car in the Strip that security sources said was packed full of explosives and assorted weaponry and en route to be used to attack soldiers. Two Jihad militants were killed, and three bystanders who were near the vehicle were wounded. That strike came shortly after three Palestinian militants were killed and six others... more..
Israeli forces seize seven Palestinians in Nablus and Balata refugee camp
Ma’an News Agency 12/27/2007
Nablus Ma’an Israeli forces seized seven Palestinians in the northern West Bank city of Nablus and neighboring Balata refugee camp on Thursday morning, Palestinian security sources said. According to the Palestinian sources, more than 25 Israeli military vehicles raided the city and the refugee camp on Thursday morning from different directions amidst heavy gunfire. The shooting also resulted in a power outage. Under a new Israeli-backed security plan, Palestinian Authority forces are supposed to control Nablus, but Israeli forces have nonetheless made frequent incursions into the city and it’s adjacent refugee camps over the last several months. [end]
Israeli bombing leaves four dead, ten wounded in southern Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/27/2007
Gaza Ma’an Israeli warplanes bombed the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, and the refugee camp of Al-Bureij in the ventral Gaza strip on Thursday afternoon, killing three Palestinian activists and injuring ten others. The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, said that one of the dead was field commander Muhammad Al-Masri. Another Al-Quds Brigades activist named Haytham Abu Al-Ula was also killed. The third body was identified as Hani Ramzi, an activist affiliated with Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. Palestinian medical sources said. The dead and wounded were all evacuated to a hospital in Khan Younis. The Israeli airstrike also destroyed a three-story house belonging to Kahn Younis resident Ahmad Abu Tair. Another Israeli air strike targeted a car in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip in which two Al-Quds Brigades were travelling. more..
Palestinians killed in Israeli raid
Al Jazeera 12/27/2007
At least four Palestinians have been killed and 10 others wounded in Gaza Strip during the latest Israeli army incursion in the Hamas-run territory. An official for the Islamic Jihad group said two Israeli missiles hit a car on Thursday, killing one gunman and wounding two other passengers. Three bystanders were also wounded. An Israeli army spokesman said the air strike in central Gaza targeted a vehicle carrying explosives and militants travelling to "execute a terror attack". Earlier on Thursday, Israeli troops killed three people and wounded five others near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis Local residents said the intended target was a group of fighters belonging to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. more..
The Israeli army shells areas in southern Gaza strip
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/27/2007
The Israeli army shelled the areas of Abassan and Al Qarrarah, located near Khan Younis city in the southern part of the Gaza strip on Thursday morning. Eyewitnesses stated that Israeli tanks stationed at the nearby borders opened fire at farm lands and residents’ homes. Damage to property was reported but nobody was injured. [end]
One Palestinian teen kidnapped as the army invades a village west of Bethlehem
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/27/2007
Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army invaded the village of Bateer, located west of Bethlehem city in the southern part of the West Bank. Troops searched and ransacked homes, during which the soldiers kidnapped Abu al-Khier Mo’amer, 18, and took him to unknown location, witnesses said. [end]
Palestinian resistance fighter dies as tunnel collapses on him in Gaza
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/27/2007
Palestinian sources in the Gaza strip reported on Thursday that a Palestinian resistance fighter died late Wednesday night when a tunnel collapsed on him in the city of Rafah in the southern part of the costal region. In a statement faxed to the press, the al Qassam brigades the armed wing of Hamas said that the fighter is a member of the brigades and identified him as Mohamed Dahier, 24 years old. The brigades added that the fighter was killed while he and his comrades were digging a tunnel used to fight the Israeli army during the continuous Israeli invasions into the area. [end]
Palestinian sources: the Israeli army invades al-Faraheen village east of Khan Younis
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/27/2007
Palestinian sources reported that a number of Israeli army tanks have invaded the al-Faraheen village east of Khan Younis city in the southern part of the Gaza strip. [end]
Three people killed, nine injured in an Israeli air strike on southern Gaza
Rami Almeghari, International Middle East Media Center 12/27/2007
Three Palestinians have been killed and nine others wounded after Israeli war planes launched an air strike on southern Gaza Strip. Dr. Moawiya Aabu Hasianin, chief of emergency room at the health ministry, identified the killed as Hani Abu Eid and Haytham Abu Al’ola, of the Khan Younis city in southern Gaza. Abu Hasanin said that five others have been wounded including one critically, as bodies of the wounded have been sustaining burns, ’apparently due to use of fletchet’. Sources at the Islamic Jihad group confirmed one of its armed wing’s members, called Mohammad aL-Masri, was killed during the air strike. Witnesses said that an Israeli warplane fired at least one missile at a position in Khan Younis, believed to be linked to the ruling Hamas movement. Meanwhile, Israeli tanks rolled into the southern Gaza Strip village of Faraheen in Khan Younis city, as bulldozers demolished a three-storey house, owned by Ahmad Abu Tair. more..
A new Israeli air strike on Gaza kills two resistance fighters
Rami Almeghari, International Middle East Media Center 12/27/2007
A new Israeli air strike on Gaza has killed two Palestinians and injured a third, medics and witnesses said. An Israeli war plane struck a local car, while driving along the Salah Eldin main road, in central Gaza Strip, killing instantly two people inside and injuring a third passerby, who happened to drive next to the targeted car. Islamic Jihad sources said two of its field members have been killed during the fresh air strike. These deaths bring to five the number of those killed during a an earlier air strike a position in southern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Israeli military has declared it would step up attacks on the coastal region’s resistance factions, within what Israel has said ’ a crackdown on launchers of homemade shells onto nearby Israeli towns’. Israel has declared Gaza a ’hostile entity’ in September, adding more pressure on the Hamas-ruled Strip, which has been taken over by Hamas in June. more..
An Israeli warplane strikes a target in central Gaza, kills a fighter
Rami Almeghari, International Middle East Media Center 12/27/2007
An Israeli warplane struck a target in central Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, apparently, near the Gaza power plant. Witnesses said that unknown target was hit in the air strike, as no further details were reported. Unconfirmed reports said that a number of resistance fighters, of whom the Islamic Jihad’s armed group leader, were killed during the air strike. Tow more injuries were also reported. Israeli air strikes today killed at least 7 people and injured 12 others, while Palestinian resistance groups claimed those killed were members of which. The Israeli military has warned recently of stepping up attacks on Palestinian resistance fighters, Israel says launch homemade shells on nearby Israeli towns. Last week, Israeli army killed at least 20 Palestinians, most of whom are were resistance fighters. more..
Al-Qassam Brigades activist killed in Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/27/2007
Gaza Ma’an A twenty-four-year-old activist in the military wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, was killed during a "Jihad" mission on Thursday morning, the Brigades said. The Al-Qassam Brigades said that the man, Muhammad Dhair, from the Rafah region of the southern Gaza Strip, was a member of the group’s "tunnels unit." Separately, the Al-Qassam Brigades said their fighters launched two explosive devices at Israeli forces from the southern Gaza Strip. [end]
Palestinian military groups in Gaza Strip target Israeli towns
Ma’an News Agency 12/27/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement claimed responsibility on Wednesday evening for firing four homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot in western Negev. They said in a statement that they have launched 19 projectiles at Sderot since the morning. Separately, Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades said their fighters launched a homemade projectile at the same town on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for lobbing a homemade projectile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon. The Brigades said in statements that their military activity will continue in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. more..
Palestinian security forces detain 13 Hamas supporters in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/27/2007
Nablus Ma’an Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces detained thirteen Hamas members in the West Bank on Wednesday night, Hamas said. Two Hamas members were seized in Ramallah, five in Nablus, as well as two university students in Tulkarem. Two others were detained in Hebron, one in Jenin, and one in Salfit. [end]
Palestinian military factions claim the destruction of Israeli jeep in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 12/27/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for launching two explosive devices weighing 140 kilograms each at an Israeli military jeep in the evacuated Israeli settlement of Dugit, at the northern end of the Gaza Strip on Thursday. A joint force of Al-Quds Brigades, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s (PFLP) Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and the Fatah-affiliated Sacred Jihad Brigades participated in the operation. A statement released by the Al-Quds Brigades claimed that the jeep was completely destroyed and all its occupants were killed. The statement added that the operation was retaliation for ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and in retaliation for the Israeli assassination of Al-Quds Brigades leaders. more..
An-Nasser Brigades clash with Israeli forces in southern Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/27/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades claimed responsibility on Thursday for a clash with an Israeli infantry group east of the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The group claimed that Israeli soldiers were injured, while the Palestinian fighters went unharmed. The fighters added that the operation came in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people. [end]
IDF kills 4 gunmen in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/27/2007
Israeli soldiers attack Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants after latter fire mortars and anti-tank missiles at IDF force. At least 25 Gazan militants have died in combat with the IDF since the beginning of the month - Three Hamas members were killed Thursday afternoon and four others were injured in an IDF assault on a group of militants in Farahin area next to Khan Younis in central Gaza. According to reports, those killed were members of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. The IDF reports that the armed group fired an anti-tank missile at a force of Israeli soldiers, who returned fire. Palestinian sources told Ynet that around 1pm an IDF detachment began sweeping the Khan Younis area. The IDF force then encountered militants who began firing artillery, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft fire. more..
IAF missile strike kills senior Islamic Jihad member
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/27/2007
Mohammad Abu Murshud, head of organization’s armed wing in central Strip, killed by missile launched from Israeli aircraft. At least eight Hamas,Islamic Jihad members killed in IDF strikes throughout the day - A series of attacks launched by the IDF in Gaza Thursday has claimed the lives of at least eight militants, including Mohammad Abu Murshud, head of Islamic Jihad’s armed wing in the central Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian sources, Murshud was killed when the car he was traveling in north of al-Mugarka (near the former Israeli settlement of Netzarim) was struck by a missile fired by Israeli aircraft. Two other Jihad members were killed and a number of others were injured in the attack, which was the IDF’s third of the evening. Five Palestinians were killed in two attacks in Gaza earlier in the day: Two Hamas members and two Islamic Jihad gunmen... more..
VIDEO - IDF checking if Palestinian missile narrowly missed helicopter
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 12/27/2007
Reuters video published Thursday captures air force helicopter hovering over Gaza when unidentified object flies by, emitting smoke trail - The Israeli Air Force is examining a video clip in which a smoke trail passes by an IDF helicopter hovering over Gaza. IDF sources say that they received no report from the helicopter’s crew on an attempt to harm the aircraft Thursday or in previous days, but that in light of the pictures published today they will investigate whether the Palestinians attempted to down the helicopter. IDF helicopterin Gaza skies (Video: Reuters) IDF aircraft flew sorties over Gaza Thursday throughout the day, attacking different targets in the area. Palestinian terror organizations have recently announced their desire to hit an Israeli Air Force jet or helicopter, either through anti-aircraft weaponry or various missiles. more..
Palestinian resistance shells Sderot
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 12/26/2007
The National resistance brigade, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestinian (DFLP), and the al Aqsa brigade, the armed wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for targeting the Israeli city of Sderot with home-made shells on Wednesday morning. [end]
IAF still readying for Syrian response to Sept. airstrike
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 12/27/2007
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for December 27, 2007. Since Israel’s airstrike on Syria in September, the Israel Air Force’s level of readiness has been heightened due to the belief that a Syrian response is likely to come from the air. While the Israel Defense Forces’s intelligence assessment holds that war is less likely now, IAF pilots train for that crucial moment when they will be called on to act. Related articles: Report: IDF raid seized nuclear material before Syria air strike Assad says Syria turned down nuclear weapons offer in 2001 News: PM urges IDF to avoid moves that Syria may misinterpret For more video news and features, visit Haaretz. com TV more..
Oil-spill spat loses no momentum in 2007
Michael Bluhm, Daily Star 12/28/2007
BEIRUT: Almost a year and a half has passed since Israeli warplanes bombed the Jiyyeh power plant on the Mediterranean coast south of Beirut, and yet the ongoing clean-up of the ensuing oil spill still provokes almost endless recrimination. Accusations continued to fly this year over last winter’s first phase of the clean-up, while environmental groups also warn of the destruction of micro-organisms and unique ecosystems during the ongoing second clean-up phase along the coastline. The Lebanese company Promar is cleaning fuel from rocks at 23 sites from Tabarja to Enfeh, and the Environment Ministry admits it is not requiring its contractors to consult with marine experts before cleaning. In smaller projects, the Spanish government is handling the final work at the Palm Island Nature Reserve in North Lebanon, while Norway will pay for clean-up at lower-priority sites: two in Akkar, two... more..
A leader of the al Quds brigade kidnapped in Nablus by undercover Israeli unit
Ali Samoudi, International Middle East Media Center 12/27/2007
Undercover unit of Israeli forces kidnapped Samer Al Sa’di, 23 from Jenin refugee camp claiming him to be a leader of the al Quds brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad on Thursday morning. Eyewitnesses reported that the undercover unit used a civilian car holding a Palestinian license plate to enter the camp and then kidnapped Al Sa’adi. Eyewitnesses reported that the car suddenly stopped a few meters from Al Sa’adi and several armed men jumped from the car, and surrounded him before he was kidnapped. An Israeli spokesperson reported that Al Sa’adi is considered an official leader of the al Aqsa brigade in Jenin refugee camp and was registered as the most wanted Palestinian the Israeli army list a year ago. This is believed to be the third operation executed this week in Jenin against Palestinians of the al Quds Brigades that are wanted by the Israeli Army. more..
Palestine Today 122707
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/27/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday December 28th, 2007. Three Palestinians were killed due to Israeli attacks on the Gaza strip and in the West Bank, Israeli troops kidnapped 19 civilians during morning invasions, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The news Cast Three Palestinians have been killed and nine others wounded after Israeli war planes launched an air strike on southern Gaza Strip. Dr. Moawiya Abu Hasianin, chief of the emergency room at the health ministry, said that five others have been wounded including one critically, and these bodies have sustained heavy burns. Sources at the Islamic Jihad group confirmed that one of it’s armed wing members was killed during the air strike. more..
Key Events
Electronic Intifada 12/27/2007
Israel declares Gaza "enemy entity" (19 September 2007) On Wednesday, 19 September 2007, Israel’s security cabinet unanimously declared the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity." The declaration, ostensibly in reaction to the firing of rockets from Gaza, was immediately backed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and followed by a series of collective punishment measures that have crippled Gaza’s already suffering economy. Israel has denied the importing of basic needs including medicine, severely limited exports, cut fuel supplies to the impoverished strip, and halted the movement of people to and from Gaza -- including those in need of urgent medical care. The "enemy entity" declaration follows months of Israeli closure of the Egyptian-Gazan border crossing at Rafah, during which thousands of Palestinians were stranded in Egypt. Rafah crossing remains closed since 9 June 2007. W more..
Palestinian farmers, including child, beaten by masked Israeli settlers near Nablus
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/26/2007
Palestinian sources reported Tuesday that a group of farmers in their fields near Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, were badly beaten by a group of Israeli settlers living illegally in the area. The settlements in the Nablus area are illegal under both international and Israeli law, but Israeli authorities allow the settlements there, deep within the Palestinian West Bank territory, to continue to expand on stolen Palestinian land. Local sources reported that four farmers, including one fifteen-year old boy, were badly beaten with sticks and sprayed with pepper gas by Israeli settlers. Israeli police were called, but did nothing about the incident, and the assailants were not apprehended. Of the four who were attacked, two were injured moderately and had to be treated at a local hospital in Nablus. more..
Report: Israeli crews manning UAVs in Turkish operations against Kurds
Yossi Melman, Ha’aretz 12/27/2007
Crews from Israel Aerospace Industries, operating unmanned aerial vehicles, are participating in Turkish military operations against PKK militants in northern Iraq, according to Turkish reports to be published today in the Turkish Daily News. Ten days ago, the Turkish television station Star reported that IAI Heron UAVs are being used in the offensive against the Kurds. The same report stated that Turkey’s Chief of Staff, General Yasar Buyukanit, had observed the UAVs’ operations in real time, in the operations room of the Batman air force base near the border with Iraq. The intelligence relayed by the UAVs was used by the Turkish Air Force in targeting the Kurdish militants. However, in the Turkish Daily News report, a Turkish military source is quoted expressing criticism that the IAI and Elbit, which is also part of the Heron program, have failed to meet their contractual... more..
Ten Qassams strike western Negev; woman treated for shock
Mijal Grinberg and Yuval Azoulays, Ha’aretz 12/27/2007
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday fired ten Qassam rockets at the western Negev. There were no injuries reported in the incident, apart from a woman in Sderot who was treated for shock. One rocket hit near the Sha’ar Hanegev regional council and another fired earlier Wednesday failed to reach Israel. On Tuesday, three Qassam rockets were fired at the Negev region. The rockets struck the Erez crossing to Gaza, and the Negev kibbutzes of Kfar Aza and Zikim, but did not cause any injuries or damage. In response, an Israel Air Force helicopter struck a Qassam rocket launcher in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, 15 minutes after the rocket was fired at Zikim. Militants on Tuesday also fired three mortar shells at Israel, which struck near the security fence along the northern Gaza Strip. more..
Israeli forces arrest 13 West Bankers
Ma’an News Agency 12/26/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an The Israeli forces arrested on Wednesday morning 13 Palestinians from different West Bank cities claiming that they were "wanted", Hebrew sources said. According to the Hebrew media sources, ten arrestees were seized in Nablus in the northern West Bank, 2 in Qalqilia, also in the north and one in Ramallah in the central West Bank. In a different regard, Israeli sources said that Israeli forces came under fire in Qabatia south of Jenin in the northern West Bank and in Balata refugee camp east of Nablus. No casualties have been reported. [end]
Israeli nearly lynched in Ramallah
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/26/2007
Twenty-eight-year old Israeli ends up in Ramallah after GPS system goes haywire. Driver rescued from stone-throwing mob by two east Jerusalem residents he calls ’his guardian angels’ - And you thought your GPS system was trouble? For 28-year-old Bat Yam resident Amir Ochana flawed GPS navigation nearly proved fatal. Instead of a planned return trip to Jerusalem, Ochana’s GPS system directed him towards the West Bank City of Ramallah. Ochana had just finished work in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood of Jerusalem, and wanted to give his secretary a ride home to the Adam settlement northeast of Jerusalem. He plugged in the coordinates for a return trip to Jerusalem into his GPS system and set of on his merry way. The Bat Yam resident recounts the horror that followed. "I ended up at an army checkpoint"¦and they let me through even though I was wearing a kippah and had... more..
Islamic Jihad’s military wing claims damaging Israeli military vehicle in Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 12/26/2007
Jenin Ma’an Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing affiliated to the Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for damaging an Israeli military vehicle as it attempted to enter the northern West Bank town of Qabatia from the south. The spokesperson of the Al-Quds Brigades said that their combatants detonated an explosive device, they planted earlier, as the Israeli patrol passed. Then, he added, the Islamic Jihad’s combatants clashed with the Israeli troops who were in the damaged vehicle. No injuries have been reported. [end]
Undercover Israeli forces abduct Islamic Jihad’s activist near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 12/26/2007
Jenin Ma’an Undercover Israeli forces abducted on Tuesday evening an Islamic Jihad’s activist in an ambush on the road between the villages of Al-Jadida and Sanur west of Jenin in the northern West Bank, Ma’an’s reporter said. Sources in the Islamic Jihad named the abducted activist as Fadi As-Sa’di. They said that he had been pursued by the Israeli intelligence services since two years and that the Israelis failed to arrest him several times. [end]
Israeli helicopters target an open field in northern Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/26/2007
Gaza Ma’an Israeli helicopters on Tuesday evening fired two missiles towards an open field in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Ma’an’s reporter said. Palestinian medical sources assured that there were no casualties after the raid. Muawiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency service in the Palestinian health ministry said that ambulance headed to the shelled area, but found no injuries. Security sources believe that the Israeli choppers launched the missiles after Palestinian activists fired homemade projectiles towards the Israeli city of Ashkelon. [end]
Palestinian military groups target Israeli towns bordering Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/26/2007
Gaza Ma’an Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility on Tuesday evening for firing a homemade projectile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Later on Tuesday night, they added that they launched another projectile at the Erez Crossing in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that their activity was in response to the ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Separately, the military group affiliated to the Islamic Jihad, Al-Quds Brigades said they launched a homemade projectile at Ashkelon on Tuesday evening. They released a statement after the sheling saying that they will continue to resist the Israeli occupation as it is their natural right to retaliate for the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people. more..
13 Palestinians kidnapped across the West Bank by Israeli army
Ameen Abu Wardeh, International Middle East Media Center 12/26/2007
In pre-dawn invasions that targeted several parts of the West Bank the Israeli army kidnapped 13 Palestinians on Wednesday morning. [end]
Palestine Today 122607
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/26/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 3. 67 MB || Time 4m 0s || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday December 20th, 2007. The Israeli army kidnaps 13 Palestinian civilians across the West Bank and settler attacks leaves four injured in the northern part of the West Bank, those stories and more coming up stay tuned. The news cast In pre-dawn invasions that targeted several parts of the West Bank the Israeli army kidnapped 13 Palestinians on Wednesday morning. Palestinian sources stated that the kidnappings took place in Nablus, Qalqilia and Ramallah; meanwhile local sources added that the invading troops had clashed with local resistance men in the town of Qabatiya and the Balata refugee camp, in the northern part of the West Bank. more..
Wednesday: 11 Qassam rockets fall in Sderot area
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/26/2007
Yet another day of Palestinian rocket barrages terrorize southern Israeli town, Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for attacks - A Qassam barrage on Sderot: Eight rockets fell Wednesday afternoon in open areas around Sderot and two inside the Gaza Strip. One woman was treated for shock. Al-Quds Brigade, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, assumed responsibility for the attack. Around 1:30 PM a "Code Red" warning siren was sounded after which five explosions were heard next to the city. The second salvo was launched around 5:20 PM, and three Qassam rockets landed in the Sderot area, with two falling far short of their destination in PA territory. No injuries or damages were reported. In the evening, another three Qassam rockets fell next to the security fence south of Ashkelon. Once again, the missiles caused no injuries or damages. more..
’Masked settlers beat Palestinian farmers’
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/25/2007
Palestinian officials say farmers, youth assaulted by group of Israeli settlers wielding sticks, pepper gas in field near Nablus - A group of masked Israeli settlers beat and injured four Palestinian farmers tending to their field in the West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian officials reported. ’’They parked on the road and we thought they were just hiking but suddenly they put on masks and they sprayed me in my eyes and beat me and I couldn’t see who it was,’’ said farmer Hussein Asida, 46. 50-year-old Hashem Hamed, who was working alongside Asida in the field, was moderately injured and evacuated to the nearby hospital in Nablus with a broken arm and badly injured pelvis. Hospital officials told Ynet he also sustained a serious head injury and required eight stitches. Hamed resting in Nablus’ hospital "They kept beating his head and body... more..
IAF helicopter strikes Gaza rocket launcher; 3 Qassams hit Israel
Yuval Azoulay and Mijal Grinbergs, Ha’aretz 12/26/2007
An Israel Air Force helicopter struck a Qassam rocket launcher in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, 15 minutes after it fired a rocket at Zikim. The rocket did not cause any injuries or damage. Earlier, Palestinians fired two Qassam rockets at Israel, one of which struck the Erez Crossing. The second hit near Kfar Aza. Militants also fired three mortar shells at Israel, which struck near the security fence along the northern Gaza Strip. The security cabinet approved Sunday funding for the development of the "Iron Dome" rocket defense system, which is designed to intercept short- and medium-range rockets such as Qassams and Katyushas [end]
Israeli army fire wounds a Palestinian youth in a West Bank village
Rami Almeghari, International Middle East Media Center 12/25/2007
An Israeli soldier shot and wounded on Tuesday a Palestinian youth in the West Bank village of Nahalin, Palestinian media sources reported. Local medical sources confirmed that Salah Najajra,18, was moderately wounded after sustaining an Israeli bullet. Witnesses said that Najajra was walking, along with some villagers, along the nearby Israeli settlement of Betar, when Israeli soldiers opened fire from a hilltop. Witnesses added that no clashes were talking place in the area and that the Israeli army fire was opened abruptly randomly. Israeli settlements are scattered in different parts of the West Bank, just close to or inside Palestinian-owned lands, constituting flashpoints across the occupied Palestinian territory. more..
9 Qassam rockets land in Israel on Tuesday
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/25/2007
Three rockets land in open field in south of Ashkelon Tuesday night. No injuries or property damage reported. IDF strikes at Qassam launchers in northern Gaza - Three Qassam rockets landed south of Ashkelon and in an open field near the security fence along the border between Israel and Gaza on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday evening, the IAF struck at a Qassam launch site in the northern Gaza Strip. The first rocket landed in an open field south of Ashkelon. Later in the evening, two additional Qassams landed in an open field near the security fence. Tuesday morning, six Qassam rockets were fired from the northern Gaza strip into the western Negev. The al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing, claimed responsibility for these attacks. Early Tuesday morning a Qassam rocket landed in an open field within the Sha’ar Hanegev regional council. more..
Palestinian military groups fire at Israeli targets in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 12/25/2007
Gaza Ma’an Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades and the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine DFLP, claimed responsibility on Monday for launching a homemade projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot in western Negev. They said in a joint statement that the shelling came as natural retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians. Separately, Al-Quds Brigades, the military group affiliated to the Islamic Jihad movement said their fighters fired two Rocket-propelled Grenades RPG at an Israeli military jeep near the Kissufim military post in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip before they clashed with Israeli troops. They said in a statement that they will always stick to their natural right to respond to the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. more..
Israeli soldiers injure a Palestinian near Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 12/25/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli reservist soldiers on Monday shot and injured a Palestinian young man near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Elite, which is located near the southern West Bank village of Husan west of Bethlehem, said the Israeli army’s spokesperson. The Israeli spokesperson justified the assault saying that the troops suspected that the Palestinian was layingan ambiguous devicef near the Israeli settlement. The injured man was evacuated to hospital in Bethlehem by ambulance of the Palestinian Red Crescent. Later, he was transferred to the Israeli Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem due to his serious injury. [end]
Palestinian hurls Molotov cocktail at police car; none wounded
JPOST.COM STAFF, Jerusalem Post 12/26/2007
A Palestinian hurled two Molotov cocktails at a police car driving near Beit Or Atnachta on Tuesday night. The incident occurred on Route 443, the road that connects between Jerusalem and Modi’in. Police opened fire at the Palestinian while he was preparing to throw another Molotov cocktail. No one was wounded in the attack. [end]
Hamas concerned over Israeli army actions against resistance
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/25/2007
A senior leader and spokesperson of Hamas in southern Gaza, Ahmad Arreqeb, stated Tuesday that his movement takes the Israeli threats, to target Hamas’s leaders, seriously. "Such Israeli plans have been boosted up by the last Month’s Annapolis conference in Washington" said Arreqeb. He believed that the latest Israeli government suspension of a large ground offensive on Gaza and intensification of target-killing air strikes, a ’gesture’ of Israeli failure to encounter the Palestinian resistance on the ground. Arreqeb confirmed that the Palestinian resistance has recently obtained new techniques that are capable of meeting the Palestinian aspirations to end the Israeli occupation. Recently, Israeli media reports revealed that the Israeli military has been scaling capabilities of Palestinian resistance factions, in light of last week’s attack on a central Gaza Strip’s town, which left five soldiers wounded, including one critically. more..
Two missiles fired at a civilian area in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, no injuries reported
IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/25/2007
IMEMC Correspondent in Gaza reported that an Israeli war plane fired two missiles at a building in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Lahia, on Tuesday night. The missiles hit near a building that hosts one of the offices of the Ministry of Education. [end]
Yeshiva students pelted by rocks in Druze village of Peki’in
Sharon Roffe-Ofir, YNetNews 12/25/2007
Months after violent riots gripped Druze village in northern Israel, yeshiva students traveling through the town were assaulted by local youths - A bus carrying Jewish students from a Bnei Brak yeshiva was pelted with rocks Tuesday in the Druze town of Peki’in of in the Upper Galilee. No one was injured and no serious damage was caused. Police officials confirmed officers had launched a search in the area to locate the perpetrators, believed to be local residents. The students were on a tour of gravesites of Jewish spiritual leaders in northern Israel and had stopped to visit the cave where, according to legend, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai hid from the Roman army. Bus driver Yoram Barak told Ynet that while he had noticed a group of four young Druze men "walking around and acting tough" while he parked the bus after letting the students off. more..
Hamas cell responsible for 2005 attack arrested in Nablus
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/25/2007
Troops arrest six Palestinians who confess to killing of two IDF soliders in 2005 attack, wounding of third soldier in recent shooting attack - Six members of a Hamas cell in Nablus were arrested Tuesday in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation. The men confessed to the killing of two IDF soldiers in a shooting attack in the West Bank town of Migdalim in 2005 and a shooting attack at the Ariel junction two months ago. A soldier and Israeli civilian were seriously injured in the Ariel attack. The Migdalim attack took place on January 7, 2005, adjacent to the West Bank village. Members of the cell disguised themselves as IDF soldiers and pulled over an Israeli vehicle to the side of the road. When the car stopped, they opened fire at its four occupants. The driver, Staff Sgt. Yosef Atia, was pronounced dead shortly after the attack and 2nd Lt. more..
Palestinian security services arrest 2 Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency 12/24/2007
Nablus Ma’an Hamas movement said on Monday that the Palestinian security services arrested two Hamas affiliates in the West Bank on Sunday evening. A statement released by Hamas said that the Palestinian security arrested a Hamas’ member from Al-Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron in the southern West Bank and another member from the northern west Bank village of ’Uqaba near Jenin. [end]
Civilians from military firms to be trained to operate flying drones
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 12/26/2007
Israel next week will open its first-ever civilian program to train people to operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The course, which is to be given by the company Shirgal Wings in partnership with Freedom Technologies, will take place at the Herzliya airport, where 18 students will learn to take off, cruise and land during the course’s two to three months. Although graduates will receive licenses that are completely civilian and recognized by the Israel Airport Authority (IAA,) most of the students and instructors hail from the defense establishment. Various defense organizations and military companies require training for their personnel for a range of UAV-related applications they are developing. Most of the program’s instructors are former officers in the Israel Air Force’s UAV units, according to Chen Grens of Freedom Technologies. more..
