Palestine Occupation Information

(29-11-06) – Najib Farag, PNN. On the occasion of the Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People a collective call is being issued by all Palestinian factions. The request is simple, yet somehow unattainable as of yet: apply international law, including the Fourth Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in particular, United Nations resolutions. The Palestinian Liberation Movement, Fateh, said that if the UN simply applied the resolutions already on the books, regardless of those that did not make it due to the United States veto, the injustice would be rectified.

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(29-11-06) – Najib Farag, UN News. The United Nations today marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people with urgent calls for re-launching the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, special meetings of the General Assembly and related committees and film shows and exhibitions. “Let us commit ourselves to breathing new life into the peace process so that the goals of statehood for Palestinians, and security for the State of Israel, can be realized before this tragedy takes too many more lives,” United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message for the Day.

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(29-11-06) – Report, Ma’an. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has on Wednesday issued a statement calling upon all free people of the world to support the Palestinian people, and to help lift the siege imposed on them. In a statement received by Ma’an, the PFLP thanked every person who expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people, despite “the hardships of the American era”. They stressed the necessity for “practical, perceptible, action” to accompany the “abstract solidarity”.

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(29-11-06) – Report, Ma’an. The Palestinian People’s Party has, on Wednesday, stressed the necessity for Palestinians to take the political initiative and submit it to the domestic, Arab, regional and international levels. They declared that there is no alternative to Palestinian agreement on all issues, especially the formation of a unity government and the reactivation and reform of the PLO.

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(29-11-06) – Report, Ma’an. The international community of states has failed the Palestinian people, but global civil society has not. In light of ongoing occupation, colonization, displacement and dispossession under Israel’s Apartheid-regime over the Palestinian people, 29 November 2006 can become a day of solidarity and awareness of the collective strength of global civil society organizations working for freedom and justice in Palestine.

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(29-11-06) – Report, Ma’an. Ever since 1948 Israel has been exercising a policy of ethnic cleansing, massacres, sieges, collective punishment, building settlements and apartheid walls, expropriating more lands and waging genocidal wars against the armless refugees of Palestine. In the last four months alone, Israel has committed a series of massacres in which whole families were eliminated in cold blood. More than 450 Palestinians, mostly children and women, were killed and 4500 injured.

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(09-11-06) – Statement, Al-Haq. On 29 November 2006, the international community observes the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. As a Palestinian organisation dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Al-Haq takes this opportunity to emphasise that the root cause of the pervasive violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the OPT is the almost 40-year-old Israeli occupation. Both Israel and the international community have repeatedly failed to meet their international legal obligations with regard to the OPT. Consequently, the full realisation of the fundamental rights of Palestinians, including the right to self-determination, remains as distant as ever.

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(29-11-06) – Various, IMEMC.

– Audio – Palestine Today – November 29, 2006

– Olmert decides to appoint Livni as Justice Minister besides her position as Foreign Minister

– Rice to ask Abbas to “impose order”, pledge aid to strengthen his position

– Egypt Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman Arrives in Israel, meets with Peretz

– Several school girls injured and army takes over one house in a village near Hebron

– House leveled by the army in Hebron

– Rafah border crossing re-closed on Wednesday

– Army ‘shells areas’ in northern Gaza strip

– Settlers in Hebron abduct a Palestinian woman for seven hours

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(29-11-06) – Various, Ma’an.

– Rice’s visit shows US support of Abbas; US to demand more “gestures of leadership” from PA president

– Clash between Al-Aqsa Brigades and Israeli force in Tulkarem

– Al-Aqsa Institution for Reconstructing Islamic Sanctities condemns violation of Islamic cemetary in Tiberias

– All Palestinian civil servants to receive NIS 1,000 from Wednesday

– Prisoners’ families appeal for release of confiscated funds

– Palestinian minister of prisoners’ affairs updates the prisoners in Israeli jails

– Two young Palestinian men released from Israeli jail after completing their sentences

– Israeli forces abduct a Hamas activist in Qalqiliya, army invades two Tulkarem villages

– Foreign passport-holders learn about their options regarding denial of entry to the Palestinian territories

– An-Najah University closed on Wednesday out of fear of Hamas-Fatah clashes following election draw

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(29-11-06) – Report, AP. Israel’s largest trade union began a sweeping general strike today, shutting down the country’s only international airport and all the ports. The strike began after the Histadrut union failed to reach an agreement with the government on providing funds to regional councils that have been unable to pay their workers for months. See Also: Israel general strike paralyses air travel, public sector (AFP), Industrialists petition court in bid to end public sector strike (Haaretz), Hirchson: General strike could come to end within a few days (Haaretz), and Manufacturers ask court to end strike (JPost).

