Total blockade of Gaza hits seventh day
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 12 Apr — With a truce holding and calm restored in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces informed Gaza crossings officials that terminals would remain closed, citing only “security reasons.” Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said he was not told when goods transport would resume for Gaza, adding that the closure meant no goods had entered Gaza for a week.
Israel keeps Gaza goods crossing shut despite truce
GAZA, April 12 (Reuters) – Israel kept a commercial crossing with Hamas-ruled Gaza shut for a seventh day on Tuesday although a truce had stopped cross-border fighting, and a UN official said he was “extremely worried” essential supplies may run out. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which provides aid to more than two thirds of Gaza’s population of 1.5 million, said 172 truckloads of oil, sugar and flour were waiting to cross into the impoverished coastal territory. Christopher Gunness, an UNRWA spokesman, said he was “extremely worried” the commercial crossing at Kerem Shalom might not reopen before the Jewish Passover holiday begins on Monday evening, a time when Israel often shuts its crossings with Palestinian territories, citing security concerns.
Gaza officials: 4 Palestinians suffocate in tunnel
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) 12 Apr — Gaza officials say four Palestinians have suffocated while trying to repair a smuggling tunnel hit in an Israeli airstrike last week … Hamas and Gaza health officials said the four Palestinians died Tuesday as they worked underground. In the past three years, about 160 workers have been killed in the tunnels, human rights groups say.
2 million flowers in Gaza to rot if crossings not opened
GAZA, (PIC) 12 Apr — Heads of the flower and berry societies, agricultural relief workers and farmers met on Tuesday to discuss the impacts of Israel’s closure of Gaza crossings on the export of wild flowers and berries to foreign markets. Two million flowers are stored in refrigerators waiting to be exported to foreign markets in addition to vast tracts of flowers which have not been harvested and are prone to damage.
And more news from Today in Palestine:
Gaza truce
Gaza calm may be fragile and brief, Israeli defense officials warn
Haaretz 12 Apr 03:08 — South calm on Monday as no rockets or mortars were fired from Gaza; Air Force plans to move two Iron Dome batteries following cabinet decision to place system near cities within range of Grads.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/gaza-calm-may-be-fragile-and-brief-israeli-defense-officials-warn-1.355428
Israel speeds up third Iron Dome battery in wake of Gaza attacks
Haaretz 12 Apr 18:38 — Additional anti-missile system would be ready in 6 months; recent rocket, mortar volleys also prompt Netanyahu to OK shelters for Ashkelon educational institutions.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-speeds-up-third-iron-dome-battery-in-wake-of-gaza-attacks-1.355578
Israel criticizes Arab League call for a no-fly zone over Gaza
MEMO 12 Apr — …Israeli spokesperson Ofir Gendelman told the Palestinian Authority-owned news agency that the government’s position on the Arab League’s request is attributed to the fact that it comes despite a UN, American, and European consensus condemning Palestinian rocket attacks in the south of the 1948-occupied territories. “Will the Arab League request a no-fly zone to block the missiles fired from Gaza on Israeli cities?” asked Gendelman.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2236-israel-criticizes-arab-league-call-for-a-no-fly-zone-over-gaza
Condition of teen injured in rocket attack on bus worsens
Ynet 12 Apr — Doctors say Daniel still comatose, shows no sign of brain activity; add all medical measures exhausted … Sixteen year old Daniel Wipliech, who was seriously injured in last week’s rocket attack on an Israeli school bus in southern Israel, has taken a turn for the worse.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4055801,00.html
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Judaization / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Al Maqdesi: 200 demolition orders in J’lem since 2011 started
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 12 Apr — Al-Maqdesi foundation for society development said the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) have issued since the start of this year no less than 200 demolition orders against Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem. In a report, Al-Maqdesi highlighted some of the Israeli violations that happened during this year or would happen in east Jerusalem … The IOA forced a Palestinian family from Sur Baher district to demolish its own home so as to avoid paying 140, 000 shekels as demolition expenses.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/al-maqdesi-200-demolition-orders-in-jlem-since-2011-started/
Palestinian teen arrested while washing his car in Silwan
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 12 Apr — A Palestinian teenager was attacked by Israeli troops yesterday in Silwan while washing his car, provoking clashes between residents and Israeli forces. While Israeli police attest that Muath Sheyukhi, 18, had been throwing stones and empty bottles at Israeli troops, the claim has been contested by a large number of witnesses, who state that the young man had not engaged in any provocation. Sheyuki was, say witnesses, simply washing his car outside the cafe in which he works when Israeli forces attacked him and brought him in for interrogation at Salah Al-Din Street Station.