IDF air strike in Gaza kills 2 Islamic Jihad men
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 12/25/2007
Two Islamic Jihad members were killed in an Israel Defense Force air strike in central Gaza early yesterday morning, near Dir al-Balah. An IDF spokesman said that a group of armed Palestinians was targetted. Several mortar shells were fired against Israel from the Gaza Strip yesterday. Palestinian gunmen also opened fire in the afternoon against an IDF force doing construction work near the border fence. No Israeli casualties were reported. In Qalqilyah, an Israeli was lightly injured when he was pelted with rocks. In the same area yesterday, Palestinians threw firebombs against an IDF patrol. There were no injuries. At the Hawara roadblock near Nablus, a Palestinian was arrested after he was found carrying a hidden knife. In a training accident yesterday, an IDF soldier suffered moderate to light injuries. more..
IDF won’t take legal action against officers for firing cluster bombs in Lebanon
AP, Amos Harel and Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 12/25/2007
The Israel Defense Forces will not take legal action against senior officers who were involved in the firing of cluster bombs into populated areas in southern Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War, the Military Advocate General (MAG) said yesterday. Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit acknowledged that cluster bombs were fired into populated areas, but said that this did not constitute a criminal violation. Mandelblit also decided against taking any disciplinary action, in part because those involved, including Major General Udi Adam, GOC Northern Command during the war, have retired from the IDF. MAG also said that the IDF shooting was conducted in an effort to stop the continued launch of Katyusha rockets against Israel’s civilian population. Mandelblit is the third officer examining this issue, whose focus revolved around the legality of firing cluster bombs into populated areas. more..
Soldiers shoot Palestinian placing burning tire near Betar Illit By
JPOST.COM STAFF, Jerusalem Post 12/25/2007
A Palestinian was seriously injured on Monday evening after he was shot by IDF troops who spotted him planting a burning tire near the West Bank settlement of Betar Illit, Israel Radio reported. The soldiers believed the Palestinian and three others who managed to escape were attempting to infiltrate the settlement. Troops were conducting searches for the three others. [end]
Chairman of PFLP’s armed wing dies of wounds sustained months ago
Saed Bannoura & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/24/2007
Mu’in Al-Masri, 40, died Saturday night in the northern Gaza Strip from wounds sustained several months ago, Palestinian sources reported. Al-Masri was the head of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP is designated a ’terrorist organization’ by the U.S. and Israel, despite the fact that the group’s armed wing has not targeted civilians in several years. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades focus their attacks on Israeli military targets. The PFLP is a left wing party in Palestine that began in the 1970s. Al-Masri died Saturday night after being hospitalized several months ago from injuries sustained during an explosion in Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The source of the explosion remains unknown. [end]
An Israeli air strike on central Gaza leaves two deaths
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/24/2007
Israeli war planes launched early on Monday morning an air strike on central Gaza Strip, leaving two people dead. Palestinian medical sources announced that Attallah aL-Awawda and Jom’a Abu Hjayer, were admitted to the Shuhada aL-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza Strip, as dismembered corpses and that many burns appeared all over their bodies. Witnesses said that early on Monday dawn, an Israeli warplane fired at least one missile on the said Palestinian residents in the Buraij refugee camp Israeli army troops swept last Thursday into the nearby Maghazi refugee camp, n central Gaza Strip, killing at least 9 Palestinians, mostly resistance fighters and wounding about 25 others, including civilians. In the meantime, Israeli gunboats opened fire earlier in the day on Palestinian fishing boats on northern Gaza shores, forcing fishermen to flee and leaving no causalities. more..
Israeli forces arrest two Palestinians near Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 12/24/2007
Hebron The Israeli forces on Monday morning arrested two Palestinians from the southern West Bank town of Beit Ummar north of Hebron, local sources told Ma’an. The sources explained that an Israeli military force raided the town early in the morning and besieged several houses before arresting 25-year-old Mahmoud Khamis and 23-year-old Rashid Sabarna. [end]
Hamas’ military group fires mortar shells at Israeli troops
Ma’an News Agency 12/24/2007
Gaza The military wing of Hamas movement, Al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility on Monday for launching three mortar shells at a group of Israeli troops near the Karni crossing east of Gaza city. They said in a statement that the shelling came as natural response to the Israeli aggression and frequent infiltration of Israeli undercover forces into Gaza Strip. They also assured they will continue to resist the Israeli occupation. [end]
Palestinian security services arrest 2 Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency 12/24/2007
Nablus Hamas movement said on Monday that the Palestinian security services arrested two Hamas affiliates in the West Bank on Sunday evening. A statement released by Hamas said that the Palestinian security arrested a Hamas’ member from Al-Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron in the southern West Bank and another member from the northern west Bank village of ’Uqaba near Jenin. [end]
Hamas militants die in Gaza raid
BBC Online 12/24/2007
Two members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip. Hamas said the men were patrolling a border fence near Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza when they were hit. A third man was wounded in the attack. The Israeli army confirmed it had launched an air strike in the area. Israel has recently stepped up military action in Gaza, killing more than 20 Hamas activists as it tries to stop rockets being fired into Israel. Gaza is run by Hamas which took over the territory in June after a violent struggle with its Fatah rivals. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005. But Israel says it has to carry out air strikes and raids to curb rocket attacks on its territory. [end]
Palestinians: IDF troops kill two Hamas militants in Gaza air strike
Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Service and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/25/2007
Israel launched an air strike in the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing two Hamas militants and wounding two, the Palestinian Islamist group and medical staff said. Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June when it routed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s forces, said the four men were traveling in a car near the border fence with Israel close to the al-Bureij refugee camp when the attack occurred. The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman’s Office confirmed the attack, maintaining they were targeting militants. The spokesman said gunmen approached the Gaza-Israel fence near the area of Bureij refugee camp, prompting suspicions they were trying to strike at troops near the border. A third Hamas gunman was seriously injured in the attack, Hamas said. The troops were not located inside the Gaza Strip, the IDF spokesman said. more..
Fact file: Cluster bombs - introduction
BBC Online 12/24/2007
Introduction - Activation - Bomblets - Cluster bombs are controversial weapons consisting of a canister which breaks apart to release a large number of small bombs. Click on the links in the image to find out more. A range of so-called bomblets can be employed to attack different targets such as armoured vehicles or people - or to start fires. They can cover a large area but do not have precision guidance. Dropped from medium to high altitudes, they can wander off target. There is a significant "dud rate" of about 5%. In other words, many do not explode but, rather like landmines, litter the ground with the potential to explode years later. The weapon One widely-used cluster bomb is the US-manufactured CBU-87/B "combined effects munition". Weighing 950 lbs (430 kgs), it is the carrier for 202 BLU-97/B bomblets. more..
Legal effort slows building for Arabs in E. Jerusalem village
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 12/24/2007
A plan to build 2,000 apartments in the East Jerusalem village of Isawiyah has hit a potential snag: Lawyers for several Jews have applied to the municipality’s planning and building subcommittee to delay the plan’s submission for public perusal. Right-wing activist Aryeh King is behind the effort, part of his fight against various plans to divide Jerusalem. The lawyers claim that dozens of dunams in the plan are owned by their clients, bought in the past from Isawiyah’s Arabs, but that the nonprofit organization that initiated the plan, Bimkom, failed to consult them. A spokesman for Bimkom said the organization was not aware of any Jewish landholders in the plan, and that the matter will be reviewed. The Isawiyah plan has aroused strong opposition in recent weeks among residents of the Jewish neighborhood Tzameret Habira, who... more..
Hamas says uncovered network of collaborators
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/23/2007
Islamist group’s internal security service arrests three Palestinians it suspects assisted IDF in targeted killing of senior members last week; Hamas officials say they hope arrests will hinder IDF intelligence efforts - Palestinian security forces reported Sunday that Hamas’ internal security service has uncovered a network of Palestinian collaborators with Israel. According to reports, the three suspects who were detained had a Hamas official directly involved in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit under surveillance and assisted the Israeli army in the recent killing of eight senior Islamic Jihad and Hamas members in Gaza. Hamas also suspects that the collaborators were involved in the death of a member of Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz al-Din el-Qassam Brigades, as well as that of six... more..
General Commander of Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades dies of his wounds
Ma’an News Agency 12/23/2007
Gaza The General Commander of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed group affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine PFLP, Mu’in Al-Masri aged 40 died on Saturday night of his wounds sustained in an internal explosion in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip months ago, Ma’an’s reporter said. Palestinian medical sources mentioned that Al-Masri was hospitalized after he was seriously injured months ago, yet he died last night of his injury. [end]
Two Palestinian military groups launch projectiles at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 12/23/2007
Gaza Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades and the military wing affiliated to the PFLP, Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility on Saturday evening for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot in western Negev. They said in a joint statement that the shelling came in retaliation for Israeli aggressions on Gaza Strip. [end]
Israeli forces arrest 7 Palestinians in Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 12/23/2007
Bethlehem The Israeli forces arrested on Sunday morning 7 Palestinians from the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli sources said. Separately, sources within the Israeli army said that a military post in Ramallah in the central West Bank near Israeli settlement of Psagot came under fire last night. No casualties have been reported. [end]
Israeli forces arrest Al-Aqsa Brigades leader near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 12/23/2007
Jenin Ma’an The Israeli forces on Sunday morning arrested a leader of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades in the northern West Bank village Muthallath Ash-Shuhada south of Jenin after raiding his home, and injuring him. Ma’an’s reporter quoted eyewitnesses as saying that more than 12 Israeli military vehicles raided home of Rabi’ Asa’sa at 2:30 am and called the residents through loudspeakers to evacuate the home. After the evacuation, the Israeli troops stormed the house using police dogs and shot Asa’sa in the foot before they seized him. Asa’sa was wanted by Israeli intelligence since several years and the Israelis failed to arrest him several in several attempts. [end]
Qassam lands near factory in Ashkelon; no injuries reported
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/23/2007
Qassam fired by Palestinians in Gaza lands near a factory in Ashkelon’s industrial park. Islamic Jihad: ’We fired an improved Al-Quds rocket. ’ Earlier Sunday three rockets land in western Negev, causing no injuries or damage - The Qassam attacks emanating from northern Gaza are continuing despite talks of a possible hudna (ceasefire) between the armed Palestinian factions and Israel. A Qassam rocket fired Sunday afternoon from the Strip landed near a factory in the industrial park south of Ashkelon. Earlier, three Qassams landed in the western Negev. No injuries or damage were reported in any of the incidents. Later Sunday evening, a Qassam rocket landed in Sderot near a building, but did not explode. Another rocket fired from Gaza at approximately the same time landed in an open field. No injuries or damage were reported in both incidents. more..
Two IDF reservists hurt in blast on Gaza border
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 12/22/2007
Two Israel Defense Forces reservists were lightly injured in an explosive blast on Friday while patroling the southern Gaza Strip border near Kissufim. Another explosion occured shortly beforehand, with no injuries. Two Palestinians were injured byIDF fire after they approached the border fence near the Karni crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, in the northern West Bank village of Bil’in on Friday afternoon, an IDF soldier was slightly injured by a stone thrown during a protest against the separation fence. The soldiers responded with riot control measures. Also Friday, a young Palestinian was arrested at the Hawara roadblock near Nablus, after a military policewoman found a mortar while searching his belongings. A military police sapper blew up the mortar. In another protest against the separation fence, Palestinians clashed with IDF soldiers and military police near the village of Umm Salmuna in the Bethlehem area. more..
Israeli shelling leaves two fighters injured in central Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/22/2007
Gaza Ma’an Two Palestinian resistance fighters were injured after and Israeli tank fired three artillery shells at them, in the town of Juhor Ad-Dik, east of Al-Burej refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Muawiya Hassanein, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, described the injuries as "moderate." An Israeli ground incursion in the same area of the Gaza Strip left nine dead and 20 injured on Thursday. [end]
Hamas fighters launch 15 projectiles at Israeli vehicles in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 12/22/2007
Gaza Ma’an The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for launching 15 projectiles at Israeli military jeeps near the Az-Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City. The fighters told Ma’an that this attack is a part of their ongoing opposition to the Israeli occupation. [end]
Israeli soldier shot in Gaza, PFLP fighters say
Ma’an News Agency 12/22/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility for shooting an Israeli soldier in a guard tower east Gaza City on Saturday. In a statement received by Ma’an, the fighters claimed that the soldier was "directly shot." [end]
Egyptian border guard killed in confrontation with smugglers
Ma’an News Agency 12/22/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an An Egyptian border guard was shot to death by smugglers near the Egypt-Israeli border on Friday night, news agencies reported. Reports conflicted as to whether the guard, twenty-one-year-old Mohammed Abdel-Ghaffar, was killed by drug traffickers or by smugglers helping African migrants enter Israel. By one account, Abdel-Ghaffar was killed in a firefight with the traffickers after he confronted them. Three people have been killed by police in separate incidents earlier this year while trying to cross the border into Israel. [end]
Man accused of transporting projectile detained near Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 12/22/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli soldiers seized a Palestinian man at Huwwara checkpoint, south of the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday. The man was accused of transporting a homemade projectile. An Israeli military spokesperson declined to give details about the incident, but said that the alleged projectile was destroyed and the man detained for interrogation. [end]
Secular settlement being swallowed up by religious outpost
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 12/22/2007
The report of an illegal outpost on Palestinian land is already a dog-bites-man type of story, but the tale of Tal Menashe and Heinanit has all the makings of a man-bites-dog tale. Tal Menashe is an illegal outpost that has taken over a more veteran Jewish settlement, Heinanit, on the other side of the Green Line. The settlers of Heinanit have hired none other than attorney Michael Sfard, who works for the leftist organizations Peace Now and Yesh Din and is despised by the Yesha council of settlements, to represent them. Last week, Sfard approached the attorney general, the Interior Ministry and the Shomron Regional Council, to demand that the local government at Heinanit not be allowed to fall into the hands of the neighboring outpost. The storm broke out three weeks ago, following local elections in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. more..
Gaza fighters die in Israeli raid
Al Jazeera 12/20/2007
Israeli tanks and troops have raided the central Gaza Strip, killing at least six Palestinian fighters, hospital officials said. Palestinian witnesses said the Israeli forces advanced nearly one kilometre into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, just east of the Maghazi refugee camp. Hamas, which has de facto control of Gaza, said three of the men killed by the Israeli forces were from Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, its armed group. Islamic Jihad also said three fighters from their armed wing died in the raids. Another 20 people were wounded in the fighting, Muawiya Abu Hassanein, director of emergency services in Gaza, said. He said that Palestinian ambulances were prevented from reaching the scene of the incident to attend to more casualties. more..
Palestinian child dies due to the Israeli siege on Gaza
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/20/2007
Palestinian medical sources reported on Thursday that a Palestinian child died on Wednesday night because of the Israeli army siege on the Gaza Strip. Rawan Nassar, a 15 year old girl, died from kidney failure, she needed to undergo a dialysis session, but because of the army siege in the Gaza strip she was not able to leave the costal region to get the treatment she needed. In Gaza hospitals there are several machines that can perform the dialysis but since the army has not allowed medical supplies into Gaza for four months, these machines are not equipped to serve the needs of the 1. 5 million Palestinians living in the Strip. With the death of Nassar the number of Palestinians who have died due to being prevented by Israel from leaving Gaza for medical treatment now stands at 43, the youngest was Ibraheem Abu Nahal, one and half years old. more..
Israeli forces seize 13 Palestinians across West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/20/2007
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Israeli forces seized 13 Palestinians from different areas across the West Bank early on Thursday morning, according to Israeli press sources. The "widespread arrest campaign" was carried out in the governorates of Nablus, Qalqiliya, Jenin, Bethlehem and Ramallah, the sources said. [end]
7 dead, number of civilians injured in Israeli incursion in central Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/20/2007
Gaza - Ma’an - The Al-Quds Brigades announced on Thursday evening that three of their members were killed in clashes with Israeli forces near the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of those killed in the camp to seven since Thursday morning. Al-Quds Brigades media spokesman Abu Hamza named two of the dead as Hamza Abu Tuyur and Khalil Al-Isawi, both in their twenties. The third victim has not yet been named. "A group from the Al-Quds Brigades, including the three who were killed, were heading into a house in the camp when they clashed with Israeli forces. They fired rocket propelled grenades at the Israeli force, resulting in a number of Israeli soldiers being injured," Abu Hamza said. Also on Thursday, four resistance fighter were also killed and eight civilians wounded in an Israeli incursion in the village of Al-Masdar, east of the Al-Brij and Al-Maghazi refugee camps. more..
IDF to increase Gaza strikes despite Hamas truce calls
Amos Harel Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 12/21/2007
The Israel Defense Forces will continue its attacks against militants in the Gaza Strip despite calls by the Hamas leadership for a possible temporary calm. Defense officials say the heavy pressure on the militants is making progress, and there will be room to consider a change to the offensive only if Hamas imposes on other militant factions a moratorium on Qassam rocket attacks. In an IDF operation yesterday in the central Gaza Strip, one soldier was seriously injured and seven Palestinian gunmen were killed. A number of Qassam rockets and mortar shells were fired on the western Negev, with one rocket landing near a school in Sderot. There were no injuries. Security sources said analyses by the IDF and Shin Bet security service concluded that Israel’s military pressure on the Gaza militants led to the recent announcement by former Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh on the need for a cease-fire. more..
Top Israeli officer: impossible for Israeli army to prevent missiles coming from Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 12/20/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an An Israeli intelligence officer has admitted that Israel can not prevent Palestinian rocket attacks from targeting Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip. Brigadier Yuval Halmish, an officer in the Israeli intelligence services, made his comments in a lecture at Tel Aviv University. He also added that the threat of missiles may soon be felt further inside Israel. The Brigadier said that resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip are learning from the experiences of Hizbollah in Lebanon and from the Iraqi resistance fighters, fighting US forces in Iraq. Meanwhile, Israeli analysts have said that the majority of the Israeli public wants the Israeli army to bring Hamas control of the Gaza Strip to an end, but the army is refusing to do so. According to a survey, Israeli public opinion is that they can no longer endure the army’s inability to confront Palestinian rocket fire. more..
Experts: Extreme rightists will use violence if settlements are evacuated
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 12/21/2007
Extreme right-wing activists are expected to use severe violence to disrupt any move to evacuate outposts or settlements, even the destruction of a few homes, according to an evaluation recently presented to the government by the security establishment and law enforcement officials in the territories. The evaluation states that the violence during any attempt at evacuation would be more serious than that seen during the evacuation of Amona two years ago. However security officials do not at this stage foresee an increased threat to the lives of senior politicians, because the extreme right does not appear to believe the Annapolis process will succeed and therefore the settlements are not in danger. After the evacuation of Amona two years ago, the ideological foundations and plans of actions were reformulated against future evacuations. more..
IDF soldier seriously hurt, seven militants killed in Gaza raid
Avi Issacharoff, Mijal Grinberg and Yuval Azoulays and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/21/2007
At least seven Palestinian militants were killed and an Israel Defense Forces soldier seriously wounded Thursday as IDF tanks and troops raided the central Gaza Strip in an effort to stem the continuing Qassam rocket fire at the western Negev. The soldier was wounded when Palestinian militants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the troops. Four additional troops were lightly wounded in the incident, and the seriously wounded soldier was evacuated by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva. A total of three rockets struck the western Negev on Thursday, including one that hit near an elementary school in the western Negev city of Sderot. A student at the school was treated for shock. According to the IDF, troops entered the Gaza Strip early Thursday, and penetrated some two kilometers into the Strip, east of the Maghazi refugee camp. more..
News / IDF soldier seriously hurt, 7 militants killed in Gaza raid
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 12/20/2007
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 news roundup for December 20, 2007. In this edition: An IDF soldier is seriously hurt and seven militants are killed in a Gaza Strip raid. Bush says his patience with Assad ran out a long time ago. The IDF releases rare footage of a missile strike on Gaza Qassam squad. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz submits a proposal which could reduce prices on Israeli airlines. Related articles: IDF soldier seriously hurt, seven militants killed in Gaza Strip raid Bush: My patience with Syria’s Assad ’ran out a long time ago’ Islamic Jihad swears revenge as 11 killed in IDF raids in Gaza Transportation Min. proposal could reduce prices on Israeli airlines For more video news and features, visit Haaretz. com TV more..
Resistance fighters clash with invading army unit in central Gaza Strip
George Rishmawi, International Middle East Media Center 12/20/2007
Palestinian resistance fighters clashed with a special Israeli army unit positioned in one of the Palestinian homes in Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip IMEMC correspondant in Gaza Rami Al-Meghari reported that Palestinian resistance fighters spotted a special army unit in a Palestinian house near Husni mosque east of Al-Maghazi refugee camp and clashed with them. Israeli troops invaded the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Thursday morning, the second day of the Muslim holidays of Al-Adha. [end]
Six Palestinians killed as Israeli army sweeps into central Gaza Strip
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/20/2007
Six Palestinians, including five resistance fighters, have been killed on Thursday, as the Israeli army swept early on into the central Gaza Strip town of Maghazi, IMEMC learned. IMEMC learned that the Abdelrazeq Nofal, a civilian from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, who was visiting family members in Maghazi, where the Israeli invasion has been taking place. Today is a public holiday in the Palestinian territories, marking the aL-Adha Eid occasion, the second largest Muslim annual holiday , as people are used to exchanging family visits. Palestinian medical sources confirmed death of four other people, including three resistance fighters and the injury of several others including one boy, two photojournalists working for Reuters and the Hamas-run aL-Aqsa TV station, as well as six other resistance fighters, three of whom Hamas resistance members. more..
Palestine Today 122007
Ghassan Bannoura -Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/20/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 3. 67 MB || Time 4m 0s || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday December 20th, 2007. The Israeli army invades central Gaza and kills three Palestinians and in the West Bank troops invade several cities and kidnap 14 civilians, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast IMEMC learned that three Palestinian resistance fighters were killed early on Thursday, as the Israeli army swept into the central Gaza Strip town of Maghazi. Medical sources confirmed the arrival of three wounded at the Shuhada AL-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza Strip, but the deaths have not been confirmed. The sources said that ambulances could not reach those killed, due to intensity of Israeli army fire. more..
Four Israeli soldiers injured, one critically, in clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters in central Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 12/20/2007
Bethlehem - Ma’an - Four Israeli soldiers were injured, one seriously, as Palestinian resistance fighters repelled an Israeli incursion into the central Gaza Strip on Thursday. The Israeli military confirmed the soldiers had been injured, saying one was in a critical condition. Israeli forces began their incursion into the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Thursday morning. They clashed with Palestinian resistance fighters, leaving seven fighters dead and at least eight civilians wounded. The resistance fighters have been bombarding the Israeli force since dawn with missiles. [end]
Army confident of success in Gaza
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 12/20/2007
Hectic week of battles in Gaza comes to an end, with over 20 Palestinian gunmen killed as IDF troops continue to combat armed cells firing rockets towards Israel’s south. ’There aren’t any magic solutions, only grueling operations - but these yield results,’ says senior military official - "What we’re seeing in Gaza is not ordinary day-to-day security maintenance, it’s combat. The events of the past week have made this quite clear," said a senior military official from the IDF’s Southern Command on Thursday evening. Over 20 Palestinian gunmen have been killed since last Sunday as Israel stepped up its operations in Gaza to curb the incessant rocket and mortar fire against its southern communities. "You don’t examine the end result after only a day or two of activity, but obviously every operation we carry out carries with it a message that ultimately will bring genuine results. more..
IDF: Rabbi who placed mezuzah on Casbah wall ’did not understand ramifications’
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/20/2007
Images of Israeli soldiers affixing mezuzah on wall of Hebron Casbah drew outrage from Left-wing politicians, activists. Brigade commander orders investigation into incident - The IDF drew scathing criticism from politicians and left-wing activists on Thursday after Ynet reported soldiers had affixed a mezuzah to the entrance of Hebron’s Casbah. Military officials responded to the widespread condemnation and said that the rabbi had not understood the implications of his actions or the sensitivity of the matter. Brigade commander, Col. Yehudah Fox, ordered an investigation be opened into the matter. After a thorough inquiry is concluded, he said, he would decide what disciplinary steps are to be taken against the officer and soldiers who participated in the ceremony. Mezuzah ceremony in Hebron Casbah (Photo: Chabad website) Military... more..
Officer who tackled terrorist bare-handed honored
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 12/20/2007
Golani officer to be awarded citation for bravery for July skirmish with Gaza militants in which he charged at a Palestinian holding a grenade despite having run out of ammunition - Golani Captain Nitai Okshi, a company commander, will be awarded a citation for bravery for his actions in an encounter with Palestinian gunmen near the Gaza border fence last July. The citation will be awarded by Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, head of the IDF’s Southern Command. Okshi and a force under his command were alerted to an area near the border fence following reports of suspicious activity in the area. Upon arrival, Okshi spotted two Palestinian gunmen lying in wait several feet away. Together with another officer, Okshi charged at the gunmen while shouting commands to the soldiers behind him. Video courtesy IDF Spokesman Suddenly, Okshi noticed the proximity between one of the gunmen and his soldiers. more..
Report: Cluster bomb left over from war kills man in S. Lebanon
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 12/19/2007
A cluster bomb left over from the Second Lebanon War exploded in south Lebanon on Wednesday, killing a 35-year-old man, the state-run news agency said. The bomb went off as Mohammad Hamzeh was collecting firewood in the town of Zibqine near the southern port city of Tyre. According to the National News Agency, Hamzeh was instantly killed. More than 30 people have been killed by cluster bomb and land mine explosions in Lebanon since the 2006 summer war between Hezbollah and Israel. The United Nations and human rights groups accuse Israel of dropping about 4 million cluster bomblets during the war. Up to 1 million failed to explode and now endanger civilians in the area. When cluster bombs, which look like huge canisters, are dropped, they open in flight and eject dozens or hundreds of small bomblets across the ground and vegetation, often across a wide area. more..
Municipality promoting controversial plans to build housing in Jerusalem
Jonathan Lis, Ha’aretz 12/20/2007
The construction boom about to take place in Jerusalem, including areas of controversy, should surprise no one: Most of the projects now being promoted - among them the plans for Har Homa and Atarot - are old ones. If they are implemented, some 20,000 new housing units will be built in the city, mostly outside the Green Line but within the city limits. Alongside political declarations about construction in these areas is a simple demographic fact: Jerusalem’s land reserves for construction have been used up, the demand is significantly greater than the supply, and housing prices have sky-rocketed in recent years. Young couples, both ultra-Orthodox and secular, can hardly allow themselves to buy an apartment in Jerusalem, and many Jerusalem families are seeking their future in other communities. Last November, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky put the kibosh on the Safdie plan once and for all. more..
Israel considers new settlement
BBC Online 12/19/2007
Israel says it is examining plans for a new settlement in East Jerusalem, after facing heavy criticism for expanding an existing Jewish settlement there. Housing minister Zeev Boim said it was a preliminary look at possible housing development in the Atarot area. He played down its significance, saying such checks were done year round on areas with building potential. Palestinians say the Har Homa expansion announced this month threatened to derail re-launched peace negotiations. "This is a preliminary examination of an initial construction plan. Such feasibility checks are done all year round on all areas with building potential in Jerusalem," Mr Boim said in a statement. "The ministry has to offer a solution to the housing problem in Jerusalem." Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said such plans would destroy the peace process and must be stopped. more..
Israeli Housing Minister OKs a new settlement near Jerusalem
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/19/2007
Ze’ev Boim, the Israeli housing minister had given green light on Wednesday to start building a new settlement near Jerusalem. According to Israeli media the new settlement will be located at lands taken from the Palestinian villages north of Jerusalem. The new settlement will be contestant of 10,000 housing units, the sources said. Recently the Israeli government had continued to built new and expanded already existent settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, The European Union and the United States officials had urged Israel to stop its settlement activity, by deeming such moves as "threatening to the Peace process". Earlier this week Israeli government officials told Reuters that their government will continue to add houses inside West Bank settlements but will not expand them. They added that Israel do not need further approvals to build new settlements. more..
Palestinian teen tries to stab IDF soldier at West Bank checkpoint
Yuval Azoulay and Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 12/19/2007
A Palestinian youth, aged 17, tried to stab one of the Israel Defense Forces soldiers stationed at the Hawara checkpoint in the West Bank on Wednesday. The troops manning the checkpoint, located south of Nablus, successfully subdued the Palestinian teen, confiscated the knife and took him in for questioning. No one was hurt in the incident. Earlier Wednesday, an Israeli civilian was lightly wounded, Army Radio reported, when Palestinians hurled rocks at his car on route 443, which runs from Jerusalem to Modi’in. The man was driving a minibus used for the transport of handicapped children. Also Wednesday, the IDF and the Shin Bet security service arrested Sami salid Rashid Zayud, an Islamic Jihad militant who planned a mass terror attack on a residential building in central Israel five years ago. more..
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill at least 13 Palestinians
Ilene R. Prusher, The Christian Science Monitor, ReliefWeb 12/19/2007
The attacks, which come amid rising tensions, targeted Islamic Jihad militants. - At least 13 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, intensifying tensions that many analysts say may presage a larger-scale Israeli ground offensive in Gaza. The strikes targeted Islamic Jihad, which has stepped up its launches of low-grade Qassam rockets into Israel in recent weeks. One of those killed was Majid el-Harazin, a commander of Islamic Jihad’s military arm, in Gaza City Monday evening. Later, Israeli strikes killed Karim Dahduh, who Israel says led rocket production for Islamic Jihad. Islamic Jihad threatened to respond with suicide bombings inside Israel, which have come to a virtual halt over the past year. "I think it’s simply a coincidence that we had a few successes with the right intelligence," says Efraim Inbar, of Bar-Ilan University. more..
Israel assassinates top Palestinian fighter
Middle East Online 12/19/2007
GAZA CITY - Israel killed the head of Islamic Jihad’s armed wing in Gaza and 12 other gunmen in a wave of raids on Tuesday. Majed al-Harazin, the 38-year-old chief of the Al-Quds Brigades, was driving in a car in northern Gaza City when a missile fired by an Israeli warplane hit the vehicle, killing him and one of his aides, medics and the group said. He became the most senior Palestinian militant leader that Israel had killed in months. The operation was hailed inside Israel as an effective response to rocket and mortar fire from Gaza, while Islamic Jihad vowed to avenge it. The raid targeting Harazin was the first of four Israel has carried out in Gaza in less than 24 hours, killing 12 fighters, all but one of them from Islamic Jihad. A commando operation in the occupied West Bank also left an Islamic Jihad gunman dead. more..