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(29-11-06) – Jean-Luc Renaudie, AFP. Israel has warned that the Jewish state was losing patience over Palestinian rocket attacks that have continued to violate a tentative four-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Wednesday’s warnings come amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts to shore up the truce, with Egypt’s intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Israel and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas Thursday. See Also: Misfired rocket causes Gaza blast (Reuters), Qassam landed near Sderot yesterday (Haaretz), Rockets disappoint Olmert but hopes truce can last (Reuters), Congenial meeting in Beirut warns against possible detractors (PNN), and Fatah faction fires two projectiles at Sderot Tuesday (Ma’an).

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(29-11-06) – Report, Reuters. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday set the tone for his first foreign tour since taking office by promoting a Palestinian initiative based on an independent state on land outside Israel’s 1967 borders. After talks with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, Haniyeh told a news conference it was time governments in the Middle East and around the world put pressure on Israel to recognize such an independent Palestinian state. Haniyeh is from the Islamist movement Hamas, which has traditionally advocated a single Palestinian state in all of Palestine as it existed before the creation of Israel in 1948. See Also: Jordan refuses to receive Palestinian Prime Minister (PNN).

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(29-11-06) – Report, Haaretz. Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has been named to head a United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun, where at least 18 civilians were killed earlier this month, UN officials said Wednesday The South African anti-Apartheid campaigner and former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town will travel to the Palestinian territory to “assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli assaults,” according to the president of the UN Human Rights Council, Luis Alfonso De Alba. See Also: Desmond Tutu to head UN mission on Beit Hanun (AFP), and Credible Israeli probes key to break Mideast impunity: UN rights chief (AFP).

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(29-11-06) – Aviram Zino, YNet. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and Attorney Yaron Keidar, the party registrar at the Justice Ministry, decided Wednesday to reject Attorney Ophir Miller’s demand to dissolve the National Democratic Assembly party because “its objective is to denounce the State of Israel’s existence.” Miller claimed that the party violated the law, after its members visited Syria and Lebanon several months ago. See Also: MK Taha: Instead of probing me – use me (YNet), Mazuz rejects bid to ban Arab Balad party over MKs’ visit to Syria (Haaretz).

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(29-11-06) – Rami Almeghari, IMEMC. The past five months saw the most severe round of fighting in Gaza, that has so far claimed the lives of 479 Palestinians (an estimated 80% of whom were not involved in fighting), and resulted in injuries to 4200 others, all by the Israeli military’s weaponry. In the same time period, Palestinian resistance fighters killed three Israelis — two soldiers and one civilian. In the aftermath of such a horrible period, both sides agreed on Sunday to a ceasefire, with the hope that this would lead to more calm and make way for peaceful means to be used instead. See Also: Gaza relishes moment of peace (BBC).

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(29-11-06) – Aryeh Dayan, Haaretz. The reaction of the residents of Kafr Aqab to the situation in which they found themselves was completely different from that of other Palestinians in similar situations in other areas. Initially they did exactly what the others did: appealed the land-seizure orders for the construction of the wall, petitioned the High Court of Justice against its construction, organized demonstrations, sent demands to the Jerusalem Municipality and organized various lobbying activities. They soon realized, however, that they could expect to gain no benefit from all that, and opted for a different strategy.

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(29-11-06) – Press Release, Mossawa Center. The Mossawa Center has criticized the Israeli Cinema Council, large private companies, the government advertisement office, the Ministry of Transportation and the First and Second Broadcasting Authority for their discrimination against Arab media. This discrimination marginalizes Arab citizens and negatively affects their right to knowledge and their ability to express their needs and present them to the Arab and Jewish public. Insufficient allocation of advertising budgets to written and visual media, Internet, radio, television, cinema and even phone services has proved to be a method of further marginalizing Arab society. See Also: Women’s film festival in Jenin (PNN), and Israeli gov’t votes ‘yes’ to discrimination against Palestinians within its boundaries (PNN).

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(29-11-06) – Stephen Howe, The Indpendent. The war of 1948 created Israel and destroyed Palestinian Arab society. Argument over that destruction has never ceased – continuously, often directly, reshaped by contemporary political developments. Ilan Pappe is surely wrong to suggest in this important, provocative book that the Palestinians’ fate has been “erased almost totally from the global public memory”. Rather, some ways of seeing it have been blocked, for political reasons and with great, sometimes vindictive energy, in particular places. The kind of view that Pappe presents has been held or maybe even heard only by a very small minority, in Israel and the US.