http://silwanic.net/?p=14688
Violent confrontations in Silwan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 12 Apr — Violent confrontations took place in the town of Silwan in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday between the Israeli occupation forces and locals. Local sources said that the raiding troops fired gas canisters at random and insulted women, which provoked the inhabitants and led to the confrontations. They noted that the Israeli soldiers assaulted four women with batons. The sources said that a number of citizens were injured in the clashes, one of them seriously. They noted that the soldiers beat up a young man who was standing in front of his shop until he fainted then arrested him while unconscious.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
AIC Video: Apartheid and resistance in Nuaman
12 Apr — Al Nuaman is a Palestinian village in southeast Jerusalem. Israel annexed it to Jerusalem in 1967, yet its people weren’t given Jerusalem residency rights. Today, the residents of Al Nuaman continue to fight for the right to remain on their lands.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/3513-aic-video-apartheid-and-resistance-in-nuaman
Islamic-Christian commission warns of serious Judaization plan in J’lem
[photo] OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 12 Apr — The Islamic-Christian commission for the support of Jerusalem and holy sites revealed a comprehensive Israeli plan to Judaize the entire old city of occupied Jerusalem. Secretary-general of the commission Hasan Khater told a news conference on Monday that this Judaization plan is real and has been put into action. He said the plan targets streets, allies, roads, landmarks and all Arab architectural features inside the old city of Jerusalem and includes changing their names, removing them, implanting icons and symbols inside their walls such as the alleged star of David. Pictures were shown in the conference as proof of the Judaization that is going on in the old city of Jerusalem.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
from January 2008:
Video: Digging for trouble
Are Israeli settlers taking control of archaeological digs to manipulate history and consolidate claims to Palestinian land? Some Israeli archaeologists are starting to speak out. The Palestinian village of Silwan is located just below the ancient City of David, in the heart of Jerusalem. Archaeological digs here are under the control of the right wing group, ELAD. The constant threat of demolition hovers over people’s houses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRNAJCHxa7w
APN: Facts on the ground
Welcome to the Americans for Peace Now map. You can use this map to explore the data we have collected about settlement activity in the West Bank. The map is organized in several layers that show different kinds of data. In the Layer Selector, you can click on the headings to view different areas of the map with pre-selected sets of layers. Or, you can turn on or off individual layers to customize your view. When you select an individual settlement, we’ll show you the data that we’ve collected about it, such as the year it was established and its population.
http://peacenow.org/map.php
Netanyahu backs construction in Itamar
Ynet 12 Apr — Political sources say prime minister intent on keeping promise to residents of West Bank settlement, which suffered gruesome murder, despite possible international backlash. Plans still require Barak’s approval … Last week urban building schemes were approved for a number of West Bank settlements, including Nofim, Rotem, and Hemda, effectively setting a precedent for the approval of construction plans there.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4055601,00.html
Settlers continue seizing land, uprooting trees in West Bank
WEST BANK, (WAFA) 11 Apr — …In Tubas, Head of the Al-Malih and Bedouin Communities in the Jordan Valley, Aref Daraghmeh, said that settlers of ‘Rotem’ Settlement, built on Tubas’s land, seized land in the northern Jordan Valley and In Tubas governate, and planted them with olive trees to prove they own these lands, although the Palestinians have legal papers of their ownership to these lands … In Hebron, Spokesman of the National Committee Against the Wall and settlement in Beit Ummar, Mohammed Awad, told WAFA that Israeli forces and settlers of ‘Bat Ayin’ settlement, attacked Palestinians and their property in Beit Ummar, a village northwest of Hebron, uprooted more than 45 olive trees and declared it as a closed military zone. Witnesses told WAFA that settlers protected by Israeli soldiers and police today, also broke into Hebron Cemetery, adjacent to the ‘Shuhada’ Street, in Hebron city, and wrote racist slogans on the walls … In Salfit, Israeli forces uprooted and seized olive trees in an area near Bassa spring, west of Deir Istiya town. According to mayor of Deir Istiya, Nazmi Salman, an Israeli bulldozer accompanied by a military force uprooted 19 olive trees owned by Qasim Mansur and took them away. He said that Israeli settlers from the ‘Amoni’l settlement, which is built on Deir Istiya land, drowned the entrance of Wadi Qana with wastewater.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=15862
IOF arrests minor, settlers uproot olive trees in tense West Bank
AL-KHALIL, (PIC) 12 Apr — Tensions ran high in the West Bank on Monday as Israeli soldiers raided several areas in Al-Khalil province arresting seven youths, among them a 17-year-old minor. Four of those detainees, including the minor, were arrested in the West Bank town of Beit Ummer north of Al-Khalil, while other Israeli forces arrested one Palestinian man southwest of the city in the Al-Fawar refugee camp after searching his home. Another man was taken near his home in the Dewaya district in the Old City after being brutalized.