Palestine Today 121907
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/19/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 3. 67 MB || Time 4m 0s || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Wednesday December 19th, 2007. One Palestinian patient dies due to the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, while the Israeli government approves more settlements in the West Bank, these stories and more coming up"¦ stay tuned. The News Cast A Palestinian teenage girl died on Wednesday due to the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza strip reported that Dua’ Omran, 18, was unable to leave Gaza to get the medical treatment she needed to survive due to the Israeli army closure of the strip. The Israeli army closed all entrances and exits serving the Gaza strip in late June, shortly after Hamas took total control of the Gaza strip. more..
News / IDF successfully launches improved Patriot missile
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 12/19/2007
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 news roundup for December 19, 2007. In this edition: The IDF successfully launches an improved Patriot missile. The White House tells Israel Bush’s trip will be a work visit only. The IDF clears a kibbutz of responsibility for soldiers’ deaths during the Second Lebanon War. Olmert’s friend was probed over suspicions the two arranged investment opportunities for clients. Related articles: IDF successfully tests improved Patriot defense missile PMO establishes task force dedicated to preparing for Bush’s visit IDF takes responsibility for reservists’ deaths in Katyusha strike Ehud Olmert’s man at the Investment Center: Uri Messer more..
IDF takes responsibility for reservists’ deaths in Katyusha strike
Eli Ashkenazi, Ha’aretz 12/20/2007
In a letter sent from the Israel Defense Forces to the Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, the IDF said it was responsible for the death of the twelve reservists who were killed near the entrance of the Kibbutz by a Katyusha rocket during the Second Lebanon War last August. "The IDF is responsible for the failures and mistakes that led to the tragedy. The residents of Kfar Giladi must not be held at all responsible," Northern Command Chief of Staff Brigadier General Alon Friedman wrote recently in a letter to the Kibbutz and the head of the Upper Galille regional council. Following the war, relatives of those killed claimed that residents would not let the soldiers into the kibbutz due to fears that the soldiers would cause damage to property. Benjamin Ben David, whose son Daniel died in the rocket strike, said at the memorial service that, "the blood of our sons calls out from the earth to the kibbutz. more..
Olmert vows to continue targeting leaders behind Qassam strikes
Mazal Mualem Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulays, and AP, Ha’aretz 12/20/2007
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged Tuesday to target terrorist leaders in the Gaza Strip responsible for the rockets fired at southern Israel, after Israel Air Force raids killed at least 11 Palestinians since Monday night including the head of the Islamic Jihad military wing in Gaza. Palestinians fired some 15 mortar shells and five Qassam rockets at Israel Tuesday, causing no injuries or damage. "We will continue to seek out the heads of the terror organizations and strike at them," Olmert said at a Kadima meeting in Jerusalem last night. "We will get all those who are responsible for firing rockets on the communities near Gaza and on Sderot." "Events in the field speak and will speak for themselves, and I think the terror organizations feel this and will continue to feel this in full force in the near future," he said. more..
ANALYSIS: Israel strikes hard in Gaza in attempt to avoid an invasion
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondets, Ha’aretz 12/20/2007
The air strikes in the Gaza Strip which killed 11 Palestinians in less than a day, including two senior Islamic Jihad figures, have given rise to a number of questions. Does this constitute a change in Israel’s policy? Does this suggest that Israel is planning to invade the Gaza Strip soon? The way things appear at this time, the answer to both is negative. Between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon, the air force struck four times in the Strip. The first two attacks were assassinations: the individuals were specifically targeted due to their leading roles in the Qassam rocket attacks carried out by the Islamic Jihad. Majed Harazin was described by the Shin Bet as being in charge of the rocket arsenal, while Karim Duhduh was responsible for the production of Qassams. more..
Israel kills 13 militants in Gaza
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian 12/19/2007
Israeli military strikes have killed 13 Palestinians in Gaza, including two militant commanders, over the past two days. Nearly all the dead were members of Islamic Jihad, a small group which has fired makeshift rockets into Israel. The killings represent the most significant action against Gaza militant groups for months. On Monday evening, the Israeli air force fired on a car, killing Majd al-Harazin, a senior figure in Islamic Jihad, and one of his aides. Harazin was thought to be the most senior militant commander killed in Gaza in the past year. Four hours later the Israeli military killed four Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza City, among them Karim Dahdouh. Early yesterday, the Israelis hit four Islamic Jihad fighters in Jabaliya, northern Gaza, and struck also in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killing two members of Hamas. more..
Officials: Israel to allow construction in existing W. Bank settlements
Reuters, Ha’aretz 12/19/2007
Israel will allow construction within built up areas of existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but will not expand beyond those areas, Israeli officials said on Monday. The position could widen the rift in U.S. -backed peace talks launched by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a regional peace summit held in Annapolis, Maryland last month. The Palestinians say the negotiations, the first in seven years, hinged on Israel committing to halt all settlement activity, including "natural growth," as called for under the long-stalled road map peace plan. The Bush administration has likewise urged Israel to stop settlement expansion. A senior Israeli official said "We don’t need American approval if we are doing something that we think, as a sovereign state, we should do. more..
Ministry pushes new neighborhood for Jews in E. J’lem
Meron Rapoport, Ha’aretz 12/19/2007
Housing Minister Ze’ev Boim has given the green light for planning a new Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem. But senior American officials say that Israel had promised not to move forward with the neighborhood. The neighborhood, near Atarot, is slated to contain more than 10,000 apartments, making it the largest Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Earlier this month, however, the United States objected to a plan to build a mere 300 apartments in another East Jerusalem neighborhood, Har Homa, with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying it did not contribute to the peace process. Boim met last week with the head of the Israel Lands Administration, Ya’akov Efrati, and asked him for a permit to start the planning process. The neighborhood, which includes the abandoned Atarot Airport, is near the Qalandiyah checkpoint and the separation fence. more..
PM: We’ll keep targeting Gaza leaders over rockets
Barak Ravid, and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/19/2007
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged late Tuesday to keep up the pressure on Palestinian militant groups following a series of Israel Defense Forces raids that killed at least 11 Islamic Jihad and Hamas men in less than 24 hours. "We will continue to seek out the heads of the terror organizations... We will get all those who are responsible for firing rockets," Olmert told party members at a meeting in Jerusalem, referring to the ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli communities across the border. "The terror organizations feel this and will feel this in full force in the near future," the prime minister added. Earlier Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told retired general Jim Jones, the recently appointed U.S. envoy to the Middle East, that Israel must brace for the possibility of retaliatory attacks in response to the IDF strikes. more..
Israeli air strikes kill militants in Gaza
Matthew Weaver and AP, The Guardian 12/18/2007
Nine members of Islamic Jihad and a Hamas activist have been killed in a series of Israeli air strikes on Gaza, which have resulted in retaliatory attacks on Israel. Three of the Islamic Jihad members were killed as they emerged from morning prayers at a northern Gaza mosque. Six others died when Israeli aircraft hit two cars in Gaza City last night. An attack on a security post in southern Gaza killed the Hamas activist. The Israeli army said the target of the first air strike was Majed Harazin, a senior Islamic Jihad militant in charge of the rocket squads that have been firing at Israel. Islamic Jihad spokesman Khaled el-Batch confirmed Harazin was killed. The group said he was its top commander for the West Bank and Gaza. "There is no doubt that this is a big loss," said Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza. more..
A leader of al Quds brigade killed in Qabatiya by Israeli gunfire
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 12/18/2007
In a pre-dawn military operation by Israeli Special forces, a leader of the al Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad was killed by military gunfire and another two were injured in the northern West town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin city. Sources of Islamic Jihad named the leader as Tareq Abu Ghali, a leader of the al Quds Martyrs brigades in the north of the West Bank. The leader was killed when under cover Special Forces of the Israeli military ambushed him in a car holding a Palestinian license plate and rained the leaders vehicle with heavy gunfire before kidnapping him to an unknown destination. The medical condition of the other two injured Palestinians is still not known as they were also abducted by the forces. more..
IDF raids Hamas post in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/18/2007
IAF strikes Hamas operatives in southern Gaza following rocket barrage on western Negev; Palestinians report of two fatalities. ’Israel must be ready for militants’ retaliation,’ says Defense Minister Barak - The Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas post in the southern Gaza Strip Tuesday, shortly after several Qassam rockets and mortar shells landed in the western Negev area. Palestinians sources reported that two Palestinians were killed in the assault, one of whom was a policeman. The IDF has confirmed the strike, citing it was launched in reaction to the rocket salvo on the western Negev communities. The IDF stresses that any fire towards Israel by Palestinian militants will be met with a military response. Earlier Tuesday, several Qassam rockets and mortar shells were fired from northern Gaza towards the western Negev: One causing minor damage; five located in open areas. more..
Peace Now: Israel continue to expanding West Bank settlements
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/18/2007
The Israeli parliamentary block Peace Now movement issued a report on Tuesday documenting the Israeli continued settlement activity in the West Bank. The report shows that the Israeli government continued to build homes inside Israeli settlements in the West Bank and demolished at least eight Palestinian homes after the Annapolis conference held in Moreland city USA in late November. The statement issued by the settlement monitor department at the Peace Now movement said "Although Olmert declared a settlement freeze; we see that on the ground there is construction in settlements all over the west bank, in all kinds of settlements, and as long as the Government does not stop settlement activity on the ground, the negotiations cannot succeed." A group of activists documented this continued construction in several settlements. more..
Qassam lands near IDF base in Negev; 6 soldiers suffer from shock
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 12/18/2007
Rocket fired by Palestinians in Gaza lands in Kibbutz Zikim area; female soldiers stationed nearby suffer from shock, state of alert declared at all nearby army bases; few minutes prior to attack Qassam lands in open field north of Sderot - Six female soldiers suffered from shock when a Qassam fired from the Gaza Strip Tuesday night landed near an IDF position in the Kibbutz Zikim area of the western Negev. One of the soldiers was evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Center, while the rest were treated at the scene. Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. A state of alert was declared at all nearby army bases, while security forces began scouring the area in search of the rocket’s exact landing site. A few minutes prior to the attack another Qassam fired in Sderot’s direction landed in an open field north of the city. more..
The Israeli government step up attacks on Gaza, death toll by midday hits 12
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/18/2007
Israeli sources reported on Tuesday midday that the Israeli government has decided to step up attacks on the Gaza strip, Palestinian sources said that the death toll in the costal region by midday today had reached 12. The Israeli army claimed that the recent attacks come in response to Palestinian home made shells fired from Gaza into the nearby Israeli towns. The Palestinian home made shells also known as Qassam shells, have killed less than a hand full of Israelis this year. Meanwhile Israeli army attacks on Gaza have left at least 450 killed, among them children and many more others injured. Hospitals in Gaza issued a report on Tuesday midday stating that the number of Palestinians killed today had reached 12. Israeli air strikes on Gaza have been omnipresent across the coastal region over the past several weeks as Israel declared Gaza a ’hostile entity’ in September. more..
Israel airstrikes, assassinations, kill twelve including Islamic Jihad general commander
Ma’an News Agency 12/18/2007
Gaza Ma’an The death toll in Gaza Strip and the West Bank has risen to 12 since Monday night after Israeli reconnaissance planes targeted a base belonging to the de facto government’s police force in the southern Gaza Strip. Two police officers were killed and four others were injured in the attack near the evacuated Israeli settlement of Moraj in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources told Ma’an. Executive Forces spokesman Islam Shahwan confirmed that police officers were killed in the Israeli raid on their base. Nine activists affiliated to Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, including the general commander, were killed in the Gaza Strip on Monday night and early Tuesday morning in different Israeli air strikes. A tenth Islamic Jihad activist was also killed in the northern West Bank in an operation by an undercover Israeli force. more..
Palestinian military groups respond to Gaza assassinations
Ma’an News Agency 12/18/2007
Gaza - Ma’an - Military groups affiliated to the Palestinian factions threatened to retaliate for the assassination of ten Islamic Jihad activists on Monday and Tuesday. Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades and the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility for firing homemade projectiles and mortar shells at the Israeli city of Ashkelon and at a military base near Nahal ’Oz, east of Gaza City. The military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National Resistance Brigades, and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades said on Tuesday that their fighters also launched two homemade projectiles at Nahal ’Oz. Separately, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades claimed responsibility for firing a homemade projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot. more..
Israeli forces raid Qabatia
Ma’an News Agency 12/18/2007
Jenin Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades said on Tuesday that their combatants blocked an Israeli incursion into Qabatia near Jenin in the northern West Bank. Sources within the Al-Quds Brigades said that they clashed with the invading Israeli troops, using machineguns and explosive devices. Palestinian security sources mentioned that more than 20 Israeli military vehicles stormed the town at 1:30 am from the north, amid heavy gunfire and sonic bombs. Israeli sources confirmed their forces had clashed with Islamic Jihad fighters. [end]
Palestinian security arrest 16 Hamas members in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/18/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Palestinian security services arrested 16 Hamas members in a numberof West Bank districts on Tuesday, Hamas announced. In a statement they said a pharmacist, along with several others, was arrested in Qalqilia in the northern West Bank. Hamas said the Palestinian security services arrested one Hamas member in Hebron in the southern West Bank and another two in Nablus in the northern West Bank. [end]
Palestinian military groups target Kerem Shalom
Ma’an News Agency 12/18/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility on Tuesday for firing three homemade projectiles in the area of Kerem Shalom crossing, near the Gaza Strip. They said in a joint statement that their activity came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli atrocities, and the last targeted assassination of Islamic Jihad members, especially the killing of General Commander Majid Al-Harazin. [end]
PFLP and Fatah fighters retaliate for killing of Islamic Jihad leader
Ma’an News Agency 12/18/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the military wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Tuesday for firing a homemade projectile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon in southern Israel. Separately, the PFLP’s Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said they launched four homemade projectiles at the Israeli Kibbutz of Sa’ad and other western Negev towns. Both groups said the attacks were in retaliation for the assassination of the general commander of Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades on Tuesday. [end]
Palestinians Vow to Avenge Killings
Palestine Chronicle 12/18/2007
Islamic Jihad has threatened to unleash "a wave of martyrdom operations"." The assassination of the general commander will open the door wide to a wave of martyrdom operations," a statement from al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, said. Three air strikes on Monday night in the Gaza Strip killed nine members of the group, while an Israeli military operation in the West Bank left another dead. Later on Tuesday morning, an Israeli air raid in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis killed one of Hamas’s security-force members. Attack’s Timing The raids came just hours after a conference in Paris attended by 90 countries pledged $7. 4bn in aid over three years to the Palestinian Authority. The first raid in Gaza City, late on Monday, killed Majed al-Harazin, commander of al-Quds Brigades for Gaza and the West Bank, a man wanted by Israel for the past nine years. more..
Qassams, mortars hit western Negev
Yonat Atlas, YNetNews 12/18/2007
Palestinian militants launch Qassam rockets, mortar shells at western Negev communities in retaliation to IDF’s nightly operation in Gaza; MDA ups local state of alert - Several Qassam rockets and mortar shells were fired from northern Gaza towards the western Negev area Tuesday. One rocket damaged a henhouse in one of the surrounding communities; no injuries were reported. The IDF confirmed that Palestinian militants fired several Qassam rockets at Israel since the early hours of the morning. Five rockets have yet to be located. The western Negev communities fear a harsher rocket salvo will follow, as IDF forces continue to operate in the Gaza Strip. Military forces have been targeting Islamic Jihad cells and operatives in Gaza since Monday night, killing 10 operatives so far, including the head of the organization’s Qassam rocket cells and their Jenin forces’ commander. more..
Video: Targeted killing of senior Islamic Jihadist
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 12/18/2007
(Video) Senior terror leader Majed al-Harazin was killed last night while driving in his car through the streets of Gaza. When the streets had emptied of people, an Israeli combat helicopter fired a missile at his vehicle, destroying it. Ynet brings you video of the event, as captured by an IDF drone - VIDEO - Majed al-Harazin, the senior military commander of Islamic Jihad’s military wing in the Gaza Strip, was killed last night by an IAF air attack. Ynet here publishes documentation of the targeted killing, captured by an IAF drone which covered the attack. Attack on Islamic Jihad activists (Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit) From the video, it is possible to distinguish the vehicle in which al-Harazin was traveling. The car is driving on a street between two neighborhoods in Gaza city. more..
At small Qassam-plagued kibbutz, kidnapping through tunnels from Gaza is the real worry
Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 12/19/2007
Yesterday began for Kibbutz Kerem Shalom with a Qassam rocket, shattering some windows. There was also a barrage of mortar shells. A fire that broke out kept children home in fortified security rooms until 7:45 A. M. , when the decision was finally made to send them to school, said Eshkol Regional Council Chairman Haim Yellin. Altogether, Palestinian militants fired nine mortar shells and six Qassam rockets at the western Negev from the Gaza Strip yesterday, according to an Israel Defense Forces spokesman. Kerem Shalom, a small kibbutz with 19 members, is the southernmost community in the Eshkol region. Its security officer, Jay, had a busy day. "It’s important to keep people calm," he said. "The way to do that is to try to get past an incident as quickly as possible, to patrol the area, to try to create a feeling of routine as quickly as possible. more..
Escalation in Gaza / Anything but an invasion
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 12/19/2007
The air strikes in the Gaza Strip which killed 11 Palestinians in less than a day, including two senior Islamic Jihad figures, have given rise to a number of questions. Does this constitute a change in Israel’s policy? Does this suggest that Israel is planning to invade the Gaza Strip soon? The way things appear at this time, the answer to both is negative. Between Monday night and yesterday afternoon, the air force struck four times in the Strip. The first two attacks were assassinations: the individuals were specifically targeted due to their leading roles in the Qassam rocket attacks carried out by the Islamic Jihad. Majed Harazin was described by the Shin Bet as being in charge of the missile arsenal, while Karim Duhduh was responsible for the production of Qassams. Four other militants were killed with them. The third attack occured yesterday morning and targeted a Qassam... more..
Israeli Prime Minister: Airstrikes on Gaza will continue
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/19/2007
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, stated Tuesday that the Israeli airforce will continue dropping bombs on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, as long as Palestinian militants continue to fire homemade shells across the border into Israel. Many Palestinians see Olmert’s promise as rather disingenuous, as a truce arranged by Hamas and adhered to by all of the Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza last year did not result in any lessening of Israeli attacks. In fact, Israeli assaults and invasions into Gaza increased after Hamas declared the ceasefire. The declaration by the Israeli Prime Minister came after a series of airstrikes that killed nine Palestinians on Monday and twelve on Tuesday. All of those killed were said to be members of resistance groups, but dozens of civilians were injured, some of them with severed limbs. more..
Israel and Islamic Jihad renew war
Al Jazeera 12/18/2007
Islamic Jihad has been engaged in a bloody conflict with Israel for the past several years Israel and Islamic Jihad have been engaged in a bloody war for several years resulting in dozens of casualties on both sides. In March 2005, Islamic Jihad agreed to a ceasefire declared by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, but in December of that year resumed attacks on Israeli targets. Islamic Jihad joined other armed Palestinian groups to fire homemade rockets at Sderot, a southern Israeli town, in response to Israel enforcement of a "no-go" zone in northern Gaza, intended to prevent such attacks. Mushir al-Masri, a spokesman for Hamas, said at the time that the attacks were in response to the killing of more than 150 Palestinians by Israeli soldiers in the latter half of 2005. He said that Israeli forces had also wounded 1,000 Palestinians and detained another 3,500. more..
Gaza group vows to avenge killings
Al Jazeera 12/18/2007
Islamic Jihad has acknowledged that it suffered heavy losses in the latest Israeli air raids and vowed to retaliate with suicide attacks inside Israel. Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza City on Tuesday to mourn the death of at least 11 people, who were killed in three separate attacks across the enclave overnight. Islamic Jihad has threatened to unleash "a wave of martyrdom operations". "The assassination of the general commander will open the door wide to a wave of martyrdom operations," a statement from al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, said. Three air strikes on Monday night in the Gaza Strip killed nine members of the group, while an Israeli military operation in the West Bank left another dead. more..
Palestine Today 121807
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/18/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 5 m 0s || 4. 57 MB Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Tuesday December 18th, 2007. Death toll in Gaza hits 12 as the Israeli government decides to step-up attacks in the costal region while in the West bank one Palestinian killed by under cover Israeli troops, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast Israeli sources reported on Tuesday midday that the Israeli government has decided to step-up attacks on the Gaza strip, Palestinian sources said that the death toll in the costal region by midday today had reached 12. The Israeli army claimed that the recent attacks come in response to Palestinian home made shells fired from Gaza into the nearby Israeli towns. A total of nine Palestinians were killed in Israeli air-strikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday. more..
Israeli air strikes on Gaza kill five Palestinians
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/18/2007
One more Israeli air strike on Gaza killed on Monday night three Palestinian resistance fighters of the Islamic Jihad group’s armed wing ’Saraya aL-Quds’. Such a strike came shortly after leader of the Saraya aL-Quds, Majed aL-Harazin and his aid were killed during a missile strike on their car in western Gaza city earlier tonight. Media reports said those killed were the chief of the manufacture unit at the Saraya aL-Quds of the Islamic Jihad, Abdelkarim aL-Dahdouh, his brother Ahmad and Ammar aL-Said. Medical sources reported that corpses of the killed reached the hospital dismembered as some children were among five other people injured during the air strikes Many Gaza-based resistance factions vowed to avenge the killings. Israeli air strikes on Gaza have been omnipresent across the coastal region over the past several weeks as Israel declared Gaza a ’hostile... more..
Hamas: Advanced defense plan ready for when IDF enters Gaza
Jack Khoury, Ha’aretz 12/17/2007
Hamas’ armed wing said Monday that the Islamist organization has completed preparation of its new defense program and is ready to face the Israel Defense Forces when it invades the Gaza Strip. The remarks were made by Iz a-Din al-Qassam’s spokesman, Abu Obeida, in an interview with the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat. Abu Obeida said that the IDF has not yet encountered such a high level of resistance in its previous incursions into the Gaza Strip. "The Israeli army won’t know where the blows are coming from, and how its tanks will be hit by missiles in our possession," Abu Obeida said, adding that IDF troops would encounter militants trained in new combat methods acting upon instruction from an operational command center shared by all of the Palestinian organizations. more..
Senior Islamic Jihad commander dies in IAF strike in Gaza City
Yuval Azoulay and The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 12/18/2007
An Israel Air Force strike after nightfall Monday killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander, prompting threats from the militant group to carry out suicide bombings in Israel. The IAF fired missiles at a car laden with explosives in Gaza City Monday, killing two militants and setting off a huge blast that was heard around the city, witnesses and hospital officials said. Medical officials said a third militant had been critically wounded in the strike. Medical workers said the attack also wounded two bystanders. Hours later, a second IAF strike in Gaza City killed four additional Islamic Jihad militants including Karim Dakhduh, a 25-year-old chief rocket maker, in the southern part of Gaza City. The Israel Defense Forces spokesman said the men had fired rockets toward Israel. more..
Israeli military kidnaps two from al Far’aa refugee camp
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 12/17/2007
Two Palestinians kidnapped by Israeli military forces in a pre-dawn invasion on Monday from al Far’aa refugee camp, east of West Bank city of Nablus. Eyewitnesses reported that at least 20 military vehicles invaded the camp and besieged it, while other military vehicles closed some roads into the camp. Eyewitness also reported there had been a paratrooper operation in the area which invaded residents homes, ransacked them, and resulted in two Palestinian men being kidnapped. Sources later identified the abductees as Azam Jawabra,44 and Iyad Sarhan,37 and both were moved to an undisclosed detention center. [end]
Israeli forces abduct two Palestinians near Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 12/17/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli forces seized two Palestinians in the southern West Bank village of Nahhalin, near Bethlehem on Monday morning, Palestinian security sources said. Both are accused of being active in Islamic Jihad. The sources said that Israeli forces stormed the village and spread across it before detaining twenty-two-year-old Luay Ghayyada and twenty-eight-year-old Riziq Ghayyada. Israeli sources said the army seized two "wanted" Palestinians near Bethlehem [end]
Israeli forces invade Jenin refugee camp
Ma’an News Agency 12/17/2007
Jenin Ma’an The military wing of the Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, said on that their fighters confronted Israeli troops in the northern West Bank refugee camp of Jenin on Monday morning. The Al-Quds Brigades said that an Israeli military division stormed the camp from the west, stationing themselves at the entrance to the camp before Islamic Jihad fighters fired live rounds and lobbed explosive devices. No injuries have been reported. [end]
Palestinian security forces seize three Hamas supporters
Ma’an News Agency 12/17/2007
Nablus Ma’an Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces detained three Hamas supporters in the West Bank on Monday, a Hamas press statement said. Security forces allegedly seized one Hamas member in Ramallah, and abducted the other two in Hebron. [end]
Palestinian intelligence arrest two on charges of attacking security patrol in Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 12/17/2007
Nablus Ma’an Palestinian security forces detained two men on Monday suspected of throwing a homemade explosive device at a Palestinian patrol last week. The Palestinian Intelligence Director for the northern West Bank city of Nablus Abdullah Kumeil said the suspects admitted to the charges. According to Kumeil, the attack was not politically motivated, but was rather an act of vandalism. He added that the men also turned in a homemade rifle to the Palestinian security. Both men were from Askar refugee camp east of Nablus. [end]
Freed female Hamas activist calls for more kidnappings
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/17/2007
A female Hamas activist, considered one of the two most senior women to sit in an Israeli jail, was released from prison on Monday after serving a 28 month sentence. Upon reaching Beit Hanoun, she called upon Hamas not to free Gilad Shalit - Hamas activist Samar Sbaih didn’t even wait one day after her release from an Israeli prison before issuing a call to her fellow Hamas members to abduct more Israeli soldiers. Speaking at a press conference in Beit Hanoun to celebrate her release on Monday after 28 months of imprisonment, Sbaih also urged Hamas not to free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Sbaih, considered one of the highest-ranking female terrorists incarcerated in Israel (the most notorious being Amneh Muna, who was convicted in the kidnapping and murder of teenager Ofir Rahum) said she dedicated her release to "all Palestinian martyrs, above all, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. more..
6 Islamic Jihad terrorists killed in IDF strikes
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/17/2007
Gaza City’s streets aflame as IAF targets Islamic Jihad cells in two separate strikes. Officials on both sides confirm deaths of movement’s top field commander and its chief of rocket operations. Spokesman for al-Quds military wing vows revenge - Three members of Islamic Jihad were killed on Monday night in a second IDF airstrike in the Sheik Ajlin neighborhood in Gaza City. Palestinian officials in Gaza confirmed that one of the men killed was the leader of the organization’s Qassam rocket cells. The Ajlin attack came several short hours after another senior Islamic Jihad commander was killed after Israeli aircraft targeted his explosives-laden vehicle in Gaza City. Islamic Jihad officials confirmed Majed al-Harazin’s death to Ynet, and said two more men belonging to the organization were killed in the same strike. more..
Oleg Shaichat’s murderer sentenced to life imprisonment
Sharon Roffe-Ofir, YNetNews 12/17/2007
Nazareth District Court sentences Muhammad Anbetawi to 50 years in jail for murder of IDF soldier Oleg Shaichat, terror activities, four attempted kidnappings. Sentences to be served consecutively - The Nazareth District Court sentenced Muhammad Anbetawi, a 23-year-old resident of the Arab-Israeli village of Kfar Kana, to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of the murder of IDF soldier Oleg Shaichat in 2003. Shaichat was shot to death in August 2003 by members of the Free People of the Galilee organization. Anbetawi was found guilty on subsequent charges of abduction, membership in a terror organization, terror activities and four attempted kidnappings, for which he was sentenced to an additional 25 years in prison, to be served consecutively. Back in August 2003, Anbetawi drove the car in which Shaichat was abducted. more..
Galilee militant gets life term for kidnap-murder of IDF soldier
Eli Ashkenazi, Ha’aretz 12/17/2007
Mohammed Anbatawi, 23, a member of a group of Israeli Arabs which authorities have called a terrorist organization, was sentenced Monday to life imprisonment for the murder of IDF soldier Oleg Shaichat in July 2003. Anbatawi, 23 of the village of Kafr Kana, was convicted two months ago of having carried out the murder as a member of "Hofshiyei Hagalil" (Liberators of the Galilee). Authorities have said the group has been active in the Lower Galilee, and that its goal is to harm the security of the state in retaliation for what it terms "the killing of the residents of the West Bank and Israel’s actions in the territories." A tumult erupted in the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court as the sentence was read on Monday. Anbatawi’s family screamed at the judges, while the victim’s relatives burst out in tears and several of them collapsed. more..
Israeli raids kill Gaza militants
BBC Online 12/17/2007
At least five Palestinian militants, including a senior Islamic Jihad commander, have been killed in two Israeli air strikes in Gaza. An Islamic Jihad spokesman said that the attack that killed Majed Harazin would not go unpunished. The Israeli army said that it had killed a militant leader who led groups carrying out rocket and mortar attacks into Israel. Israel frequently targets militants in response to such attacks. The first strike happened in Gaza City. Majed Harazin and another Islamic Jihad militant died when their car was destroyed in an air strike. A third member of the group and six bystanders were wounded in the raid, Palestinian health workers said. The radio station of Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, reported that the car was filled with explosives and called on people to stay away from the burning wreck. more..
An-Nasser Brigades launch projectile at Israeli air field
Ma’an News Agency 12/17/2007
Gaza Ma’an The An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for launching a homemade projectile at an Israeli air field near the Gaza Strip on Monday. The brigades said that the attack was a response to the ongoing Israeli crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. [end]
Palestine Today 121707
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/17/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 3. 67 MB || Time 4m 0s || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Monday December 17th, 2007. Israel renew the controversial digging at Al Mugrabi gate in Jerusalem, and the army kidnaps two civilians north of the West Bank, these stories and more coming up so stay tuned in. The News cast Israeli media sources reported on Monday that the Israeli government approved a decision that allows the Jerusalem Jewish municipality to resume digging at Al Mugrabi gate. Mugrabi gate leads directly to the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site for Muslims world wide, located in the old city of Jerusalem. In February, 2007, Israel started the digging there, they claimed the excavations at the ’Mugrabi Gate’ near the mosque were aimed at shoring up a rickety bridge. more..
