Halaa, age 6, was kicked by soldiers as they raided her home in Awarta. (Photo: ISM)
On Saturday night the Israeli army once again raided Awarta, putting the village under curfew for the fifth time since the murder in the illegal settlement of Itamar on 11th March. Awarta is situated next to Itamar and has endured a constant military presence for a month now.
According to the village mayor Qays Awwad, 23 people were arrested in the latest night raids; 20 males and three females.
One of the females arrested on Saturday night was 14 year old Julia Mazen Awwad, who was taken from her home together with her mother and father; Noaf and Mazen Awwad. Two days earlier, her two brothers; George and Hakeem were arrested, leaving only the smallest children not in Israeli custody. They were left alone after the latest arrests and were taken care of by one of the family’s neighbors until their mother was released Monday morning. Their sister, brothers and father remain in Israeli custody
One of the families that had their home raided is the family of Muhammad Fawsi Awwad. At 4 am, while Muhammad was sleeping in his brothers home, Israeli soldiers awoke his sleeping wife and six children by throwing sound bombs threw every window of the house. After entering the house, the soldiers forced the family to go outside and to sit on the ground while they were still in their pyjamas. One of the daughters, Halaa, who is six years old, was kicked by the soldiers in the process. Her brother, Amjad, 19 years old, was locked inside the bathroom where he had to stay for six hours, while the soldiers completely destroyed his family’s home from the inside. International activists who came to the house after the soldiers had left witnessed the devastation: windows, mirrors and photo frames had been smashed, wardrobes and beds were broken, the washing machine made useless, the bathroom sink was completely demolished, school books were ripped into pieces and oil poured into the sugar supply.
Read the entire article - 14 year old girl taken in the latest wave of Awarta arrests
Settlers murder investigation turns into collective punishment / Noam Sheizaf
10 Apr -- Ever since the terrible murder of five members of the Fogel family in the settlement of Itamar, the nearby village of Awarta is going through what is officially a murder investigation, but looks more like a form of collective punishment -- some would say organized revenge -- led by the IDF and Israel’s Internal Security Service (Shin Beit). The events have been going on since March 12 ... I have contacted the IDF spokesperson unit this morning (Sunday) with a series of questions regarding the mass arrests, forced DNA sampling, searches and other activities against the people of Awarta. Late afternoon, I received the following reply: "Since the Itamar murder investigation is still under way, theses issues are still being checked (which "issues"?). IDF soldiers are present at the outpost due to the high tension in the region."
Awarta residents report daily IDF raids
Ynet 11 Apr -- Israel wants to destroy village, expand nearby settlements, says mayor of Awarta, near Itamar -- Palestinians from Awarta are reporting that IDF soldiers have been raiding their village every day recently, humiliating residents and damaging property while maintaining road blocks at the entrance ... Yaakov Manor, a left-wing activist who visited the village on Sunday, recounted one such raid in a Palestinian home. "The soldiers entered rooms and broke furniture, broke a washing machine belonging to the family and a refrigerator as well. The soldiers tipped over oil containers and broke closets," he said ... Meanwhile, residents of the nearby Itamar awaited anxiously any news on the capture of the murderers responsible for killing five members of the Fogel family. The details of the case have been placed under gag order.
Rights group calls for monitoring of mass Awarta arrests
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 11 Apr -- The Ramallah-based rights group Addameer issued a call Sunday for international observation and intervention over the mass arrest campaigns being carried out in the West Bank village of Awarta by Israeli forces. Sunday morning another nine men and women were detained, bringing to five the number of arrest raids, which rounded up a combined 600-700 residents since 11 March, when five settlers were murdered in their beds, including two children and an infant. Israel's investigation of the killings appears to be centered on Awarta village residents, though no suspects have been identified and the case remains under a gag order.
And more news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Meet on new settlement construction postponed due to pressure from Netanyahu
Haaretz 10 Apr 23:51 -- Due to pressure from the prime minister's office, Interior Minister Eli Yishai instructed the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee to postpone discussion on new construction across the Green Line until after the Passover holiday. Because of this, discussion on the controversial project to build 980 housing units in Har Homa and 600 units in Pisgat Ze'ev, which were supposed to take place this week, will not happen until May fifth.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/meet-on-new-settlement-construction-postponed-due-to-pressure-from-netanyahu-1.355217
Israel demolishes Negev homes on Monday
11 Apr -- NAZARETH, (PIC)-- Israeli bulldozers demolished Monday morning several homes and other structures in the village of Bir al-Hamam on the road to Dimona city, as well as some structures in a village near Ara‘ara in the Negev desert, said Ibrahim al-Waqili, who heads the council of unrecognized villages.
