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: Ceasefire holds in Gaza despite West Bank deaths, Palestinian rockets |
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(27-11-06) – Sakher Abu El Oun, AFP. A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was holding after Israel ordered restraint following a shaky start when Palestinian militants fired a salvo of rockets at the Jewish state, but two Palestinians died in a clash in the West Bank. An armed Palestinian activist and a woman who lived nearby were killed early Monday in an Israeli army operation near Jenin in the north of the West Bank, security and medical sources said. The rocket strike early Sunday threatened the ceasefire agreement that came into effect at dawn and in which militants promised to halt rocket attacks in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from the impoverished coastal territory. See Also: Al-Aqsa Brigades launch two homemade projectiles, in retaliation for Israeli violation of ceasefire (Ma’an), Day into truce, militants in Gaza fire rockets at Israel (Haaretz), Rogue rockets fail to shatter Gaza ceasefire deal (The Guardian), Olmert: Palestinians stand at crossroads (AP), Olmert: Palestinians can achieve independent state through talks (The Independent), and Q&A: Palestinian truce (Al Jazeera). |
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News: West Bank – Israel kills two in clash with Palestinians |
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(27-11-06) – Report, Reuters. Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians, including a militant, in the West Bank during an exchange of fire on Monday, Palestinian security sources said. Israeli forces patrolling the village of Qabatiya, near the city of Jenin, had come under fire several times by Palestinian militants, an Israeli army spokesman said. The troops fired at and hit two armed Palestinians, he said. The Palestinian security sources said the soldiers killed a militant and a woman who had rushed to his aid. Palestinian hospital officials confirmed the two deaths. See Also: Ambushes return to Israeli assassination policy: Jenin Refugee Camp still under siege (PNN), Islamic Jihad: no ‘cease-fire’ without West Bank (PNN), and Government Spokesperson says ‘cease-fire’ is a go and denies existence of skeptics (PNN). |
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News: Israel ‘ready’ to free Palestinian prisoners |
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(27-11-06) – Report, The Guardian. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, today offered to release a number of long-term Palestinian prisoners. Mr Olmert said the offer was part of a series of concessions that would be made in exchange for peace efforts – including the release of an abducted Israeli soldier. In a speech described as a major policy statement, he said the Palestinian leadership stood at a “historic crossroads” in its relations with Israel. See Also: Olmert to PA: Release captured soldier, and we will free many jailed Palestinians (Haaretz), Olmert offers prisoner swaps (Al Jazeera), Olmert says ready to free Palestinian prisoners (Reuters), and Olmert offers concessions to Palestinians (AP). |
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News: Olmert demands the Palestinians to drop the Right of Return |
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(27-11-06) – Saed Bannoura, IMEMC. Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said on Monday that Israel insists on unilaterally drawing its borders, totally rejecting the Right of Return of the Palestinian Refugees, and that Israel will implement the Road Map plan but with the implementation of “the letter of assurances” Israel received from the American president in April 14, 2004. The letter of assurances, sent by Bush to the then-Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, includes modifying the Road Map Plan in a way that will not oblige Israel to withdraw from Jerusalem, and assures the country that it could retain the large settlement blocs and reject the Right of Return, See Also: International conference: Latest version of Zionism created on Palestinian refugee issue (PNN). |
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News: Palestinians banned from Israeli cars near Green Line |
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(27-11-06) – Amira Hass, Haaretz. The ban on allowing Palestinians to ride in Israeli cars in the West Bank will mainly be enforced near the border with Israel, and not throughout the West Bank, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer told Haaretz. The officer said that he himself gives rides to Palestinians, and that he personally would not bother enforcing the rule as long as it is clear that the ride was “ordinary” and that the destination was not inside Israel. |
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News: Significant victory on boycott front in Ireland |
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(27-11-06) – Sean Clinton, IPSC. On Saturday 25th November the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign mounted a successful picket outside the entrance to the Limerick branch of the Atlantic Homecare chain store in Ireland. After refusing to move the picket when approached by security guards the protestors eventually agreed to call off their action after the store manger removed from sale all of the Israeli manufactured Keter Plastic products in the store. Within two hours of the commencing the action IPSC members witnessed pallet loads of the Israel made plastic storage boxes, wheelbarrows and garden sheds being taken off the sales floor. See Also: Carmel Agrexco’s UK headquarters in Hayes blockaded (TWMF), and Dutch ASN Bank ends relations with Veolia (Electronic Intifada). |
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News: Nonviolent Palestinian protest in Israeli prison: hunger strike in Jalameh |
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(27-11-06) – Ali Samoudi, PNN. Since Friday Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli Jalameh Prison have been hunger-striking in protest of inhumane treatment. The Jenin area prison is accused of acting in contravention to international laws and norms. A letter leaked from prisoners indicates that they have begun steps to up the protest. Among the issues the collective action intends to change is that the prison administration ignores their demands and continues to keep Palestinians in the interrogation facilities instead of transferring them to the public prisons. See Also: Palestinian political prisoner paralyzed after being shot in spinal cord (PNN). |
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News: Palestinian English newspaper hits stands |
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(27-11-06) – Report, AFP. The Palestine Times, the first English-language Palestinian daily newspaper since the Palestinian Authority was created in 1994, has gone on sale for the first time. “Maintaining our independence is the primary objective of our newspaper,” editor in chief and one of the newspaper’s proprietors, Othman Alhaj Mohammed told a news conference Monday in Ramallah, where the daily is based. The Palestine Times is the first foreign-language daily to appear in the Palestinian territories since the English-language Al-Fajr went out of business in the 1990s. |
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Report: An Najah University student elections illustrate the powerful force of youth |
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(27-11-06) – Amin Abu Wardeh, PNN. Elections at An Najah University are heating up as students take to the polls today. The Nablus university is known for being a hot-bed of political discourse, and something of a zeitgeist. It is not often that student elections are viewed as a critical component to the overall political climate of a country. But An Najah is an exception. The Dean of Student Affairs said Sunday that the Elections Commission decided that six student blocs will compete for 81 seats. Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s, the Prisoner’s bloc, Hamas, and Fateh are among the contenders. See Also: Invasion of Nablus: TV station break-in and 15 year old shot with a bullet to the chest (PNN). |
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Report: PCHR calls for increased efforts against gender violence in Palestine |
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(27-11-06) – Report, PCHR. This year, the international day for the elimination of violence against women comes at a time of continuous suffering for Palestinian women due to the violence perpetrated against them by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and Palestinian society. Palestinian women are subjected to serious human rights violations at the hands of IOF troops that include killing, death of kin, destruction of houses, forced migration, detention, and humiliation at military checkpoints even for pregnant women in labor, some of whom died at these checkpoints. |
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Report: UN Human Rights body votes against Israeli annexation of Golan |
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(27-11-06) – Report, AP. The UN Human Rights Council on Monday passed a new resolution criticizing the Jewish state, this time for its occupation of the Golan Heights. The council voted 32-1 with 14 abstentions to declare illegal Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights and demand that Israel rescind its decision to impose its laws and jurisdiction on the area, which it captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Canada, which said the resolution was unbalanced, was the only no vote, and European Union members abstained. |
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Report: Palestinian homes abandoned in flight across Israel’s wall |
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(27-11-06) – Report, IRIN. In July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague ruled that the West Bank barrier’s route, which weaves around the western border of the occupied territory, was illegal under international humanitarian and human rights law because it “gravely” infringes on a number of rights of Palestinians living in the West Bank. In five articles, IRIN examines the human consequences of the wall for both Israelis and Palestinians. See Also: Financial boycott sends Palestinian poverty numbers soaring, finds UN report (UN News). |
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