Here are today’s news headlines from Occupation Info. For today’s commentary, op-eds etc please see this post…
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News: Israel rejects Palestinian offer to halt rocket fire |
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(24-11-06) – Adel Zaanoun, AFP. A proposal from Palestinian factions to stop rocket attacks in exchange for an end to Israeli offensives in Gaza and the West Bank has been rejected as inadequate by Israel. Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya, head of the internationally boycotted Hamas government, reiterated on Friday that Israeli offensives should end “in order to allow factions to stop” rocket fire. “There is a responsible Palestinian position and now the ball is in the Israeli court. They must stop aggressions and the escalation against the Palestinian people,” he told reporters after prayers in Gaza City. But Israel was not playing ball, with government spokeswoman Miri Eisin describing it as a “partial ceasefire” impossible to take seriously. See Also: Hamas PM says factions agree on truce (AP), Israel rejects ceasefire proposal (BBC), Israel: No end to Gaza offensive until Palestinians halt rocket fire (Haaretz), Islamic Jihad: A one-sided truce is not acceptable (Ma’an), and Palestinian factions offer limited cease fire with Israel (IMEMC). |
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News: Israeli forces kill nine Palestinians in Gaza |
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(24-11-06) – Wisam Afifeh, PNN. Israeli forces killed nine more Palestinians Friday in days, weeks, months, years worth of attacks on the northern Gaza Strip The early Friday hits began in eastern Gaza City. The new Israeli inclusion clings to a time when the government explained that the occupation and its military operations in the northern Gaza Strip, where security is nearly nonexistent, Israeli tanks arrived his morning, morning near the site of military installation near the northern West Bank’s hospital. See Also: Israel kills 2 Palestinians Thursday, including 10yr old, in Gaza clashes (Reuters), 2 IDF soldiers wounded in Gaza; 3 Palestinians killed by army (Haaretz), and At least 7 dead as Jewish state launches new assault on Gaza (Daily Star). |
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News: Hamas women seek bigger political role |
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(24-11-06) – Diaa Hadid, AP. A grandmother-turned-suicide bomber, a small army of women marching into a battlefield, thousands of veiled volunteers hitting the streets in an election campaign — the Islamic militant group Hamas is increasingly mobilizing its network of female activists. Yet the Hamas women, known as the Sisterhood, say such high-profile missions have not changed how the group is run: the men make decisions, the women have a supporting role, at best. But even in the rigidly conservative movement, whose manifesto defines women as “manufacturers of men,” some female activists are demanding a say in politics and in Hamas’ military wing, which has carried out scores of deadly attacks against Israelis in recent years. See Also: Palestinians bury grandmother bomber (AP), Fatma A-Najar becomes first grandmother suicide bomber (Haaretz), and University conference includes the role of women in the Islamic Faith (PNN). |
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News: Hamas Leader: Prisoner release will advance Shalit talks |
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(24-11-06) – Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz. Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Meshal said in an interview published Friday in the Saudi Al-Watan daily that if Israel adopts serious measures to release teenage and female prisoners, he will see it as proof of its good intentions. Meshal met on Thursday in Cairo with the Head of Egyptian Intelligence Omar Suleiman, and discussed the status of Gilad Shalit and the current crisis in Palestinian politics. At the meetings end, representatives from both sides said that they held a “positive discussion”. See Also: Prisoner exchange talks in Egypt (Al Jazeera), Hamas official blames Fatah for delay in forming a new PA gov’t (Haaretz), Hamas blames Abbas for new rift (Al Jazeera), Differences remain in Palestine (Al-Ahram), and U.S. general says building up Abbas’s guard (Reuters). |
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News: Police seek data from Cyprus about Avigdor Lieberman’s bank accounts there |
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(24-11-06) – Gidi Weitz and Uri Blau, Haaretz. The State Prosecutor’s Office recently requested information from the authorities in Cyprus about private bank accounts owned by Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in connection with a new investigation against the minister being conducted by the national fraud squad. In addition to data about these bank accounts, which Lieberman allegedly held while he was serving as a minister, the investigators have also asked for information on companies registered in Cyprus that apparently havelinks to the Yisrael Beiteinu chairman. |
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News: UN rights chief says Palestinians, Israelis feel abandoned by world |
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(24-11-06) – Report, Haaretz. Both Israeli and Palestinian victims of violence feel abandoned by the world, the United Nations’ top rights official said in remarks released Friday. Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said her talks with both Palestinians and Israelis during a five-day visit to Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip made apparent “their profound sense of frustration and abandonment, including a perception that the international community is not doing enough to protect them”. See Also: Religious Zionist rabbi advocates anti-Qassam militias (Haaretz), UN human rights head slams Israel (JPost), Civilians bear brunt of abuses, UN rights chief says (UN News), and Text of latest UN GA Resolution (UN). |
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News: Israel steps up calls for defence minister to resign |
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(24-11-06) – Marius Schattner, AFP. Calls have mounted across Israel for the resignation of Defence Minister Amir Peretz, locked in rows with the prime minister, cold-shouldered by his allies and his popularity in free fall. “Needed: A Defence Minister” headlined an editorial in the liberal daily Haaretz, calling for the resignation of Moroccan-born trade unionist, whose home town Sderot has been bombarded by unceasing Palestinian rocket attacks. “It is fairly clear to everyone that Peretz will not end his term as defence minister, either because the Labour Party will replace him in May with another chairman, or because he will leave the post beforehand,” said Maariv. See Also: Laborites: Peretz will be forced to quit Defense (Haaretz), and Olmert struggling in Israeli opinion poll (Reuters). |
