Today in Palestine!

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Land theft / house demolitions

Demolitions build Jerusalem tension
Five young children cling to their mother. All of them are crying. This morning, without warning, Israeli bulldozers came to destroy their home in Jabal Mukabar area of East Jerusalem. Speaking amongst the mangled remains of her house, Samia Ihdaidoon says she was still sleeping when Israel’s police arrived ... Osama Zahaika told us Israel makes it almost impossible for Palestinians to get building permits in East Jerusalem. "As a Palestinian I know why they do it. Israel doesn’t want us here. My house, most of the Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem are illegal. Not granting us construction permission, demolishing our houses. It’s a form of quiet transfer," Mr Zahaika says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8016258.stm

Israeli aggression

Israeli settlers wound seven in West Bank
(AFP) NABLUS, Occupied West Bank: Israeli settlers opened fire and wounded seven Palestinian villagers Friday after massive clashes outside the town of Nablus in the Occupied West Bank, security and army sources said.A number of settlers from Yitzhar, a bastion of radical Jews, entered the nearby village of Ourif, opening fire and moderately wounding seven people who were rushed to a Nablus hospital, Palestinian security sources said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=101334

Settlers, Palestinians injured in clash near Yitzhar
Members of West Bank settlement’s emergency squad dispatched to vineyard south of community following arrival of nearby village’s resident. Palestinians report 14 residents hospitalized after IDF soldiers, settlers enter village
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3706178,00.html

European Parliament’s VP joins Bil`in anti-wall protest, pledges to bring Israel in front of ICC
Ten protesters were injured as European Parliament VP Morgantini promised to “bring Israel in front of the International Court of Justice,” and noting that “Israel cannot remain unpunished for all the crimes that has committed.” Attendees of Bil’in’s fourth annual conference on nonviolent resistance walked with village residents to the site where Israeli soldiers shot and killed 29-year-old Basem Rahmeh one week ago and erected a monument in his honor amid torrents of Israeli bullets and tear gas.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37348

Israeli violence sends one to hospital at Ni`lin anti-wall rally
...Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Mustafa Al-Barghuthi attended the protest, as well as a dozen international peace activists. Barghuthi’s aide, Marwan Abu Ras, choked on tear gas and 18-year-old Mu’men Al-Khwaja was transferred to hospital after being shot in the face with a rubber-coated bullet. Three other youth were lightly injured in the clash. Salah Al-Khwaja, coordinator of the popular campaign against the Wall in Ni’lin said soldiers fired 36 tear-gas canisters at the crowd, and another dozen randomly into the area of the protest.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37346

Al Jazeera video: Palestinians in Hebron complain of racism
In a controversial address at a recent UN conference on racism, Mahmoud Ahmadinajad, Iran’s president, denounced Israel as a "cruel and repressive racist regime". Al Jazeera’s Clayton Swisher visits the West Bank city of Hebron and a nearby Jewish settlement, where Palestinians say racism is a daily reality.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/04/200942415485017309.html

Low on the scale of humanity
By Benny Ziffer. On Friday evening the phone rang. It was my daughter. She wanted to tell me that she had just heard that Bassem had died. That a gas canister was shot at his chest at short range during the demonstration at Bil’in and he collapsed on the spot ... She works with drug addicts and AIDS patients, and knows there is a list of categories of people in this country who have, in the public’s eye, lost the right to be considered human beings. Among these transparent people are those perceived as wretches, who have brought their misfortune down upon themselves: The Palestinians are one category on the list ... About two years ago she came home from the weekly demonstration against the separation fence in Bil’in, and related that she had met the best-looking man in the world there. Two weeks later I went with her to the village to meet him and his family. I took along as a "reinforcement" my cousin, Liliane, who was visiting from France and was the first in our family to have crossed the line and married a Muslim Arab.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080664.html