In a separate incident, a group of Jewish settlers raided and then desecrated a Muslim cemetery in downtown Al-Khalil near Shuhada Street as they shouted racial slurs and claimed the graveyard was situated in a Jewish district of the city. Witnesses claimed they did so as Israel soldiers and police provided protection. The Israel occupation force (IOF) raided several other cities across the West Bank later that night.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/iof-arrests-minor-settlers-uproot-olive-trees-in-tense-west-bank/
Settler council: Netanyahu’s West Bank pullout plan radiates panic
Haaretz 12 Apr — The Yesha Council of Settlers reacted angrily Tuesday to a Haaretz report detailing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for a West Bank [IDF] withdrawal as part of a diplomatic initiative to counter an impending unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/settler-council-netanyahu-s-west-bank-pullout-plan-radiates-panic-1.355535
Awarta
Videos: Awarta – 1 month under siege, collective punishment beneath the blanket of world’s silence and ignorance
12 Apr — For an impression of the violence some pictures, as pictures say more than a thousand words:
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/awarta-1-month-under-siege-collective-punishment-beneath-the-blanket-of-worlds-silence-ignorance/
Awarta raided overnight, 5 more detained
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 12 Apr — Concern is mounting for the residents of Awarta, as 71 villagers including a teenage girl and two elderly women remain held in Israeli custody without charge, and official visits to ensure their well being were prevented by Israeli forces. Three Palestinians from the village who were living in Ramallah were detained from their homes there overnight, as their relatives in Awarta, including two brothers, were detained during an overnight raid. From Awarta, Hasan Awwad, deputy mayor of the village, and his brother Salah, a local journalist, were both detained … Rights group Addameer said that one group of soldiers held the family of Jibril Awad captive in their home until 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. A statement from the organization said soldiers rounded 20 members of the family into a single room of the home, and during an apparent search destroyed internal walls of the home, broke furniture and uprooted trees around the house to set up clear lines of view. Those kept in the room for hours included 10 children and a pregnant woman, the group said … Umm Adam, detained by Israeli forces on April 6, said she and her 80-year-old husband were taken in to the Huwwara military base for questioning. “An interrogator accused me about the murdering of five settlers in Itamar. I answered him that I am a 70-year-old sick woman, that it would be fanciful to believe that I could have been involved … then they took my fingerprints and released me four hours later in the early morning cold,” she said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=377850
Why are the security forces detaining hundreds in Awarta? / Yossi Gurvitz
+972 12 Apr — Former IDF Chief Rabbi calls for collective punishment of Palestinian villages in the West Bank — In 1990, I was serving as an operations sergeant in the Dir El Balah — a town in the Gaza Strip — in the so-called Civil Administration … One night — I think it was the second morning following the incident — our two regular GSS officers showed up with an old man and a child, aged five to six years. The child was blindfolded. His trousers were wet with urine. They told me to watch over the child. I fed him out of a tuna-salad-with-tomato-sauce can. He was there for a rather simple reason: He was the brother of the missing suspect, and the investigators informed his family that should the suspect not turn himself in, they would ship the child to the Ansar detainees camp; there was no need detailing what will happen to him there. It worked. The brother turned himself in the following day … The IDF keeps terrorizing Awarta, the village from which it claims the murderer(s) of the Fogel family came from … Arresting almost a thousand people is no way to run a serious investigation. Nobody thinks such a wave of arrests can actually promote an investigation; it is more likely to drown the few investigators in a sea of information they cannot corroborate … So what’s going on? I suspect that what happened in Dir El Balah in 1990 now takes place in Awarta. The detaining, particularly of women, is intended to terrorize the suspects and make them turn themselves in.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/why-are-the-security-forces-detaining-hundreds-in-awarta/
Israel blocks Fayyad from West Bank village
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 11 Apr 21:30 — Israeli authorities on Sunday prevented the Palestinian Authority premier from visiting a village in the northern West Bank that has been the target of sweeping arrest raids since the murder of an Israeli family. Salam Fayyad was scheduled to make a visit to Awarta … He planned to visit Awarta to express solidarity with residents and hold a general meeting with villagers at a town hall to learn about the wide-scale arrest campaign and interrogations since the murders in Itamar. Awarta is in “Area B” of the West Bank, meaning it is theoretically administered under a joint Israeli-Palestinian security regime, according to the terms of the Oslo Accords.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=377761