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News: UNHCR concerned about Palestinians on Iraq-Syria border |
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(24-11-06) – Report, UNHCR. UNHCR is very concerned about five Palestinians – three men and two boys – who were arrested on Tuesday by Iraqi security forces at Al Tanf border crossing between Iraq and Syria. The five were part of a group of more than 300 Palestinians from Baghdad who have been stranded at a tented site in no man’s-land at Al Tanf since early May this year after fleeing the targeted violence and killings of Palestinians in the capital. |
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News: Canada – Jewish Professor suing York University and Jewish groups over claims he is ‘anti-semitic’ |
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(24-11-06) – Louise Brown, Toronto Star. History professor David Noble is suing York University’s fundraising foundation and several Jewish organizations for defamation, claiming they suggested he is anti-Semitic to try to gag criticism of their activities. Noble, 61, who is Jewish, has brought a $25 million lawsuit against the York University Foundation, including outgoing York president Lorna Marsden, as well as the Canadian Jewish Congress’ Ontario region, Hillel of Greater Toronto and the United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto for their criticism of flyers he distributed. The flyers accused the university of being biased in favour of Israel and restricting pro-Palestinian groups on campus more harshly than others. |
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Report: Illegal settlers in Gaza were paid millions to evacuate |
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(24-11-06) – Saed Bannoura, IMEMC. Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that the Israeli government’s Disengagement Administration (Sela) has paid millions of shekels in compensation to dozens of settlers families who were evacuated from illegal settlement outposts in the Gaza Strip during the August 2005 Disengagement Plan. The Israeli law only entitles settlers of “legal settlements” to receive compensation for their evacuation. But Sela compensated settlers who were living in five illegal settlement outposts in the Gaza Strip. The outposts are Tel Katifa, Shalev, Kfar Yam, Shirat Hayam and Kerem Atzmona, Haaretz added. See Also: State paid illegal settlers millions in compensation (Haaretz). |
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Report: Hebron Update: November 12th to 19th 2006 |
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(24-11-06) – Report, Christian Peacemaker Teams. CPT’s weekly update on Israeli military and settler actions in Occupied Hebron. |
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Report: Behind the Wall: Palestinian teens speak out |
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(24-11-06) – Report, Palestine Chronicle. BW was initiated by English language students last school year because they felt Palestinian youth were underrepresented on the world stage… Palestinian youth finally have a spot on the world stage. At least that’s true for 10th graders at the Ramallah Friends School, an American Quaker-owned institution with a 100 year history in the West Bank. Since April of this year, the Friends school teens’ online magazine has received over 20,000 visits worldwide. Their publication – Behind the Wall (BW) is now in its third edition, and, no doubt, many more editions will follow. |
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Report: Palestinian scholars discuss ethnic cleansing in London |
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(24-11-06) – Report, Palestine Chronicle. The event was held under the title: On the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine: Methods and Consequences and was held at the Friends House in London… In a notable event that brought together a number of well known Palestinian scholars, the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) launched its latest publication, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by British author Geoff Simons. Mr. Simons is an accomplished author of many books about Palestine and the Middle East. In this latest volume, published by PRC, Simons discusses at length a legacy of ethnic cleansing applied by Israel against the Palestinian people in the last six decades. The book is considered a rare addition to a historically tabooed subject, as suggested by the event’s distinguished speakers. |
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Report: Survey: Israel worst brand name in the world |
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(24-11-06) – Report, Israel Today. As if Israel’s position in the world in not bad enough, a new survey published in the US Wednesday says that Israel is suffering from the worst public image among all countries of the world. The study, called the National Brands Index, conducted by government advisor Simon Anholt and powered by global market intelligence solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), shows that Israel is at the bottom of the list by a considerable margin in the public’s perception of its image. |
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Report: Focus: Israel and the Palestinians |
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(24-11-06) – Feature, Al Jazeera. A special Al Jazeera English feature on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians – key issues covered; Gaza, Jerusaelm, West Bank, Refugees, The Wall, Settlements and Israeli military actions against the Palestinians. |
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Report: Mohamed Shabir: Profile of a moderate man |
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(24-11-06) – Khaled Amayreh, Al Ahram. It is nearly certain by now that the former Gaza Islamic University Rector, Professor Mohamed Eid Shabir, will be the chief candidate for the post of prime minister of the emerging Palestinian “national unity government”. Fatah and Hamas last week agreed to form a government of “experts” or “technocrats” to replace the current Hamas-led government, in the hope that it will help extricate the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people from the present multifaceted crisis, resulting from harsh and sweeping western sanctions, aimed at forcing Hamas to recognise Israel and give up historical Palestinian rights. |
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