Photos: Palestinian kids vs. Israeli soldiers
How can you not admire those Palestinians. Look at this: Palestinian children facing Israeli terrorist soldiers. (AFP)
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/04/palestinian-kids-versusisraeli.html

Detention

Palestinian families prohibited from visiting Israeli-jailed relatives
Palestinian families with sons and daughters in Israeli prisons are prohibited from visits following an Israeli order intended to punish relatives after damage to one prison facility was discovered, sources in the Red Cross said Saturday. The order applies to all families wishing to visit prisoners at the Negev Desert prison and Ofer detention center in Israel. The order was first handed down to Tulkarem-area families and then extended to all West Bank Palestinians.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37358

Hamas lawmaker sentenced to three and a half years in Israeli prison
Sources in Jerusalem said Muhammad Tutah, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from Jerusalem representing Hamas’ change and reform bloc appeared in front of a military judge after more than two years of administrative detention where he was held without charge. Tuta was detained in June 2006 during a wide-scale Israeli apprehension campaign against Palestinian ministers and lawmakers affiliated to Hamas following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37355

Legal center: New Israeli internal security minister sanctions stricter measures
The Israeli occupation authority has escalated its oppressive measures against the Palestinian prisoners in its jails following the appointment of Yitzhak Aharonovich as the new internal security minister, the Palestinian center for prisoners’ studies said. The center warned on Friday that Aharonovich was sanctioning escalation of harassing Palestinian prisoners on all levels... Aharonovich is a member of Yisrael Beiteinu the fanatic party led by Avigdor Lieberman, the current Israeli foreign minister, who once called for drowning all Arab and Palestinian prisoners in the Dead Sea.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7CXmQBHwnM3g3JJoLpTDbohzAbKcANnNUDrZYT4lsvxKiqCKYczfCWXDg5Q2REsBl%2fkq090e2Tv4klcLwGqG1VdNrbOpOIIhq8u%2bEM4fD4W8%3d

Qassem: "They kept me in the company of criminals and murderers"
Just released from a PA lockup ostensibly in connection with his outspoken criticisms of the Palestinian Authority, Abdul Sattar Qassem has accused his incarcerators of mistreating and humiliating him. Qassem was arrested by the Preventive Security Force (PSF) last week on what seemed to be fabricated libel charges filed against him by two members of PA security agencies. Qassem, a former presidential candidate and Professor of Political Science at al-Najah University in Nablus in the northern West Bank, said he believed his detention was meant as a warning against criticizing the PA government and security apparatus.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7i6AVTZHTIeFZOEO9ijydu8PeJVAUswizuH5OO3PNhRoNlGcXl1jmav4PpYnzNYDYol0dEHIuo9vZvMDmu57qJ%2bMCdbCCe%2blZu8NTCBQGIPw%3d

Prisoners’ center appeals for enabling Palestinian mother to see her kids
The prisoners’ center for studies appealed to all institutions concerned with the issue of prisoners to enable a Palestinian mother called Fatima Azzak imprisoned with her one-year child in the Israeli Telmond Hashron prison to see her husband and eight children living in Gaza.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7bBiDfcDdNTM4FIsd5bOYaAdxnas8SSVB3mmTJwJeUzYhQ6WHnJjAWcyk8wXZwTJNpQdvHlChTIXUny4enMuhKEhJ0Lv83lCpzQILJ2ltVLg%3d

Israeli forces break into homes, take young men to unknown location
Israeli soldiers invaded Nablus’ Old City on Friday morning and raided several homes in half a dozen neighborhoods of the densely-populated ancient area. They harassed residents and arrested three youth identified as: Yaser At-Tashtush, 18; Asher Ibrahim Qarqash, 24; A’dnan A’nan Khashan 19
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37357