Detention
IOA holds MP Badr in administrative detention
AL-KHALIL, (PIC) 12 Apr — The Israeli military court in Ofer sentenced Palestinian lawmaker Mohammed Maher Badr to six months administrative detention, without any charge. Badr’s lawyer said that he was moved from Etzion detention center to Ofer for the trial hearing then he would be moved to Negev desert prison. The Israeli occupation forces detained Badr on the first of April to join six other lawmakers re-arrested from Al-Khalil. The Israeli occupation authority is now holding 13 Palestinian MPs in its custody including ten affiliated with Hamas, two with Fatah, and one with the popular front for the liberation of Palestine.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Week 3: Akram Mansour – Palestinian political prisoner
MEMO 11 Apr — …Akram Mansour was born in the city of Qalqilya in 1962, one of a family of fifteen. He was educated in UNRWA schools but had to leave early due to hard living conditions; he worked with his father on construction sites. Prisoner Akram was known for his good personal qualities throughout his early years; he was very loving and compassionate and spared no effort in helping others. His passion for his homeland saw him join the Palestinian resistance movement at an early age, unknown to any of his friends or family. On 2nd August 1979 he was detained by the Israelis for his role in seizing an Israeli bus in response to a major Israeli military incursion [in Lebanon – Litani]. See more about him in his own words here
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/reports-and-publications/2229-week-3-akram-mansour-palestinian-political-prisoner
Activism / Solidarity / BDS
Palestinian activists reclaim Arabic street names in Jerusalem
AIC 12 Apr — Activists from Jerusalem Horizons hit the streets of the Jabel Mukabber neighborhood in East Jerusalem on Saturday, 9 April, and put up nine street signs in Arabic and English … “Our main goal is to educate the people about the importance of maintaining the original Arab names,” Fakhri Abu-Diab, a resident of East Jerusalem’s Silwan and board member of Jerusalem Horizons, told The Media Line. “I fear the day my son will come home using the Hebrew name for a site.”
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/3514-palestinian-activists-reclaim-arabic-street-names-in-jerusalem-
Rachel Corrie trial: Stopping bulldozer work not an option despite risk to protesters
Rachel Corrie Foundation 11 Apr — Deputy Battalion Commander says avoiding precedent influenced decision not to stop — Deputy Battalion Commander Sh.R, a Major responsible for overseeing 450-500 soldiers in Gaza, said he was located about 1 ½ kilometers from the scene at the army’s Liaison Unit with Foreign Forces (Yaklaz), and that although the bulldozer work was under the direct ground supervision of Captain S.R., he was in a position to influence the work and was ultimately responsible for the decisions made that day. This was significant because in the preceding hearing, Captain S.R., a Bedouin officer who testified earlier in the week, told the court he requested to halt his work because of the presence of the protesters, and potential danger to them, but received orders to continue.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/04/17575/
Campaign against PA purchase of palm seedlings from settlement
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 11 Apr — The “Save the Valley” campaign has called on de facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and his premier Salam Fayyad to stop purchasing palm seedlings from Jewish settlements. Coordinator of the campaign Fathi Khudairat said in a press release that officials of the PA in Ramallah were paying million of dollars to buy thousands of palm seedlings from Jewish settlements at a time they claim to be championing boycott of those settlements’ products.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Palestinian truck driver working on the Wall construction attacks French photographer
Bethlehem – PNN/Exclusive 12 Apr — “I was taking pictures, as I normally do, when this driver attacked me ,” A.Q., a French woman working in Palestine for the past five years, told PNN on Tuesday … After taking some picture of trucks leaving and entering the construction site, a truck driver walked up to A.Q. and struck her hands, in attempt to try and take her camera.” … Most of the wall Israel is building around the West Bank is being constructed by Palestinian workers; human rights groups and activists are calling on the Palestinian Authority to make it illegal to work on both the wall and settlement construction; last year the PA made it illegal for Palestinians to buy or sell settlement products, a move that activists welcomed and asked to be repeated for those working in the settlements and the Israeli wall.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9884&Itemid=63
