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: Gaza militants fire rocket in violation of ceasefire |
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(28-11-06) – Report, AFP. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have fired a rocket at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, again violating Sunday’s fragile ceasefire agreement. “We identified a rocket being fired from the Beit Hanun area in northern Gaza and landing near Sderot,” an army spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. Medical sources said the rocket hit Sderot’s cemetery, causing no injuries or damage. Militants have aimed several rockets at Israel on each of the three days since the ceasefire took effect, under which Palestinians agreed to halt all rocket attacks in exchange for an Israeli halt to operations in the Gaza Strip. See Also: Qassam rocket lands in western Negev despite Gaza cease-fire (Haaretz), Palestinian militants fire rocket into Israel (Reuters), and Fateh force ‘to police truce’ (Al Jazeera). |
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News: Bethlehem residents are skeptical as West Bank is not included in ‘cease-fire’ |
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(28-11-06) – Najib Farag, PNN. Bethlehem residents consider the new ‘cease-fire’ fragile to say the least. Hopes were not high from the beginning in the West Bank as checkpoints, arrests, settlement and Wall activity, and invasions continued. And then the Israeli Central Command, which is the occupying administration in the central West Bank, said that the ‘cease-fire’ does not include the West Bank. Gas station worker in Bethlehem, Abu Mustafa Kaid, commented to PNN on Monday that the ‘cease-fire’ is fragile and frequently violated by Israel. He cited arrests and continuing incursions into Palestinian cities, villages and camps in the West Bank, in addition to killing a young man and woman in the Jenin area. See Also: Bethlehemites forced into village square, all arrestees bound and blindfolded (PNN), and Israeli forces kill Jenin woman as she attempts to save man bleeding at her doorstep (PNN). |
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News: Abbas: Olmert initiative is ‘positive’ step toward peace-making |
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(28-11-06) – Aluf Benn, Haaretz. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that a peace initiative laid out the day before by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was a “positive” step toward peacemaking. Olmert told the Palestinians on Monday that he was prepared to grant them a state, release desperately needed funds and free prisoners if they choose the path of peace. He also said that Israel would pull out of West Bank land and uproot settlements under a peace deal with the Palestinians. See Also: Yisrael Beiteinu, rightist factions slam PM’s speech (Haaretz), Olmert speech elicits mixed reaction from Palestinians (Haaretz), Olmert: Israel agrees to the formation of a contiguous Palestinian state free of settlements (Ma’an), Haniyeh says Israel must stop its arrests, incursions and assassinations for truce to last (Ma’an), and Palestinian president welcomes Israeli PM overtures (AFP). |
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News: Palestinian Official – Abbas sees talks with Hamas at “dead end” |
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(28-11-06) – Wafa Amr, Reuters. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told Jordan that talks on a unity government with Hamas have hit a “dead end” and he will pursue other options, a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday. The “other options” could include the dismissal of the Hamas-led government and the appointment of a new prime minister, moves that would signify a new hard line against Hamas that could shake up the Palestinian political process. See Also: Rice, Abbas to meet in West Bank (AP), Rice to meet Abbas on Thursday: Palestinians (Reuters), and Hamas PM leaves for Egypt on first foreign tour (AFP). |
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News: UN urges end to Israeli settlements |
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(28-11-06) – Report, Al Jazeera. The United Nations human rights council has called on Israel to dismantle its settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, and to confiscate the arms of Jewish settlers. The council voted 45-1 on Monday in favour of a resolution submitted by a group of Muslim countries. Canada opposed the motion, while Cameroon abstained. The resolution urged Israel to “stop immediately the expansion of the existing settlements” and prevent any new installation of settlers. See Also: Third nonviolent demonstration at Israeli settlement company in UK (PNN), High Court approves Bir Nabalah enclave (B’Tselem), MIFTAH calls for universal support of Palestinian rights (MIFTAH), and Appeal to Supreme Court against policy of not providing drinking water to unrecognized Arab villages (Adalah). |
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News: Bulldozers destroying 700 dunams of Bethlehem |
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(28-11-06) – Najib Farag, PNN. Israeli military bulldozers began dredging Artas Village in southern Bethlehem under heavy guard. Israeli forces are confiscating and destroying 700 dunams of the southern Bethlehem village. The land is planted with fruit and olive trees, and grapevines. Head of the Artas Village Council, Hamdi Ayash, said Tuesday that this is a prelude to the next phase of the Wall. “Israeli forces are working to destroy hundreds of trees and are damaging the citizens’ land with the goal of seizing as much territory as possible for the Efrat Settlement about a kilometer from the current destruction. This could prove a source for resistance activities against Israel”. See Also: First person account as a foreigner witnesses a West Bank home demolition (PNN), Army uproots trees to install a Wall section near Bethlehem (IMEMC), and Ghettos form in shadow of the wall (IRIN). |
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News: Arabs and EU urge new efforts for Middle East peace |
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(28-11-06) – David Brunnstrom, Reuters. Arab and European ministers on Tuesday welcomed the ceasefire in Gaza and urged renewed efforts to promote Middle East peace and direct talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The European Union has hailed signs of hope for Middle East peace after the ceasefire was declared in Gaza on Sunday and Israel said it was prepared to free many jailed Palestinians in return for a captured soldier. See Also: EU, Arab leaders voice hopes of breakthrough for Mideast peace (AFP), Jordan doesn’t want Palestinian influx (AP), and Jordan will reject ‘unjust’ Mideast settlement (AFP). |
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News: Israel – Treasury to meet Histadrut chair in effort to avert general strike |