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(29-11-06) – Marty Rosen, Courier-Journal. Former President Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine – Peace Not Apartheid, reflects a lifetime of contemplation on the Middle East. Mixing memoir and policy, it recounts his youthful fascination with the Holy Lands, his long acquaintance with the political leaders who have shaped the modern history of the Arab and Israeli worlds, and it makes a strong case for renewed debate about the best path to peace in a long-troubled part of the world. In a telephone interview, Carter spoke in detail about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his hopes for peace. Here are his unedited responses.

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(29-11-06) – Daoud Kuttab, Ma’an. In the land where Jesus once walked, Palestinian Christians face extinction. With nearly 500,000 Palestinian Christians worldwide, only 170,000 remain in the Holy Land. They belong to 15 different churches, some still using Aramaic, the language Christ spoke. But the traditions of service and continuity of Christian communities in the very birthplace of Christianity may soon disappear. With its establishment in 1948, Israel drove nearly 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, among them 50,000 to 60,000 Christians. Some neighborhoods in Jerusalem where mostly Palestinian Christians lived, such as Qatamon, emptied overnight and were seized by Israel for newly-arrived Jewish immigrants.

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(29-11-06) – Ray Hanania, YNet. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said this week that he is prepared to grant Palestinians a state, release funds, and free prisoners. All he asked Palestinians to do is: Form a new government (the existing government doesn’t really exist); agree to international conditions such as the “Road Map” (which they have already basically done); and, release Gilad Shalit, the abducted Israeli soldier, (which is the right thing to do).

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(29-11-06) – Mike Whitney, Palestine Chronicle. The central tenet of American foreign policy hasn’t changed since the early 1980s when Secretary of State Henry Kissinger summarized our involvement in the Iraq-Iraq War saying, “I hope they kill each other.” Kissinger’s dictum reveals the basic racial and religious odium which animates the current policy and has become the organizing principle for maintaining the global empire. Now that the Muslim world has been systematically ravaged from the southern-most part of Gaza to the northern tip of Afghanistan, we can see that the application of the Kissinger Doctrine is an effective method for decimating societies where coveted resources are located. By all accounts, it’s been a huge success.

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(29-11-06) – Nadia Naser-Najjab, BitterLemons. I have been observing discussions in Ramallah for some time now, trying to understand what people think about the political situation in general and the Israeli aggression against Palestinians in particular. I have noticed that the majority discusses social and personal issues with minimal reference to political events. On the same day an elderly woman exploded herself near Israeli soldiers in Gaza I had friends over for dinner. When I raised the incident to my guests, none of them had heard about it, as they do not really watch the news, and no further discussion took place. Even when political issues are discussed the most common comment one hears is, `what can we do?

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(29-11-06) – Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star. When the leaders of Israel and Hamas in the same weekend offer each other long-term peace deals, you just know in your bones that we are passing through a potentially historic moment. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Israel was prepared to leave much of the Occupied Territories, release many Palestinian prisoners, remove many roadblocks and checkpoints, and restore the delivery of withheld tax funds that belong to the Palestinians. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, for his part, said in Cairo a day earlier that the Palestinians expected to see serious progress toward a Palestinian state in all the territories occupied in 1967, or else a third intifada would break out.

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(29-11-06) – James Badcock, Daily Star. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s set of proposals to break the seemingly interminable impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems doomed to failure – but not because there is anything in them that is wholly unreasonable. First, it would appear to be the wrong moment for any real progress to be made, with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government relatively weak. The second flaw, however, is one of Madrid’s own making, namely the botched manner in which the peace plan was sprung upon a divided international community.

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(29-11-06) – Editorial, Haaretz. The developments of the last few days are liable to arouse hope. The agreement on a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, together with the prime minister’s impressive speech in Sde Boker, could generate a new atmosphere in Israel’s relations with the Palestinians – an atmosphere that would enable the start of serious negotiations between the parties. Israel must not waste this rare window of opportunity.

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(29-11-06) – Shahar Ilan, Haaretz. The proposed new Citizenship Law and the Illegal Residents Law (Amendment No. 19 to the Entry into Israel Law) are so much alike that it begs the question of why both are being put forth. Both call for a dramatic closure of Israel’s gates to non-Jews, especially residents of the Palestinian Authority. Both tread a thin line between constitutionality and non-constitutionality. Both rely on non-demographic arguments but are clearly aimed largely at preserving the demographic balance. Both bills are being championed by the Attorney General’s Office and are likely to gain broad support in the Knesset.