Israel to Turkey: Help us thwart upcoming Gaza flotilla
Haaretz 12 Apr — Israel’s ambassador to Turkey reiterates Jerusalem’s opposition to the naval ‘provocation,’ says Israel would allow the pass of humanitarian aid through other channels. The message came amid a Channel 2 report claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was mulling the possibility of allowing the flotilla to reach Gaza if flotilla organizers agreed their vessels be checked by an international force.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-to-turkey-help-us-thwart-upcoming-gaza-flotilla-1.355595
‘IHH to delay next flotilla until after Turkey elections’
JPost 12 Apr — The Turkish IHH organization has said that it will delay its participation in the upcoming flotilla to Gaza scheduled for June until after elections in Turkey, Israel Radio reported Tuesday. According to the report, the group will wait to see if Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will be reelected during the June elections before it decides to send the Mavi Marmara ship back to the Gaza Strip. A Turkish representative from the organization told Israel Radio that the decision was not made as a result of international pressure. “The flotilla will eventually set out on its way,” the representative said.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=216273
Political/Diplomatic/International news
Protesters still on hunger strike after 17 days
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 12 Apr — Young Palestinians demonstrating in the West Bank city of Ramallah vowed Monday after 17 days of sit-in and hunger strike in Manara square to continue until their demands are addressed. The protesters demand the release of political detainees whose release was ordered by the Palestinian supreme court, and that both sides stop incitement through media.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=377645
Prisoners held despite court order identified
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) — Nine days have passed since President Mahmoud Abbas met in Ramallah with hunger-strikers calling for an end to political division in the occupied territories. During that meeting, leaders of the March 15 pro-unity movement told Abbas that their first demand was for the Palestinian Authority to free political prisoners whose release had been ordered by the High Court but never implemented by the PA … Abbas, according to people in the room, turned to Tayeb Abdul-Rahim, his top advisor, and said, “Go with them to your office and take their list. If they’re still in prison, release them,” the president said. The protesters compiled a formal list of 23 names and handed the list over to Abdul-Rahim last Tuesday. They were promised that the prisoners would be freed within 48 hours. Ma‘an has obtained the list of political prisoners that was received by the president’s office. One week later, none have been freed despite the ruling and Abbas’ promise to the protesters.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=378063
Fatah wins seats in Gaza union election
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 12 Apr — Representatives aligned with the Fatah party won the majority of seats Monday night, in a union election in Gaza City. The Workers Union at the Al-Azhar University carried out the elections, saying they were carried out in a “fair and democratic process,” and noted that rights organizations and government officials had been asked to monitor the vote.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=377908
UN report: Palestinian Authority is paving the way to statehood
Haaretz 12 Apr — Titled ‘Palestinian State-building: A Decisive Period,’ the study is based on a review of the PA’s implementation of a program initiated in August 2009 — Marked progress in six areas of Palestinian governance has paved the way for a functioning state, but there are still obstacles to be overcome, said a United Nations report released Tuesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-report-palestinian-authority-is-paving-the-way-to-statehood-1.355554
While Netanyahu met Merkel in Berlin, envoys pushed in US for European peace conference
Haaretz 12 Apr — While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Berlin last week working to persuade German Chancellor Angela Merkel to cease promoting a plan for a Quartet-sponsored international Mideast peace conference, German, British and French diplomats in Washington were working to garner American support for the opposite outcome.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/while-netanyahu-met-merkel-in-berlin-envoys-pushed-in-u-s-for-european-peace-conference-1.355420
US postpones Quartet meet on Israel-Palestinian peace talks
AP 12 Apr — Quartet meeting was supposed to take place on Friday, but a U.S. official said the Obama administration didn’t think the meet would produce anything useful in terms of getting talks restarted.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-postpones-quartet-meet-on-israel-palestinian-peace-talks-1.355413
Netanyahu mulling West Bank pullout to stave off diplomatic tsunami