Qassam strikes Negev home; two-year-old toddler lightly hurt
Mijal Grinberg, and The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 12/17/2007
Palestinian militants fired a Qassam rocket that exploded next to a home in Kibbutz Zikim in the western Negev on Sunday, lightly wounding a two-year-old boy. His mother and six bystanders were treated for shock. Both the child, Rom Katzir, and his mother Sivan, who is six months pregnant were evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. The rocket struck approximately two meters from the home and caused minor damage to the house. The rocket landed not far from the Gaza-Israel border and the town of Ashkelon, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Palestinians launched a series of rocket attacks on Israel over the weekend, including one which hit a factory in the western Negev Friday. On Thursday, the cabinet declared a "special situation" in Sderot and in other communities bordering the Hamas-run Gaza Strip due to the ongoing barrage. more..
Israeli army detains 25 Palestinians in the West Bank
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/16/2007
Israeli army took prisoners on Sunday 25 Palestinians from various parts of the West Bank, Palestinian security officials said. According to local sources, the Israeli army arrest campaigns were focused in the West Bank city of Nablus. Such an Israeli crackdown on Hamas, came one day after the Hamas movement celebrated in Gaza its 20th birthday, and after the Palestinian security forces of Palestinian President Abbas arrested earlier 26 Palestinians in the West Bank, involving Hamas supporters. The West Bank-based government of President Abbas, outlawed Hamas in June, after the Islamist group took over the coastal region amidst power struggle with Fatah. Acting-speaker of Palestinian parliament, Ahmad Bahhar of Hamas, said on Sunday that the total number of detained Hamas parliamentarians mounted to 46, since Israel boycotted Hamas after last January’s elections, which Hamas won overwhelmingly. more..
Palestinian security forces detain six Hamas members, Hamas says
Ma’an News Agency 12/16/2007
Nablus Ma’an Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces detained six members of Hamas in the West Bank on Sunday, Hamas claimed. Hamas released a statement saying that two were seized in Jenin, one in Jerusalem, one in Nablus, one in Salfit, and one in Jericho. more..
Israeli forces seize five near Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 12/16/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli forces seized five Palestinians in the southern West Bank village of Battir, west of Bethlehem, on Sunday, witnesses said. Israeli military vehicles stormed the village in the early morning and searched several houses before detaining the men, who were between the ages of the twenty and thirty. The raid brings the total number of Palestinians abducted from the West Bank to 29 on Sunday alone. Also on Sunday, the Israeli military abducted 24 Palestinians, including Hamas leaders, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus. more..
Fatah, DFLP fighters launch projectiles at Israeli military
Ma’an News Agency 12/16/2007
Gaza Ma’an The National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli military installation at Sufa, on the border of the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday. The groups issued a joint statement saying that the attacks came in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people. more..
Qassam wounds infant in kibbutz Zikim
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/16/2007
Palestinian terror groups continue bombardment of Israeli communities near Gaza, two-year-old boy wounded from shrapnel - A rocket fired by Palestinian terror groups from northern Gaza landed in the yard of a kibbutz home on Sunday afternoon, wounded a two-year-old boy. Israeli police and paramedics said the infant sustained light shrapnel wounds and was evacuated to the Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon for treatment. Medics also treated the infant’s mother for shock. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the rocket scored a direct hit on a house in Kibbutz Zikim, an Israeli communal farm. Initial reports said the rocket hit inside the nearby Zikim military base, where a direct rocket hit in September wounded more than 40 soldiers. AP contributed to this report more..
Toddler hurt in Qassam strike on Ashkelon-area kibbutz
Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 12/16/2007
A 2-year-old infant was lightly wounded yesterday when a Qassam rocket landed outside his home on a kibbutz in the western Negev. The rocket, fired by Palestinian militants from the nearby Gaza Strip, landed two meters away from the house, causing damage to the structure as well as to adjacent buildings. "I was at work when it happened," said Arnon Katzir, the boy’s father. The child’s mother, Sivan, who is six months pregnant, did not hear the "Color Red" siren that alerts local residents to incoming rockets, and so she failed to take cover in the house’s shelter. "I ran toward [the baby,]" she said. "My baby’s cheek was hurt." Katzir went into shock but was not physically hurt in the attack. Both mother and child was taken to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment. Toward the evening, they were released from the hospital, and returned to their home... more..
Right infiltrated teachers’ protests to prove police discrimination
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/16/2007
Right-wing activists record behavior of law enforcement officers towards teachers using same methods in demonstrations as rightists, say police systematically more aggressive against latter - Dozens of activists from the Jewish National Front movement infiltrated demonstrations staged by teachers against the government during their two-month strike and documented the behavior of police officers towards the protestors. Now the activists intend to file a civil lawsuit against the police for what they say is discriminatory behavior against right-wing protestors. "We were everywhere the teachers were, we set tires ablaze with them, blocked roads and protested in front of the homes of the education minister and defense minister and the prime minister’s entourage before he boarded the plane to the Annapolis conference - the next time we are barred from demonstrating in... more..
Palestinian security services arrest 26 Hamas members across the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/15/2007
Nablus - Ma’an - Hamas announced on Saturday that Palestinian security services have arrested 26 of their members across the West Bank. The arrests were aimed at preventing Hamas from commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the movement, according to a Hamas statement. The statement said that security services arrested Hamas leaders Sheikh Khalid Al-Ra’i and Nabil ’Isawi, in the governorate of Jericho. In the governorate of Qalqiliya, Hamas said security services raided the old mosque in the city, arresting five, including a twelve-year-old boy. Hamas added that a number of its members were also arrested in the village of Azzoun, east of the city of Qalqiliya. The Palestinian Authority has banned all celebrations in the West Bank, marking the twentieth anniversary of founding of Hamas. more..
Brigades attack Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 12/15/2007
Gaza - Ma’an - The An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the National Resistance Committees announced they had launched three projectiles on Friday at the Israeli town of Sderot, north of the Gaza Strip. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the armed wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for launching two rockets at two Israeli kibbutz, in the Negev, east of Gaza City. Both brigades issued statements saying their operations came in response to the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, adding that they would continue resisting to free all of the Palestinian Territories. [end]
Hamas gunmen detain senior Fatah official in Gaza for ’illegal activities’
Daily Star 12/15/2007
Hamas gunmen on Friday burst into the home of a top Fatah official in Gaza and arrested him, relatives said. He was the most senior Fatah politician to be detained since Hamas forces overtook the territory in June. Also Friday, three people were killed in an unexplained explosion at a funeral in Gaza City. Witnesses said a man carrying explosives in a jacket accidentally detonated them, while Hamas security said a member of the procession threw a pipe bomb. Omar al-Ghoul, arrested by Hamas for "illegal activities," had been spending much of his time in the West Bank after Hamas violently seized control of Gaza last June. He arrived in Gaza on Thursday to attend his mother-in-law’s funeral. Ghoul is an adviser to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, whose moderate West Bank government was formed after Hamas’ Gaza takeover. more..
Hamas blame security services for death of father during son’s arrest
Ma’an News Agency 12/15/2007
Nablus - Qalqiliya - Ma’an - Hamas accused the Palestinian security services on Saturday of causing the death of the father of a Hamas member they were arresting. The security services refute the allegation, saying the man died of natural causes. Hamas said in a statement that fifty-five-year-old father of ten Al-Hajj Ma’zouz Radwan died on Friday night during a raidby security services in the village of Azzoun, north of Qalqiliya. The statement said that Al-Hajj Radwan suffered a stroke and died after security services opened fire above his head and shot at his feet as he tried to prevent them from arresting his son. Security sources in Qalqiliya told Ma’an that the allegations were false, adding that the security services were undertaking an arrest campaign in the village. Al-Hajj Radwan’s son, Muhammed, a student at Al-Najah university, was accused of distributing pro-Hamas propaganda. more..
Continued Violence, Settlements, Mar Peace Prospects
MIFTAH, MIFTAH 12/15/2007
As the Palestinian leadership headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad prepare for Mondays donor conference in Paris, the Palestinians on the ground are reeling from the continuing violence that is wracking the West Bank and Gaza On Friday, four people were killed, reportedly by a hand grenade thrown into a crowd of mourners during the funeral procession of Khalil Masariyi in Gaza City. Another 34 people were wounded in the incident. The leadership, Fateh in particular, is pointing the finger at Hamas, claiming its armed members carried out the attack. Deposed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh begged to differ, angrily accusing Fateh, saying the bloody attack was part of its conspiracy to destabilize Hamas and spread chaos Masariyi was killed the day before in an Israeli army attack in the city. His was by far not the only death this week, however, caused by Israeli attacks in the Gaza and the West Bank. more..
Palestinians say Israel releases Hamas-linked mayor
Reuters, YNetNews 12/15/2007
Israel released from jailsenior Hamas member who was elected mayor of West Bank town while in Israeli custody, Palestinian security officials say - Jamal al-Tawil, mayor of the town of Al-Bireh near the city of Ramallah, was released on Thursday after being held in an Israeli prison for almost six years, Hamas said on a Hamas-affiliated website. The release was confirmed by Palestinian security officials in the occupied West Bank, but Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment due to the Jewish Sabbath. Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June after routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ secular Fatah forces, did not say why Tawil was freed. Hamas described Tawil as a prominent official in the West Bank, where Fatah still holds sway. more..
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades launch projectile at Israeli kibbutz
Ma’an News Agency 12/14/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility on Friday for launching a homemade projectile at the Israeli Kbibutz of Sa’ad. They said in a statement that the projectile hit the target directly and that the shelling was in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people. [end]
Israeli forces raid Jenin; seize 12 Palestinians
Ma’an News Agency 12/14/2007
Jenin Ma’an Israeli forces raided Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Thursday evening, besieging a coffee shop before seizing 12 Palestinians including an activist from the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement along with his brother. Undercover Israeli forces ransacked the coffee shop and arrestedIslamic Jihad twenty-three-year-old activist Abdur-Rahman Barghish and his brother Aziz, along with 10 others. Eyewitnesses were quoted as saying that the undercover Israeli forces were in a civilian car and that clashes erupted between Palestinian combatants and the invading Israeli forces. An Islamic Jihad activist, who was in the same coffee shop told Ma’an that he was sitting with four other activists when a car suddenly stopped in front of the coffee shop. He added that they immediately realized the car had undercover forces in it and the activists fled, firing at the Israeli force. more..
Seven people lightly injured in riot at Galilee soccer match
Eli Ashkenazi, Ha’aretz 12/15/2007
Seven people were lightly injured Saturday, including six police officers, as a riot broke out at a Galilee soccer match. Some 800 fans turned out for the Kafr Kama match, which featured the home team against Kafr Sulam. Tiberias Police deployed 15 officers to provide security at the game. After the final whistle, a scuffle broke out between fans of the opposing teams. Police sources said officers were assaulted as they tried to separate the two groups, and were forced to fire in the air as well as use pepper gas against the rioters. Two police officers and a soccer fan were lightly injured as a result of gas inhalation, and were taken to Poriya Hospital in Tiberias for treatment. Four other officers were lightly injured but treated at the scene. Two of the fans were arrested on suspicion of rioting and assaulting police officers. more..
This Week In Palestine - Week 50 2007
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/14/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 12. 7MB || Time 14m 0s || This Week In Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www. IMEMC. org, for December 8th, through December 14th, 2007. Palestinian and Israeli negotiating teams this week kicked off their first round of official peace talks in Jerusalem, while Israeli army attacks on the Gaza strip leave 9 killed this week: these stories and more coming up stay tuned. Nonviolent Resistance in West Bank Let’s begin our weekly report with the nonviolent actions in Bethlehem and Ramallah. IMEMC’s George Rishmawi with the story: The villagers of Bil’in near Ramallah city along with their international and Israeli supporters conducted their weekly protest on Friday midday. Shortly after the midday Friday prayers, the protesters marched towards the location of the illegal wall built on the village land. more..
Adviser to Palestinian PM abducted
Al Jazeera 12/14/2007
A senior adviser to the Palestinian government has been abducted in the Gaza Strip, officials have said. Omar al-Ghoul, who advises Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, was taken from his home in Gaza at about 4am (0200 GMT) on Friday by armed men wearing civilian clothes, relatives said. Al-Ghoul’s seizure is the highest-profile abduction since rival Hamas forces took control of the Gaza Strip in June after defeating Fatah. Hamas officials were not available for comment on the abduction and there has been no claim of responsibility. Al-Ghoul was in Gaza to attend the funeral of his mother-in law. He writes columns for local newspapers and has frequently criticised Hamas. Also on Friday, two people died in an explosion at a funeral procession in Gaza City, hospital officials told the Associated Press. more..
Gaza explosion claims 4
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/14/2007
A suicide attack during a Gazan funeral procession for Fatah operative leaves four dead, 30 wounded. Hamas’ held responsible, denies involvement - An explosion at a funeral procession on Friday left four Palestinians dead and more than 30 injured, as hundreds of mourners marched through Gaza City, in the funeral procession a Fatah arms dealer killed in Thursday’s IAF attack in Gaza. Witnesses said gunmen were firing in the air during the funeral of a Palestinian Fatah militant, Then, a powerful explosion went off. The source of the blast is believed to be a grenade. Fatah officials were quick to blame Hamas for the attack, but the latter denied any involvement. Hamas security officials said a participant in the funeral lobbed a pipe bomb at the edges of the procession, but the bomb bounced back into the procession, causing the mayhem. more..
Palestinian security services arrest 26 Hamas members across the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/15/2007
Nablus - Hamas announced on Saturday that Palestinian security services have arrested 26 of their members across the West Bank. The arrests were aimed at preventing Hamas from commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the movement, according to a Hamas statement. The statement said that security services arrested Hamas leaders Sheikh Khalid Al-Ra’i and Nabil ’Isawi, in the governorate of Jericho. In the governorate of Qalqiliya, Hamas said security services raided the old mosque in the city, arresting five, including a twelve-year-old boy. Five others were arrested in the city after security services raided their homes. Another Hamas member was seized in the street. Hamas added that a number of its members were also arrested in the village of Azzoun, east of the city of Qalqiliya. more..
Haniyeh: Gaza funeral blast is part of Fatah conspiracy to sow chaos
Avi Issacharoff, and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/15/2007
Deposed Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamasaccused his Fatah rivals of trying to destabilise Hamas’ rule in the Gaza Strip, after at least four people were killed in an explosion at a funeral for Fatah militants. "What has happened in the last hours is part of a conspiracy to spread chaos," Haniyeh said. "Some 30 people were wounded in a Friday morning blast, during a funeral procession, as hundreds of mourners marched through Gaza City," hospital officials said. "What happened was an assault against all our people," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ office quoted him as saying. It declared three days of mourning, ordering that Palestinian flags should fly at half mast for the dead mourners. Witnesses said gunmen were firing in the air during the funeral of a Fatah militant killed Thursday in an Israel Air. more..
Taxi driver abducted by Palestinians, rescued by IDF
Yigal Hai, Ha’aretz 12/15/2007
A 50-year-old Israeli taxi driver from was kidnapped Thursday night by two Palestinians and taken to the West Bank. He was rescued by Israel Defense Forces troops a few hours later. The two got on the man’s taxi Thursday afternoon in Ramat Gan and asked him to drive them to the Arab village of Kafr Qasem, east of Tel Aviv. During the ride, the two assaulted him physically and verbally, and ordered him to take them to the West Bank village of Jamain. When they entered the Palestinian Authority area, the two seized the driver’s mobile phone and money, and left him by the side of the road. The man asked a local family for help, and they let him use their phone. He called his cousin, who informed the police. In a joint operation with the IDF, the driver was located and rescued. more..
Brigades attack Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 12/15/2007
Gaza - The An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the National Resistance Committees announced they had launched three projectiles on Friday at the Israeli town of Sderot, north of the Gaza Strip. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the armed wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for launching two rockets at two Israeli kibbutz, in the Negev, east of Gaza City. Both brigades issued statements saying their operations came in response to the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, adding that they would continue resisting to free all of the Palestinian Territories. [end]
Israeli cabbie rescued from West Bank
Avi Cohen, YNetNews 12/14/2007
Taxi-driver forced to drive from Bnei Brak to West Bank; escapes after being beaten, mugged, rescued by IDF forces - IDF soldiers rescued an Or Yehuda taxi driver from the village of Jam’in in the northern West Bank on Friday morning after he was beaten and robbed by some passengers he picked up in Bnei Brak. Around 11 PM Thursday night, the 49-year-old cabbie picked up three passengers on Jabotinsky Street in Bnei Brak. The three men requested to be taken to Kfar Qassem. Once they reached their destination, the passengers began to threaten the man and told him to take them to a few different Palestinians towns. They ended up in Jam’in, a Palestinians village over the Green Line where the men then physically assaulted the taxi driver, robbed him of his belongings and left him. The frantic driver began to wander around the village in search for some assistance. more..
Qassam lands in factory in western Negev, no injuries
Tova Daddon, YNetNews 12/14/2007
Rocket strikes factory operating around the clock in Negev kibbutz. Shrapnel damages worker’s kitchenette, storage facilities. Earlier Friday - government declares crisis situation in Gaza-vicinity communities due to increase in Qassam attacks - Palestinian terror groups launched a Qassam rocket from northern Gaza towards Israel on Friday afternoon. The rocket landed in a factory in a kibbutz in the western Negev. No injuries were reported but damage was caused to the factory. The al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the attack. Shrapnel struck the factory’s kitchenette, which was luckily empty of workers and broke numerous windows. Equipment being stored in one of the factory’s storage facilities was also damaged. The factory in question operates 24-hours a day. more..
Palestinian security arrest 11 Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency 12/14/2007
Bethlehem Hamas said on Friday that the Palestinian security services arrested 11 of their members members on Thursday evening in the West Bank. According to a Hamas statement, three of the arrestees were from Ramallah district in the central West Bank. An imam of a mosque in Tulkarem in the northern West Bank was also seized. In the Jenin district, Hamas said, Palestinian security arrested and abused a Hamas affiliate who was recently freed from Israeli prison. In Nablus in the northern West Bank, one Hamas member was arrested, while two others were arrested in Salfit in the north and Hebron in the south. [end]
IDF: Ill-timed Gaza campaign may result in mass casualties
Itamar Eichner, YNetNews 12/14/2007
IDF officials warn Security Cabinet against launching military operation in Strip too soon. Gaza incursion may take longer than Israel thinks, they say - The IDF had presented the Security Cabinet with data suggesting a wide-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip at this time may result is mass casualties to Israeli forces, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday. The IDF estimates a Gaza operation will be a lengthy one, taking at least several months. Such an operation, the Cabinet was told, may be counterproductive, as it may contribute to Hamas intensifying the Qassam launchings towards Israel. For the IDF to reclaim control of the Philadelphi Route β which is needed in order to prevent weapons’ smuggling from Egypt to the Strip, it would have to put some 100,000 Palestinians under Israeli rule. The IDF, Cabinet members were told, is gearing up for the pending Gaza operation, but this is not the right time to embark on it. more..
Israeli forces raid Jenin; seize 12 Palestinians
Ma’an News Agency 12/14/2007
Jenin Israeli forces raided Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Thursday evening, besieging a coffee shop before seizing 12 Palestinians including an activist from the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement along with his brother. Undercover Israeli forces ransacked the coffee shop and arrested Islamic Jihad twenty-three-year-old activist Abdur-Rahman Barghish and his brother Aziz, along with 10 others. Eyewitnesses were quoted as saying that the undercover Israeli forces were in a civilian car and that clashes erupted between Palestinian combatants and the invading Israeli forces. An Islamic Jihad activist, who was in the same coffee shop told Ma’an that he was sitting with four other activists when a car suddenly stopped in front of the coffee shop. He added that they immediately realized the car had undercover forces in it and the activists fled, firing at the Israeli force. more..
Fatah official detained in Gaza
BBC Online 12/14/2007
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in control of the Gaza Strip, says it is holding a key adviser to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. About 30 men seized Omar al-Ghoul athis Gaza home early on Friday, accusing him of collaborating with Israel, his family said. A Hamas spokesman said he was being questioned over "illegal activities". Meanwhile, at three people have been killed and 35 wounded by an explosion at a funeral in Gaza City. Witnesses said a grenade was thrown into the crowd, which was made up mainly of Fatah sympathisers who had gathered for the funeral of a Fatah man killed by an Israeli air strike. Hamas said the grenade appeared to have been dropped accidentally. Outspoken critic Mr Ghoul, the abducted Fatah adviser, had recently left the Gaza Strip to work for Salam Fayyad, Fatah prime minister, in the West Bank. more..
Fatah official held by Hamas while visiting Gaza for funeral
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian 12/15/2007
A senior member of the Palestinian Fatah movement was detained by Hamas gunmen in Gaza yesterday in a fresh round of friction between the two groups. Omar al-Ghoul, an adviser to Salam Fayyad, the prime minister, was seized from his home before dawn. An opponent of Hamas, Ghoul writes a newspaper column that is frequently critical of Hamas. He had arrived in Gaza on Thursday, from the West Bank, to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law. A Hamas spokesman said only that he was being investigated over "violations to the law". In the West Bank, Hamas said several of its members had been detained by Fatah officials on Thursday night. Riyad al-Malki, the information minister, blamed Ghoul’s detention on "criminals working for Hamas". In a separate incident, three Palestinians were killed and 30 injured by an explosion during a funeral procession in Gaza City for a Fatah militant, who was killed by an Israeli air strike on Thursday. more..
Top Fatah official abducted by Hamas gunmen in Gaza Strip
News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/14/2007
A senior adviser in the Palestinian government was abducted by unknown gunmen in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Friday, officials in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction said. It was the highest-profile abduction since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June after routing secular Fatah forces. A Hamas spokesman, Ihab al-Ghussein, confirmed that al-Ghoul was detained and is being interrogated for illegal activities. He didn’t elaborate. Abbas issued a terse statement, read out on Palestinian television, which condemned the abduction and accused Hamas of setting off an explosion that ripped through a funeral procession for three militants. Fayyad’s information minister, Riyad al-Malki, blamed "criminals working for Hamas" for the abduction and called for Ghoul’s immediate release,. more..
Top Fatah official kidnapped in Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/14/2007
Hamas gunmen kidnap advisor to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Gaza to attend funeral; kidnapping comes as Hamas chief Haniyeh has been calling for rapprochement with Fatah - Armed gunmen burst into the home of an advisor to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Gaza early Friday and kidnapped him, the man’s family said, in the first such abduction of a politician since Hamas forces routed their Fatah rivals and overtook the strip in June. The man abducted, Omar Al-Ghoul, is considered a harsh critic of Hamas and has a regular newspaper column in which he frequently attacks the Islamic movement. Al-Ghoul arrived in Gaza from the West Bank on Thursday to attend the funeral of his mother-in law. Around 4am Friday, armed gunmen in civilian clothes burst into his Gaza home, turning it upside down and seizing Al-Ghoul, his relatives reported. more..
’Special situation’ in Sderot to continue
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/14/2007
Defense Minister Barak decides to lengthen ’special situation’ in Sderot and Gaza Vicinity communities following midweek Qassam salvo on area - Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced Friday the continuance of the ’special situation in the homefront’ declared on Sderot and the Gaza Vicinity communities in April. The government approved Barak’s order via telephone referendum. The bill will later be brought before the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The decision follows the latest Qassam salvo fired on Sderot, in which more than 30 rockets were launched at the city in a 48-hour period. A ’special situation effectively makes the security establishment take an active role in aiding the population in the greater Gaza area until at least March 2008. Thursday’s Qassam attacks left two women moderately injured, prompting a protest by the embattled. more..
Three Palestinians killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in Gaza
Rami Almeghari, International Middle East Media Center 12/13/2007
Three Palestinians have been killed on Thursday evening during a new fresh Israeli air strike on a car in southern Gaza city. Medical sources said corpses of three Palestinians were taken out dismembered from the hit car, as pillars of smoke were visible in the area of the attack. Israeli air strikes on Gaza have been widespread since Israel declared Gaza a ’ hostile entity, with more Israeli measures on the ground being taken. Today’s killed were initially identified as members of the Islamic Jihad, yet they were later turned to be of the aL-Aqsa Martyrs brigades, the militant offshoot of Fatah of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli media reports said that one woman sustained minor injuries today after a barrage of homemade shells was fired onto the nearby Israeli town of Sderot. On Tuesday, the Israeli army carried out a large incursion into southern Gaza, killing six resistance fighters and wounded 19 others. more..
Israeli forces arrest 17 in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/13/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an The Israeli forces arrested 17 Palestinian citizens s from the West Bank on Thursday. Sources within the Israeli army said 14 Palestinians were arrested in the village of Shwaika near Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, two others in Kafr Qaddum near Qalqilia in the northern West Bank and another in Qalqilia. The army sources claimed that three machine guns and ammunition were also found. [end]
Israel air strike hits Gaza vehicle
Al Jazeera 12/13/2007
An Israeli air raid in Gaza City has killed at least three people. Another two people were injured in the attack on a car, according to Palestinian medical officials. An Israeli aircraft hit the Zeitoun neighbourhood of the city on Thursday, sources said. One of the people killed was identified as a member of the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement. A spokeswoman for the Israeli army confirmed the attack saying it was aimed at a group that "was responsible for firing rockets against Israel". The car was obliterated by the blast, and rescue workers extracted a dismembered body. Hamas police officers kept people away from the car. Thursday’s deaths brought the number of people killed in Israeli-Palestinian violence since 2000 to 5,976, the vast majority of them Palestinians, according to a count by the AFP news agency. more..
Israeli raid kills three in Gaza
BBC Online 12/13/2007
An Israeli air strike has killed three people in Gaza City, according to Palestinian officials. They say several people were also injured when an Israeli aircraft targeted a vehicle in the eastern district of the city. The Israeli army confirmed the raid, saying it had targeted a militant cell. Israel frequently carries out strikes against militants in the Gaza Strip, in an effort to stop the frequent rocket fire on towns in southern Israel. At least one militant from the Islamic Jihad was reportedly among the three people killed in the attack. The vehicle was completely destroyed by the strike late on Thursday, Palestinian officials said. The raid came a few hours after an Israeli woman was wounded in a rocket attack on the southern Israeli town of Sderot. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit... more..
IAF strike kills 3 Palestinians detected launching Qassam
Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulays and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/13/2007
An Israel Air Force strike killed three Palestinian militants in Gaza City on Thursday evening, after they were detected firing a Qassam rocket at Israel. The IAF targeted a car in the Zaytoun section of Gaza City, a Palestinian hospital official and the Israel Defense Forces said. The three militants belonged to the Islamic Jihad militant group. The Islamic Jihad said one of the dead was Sami Tafesh, a commander of its rocket crews. The strike came after a Qassam rocket struck a Sderot home, moderately wounding a 40-year-old woman, who was taken to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment. Two other people suffered from shock. On Wednesday, after Palestinian militants fired 17 rockets into Israel, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi that though daily strikes against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip... more..
Woman moderately injured by Qassam rocket
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/13/2007
Two Qassam rockets fired at Sderot Thursday afternoon, one lands in open field outside of city. Woman injured from force of blast, others suffer shock. Sderot residents express frustration with government’s powerlessness to end attacks - A woman in her forties was moderately injured on Thursday afternoon from a Qassam rocket that struck a house in Sderot. Her injuries were inflicted primarily as a result of the force of the rocket’s impact. The Mujahideen Brigades, a military wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for the attack. The rocket stuck a house that did not have a safe room. It crashed through the roof and caused extensive damage to the house. The mother of the family was thrown back by the force of the blast and hurled against the wall. Magen David Adom paramedics said that the woman did not suffer any internal injuries... more..
Sderot mayor retracts resignation
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/13/2007
Sderot Mayor, Eli Moyal, recants decision to resign following Thursday meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. ’The defense minister ordered me to go back to work and it seemed rude not to comply,’ said Moyal - Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal recanted his decision to resign as mayor of the battered town following a Thursday meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Moyal’s shocking decision to resign as mayor came in wake of repeated rocket attacks on the town of Sdeort, and the governments’ seeming inability to contend with these assaults or demolish the rocket launchers involved. After retracting his resignation Moyal told Ynet: "I met with the defense minister for roughly 40 minutes. He instructed me to return to work, and it seemed rude not to comply." Moyal further said of his meeting with Barak: "We discussed several topics which I cannot elaborate upon, but,... more..
IDF arrests top Islamic Jihad commander in Jenin
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/13/2007
Al-Quds brigades commander detained during army raid in West Bank town, along with his brother and 10 other Palestinians - A large army force raided a Jenin cafΓ© Thursday evening, arresting the commander of Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades in town, Abed al-Ruhmani Bargish, Palestinian sources reported. Bargish’s brother and 10 other operatives were also detained. According to eyewitness, IDF soldiers encircled the place and a gunfight erupted between troops and local gunmen. The IDF reported that a special force arrested a wanted Palestinian suspect during the operation and took him in for questioning. None of the soldiers was injured in the clash. Earlier Thursday, IDF forces arrested nine Palestinians near Jenin for hurling stones at the separation fence. Seventeen other suspects were arrested during the night across the West Bank. more..
PPP’s politburo member escapes kidnap attempt
Ma’an News Agency 12/13/2007
Gaza A member of the Palestinian People’s Party (PPP)’s politburoescaped an abduction attempt by unidentified gunmen in Gaza City on Thursday. Walid Al-Awad was with his young daughter, heading to work when the kidnap attempt occurred. He told Ma’an that three unidentified men stopped his car on the pretext of asking for help. As he got out of the car, one of the men aimed a pistol at his neck. His daughter was told to go back home. "This is meant to keep your mouth shut, Walid," the abductors told Al-Awad. They ran off as crowds gathered to watch the incident. PPP leader Tal’at As-Safadi condemned the abduction attempt describing it as an "attempt to silence the voice of the People’s Party which has refused the state of division in the Palestinian political arena, and the military coup in the Gaza Strip. more..