Collaboration / corruption

Abbas-backed mobile network gets US aid earmarked for Palestinian farmers
RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank: US aid in the form of loan guarantees meant for Palestinian farmers and other small to mid-sized businesses has been given to a mobile-phone firm backed by President Mahmoud Abbas and Gulf investors. The shift in US taxpayer support to Wataniya Palestine, a joint venture between a Kuwaiti and Qatari telecoms group and a holding company for public assets, the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), has dismayed sponsors of small private enterprise.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=101324

No longer wanted: New life of `Alaa’ Sanakra
Up until less than two years ago, he was one of most wanted men in West Bank. Following amnesty agreement, he became a member of Preventive Security Service in Nablus. Last week he began another new chapter in his life by getting married. But his past sometimes still haunts him: ’I have nightmares’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3706147,00.html

3 arrested in Lebanon for allegedly spying for Israel
Lebanese authorities arrested three men early Saturday for allegedly being part of a network spying for Israel, security officials said, in the latest episode in the long-running espionage war between the two countries. Agents grabbed the three men - two Lebanese and one Palestinian - from their homes in southern Lebanon during a raid early Saturday, security officials said. Authorities are searching for a fourth suspect, the officials added
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080936.html

Siege

Hamas hands Department of External Medical Treatment back to PA
The Department of External Medical Treatment in Gaza, taken over by Hamas officials in March, has been handed back to the Palestinian Authority after a failed attempt to secure treatment for patients outside Gaza. A coalition of 22 NGOs in Gaza, who earlier called for serious steps to be taken as patients needing treatment abroad found it increasingly difficult to obtain permits and permissions to travel outside of Gaza, applauded the move. The reaction of the caretaker [PA] ministry, however, was reserved.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37366

Al-Mazan Center secures return of Israeli-confiscated fishing boat to Gazans
The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights secured the release of a Palestinian fishing boat confiscated by Israeli forces on 25 March after gunboats opened fire on the vessel off the Rafah shore. The fishermen were detained and the boat confiscated. While the Gazans were released the following day, the boat was not released until Wednesday [22 April], following court action by the Al-Mezan center.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37352

ANERA ships emergency relief to the Gaza Strip
From Gaza: Cleaning Farmland and Employing Workers in Gaza - ANERA has completed its second week of agricultural plastic clean-up of farms in northern Gaza. The project employs 30 workers, removes debris which stops plants from growing, and recycles the plastic at a nearby factory. Read the story. For more info see: http://www.anera.org/ANERA-Gaza_page.php
http://arabisto.com/article/Blogs/PRNEWS/042409_ANERA_ships_emergency_relief_to_the_Gaza_Strip/35213

An Phoblacht: Gerry Adams in Gaza and Israel
On 7 April, the Sinn Féin delegation – Gerry Adams, Richard McAuley, Ted Howell and Harry Thompson – visited the region for four days. This week, concluding his two-part story of their experience, Richard McAuley tells of their time in Gaza, including meeting the Hamas Prime Minister and Fatah and the PLO.
http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/38049

ReliefWeb: UNICEF and ECHO support counselling to help Gaza’s children face the future
The conflict in Gaza, which occurred between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, took a great economic, social and psychological toll on children and families. Many witnessed the deaths of caregivers, siblings and friends. All border crossings were virtually sealed; children and their families had nowhere to run, no refuge from the violence.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SNAA-7RFF3K?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P

Palestinian dies in Gaza smuggling accident
(AP) A Palestinian health official says a man has been killed in an accident while working in one of the smuggling tunnels under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Health official Moawia Hassanein says a 22-year-old man was electrocuted by cables he had rigged for light and power in the tunnel. Saturday’s death brought to 12 the number of people killed in Gaza tunneling accidents this year. Gazans use tunnels to smuggle in goods kept out of the Strip by Israel’s and Egypt’s blockade of its borders.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3706369,00.html