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(29-11-06) – Amira Hass, Haaretz. For nearly a month now, a young Palestinian has been hospitalized at Beilinson Hospital; soldiers shot him at a checkpoint in northern Nablus on Saturday, November 4. Haitem Yassin, 25, is conscious now, but he is still hooked up to a respirator. In recent days, he has been suffering from a high fever, apparently caused by an infection in his abdomen, which was wounded in the shooting. His family is still waiting for a report from the hospital about the number or type of bullets that caused the serious injury.

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(29-11-06) – Norman G. Finkelstein, CounterPunch. How has Human Rights Watch responded to the challenge? It criticized Israel for destroying Gaza’s only electrical plant, and also called on Israel to “investigate” why its forces were targeting Palestinian medical personnel in Gaza and to “investigate” the Beit Hanoun massacre. On the other hand, it accused Palestinians of committing a “war crime” after they captured an Israeli soldier and offered to exchange him for Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails. (Israel was holding 10,000 Palestinians prisoner.) It demanded that Palestinians “bring an immediate end to the lawlessness and vigilante violence” in Gaza. (Compare Amira Hass’s words.) It issued a 101-page report chastising the Palestinian Authority for failing to protect women and girls. It called on the Palestinian Authority to take “immediate steps to halt” Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.

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(28-11-06) – Various, IMEMC.

– Audio – Palestine Today – November 28, 2006

– Israeli-planted minefield discovered in southern Lebanon

– International Academy of Art Palestine to launch Next Week

– Knesset Foreign and Security Committee criticizes ceasefire

– Detainees facing harsh living and health condition in Be’er Shiva and Nafha prisons

– Army uproots trees to install a Wall section near Bethlehem

– Israeli forces kill woman as she attempts to save man bleeding at her doorstep

– Haniyya leaves Gaza on his first tour as a Prime Minister

– 21 taken prisoner and three are injured in the West Bank

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(28-11-06) – Various, Ma’an.

– Hamas ministers accused of doing the same as Fatah once did: only appointing employees from their party

– Fatah’s armed wing reveal ‘Jund-1’ projectiles in Nablus

– Undercover Israeli forces seize an Al-Aqsa Brigades’ member in Qabatiya

– Israel’s Negev 2015 plan will only benefit Jews, the Adalah legal centre reveals

– Al Aqsa Brigades say they will comply with the truce

– Israeli army invades town of As-Samu’ in southern West Bank

– Israeli army besieges the Jenin governorate, arrests ten from same family

– Public sector strike will continue till our demands are met, union says

– Israeli MK criticises Israel’s collective racism towards its Arab citizens

– PPSF denounces Israeli court decision to legalise the separation wall in East Jerusalem

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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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(28-11-06) – Norman G. Finkelstein, via JewsSansFrontiers. Levi9909 writes: I haven’t looked at Norman Finkelstein’s site for a while but a friend of mine told me that the Dershowitz letters saga has hotted up again. This is where Alan Dershowitz has denied that he tried to get Finkelstein’s book, Beyond Chutzpah, banned from publication… It is simple to resolve definitively whether Dershowitz attempted to suppress publication of my book. Dershowitz alleges that he has “released the letters” he wrote my publisher. Not quite. He has never released the letters his lawyers at Cravath, Swaine & Moore wrote my publisher. He has never released the letter he wrote Governor Schwarzenegger. Readers interested in learning the truth should request these letters from Dershowitz: dersh@law.harvard.edu. If what he’s saying is true, Dershowitz has nothing to hide. Please cc my [ie Finkelstein’s] web site a copy of your letter and his reply (if any).

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(28-11-06) – Debate, Democracy Now! “Today, we’ll spend the rest of the program with two leading Palestinian-American voices. Both have new books on the Israel Palestine conflict. Joining me here in our firehouse studio, is Rashid Khalidi, He is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies and director of Middle East Studies Institute at the Columbia University. His new book is called The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood. Also in the studio is Ali Abunimah, founder of The Electronic Intifada website and author of the new book One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse“.

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(28-11-06) – Sam Bahour, via Occupation Magazine. The Ed. of OM notes… The following is a translation of a piece of hate mail received by Yesh Gvul – an organization of Israeli men who refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories. I posted this letter after some debate with the OM Editors – since some of them argued – “why advertise hate mail?”` But in my view it is important to know what kind of beliefs have penetrated the Israeli mainstream, and to get a glimpse into the current spirit of corps within the `most moral army`. As for the adjectives used by the author for Yesh Gvul, an old wise Jewish saying comes into one`s mind: “The condemner condemns himself”.