Palestinian security arrest 7 Hamas men
Ma’an News Agency 12/13/2007
Nablus Ma’an Hamas said on Thursday that the Palestinian security services had arrested seven of their members in the West Bank on Wednesday evening. A Hamas statement said that four members were arrested in Nablus in the northern West Bank in addition to a journalist Ahmad Abu Al-Hayja in Jenin, also in the north, and two other Hamas members in a small village near Ramallah in the central West Bank. [end]
Initial reports: two Saraya aL-Quds fighters wounded in southern Gaza
Rami Almeghari, International Middle East Media Center 12/13/2007
Initial media reports said Thursday that two fighters of the Saraya aL-Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, have been wounded in an explosion in southern Gaza. The reports said that a large explosion was audible on mid day Thursday, to the south of Gaza city. Witnesses said that Israeli aircrafts were hovering over the area, as no more details were available. Israeli army has stepped up attacks on Palestinian resistance fighters over the past couple of days, killing at least 7, four of them from the Saraya aL-Quds brigades. Israel also declared Gaza a ’hostile entity’, in September and reduced daily fuel supplies to the costal region in October, within what Israel says ’ a bid to stop homemade shells fire’ from Gaza onto nearby Israeli towns. Several human rights groups branded the declaration ’ collective punishment’ as United Nations Secretary General,... more..
Sderot to keep ’special status’ due to Qassam fire
Mijal Grinberg, Yuval Azoulay and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 12/14/2007
The cabinet is expected Sunday to maintain the "special situation" status of Sderot and communities bordering the Gaza Strip because of continued Qassam rocket fire. Under the order, the Israel Defense Forces is involved in managing the communities targeted by Qassams. A Sderot resident was moderately wounded yesterday when a Qassam struck her house. In response the Israel Defense Forces carried out an attack in the Gaza Strip, saying it had killed three militants who had fired rockets at Sderot. Meanwhile, Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal rescinded his resignation at Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s request. Barak decided yesterday to ask the cabinet to retain the "special status" order, which expired about a month ago. The renewed order, which will be submitted for approval at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, will be valid until the end of March. more..
Gaydamak to invest NIS 90 million in fortification of Sderot homes
Ofer Petersburg, YNetNews 12/13/2007
Russian-Israeli businessman to fund construction of secure rooms in 600 houses in Qassam-ridden town - Arcadi Gaydamak has decided to invest NIS 90 million ($23 million) in the fortification of some 600 homes in the Qassam-stricken town of Sderot, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday. According to the IDF Southern Command, 1,200 houses in Sderot, in addition to hundreds of buildings, do not contain secure rooms. Gaydamak has already funded the fortification of 40 shelters in Sderot. During a tour of the western Negev city last May, Gaydamak said, "That man ( Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ), who recently sent hundreds of Israelis to their death (in the Second Lebanon War ) just to show that he was a leader, has no right to criticize my activity for the people of Sderot. more..
Palestine Today 121307
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/13/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday December 13th, 2007. Two patients have died because Israel refused to allow them leave Gaza for medical treatment and in the West Bank the Israeli army kidnaps ten civilians, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast Medical sources reported on Thursday that two more patients have died in Gaza due to Israel’s refusal to allow them to leave the strip for medical treatment. Sources stated that Naser Muhra and Mahmoud Abu Hasna both from Gaza, joined the growing list of Gazans who have died as a result of not being allowed leave the strip for treatment. The total numbers who have died from long suffering illnesses in this manner now stands at 36 since Israels total closure of the Gaza strip borders. more..
Civil Admin:Hundreds of homes okayed for West Bank
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 12/12/2007
There are hundreds, even thousands, of planned housing units in the West Bank that have building permits and do not need any further government approval before their construction can begin, Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, the head of the Civil Administration, told the interministerial committee on illegal outposts yesterday. Their construction "could cause similar embarrassment to that created by the publication of the tender for building in Har Homa," he added. The discussion, which was meant to center on planning and construction in the West Bank, quickly turned into a discussion of the Har Homa crisis, in which the recent tender for the construction of more than 300 apartments in this East Jerusalem neighborhood generated sharp criticism from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. more..
Four kidnapped in Hebron including one female
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2007
Israeli military forces abducted four Palestinians, including one female during separate incidents in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday. Local sources reported that military forces invaded homes and kidnapped two residents in the town of al Shoyokh located north east of Hebron. The abductees were later identified as Mohammad Halayka and Amer Husien. Meanwhile, the Israeli army kidnapped a Palestinian youth from Beit Omar in Northern Hebron. The youth, who was identified as Khalil Al Alamy aged 14 was taken following clashes between a group of Palestinian youths and Israeli military forces at the eastern entrance to the town. In related news, sources in Hebron reported that a Palestinian female was abducted at an illegal Israeli checkpoint in Azion. The woman was later identified as Ihsan Al Dababsa,22 from Noba town, north-west of Hebron. more..
A Palestinian resistance fighter killed by Israeli army in central Gaza
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2007
Local media sources in central Gaza Strip said that a Palestinian resistance fighter of the Saraya aL-Quds Brigades, of the Islamic Jihad group, has been killed after an Israeli tank fired a shell on a group of the Saraya fighters in eastern Gaza Strip. In a statement, faxed to press, the Saraya aL-Quds said that Sameh aL-Aydi, was killed while he and other comrades were firing rocket-propelled grenades at an Israeli military outpost in southeastern Gaza. The Israeli army killed yesterday six Palestinian resistance fighters, three of them belonged to the Saraya aL-Quds brigades, when Israeli tanks rolled into southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military warned last week of what Israel calls ’ attrition operations’ against the Gaza Strip, in a ’ bid to stop homemade shells fire from Gaza onto nearby Israeli towns’. more..
Israeli artillery kill Palestinian fighter in Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/12/2007
Gaza Ma’an Israeli artillery killed a Palestinian activist affiliated with Islamic Jihads Al-Quds Brigades on Wednesday morning. The Israeli army had targeted a group of Palestinian fighters who were launching mortar shells at the Israeli military installation at Kisufim, east of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources named the victim as twenty-year-old Samih Al-Aydi from Nusayrat refugee camp. The Al-Quds Brigades confirmed the news. On Tuesday Israeli fire killed six Al-Quds Brigades fighters in two separate incursions. [end]
Israeli forces seize 13 Palestinians in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/12/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli forces seized 13 Palestinians in the West Bank on Wednesday morning. According to Israeli media sources, 11 of the detainees were from Ramallah, and the other two from Bethlehem. [end]
Palestinian security forces detain 13 near Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 12/12/2007
Nablus Ma’an Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces seizes 13 people, including four Hamas members, near the West Bank city of Nablus, on Wednesday. The Palestinian Preventive Security Director for Nablus, Akram Rajoub. said his forces stormed the village of Yasid, north of Nablus. He said all of the detainees were suspected of penal and security charges. Rajoub denied that the security forces came under fire in Yasid. He said, "It was only a heated argument between the security forces and a local family, and the security officers fired into the air in order to maintain control." According to witnesses, the security forces used the building of the local council as interrogation center after a heated argument with the Thahir family who tried to prevent the arrest a man named Ammar Thahir. Hamas said Palestinian security forces detained 13 Hamas members in Yasid. more..
Israeli forces attack Palestinian media offices in Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 12/12/2007
Nablus Ma’an Israeli forces ransacked Palestinian media offices in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday morning, witnesses said Soldiers seized computers and transmission equipment from the offices of Afaq TV on the pretext that the station supports terrorism. According to Salih Qandilo, a transmission worker at Afaq TV, the Israeli forces raided the station’s office at 1:30am local time and beat him. The soldiers informed him that the Israeli military ordered the station closed "because the station supports Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other organizations." Israeli forces stormed the office of An-Najah media, confiscating three computers. They also raided the Ar-Ruwad media office affiliated to the Al-Quds daily newspaper, confiscating eight computers. Suhair Khalaf, the director of Ar-Ruwad in Nablus, told Ma’an that the Israeli attack was the third... more..
Al-Quds Brigades fire 13 projectiles at Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 12/12/2007
Gaza Ma’an The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot, bringing the total number of projectiles fired at Sderot on Wednesday to 13. They announced in a statement that they were exercising their right to respond to Israeli aggression on the west Bank and Gaza Strip. [end]
Palestinian killed in tunnel collapse in Rafah
Ma’an News Agency 12/12/2007
Gaza Ma’an Palestinian medical sources announced on Wednesday the death of twenty-three- year-old Mahmoud Qishta from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, after a tunnel on the Palestinian-Egyptian borders collapsed. Mu’awiya Hassanain, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian health ministry said Qishta’s body was taken to Abu Yousif An-Najjar hospital. He died as a result of suffocation due to the tunnel collapse. [end]
Israel launches large-scale incursion in Gaza
Middle East Online 12/12/2007
GAZA CITY - Four Palestinian fighters were killed across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as Israel launched its largest operation in months in the south of the Hamas-run territory, medics and witnesses said. The raids killed three fighters in the south and one in the north and came a day before Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams were due to sit down for the first time since peace talks were formally resumed at a US conference. In southern Gaza, three members of the Islamic Jihad group were killed by an Israeli tank shell as around 30 tanks pushed around two kilometres (more than a mile) into the territory. The victims were Mohammed Abu Hamra, Ibrahim Barud and Jihad al-Aswad, all of them in their 20s, the group said. Shortly afterwards, seven other fighters were wounded in an Israeli air raid in the same area, they added. more..
Israel rules out widescale Gaza incursion
Agence France-Presse, ReliefWeb 12/12/2007
JERUSALEM, Dec 12, 2007 (AFP) - Israel’s security cabinet on Wednesday ruled out launching a widescale military operation in Gaza to counter rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory, a senior official told AFP. "The cabinet ruled out a widescale operation for the moment, but decided to continue the current pattern of localised ground incursions and air strikes," the official said on condition of anonymity. The cabinet met on the same day as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were to sit down for the first time since the two sides formally relaunched their peace talks at a November conference in the United States. The meeting also came a day after Israel carried out one of its largest incursions in Gaza in months, killing six militants in the south of the territory where Islamist Hamas seized power in mid-June. more..
OPT: Israel army chief says big Gaza push more likely
Reuters Foundation, ReliefWeb 12/12/2007
TEL AVIV, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Israel’s army chief said on Wednesday that daily strikes against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip were having an impact but a big military offensive was becoming more likely. Speaking at a conference in Tel Aviv on security issues, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi said that daily Israeli incursions into the coastal territory were hurting militants but could not be decisive in curbing attacks against Israel. "We are operating in Gaza on a daily basis. Yesterday we returned from a broad operation... this brings a reduction in the ground threat and the firing of rockets but does not stop it," Ashkenazi said. "We will come to the point where we will have to carry out the big operation." With the exception of public UN sources, reproduction or redistribution of the above text, in whole, part or in any form, requires the prior consent of the original source. more..
Security cabinet says no to Gaza operation
Roni Sofer, YNetNews 12/12/2007
Cabinet to recommend against large-scale military operation in Strip, calls on IDF to continue short, targeted operations - The security cabinet announced Wednesday it would recommend the government refrain from launching a wide-scale operation in Gaza, opting instead to continue with targeted IDF operations. Data given to the cabinet revealed that the IDF has held 115 operations aimed at destroying terror infrastructure and Qassam cells in the Strip since the beginning of the year, and killed 260 Palestinian terrorists. Still, some 970 Qassam rockets and 1,200 mortar shells were fired from Gaza towards Israel since the beginning of 2007. Israel suffered five related casualties - three IDF soldiers and two civilians. IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi and senior Shin Bet officials further told the cabinet that the extra... more..
Army chief: Gaza operation unavoidable
Roee Nahmias, YNetNews 12/12/2007
’The threat to the Israeli home front is growing,’ warns Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi after Israel’s security cabinet votes against a large-scale operation in Gaza to battle increasing rocket attacks. Defense Minister Barak: We will find solution to Qassams as we have for other problems - The current situation in Gaza cannot continue, and ongoing Qassam attacks on Israel may force the IDF to launch a large-scale operation in the Strip, IDF Chief of Staff Lit. -Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday. "You cannot defeat a terror organization without eventually taking control of the territory," he said, "the only reason we have been successful in Judea and Samaria is because we control the area." Speaking at a conference hosted by the Institute for National Security Studies at the Tel Aviv University, Ashkenazi said that while the current limited army operations in Gaza... more..
Israeli mayor quits over rockets
BBC Online 12/12/2007
An Israeli mayor has resigned over what he says is the government’s inability to stop rocket fire from Gaza. Eli Moyal, a well-known figure in the Israeli media, said that for years, no-one had taken responsibility for the situation in his town, Sderot. A number of rockets were fired at Sderot earlier today; hundreds have been fired into Israel since June 2007. Earlier, Israel’s security cabinet was said to have ruled out, for now, any large-scale operations against Gaza. On Tuesday, Israeli forces made an incursion into southern Gaza in one of their biggest attacks since June. "Maybe this will spark the government to launch an operation for the lives of its [Sderot’s] residents. I can’t keep making the decisions, they can’t keep piling it all on me," Mr Moyal said. Unguided rockets from Gaza have killed at least six people in the town which has a population of 22,000. more..
Sderot mayor resigns due to security crisis
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/12/2007
Following heavy rocket barrage on his town Wednesday, Eli Moyal declares he can no longer bear responsibility for safety of Sderot residents. ’Maybe this will persuade the government to do something,’ he says - Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal submitted his resignation to the interior minister Wednesday, citing the ongoing security crisis in town as the main motive for the move. A salvo of 18 rockets hit the southern town earlier, injuring several residents. "This was a necessary move, and perhaps the only thing that could persuade the government to do something," Moyal told Ynet. "I have been mulling this decision since the morning, while Qassam rockets kept falling on the town." Moyal explained that he no longer felt he could bear the responsibility for the safety of Sderot’s residents, especially after the army decided Tuesday to cancel the emergency state previously declared in the region. more..
Qassam salvo hits western Negev
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/12/2007
Palestinians fire 18 Qassams at Sderot, Negev area; one girl lightly wounded, several people suffer shock, no damage reported. Islamic Jihad, PRC claim responsibility for launch - A Qassam barrage hit the western Negev Wednesday, as Palestinians fired 18 Qassam rockets at Sderot. One girl was lightly wounded in the leg by shrapnel, and several other people suffered shock. Both the Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees’ Salah al-Din Brigades claimed responsibility for the rockets, which landed - all but one - in open areas. The salvo followed Tuesday’s IDF operation in Gaza, which according to Palestinian sources left six dead. Following the attacks, Magen David Adom emergency services raised the alert level in town to the maximum, and doubled the number of ambulances and ICU vehicles on call. more..
Terror group: Moyal’s resignation a Palestinian victory
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/12/2007
Spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees welcomes resignation of Sderot mayor: ’God willing, Olmert too will pay someday’ - "The resignation of Sderot’s mayor constitutes a great victory for the Palestinian resistance. This is a political victory, a victory for morale, it adds to the humiliation we are heaping upon the Zionist army in the field," Muhammad Abd al-’Al, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), told Ynet on Wednesday. Members of Abd al-’Al’s organization took part earlier in the day in launching the heavy rocket barrage against Sderot, leading Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal to announce his resignation. Concerning Moyal, Abd al-’Al added: "The man who threatened to wipe Beit Hanoun off the map and called upon the Israeli military to do just that was himself wiped off the Israeli public map today. more..
IDF leaves Palestinian home in shambles after weapons search
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 12/12/2007
Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for December 11, 2007. Last Thursday, in the middle of the night, soldiers arrived at the Nasser household in the village of Yata in the southern Hebron Hills. They came on a routine search for concealed weapons based on intelligence information, but the damages they left behind at the Palestinian family’s home were nothing but routine. Related articles: Israel’s defense & Annapolis / A defensive dilemma IDF probe finds gross misconduct by troops in Dahariya rampage Old boys’ network For more video news and features, visit Haaretz. com TV more..
Barak: Road to ending Qassams is long but success is possible
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 12/12/2007
The defense establishment is working diligently to end the fire of Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip, but accomplishment of the task is still a long way off, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday. "The task of ending Qassam fire has still not been reached and the road is still long," Barak told delegates at a National Security Institute conference in Tel Aviv. Barak said that the situation in the Gaza Strip was difficult and complicated, but "as we have found solutions in the past, here too we will find the solution. We are working on this endlessly and the solution will require condsideration and responsibility." "I hope we will not reach a situation of no choice that would necessitate us to do what, up until now, we have no wanted to do," he added, apparently in reference to military actions in Gaza. more..
Undercover Israeli forces kidnap Palestinian from Ramallah
Brian Kenny, International Middle East Media Center 12/11/2007
On Monday evening, undercover Israeli forces abducted a Palestinian man from the West Bank city of Ramallah. Local media reported that the soldiers arrived in a civilian car and stormed an office belonging to the Fatah movement near Ramallah. Muhammad Al-Bawwab, 22 was abducted in the raid. Israel had released Al-Bawwab from a detention center as part of an amnesty deal last summer. Israeli media claim that the abducted man was suspected of firing at the Israeli settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev, near Ramallah. more..
Palestinian security forces arrest 13, at least 4 of whom are Hamas members, near Nabulus
Brian Kenny, International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2007
Palestinian security forces stormed the village of Yasid, north of the West Bank city of Nabulus on Wednesday and arrested 13 people, at least four of those arrested were members of the Hamas movement. The Palestinian Preventive Security Director for Nablus, Akram Rajoub, told local media that all of the detainees were suspected of ’penal and security charges’. He denied that security forces had been shot at in Yasid , although admitted that the security forces had discharged shots into the air in an effort to quench a heated argument which took palace between them and a local family. Eyewitness stated that a building belonging to the local council was temporarily converted by security forces into an interrogation center following a heated argument which broke out between security forces and a local family who had tried to prevent the arrest of Ammar Thahir. more..
Al-Aqsa Brigades fire on Israeli bus
Ma’an News Agency 12/12/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, announced on Tuesday evening that they fired at an Israeli bus near the Israeli settlement Qedumim east of the West Bank city Qalqilia. They said the operation was in retaliation for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza trip. [end]
An-Nasser Brigades leader: ’abduct Israeli soldiers, bomb Israeli cities’
Ma’an News Agency 12/12/2007
Gaza The Deputy Secretary General of the Popular Resistance Committees’ military wing, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, Abu Ahmad Al-Jad said on Wednesday that "abduction of Israeli soldiers and bombing Israeli cities are the best means to exert pressure on the Israeli government to force them release Palestinian prisoners." Abu Ahmad described Tuesdays massive Israeli incursion in Gaza Strip as the outcome of the Annapolis peace summit held in the US in November. He called on all An-Nasser Brigades’ groups to block any Israeli assaults. [end]
Army spotters count wild animals on both sides of security fence
Associated Press, YNetNews 12/12/2007
IDF may create special passages in West Bank security fence to allow migration of wild animals - Israeli army spotters have a new job - counting wild animals on both sides of Israel’s West Bank security fence, helping naturalists to assess the problems caused by the huge structure, an army publication reported. The spotters, all female soldiers, logged 500 sightings of animals along the northern section of the fence in recent weeks. Regular spotter duty, in contrast, includes looking out for attempts to infiltrate into Israel from the West Bank. Israel started construction of the fence in 2001 after a wave of Palestinian suicide bombers infiltrated from the West Bank and blew themselves up in Israeli cities. Though it is only about two-thirds complete, the fence has drastically reduced the rate of bombings. more..
Palestine Today 121207
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/12/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 3. 67 MB || Time 4m 0s || Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Wednesday, December 12th, 2007. In Gaza, Israeli jet-fighters kill one Palestinian man, while troops attack and serve closure notices on media outlets in the West Bank, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The News Cast Local media sources in the central Gaza Strip reported on Wednesday that a Palestinian resistance fighter of the Al Quds Brigades, of the Islamic Jihad, had been killed when an Israeli tank fired a shell on a group of the Saraya fighters in eastern Gaza Strip. In a statement, faxed to press, the brigade reported that Sameh Al Aydi, was killed while he and other comrades were firing rocket-propelled grenades at an Israeli military outpost south east of Gaza. more..
Six dead as Israeli tanks enter Gaza
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian 12/11/2007
Israeli troops in tanks and armoured vehicles mounted an incursion into Gaza today, killing at least six Palestinian militants on the eve of a new round of peace talks. As many as 30 tanks and vehicles were involved in the operation in southern Gaza, near the Sufa crossing and close to the town of Khan Yunis. Several Palestinians were reported injured. The Israeli military said it was a routine operation against militants, but Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to disrupt the peace talks. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were due to meet tomorrow at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem to start a new process of talks in the wake of the Middle East conference in Annapolis late last month. Palestinian officials have already complained about an Israeli decision last week to issue tenders for more than 300 houses in the East Jerusalem settlement of Har Homa. more..
Israeli forces kill six Palestinians in Gaza Strip; major ground incursion in Rafah
Ma’an News Agency 12/11/2007
Gaza Ma’an Israeli forces killed six Palestinian activists affiliated with the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, and the An-Nasser Brigades during separate incursions in the Gaza Strip. Four of the activists were killed while confronting invading Israeli forces in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The Al-Quds Brigades announced first that three combatants were killed and one sustained serious injuries in an aerial bombardment on a house in Rafah. Kamal Mousa, spokesperson for the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis identified two of the dead as Muhammad Abu Hamra and Jihad Al-Aswad. Both were in their twenties. The third body was unidentified. Mousa said the news media had mistakenly reported the deaths of three other fighters. He said two fighters had their legs amputated and were in intensive care at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and two others were being operated on at European Gaza Hopspital. more..
Olmert vows to remove Qassam rocket threat
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 12/12/2007
The security cabinet was set to meet Wednesday to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed on Tuesday to remove the threat of Qassam rockets from the southern part of the country. "The situation in the south of the country, in light of the Qassam rocket fire, has generated a difficult reality," Olmert told an Institute for National Security Studies conference in Tel Aviv Tuesday night. "We will have to act on this matter in the necessary manner, with the appropriate dose and the right timing, without exaggerating and creating unrealistic expectations. We will not rest until the Qassam rocket threat is completely removed from Sderot and the western Negev." At Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, ministers were due to hear intelligence reports from security officials as well as reports from Foreign Ministry officials regarding political options. more..
Al-Aqsa Brigades activist killed in mysterious explosion in Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 12/11/2007
Nablus Ma’an A mysterious explosion killed one member of Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, and injured two others just after midnight on Tuesday in the old city of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. Medical sources at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus confirmed the death of of Sulaiman Al-Qassas. They said he had arrived at the hospital in a coma. Al-Aqsa Brigades spokesperson Mahdi Abu Ghazala told Ma’an accused "the Israeli occupation and collaborators" in an area known to be a meeting point for Al-Aqsa Brigades activists. Separately, Israeli forces raided Nablus overnight, seizing forty-year-old Ziad Mraish in the southern neighborhood of the city. Palestinian security forces are currently involved in a Western-backed multimillion dollar effort to establish law and order in Nablus. more..
Palestinian fighters attempt to block Israeli invasion in Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/11/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed responsibility for launching a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli military bulldozer before clashing with invading Israeli troops near the town of Al-Fukhkari in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Separately, a joint group of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s National Resistance Brigades, and Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades claimed they Tuesday that they fired five mortar shells at the Israeli military vehicles stationed in at Sufa checkpoint, also in the southern Gaza Strip. The fighters said these operations were intended to block the Israeli invasion force headed for the city of Rafah. more..
Gaza operation: 6 militants killed, 40 interrogated
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 12/11/2007
Defense minister says army activity to continue through the night: ’IDF fighters are working in Gaza day and night so we can light Hanukkah candles in peace’ - Palestinian sources in south Gaza said at least six militants were killed during the IDF operation that began at dawn Tuesday. At least one more militant was killed during the army’s activity in the northern Strip last night. During the operation about 40 Palestinians were questioned, and some of them will be transferred to security forces inside Israel for further interrogation. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said during a visit to a Navy base in Haifa that "IDF forces will continue to operate in Gaza during the night to thwart the firing and manufacturing Qassam rockets and mortar shells." more..
4 Palestinians killed in Gaza operation
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/11/2007
Three Israeli airstrikes in Gaza leave four Palestinian gunmen dead, another three critically injured. Meanwhile, four soldiers lightly wounded by antitank missile during extensive IDF operation in southern Gaza town of Khan Younis - Three Palestinian gunmen, members of Islamic Jihad’s military wing the al-Quds brigades, were killed in an Israeli airstrike Tuesday, after they opened fire at IDF forces operating near the town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Two other IAF strikes left another Islamic Jihad gunman dead and three Popular Resistance Committees’ members critically injured, and wounded four Palestinians, according to local sources. An Israeli army spokeswoman said about 10 tanks and armored vehicles entered the Hamas-run territory as part of a routine operation against Palestinian gunmen. more..
Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian girl at a checkpoint south of Bethlehem
Ma’an News Agency 12/11/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an The Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian girl at Azion checkpoint south of Bethlehem on Tuesday, eyewitnesses told Ma’an. An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that the girl had attempted to stab the soldiers at the checkpoint before they seized her and took away for interrogation. The identity of the arrestee is as yet unknown. more..
Saraya aL-Quds brigade clashes with Israeli army in southern Gaza
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/10/2007
The Saraya aL-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, clashed with Israeli troops on Monday morning, east of Kheza’a town, in the southern Gaza Strip. In a statement faxed to press, the armed group announced that its fighters had clashed with Israeli army forces manning the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip, east of Kheza’a town. The statement gave no further details. Witnesses in the area heard a volley of gun shots early this morning just a few hundred meters from the border fence with Israel. Yesterday, the Saraya aL-Quds confirmed in a statement that it targeted an Israeli army jeep, near the Kheza’a town, with a rocket-propelled grenade. Since the outbreak of the Intifada (uprising) in 2000, Palestinian resistance factions have been engaged in attacks against the Israeli occupation forces, in what they call ’ a response to continued Israeli attacks on the coastal region’. more..
Report: Israeli forces besiege Azzoun village
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/10/2007
The International Solidarity Movement has reported that Israeli forces have again invaded the village of Azzoun, where several members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) are stationed. The international activists have reported that Israeli forces declared a house arrest on the village, preventing all local residents from leaving their homes -- even for food and medicine. A number of Israeli military vehicles invaded the village just as students were leaving school, according to the ISM activists. The forces fired sound bombs, live bullets, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas throughout the town. The activists reported that the soldiers prevented a sick child from traveling to a doctor, and many other villagers were stuck outside of town and unable to return to their homes for three hours, until the soldiers left the village in the late evening. more..
Israeli forces seize six Palestinians in the West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/10/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli forces seized six Palestinians on Sunday evening and Monday morning in Hebron, Bethlehem, and Ramallah, sources in the Israeli military said. more..
Israeli forces seize four near Jenin
Ma’an News Agency 12/10/2007
Tulkarem Ma’an Israeli forces seized four Palestinians in near the norhtern West Bank city of Jenin on Monday morning. Two were detained at a checkpoint in the town of Arraba, and the other two were abducted from their homes, sources in the Israeli military said. more..
Hamas: Palestinian security forces arrest six Hamas members in the West Bank
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/10/2007
The Hamas movement issued a press statement on Monday stating that Palestinian security forces affiliated with President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, had arrested six of their members on Monday from several parts of the West Bank. According to the statement, among those arrested were three teachers, one of whom had only recently been released from an Israeli detention center. Hamas also reported that Palestinian police had attacked a school in Jenin and arrested Headmaster Nael Al Imor and his assistant Hassan Al Zaghlol Meanwhile in Nablus city,another teacher Bashar Hajji, was arrested in the village of Burka located east of Nablus. Hajji had been released from an Israeli detention camp three weeks ago after serving time as a poltical detainee. In Qalqilia city, security forces arrested Mohamed Al Ju’adi, a local Shikh -- Muslim clergyman. more..
Palestinian fighters attack Israeli targets near the Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/10/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing affiliated of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades said they launched a homemade projectile at the Israeli settlement of Tushiya east of Gaza Strip. Separately, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National Resistance Brigades, claimed responsibility for launching a homemade projectile at the Israeli town of Sdeort, north of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile the military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades said their fighters hurled a large explosive device at an Israeli infantry force stationed east of the town of Khuza’a in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday evening. They said in a statement that the explosion from the bomb injured Israeli troops as ambulance sirens were heard in the area. more..
Palestinian resistance groups launch projectiles, fight Israeli troops, in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 12/10/2007
Gaza Ma’an The National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Fatah’s armed wing, claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles at Kisufim, an Israeli military installation east of the Gaza Strip, on Monday. Separately, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, clashed with Israeli forces in Khuza’a, near the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Both groups said that these attacks came as a response to the ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. more..
News in Brief
Ha’aretz 12/10/2007
A field test of a system that aims to prevent aerial terror attacks by having incoming civilian aircraft send an electronic "all-clear" signal has been postponed until at least March, because Elbit, the manufacturer, is experiencing problems completing the system, Haaretz has learned. The test was supposed to have begun this month, primarily on El Al planes. Under the system, pilots would have to send a personalized all-clear signal before entering Israeli airspace. Should the plane be taken over by terrorists, this signal would not be sent, enabling the air force to take preventive action. (Zohar Blumenkrantz) The workers of the Be’er Sheva branch of the National Insurance Institute have refused to receive members of the public for the past two weeks, as part of their demand that they be moved to new quarters. According to NII staff, the problem goes back six years, when, after the... more..
News in Brief
Ha’aretz 12/10/2007
Israel Defense Forces officers revealed information during the Second Lebanon War that the military censor had not cleared for publication, the censor told the Winograd Committee, which investigated the war. Colonel Sima Vaknin said that during television interviews, officers sometimes let slip information that she would have censored for reasons of national security. Vaknin testified in November 2006, but her testimony was released only yesterday. She also told the panel that over the years, the number of media outlets has surged while the censor’s staff has been halved, making her office’s work "impossible." (Yuval Azoulay) Two men convicted of the 1992 assassination of four Iranian opposition figures in a Berlin restaurant have been released early from prison, officials said yesterday. The release of one of the men, Kazem Darabi, an Iranian, had been previously tied to information on missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad. more..
Israeli forces kidnap one from Al Thahriya
Nisreen Qumsieh, International Middle East Media Center 12/10/2007
Israeli military forces kidnapped an officer of the Palestinian security forces from Al Thahriya town in the Hebron district, in the early hours of Monday morning. According to security sources, Ra’ed Al Tal, 32, was kidnapped when Israeli military forces stormed his home in the town center. The army also invaded several other homes in the area. Elsewhere, Israeli troops invaded Halhoul town in Hebron. Homes were searched but no abductions were reported. more..