Hamas ’smuggling new arsenal into Gaza’
By Amos Harel. Hamas has smuggled a new arsenal into the Gaza Strip that would upset the balance of power, despite increased tensions between Cairo and the Islamic organization’s allies Hezbollah and Iran, Israel believes. Militants currently have 160 tunnels beneath the Sinai border that they are using to smuggle longer range rockets, anti-tank missiles and perhaps even anti-aircraft missiles, security sources say. Some of the tunnels are large and sturdy enough to let small all-terrain vehicles pass. The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, which severed ties with Hamas in 2006, believes Iran has smuggled a large number of weapons into Gaza by sea. Israeli officials, however, believe the bulk of arms are being brought through tunnels.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080096.html

PM spokesman: Naming Gaza op ’Cast Lead’ was a PR mistake
"I didn’t like the name," Mark Regev, the prime minister’s spokesman for international media, told a crowd of some 150 listeners in English. "From a public relations point of view, it was a mistake." ...the truth is that the Hebrew name Oferet Yetzuka [referring to Hanukkah dreidels] sounds lovely. It’s the translation into English which sounds inappropriate." [like ’throw bullets/bombs’?]
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080691.html

War crimes

Amnesty International releases report undermining findings of Israeli military probe on Gaza
Amnesty International is pressuring the Israeli military to make public the complete findings of a report on the 22-day war on the Gaza Strip, the summary of which says only that Israeli forces committed no human rights violations and made only rare mistakes, some of which may have resulted in the killing of Palestinian civilians.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37364

IDF’s idea of ’proportionate’ is a matter of interpretation
In Gaza, the doctrine was ’zero risk’ to soldiers’ lives, even when this meant harming enemy civilians. By Amos Harel. Was the destruction of homes "proportionate," as the probes suggest? That’s a matter of interpretation. Some of the legal experts who participated in the probe did not think so, and two infantry officers who held key positions during the fighting acknowledged, "We just leveled neighborhoods." [and Harel is no liberal]
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080460.html

Talks / Politics

Lieberman promotes 2-state solution
Israel’s controversial foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, openly promoted the concept of two states for two people, London-based Egyptian newspaper al-Hayat reported on Saturday. According to the paper, Lieberman was "incredibly moderate" during a meeting with Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s Intelligence Chief. Suleiman visited Israel last week, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres. His meeting with Lieberman was kept secret in order to avoid making waves in Egypt
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3706273,00.html

Hamas: Tomorrow’s Cairo talks last chance for conciliation
The Cairo talks set to begin Sunday will be the last chance for conciliation through dialogue, Hamas member Mushir Al-Masri said Saturday. Fatah and Hamas delegations will head to Cairo after a three-week hiatus in talks ... The main issues for the fourth round continue to be the make-up of a transitional government, complicated by Egypt’s proposal that a Higher Committee be constructed instead that both the Ramallah and Gaza City governments would answer to but not be replaced by.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37361

Gazans are gloomy over dialogue’s [chances of] success
Amal Ibrahim, a 44-year-old mother of four children who lives in southern Gaza city, got nervous when she was asked if she expects an imminent inter-reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the two Palestinian rival movements. "To be frank, I’m not optimistic that the upcoming round of dialogue between the two movements would succeed," said Ibrahim, calling on the two groups "to carry their responsibilities to resolve their disputes, which hardened the daily life of Palestinians."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/25/content_11256134.htm

Abu Zuhri: American conditions for talks with Hamas blackmail
DAMASCUS, (PIC)— Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman, has criticized American secretary of state Hillary Clinton for imposing conditions in order to open dialog with his Movement. He expressed regret in a statement to Quds Press on Friday that the new American administration was reiterating conditions of the old administration such as recognizing Israel, commitment to previous agreements between the PA and Israel and shunning "violence", the Zio-American term for resistance. Abu Zuhri noted that the American and Israeli positions are identical, a thing, which he described as a bad omen.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7kVkh4P8Zm4jlgivjtzgNoFo4hz%2fFS2nHIpiDksZZ%2bc%2fRd6IGvMusF08X9Z5d6SjfNEi8azB32l3johX1Aa6pxEe6SLDk85Z2dLQhoSzHDak%3d