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(28-11-06) – Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters. Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal’s latest remarks on conditions for peace in the Middle East did not signal any change in the Islamist group’s fundamental refusal to accept the existence of the state of Israel, analysts said. “Hamas believes the presence of Israel is something that is not permanent … and it is possible that in the end, it can be contained within a Palestinian state,” said Mustafa Assawaf, a Palestinian expert on Islamist groups.

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(28-11-06) – Rashid A. Shahin, Ma’an. Following this settlement scandal, which was revealed by the Peace Now activists, whom I salute and thank for their efforts in this regard, what are the Palestinian owners supposed to do? What will all the Palestinian legislative bodies do? And finally, what will the Palestinian Authority (PA) do? Personally, I think there is a lot to do in this regard if the intention is there, especially by the PA. Instead of keeping the Palestinians busy by forming a new government – which seems to be faced by endless obstacles preventing its formation – somebody should take action, especially after the stagnant water was moved by the group, Peace Now.

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(28-11-06) – Editorial, Daily Star. It was not as detailed or as generous as most Palestinians would have preferred, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s rhetorical overture on Monday was certainly more than many observers had been expecting. Merely by ending his refusal to openly consider the massive prisoner swap that has been discussed behind closed doors for months, for instance, Olmert gave the impression of having adopted a more realistic view of his government’s relationship with the people on whose land his country was established. Although the real test of Israeli intentions will come when the two sides sit down to negotiate, every effort should be made to avoid and/or prevent actions that might delay that test.

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(28-11-06) – Yossi Sarid, Haaretz. Marwan Barghouti is not going anywhere. He is sitting in Hadarim Prison and serving five life sentences, to which he was sentenced by a civil court. “Informed sources” made sure to publicize the fact that there is no chance of releasing him in the context of the deal for exchanging prisoners and kidnapped soldiers – the deal that will free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The Israeli government does not agree to release Barghouti, and that’s final. And that is another of its mistakes.

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(28-11-06) – Liam Bailey, Palestine Chronicle. The biggest shock in operation “Autumn Rains” is the strength of the Gaza Palestinians resolve. Operation Autumn Clouds has so far been very similar to all Israeli operations against its Palestinian occupants in recent times, openly disproportionate, extremely indiscriminate against civilians, disregarding of International Law in the hope of breaking their enemies resolve and unsuccessful in their aims. Do Israel’s leaders still think that if they kill enough civilians, especially children, eventually the Palestinian majority, those not active in the resistance will say enough is enough and pressure the terrorists to stop attacking Israel… a strategy that’s past causes its future failure?

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(28-11-06) – Sam Bahour, Baltimore Chronicle. The Palestinian refugees symbolize the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The refugee problem has its roots in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which ended in the mass displacement of over 750,000 Palestinian Arabs (approximately half of the Arab population). According to historical accounts of the War, including from recent Israeli historians, Jewish Zionist forces precipitated the flight of the Palestinian Arabs as part of a campaign of population transfer. The nascent State of Israel subsequently enacted laws to expropriate the refugees’ property and bar their return. The refugees were left homeless and destitute, mostly dependent on foreign aid for survival. The subsequent Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip resulted in the further displacement of around 200,000 Palestinians.

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(27-11-06) – Various, IMEMC.

– Audio – Palestine Today – November 26, 2006

– Islamic Jihad members taken prisoner near Jenin

– Hamas fires head of Na’lin municipality and his assistant for visiting a West Bank settlement

– Haniyya to meet Egyptian officials in Cairo Tuesday

– Islamic Jihad demands rejecting any truce that does not include the West Bank

– Fighter and woman killed near Jenin

– Due to Israeli Closure, Palestine volleyball team can not join the Doha Asiad

– PA Gov’t to Spend 50 K for Christmas decoration in Bethlehem

– Israeli court rejects petitions to change route of Jerusalem Wall

– Settlers attack and injure one child in Hebron

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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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(27-11-06) – Gideon Alon, Haaretz. “I pin direct responsibility on the government of Israel. It should have returned the Gaza Strip under an agreement. When [former prime minister Ariel] Sharon raised the idea of a unilateral withdrawal, I was opposed, because in carrying out that move they made the Gaza Strip into a gigantic prison destined for catastrophe. Instead of a unilateral move we could have reached an agreement with Abu Mazen, but the government of Israel preferred to ignore him.”.

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(27-11-06) – Danny Rubinstein, Haaretz. If Meshal brings about the release of 1,400 prisoners in return for Shalit, and the establishment of a government that does not explicitly recognize Israel, this will be a clear message that Abu Mazen and the veteran Fatah and PLO activists have been selling Palestinian interests far too cheaply: They have recognized Israel without any serious quid pro quo, and because of their groveling policies, tens of thousands of Palestinians are today languishing in Israeli jails without any chance of being released.