A booby-trapped police car blows up in Gaza city
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/10/2007
The Interior ministry of the Hamas-dominated government in Gaza said a booby-trapped police car has exploded in western Gaza city. The ministry’s spokesperson, Ehab al-Ghussain, stated Monday "unknown assailants detonated a police vehicle early on Monday down, to the west of Gaza city". Al-Ghussain vowed to hunt down perpetrators and bringing them to justice, saying that the police forces work all night and all day to preserve security and prevent recurrence of internal unrest. He also accused certain groups which he said were ’capable of making a decision’ of destabilizing the Gaza Strip by targeting the police forces. Over the past few weeks, a number of police vehicles have been blown up in Gaza City. In November, the Hamas-run police forces dispersed a rally of the routed Fatah party, marking the third anniversary of the death of late iconic Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. more..
Two Palestinian military groups launch projectiles at Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 12/10/2007
Gaza The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, said they launched two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot, bordering the Gaza Strip, on Sunday evening. They said in a statement that the shelling was part of a campaign they are calling "Autumn in Gaza," in response to ongoing Israeli atrocities committed against the Palestinian people. Israeli sources said that a homemade projectile landed in a factory in Sderot, causing no injuries. Separately, the An-Nasser Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for launching a homemade projectile at an Israeli military post called "Tal Shihan" also on Sunday evening. more..
Fatah members detained in Gaza Strip in alleged car torching
Ma’an News Agency 12/10/2007
Gaza Ma’an The Palestinian police of the de facto government in the Gaza Strip claim to have arrested a group of people, said to be affiliated with Fatah, who are accused of setting fire to two vehicles one week ago in Khan Younis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip. The group allegedly burned a police car and a car owned by a member of Hamas. more..
6 years later: Life sentence for Palestinian who murdered Israeli
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/10/2007
Jihad Najar convicted of murdering Yair Har Sinai from Hebron region six years ago. Judges: ’The time elapsed"¦ does not justify a lesser punishment’ - The IDF Military Court in Judea handed down on Sunday a life sentence to Jihad Najar, who was convicted of the murder of Yair Har Sinai six years ago. Har Sinai, 51 at the time of the murder, was a shepherd from the Susia settlement in the Hebron Hills. According to the indictment from 2002, Najar, who meticulously planned the murder, approached Har Sinai feigning interest in buying sheep and stabbed him to death. Najar’s partner, Muhammad Dur, then shot Har Sinai to confirm his death. Dur was killed by IDF fire in an arrest attempt in 2003. The prosecution claimed in court that the nature of the crime, the nationalist motive, and the barbaric manner in which the accused stabbed the deceased necessitate a life sentence. more..
Palestine Today 121007
Ghassan Bannoura - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/10/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Monday, December 10th, 2007. The Israeli army attacks West Bank areas, and clashes in Gaza with Palestinian resistance factions, these stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned. The News Cast Israeli military invaded the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin early Monday morning. Invading troops stormed Palestinian homes in both cities and left shortly after. No kidnappings were reported. Palestinian sources also reported that military checkpoints were set up at the eastern entrance of Fahma village and at the northern entrance of Al Zababda village, Located near Jenin. Soldiers forcibly removed civilians from their vehicles in order to check identity cards. more..
Palestinian security seize 26 Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency 12/9/2007
Nablus Ma’an Hamas said that 26 of its members were seized by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank on Saturday. The detentions took place in Jenin, Nablus, Salfit, Tubas, Ramallah, Hebron, and Jericho, Hamas said. more..
Palestinian security forces seize director of PLC speaker’s office
Ma’an News Agency 12/9/2007
Nablus Ma’an Palestinian security forces seized Abdul-Qahir Surur, the director of the office of the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) on Saturday evening, Hamas said. PLC Speaker Aziz Dweik has been imprisoned in Israel since the summer of 2006. Since Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip last June, Fatah-allied Palestinian security forces have cracked down on Hamas in the West Bank, detaining more Hamas members almost every night. Last week, The Palestinian Authority closed all 92 of the West Bank’s Zakat, or alms committees, alleging that many of them were affiliated with Hamas. Hamas said that Surur was summoned for interrogations in the Palestinian Preventive Security’s headquarters and detained. Acting PLC speaker Ahmad Bahar held Preventive Security responsible for Surur’s life, because, he says, Surur suffers from a heart condition. more..
Israeli forces seize two Palestinians near Ramallah
Ma’an News Agency 12/9/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli forces seized two Palestinians in the West Bank village of Nil’in, near the city of Ramallah on Sunday morning, Israeli media reported. The sources said the detainees were "wanted" by Israeli security. more..
Al-Quds brigades shell an Israeli army jeep, an Israeli minister warns of rockets
Rami Almeghari&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/9/2007
The aL-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, attacked on Sunday an Israeli army jeep in southern Gaza, as the Israeli interior minister warned of continued homemade rockets fire onto Israeli territories. In a statement, faxed to press, the Al-Quds brigades claimed responsibility for firing a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli military jeep to the east of Kheza’a town in southern Gaza Strip. In the meantime, Israeli interior security minister, Avi Dikhter, asserted during a meeting of the Israeli Kadima ruling party on Sunday, that the ’attrition war Palestinian armed factions wage has been recently widened’. Dikhter revealed that such groups, topped by Hamas, have been attacking military targets and civilian populations in southern Israel, threatening security of at least 250. 000 Israelis. more..
Al-Quds Brigades attack Israeli jeep
Ma’an News Agency 12/9/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility on Saturday for launching a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli military jeep in the town of Khuza’a in the southern Gaza Strip. They said in a statement that the attack came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli atrocities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. more..
Two Palestinian military groups engage Israeli forces in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 12/9/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for firing a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli military vehicle east of Gaza City on Sunday. They said in a joint statement that their fighters clashed with the Israeli troops after the attack. It was not clear whether anyone was injured. more..
Thousands of right-wing activists mark Hanukkah with new outposts
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/9/2007
Police allow pro-settlement activists to march from Ma’aleh Adumim to neighborhood on outskirts of E-1 land swath. Ma’aleh Adumim deputy-mayor: ’Condoleezza Rice won’t tell us what to do in our own country. ’ Meanwhile settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein called in for questioning by police - Several thousand settlers and right-wing activists gathered at various points throughout the West Bank on Sunday to mark the Hanukkah holiday by erecting new outposts. Despite having declared all of the areas in question closed military zones, the IDF refrained from interfering with the gatherings. A small portion of the activists are planning to spend the night in the new places of settlement. IDF officials have said security forces would evict those who choose to do so. Youths set out to outpost sites (Photo: Gil Yochanan) Boris Grossman, deputy mayor of Ma’aleh Adumim, also took part in the march. more..
Settlers plant ’symbolic’ outpost
Al Jazeera 12/9/2007
The activists are against Israel’s pledge to remove settler outposts in the occupied West Bank [AFP] Israeli right-wing activists have gathered outside the occupied West Bank’s largest settlement to set up a symbolic outpost. About 200 protesters climbed a hill outside the walls of the Maale Adumim on Sunday, confronting Israeli police officers. Israeli expansion in this area is particularly contentious due to its proximity to Jerusalem. Organisers said those attending the demonstration were sending a message to the Israeli government but that they would not stay there for any length of time. "We didn’t come here to build, but to protest," Arieh Eldad, an MP from the right-wing National Union party, said. The Land of Israel Faithful , a far-right Israeli settler group which was involved in the demonstration, announced it would set up several... more..
Settlers march to build new outpost beneath Beitar flag
Yair Ettinger, Ha’aretz 12/9/2007
A large yellow and black flag of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club waved Sunday over a circle of dancing right-wing activists in the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim, where they want to establish an outpost called Mevaseret Adumim. The flag flew next to Israeli flags and orange ones symbolizing opposition to withdrawal from the territories, as the Beitar supporters joined hundreds of right-wing supporters who responded to a call by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful organization to establish nine outposts throughout the West Bank. "What are we doing here? " one of the young soccer fans asked rhetorically before leaving for a soccer game at Bloomfield Stadium. "Establishing the outpost is the most Beitar there is." While the youths called on the spirit of their team, the Land of Israel Faithful tied their... more..
News in Brief
Ha’aretz 12/10/2007
A man went into shock yesterday when a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed outside a toy factory in the Sderot industrial zone, causing slight damage. A second Qassam hit a community in the Shaar Hanegev regional council, where the council said none of the houses were protected against rocket attacks. Plumes of marijuana-infused smoke rose above Gaza City after Gaza’s Hamas rulers announced a major drug bust yesterday, torching large sacks of confiscated drugs in a bonfire. Hamas displayed tables full of marijuana, neatly pressed blocks of hashish, small piles of cocaine and ecstasy pills at a news conference to show the results of a two-week-long drug raid, said a government spokesman. He said the raid netted 115 dealers and growers, and drugs valued at $4 million, smuggled through tunnels from Egypt. more..
Holiday traffic: Mushrooming illegal outposts with Beitar flag waving
Yair Ettinger, Ha’aretz 12/10/2007
A large yellow and black flag of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club waved yesterday over a circle of dancing right-wing activists in the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, where they want to establish an outpost called Mevaseret Adumim. The flag flew next to Israeli flags and orange ones symbolizing opposition to withdrawal from the territories, as the Beitar supporters joined hundreds of right-wing supporters who responded to a call by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful organization to establish nine outposts throughout the West Bank. "What are we doing here? " one of the young soccer fans asked rhetorically before leaving for a soccer game at Bloomfield Stadium. "Establishing the outpost is the most Beitar there is." While the youths called on the spirit of their team, the Land of Israel Faithful tied their protest in with the warriors whose victory is... more..
Hamas accuses P.A security forces of arresting 26 members
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 12/9/2007
Hamas media sources stated on Sunday that Palestinian security forces, loyal to Fateh movement, arrested 26 Hamas members and supporters in the West Bank on Saturday, including the manager of the office of the detained Palestinian Legislative Council head, Dr. Aziz Dweik. In the northern West Bank city of Jenin, security forces arrested seven Hamas members in the nearby Marka village. According to the sources, security personnel fired rounds of live ammunition and moderately injured a 13-year old child. In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, security forces broke into a local mosque and arrested three residents. Security forces also confiscated 5 computers from "Dar Al Quran society" which belongs to the mosque, Hamas sources said. Five brothers were arrested in the city after the security forces broke into a shop. more..
’Dead’ man hid in family home for three years
Reuters, YNetNews 12/9/2007
British man declared dead after staged canoeing accident turns himself in after having clandestinely lived with his wife in family home for 3 years; claims suffers from amnesia - - A man who had been declared dead after a canoeing accident but in fact survived hid in his home for three years before his arrest this week, his wife told British newspapers Saturday. Anne Darwin described how her husband, John, had avoided discovery by using a small passage to an apartment in an adjoining house owned by the couple. John Darwin was arrested on suspicion of fraud after he sensationally reappeared and walked into a police station claiming amnesia. "For three years, while virtually everyone close to us believed John was missing presumed dead, he was actually at home with me," Anne Darwin, who recently left Britain for central America, told the Daily Mirror. more..
Leftists erect ’outpost’ to protest settlement expansion
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/9/2007
Some 40 leftists from Israel and abroad build mock outpost east of Jerusalem in protest of Israeli settlement expansion in West Bank. Police evict all protesters, detain some for questioning. Right-wing group plans to erect 3 additional illegal outposts - - Dozens of left-wing protesters erected a mock outpost in the E-1 area, a stretch of land between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, where future Israeli settlement expansions have been approved. The activists claimed that they were protesting the Israeli government’s tacits and overt approval for widening Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank in contradiction with its promises to curtail such activity. The demonstrators were evicted by police forces. Nine were held for questioning. Around 40 protestors from Israel and abroad arrived at the site Saturday morning and put up a cement structure. more..
OPT: Protection of civilians weekly report, 7 - 13 Dec 2007
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - OCHA, ReliefWeb 12/6/2007
Of note this week Gaza Strip: The IDF shot and killed two Palestinian children (aged 14 and 15 years) while they were approaching the border fence east of Al Bureij Camp. A Palestinian man also died of wounds sustained on 9 November due to IDF shelling on Jabaliya Camp. One IDF soldier was wounded when armed Palestinians opened fire at IDF soldiers carrying out an excavation operation around the former Erez Industrial Zone. Eight Palestinians were killed and 90 others were injured in factional clashes in the Gaza Strip, including six killed and 80 injured amongst Fatah supporters in a demonstration in Gaza City to commemorate the death of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. In addition, seven Palestinians, including two children, were injured in family disputes. 31 Qassams and 15 mortars were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. more..
Police in Hebron still hunting killer
Ma’an News Agency 12/8/2007
Hebron Ma’an The Palestinian police in the Hebron district is still searching for the killer of twenty-two-year-old Jibreel Daghamin, who was shot dead on Friday evening in the village of As-Samu south of Hebron. The director of Hebron police Majid Awari said that the killer was believed to be the victim’s uncle and that he is believed to be hiding in Israel. According to preliminary investigations, the motive behind the killing was an old dispute over the ownership of a piece of land. Hebron governor, Hussain Al-A’raj said, "the killer fled to Israel believing that he can remain a fugitive, butt he did not realize that the Palestinian police will apply to the Israeli government through civil liaison to hand him over, and Israel might agree." more..
Israeli media mark 20th anniversary of the First Intifada with special reports
Ma’an News Agency 12/8/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an December marks the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the First Palestinian Intifada, and Israeli media are dedicating particular attention to the events that began in 1987 in an effort to compare the popular uprising with the present situation. On Sunday, Israeli army radio will air Sunday a lengthy program in addition to interviews with Palestinian and Israeli leaders to ask them about the differences between the First Intifada, or "Stones’ Uprising," because of the stones that Palestinians threw at occupying Israeli forces, and the current armed uprising, or "Al-Aqsa Intifada," which began in September 2000. The army radio intends to find out weather the Palestinians plan to launch a third uprising. Answering that question, Ma’an’s editor in chief, Nasser Lahham told Israeli army radio: "We are not fighters of uprisings. more..
Military wings of Fatah, PFLP claim attacks
Ma’an News Agency 12/8/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wings of Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for launching three homemade projectiles at the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Saturday morning. The Al-Aqsa Brigades and the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said the attack came in retaliation for Israel’s frequent acts of aggression on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Separately, The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility for launching two homemade projectiles at the Israeli town of Sderot. They said the operation marked the anniversary of the establishment of the PFLP. [end]
Israeli siege of Gaza claims 30th victim in medical transfer case
Ma’an News Agency 12/8/2007
Gaza Ma’an A Palestinian cancer patient died on Saturday after Israel denied him permission to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment, medical sources said. Zuhair Hussain, who has had cancer for five years, became the 30th medical patient to die since Israel closed the Gaza Strip’s borders in June. Hamas said Hussain was a social and cultural activist with a Hamas-affiliated charity in the Gaza Strip city of Jabalia. [end]
Hamas, Fatah fighters claim attacks on Israeli forces
Ma’an News Agency 12/8/2007
Gaza Ma’an Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for launching eight mortar shells at an Israeli military post called Malaka, near Gaza City on Saturday morning. Meanwhile, Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed they launched two mortar shells at the Israeli military installation at Nahal Oz, east of Gaza City on Friday evening. The Palestinian military groups said in statements that they will continue to resist the Israeli occupation. [end]
Israeli police seize three Palestinian teenagers in Abu Dis
Ma’an News Agency 12/8/2007
Jerusalem Ma’an Israeli police stormed the town of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, and seized three Palestinian teenagers, the Asrana information office said. Asrana named the detainees as seventeen-year-old Ayman Khanafsa, seventeen-year-old Raafat Awwad, and sixteen-year-old Thaer Halabiyya. [end]
Palestinian military groups attack Israeli targets
Ma’an News Agency 12/8/2007
Gaza Ma’an The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Mujahidin Brigades, linked to Fatah, claimed responsibility for launching a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli military jeep east of the town of Al-Qarara in in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday evening. Separately, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said they ambushed an Israeli infantry group east of Al-Maghazi in the central Gaza Strip, firing at the Israeli forces with machine guns. The military groups said in two separate statements that their actions were a natural response to the Israeli atrocities in the West bank and Gaza Strip. more..
An Nasser brigades launch projectiles against Sderot
Ma’an News Agency 12/7/2007
Gaza Ma’an The An Nasser brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front, claimed responsibility for launching a homemade projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot on Friday. The brigades said that this attack was a response to Israeli crimes against Palestinians. [end]
Unknown assailants raid Fatah office in Gaza
Ma’an News Agency 12/7/2007
Gaza Ma’an Unknown assailants stormed the Fatah office in Al-Aqlim in the central Gaza Strip early on Friday morning. Eyewitnesses reported that a group of masked men broke into the office and stole computers, along with other office equipment. The secretary of the Fatah movement, Mahmoud Al-Qalqili blamed the Executive Forces for the attack. He also condemned the attacks against Fatah members in all the Palestinian territories. [end]
Al Aqsa brigades launch five projectiles at Israeli military base
Ma’an News Agency 12/7/2007
Gaza Ma’an The Al Aqsa brigades, the military wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility on Friday for launchingfive projectiles at the Israeli military base of Nahel ’Oz, east of the Gaza Strip. [end]
Al Quds brigades launch RPG at Israeli military jeep in Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/7/2007
Gaza Ma’an The Al Quds brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for launching a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) at an Israeli military jeep, east of Al Breij, in the Gaza Strip on Friday. The brigade said in a statement said that the attack was a response to Israeli crimes against Palestinians. [end]
Palestinian security services arrest 9 Hamas members in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/7/2007
Nablus Salfit Ma’an - Hamas said that Palestinian security services arrested nine of their affiliates on Thursday in the West Bank. The security services in the governorate of Jenin arrested Hamas activist, Jumaa Abu Khalifa, after storming his place of work in Khalil Suleiman Hospital in the city. In Nablus the security services arrested Muhamad Sawalmeh while he was on his way to work. They also arrested Mustafa Hajjeh from Borka, north of Nablus, and Anas Sa’d ’Awad from Orta, south of Nablus. In Ramallah security services arrested the Director of the Al ’Awda Centre,, Ahmed Shatat from Al Halazone camp, Asid Abdullah from the village of Khirbat Abu Falah, Ziad Ashjaih from the village of Deir Jarir, according to a statement issued by Hamas. more..
A local PFLP leader calls on Hamas to renounce hegemony over Gaza
Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/8/2007
Local leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Jamil Majdalawi, called on Hamas on Saturday to renounce control over the coastal region. Majdalawi’s remarks came on the sideline of a large PFLP’s rally, marking the 40th anniversary of the installation of the leftist Palestinian party. "down with internal fighting, down with dismissal of others, long live democratic pluralism", Majdalwi addressed PFLP’s supporters. The leftist leader criticized underway Palestinian Authority’s arrests among local Palestinians throughout the West Bank, as " satan equation’, demanding the Salam Fayyad-led cabinet not to hold people accountable, based on their political affiliations. At the Gaza level, Majdalawi denounced what he called ’ Hamas’ apparatuses crimes’ during a commemoration rally of late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat in November, in which at... more..
Resistance fighters attack an Israeli military patrol south east of the Gaza Strip
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 12/8/2007
The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Al Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, issued a joint press release claiming responsibility for exchanging fire with an Israeli military patrol east of Al Qarara, south east of the Gaza Strip. The two groups stated that their fighters exchanged fire with a military patrol near the Kissufim Crossing, and hurled grandees at the force in addition to firing an RPG shell. The attack, according to the press release, took place on 11:30 on Friday night. No injuries were reported. The two groups stated that this attack comes in retaliation to the ongoing Israeli violations, and also marks the 41st anniversary of the foundation of the PFLP. On Friday evening, fighters of the Islamic Jihad opened fire at an Israeli military vehicle east of Al Qarara and fired one RPG shell, no injuries were reported. more..
This Week In Palestine - Week 49 2007
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/7/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || File 13. 7MB || Time 15m 0s || This Week In Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www. IMEMC. org, for December 1st, through December 7th, 2007. The Israeli army kills 19 Palestinians this week , while following the Washington-sponsored peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland last Tuesday, the Palestinian and Israeli delegations returned home, with numerous issues to discuss, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. Nonviolent Resistance in West Bank Let’s begin our weekly report with the nonviolent actions in Bethlehem and Ramallah. Bethlehem At this week’s anti-wall protest in al Ma’sarah village, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, the Israeli army attacked journalists who were reporting the event. The protesters, which included both local residents and International peace activists, took to the streets of the village on Friday. more..
Police remove left-wing activists that build fake settlement outpost
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 12/9/2007
Police removed dozens left-wing activists and Palestinians who built a mock Palestinian outpost in the West Bank on Saturday to protest Israel’s ongoing settlement expansion. Nine activists were arrested, including five Israelis and one Swedish citizen. In an area between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim, demonstrators set up a small house, complete with a concrete foundation, and raised Palestinian flags. The fake outpost was meant to draw attention to Israel’s continued settlement activity, including the more than 100 settlement outposts that were set up in recent years. The outposts were ostensibly built without official approval, but received millions of dollars government funding and other support. As part of renewed peace effort, Israel has to remove dozens of outposts, but has failed to take any action. more..
Poll: Few West Bank settlers willing to leave homes for cash
The Associated Press, Ha’aretz 12/9/2007
Only a small minority of settlers would leave their West Bank homes voluntarily if the government were to pay them compensation, a poll revealed Friday. Earlier this week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak endorsed a proposal to offer cash to settlers living on the eastern side of the separation fence Israel is building along and inside the West Bank. Barak reasons it could reduce forced evacuations if Israel reaches a peace accord with the Palestinians and agrees to cede West Bank land. The route of the contentious fence, under construction since 2002, encloses major settlement blocs Israel hopes to retain in a final peace agreement. These blocs are home to more than two-thirds of the 270,000 Israelis who live in West Bank settlements; the other settlers live on the eastern, or Palestinian, side of the enclosure. more..
Thousands come to J’lem to protest plans to divide capital
Nadav Shragai Haaretz Correspondent, Ha’aretz 12/9/2007
It was with a sense of religious fervor that the thousands of people who came Thursday to the Jerusalem International Convention Center sang Shuli Natan’s "Jerusalem of Gold." They came to protest against plans to divide Israel’s capital. After they finished singing with their eyes closed, gently rocking from side to side, the crowd enjoyed a laser light show projected on a giant screen. The same show had been projected a week before at the city’s southeast, overlooking the Old City. In the show, the lasers simulated Qassam rockets crashing in from East Jerusalem, and each time the crowd cringed in their seats. The stereo system added sounds of destruction. The organizers of the One Jerusalem event prepared very well for the event. They prepared equally well for all the previous events that are part of their initiative to prevent a division of the capital. more..
Israel Football League / Can Haifa stop Jerusalem’s offense?
Uriel Sturm, Ha’aretz 12/8/2007
Arguably the two strongest teams in Israel’s first-ever fully-equipped tackle football league meet tomorrow night in the first annual Fieldturf IFL Hanukkah Bowl. Big Blue Jerusalem is set to host Real Housing Haifa at Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 P. M. Jerusalem’s offense has been lethal thus far, scoring 48 and 46 points with 14 touchdowns in its first two games. With Haifa hurting on the defensive front, as a number of players are sidelined with injuries, Jerusalem expects to be able to move the ball. If Jerusalem can protect quarterbacks Aryeh Bauman and Uri Schiff, there should be an explosive mix downfield with tight end Yoni Lehrer and receiver Sinai Levi, as well as Moshe Horowitz and Yonah Misha’an out of the backfield. However, the pressure will be on Jerusalem’s offensive line, which can expect a variety of aggressive blitz packages as Haifa will attempt to put pressure on Bauman and Schiff. more..
Hamas improves Qassam capability
Amos Harel, Ha’aretz 12/8/2007
Hamas has recently upgraded its Qassam rocket capability in the Gaza Strip, raising grave concern in the Israeli defense establishment. Senior defense officials say that Hamas is now able to store the rockets for a relatively long period, which would allow the organization to launch a large number of Qassams at one time. Over the past year, the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) have said that two developments could prompt a major Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip. One was an improvement in the range of the Qassam rockets, which would place Ashkelon within range. The other was an ability to store the rockets for a longer period of time. It seems that Hamas has already achieved the latter, and is close to achieving the other. Until recently, Hamas had difficulty in storing the rockets. The Qassam is a relatively primitive device, assembled on improvised production lines in the Strip. more..
The coalition against dividing Jerusalem: politicians, billionaires and evangelists
Nadav Shragai, Ha’aretz 12/9/2007
It was with a sense of religious fervor that the thousands of people who came yesterday to the Jerusalem International Convention Center sang Shuli Natan’s "Jerusalem of Gold." They came to protest against plans to divide Israel’s capital. After they finished singing with their eyes closed, gently rocking from side to side, the crowd enjoyed a laser light show projected on a giant screen. The same show had been projected a week before at the city’s southeast, overlooking the Old City. In the show, the lasers simulated Qassam rockets crashing in from East Jerusalem, and each time the crowd cringed in their seats. The stereo system added sounds of destruction. The organizers of the One Jerusalem event prepared very well for the event. They prepared equally well for all the previous events that are part of their initiative to prevent a division of the capital. more..
In Sderot, real estate woes punctuate rocket blasts
Mijal Grinberg, Ha’aretz 12/8/2007
Questions about apartment prices in Sderot prompt an angry retort from Yaakov Solomon, who runs a small real estate agency in the center of town. "Sderot is not for sale," he says, but does not deny that property values have plummeted in recent years, to the point that "they can’t drop any further." His sense that prices have recently stabilized gains credence from the Israeli real estate Web site. Here it says that although prices in Sderot are lower than anywhere else in the South, they have remained stable over the past two months. Solomon does not like the opportunists who sometimes come down from Tel Aviv in search of a nice house for the price of a three-room apartment, as an investment for the day the Qassam rockets stop falling and apartment prices rise. He thinks this makes his town look bad, so he tells the visitors that there are no bargains. more..
Defense officials concerned as Hamas upgrades Qassam arsenal
Amos Harel Haaretz Correspondent, Ha’aretz 12/9/2007
Hamas has recently upgraded its Qassam rocket capability in the Gaza Strip, raising grave concern in the Israeli defense establishment. Senior defense officials say that Hamas is now able to store the rockets for a relatively long period, which would allow the organization to launch a large number of Qassams at one time. Over the past year, the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) have said that two developments could prompt a major Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip. One was an improvement in the range of the Qassam rockets, which would place Ashkelon within range. The other was an ability to store the rockets for a longer period of time. It seems that Hamas has already achieved the latter, and is close to achieving the other. Until recently, Hamas had difficulty in storing the rockets. more..
Gaza farmer dies in Israeli fire
BBC Online 12/7/2007
A Palestinian farmer has been killed by gunfire from Israeli soldiers on his land near the border with Israel, Palestinian medical officials say. Another farmer was reportedly wounded in the incident, which took place near the southern town of Khan Younis. Israeli military officials have said they are looking into the incident. The Israeli military regularly carries out attacks on the Gaza Strip against militants firing rockets into nearby southern Israel. More than 20 people, most of them members of the Hamas faction which controls Gaza, have been killed in the last week. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? MIDDLE EAST CRISIS KEY STORIES Israeli army kills Gaza militants One killed in Bethlehem shooting ... more..
PA deploys hundreds of security officers in West Bank crackdown
Reuters, Ha’aretz 12/5/2007
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stepped up a Western-backed crackdown on gunmen on Tuesday by deploying hundreds of security officers in the West Bank city of Tul Karm. Tul Karm is the second West Bank city in which the new Palestinian force has been deployed. The security drive, which comes as Palestinians start talks with Israel about statehood, started last month when hundreds of officers were deployed in Nablus. The city’s governor said at least 500 security officers were deployed at key intersections of the northern West Bank city, erecting checkpoints and searching for unlicensed guns and stolen vehicles. The deployment is designed to help the Palestinian Authority exert control in the West Bank, and to bolster Abbas against Hamas which seized the Gaza Strip and routed Abbas’s forces in violent clashes in June. more..
Karnit Goldwasser: Menorah is lit but we are in the dark
YNetNews 12/6/2007
Wife of kidnapped soldier lights second Hanukkah candle of world’s tallest menorah, warns: "soldiers and reservists will refuse to serve on the frontlines" - - Published: 12. 05. 07, 22:49 / P{margin:0;} UL{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-right: 16; padding-right:0;} OL{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-right: 32; padding-right:0;} H3. pHeader {margin-bottom:3px;COLOR: #192862;font-size: 16px;font-weight: bold;margin-top:0px;} P. pHeader {margin-bottom:3px;COLOR: #192862;font-size: 16px;font-weight: bold;} "The world’s leaders are impressed with Israel’s concern for its citizens. It is a quality that is ingrained in us, one that mustn’t change," Karnit Goldwasser said on Wednesday evening as she called on the government to act for the safe return of kidnapped Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and her husband, Ehud Goldwasser, from Hizbullah captivity. more..
Herzl’s grandson reinterred in Jerusalem
Associated Press, YNetNews 12/6/2007
Last remanent of tragic Herzl family buried in national cemetary named after his grandfather - - Sixty years after jumping off a bridge to his death, the last descendant of Benjamin Ze’ev (Theodor) Herzl Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, was buried Wednesday in a Jerusalem cemetery bearing his grandfather’s name - bringing an end to a torturous family saga and finally fulfilling Herzl’s century-old will. Herzl’s son also committed suicide, and he had one daughter who was mentally ill and another who was killed in the Holocaust. In the past year, three of the founder’s four descendants have been buried in Israel _ no easy task because of rabbinical injunctions against Jewish burials for those who have killed themselves or converted to other religions. Stephen Theodore Norman’s remains were exhumed Monday in Washington, DC He was buried in the cemetery of the Adas Israel congregation after his death in 1946. more..