Hamas hints at extending its term in Palestinian parliament
Gaza Strip, April 23, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - A senior Hamas leader hinted Thursday that the radical Islamist movement would extend its term in the Palestinian parliament if no agreement was reached with the rival Fatah party, dpa reported.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=623:hamas-hints-at-extending-its-term-in-palestinian-parliament&catid=58:gaza-strip&Itemid=182

Istanbul Peace Platform kicks off
Hundreds of writers, historians, and intellectuals are gathering in Istanbul in Turkey to participate in the Istanbul Peace Platform, in cooperation with civil society institutions. The conference aims to “protect the Al Aqsa Mosque and draw attention to Israeli plans to demolish it”. Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Israeli historian [Israel] Adam Shamir, Dr. Kamel Al Sharif of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights are among those taking part.Researchers from Lebanon, Canada and the Philippines will also be there.
http://imemc.org/article/60110

Solidarity

London concert for medical aid to Palestinians, 30th April
Featuring Gilad Atzmon with his renowned quartet, Christine Tobin, Sarah Gillespie....
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/04/25/london-concert-for-medical-aid-for-palestinians/

Media

Human tragedy on TV as a catalyst for change
By Yizhar Be’er. JERUSALEM – Almost every violent national conflict is retained in the public consciousness through an emblematic image which captures the essence of the story. Etched in our memory from the most recent war in Gaza is the figure of Izzeldin Abuelaish, the Gazan doctor whose three daughters were killed by Israeli tank fire. These images shape our consciousness thanks to one technological invention – the television camera. The ability to capture reality as it unfolds and immediately send it across the world has created a revolution, the full implications of which are still unknown.
http://www.metimes.com/Opinion/2009/04/14/human_tragedy_on_tv_as_a_catalyst_for_change/3493/

Other news

PA: Pope will visit Aida Refugee Camp despite Israeli threats
Preparations for Pope Benedict XVI to visit Aida Refugee Camp will move forward despite Israeli attempts to interfere in the planning, officials from the Palestinian Authority said Friday. Israeli troops stormed Aida camp Wednesday and raided a meeting of the preparatory committee for the Papal visit. Committee members were harassed and questioned then informed that because the camp is in Area C - i.e. under Israeli civil and military control - that organizers must get a special permit to hold celebrations for the pope.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37353

Candidate for US envoy: Israel must unilaterally quit West Bank
By Barak Ravid. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s candidate for Israeli ambassador to Washington, Dr. Michael Oren, supports a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and an evacuation of most of the settlements. Oren, a visiting Georgetown University professor, said in a lecture there last month, "The only alternative for Israel to save itself as a Jewish state is by unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank and evacuating most of the settlements."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080695.html

Jordan’s King Abdullah: Israel has the choice of integrating or remaining isolated
King Abdullah of Jordan stated Friday that Israel ha the choice to be integrated into the region or remain isolated “as a fortress”. He added that should Israel choose to remain isolated it will then hold itself and the entire region hostage to continuing conflict. Abdullah’s statements came during a visit to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
http://imemc.org/article/60107

IDF: Botched helicopter rescue result of human error
An IDF inquiry has determined that the death of 24-year-old `Alaa’ Agbariya, who fell to his death from an IAF helicopter which had come to evacuate him from a minefield, was not the result of equipment malfunction but human error. At present time there is no intent on the military’s part to prosecute those involved ... Lawyer David Mena, who represents the family, told Ynet on Friday: "Everybody is in shock. We thought that this was (the result of) a malfunction, but the scope of the failure that was revealed today is greater than we had imagined: a wounded person not being harnessed to a stretcher, use of a defective stretcher, and a large number of people on the medevac are more than a simple human error."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3706059,00.html

