Today in Palestine!

 Headlines July 23, 2008 

Another Palestinian family fighting Israeli efforts to expel
Jerusalem —

The Palestinian Jerusalem Affairs Ministry, reiterated that East Jerusalem remains under intense Israeli attack. Ahmed Ruidi of the Ministry said that the city of Jerusalem is under a fierce onslaught of political ethnic cleansing by Israeli forces.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3228&Itemid=1

Israel plans to further segregate Israel’s Arab minority from its majority of Jews

Israeli cabinet has approved a plan to build a new city for Arab citizens in a move that would further isolate Israel’s Arab population. Israel’s interior minister Merit Sheetrit has proposed the construction of the new city and his proposal was approved by the Israeli cabinet on Sunday.
http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/2008/07/israel-plans-to-further-segregate.html

Petition: Prosecute IOF Abuse in Ni’lin Village

http://www.petitiononline.com/nilin/petition.html

Naalin incident: IDF arrests father of girl who taped soldier

Demonstrator rallying in the town of Naalin, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, told Ynet Wednesday that IDF forces have arrested Jamal Amira, the father of the girl who documented a soldier firing at a bound Palestinian detainee. According to the demonstrator the man was not involved in any of the incidents in the area.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3572194,00.html

Ni’lin demonstrations continue to succeed in halting construction

Hundreds of people from Ni’lin and the surrounding villages, supported by some internationals, marched again to their threatened land. The people managed to halt construction work, causing the Occupation force stationed in the area to respond violently.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1697.shtml

Settlers and soldiers injure three Palestinians close to Far’ata, Qalqiliya district

Far’ata, Qalqiliya district -= Witness/es: Victims, villagers - Description of Incident: At approximately 5. 30pm on July 21, 2008, two Palestinians farmers from Immatin in the Qalqiliya district were working on their land, in a valley close to Far’ata when they saw five settlers from the illegal Israeli outpost of Havat Gilad approaching, two on horses, three on foot. As the settlers started surrounding the two Palestinian farmers, they phoned their family for help. In the meantime, an additional fifteen Palestinians from Far’ata who had been working in their land nearby rushed over towards the farmers from Immatin to help them. Seeing this, the settlers went up the hill, yelling at the Palestinians that they would beat them, throwing stones on them and starting smaller fires. Approximately 15 more masked settlers gradually joined them.
http://www.iwps-pal.org/en/articles/article.php?id=1173

Three Islamic Jihad fighters survive Israeli attack near Tulkarem

Three Islamic Jihad fighters escaped an Israeli assassination attempt in the town of Qaffin, north of the city of Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, sources in Islamic Jihad said. According to the sources, Israeli troops in several jeeps surrounded a car containing Fadi Kittani, a leader in Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, and two companions. The fighters then clashed with the Israeli soldiers. The troops blew up the car and searched houses in the area, but the three managed to flee safely, the sources said. This was Israel’s fourth attempt to kill Kittani.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30736

Quds Brigades: IOF coordinated with PA security to assassinate 3 of our elements

The Quds Brigades charged in a statement that a unit of the Israeli occupation forces and another of the PA security in the West Bank tried to assassinate three of its elements north of Tulkarem.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ma1DV77QefCmRA8oOZyYanV7E7iYTZaewkuY15GqceW3cKtz%2fysZ70tc8NCRqas67gJmi5V%2bXGgOdt5BUu1%2bUlfQYpjy82dUYRbtRZ2945Q%3d

Youth attack, wound two Arabs in J’lem neighborhood
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331061642&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Israeli soldier shot young Palestinian three times, now released without trial

Bethlehem — An Israeli military prosecutor released the soldier who opened fire on Palestinian youth yesterday in Ramallah. B’Tselem, an Israeli organization fighting for Palestinian human rights, has circulated a videotape of the soldier firing rubber coated metal bullets at Ashraf Abu Rahma, a young Palestinian who was blindfolded and handcuffed after his arrest. Israeli radio said the soldier admitted that he shot Rahma three times.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3222&Itemid=1

J-Post: Shin Bet probes ’settler rocket fire’ near Nablus

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) was looking into Palestinian claims on Monday that settlers from Har Bracha and Yitzhar in the West Bank fired two rockets into fields near Nablus. This burnt cylinder, which Palestinians claim is a homemade rocket, was found in a field near Nablus on Sunday.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/07/23/j-post-shin-bet-probes-settler-rocket-fire-near-nablus-2/

Gazans arrested for violating fuel price limits

Palestinian police arrested a number of fuel merchants in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday for selling fuel for higher than the official price. The investigation unit of the police affiliated to the Hamas-run government said that its officers raided the shop where the fuel was being sold. Police say that further investigations have been opened in the case. The police also said that selling fuel at higher than the government mandated price is a violation of the law, a way of taking advantage of Gazans’ harsh living conditions.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30734

Israel kidnaps 30 Palestinian civilians

Israeli occupation forces, in the West Bank city of Nablus, kidnapped thirty civilians including a female lawmaker and several other prominent business people.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=64394§ionid=351020202