Separately, the Israel occupation force has arrested three Palestinian men and set up random checkpoints at the entrances of the West Bank city of Al-Khalil [Hebron]. The men were arrested after a large force infiltrated several neighborhoods and searched homes.
The same day, Jewish settlers from Tel Rumeida, Al-Khalil vandalized and assaulted several shops in the Old City as Israeli soldiers stood by and did nothing. They also set fire to one of the shops.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2Bc
Palestinian run over by Israeli drivers in Jerusalem following collision
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 11 Apr -- A confrontation took place in Jerusalem a few days ago between a Palestinian and two Israeli drivers when the Israeli vehicle collided in to the Palestinian’s near the Old City. The Israeli vehicle, containing Jerusalem residents Ma’er Elad and Natial Golman on their way to the Wailing Wall, drove away immediately after the accident. When stopped by the Palestinian driver, who exited his car, Elad and Golman ran over him. Police arriving on the scene did not arrest Elad and Golman despite their refusal to co-operate with police and racist statements directed at the Palestinian driver. The driver was taken for medical treatment at Hadassa Hospital in ‘Ein Karim neighborhood.
link to silwanic.net
Urgent news flash on Fasayil
JVS 11 Apr -- The Bedouin community located between upper Fasayil and lower Fasayil has been issued with 9 demolition orders. They went to military court in Bet El on the 10th of March and were told they had until the 10th April to leave. This means the demolitions could happen any day from now on.
link to www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org
News on Al Hadidya
JVS 10 Apr -- Al Hadidya, in the north of the Jordan Valley, is accessed via two roads. One leads from the community of Mak-hul, and the other passes through the gates of the local settlement Roi. Yesterday, settlers diverted their sewage across the road from Mak-hul, rendering the road unusable for the Palestinians living in Al Hadidya.
link to www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org
Israeli military demolishes a water well and a farm in Bethlehem
IMEMC 11 Apr -- Israeli military forces demolished a water well designed to collect rain water and an agricultural structure in Al-Khader village southwest of Bethlehem on Monday. The well and the building belong to Mohammad Dar Issa and his brothers. The Ma‘an News Agency said that the bulldozer put the rubble of the building in the well in order to completely destroy it. This demolition will severely affect Issa's work and will cause them a financial setback. The Israeli military gave no official warrant. Issa found some papers in Hebrew only near his farm, which turned later to be a demolition order.
link to www.imemc.org
High Court petition against Israeli revocation of Palestinian right to live in Jerusalem
11 Apr -- A petition submitted to Israel’s High Court demands that Israel stop revoking the permanent residency permits of Palestinians in the city. HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) submitted the petition on Thursday 7 April on behalf of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, demanding that the Ministry of Interior stop revoking permanent residency permits. The vast majority of Palestinians in East Jerusalem are permanent residents of Israel, not citizens, and are under constant threat of losing the legal right to reside in their city. According to HaMoked, in recent years, there has been a sharp rise in revocation of residency, and 2008 set a record with 4,577 revocations. Almost 50% of the total revocation of permits since Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem in 1967 occurred between the years 2006 to 2008. Israeli legislation revokes the residential rights of Jerusalemite Palestinians after an absence of seven years, which makes studying abroad or living in the country of a foreign spouse an incredible risk. To make matters work, even living in a place like Bethlehem, just a few kilometers from Jerusalem, is considered immigration by Israeli authorities, and cause for residency revocation.
link to www.alternativenews.org
Violence
Israeli gunboats fire at Palestinian fishing boats
GAZA, (PIC) 10 Apr 7:54pm -- Israeli navy gunboats fired at Palestinian fishing boats off the coasts of the Gaza Strip and chased them to the beach on Sunday evening, local sources reported. Security sources told the PIC reporter that the Israeli gunboats opened their machine guns at the Palestinian boats while fishing in the area allowed for them, but noted that no casualties were reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Q
Israeli police dog attacks Palestinian in Hebron
HEBRON (WAFA) 10 Apr -- An Israeli police dog Sunday attacked and injured a Palestinian in Ramadin, a village south of Hebron. Security sources said that Israeli forces detained Mohammed Abu Ka‘oud at the border area which connects the Be'er Sheva area with Ramadin village; when a police dog attacked and injured him. He was transported to 'Soroka' Israeli hospital for treatment.