Checkpoint soldiers thieve 4,000 shekels from Palestinian man during Huwwara ’inspection’
Twenty three- year-old Muhammad Rafiq Abd Ar-Rahaman from Ramallah went to Nablus Friday morning to sell his family’s olive oil, said his brother. He completed the sale with his prospective client and was on his way home when Israeli troops stopped him for inspection at Huwwara checkpoint. Soldiers checked his bags and personal effects, removed the 4,000 shekels of cash from his bags and sent him through the checkpoint.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37356

Palestinian police catch four fugitives attempting to flee to Jordan
Palestinian police at the Allenby crossing bridge seized four fugitives attempting to leave the West Bank last week. The police explained that the four are wanted for police, security services and courts. They will be transferred to judicial authorities for prosecution.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37363

Op-ed / analysis

Lessons from Ulster
By Carlo Strenger and Lord Alderdice. In a recent article, Prof. Shlomo Avineri argues that, despite the differences, some lessons can be learned from the Northern Irish peace process. Avineri considers this point important because former senator George Mitchell, appointed by Barack Obama as special envoy to the Middle East, played a crucial role in the Northern Irish peace process. Avineri is right on both counts. However, he repeats some myths we have found to be common beliefs in Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080712.html

Humor or hate? Groups see Israeli cartoon differently
JERUSALEM — Ahmed and Salim appear to be typical teenage brothers. The animated stars of an incendiary new Internet cartoon series aren’t typical, however. They’re young Arabs who spend their afternoons trying to bomb Israeli buses, gun down Jewish girls and incinerate crowded cafes, and in the three months since their debut, their caricature of Islamic extremism has attracted a growing cult following in Israel. Its creators and fans see a humorous series that resembles "South Park" — at least visually — and mocks Islamic terrorism. Its critics see a hate-filled cartoon that uses crude stereotypes to dehumanize Muslims, intensify Arab-Israeli divisions and inflame the conflict between Muslims and Jews
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/66796.html

Palestine and the tactic of non-violence
Response to Ramzy Baroud’s article Non-Violence in Palestine: Timing and Intentions – The Palestine Chronicle and CounterPunch. By Ray Zwarich. The tactic of non-violence has certainly been highly propagandized, to the point that many of us have erroneously come to believe that it was non-violence, as practiced by Gandhi, that freed India from British colonial rule, and that it was the non violence of Dr. King that won the victories for minority rights in the US. The lessons suggested by the actual history of these struggles is obscured when we elevate this propaganda to accepted dogma, as so many of us seem to.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15051

As victims, we’re allowed
By Ariana Melamed, translated from Hebrew by Keren Rubinstein. Mistakenly, we continue to believe that being historical victims completely frees us of the need to develop solidarity with humanity and of the duty to consecrate the living, not only the dead. From one Holocaust Day to the next, one registers a worrisome rise in Israeli racism. Between one compulsory mourning siren and another, the official Israel flatly denies other holocausts and sells arms to countries that use them against civilians. The official daily command to remember those murdered during the Second World War will not prevent the soldier at the checkpoint from then abusing those who aren`t our citizens..
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=33130

A strategy for dealing separately with the two Palestines
By Yossi Alpher. ...the de facto reality all parties face for the foreseeable future is that of the past two years: three states or political entities—Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Under these circumstances, while a two-state solution remains the only viable outcome to the entire conflict, talk of achieving it in the near future rings hollow. On the other hand, those Israelis who believe the present situation of a divided Palestine works to Israel’s advantage risk cultivating, through neglect, not one but two time bombs in our midst: a militant Islamist Gaza and a weak and unstable West Bank.
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/61714

Between intifada and war
As Israel’s right-wing leaders prepare for a new military offensive on Hamas, Israeli security sources worry about a new Intifada in the West Bank, writes Saleh Al-Naami. ...What is inciting fear in Israel, however, is the possible start of a third Palestinian Intifada in the West Bank where the Salam Fayyad government is cooperating with Israel in the running of affairs. Israeli security sources have expressed their fear that the growing number of independent resistance operations conducted by Palestinians in the West Bank may form the beginning of a third Intifada.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/944/re1.htm