Haaretz 12 Apr — PM also considering other moves in diplomatic initiative to rally U.S., EU and other Western countries against unilateral Palestinian move at UN — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is weighing a withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces troops from the West Bank and a series of other measures to block the “diplomatic tsunami” that may follow international recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders at the United Nations General Assembly in September. The extent of the withdrawal is still unclear, but at this stage Netanyahu is not considering the evacuation of settlements. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/netanyahu-mulling-west-bank-pullout-to-stave-off-diplomatic-tsunami-1.355430
Palestinians deny Syria to host factional mediation
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 12 Apr — Egypt has not nominated Syria to host dialogue between Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian factions, officials told Ma‘an, denying reports in the London-based daily newspaper Al-Hayat.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=377745
War crimes / Goldstone report
Israel to arm combat soldiers with still and video cameras to counter any war crimes claims
JERUSALEM (AP) 11 Apr — The next time Israel goes to war, its combat soldiers will likely be carrying cameras in addition to more conventional weapons. Reeling from war crimes accusations during a major offensive against Hamas-ruled Gaza more than two years ago, the Israeli military is studying the wide distribution of cameras as a tool to make its case to the world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-to-arm-combat-soldiers-with-still-and-video-cameras-to-counter-any-war-crimes-claims/2011/04/11/AFRxLcKD_story.html
Israel says ‘lack of evidence’ in Gaza death probe
AFP 12 Apr — JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel’s military advocate general is to close an investigation into the shooting deaths of four Palestinian civilians who were carrying a white flag, a military spokeswoman told AFP on Tuesday. ll”Due to lack of evidence, the army advocate general Avishai Mendelblit is to close the inquiry into the death of four Palestinians on January 5, 2009, in the Zaytoun area of Gaza City,” the spokeswoman said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=378091
What exactly did Goldstone retract from his report on Gaza? / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 12 Apr — Richard Goldstone’s strange op-ed, in which he backtracked on his report claiming Israel targeted civilians, does not seem to be grounded in the UN’s final report on Cast Lead.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/what-exactly-did-goldstone-retract-from-his-report-on-gaza-1.355454
Focus USA: Fight to rescind Goldstone report reaches Congress
12 Apr — New legislation initiated in Congress would ‘make it U.S. policy to demand the UN General Assembly revoke and repudiate the Goldstone Report and any UN resolutions stemming from the report.’
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/fight-to-rescind-goldstone-report-reaches-congress-1.355409
Other news
Poll shows US public evenly divided on Palestinian state / MJ Rosenberg
HuffPost 12 Apr — It becomes more clear every day that Binyamin Netanyahu’s government is terrified by the prospect that the Palestinians are planning to unilaterally declare a state later this year. In fact, it is safe to say that no other proposed Palestinian action has ever shaken up any Israeli government the way that the idea of a unilateral declaration has … The American people seem to be getting it. According to a poll released Monday by the right-wing Israel Project, only 51% of Americans oppose a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence. 54% favor a Palestinian state achieved through negotiations. For those familiar with polling on matters relating to Israelis and Palestinians, the results are startling. The percentage of support for the Israeli position is usually in the high 70s, while support for the Palestinians is in the teens. Suddenly there is a major shift, and this in a poll sponsored by an organization that clearly did not want to see findings like these.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/poll-shows-us-public-even_b_848101.html
Poll: 51% in US oppose unilateral creation of Palestinian state
New Israel Project survey shows support for Israel still strong in US; 66% of Republicans, 48% of Democrats against one-sided declaration of Palestinian state … According to the poll, 61% of US voters said that Israel is making an effort for peace, while 53% believe the Palestinians are making “not much” or “no” effort.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4055635,00.html
Quarter of Palestinians live below the poverty line: PCBS
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 10 Apr — One out of four Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was living below poverty line in 2010, Sunday said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). This was divided into 18.3% in the West Bank and 38.0% in Gaza Strip. The poverty line for a household of two adults and three children was set in 2010 at 2,237 Israeli shekels ($609, where $1 equals 3.73 shekels).