link to english.wafa.ps
Gaza City officials: Weekend strikes targeted water facilities
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 11 Apr -- Officials in the Gaza Strip's northernmost municipality on Monday accused Israeli forces of striking drinking water sources and infrastructure, during a weekend of violence that saw at least 18 dead in the coastal enclave. Gaza's municipality released a report cataloging damage to the water infrastructure from artillery shells over the weekend, which included damages to the Al-Mintar water tank in Al-Quba area of Gaza City, which gives water to the eastern areas of Ash-Shuja‘iyeh neighborhood.
link to www.maannews.net
Woman and daughter killed in ‘Abasan with propelling projective missile
ISM 11 Apr -- On April 8th, around noon, the southern villages around Khan Younis were shaken up when four artillery shells were fired from a tank. One of them hit a house located in ‘Abasan village. Najah Harb Qdeih (41) was making bread outside and her daughter Nedal Ibrahim Qdeih (19) was with her, they both instantly died in the blast. The bodies of the victims were riddled with dozens of the sharp projectiles that were contained in the missiles which the Israeli army had ruthlessly fired at their house. Two other daughters, Fidaa' (15) and Nidaa' (12) remain in hospital. Nidaa' is critically injured and is struggling to survive; she has shrapnel in her brain and is currently waiting to be transferred from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis to the West Bank to undergo surgery ... The missile contained hundreds of small propelling projectiles [flechettes?] , which riddled the bodies of the women and the children, the walls, the doors, the plants and the trees. All are pierced ...This missile is a weapon designed to kill as many people as possible, to clear as many lives as possible. There is no justification for this, it is not possible to call it defence.
link to palsolidarity.org
Hamas: We won't surrender or violate truce
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 11 Apr 14:21 -- Hamas politburo member Salah Al-Bardawil said Sunday that "Israel apparently approved the truce with Palestinian factions," affirming that "factions will be committed to truce as long as Israel is committed as well." ... He noted that "the Palestinian factions agreed previously on a unilateral truce entitled 'committed as long as the enemy is' but the [Israeli] occupation violated this truce by killing children and women, and the resistance responded in a limited way making the occupation hit back much more harshly in its aggression."
link to www.maannews.net
IDF estimates round of violence over
Ynet 11 Apr -- Military sources believe relative truce in south will be followed by wide-scale confrontation. 'Hamas has been busy rebuilding its forces for the past two years, and this can only mean we're facing an all-out clash,' says senior officer
link to www.ynetnews.com
Despite truce, little-known group fires projectile
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 11 Apr 11:23 -- A group calling itself the Marwan Haddad division of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a new Palestinian military group in Gaza, said its fighters had launched a homemade projectile toward Israel late Sunday night ... The group said it would not accept truce conditions with Israel, and announced the launch less than an hour before a ceasefire deal was set. On Sunday morning, the group issued its first statement, saying fighters had fired a Grad-style missile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon and two homemade projectiles at the Zikim military base.
link to www.maannews.net
Popular Front rejects Israel ceasefire deal
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 11 Apr 07:27 -- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine came out Sunday against a ceasefire proposal that has the support of Hamas and other factions in the Gaza Strip. Popular Front leader Jamal Mezher described the truce as a "mistake" because Israel's army did not stop "its assault, is still committing crimes, and insists on killing and destruction against Palestinians." Many other Palestinian officials have expressed support for a potential arrangement with Israel after days of rocket fire and Israeli air raids that have killed at least 18 people in Gaza.
link to www.maannews.net
Siege
Fuel crisis looms as crossing remains closed
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 11 Apr 12:38 -- For the sixth day in a row crossings into the Gaza Strip were closed by Israeli forces maintaining a blockade on the coastal enclave, telling Palestinian liaison officers that the closure was for "security reasons." Closures began on Tuesday, two days ahead of spike in border violence which saw 18 killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza - including at least six civilians - and two injured in Israel. The closure continues despite an announced ceasefire deal that went into place before midnight on Sunday.
link to www.maannews.net
Egypt softens toward Hamas / Adam Morrow & Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani
CAIRO, Apr 11, 2011 (IPS) - Two months since the ouster of longstanding president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's new transitional government is turning its attention to unpopular Mubarak-era foreign policies - with the ongoing Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip top of the list.