Israel tries to reclaim initiative as international pressure builds
By Tobias Buck in Jerusalem. Benjamin Netanyahu has been in office for less than a month, but the new Israeli prime minister is already feeling the heat of international diplomacy. Over the past weeks the US in particular has made clear that it will not allow the rightwing leader to put regional peace efforts into the deep freeze. What is more, both Washington and other international players have stressed repeatedly that they want to see Israel and the Palestinians settle their conflict by way of the two-state solution.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3469ef04-3068-11de-88e3-00144feabdc0.html

Together in pain; together in hope
by Dr. Maha El-Taji Daghash and Shiri Barr. JERUSALEM – Israel’s Independence Day and the Palestinian Nakba are two sides of the same coin. For over 60 years, Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs have engaged in opposite activities on that day. Jews celebrate the establishment of the State of Israel, while Palestinian Arabs commemorate "Al-Nakba", the day of their catastrophe. By its very nature, “Independence Day” suggests nostalgic celebrations for the winners and disregards the defeated, thus intensifying feelings of separation and estrangement. In light of this drastic gap between the feelings of Jews and Arabs, a unique grassroots project has provided an alternative: a space where it is possible for Jews and Arabs to come together in an inclusive event.
http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=25354&lan=en&sid=0&sp=0&isNew=1

The talk continues
A new round of reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas is due to take place in Cairo next week, but with little hope of a breakthrough, writes Amira Howeidy. Egyptian authorities appear approving of Hamas these days. The Rafah border crossing — Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that is not controlled by Israel — was opened from Saturday to Tuesday allowing stranded people on both sides to cross. Judging by the pattern of opening the strategic border, from the Egyptian side, the decision to allow life into besieged Gaza, and outside of it, seems to be associated — amongst many considerations — with Cairo’s changing relationship with Hamas. Now that the border has been open for four continuous days, allowing over 1,145 people out of Gaza in addition to aid convoys in, according to a Hamas spokesman, the timing cannot be divorced from the 26 April Hamas-Fatah talks due in Cairo.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/944/re3.htm

Reality below the surface
The revelation of a Hizbullah cell in Egypt is just the tip of the iceberg of far deeper regional problems, writes Abdel-Moneim Said. First, the Hizbullah ring is not about smuggling arms, ammunition and aid to Gaza at a time when Palestinians are undergoing a crucial and painful ordeal. Investigations have established that the first cell in this network was planted as early as 2005 and that the prime suspect, Mohamed Sami Mansour, was arrested on 19 November 2008, several weeks before the Israeli war on Gaza.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/944/op2.htm

Hizbullah’s debacle
By Salama A Salama. Once again, the undertow of mistrust in Arab politics has pulled us into the depths. Egypt now says that Hizbullah is involved in illicit activities that wreck its sovereignty and undermine its peace, while Hassan Nasrallah says that his group was merely giving much-needed logistical support to Palestinian resistance. In this atmosphere of mistrust, one gets used to a stream of claims and counterclaims from all sides ... Egypt’s regional security is too precarious to go looking for new enemies. And once the dust has settled on this crisis, we will all discover that Israel is the only one that benefited from inter-Arab vitriol.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/944/op4.htm

Sour visit
Increasing indications are that Obama will act to see the implementation of a Palestinian state, regardless of the prevarications of Tel Aviv, writes Khaled Amayreh in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. ...Unaccustomed to hearing American officials say "No" or even a "half yes" to Israel, Israeli leaders are now at loss as to how to deal with the "crisis" in Washington. Indeed, a fleeting look at the mostly right- wing Israeli media would give the impression that the ultimate threat to Israel’s national security just came from across the Atlantic rather from Israel’s neighbours.