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(28-11-06) – Haim Bior, Haaretz. Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson will meet with Interior Minister Ronny Bar-On and chairman of the Histadrut labor federation, Ofer Eini, on Tuesday evening in a last-minute attempt to prevent the general strike threatened to take place on Wednesday. The Histadrut declared Monday that several government offices and local councils would strike Wednesday to protest debts owed by the government to council employees, religious councils, and firefighters. Many of the unpaid employees belong to local authorities of Arab towns. See Also: Academic faculty to declare labor dispute (Haaretz). |
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News: Israeli, Palestinian DJs plan joint performance in London |
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(28-11-06) – Idit Avrahami, Haaretz. The connection between Einhorn and Khalil was forged by musician Roy Chiki Arad, who met Khalil during a tour of Ramallah. “We met a few times and played a few pieces for each other, and we felt that there was a connection between us,” said Einhorn. “I don’t think the cooperation between us will dramatically affect prospects for peace in the Middle East, but we really enjoy performing together, and this allows the crowd to see that cooperation and coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians is possible”. |
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News: 72-year-old left-wing Jewish activist decries repeated ‘harassment’ by airport security |
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(28-11-06) – Rebecca Anna Stoil, Jerusalem Post. Ingrid Steinitz, a 72-year-old Danish Jew, has alleged she was strip-searched and harassed by Ben-Gurion Airport security for hours and on a second occasion told to spread her legs and place her hands against a wall. But Ben-Gurion security officials said Monday that everything was done according to procedures, and that the treatment the grandmother and left-wing activist had received was entirely justified. Steinitz travels annually to Israel, both to visit her daughter, Michal and her four grandchildren who live in the Sharon area, and also to participate in NGO projects, such as helping Palestinians during the olive harvest. |
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Report: Gaza’s teetering tower of debt |
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(28-11-06) – Report, IRIN. After nine months of an international trade embargo on the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which has seen international aid cut off to the Hamas-led government because it has not recognised Israel or renounced violence, the economy of the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) is verging on collapse. The 160,000 employees of the PNA have received hardly any pay since March, after Hamas won a democratic election in January. Their families have coped by buying fewer goods, cutting back on expensive food such as meat, and by borrowing. |
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Report: The invisible prisoners—Palestinians “prohibited” by the Shabak |
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(28-11-06) – Report, Machsom Watch. Many residents of the Occupied Territories – 180,000 by some counts – are defined as “security prohibited” or “Shabak prohibited” [Shabak - General Security Service or GSS]. The restrictions imposed on these residents’ movement are greater than those imposed on any others. Thus, for example, GSS prohibited Palestinians are delayed longer at internal checkpoints on the West Bank. They are not entitled to a magnetic card (tantamount to a “certificate of good character”), and generally they cannot obtain entry permits for Israel or the settlements for work, commerce or personal needs, travel permits for vehicles within the Territories or cross the Jordan bridges to go abroad. We encounter GSS prohibited persons in all aspects of our observation: among detainees at checkpoints in the heart of the West Bank, in the villages, and of course in the Civil Administration’s offices. |
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Report: One Palestinian killed, one wounded, in misuse of weapons |
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(28-11-06) – Report, PCHR. PCHR is gravely concerned over repeated casualties resulting from the misuse of weapons, which has become a prominent feature of the ongoing security chaos in the Occupied PalestinianTerritory. PCHR calls upon the Palestinian National Authority, represented by the Attorney-General, to investigate these incidents and bring those who are found responsible to justice. |
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Report: Iraq – Palestinians ‘die or flee’ from bullets |
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(28-11-06) – Report, IRIN. Of the approximately 30,000 Palestinians who were registered in Iraq in 2003 by the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 are left in the country, according to UNHCR and other organisations. The rest have either been killed or have fled to neighbouring countries. With all borders now closed to them, Palestinians who are forced to stay in Iraq face an almost certain death as they are perceived by many Iraqis to have been favoured by the government of former president Saddam Hussein. See Also: Palestinian elderly refugee abducted, killed in Iraq (IMEMC). |
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Report: Nablus – Hamas and Fateh tie in An Najah University elections; a unified victory |
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(28-11-06) – Amin Abu Wardeh, PNN. The results of Nablus’ An Najah University elections reflect the tone of the country. The split was even, with the Hamas and Fateh parties each winning 38 seats. The Muslim bloc of Hamas took 6,297 votes, with Fateh’s Martyr’s list gaining just two more at 6,229. Regardless, the seat allotment in the student council is identical. As for the others, Islamic Jihad won 331 votes, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine 389, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine 223. Smaller parties divided the remaining seats amongst themselves. |
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December 19, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Sincere promise, a promise made by Lebanon to help the Palestinian people due to the massive destruction to the city of Gaza by the Israeli monsters, Lebanon made his country for freedom of Palestinians and help them in these difficult circumstances, was the war on 13th of July 2006 between the Israelis and the Lebanese staged and led to the destruction of southern Lebanon and the launching of thousands of missiles, which shelled northern Israel for the first time since the emergence of the State of Israel.
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