link to ipsnews.net
Hamas-Egyptian relations worry Israel
JPost 11 Apr -- Egypt has suspended construction of an underground steel wall along the Egypt-Gaza border that it had been building over the past year in an effort to stop smuggling weaponry through tunnels into the Gaza Strip, defense officials have told The Jerusalem Post ... Israel has not lodged an official complaint with the new Egyptian government led by Defense Minister Muhammad Tantawi, but has urged Cairo to continue the previous government’s tough position on smuggling and to work to take action to prevent the flow of arms to the Gaza Strip.
link to www.jpost.com
Deconstructing the construction boom
GG 11 Apr -- Early last week, the Israeli Army Spokesperson’s Unit announced "widespread construction" in the Gaza Strip after the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories approved 121 projects funded by international organizations. According to the report, following the approval, the Gaza economy was expected "to be bolstered." This is a positive step, but unfortunately there’s nothing new about the news. The projects had already been approved over the course of the last year and in fact, the last time a new project was approved was in early February ... Leaving aside the recurring declarations of approval of the same projects, construction is proceeding at a snail’s pace because Israel operates only a single crossing into the Gaza Strip -- Kerem Shalom -- through which all goods are transferred, leaving little room for building materials.
http://www.gazagateway.org/2011/04/de-constructing-the-construction-boom/
Goods: needs vs. supply - March 13 - April 9
link to www.gazagateway.org
Industrial fuel: needs vs. supply - March 13 - April 9
link to www.gazagateway.org
Israeli alternate universe
IDF official: Gaza seeing economic growth
Ynet 11 Apr -- Amid continued rocket fire and retaliatory IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip, the security establishment has been focusing its efforts on humanitarian aid ... In a conversation with Ynet, Dangot noted that "despite the security escalation, we avoid as much as possible harming civilians in the Gaza Strip, and continue to operate all the border crossings [all 1 of them, closed now for 6 days in a row] in order to deliver into Gaza equipment and merchandise, even when these crossings are under attack," he said.
link to www.ynetnews.com
IDF's Gaza maps now show sensitive sites
JPost 10 Apr -- The army has updated its maps of the Gaza Strip since Operation Cast Lead with a massive and unprecedented increase in the number of sensitive installations and buildings marked as off limits for IDF attacks. During Operation Cast Lead in January 2009, maps used by commanders operating on the ground in Gaza highlighted some 1,800 buildings and various infrastructure sites that should not be attacked and next to which troops needed to operate with extra sensitivity.
link to www.jpost.com
Detention
Palestinian Prisoners Day commemorated in Gaza
MEMO 11 Apr -- EXCLUSIVE PICTURES -- From in front of the house of one of the longest serving prison veterans from the Gaza Strip; 57 year old Salim Ali al-Kayal who is serving a life term in the Nafha Desert Prison and has been incarcerated for the last 28 years, Gaza's Ministry of Prisons announced the start of activities associated with Palestinian Prisoners Day commemorated on the 17th of April each year. Currently there is an estimated 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
Israel extends isolation sentence on blind Palestinian
NABLUS, (PIC) 11 Apr -- The Israeli prison administration has extended the isolation term of blind Palestinian prisoner Obada Saeed Bilal for six additional months, Palestinians held in the Israeli prisons have said. According to their statements, a prison officer informed Bilal that the Israeli prison authority was planning to extend his term in solitary confinement after he was placed in isolation on March 20 without apparent reason.
Separately, Israeli occupation authorities have sentenced Hamas leader Awadallah Ishtyeh to six months in administrative detention after they failed to pin an indictment on him. Detained in the Megiddo prison, he had been questioned several times by Israeli police and intelligence, but accusations have yet to be placed against him, sources told the PIC.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Activism / Solidarity
The Rachel Corrie case revisited / Dr. Hatim Kataane
...As I rejoined the courtroom proceedings, the soldier was speaking from behind his curtain and seemed quite convinced of his own gravitas, or so the casual observer may surmise from the quality of his voice. To me he sounded like he could benefit from an adenoidectomy. He indicated that on that specific day he sat in his command post some five kilometers from the site of the ‘incident.’ He kept track of what happened all along the fifty-kilometer length of the Philadelphi Axis through the watchful eyes and ears of a series of women soldiers, each in charge of tracking electronically what happened along a certain length of the axis. He admitted to having observed from the safety of his lair the forced evacuation of the same pesky foreign crowd of ten to fifteen activists from the roof of what his soldiers came to refer to as “the yellow house” before they proceeded to ‘level the ground’ on which it stood.