Hamas ’abduct woman in Beit Lahia’

Beit Lahia - WAFA news agency - According to Palestinian sources, Hamas members abducted a woman in Beit Lahia in the north of the Gaza Strip on Monday. Eyewitnesses claim that they abducted Ne’meh Al-Qabet, a member of ’the committee for the martyr Baha Abu Jarad’, from her house and have transferred her to an unknown location. Sources added that the abduction comes as Fatah prepare to begin summer camps for children in the area.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30715

Hamas blocks departure of PLO members to Ramallah

Hamas prevented two members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) from heading for Ramallah to attend a meeting for the organizations’ executive committee, a spokesman of Fatah movement said Wednesday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/23/content_8757466.htm

Lawsuit filed in Spanish court to try Israeli ’’war criminals’’

A lawsuit has been filed in the National Court of Spain with the aim of issuing warrants for the arrest of high-ranking Israeli security officials for war crimes. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has filed the suit against those involved in the sanctioning of the 2002 bombing of a building in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City in which fifteen civilians were killed. The warrants include former Defence Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, his former military advisor, Michael Herzog, former Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Halutz, former Commander of the Israeli Air Force. If the case is successful those charged would be arrested upon entering Spanish territory, stripping them of the diplomatic immunity some of them currently enjoy. PCHR have filed the lawsuit on behalf of six Palestinians who survived the Israeli extra judicial execution operation.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30727

Khreisha: Kidnapping MP Mansour shame on occupation

Dr. Hassan Khreisha, the second deputy PLC speaker, has charged that the IOA’s kidnapping of MP Mona Mansour was a shame on this authority that kidnaps the second female MP within the past few months.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7vYIDrYcGCss4j3YpfgLwASt8%2bUmhu8hQeFLoW6cCyjbbn1q1ONZkQLl9QFBpvyGIbrao%2bVTqCc0%2b2pVsAWZm4ZCPAtz15vIH2i0XKcPLWYQ%3d

Abbas slams the Jerusalem bulldozer attack, Hamas angered by his statements

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, slammed the bulldozer attack which was carried out on Tuesday by a Palestinian in Jerusalem. During the attack, the attacker was shot dead and at least twenty-four Israelis were wounded. The Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported that Abbas severely criticized the attack and said that the Palestinian Authority condemns any attack that targets civilians. “I learned today that this attack was deliberate. We cannot accept it, we condemn this attack”, Abbas said, “Such attacks harm our image and harm the cause of peace in general”. The Palestinian president also wished a quick recovery to the wounded, and stated that the Palestinian Authority cannot accept “any terrorist attack, and any attack that targets civilians”. Meanwhile, the Hamas movement was angered by the statements of Abbas, who failed to mention the ongoing Israeli military attacks against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
http://imemc.org/article/5614

Ging: Humanitarian conditions in Gaza still on the decline

John Ging, the UNRWA operations manager in Gaza, on Wednesday warned that the humanitarian conditions were still on the decline in the Strip due to the continued Israeli ban on entry of enough goods.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7WCOqasxZe9yIduA8H9HL9a8qlqZav0grcvMdh7io8bFVE50kAQne4EW1%2b4WdJDoUPFgDmjzL%2biDqRGIL0MNVpqw6fWcs8m5utIVS9uRjZuo%3d

Aqsa Foundation warns of preparations to build the Jewish temple

The Aqsa Foundation on Tuesday warned of a series of activities launched by fanatic Jewish groups to prepare for the construction of the alleged temple after demolishing the holy Aqsa Mosque.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7vJxXQ4dp5riJJMNsKddq8pQr843iYJ%2fDm7Vzg1uGq8ew4AidoHbJSxHlcKuS6u44FSmN%2b8%2f1%2bdopU4lBs5UF1y%2fUORihzSJOUnio0Citdww%3d

Hamas: Abbas’s meetings with Israeli leaders “harmful”

Hamas on Tuesday lashed out at PA chief Mahmoud Abbas’s insistence on continuing meetings with Israeli leaders, describing those meetings as “futile and harmful”.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7EAreyNcd%2byEhyt6yGehiVmq47K7KzIfdu505Sf72zqe4tzaqSGVj%2frR648IFSjwlZUFj8oshqKbE317IhkIfYJfJg7vovPItlQ66u6H3D4U%3d

Bardawil: Abbas-Peres meeting prepares for declaring deal

Dr. Salah Al-Bardawil, the spokesman of Hamas’s parliamentary bloc, has underlined that the meeting on Tuesday between PA chief and Israeli president points to a political deal being hatched.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7pr4EKg7ZDeOZPlqx8Z54DZzO%2fnAT2B0Gu%2b8slJ2QbfleWBDm%2f0Y2MrV5p5qGy06pofA2d255nmaAgI9pEZKFLpeW6oumI05LLp4323Dz0As%3d