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(27-11-06) – Kathleen and Bill Christison, CounterPunch. During an appearance in late October on Ireland’s Pat Kenny radio show [Ed. Mp3], a popular national program broadcast daily on Ireland’s RTE Radio, we were asked as the opening question if Israel could be compared to Nazi Germany. Not across the board, we said, but there are certainly some aspects of Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians that bear a clear resemblance to the Nazis’ oppression. Do you mean the wall, Kenny prompted, and we agreed, describing the ghettoization and other effects of this monstrosity. Before we could elaborate on other Nazi-like features of Israel’s policies, Kenny moved on to another question. Within minutes, while we were still on the air, a producer handed Kenny a note, which we later learned was a request from the newly arrived Israeli ambassador to Ireland to appear on the show, by himself. Several days later, on the air by himself, the ambassador pronounced us and our comparisons of Israeli and Nazi policies “outrageous”.

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(27-11-06) – Christiane Passevant and Larry Portis, CounterPunch. The refusnik movement is one of the few encouraging developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Given the overwhelming support of Western governments to a Jewish fundamentalist state, and especially the billions of dollars in annual financial aid given by the United States government and used in the Zionist project for the ethnic cleansing of occupied Palestine, the growing refusal of Israelis to participate in this monstrosity needs to be better known. Yes, there are anti-Zionist Israelis, those who understand that only by adapting to their Middle-East environment can the conditions for future peace and harmony with Arabs be established.

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(27-11-06) – Daoud Kuttab, AMIN. A little over a year ago, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn, Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz, the PA’s Muhammad Dahlan and the EU reached an agreement to allow Palestinians free movement in and out of the Gaza Strip. The Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) signed on November 15, 2005 promised Palestinians freedom of movement of people and goods. A detailed fact sheet published by the Palestinian Monitoring Group shows that since last year, none of the agreement’s provisions have been fully implemented by Israel.

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(27-11-06) – M. Shahid Alam, Palestine Chronicle. Zionist historiography describes the emergence of Israel as a triumph over Europe’s centuries-old anti-Semitism…It is tempting to celebrate the creation of Israel as a great triumph, perhaps the greatest in Jewish history. Indeed, the history of Israel has often been read as the heroic saga of a people marked for extinction, who emerged from Nazi death camps – from Auschwitz, Belzec and Treblinka – to establish their own state in 1948, a Jewish haven and a democracy that has prospered even as it has defended itself valiantly against unceasing Arab threats and aggression. Without taking away anything from the sufferings of European Jews, I will insist that this way of thinking about Israel – apart from its mythologizing – has merit only as a partisan narrative.

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(27-11-06) – Dr. Bill Dienst, LiveFromPalestine. The besieged residents of Beit Hanoun suffered widespread collective punishment, such as a cut off of electricity and water. House to house searches were conducted, and males over the age of 16 years were summarily rounded up, imprisoned and interrogated. Many families were forced to huddle into rooms away from windows because Israeli snipers were on the rooftops killing people.

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(27-11-06) – Joharah Baker, MIFTAH. This is deja-vu for many Palestinians. The most recent truce, declared by President Mahmoud Abbas on November 25 seems to be reflecting a time and place we have visited before and several times over. While everyone involved – the government, factions and people – are expressing their guarded optimism over whether this time, the fragile truce will finally stick, past experiences are the best indicators of future events, especially when the major points of contention are still firmly in place.

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(27-11-06) – Jonathan Scott, Black Agenda Report. There is a startling abundance of empirical evidence documenting Israel’s “niggerization” of the Palestinians, from the various studies conducted by international human rights organizations to local Palestinian and Israeli monitoring groups, who document meticulously everything from daily torture in Israeli prisons, water theft and house demolitions, to racial profiling, harassment and physical assault at military checkpoints, collective punishment and the systematic use of “administrative detention” (imprisoning a person without charge or evidence) as a means of incarcerating a whole generation of rebellious Palestinian youth, in other words, those who have rejected the “niggerization” process.

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(27-11-06) – Editorial, Daily Star. Sunday’s implementation of a fragile cease-fire between Israel and most Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip demonstrates how quickly progress can be achieved when actors on both sides refuse to be held hostage by those who insist on using violence. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert broke no new intellectual ground when he acknowledged that his military strategy has failed utterly to prevent Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza, but the realization nonetheless constitutes a breakthrough of sorts.