link to a-doctor-in-galilee.blogspot.com
UN panel to hear Turkey on deadly Israel flotilla raid
11 Apr -- A UN panel set up to investigate an Israeli raid on an aid flotilla on May 31, 2010 will hear Turkey's oral presentation on April 26, and Israel's on April 27, Ambassador Mithat Rende, Ankara's contact point for the panel who will make the presentation in New York, told reporters on Monday.
link to www.worldbulletin.net
Athens -- Freedom Flotilla 2 Press release -- We will not be intimidated
Athens 11 Apr -- The Freedom Flotilla 2 Steering Committee met in Athens 9 and 10 April to continue preparations for the upcoming flotilla. Since the last meeting in Amsterdam, Israel has launched an international campaign of incitement against the Flotilla and its coalition members who are participating from around the world. The Greek Ship to Gaza hosted this international meeting and emphasized that the Greek government has failed until now to pressure Israel to release the two Greek boats hijacked from international waters and held in Israel since 31st May 2010. The Greek Ship to Gaza has complied with all of the roadblocks put into place by Israel in order to bring back its ships, but our efforts have been to no avail.
link to irishshiptogaza.org
Politics / Diplomacy / International
US to support Iron Dome funding
Ynet 11 Apr -- Democrats, Republicans slated to approve 2011 budget this week enabling Obama to increase security aid to Israel, transfer $205 million for development of anti-missile system
link to www.ynetnews.com
Israel claims Russian missile hit school bus
Ynet 11 Apr -- A diplomatic crisis is threatening Israel-Russia relations after the Kornet, a Russian-made anti-tank missile, hit an Israeli school bus driving near Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council last Thursday ... "The missile was smuggled into the Gaza Strip with the help of external elements such as Syria and Iran, who constantly try to arm Hamas with improved and advanced weapons for attacks," a State official said.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Israel urges Europe to stop Freedom Flotilla 2 from sailing to Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Europe on Monday to do what it can to prevent its nationals from taking part in a flotilla scheduled to depart for Gaza in late May. "This flotilla must be stopped," Netanyahu told European ambassadors in Jerusalem
link to www.haaretz.com
Lieberman: Israel should topple Hamas
JERUSALEM (AFP) 11 Apr -- Israel should not settle for a truce with Hamas in Gaza, and should instead seek to topple the Islamist rulers of the coastal strip, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday ... "The objective must be to force Hamas out of power," said Lieberman, who heads the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party. "To return to calm accepts a war of attrition in which Hamas can determine when there is a lull and when the front is heating up," he said.
link to www.maannews.net
PA: State will be ready by September
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 11 Apr -- The Palestinian Authority's Minister of Planning and Development announced Monday the government's "national readiness to establish an independent Palestinian state during September." Minister Ali Al-Jerbawi said the announcement came in line with the successful implementation of the 13th government's plan, "Ending the Occupation, Establishing a State," put out by the now caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in August 2009. A report outlining the status of preparations for statehood, and outlining the success of the plan thus far, will be presented to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee in Brussels on Wednesday.
link to www.maannews.net
Other news
Gaza journalist barred from travel abroad
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 11 Apr -- Gaza government security officers at the Rafah crossing barred Sunday the travel of a local journalist en route to Cairo, from where she was set to travel to a meeting in Morocco. Amal Touman was to attend a conference of the International Federation of Journalists in Casablanca. Its Gaza representative is the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, which called the move a "dangerous violation." [End]
link to www.maannews.net
Hamas cracks down on suspected collaborators
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 11 Apr -- The interior security department in Gaza said Sunday that its investigators seized an unspecified number of collaborators operating on behalf of Israel "working to disturb security in Gaza." An official said at a news conference that "all of the affiliates are gearing up in the field to protect the internal front and to monitor all of the suspects' movements," warning that "not a single traitor who collaborates with the occupation will escape pursuit."
link to www.maannews.net
Education ministry hunting for Arab teachers absent on Land Day
Haaretz 11 Apr -- The government is trying to track down Arab teachers who took a day off on Land Day this year to protest Israel's treatment of the Arab population. Critics have denounced such a move as being tantamount to persecuting the teachers for acting within their civil and democratic rights.
link to www.haaretz.com
No pride at Berlin gay pride festival
Ynet 11 Apr -- Tel Aviv Municipality's stand at Europe's largest gay pride parade, set to take place in Berlin in June, won't include any Israeli symbols or markers in an attempt to blur the connection between the city and the state – a problematic brand to market, especially these days.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Analysis / Opinion
Israel wouldn't need propaganda if it changed its policies / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 10 Apr -- What do Israel and Syria have in common? Not much, but both have ministries of hasbara. No such thing exists in the West. No such thing exists in democracies. But in Israel, we have falafel and a minister of hasbara, who is known as the minister of public diplomacy and diaspora affairs. The Israeli president, prime minister, cabinet members and MKs fly all over the world on useless hasbara missions. Israeli diplomats deal with hasbara from dawn to dusk. But how many times have you seen a foreign diplomat in Israel explaining how right his country is? Who would listen to him?