Barak: IDF operation in Gaza is just a matter of time
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 12/6/2007
Defense minister briefed on daily operations during visit to Gaza region division. ’Your actions keep Israeli citizen’s safe’ he tells soldiers before hinting Israel may launch wide-scale offensive in Gaza - - Defense Minister Ehud Barak paid a visit to soldiers from the IDF’s Gaza Division on Wednesday evening along with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, head of the Southern Command. Barak was briefed by division commanders on recent operations. Over the course of the past week and a half some 30 terrorists were killed in Gaza in numerous clashes with IDF forces. Barak discussed the possibility of launching an extensive counter-terror campaign in the region with the soldiers: "We know a large-scale operation in Gaza is just a matter of time, but we are not trigger happy"¦ we still consider such an operation a last resort. more..
Qassam strikes house in Sderot during rally
Shmulik Hadad, YNetNews 12/6/2007
Terror strikes in southern town while hundreds gather in display of solidarity with its residents - - A Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian terror groups from Gaza landed on the roof of a residential home in Sderot on Wednesday evening. No injuries were reported but damage was caused to an apartment. Four people were treated by emergency services for shock, including a 50 year-old who complained of chest pains. The rocket crashed into the top-floor apartment of the three-storey building, home to an elderly couple who luckily escaped injury but were treated for shock at the scene. The Qassam landed in the town just as Teacher’s Association chairman Ran Erez was addressing a rally organized by student and teacher organizations as well as various charity groups. The demonstration, held under the banner of ’Enough with the apathy - we’re coming to Sderot,’... more..
Gaza: 3 killed in IAF strike
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/6/2007
Israeli air force launches strike against terror cell preparing to fire mortar shells at Israel, killing three members of Hamas’ military wing - - Three Palestinians were killed Wednesday and four other were wounded in an IDF airstrike in Gaza. The men killed were members of Hamas’ military wing. IDF sources told Ynet that the IAF struck a terror cell that was preparing to fire mortar shells at Israel. On Tuesday, an IDF soldier was lightly injured by shrapnel after Palestinians launched a mortar shell at the Kissufim area near the Strip. Another soldier suffered shock. The two were transferred to Soroka hospital in Beersheba for treatment. On Sunday, four soldiers sustained light wounds after a mortar shell landed in a military base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Shortly after the incident, an IDF tank fired a missile at a gunmen cell that tried to approach the border fence, killing two. more..
ADL: Raid on Venezuelan Jewish center ’inexplicable’
Ynetnews, YNetNews 12/6/2007
Organization demands formal investigation into December 1 police raid on Club Hebraica. ’There is a danger that acts by law enforcement officers may be interpreted by others to justify violence against Jews in Venezuela,’ Foxman says in letter to President Chavez - - The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Tuesday called a police raid at a Jewish community center in Caracas, Venezuela "inexplicable and unjustifiable" and joined the Venezuelan Jewish community’s call for a formal investigation. "We are outraged by the inexplicable raid on Club Hebraica and are deeply concerned that the Jewish community in Venezuela is once again the target of intimidation," said Glen S. Lewy, ADL National Chair, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "Such tactics have no place in a democratic society where civility, liberty and social justice should prevail. more..
Israel vows to keep targetting Gaza militants
Middle East Online 10/11/2007
Israel vowed to keep targeting militants in Hamas-run Gaza on Tuesday as it mulled whether to launch a widescale offensive against the territory amid revived peace talks with the Palestinians. "For the moment, what’s important is to kill all those who want to fire Qassam (rockets) against Israel," Defence Minister Ehud Barak told army radio. Barak has recently authorised the army to fire on manned Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip, instead of targeting only rocket-launching cells and infrastructure as previously. The attacks have killed some two dozen Palestinians, nearly all of them militants, in the past 10 days. Three members of Hamas’s military wing killed in an air strike overnight, medics said Tuesday. Barak vowed to continue with the deadly raids and renewed warnings that Israel would eventually launch a widescale offensive in the territory where Hamas violently seized power in mid-June. more..
Israeli Defense Minister: "In Gaza, what’s important is to kill"
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/6/2007
As the Israeli government continues to hint that it will be launching a full-scale invasion of Gaza in the coming days, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israeli Army Radio, "For the moment, what’s important is to kill all those who want to fire Qassam [shells] against Israel." He recently implemented a policy whereby Israeli soldiers are ordered to shoot any known Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip, regardless of whether there were homemade shells (so-called ’Qassams’) fired from that location or not. "The Israeli Army will continue the extremely effective operations of its special forces in the Gaza Strip," he said. "Each day that passes brings us closer to a vigorous military operation." But the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is apparently hesitant to launch such and invasion so soon after a peace meeting with the Palestinian Authority. more..
Hamas asks Arab states to condemn Israeli attacks in Gaza
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/5/2007
After three Palestinians were killed Wednesday morning in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike, adding to a death toll of fifteen killed in less than a week, the Hamas party called on allies of the Palestinian people to condemn the Israeli aggression. Arab states have thus far hesitated to challenge the Israeli attacks, which have been ongoing, before, during and after last week’s one day ’peace meeting’ in Annapolis. Leaders from most of the Arab nations attended the peace meeting, but the Hamas leadership maintains that without standing up for the rights of the Palestinian people, these nations cannot say they are truly interested in peace. The Hamas party has called the latest escalation a "US-Israeli political decision," and accused the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with the rival Fateh party, of colluding with the Israeli and U. more..
One Palestinian killed by an Israeli special unit in Bethlehem
George Rishmawi & Ghassan Banoura - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/5/2007
One Palestinian man was killed and some other were injured when a special Israeli army unit invaded the city of Bethlehem on Wednesday evening, eyewitnesses told IMEMC. Mohammad Salah, from Bethlehem, an officer of the National Security Forces was shot when Israeli troops opened fire from a civilian van carrying Israeli license plates at him and some other officers who were standing at the entrance of the head quarters of the National Security Forces in Bethlehem. Eyewitnesses also told IMEMC that the van refused to stop at the Palestinian security checkpoint at the southern entrance of the city, and forced its way through. Palestinian security sources said that Salah was assassinated since he has been claimed wanted by the Israeli forces for the past six years. more..
Palestine Today 120507
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/5/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Wednesday, December 5th, 2007. Several medical centers in the Gaza Strip have closed due to the fuel crises, while the army continue to attack the costal region leaving three dead, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The Gaza strip Three Palestinian members of al Qassam, the armed wing of Hamas were killed when Israel targeted a group of resistance fighters in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Four members of the brigade were also injured by the Israeli shelling, some critically. Eyewitnesses reported that the military targeted the al Qassam brigade with three rockets, resulting in the deaths. more..
Hamas: Palestinian security forces arrest 18 of the movements’ members in the West Bank
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/5/2007
In a press statement faxed to the media, the Hamas movement stated that the Palestinian Security forces of President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah had arrested 18 of its members on Wednesday from several parts of the West Bank. According to the statement the arrests took place in the cities of Nablus and Jenin in the northern part of the West Bank, and in the cities of Ramallah and Hebron in the central and southern parts of the West Bank. The statement added that among those arrested were Hamas members who had been in Israeli detention camps and were recently freed. [end]
Israeli army official: Israeli army is ready to invade the Gaza strip
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/5/2007
The Israeli army chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi stated on Wednesday that the Israeli military forces are ready for a wide scale ground invasion of the Gaza strip. The statement came during an interview Ashkenazi did withIsraeli army radio on Wednesday morning. He said" If necessary, we are ready for the possibility of an operation in Gaza". Army officials calmed that the purpose of the military operation will be to stop the Palestinian resistance from firing home made shells at Israeli areas located near the strip. The Israeli army in the meantime continues to bombard the costal region. A fresh attack on Wednesday morning has left three dead. Palestinian sources stated that the three men were members of the Qassam Brigade, the armed wing of the Hams movement which controls Gaza. In September 2007, the Israeli army increased its attacks on Gaza, shortly after the Israeli government declared the area a ’hostile entity’. more..
Palestinian civilian injured near Hebron.
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/5/2007
Palestinian medical sources reported that one Palestinian man was injured when clashes broke out between civilians and invading Israeli troops in the village of Beit Omar near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Ahmed Sabarah, 24 was injured in the leg when he was hit by a live round. He was moved to a nearby hospital. His injuries were sustained during clashes between local youths and invading troops. Meanwhile an Israeli force invaded the town of Yatta also south of Hebron. They searched homes and assaulted several people. Witnesses said that Ali Nassar, 37 and Hassan Nassar,19 sustained light wounds when they were attacked by Israeli soldiers during the invasion. In related news a group of right-wing Israeli settlers attacked villagers in the nearby village of Halol. Sources stated that settlers tried to take over land owned by villagers which overlooks settler road number 60. more..
Israeli army kidnaps 20 Palestinians from a village near Ramallah.
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/5/2007
Palestinian sources reported on Wednesday that the Israeli army attacked the village of Beit Syra located south west of Ramallah city in the central part of the West Bank and kidnapped 20 civilians. Local sources said that an army convoy of around 20 military vehicles stormed the village at dawn on Wednesday and conducted house-to-house searches. Witnesses stated that Israeli soldiers rounded up 20 men and forced them into military vehicles. They were taken to an unknown destination. Among those kidnapped were; Ayoub al Haj, 20, Mussa Al Haj, 16, Tha’er Al Haj, 24, and Mohamed Ankawi, 20. Witnesses added that during the search Israeli troops damaged residents’ personal property and assaulted some family members of the kidnapped men. They also reported that the village still lies under a total siege with Israeli troops deployed on the village’s roads preventing residents from entering or exiting. more..
Palestine Today 120407
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 12/4/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 0s || 2. 75 MB Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Tuesday, December 4th, 2007. Israeli government cuts off fuel from Gaza and an Israeli army attack leaves three Palestinians dead in the costal region, these stories and more coming up -stay tuned. The Gaza strip Israeli air strikes killed three Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip city of Rafah in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Medical sources reported that Israeli military jets fired two rockets at a crowd of civilians in the city center resulting in the deaths of three men. Israeli military sources confirmed today that there had been three Palestinians killed in Gaza, and said the aim of the air strike was to target Hamas members. more..
There are no happy evacuations
Aluf Benn, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
The initiative to pay compensation to settlers who live east of the separation fence and want to move to the western "Israeli" side seems both wise and just. Wise, because the "voluntary evacuation-compensation" law would signal to the world that Israel is folding up the West Bank settlement enterprise. Domestically, it would give a message of a soft evacuation, without the orange ribbons, bulldozers and tears of the Gaza disengagement. Just, because the fence has decreed an end to the settlements that remain beyond it, and the government should grant their residents the same conditions given to the Gush Katif evacuees and should not wait for the last moment. MK Avshalom Vilan of Meretz-Yachad, head of the Bayit Echad (One Home) movement who initiated the evacuation-compensation law and signed it with Labor MK Colette Avital, believes... more..
Two Hamas activists killed by IDF fire in northern Gaza
Haaretz Staff, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
Two Hamas activists were killed yesterday in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia by Israel Defense Forces fire in an attack on a Hamas position. The two were identified as Mohammed Sabah and Ayad Aziz. Also yesterday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi toured the border area with the Gaza Strip. They were briefed by GOC Southern Command Major General Yoav Galant and the commander of the Gaza Brigade, Brigadier General Moshe Tamir. "Your activity limits the extent of mortars and Qassam fire," Barak told Golani Brigade soldiers during the visit. "We know that in the end we expect to reach more extensive action in which you will also take part, but we aren’t running there and we’ll reach it after everything else has been exhausted." Barak praised the Golani fighters for their recent successes in a series of clashes last month in the area. more..
Border police accidentally kill Palestinian policeman
Yuval Azoulay and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
An undercover Border Police unit accidentally killed a Palestinian police officer during an arrest raid in Bethlehem yesterday. Mohammed Salah, 36, was killed after Border Police officers refused to stop at a Palestinian security forces roadblock near Al-Hadar, south of Bethlehem. The Palestinians began following the Israeli officers’ vehicle, when the Border Police officers opened fire. Salah was taken to the hospital in Beit Jalla, where he died of his injuries. A second Palestinian officer was injured lightly in the incident. The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman said that West Bank Division Commander Brigadier General Noam Tivon and the Head of the District Coordination Office, Brig. -Gen. Yoav Mordechai offered to help evacuate and treat the wounded men. They said the operation had not targeted Palestinian police officers. more..
News in Brief
Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
Gazan militants on Wednesday fired three Qassam rockets at the southern city of Sderot yesterday. A rally held outside the city municipality in support of the teachers strike was interrupted by the sound of sirens warning of an incoming rocket attack. The third landed in an open area. (Mijal Grinberg) The Shin Bet, apparently tired of being associated with dungeons, interrogations, and dubious activities in its secret world, recently has followed the British MI5’s example and launched an image-setting Web site. It shows images of buildings that used to serve secret service agents, security documents from the State of Israel’s early years, and offers content about history, heritage and newly disclosed operations. The organization’s previous site was intended mainly to recruit personnel. The site’s English version is still under construction. more..
Undercover IDF unit accidentally kills PA policeman in Bethlehem
Yuval Azoulay and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
An undercover Border Police unit accidentally killed a Palestinian police officer during an arrest raid in Bethlehem Wednesday. Mohammed Salah, 36, was killed after Border Police officers refused to stop at a Palestinian security forces roadblock near Al-Hadar, south of Bethlehem. The Palestinians began following the Israeli officers’ vehicle, when the Border Police officers opened fire. Salah was taken to the hospital in Beit Jalla, where he died of his injuries. A second Palestinian officer was injured lightly in the incident. The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman said that West Bank Division Commander Brigadier General Noam Tivon and the Head of the District Coordination Office, Brig. -Gen. Yoav Mordechai offered to help evacuate and treat the wounded men. They said the operation had not targeted Palestinian police officers. more..
Border Police unit kills PA police officer in bungled W. Bank action
Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
A Palestinian police officer was killed Wednesday in Bethlehem, and another officer was wounded in clashes with an undercover Border Police unit in the midst of an arrest raid. During the operation, the Border Police troops fired at an unidentified group of Palestinians, after being fired upon. It later emerged that the source of the fire had been a Palestinian police force on patrol. An initial investigation into the incident revealed that the Palestinian police force fired at the Border Police officers, mistaking them for members of the militant Islamist Hamas organization. Only after the firefight did the IDF troops realize they had shot a policeman. The mission was aborted and the army left the area without making arrests. The Border Police troops withdrew from the area with the assistance of other Israeli forces which arrived... more..
Woman, daughter indicted for paying renovator to kill daughter’s husband
Efra Eidelmann, Haaretz Correspondent, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
An indictment was filed Wednesday with Tel Aviv District Court against a woman and her daughter who allegedly attempted to pay a man to kill the daughter’s husband. The indictment, filed by the Central District Attorney’s office, said the mother approached Palestinian renovator Mahani Suleiman while he carried out renovations on her home, and asked him to murder her daughter’s husband saying "You Arabs have no problem with murder." Suleiman asked to consider the request, the indictment says, meeting again with the woman in September and requesting payment for the deed. The mother told him money was not a problem, and he asked for NIS 2,000 to 3,000, as well as confirmation from the daughter that she wanted to have her husband killed. The indictment says the mother arranged for her daughter to meet Suleiman, and during their meeting she told him "I am one hundred percent in favor [of the killing]. more..
Court extends remand of journalist over alleged sex crimes with underage girls
Yigal Hai Haaretz Correspondent, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday extended the remand of journalist Adam Shuv, who is suspected of having unlawful sex with one minor and of committing indecent acts with another. Police arrested Shuv on Tuesday night, two weeks after one of his alleged underage victims complained to the police that he had raped her. Shuv worked until recently as the editor of TheMarker Cafe, the social networking site of Haaretz’ sister publication, TheMarker. A spokesman for Tel Aviv District Police said the minor’s complaints had been examined over the past two weeks, leading police to decide that an investigation was justified. The spokesman added that another underaged girl had also accused Shuv of committing indecent acts. Shuv’s attorney told reporters Wednesday that because of media reports police had requested Shuv remain in custody for questioning overnight. more..
IDF Chief faults top brass, not troops, for war misconduct
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 12/5/2007
The Second Lebanon War unfolded as it did due to problems in the upper echelons of the Israel Defense Forces and not because of the soldiers operating on the ground, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi told Army Radio on Wednesday. "I won’t use the terms failure or victory," Ashkenazi told the radio, regarding the month-long war that ended in August 2006. "I use the term missed opportunity. I think there were things we did well, that even Hezbollah would admit surprised them." "The problem was more with the management, with us, in the way we handled it," Ashkenazi said, adding that while the soldiers were not always sufficiently trained, they went into battle with the best of their abilities. The IDF chief added that the army has improved significantly, though there is a long road of hard work ahead: "We need to return to the ethics of an offensive IDF, to take responsibility. more..
Barak: We aren’t eager to launch major IDF operation in Gaza Strip
Avi Issacharoff, Yuval Azoulay and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondents, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that Israel is not eager to launch a major military operation in the Gaza Strip. Barak addressed troops of the elite Israel Defense Forces unit Golani while on tour of the southern Gaza command. "We are likely to launch a much wider operation in Gaza, but we’re not rushing toward it. We will do it once all the other possibilities have been exhausted," he said. In the past month, more than 40 militants have been killed in Gaza by IDF troops, mostly of the Golani brigade, which is deployed around Gaza. When asked why the IDF does not undertake a military offensive immediately, Barak replied: "What we are doing here is remarkable, inside and outside the Gaza Strip. We’ve seen the soldiers responsibly, seriously, modestly and devotedly, day and night, carrying out actions against terrorists and terror organizations. more..
It is not from heaven
Uzi Benziman, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
Thirty-seven percent of the Gaza evacuees have still not found work. Only 21 percent of those who owned businesses have managed to set up new operations within the Green Line. Fewer than 10 percent of the 400 farmers from the evacuated region have returned to their profession at their new places of residence. The vast majority of the evacuee families have still not found permanent housing. (The figures are from July and are included in study by Yair Sheleg, published by the Israel Democracy Institute. ) This sorry situation is not a divine decree, but is in no small way a consequence of the actions of the settlers, and their leaders. In retrospect, it is clear that the orders from the heads of the settlements to avoid cooperating with state’s representatives; the rabbis’ calls to their followers to depend on prayer to lift the "evil decree"; as well as forecasts... more..
IAF airstrike kills 3 Hamas members in the Gaza Strip
Yuval Azoulay, Ha’aretz 12/6/2007
The Israel Air Force attacked a Hamas military force position near Dir El Balah in the central Gaza Strip early yesterday morning, killing three Hamas members. The Israel Defense Forces said yesterday the attack was in response to the volley of mortar shells fired Sunday at Kibbutz Nahal Oz and a nearby army base. Several mortar shells hit the kibbutz and one hit the base health clinic, lightly wounding four soldiers. This is the third time this week the IAF has attacked Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip in response to mortar shells fired at Israel. Meanwhile, an IDF officer was lightly wounded yesterday by a rock thrown while dispersing a gathering of some 500 Palestinians near Beit Umar. The soldiers fired tear gas, while the Palestinians threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers. Two Israeli vehicles were stoned and damaged in the area. more..
Israel vows to press ahead with campaign against Gaza militants
News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/5/2007
Israel on Tuesday pledged to press ahead with its campaign against militants in Gaza, responding to almost daily rocket barrages at Israel. The military said that on Tuesday, 21 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel by nightfall, bringing the 12-month total over 2,000. Army Radio reported Tuesday that an Israel Defense Forces had been lightly injured during a mortar shell attack near kibbutz Nahal Oz in the western Negev. The soldier was taken to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva for treatment. On Sunday, four soldiers were lightly hurt when Palestinian militants in Gaza fired mortar shells into an infirmary of a western Negev army base. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said "it is time to kill those who carry out attacks against Israelis," but said he was holding off on a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip for now. more..
Israeli army kidnaps four in Bethlehem
Nisreen Qumsieh - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/3/2007
Israeli military forces kidnapped four Palestinians from the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem in a pre-dawn raid on Monday. [end] [end]
Israeli forces kill four members of Al Qassam in Gaza
IMEMC staff - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/3/2007
Security sources in Gaza reported that three Palestinian resistance fighters from Al Qassam, the armed wing of Hamas, were killed when clashes broke out between Palestinians and the Israeli army, early on Monday morning. The incident occurred when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a group of Israeli soldiers near the border fence that surrounds northern Gaza. Israel reported no injures or damage. Earlier on Sunday Al Qassam brigade member, Bassam Al Helo, was killed during Israeli shelling of the Ash-Shija’iyeh neighborhood in the Gaza Strip, raising the death toll to four by dawn on Monday. Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli tanks stationed at the northern border of the Gaza Strip shot several missiles at a crowd of Palestinians near a mosque, resulting in the death of Al Helo. Four others were reported injured, some critically. more..
Settlers for sale
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 12/5/2007
Hisdai Eliezer, head of the Alfei Menashe local council, says he is not perturbed by the evacuation-compensation law in the works. The separation fence puts the settlement on the "right" side, and its short distance from the Green Line ensures the law will not entice residents of his community to move to a new apartment, 12 kilometers away, in Kfar Sava. Alfei Menashe is in an enclave considered a "settlement bloc," eligible to be annexed to Israel. What concerns the former deputy chairman of the Yesha Council of settlements is the fate of more than 80,000 of his Jewish neighbors on the other side of the fence. At a seminar held by Labor Party and Meretz-Yahad supporters in Tel Aviv last weekend, Eliezer said he was most afraid that the bill, initiated by MKs Avshalom Vilan (Meretz) and Colette Avital (Labor), would be very successful. more..
The donkey’s burden
Nehemia Shtrasler, Ha’aretz 12/5/2007
"S ecular teachers are not teachers, they are donkeys," declared Shas’ spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in his weekly sermon Saturday night. They are donkeys because they do not teach the Torah, he explained to his audience. But it seems not only the teachers are donkeys. Israel’s entire secular population takes pains to ensure its children study mathematics, English, science, history and Torah, so they can become productive citizens living by their labor and paying high taxes - which are then divided among Yosef’s followers. They also enlist in the army, are wounded and killed - in part, to protect Yosef’s home. Whoever behaves this way must truly be an ass. One of the teachers’ demands is for fewer pupils per classroom. The public school system is home to the greatest overcrowding, which is less prevalent in the public-religious... more..
News in Brief
Ha’aretz 12/5/2007
Britain’s Muslim Council, which represents hundreds of Muslim groups, decided over the weekend to lift the boycott on its members’ participation in Britain’s Holocaust Memorial Day. The council executive voted to end the boycott, which began six years ago when January 27 (Auschwitz Liberation Day) was made an official memorial day in Britain. The council has been blasted for its position in recent years by both the British government and Jewish organizations, and has been accused of anti-Semitism. (Assaf Uni) A Tel Aviv court indicted five people yesterday, including a 25-year-old English teacher and a minor, for allegedly smuggling cocaine to Israel from Ecuador. The indictment alleges that Liran Kolosh took out advertisements in two newspapers listing job opportunities abroad. The English teacher and another woman allegedly answered the ad and were told by Kolosh that the job involved trafficking drugs. more..
PM Olmert: Now not the time for settler compensation law
Mazal Mualem Aluf Benn and, Ha’aretz 12/4/2007
Nadav Shragai Tags: settlers West Bank Israel Labor Party Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday told the cabinet in its weekly meeting that his party will sponsor a bill to enable settlers living east of the separation fence in the West Bank to be compensated for voluntarily leaving their homes. Officials in Barak’s office said the move was the beginning of a long process that will include deliberations and approval by the cabinet. Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office, however, said there is no plan to submit the issue for discussion in the near future. The draft law, "the voluntary evacuation-compensation law," is based on a private members’ bill submitted previously by MKs Avshalom Vilan (Meretz) and Labor MKs Colette Avital and Ami Ayalon. The Ministerial Committee on Legislation rejected their bill about two months ago. more..
Officials: Shin Bet use emergency regulations on 17% of Gaza detainees
Shahar Ilan Haaretz Correspondent, Ha’aretz 12/4/2007
The Shin Bet security service has interrogated 270 detainees from Gaza since the beginning of the year, officials told the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Sunday. In one out of six cases, or 17 percent, the Shin Bet used extraordinary measures, as permitted by emergency regulations. The Shin Bet said that in 44 cases it delayed bringing a detainee before a judge for 48 hours; in three of those cases the delay was 72 hours, and in one case, 96 hours passed before the detainee was brought before a judge. In 16 of the cases, the Shin Bet made use of the option to extend a detainee’s remand a second time while not in his presence. The Shin Bet is seeking an 18-month extension on the temporary emergency provisions that allow such unusual procedures, which are due to expire at the end of the year. more..
Former IDF spokesperson: Halutz was wrong to cancel briefings
Ynet, YNetNews 12/3/2007
IDF spokesperson during Second Lebanon War, Miri Regev, describes chief of staff’s decision to cancel press briefings during conflict as ’serious lapse in judgment’ - - The IDF spokesperson during the Second Lebanon War , Miri Regev, described the chief of staff’s decision to cancel press briefings during the conflict as a ’serious lapse in judgment’. Regev also described the IDF’s ultimate decision to allow reporters into the war zone as being ’too little too late’. In her testimony to the Winograd Commission , published on Monday, Regev noted that former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, had a "lapse in judgment" when he decided to halt all daily press briefings during the Second Lebanon War. "I think that we (the IDF) made a serious mistake," Regev testified. Regev noted that the press briefings were stopped 10 days into the Lebanon conflict, even though 70% of the Israeli public regularly tuned in to watch them. more..
Last Jewish family leaves Peki’in
Goel Beno, YNetNews 12/3/2007
De Jung family, who emigrated from Holland four months ago, flee Druze village after locals torch their car. All nine Jewish families who used to live in Peki’in leave due to repeated harassment - - The last Jewish family to remain in Peki’in after riots shook the Druze village last month, has recently decided to move out as well, after its car was torched last weekend. Ruth and Abel De Jung are the ninth family to leave due to repeated harassment by local residents. The only Jewish resident to remain in the village is Margalit Zinati, whose family has lived in Peki’in for centuries. The De Jungs, both Holocaust survivors, emigrated from Holland to Israel four months ago, and are now considering returning to Holland. In the meantime they are staying with friends, as they currently have no place to live. more..
Brigades attack Israeli forces in Gaza Strip
Ma’an News Agency 12/3/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility on Monday for launching a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at Israeli forces near the Kissufim crossing in the east of the Gaza Strip. In a separate incident, Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades said they launched three mortar shells at Israeli military vehicles near the Karni crossing, in addition to shooting and injuring an Israeli soldier east of Al-Qarara town in the southern Gaza Strip. In a joint statement, both military wings said their action was a natural response to the ongoing Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. [end]
Israeli soldiers kill unarmed Palestinian man near Ramallah
Ma’an News Agency 12/3/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Israeli soldiers shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian man in the village of At-Tira, near Ramallah on Sunday, witnesses said. Thirty-one-year-old Firas Qasqas from the village of Battir, near Bethlehem, died of his wounds on Monday in a Ramallah hospital, his family said. He was visiting his brother-in-law in At-Tira at the time of the shooting. Qasqas’s brother-in-law Jamil said that they were out for an evening walk when Israeli forces attacked them: "Firas visited me to congratulate me on the new house. After we had dinner, we went out for a walk in the fields not far away from my residence. My little brother joined us. All of a sudden, seven Israeli soldiers surprised us shooting randomly at us." "I found shelter behind the rocks along with my brother, but Firas was shot in his thigh and stomach. more..
Al-Quds Brigades threaten bombing operations inside Israel
Ma’an News Agency 12/3/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an A spokesperson of Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, on Monday threatened to carry out bombing operations deep inside Israel and to launch homemade projectiles that can reach as far as the far north of Ashkelon city if Israel invades the Gaza Strip. Abu Ahmad explained that his faction has prepared 70 young men and women ready to blow themselves up among Israeli troops invading the Gaza Strip. He told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily newspaper that the Al-Quds Brigades have developed homemade projectiles similar to the Hezbollah Katyushas. "We now possess dozens of other projectiles which can reach the centre and north of Ashkelon, with a 22-kilometre range. Other Palestinian military wings have also developed new homemade projectiles." The longest range of previous homemade projectiles launched by the Palestinian military... more..
Palestinian security arrests 22 near Nablus
Ma’an News Agency 12/3/2007
Nablus Ma’an Palestinian security in Nablus in the northern West Bank arrested 22 Palestinians from Iqaba village south of Nablus on Monday on political and security charges, Akram Rajoub, the director of Nablus preventive security service said. According to Rajoub, nine of the arrestees are Hamas-affiliated. Meanwhile, Hamas says 15 of its members were arrested in the village. Rajoub told Ma’an that the campaign in Iqaba, which is 30 kilometres away from Nablus, was part of the overall security campaign aimed at imposing law in the district. The head of the village’s local council told Ma’an that more than 15 Palestinian military vehicles stormed the village and left in the early hours of the morning after arresting more than twenty people. This campaign was the fourth of its kind in villages in the Nablus district and was carried out in coordination with the... more..