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(27-11-06) – Patrick Seale, Gulf News. Two men called Ayalon have achieved considerable prominence in Israel. I do not know whether they are brothers, cousins or more distant relatives but, at any rate, although they have the same name, their views differ widely. One is a hardliner, the other a peacenik, which is a reminder that Israeli opinion is far from monolithic. This, in itself, is reason to hope that some form of Arab-Israeli understanding may one day be reached.

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(27-11-06) – Tarif Abboushi, Houston Chronicle. Like the Syrian Moukhabarat, Israel’s secret intelligence agency, the Mossad (whose motto is “By way of deception thou shalt do war”), has a track record that evidences means in Lebanon. As far back as the early 1970s an Israeli reporter, Raphael Rothstein, revealed that the assassination in Beirut of Ghassan Kanafani, the editor of the weekly newspaper of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, had been carried out under Operation God’s Wrath, a Mossad campaign targeting Palestinian resistance leaders. More recently, the 2002 assassination of Elie Hobeika, a Lebanese militia leader killed a day after agreeing to testify in a war crimes case brought in Belgium against then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, left many in Lebanon accusing the Mossad of the crime.

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(27-11-06) – Gershom Gorenberg, LA Times. The revelation that much of the West Bank land for settlements is owned by Palestinians damages Israel’s self-image as a country of laws… The irony is this: The bulldozers used to build settlements have extended Israel’s de facto control of territory. Yet, at the same time, they have weakened Israel as a state built on the rule of law — the kind of state that its truest patriots have sought to create. The Peace Now report is certain to sharpen, not end, the arguments about who owns which specific pieces of real estate. But the overall lesson of history remains clear: Difficult as dismantling the settlement enterprise will be, it is essential not only for a diplomatic solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is needed to restore Israel to itself.

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(27-11-06) – Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom. During the first Lebanon war, I visited Jounieh, a town some 20 km north of Beirut. At the time, it served as a port for the Christian forces. It was an exciting evening. In spite of the war raging in nearby Beirut, Jounieh was full of life. The Christian elite spent the day in the sun-drenched marina, the women lounging in bikinis, the men slugging whisky. The three of us (myself and two young women from my editorial staff – a correspondent and a photographer) were the only Israelis in town, and so we were feted. Everybody invited us onto their yachts, and one rich couple insisted that we come to their home as guests of a family celebration.

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(27-11-06) – Jeff Halper, ICAHD. Let’s be honest (for once): The problem in the Middle East is not the Palestinian people, not Hamas, not the Arabs, not Hezbollah or the Iranians or the entire Muslim world. It’s us, the Israelis. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the single greatest cause of instability, extremism and violence in our region, is perhaps the simplest conflict in the world to resolve. For almost 20 years, since the PLO’s recognition of Israel within the 1949 Armistice Lines (the “Green Line” separating Israel from the West Bank and Gaza), every Palestinian leader, backed by large majorities of the Palestinian population, has presented Israel with a most generous offer: A Jewish state on 78% of Israel/Palestine in return for a Palestinian state on just 22% – the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. In fact, this is a proposition supported by a large majority of both the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.

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(24-11-06) – Various, IMEMC.

– Qassam member killed by Israeli sharpshooter in Beit Lahia

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(24-11-06) – Various, Ma’an.

– PM Haniyeh: My resignation is based on several conditions

– Distribution of ministries between Hamas and Fatah is the main obstacle to a unity government

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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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(24-11-06) – Report, Christian Peacemaker Teams. CPT’s weekly update on Israeli military and settler actions in Occupied Hebron.

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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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(24-11-06) – Rob Winder, Al Jazeera. Uri Avnery is an Israeli institution. Born Helmut Ostermann in 1923 in Germany to a wealthy Jewish family, he has been involved in Israeli politics for nearly 70 years. A committed Zionist as a young man, he became involved in an underground Jewish organisation that carried out acts of violence against British troops during their control of Palestine. By the age of 20 he had renounced violence and Zionism and he became an early advocate of a Palestinian state.

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(24-11-06) – Rob Winder, Daily Star. Lives proscribed, Palestinian artists narrate the culture of occupation through diaries posted online… For the last decade Emily Jacir has been recognized for the passion and ingenuity with which she renders the raw material of the Palestinian condition into art. She has a bushel of international awards, group and solo shows in the US, Europe and the Middle East to show for it. Jacir has chosen to divide her time between Ramallah and New York, and it’s been noted that her most affecting work takes up the theme of movement – voluntary and coerced – between places and cultures.