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-wouldn-t-need-propaganda-if-it-changed-its-policies-1.355052
Supreme Court is on wrong side of West Bank separation fence / Amira Hass
Haaretz 11 Apr -- Anyone who suspects the Supreme Court and its judges of leftism should read the latest ruling on "The Israeli Seam Zone Permit Regime." In plain language, this is the bureaucratic machinery that the Defense Ministry and the Civil Administration have created to restrict to the absolute minimum Palestinians' entry, time spent, and ability to live and work on lands in the West Bank that are west of the separation fence. To be more exact, it refers to Israel's annexation of 184,868 dunams (about 45,682 acres), for now, of Palestinian land trapped between the fence and the Green Line.
link to www.haaretz.com
Time for disengagement No. 2 / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 11 Apr -- As long as the government does not evacuate Dayan's colleagues from Kfar Tapuah and Sheikh Jarrah, the children of Sderot and Ashdod will not be safe. Nor will the residents of Kfar Sava and Netanya ... No country in the world can relate seriously to the claim that the Gush Katif disengagement proves that the settlements in "Judea and Samaria" are not an obstacle to peace ... The lesson to be learned from the Gaza disengagement is that the time has come to start evacuating the West Bank settlements.
link to www.haaretz.com
Israel should recognize Palestinian statehood / Zvi Bar'el
Haaretz 10 Apr -- Instead of fearing a declaration of Palestinian statehood, Israel could join the international community and accept it, ceasing to view it as an enemy and existential threat.
link to www.haaretz.com
The sharp end of Hebron / Issa Amro
11 Apr -- Hebron’s problems began after 1967. The Israeli army worked hard to create the Kiryat Arba settlement, and after that the settlers and soldiers started living inside Hebron, transforming it into an occupied city. We started to feel it when they created settlements in the heart of the city. In the early 1980s settlers started to come from all over the world, moving into our houses and markets. They treated Palestinians as slaves and animals, fourth-class humans, only there to be taken advantage of. All this was not so obvious until 1994 and the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, when a fanatic settler killed 29 Muslims. After that we were punished. The apartheid policy was employed more obviously, with the closure of Shuhada Street and many local businesses. The army divided Ibrahimi Mosque and confiscated the gardens. My resistance efforts began in 2003. The army had closed Palestine polytechnic University when I was a student there. They locked the gates and told us to "go to the streets. You will have no future here."
link to palsolidarity.org
Haaretz WikiLeaks Exclusives
'We're doomed if Hamas takes power'
11 Apr -- Comments distinguished top defense advisor Amos Gilad from other Israeli officials, most of whom failed to predict the effect the 2006 elections would have on the Palestinian Authority.
link to www.haaretz.com
'Hezbollah expected to launch 100 missiles a day at Tel Aviv'
8 Apr -- Israel expects next war against Hezbollah to be much more painful, leaked cables reveal, with 24,000 to 36,000 rockets and missiles expected to be launched at Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/haaretz-wikileaks-exclusive/haaretz-wikileaks-exclusive-hezbollah-expected-to-launch-100-missiles-a-day-at-tel-aviv-1.354826
Iraq
Sunday: 1 US soldiers, 5 Iraqis killed, 12 Iraqis wounded
At least five Iraqis were killed and 12 were wounded in light violence. Also, a U.S. soldier died in a non-hostile incident in northern Iraq. In Baghdad, robbers killed a jeweler and his son at their store in Zaafaraniya. Nearby, a bomb killed one person and wounded two others. A bomb in Allawi wounded four people. Two civilians were wounded in a blast in Jihad. One person was killed and two others were wounded in Falluja when a bomb exploded near a mosque....
link to original.antiwar.com
Monday: 22 Iraqis killed, 52 wounded
A number of bomb and small arms attacks left at least 22 dead and 52 wounded across western and central Iraq. Also, Iraqi officials allowed a U.S. medical assistance team into Camp Ashraf for the first time since last Friday’s raid and riot. They also admitted to more casualties than they had previously reported, but only about a third the numbers that camp officials gave. A coordinated, triple bombing in Falluja left seven dead and about 24 wounded....
link to original.antiwar.com
www.theheadlines.org
Israel is an apartheid state
The arrests of young children will be used as leverage to pressure one or two adults into admitting to a murder they did not commit.