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=15859
Half of students won’t receive diplomas
Ynet 12 Apr – Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar revealed Monday that despite a significant improvement in matriculation qualifications in Israel, half of all high school students in the state will not receive a high school diploma. According to data collected by the ministry, 51.7% of all students will not qualify for a diploma, 35.4% of these Jewish. Among non-Jews the situation is far direr, and of all haredi students, 91.9% will not receive a diploma.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4055598,00.html
Report: Red Cross asks Hamas for Shalit proof of life
JERUSALEM (AFP) 12 Apr — Red Cross officials have met with Hamas leader Khalid Mash’al in Syria and asked him to furnish proof that an Israeli soldier captured by militants is alive, according to Israel’s Channel 10 TV … Channel 10 said that the meeting came after Shalit’s family threatened a sit-in outside the organization’s Tel Aviv branch unless it stopped visiting Hamas prisoners in Israel while Hamas denied the Red Cross access to Shalit.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=378085
Lieberman to be served draft indictment for graft in next 24 hours
Haaretz 11 Apr — Attorney General to announce indictment against foreign minister on charges of fraud, money laundering, and breach of trust; Lieberman to be granted right to a hearing before indictment is filed.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/lieberman-to-be-served-draft-indictment-for-graft-in-next-24-hours-1.355312
Subsidiary of Israeli Elbit company wins contract to upgrade Brazilian air force jets
AIC 12 Apr — A Brazilian subsidiary of Israel’s Elbit Systems Ltd. has won an $85 million contract to upgrade eleven Brazilian Air Force F-5 fighter-bomber jets, Elbit announced in a press release on 11 April. The contract will be carried out in 2013 … Elbit Systems Ltd. is one of the world’s largest defense electronics manufacturers and integrators. In addition to its numerous international contracts, Elbit Systems also provides both Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and other military technology for Israel’s Occupation forces, as well as security systems for the Separation Wall and settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/3515-subsidiary-of-israeli-elbit-company-wins-contract-to-upgrade-brazilian-air-force-jets-
Israeli couple becomes first to be wed in civil union
JPost 12 Apr — Svetlana Sadigursky and Gabby Liebeschitz become on Tuesday evening the first Israeli couple ever to be wed locally in a civil union, in a modest ceremony in Jerusalem. The civil union law, initiated by Israel Beiteinu’s MK David Rotem and passed last year, enables non-Jewish Israelis, or citizens defined by the state as lacking religious denomination, to have a civil marriage in Israel and be recognized as a married couple. Rotem’s initial intention was that the law apply to any Israeli wishing to marry here without the Chief Rabbinate, but he was forced to back down due to opposition from haredi parties. Twenty-five such couples meeting the criteria have already filed such a request
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=216326
Analysis / Opinion
Hamas has every right to smuggle weapons in to Gaza / Khalid Amayreh
10 Apr — Hamas has an absolute moral, legal and human right to defend the people of Gaza against incessant Israeli aggression. But in order to carry out this most ethical task, Hamas must smuggle weapons of various types into the Gaza Strip. Otherwise, Gazans will be setting ducks for the Israeli death machine as we have seen in the course of the past few days and also during the Israeli blitz on the coastal enclave more than two years ago … Israel often seeks to portray the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip as an ultimate red line or an inviolable taboo that must never be allowed to happen. Israel has gone too far in asserting this policy … We all know that the Jewish defendants at the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943/44 had to smuggle weapons and food into the ghetto in order to enhance their steadfastness in the face of SS forces. Needless to say, Hamas and other Palestinian factions are very much doing the same thing.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/hamas-has-every-right-to-smuggle-weapons-into-gaza/
Four notes on the upcoming war in Gaza, ‘Scorching Summer’ / Yossi Gurvitz
8 Apr — …A war crime: The son of a bitch who aimed an anti-tank missile at a school bus, and then pulled the trigger, is a war criminal. Since, as Judge Richard Goldstone found recently to his surprise that Hamas does not cleave to the laws of war, any reasonable act by Israel to kill him — no, Gantz, I do not consider taking out a whole apartment building to be ‘reasonable’ — would be welcome. Mad dogs ought to be put down. The son of a bitch who aimed a rocket from a chopper at a Palestinian ambulance (Hebrew), and then pulled the trigger, is a war criminal. Despite what Goldstone may think, Israel will not indict him, and should anyone try to do so, it will wail this is ‘lawfare’ – that oh so useful idiom intended to make a judicial act look like a terrorist one … The War Mongers: Make no mistake: This operation was not hastily put together yesterday. The Hamas gunmen who fired the rocket at the bus just gave the IDF and Ehud Barak the excuse they were looking for. If it didn’t happen yesterday, it would have happened in a week’s time. If the Hamas had failed to provide the IDF with an excuse, the IDF would have twisted its arm so it would. It has been escalating the Gaza front for a month now. …
http://972mag.com/four-notes-on-%E2%80%9Cscorching-summer%E2%80%9D/