Haneyya’s government warns of new Oslo agreement

The PA caretaker government under premier Ismael Haneyya has warned Tuesday the PA leadership in Rammalh city of surprising the Palestinian people with a new agreement similar to the Oslo agreement.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7GlkMqdiLNwfaO9ctSSYWdeCblLMYjoe1iV8gLH4qbcsfVFJDvs4DjicO00cF9hlSgJ89XeUfZeC0ceoAz9o7248pnkuo6V8wRXetvWrGf3M%3d

Haniyya cheers coming prisoner swap deal with Israel

The Prime Minister of the dissolved government of the Palestinian people, Ismail Haniyya, stated Monday that the Palestinian people will soon celebrate a dignified prisoner swap deal, adding that the Hamas party will not concede any of their demands until the detainees are freed. Haniyya’s statement came during a ceremony at the Ministry of Detainees in Gaza, where he described the detainees as “the leaders of the resistance movement which fights for Palestinian rights”.
http://imemc.org/article/562

Uneven policy

Last month Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy issued an interim injunction preventing the settlement of Ofra from continuing to build nine homes, which are apparently being built on private Palestinian land. But 10 days later, Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan ordered the police to halt the implementation of the ruling. It is important to note that Nitzan has no authority to halt the implementation of an order by the High Court of Justice. If the State Prosecutor’s Office has any reservations about the ruling, an application must be made to the court for clarification. In a response to a question from Haaretz, the Justice Ministry said Nitzan denied any wrongdoing and offered a convoluted explanation. Still, things Nitzan said at closed meetings contradict that response and his official explanations, Haaretz has learned.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004183.html

Israeli official: U.S. intervention in minor Palestinian issues could damage ties

Senior officials in the U.S. State Department, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have repeatedly complained to Israel recently over relatively minor Palestinian issues that it would have ignored until a few months ago, Israeli officials say. Complaints about settlement construction or army operations that kill Palestinian civilians have always been the norm. But Israeli officials are worried by the State Department’s new tendency to intervene in a much broader range of issues.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004189.html

Palestinian Jerusalem Leader: We Don’t Want Your Money

Jerusalem - A senior Palestinian official said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown can keep the 60-million euros he promised to the Palestinian Authority when he appeared in Bethlehem Sunday. Yesterday, Sari Nusseibeh, the Palestinian Authority’s representative in Jerusalem, held a packed press conference for the international media, where he said further foreign aid should be curtailed until Israel’s presence in the disputed territories end. Mr. Nusseibeh said life becomes “too complacent for the Palestinians” when they accept foreign aid. The removal of foreign aid would place the burden of supporting the Palestinian entity entirely on Israel’s shoulders in his opinion.
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19864345&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

Shoulder responsibility or see credibility undermined, permanent observer of Palestine warns as Security Council considers Middle East situation
Underlining the permanent responsibility of the United Nations for the question of Palestine until its resolution, the Permanent Observer for Palestine warned the Security Council today that its credibility would be undermined unless it shouldered its responsibility in that regard.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7GT3Z8?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P

Diskin calls for reoccupying Gaza, maintaining permanent military presence

Israeli Shin Bet head, Yuval Diskin, called on Tuesday for reoccupying the Gaza Strip and maintaining permanent Israeli military presence in the coastal region. Diskin claimed that Hamas is using the truce is order to rearm its military wing. Speaking at the Knesset’s Foreign and Security Committee meeting, Diskin claimed that Hamas is gaining more military power and that the movement managed to obtain “missiles” that could hit areas as far as Ashdod. He claimed that the best solution is to occupy the Gaza Strip and maintain military presence there. Diskin also claimed that the “significant decrease of Palestinian attacks in the West Bank happened as a result of the Defensive Shield operation which was carried out in 2002”. He added that the drop in attacks also comes as a result of the Wall and ongoing military presence.
http://imemc.org/article/5613

Jones Drafts ’Extremely Critical’ US Report of Israel’s Policies

The United States security coordinator for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, retired general James Jones, is preparing an extremely critical report of Israel’s policies in the territories and its attitude toward the Palestinian Authority’s security services, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday. A few copies of the report’s executive summary (or, according to some sources, a draft of it) have been given to senior Bush Administration officials, and it is reportedly arousing considerable discomfort.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article540

Police to closely watch Arab workers in Jerusalem

Police to be in touch with construction site managers in bid to prevent further bulldozer attacks - Jerusalem District Commander Aharon Franco ordered police Tuesday evening to more closely scrutinize Arab workers who are residents of east Jerusalem, in the wake of the latest bulldozer terror attack in the capital. Following assessments by police officials, senior officers decided to undertake strict checks and patrols at construction sites in the capital.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3571848,00.html

Roadblocks Crippling West Bank Economy

The Israeli military has erected three additional roadblocks, further blocking vehicular access on the road between the south Hebron village of At-Tuwani and the commercial hub of Yatta in the southern West Bank.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/20080722/wl_oneworld/world3563201216766081