This “investigation” was tainted from day one. And the so-called findings will confirm pre-existing Israeli prejudices that a Palestinian murdered the family.
The jacket has already been sewn, the task now is to fit a Palestinian into it.
DNA is being collected for two purposes (1) To give the “investigation” the cloak of credibility and (2) to serve as part of a large biometric database for Palestinians, both as a deterrent and as a form of dehumanization as is the case with current identification systems used at checkpoint crossings.
Avi, your take dovetails with my unease reading this Haaretz article earlier today: Israel on verge of breakthrough in probe into Itamar massacre. Is it normal Israeli police practice to announce that one is “on the verge” of a breakthrough in a creditable criminal investigation? Either there has been a breakthrough or there has not. Announcing to the press that you are about to have one reeks of almost having finished arranging it.
Colin,
My “take” is based on previous patterns of behavior. Much like individuals, systems of governance have well-established patterns of behavior. In Israel’s case, these patterns date back several decades to include well-documented matters of policy, and conduct in the occupied West Bank. Homicide investigators with the LAPD would call it “Modus Operandi”.
I don’t know if Noam Sheizaf had served in the army, but his use of the phrase “some would say organized revenge” is indicative of willful ignorance as to common and standard practices by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
There is nothing earth shattering here; Israelis who have been paying attention are very well familiar with such patterns of behavior, but most refuse to air the proverbial dirty laundry in public.
It is normal IDF practice to have a barrage of unofficial annoucements at can be at best attributed to febrile imagination.
For example, a Palestinian women in short succession (a) was killed by her own family in a savage rite called honor killing, (b) died of leukemia, (c) died of another form of cancer, until (d) died due to exposure to tear gas shot by IDF troops, but only because of ineptitude in a Palestinian hospital. She was also nowhere close to the scene of the tear-gassed demonstration until photos were posted to the contrary.
Official testimony is only a bit better. For example, Gen. Ashkenazi testified about an Israeli soldier shot in the stomach during the storm of Mavi Marmara, but no such person was ever shown to the world, and it is quite clear that at no time activists on Mavi Marmara discharged any weapons.
An Israeli soldier could have been shot by friendly fire.
In which case, it would be no surprise that the Israelis should have dropped the matter.
Investigations was compromised by the Cabinet decision that was predicated upon its outcome. To fail to identify Palestinian murderers borders with treason. “Failure is not an option!”
Collecting DNA samples suggests DNA evidence which is sad. DNA evidence makes it pretty easy to convict a suspect that matches, but unfortunately, it reduces the benefits of confessions that could be extracted.
it is interesting how fascistic the mood is in Israel. ynetnews reports quite repellent behavior of the troops, but vast majority of the talkback either approves or demands something more severe.
talkback on the article “Goldstone: useful idiot” is less unanimous. While majority agrees that he is an idiot, a minority view him as a traitor who tries to muddy the picture. Some compare him to a kapo in a concentration camp. So this is a measure of forgiveness that Goldstone gain: I am sure that before his non-retracting retraction “idiot” would be a minority opinion, and “traitor/kapo”, the majority.
IDF is to a large degree a citizens’ army, and its behavior reflects popular sentiment. As Turks in the flotilla were branded terrorist in the media well before the fateful confrontation, “no mercy” attitude was absorbed by the soldiers. Now the government whipped the hysteria against inhuman terrorist killers in Itamar, who are SURELY Palestinian.
I have been wondering how rigorous are Israeli police chain of evidence procedures. If they botch a frame job of some Palestinian villager and get caught, then the political environment will be well pre-conditioned for near-unanimous UN General Assembly blessing for the PA when it declares statehood later this year. However, I think they are feeling pretty desperate now and arrogance has long been a besetting sin of Israeli government authorities.
Colin, very good point. At one point in my career I was involved in the chain of evidence procedure involving DNA evidence in some criminal cases. That chain is extremely fragile. If both sides in the case do not have confidence in the reliability of the chain, then it means nothing. In the cases that I was involved in there was no suspicion of evidence tampering.
At this point no outside observer of Israeli investigators in this Fogel case should accept their conclusions on any kind of DNA evidence. Folks, we all know that the Israelis lie. It is just too easy for these “investigators” to salt the evidence chain.