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(24-11-06) – Lenni Brenner, Letter via Jews Sans Frontiers. Here’s a letter from Lenni Brenner to the Jewish Chronicle. Bolded are the bits that the Chronicle left out… Your 10/11 article re January performances of Perdition, Jim Allen’s 1987 play about Zionist collaboration with the Nazis in 1944 Hungary, says that it was “inspired” by my book, Zionism in the Age of the Dictators [Ed. Read the whole book online], and that I’ve challenged historian David Cesarani to “a discussion about the play’s Zionist-Nazi relations.” I now learn from your journal that he scorns the proposed debate as a “publicity stunt.” Indeed such an event would command attention, but to his Becoming Eichmann. Perdition is already one of the most discussed plays in British history.

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(24-11-06) – Ramzy Baroud, Al Ahram. The Democrats’ ascendancy within the US Congress could signal the regaining by the public, of its country’s direction. The astounding results of the US Congressional elections of 7 November were undoubtedly a welcome sign of change, not in the American political apparatus, inasmuch as it is in the unmistakable reclamation by the public of its role as the driving force which shapes the nation’s political posture. This having been said, one must not confuse the redefining of the public relevance to political discourse and processes, with the political machination and platforms entrusted with translating the people’s will, grievances or aspirations into action. The early signs are not promising however, and suggest that for any practical change to be achieved and consolidated, public awareness and engagement must, for their part, be neither marginalised nor relegated.

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(24-11-06) – Galal Nassar, Al Ahram. Arab countries can make as many reasonable demands as they want but unless they have a credible course of action when those demands are not met they will never be taken seriously…The peace process was “dead”, declared a gathering of Arab foreign ministers following the recent war in Lebanon. It died because it was left at Israel’s mercy and must be revived through the intercession of the UN Security Council (UNSC), the ministers said in a meeting in Cairo on 20 August. They promised to urge the UNSC to meet in September and discuss a formula for settling the Arab-Israeli conflict within a fixed timetable and backed up with international guarantees.

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(24-11-06) – Alexander Cockburn, CounterPunch. Democrats, put in charge of Congress next January by voters who turned against the war, are now split on what to do. The 80 or so members of the House who favor swift withdrawal got a swift rebuff when Steny Hoyer won the House Majority leader position at a canter from Jack Murtha, humiliating House majority whip Nancy Pelosi in the process. But there are still maneuvers to have Murtha capture a significant role in brokering the rapid exit strategy he stunned Washington by advocating a year ago.

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(24-11-06) – Jonathan Cook, CounterPunch. Unlike my colleagues, I do not claim to know who killed Gemayel. Maybe Syria was behind the shooting. Maybe, in Lebanon’s notoriously intrigue-ridden and fractious political system, someone with a grudge against Gemayel – even from within his own party – pulled the trigger. Or maybe, Israel once again flexed the muscles of its long arm in Lebanon. It seems, however, as if the last possibility cannot be entertained in polite society. So let me offer a few impolite thoughts.

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(24-11-06) – Yossi Alpher, Daily Star. Hamas’ conditions for a long-term hudna or truce, as relayed by a few Israelis who have met with relatively low-ranking Hamas officials, are almost too good to be true. A refugee right of return and Jerusalem can wait for some other process; Hamas will accept the 1967 borders, more or less, and in return will guarantee peace and quiet for 10, 25 or 30 years of good neighborly relations and confidence-building.

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(24-11-06) – Yossi Sarid, Haaretz. Defense Minister Amir Peretz has to go home. This is clear. But why does Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – who appointed Peretz as defense minister and cooked up the stew together with him – have to stay? This is not clear. Olmert and Peretz are both suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. How else can their behavior be explained? The occupational therapy since the war has not helped, the ambulatory treatment has been to no avail and far more aggressive clinical procedures are needed.

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(24-11-06) – Walid Salem, Palestine Chronicle. The National unity Government might not come! Opposite to the optimism that was till the last week, the Palestinian Unity Government might not come to existence, five points about the Government are agreed upon between Hamas and Fatah, while the important other four points are still problematic.

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(24-11-06) – Lorna Fitzsimons, The Guardian. [Ed. LOL! Alert – Manages to link pro-Palestinians with ‘Al Qaeda’ propaganda, creates historical fiction, and of course trots out the old ‘Israel’s willing to compromise for peace’ li[n]e – which is why the Israeli state has rejected two Hamas olive branches in as many weeks, not to mention the Spain-France initiative] Some said I should have my head examined after I agreed to become the chief executive of a pro-Israel advocacy group, the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre. There is never a wrong time to do the right thing and if, like me, you are convinced of Israel’s cause, then why not support Israel and why not now? I have never been more concerned about the false reality many people are constructing around Israel and the Middle East, here and abroad. Our polling shows that opinion formers know that Israel is a fully functioning democracy, but care more about what Israel does than what Israel is.

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