Palestinian security seize 9 Hamas members in West Bank
Ma’an News Agency 12/3/2007
Nablus Hamas said on Monday that Palestinian security services arrested nine of their members in the West Bank on Sunday evening. A statement released by Hamas said that seven of the arrestees are from the Nablus district in the northern West Bank, including journalist, Bassam As-Sayih, and a member of the local council of Zuwata west of Nablus, Aktham Ilaiwi. The statement added that another Hamas member was seized in Surif, north of Hebron in the southern West Bank and one from Marda village, north of Salfit in the northern West Bank. [end]
"Abu Ar-Reesh Brigades" claim projectile attack
Ma’an News Agency 12/2/2007
Gaza Ma’an A military wing of Fatah calling themselves the Abu Ar-Reesh Brigades claimed responsibility on Sunday for launching three homemade projectiles at an Israeli military post of east of the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The group issued a statement reaffirming a strategy of resistance against the Israeli occupation. [end]
Israeli soldier wounded on Gaza Strip border, fighters say
Ma’an News Agency 12/2/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility on Sunday for shooting and injuring an Israeli soldier near Kisufim, on the Gaza Strip border. Israeli sources neither confirmed nor denied the incident. [end]
Fatah members detained in Gaza for hanging Arafat posters, Fatah claims
Ma’an News Agency 12/2/2007
Gaza Ma’an Hamas-allied police detained four Fatah members in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for publicly hanging posters of the iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Fatah claims. A Fatah press statement said that the arrests took place in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. [end]
Palestinian security forces detain eight Hamas members in West Bank, Hamas says
Ma’an News Agency 12/2/2007
Nablus Ma’an Fatah-affiliated Palestinian security forces seized eight Hamas members in the West Bank on Saturday night, Hamas claims. A Hamas press statement said that the arrests took place in Jenin, Nablus, and Hebron. Hamas also said that the security forces broke into the Ar-Rawda mosque in Nablus and the Al-Umary mosque in the town of Tarqumiya, near Hebron. [end]
Al-Quds brigades shell Israeli town
Ma’an News Agency 12/2/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for launching two mortar shells towards the Israeli settlement Netiv Ha’asara, on the northern border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The fighters said they heard explosions in coming from Netiv Ha’asara following the shelling. The group said they plan to continue their armed resistance against Israel. [end]
An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades claim projectile attack
Ma’an News Agency 12/2/2007
Gaza Ma’an The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, claimed responsibility for launching a homemade projectile at the Israeli border town of Sderot from the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening. They fighters said the shelling came in retaliation for what they called Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. [end]
Hamas say scores of its members arrested by Palestinian security forces
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/3/2007
Hamas sources reported that the security forces of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah had arrested scores of the its members at dawn on Monday. The arrests were made in several areas outside Nablus city in the northern part of the West Bank. In a statement faxed to the press, the sources said that 19 members of the movement were taken during a police raid on the village of Akraba located near Nablus. Meanwhile the security forces arrested 13 Hamas members in the nearby Amreen village as well as 10 others from Beit Fourik village. [end]
Palestinian dies after being shot by Israeli military in Ramallah
Nisreen Qumsieh - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/3/2007
A Palestinian man died of wounds he sustained after being shot by Israeli military forces in At Teira village in the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday morning. Medical sources reported the death of Firas Qasqas (31) following wounds he received on Sunday night. He died early Monday morning. Israeli troops opened fire on Qasqas and his relatives as they were walking through the village. Medical sources reported that Qasqas underwent three operations in Ramallah local hospital, but medics were unable to save his life. [end]
Israeli army kidnaps four in Bethlehem
Nisreen Qumsieh - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/3/2007
Israeli military forces kidnapped four Palestinians from the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem in a pre-dawn raid on Monday. Local sources reported that the three were kidnapped from Marah Rabah village after the army attacked homes and confiscated property. In Al Shawawra village near Bethlehem, Israeli military kidnapped a Palestinian who was later identified as Mohammad Salama (33). An attack of a different nature was conducted in Bethlehem on Saturday by the Civil Administration Office. The office which is part of the Israeli apparatus in the occupied West Bank ordered two Palestinian families of Za’tara village, east of Bethlehem, to leave their homes as the army has decided to demolish them. more..
Israeli forces kill four members of Al Qassam in Gaza
IMEMC staff - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 12/3/2007
Security sources in Gaza reported that three Palestinian resistance fighters from Al Qassam, the armed wing of Hamas, were killed when clashes broke out between Palestinians and the Israeli army, early on Monday morning. The incident occurred when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a group of Israeli soldiers near the border fence that surrounds northern Gaza. Israel reported no injures or damage. Earlier on Sunday Al Qassam brigade member, Bassam Al Helo, was killed during Israeli shelling of the Ash-Shija’iyeh neighborhood in the Gaza Strip, raising the death toll to four by dawn on Monday. Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli tanks stationed at the northern border of the Gaza Strip shot several missiles at a crowd of Palestinians near a mosque, resulting in the death of Al Helo. Four others were reported injured, some critically. more..
Settlers for sale
Akiva Eldar, Ha’aretz 12/4/2007
Hisdai Eliezer, head of the Alfei Menashe local council, says he is not perturbed by the evacuation-compensation law in the works. The separation fence puts the settlement on the "right" side, and its short distance from the Green Line ensures the law will not entice residents of his community to move to a new apartment, 12 kilometers away, in Kfar Sava. Alfei Menashe is in an enclave considered a "settlement bloc," eligible to be annexed to Israel. What concerns the former deputy chairman of the Yesha Council of settlements is the fate of more than 80,000 of his Jewish neighbors on the other side of the fence. At a seminar held by Labor Party and Meretz-Yahad supporters in Tel Aviv last weekend, Eliezer said he was most afraid that the bill, initiated by MKs Avshalom Vilan (Meretz) and Colette Avital (Labor), would be very successful. more..
The donkey’s burden
Nehemia Shtrasler, Ha’aretz 12/4/2007
"S ecular teachers are not teachers, they are donkeys," declared Shas’ spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in his weekly sermon Saturday night. They are donkeys because they do not teach the Torah, he explained to his audience. But it seems not only the teachers are donkeys. Israel’s entire secular population takes pains to ensure its children study mathematics, English, science, history and Torah, so they can become productive citizens living by their labor and paying high taxes - which are then divided among Yosef’s followers. They also enlist in the army, are wounded and killed - in part, to protect Yosef’s home. Whoever behaves this way must truly be an ass. One of the teachers’ demands is for fewer pupils per classroom. The public school system is home to the greatest overcrowding, which is less prevalent in the public-religious... more..
News in Brief
Ha’aretz 12/3/2007
Britain’s Muslim Council, which represents hundreds of Muslim groups, decided over the weekend to lift the boycott on its members’ participation in Britain’s Holocaust Memorial Day. The council executive voted to end the boycott, which began six years ago when January 27 (Auschwitz Liberation Day) was made an official memorial day in Britain. The council has been blasted for its position in recent years by both the British government and Jewish organizations, and has been accused of anti-Semitism. (Assaf Uni) A Tel Aviv court indicted five people yesterday, including a 25-year-old English teacher and a minor, for allegedly smuggling cocaine to Israel from Ecuador. The indictment alleges that Liran Kolosh took out advertisements in two newspapers listing job opportunities abroad. The English teacher and another woman allegedly answered the ad and were told by Kolosh that the job involved trafficking drugs. more..
Heart recipient reflects on soldier who donated his organs
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 12/4/2007
The organs of Israel Defense Forces Corporal Ma’ayan Rottenberg, who died last week in a training accident in the Arava Desert, gave a second chance to five people. Eli Hefetz, 51, received Rottenberg’s heart. Looking at the 19-year-old’s picture, Hefetz said, "this must be an angel." Related articles: Organs of IDF soldier donated to five people in Israel, Germany 5 get organs of man killed in tank mishap Editorial: Turn the Adi card into a binding will For more video news and features, visit Haaretz. com TV [end]
PM Olmert: Now not the time for settler compensation law
Mazal Mualem Aluf Benn and, Ha’aretz 12/3/2007
Nadav Shragai Tags: settlers West Bank Israel Labor Party Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday told the cabinet in its weekly meeting that his party will sponsor a bill to enable settlers living east of the separation fence in the West Bank to be compensated for voluntarily leaving their homes. Officials in Barak’s office said the move was the beginning of a long process that will include deliberations and approval by the cabinet. Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office, however, said there is no plan to submit the issue for discussion in the near future. The draft law, "the voluntary evacuation-compensation law," is based on a private members’ bill submitted previously by MKs Avshalom Vilan (Meretz) and Labor MKs Colette Avital and Ami Ayalon. The Ministerial Committee on Legislation rejected their bill about two months ago. more..
Soldier wounded in training accident dies of his wounds
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/1/2007
Private Maayan Rotenberg dies in hospital two days after being seriously injured during routine inspection of tank - - Private Maayan Rotenberg, who was seriously injured during a training accident on Wednesday, died of his wounds Friday evening. His family was notified of his death. Rotenberg, 19, from Kibbutz Beit Ha’emek, was wounded after his head was crushed between the tank’s turret and gun. He was evacuated to the Soroka hospital in Beersheba for treatment. The Military Police launched an investigation into the accident. An initial inquiry revealed that Rotenberg was inside the tank conducting a routine inspection of the machinery. A week and-a-half ago, reserve First Sergeant Assaf Waxman was killed in a training accident in the Golan Heights, after the armored personnel carrier (APC) he was traveling in flipped over. more..
Israeli forces seize 3 Palestinians in Hebron
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2007
Hebron Ma’an Israeli forces seized three Palestinians from Hebron, in the southern West Bank, in a dawn raid on Friday. Security sources said that the occupation forces overran the city at dawn, breaking into many houses and before taking away twenty-two-year-old Talal Rafay’a, Mu’ad ’Ashur also 22, and twenty-one-year-old Ramadan Rafay’a. [end]
Palestinian security forces seize three Hamas members
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Palestinian security forces loyal to Fatah and President Mahmoud Abbas detained three member of Hamas in the West Bank on Thursday evening, the movement claimed. A Hamas statement said a village imam and one other Palestinian were seized near the city of Hebron. The third detention took place in the village of Iqaba, near the northern West Bank town of Tubas. [end]
Al-Aqsa Brigades fighters survive Israeli air and sea attack
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2007
Gaza Ma’an A group of fighters with Fatahs military wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, survived an Israeli sea and air assault in the Gaza Strip early on Friday morning, the Brigades said. According to the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Israeli naval forces fired automatic weapons and an Israeli airplane fired a missile at the group while it attempted to launch a homemade projectile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, just after 6am local time. The fighters said the attack took place near the headquarters of the Palestinian naval forces on the shore north of Gaza City. They also said that they succeeded in launching the projectile, but it landed in the Mediterranean. [end]
Three Palestinians and two Israeli police officers injured in auto accident
Ma’an News Agency 11/30/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an Three Palestinians and two Israeli police officers were injured on Friday morning in a car accident on the Israeli settler bypass road near the West Bank city of Ramallah, eyewitnesses said. Israel Radio said that a Palestinian car had flipped over near the quarry south of Ramallah, and when an Israeli police patrol arrived to help, it collided with another Palestinian car. All of the injured were evacuated to hospitals. [end]
LEBANON: Peacekeepers Tread Lightly in a Wounded Land
Rebecca Murray, Inter Press Service 11/30/2007
Credit:UN Photo/Jorge Aramburu U. N. peacekeepers on patrol in Southern Lebanon. TYRE, Nov 30(IPS) - "We have to put boots on the ground, but at the same time we want to conquer hearts and minds," exclaims Lt. Col. Nicola Tereano, the young, charismatic base commander for the Italian peacekeepers in Zibqin, south Lebanon. Tereano leans back in his chair and sips espresso outside the base cafι, a mandatory stop for all soldiers craving a taste of home. "Without the approval of the population we cannot fulfill our duty -- it’s impossible," he explains. "So the main task is to accomplish the mission as well as do activities with the community. Any other way is a risk to us." Zibqin is a small, isolated farming town of 1,500 people perched on a rugged hilltop with breathtaking views of Tyre and the Mediterranean Sea below. more..
Israeli military invades Al Bireh and kidnaps three from Hebron
Nisreen Qumsieh - IMEMC News, International Middle East Media Center 11/30/2007
Israeli military forces kidnapped three Palestinian civilians from the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, transferring them to an undisclosed detention center. Security sources reported to Palestine News Agency that troops ransacked buildings in the city , kidnapping Talal Rafay’a,22, Moa’th Ashor,23 and Ramadan Rafay’a,21. In related news Israeli military invaded UM Al Sharayet neighborhood in the Al Bireh city and set up patrols in the area. Security sources reported that troops established flying checkpoints in the area, checking passengers Identity cards. No abductions were reported. [end]
IAF air strike kills 4 Hamas militants in Gaza Strip
Haaretz Service and News Agencies, Ha’aretz 12/1/2007
An Israel Air Force airstrike killed four Palestinian militants early Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses and officials said. Moaiya Hassanain, of the Gaza Health Ministry, said nine others were wounded in he strike, including two who were in critical condition. Hamas officials said the dead included two of its men and two from another militant group who were on a night patrol east of Khan Younis, a town in the southern Gaza Strip. The army said it carried out the strike after identifying armed men near its border with Gaza. Israel carries out regular military operations in Gaza, targeting militants launching near-daily rocket barrages into Israel. Israel began reducing fuel supplies to Gaza last month in response to ongoing rocket fire from Palestinian militants, and planned to begin scaling back electricity beginning Sunday. more..
IDF soldier dies of injuries sustained while checking tank
Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent, Ha’aretz 12/1/2007
An Israel Defense Forces soldier died Friday after sustaining critical injuries Wednesday while performing routine maintenance on a tank at the Shizafon Armored Corps Base in the Arava Desert. Private Ma’ayan Rottenberg from Kibbut Beit Ha’emek was evacuated by helicopter to the intensive care unit of Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva where he later died. The tank reportedly was not in motion at the time of the accident, and a preliminary IDF investigation is probing whether the soldier was hurt while performing a routine check on the tank’s weapons system. This is the third accident this month involving on-duty IDF soldiers: Sergeant-Major Asaf Waxman was killed when he was crushed to death while driving an armored personnel carrier and Staff Sergeant Yariv Amitai was killed in a jeep accident while patrolling the border with the Gaza Strip. more..
Sayyed demands release, says UN report ’denies’ he played role in Hariri killing
Daily Star staff, Daily Star 12/1/2007
BEIRUT: The jailed former head of General Security, Jamil Sayyed, detained for alleged role in the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, demanded on Friday that he be "immediately released since the international probe committee has repeatedly denied my involvement in the case." In a statement issued through his media office, Sayyed said that the UN probe "has - six times - officially declared that the arrest of the four former security generals falls strictly within the responsibilities of the Lebanese judiciary and that the committee was not to be held responsible for it." The international probe committee into the Hariri assassination issued its most recent report on Wednesday. Hariri and 22 others died in February 2005 in a Beirut car bomb that early UN findings linked to Syrian and Lebanese security officials. more..
Diplomacy
Gaza pilgrims stay on their buses
BBC Online 12/30/2007
More than 1,000 Palestinian pilgrims are refusing to leave the buses on which the Egyptian authorities want to return them to their homes in Gaza. The pilgrims want to go home through the Rafah border crossing point. But Egypt is insisting they use Aouja, which is controlled by Israel. Egypt wants them to wait in a camp until the matter is resolved. The Palestinian Authority, Israel and Egypt have been trying to isolate Gaza since Hamas seized control in June. The latest dispute blew up when some 2,000 Palestinian pilgrims from Gaza arrived in the Red Sea port of Nuweiba, after completing the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Egypt decided to move them to temporary camps outside the Mediterranean city of el-Arish. Those Palestinians are our brothers. We’ll find them a solution Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak When... more..
Hundreds of pilgrims return to Gaza, others remain stranded
Deutsche Presse Agentur, ReliefWeb 12/30/2007
Gaza _(dpa) _ About 500 Muslim pilgrims were allowed to reenter the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening and another 400 will be let in Monday, according to Israeli officials, while Hamas said it would not allow over 2,000 other pilgrims to return to the salient via Israeli crossings. The Palestinians allowed back in had left Gaza, to conduct the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, via the northern Israeli controlled Erez Crossing. As their exit had been coordinated there was no impediment in allowing their return via Israel, Shadi Yassin, from the Israeli Civil Administration for Gaza said. However, about 2,250 pilgrims remained stranded on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border, as the Islamic Hamas movement again refused to allow pilgrims who had exited using the southern Rafah crossing, to enter the Gaza Strip via an Israeli-controlled crossing point. more..
Cairo warns Israel not to undermine Egyptian ties to U.S.
Reuters, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
Egypt’s foreign minister warned Israel that Cairo could use its diplomatic influence against Israel which he said was trying to undermine Cairo’s ties to Washington, state news agency MENA said. "If they continue to push and try to affect Egypt’s relationship with the U.S. and harm Egyptian interests, Egypt will certainly respond and will try to damage their interests," MENA quoted Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Monday as saying in a television interview aired a day earlier. "We have capabilities in every direction -- all in diplomatic areas but not extending beyond that -- which may inflict profound damage," he added. Egyptian-Israeli ties have been particularly strained since Israel said this month it had sent a videotape to Washington that Israeli officials said showed Egyptian security men helping Hamas militants smuggle arms across the border to the Gaza Strip. more..
Diskin and top negotiator clash over prisoner release criteria
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin on Sunday warned against relaxing criteria for releasing Palestinian prisoners in return for kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldiers. In a special meeting with cabinet ministers and security officials, Diskin lashed out against Ofer Dekel, Israel’s chief negotiator for securing the release of abducted soldiers, claiming Dekel backed criteria that were too lenient. "Diskin wanted to keep the criteria as they are because when they [the Palestinian prisoners] get out of jail, he’ll have to deal with them," a government source said. "On the other side, Dekel is interested in reaching a deal and believes criteria should be eased." During the meeting, Dekel’s stance was apparently backed by IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, the source said. more..
Hamas’ spokesperson: If Haniyeh is assassinated, "earthquake will shake the region"
Ma’an News Agency 12/31/2007
Bethlehem Ma’an exclusive The spokesperson of the Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubayda threatened on Sunday that if Israel assassinates the deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Isma’il Haniyeh, "an earthquake will shake the region," and the Israelis will be held responsible for all the repercussions. Abu Ubayda told Ma’an, "If the Israelis commit such a criminal act, after getting the green light from Washington, we will use all the means which we have not yet used." However,he expalined that Hamas will endeavor to thwart such an attempt. With regards to whether the Israeli threats are serious or not,the spokesperson said, "The Israelis have nothing to restrain them, and Haniyeh was a target for the Israelis before, so we take that possibility seriously." Commenting on the issue of transferring Palestinian resistance outside Palestine, Abu Ubayda said, "The Palestinian... more..
Abbas: This will be the year of our victory
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/31/2007
Palestinian President calls on Israel to resolve core issues obstructing way to peace, says PA will never cede ground on Jerusalem in negotiations. Speaking at Ramallah celebration marking Fatah anniversary, Abbas also extends conciliatory hand to rival faction Hamas - "We are filled with hope that this new year will be our year of victory and independence, that we will see the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday. Speaking to a crowd of Fatah-loyalists assembled in Ramallah to celebrate the movement’s 43rd anniversary, the president called for ’’a new page, writing in its lines a credible agreement based on partnership, on life, on our homeland and our struggle to liberate it. ’’ Abbas also said the Palestinian Authority would not cede a single inch of ground in negotiations with Israel over the future sovereignty of Jerusalem. more..
Olmert to ministers: No settlement construction without my authorization
Roni Sofer, YNetNews 12/31/2007
Ahead of President Bush’s scheduled visit to the region, PM sends letter to agriculture, housing ministers saying any new construction, expansion or confiscation of land in West Bank must receive his and Barak’s approval - In a letter addressed to Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon and Minister of Housing and Construction Ze’ev Boim, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that all construction plans for settlements in the West Bank must receive his authorization and the approval of Defense Minister Ehud Barak. "Any new construction, expansion, confiscation of land, the issuing of housing tenders and all other acts related to the Israeli settlement in Judea and Samaria will not be advanced or carried out without authorization," the prime minister said in the letter. Sources in the PM’s Office said the letter came as a follow-up to the government’s... more..
Christian leaders attend reception at presidential residence
Aviram Zino, YNetNews 12/31/2007
President Peres [the "father" of Israel’s nuclear weapons program - Ed. ] hosts annual ceremony in honor of Christian leaders, sends message of peace and harmony. ’We all have one God and enriched uranium wasn’t one of his commandments,’ he says - President Shimon Peres met Monday with the leaders of the Christian factions in Israel, in honor of the Christmas and the New Year celebrations. "The Palestinians are not our enemy and neither is Islam," said Peres. "Terror, violence and the alliance between religious fanaticism and nuclear weapons are our - and the world’s - enemies." The religious leaders were Peres’ guests for an official ceremony held at the presidential residence. "The human spirit declares science and religion to be noncontradictory, but one must separate between religion, faith and violence," added Peres. more..
State comptroller to review government’s efforts in Pollard case
Amnon Meranda, YNetNews 12/31/2007
’After 22 years, it’s about time we understand once and for all why an Israeli citizen is still rotting away in a US prison, MK Orlev says - The Knesset’s State Control Committee on Monday asked State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss to prepare a brief on the actions taken by the various Israeli governments over the years to advance the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard by the United States. "After 22 years, it’s about time we understand once and for all why an Israeli citizen and agent is still rotting away in prison," said committee chair MK Zevulun Orlev. "We must check to see where we failed and what the government can do to bring about his release. Pollard was arrested in 1985 and later convicted of selling military secrets to Israel while he worked at the Defense Department’s Pentagon headquarters. more..
Egypt warns Israel of diplomatic reprisals
Reuters, YNetNews 12/31/2007
Cairo threatens to use its diplomatic clout if Jerusalem continues to ’undermine Egypt’s ties to Washington. ’We have capabilities which may inflict profound damage,’ says Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit - Egypt’s foreign minister warned Israel that Cairo could use its diplomatic influence against Israel which he said was trying to undermine Cairo’s ties to Washington, state news agency MENA said. "If they continue to push and try to affect Egypt’s relationship with the US and harm Egyptian interests, Egypt will certainly respond and will try to damage their interests," MENA quoted Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Monday as saying in a television interview aired a day earlier. "We have capabilities in every direction - all in diplomatic areas but not extending beyond that - which may inflict profound damage," he added. more..
Warning: Al-Qaeda planning attacks on Israeli targets in Turkey
Alex Fishman, YNetNews 12/31/2007
Intelligence information obtained by security establishment indicates global terror group’s cells have infiltrated Turkey, planning attacks on sites affiliated with Israel, US - The security establishment has received specific intelligence information according to which al-Qaeda cells that have infiltrated Turkey are planning to carry out terror attacks on Israeli targets and sites affiliated with the United States, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. Fresh security guidelines have been relayed to Israeli government agencies and businesses operating throughout Turkey in light of the threat. Last weekend a videotape surfaced in which Osama bin Laden threatened to launch a terror attack against Israel. ’’I would like to assure our people in Palestine that we will expand our jihad there. more..
Olmert: No changes on the ground unless PA fights terror
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 12/30/2007
In aftermath of last Friday’s deadly shooting attack on two off-duty soldiers near Hebron, prime minister tells cabinet ’PA must take necessary action against terror activity. ’ Deputy PM Yishai calls for suspension of peace talks - Referring to last Friday’s murder of two off-duty IDF soldiers by Palestinian gunmen near Hebron, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told cabinet Sunday that "as long as the Palestinian Authority does not take necessary action against the terror organizations, the State of Israel will be prevented from making any changes on the ground so as not to be exposed to security-related dangers. "We will not compromise on these issues and they will continue to be an integral part of any discussions we hold with the PA," he said. Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai said during the cabinet meeting that Israel must halt all negotiations with the PA in... more..
EU disavows suspect chemicals hidden in sugar sacks bound for Gaza
Reuters, YNetNews 12/30/2007
After army seizes 6. 5 tons of potassium nitrate hidden in a shipment of its humanitarian packages for needy Palestinians in Gaza, European Union denied any connection to smuggling attempt - The European Union on Sunday denied any connection to bags that Israel said were marked as containing EU aid "sugar" but actually filled with bomb-making chemicals bound for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said on Saturday it seized 6. 5 tons of potassium nitrate aboard a Palestinian truck traveling through the West Bank en route to Gaza. Video footage of the haul showed white sacks with the spray-painted label: ’EEC 2 Sugar Exported from EU’ Potassium nitrate is used to make explosives and power homemade rockets. The European Union is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians. more..
Stranded Palestinian pilgrims allowed back into Gaza
Ali Waked, YNetNews 12/30/2007
Israel, Egypt and PA craft accord to enable stranded Palestinians returning from Mecca to re-enter Gaza; Egypt to perform security inspection at border, report any suspected smuggling attempts to Israel - both countries fear Hamas militants hiding amongst pilgrims may try to bring large amounts of cash into Gaza - Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority reached an agreement on Sunday evening to allow thousands of Palestinians returning from the haj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia to return to their homes in the Gaza Strip. Hamas had demanded that Egypt reopen the Rafah crossing to allow the pilgrims to pass directly into the coastal territory rather than force them to pass through Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing. Israel and Egypt both insisted however that they all pass through Israeli security checks, fearing Hamas militants hiding amongst them would try to smuggle in large sums of cash into Gaza. more..
Shin Bet chief, negotiator clash over prisoner release terms
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin yesterday warned against relaxing criteria for releasing Palestinian prisoners in return for kidnapped Israeli soldiers. In a special meeting with cabinet ministers and security officials, Diskin lashed out against Ofer Dekel, Israel’s chief negotiator for securing the release of abducted soldiers, claiming Dekel backed criteria that were too lenient. "Diskin wanted to keep the criteria as they are because when they [the Palestinian prisoners] get out of jail, he’ll have to deal with them," a government source said. "On the other side, Dekel is interested in reaching a deal and believes criteria should be eased." During the meeting, Dekel’s stance was apparently backed by the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, the source said. An attempt by Vice Premier Haim Ramon to broker a compromise between the two camps failed and the meeting was adjourned without reaching an agreement. more..
UNIFIL steps up supervision to deter Hezbollah re-armament
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 12/30/2007
In the past few weeks UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) forces in South Lebanon have heightened supervision of bridges and passages over the Litani River to deter Hezbollah from moving weapons from the North to the South, particularly in areas bordering Israel. UN forces say UNIFIL commander Maj. -Gen. Claudio Graziano of Italy believes the forces under his control are preventing the entry of heavy weapons into South Lebanon. Israeli officials fear that Lebanon’s political instability- the country has not had a president since November 23- will contribute to a renewal of Hezbollah’s power. For several months Hezbollah has been rebuilding itself, especially in the area north of the Litani. New medium- and long-range rocket units have been digging into positions and bases created in this area. more..
Arab League condemns Israeli settlement expansion plan
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/30/2007
As foreign ministers from across the Arab world prepare to meet for an emergency session on Israeli settlement expansion, a strong condemnation of the expansion plan was issued by the Arab League’s secretary-general. Β "Israel’s building of settlements will destroy any hope of peace", said Secretary-General Amr Moussa on Saturday. This statement comes after Israeli officials released the coming year’s budget, which includes a large portion for expansion of Israeli settlement in the West Bank. These settlements are considered illegal under international law, as they involve the transfer of Israel’s civilian population onto land seized from Palestinians by the Israeli military. But despite condemnation by the United Nations and many nations in the international community, settlement expansion has greatly increased since 1993. more..
Israel denies Italian delegation entry into Gaza
Saed Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 12/30/2007
A delegation of renowned Italians was denied entry into the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces on Friday. The delegation had been promoted by members of the Italian Parliament, academics and Christian dignitaries. Several members of Parliament were among those who traveled to Gaza on the delegation, but were denied entry at the Israeli-controlled border by Israeli troops. The group had planned to meet with Palestinian officials and humanitarian organizations, to help raise awareness worldwide of the plight of the Palestinian population in Gaza. They called Gaza a ’concentration camp’, in which the Palestinian population is completely imprisoned with no way in or out, under a total siege by Israeli forces that control every part of the border. In response to the Israeli denial of entry to the Italian delegation, the Popular Committee Against the Siege, based in Gaza, issued a statement addressed... more..
Israeli official to Israel’s radio: Cairo’s policy is being shifted
Rami Almeghari & Agencies, International Middle East Media Center 12/30/2007
Israel considered Cairo’s position towards underway Palestinian pilgrims’ standoff, a shift in Egyptian policy with respect to Israeli-Egyptian relations, Israel’s radio reported. The radio quoted ’unnamed’ Israeli political source as stating that Cairo will soon dispatch a security delegation in order to coordinate Israeli-Egyptian security activity along the Philadelphia route, on Gaza-Egypt border line. The sources cited ’ mounting weapons smuggling operations’ from Egyptian territories onto the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The official regarded Cairo’s decision to disallow entry of more than 2000 Gaza pilgrims back to Gaza from the Rafah crossing terminal ’ a shift in Cairo’s policy’. The pilgrims are to be transferred in buses from the Egyptian red sea port of Nwaiba’ to the border Egyptian town of aL-Arish, on their way back to Gaza, yet the passage they will take remained unknown. more..
Wanted: Ambassador to Cairo
Itamar Eichner, YNetNews 12/30/2007
Foreign ministry despairs of finding suitable candidate from within Foreign Service to fill complex position of Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, may offer job to Arab affairs journalist and commentator Ehud Ya’ari - The chilly relationship between Israel and Egypt has practically paralyzed the Israeli embassy in Cairo: local politicians and diplomats steer clear and it is all but boycotted by the Egyptian media. Ambassador Shalom Cohen’s term ends this coming summer and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is having a difficult time finding a replacement for him. Sources say that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has stipulated that candidates must have existing personal relationships with the Egyptian leadership and officials as well as a charismatic personality. These qualities, Livni hopes, will thaw the ’cold peace,’ Livni has recently gone on record as saying she considers... more..
US senator says Syrian president is ready for peace with Israel
Associated Press, YNetNews 12/30/2007
American congressman says Syria ready to make peace with Israel after two-day visit in Damascus; says Golan Heights at ’core of the deal’ - President Bashar Assad is ready for peace with Israel, US Senator Arlen Specter said Sunday after talks with the Syrian leader. Specter said Israel will have to return the Golan Heights for peace, adding that the United States has the potential to ’’bridge the gap’’ between Israel and Syria, who have not held peace talks since 2000. Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania, and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad on the last day of their two-day visit to Damascus. Specter said he had the impression from the meeting that the time was very ’’positive for productive talks between Israel and Syria. more..
Two US lawmakers say Syria is ready for peace
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 12/31/2007
DAMASCUS: Two visiting US Congressmen announced after talks with Syrian leaders on Sunday that they had secured a pledge that jailed dissidents would be freed and said they saw scope for progress in the peace process with Israel. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, a member of President George W. Bush’s Republican Party, and Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a Democratic representative from Rhode Island, met with President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Moallem. Kennedy said that he had secured Assad’s undertaking that seven secular dissidents in jail for criticizing the Damascus regime and its policy toward Lebanon would all be freed. "The president said that they would be released," Kennedy said. He said Assad identified "Akram Bunni, Walid Bunni, Jaber Shufi, Ali Abdullah, Fidaa Horani, Mohammad Yasser Aiti and Ahmad Tohmeh. more..
5,000 foreigners sneaked across Sinai border in 2007
Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz 12/31/2007
Since the beginning of the year some 5,000 foreigners, mostly Africans, have entered Israel illegally from Sinai, according to Interior Ministry data presented recently at a meeting held by the director