Not only did the Israelis put a gag order on the case, but they have not allowed any outside observers to monitor their chain of evidence. They lie folks, do not be deceived.
There’s no need for an established chain of evidence and all that charade.
You guys need to understand the collective tribal loyalty that dominates Israeli society and military culture.
This isn’t the United States were ethnic or racial loyalties are divided, this is Israel were all Jews and a few token non-Jews are in lockstep. Why? Because of global anti-Semitism and because Israel is in peril all the time, so goes the indoctrination. Anyone who betrays the state, doesn’t only betray a political entity, but betrays the Jewish family.
As such, chain of evidence means very little since the Shin Bet can find a scapegoat with or without DNA and all that nonsense.
The problem is that you guys are looking at this through an American prism.
Those who want to get a taste for what I have been trying to convey can look into an incident involving so-called Bus Number 300.
The Shin Bet arrested Palestinians for the hijacking of the bus. Journalists at the scene snapped a few photos in which the Palestinians who were arrested were seen alive and well, being led away from the scene.
Later, the Shin Bet told the public that all the Palestinians died in the attempted “rescue” operation and that no one was captured alive. In short, those Palestinians were murdered by the Shin Bet while in custody, then the Shin Bet drove them to the hospital claiming they were all killed during the operation.
The outcome?
No one was held accountable. In fact, Israel’s president issued a pardon to all those involved.
Here’s a photo
Does anyone still want to talk about chain of evidence, DNA or investigations of any kind?
Avi, you are right. The same can be said about the Israeli investigation of the facts asserted in, and conclusions of, the Goldstone Report. Furthermore, why would anyone trust any government self-investigation? And, especially, Israel’s. May as well count on a Gaddafi investigation of his rule.
That must be the Kav 300, Avi
link to en.wikipedia.org
Israel hasn’t changed since 1984. If anything it has gotten worse.
Can anybody tell me why we see these rituals again and again. It’s not enough to break the windows and drag them off in the middle of the night? We do need a documentary that shows this behavior in close details, including the non-persecution of murder if they are committed by the “master of the land”. Including the jail sentences on secret evidence. Including the fact that no one is ever sanctioned for incidences like these. And it must be shown all over the world at prime time.
International activists who came to the house after the soldiers had left witnessed the devastation: windows, mirrors and photo frames had been smashed, wardrobes and beds were broken, the washing machine made useless, the bathroom sink was completely demolished, school books were ripped into pieces and oil poured into the sugar supply.
I really could scream at these conceited animals. But all I can do is boycott Israel completely now. This is not just about the settlement’s industry, it’s the whole society that encourages or ignores behavior like this.
“windows, mirrors and photo frames had been smashed, wardrobes and beds were broken, the washing machine made useless, the bathroom sink was completely demolished, school books were ripped into pieces and oil poured into the sugar supply.”
Israeli society is built around this sort of cruelty. How are they going to decommission it? Israel is like a society that is part feral. The hatred of non Jews is really disturbing.
“One of the families that had their home raided is the family of Muhammad Fawsi Awwad. At 4 am, while Muhammad was sleeping in his brothers home, Israeli soldiers awoke his sleeping wife and six children by throwing sound bombs threw every window of the house. After entering the house, the soldiers forced the family to go outside and to sit on the ground while they were still in their pyjamas. One of the daughters, Halaa, who is six years old, was kicked by the soldiers in the process. Her brother, Amjad, 19 years old, was locked inside the bathroom where he had to stay for six hours, while the soldiers completely destroyed his family’s home from the inside. International activists who came to the house after the soldiers had left witnessed the devastation: windows, mirrors and photo frames had been smashed, wardrobes and beds were broken, the washing machine made useless, the bathroom sink was completely demolished, school books were ripped into pieces and oil poured into the sugar supply.”
Fucking pigs.
Sure will not be hearing Rachel Maddow reporting about this abuse
Not to worry, Kathleen–Deirdre Imus and her hubby will sort it all out and tell us on the next Blonde On Blonde Wednesday show.
All very sad, but how can it be avoided without denying Jews their self-determination and preventing Israel from being a flourishing good in the world?
(Polish this up a bit, please, eljay.)
Move over Aipac
link to youtube.com
Thanks, Kathleen. I will forward the url to the bible-carrying Christians I know, who will neither watch it, nor forward it.
This article was brought to with minimal Zionist interruption by: Truth, and the makers of Sunlight. Deal with those dark hearts easily with the best disinfectant!