Study: Israel is biggest polluter in eastern Mediterranean

Reuters, 17.10.07. Israel is the biggest polluter in the eastern Mediterranean, dumping over 140 tons of heavy metals into the sea every year with government approval, an environmental group claimed in a recently published report. In Israel, long preoccupied with security issues, environmental awareness has been slow to take hold. According to the Zalul organization, more than 100 permits for discharging wastewater into the sea are granted by a government committee every year -sometimes very close to bathing beaches. "The state of Israel's coastal waters is appalling," the environmental group Zalul said in its State of the Sea Report for 2007. Of the heavy metals and pesticides discharged into the sea under government licenses, are 130 tons of pesticides, 5 tons of arsenic, 1,300 tons of ammonia and a ton of cyanide, the Zalul report said. The most recent United Nations report on the Mediterranean ranked the greater Tel Aviv area as one of the 10 most polluting urban centers in the Mediterranean. A government proposal to help clean up the polluted Kishon River in northern Israel could increase the problems in the Mediterranean. The plan calls for a pipeline to take waste from the factories along the river, including Israel's biggest oil refinery, and spill it directly into the sea.

Map of Pollution Points in Israel

PA health ministry warns of a health catastrophe in Gaza if blockade persists

GAZA, (PIC)-- 19.10.07. The PA health ministry has called on international humanitarian organizations, including UN organizations, the ICRC, and the EU parliament to pressure the Israeli occupation government into opening crossings to the Gaza Strip to avoid possible health catastrophe if the closure persists.

The Israeli occupation government had imposed hermitic closure on Gaza Strip since June of this year after Hamas Movement took control of the tiny Strip. The IOA sealed off all crossings, including the vital Rafah and Beit Hanon (Erez) terminals, and limited goods and supplies coming into the Strip to minimal levels since then.

In a statement it issued Thursday and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC, the ministry explained that the blockade caused a severe shortage in medicine and medical equipment in Gaza hospitals that, according to the statement, would jeopardize lives of hundreds of sick Palestinians.

After IOF troops and warplanes destroyed the electricity network in the Gaza Strip last year, Palestinian hospitals depended on electric generators to operate and sanitize their equipments; yet, shortage in fuel supplies to the Strip would definitely disrupt operation of those generators and would threaten lives of patients lying there.

The ministry also indicated that it had failed to send hundreds of emergency cases for medical treatment abroad due to that unjust closure, affirming that the Israeli occupation government refused to coordinate with the ministry in this regard.

Around 500 cases were used to be referred for medication abroad every week prior to Israeli closure of the crossings, the ministry underlined.

Moreover, the ministry explained that Palestinian doctors are no longer able to leave to Arab and foreign countries to update their knowledge and to take training courses in their fields.

Hundreds of Palestinian families are currently stranded at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border, south of Gaza Strip, in very miserable and harsh conditions amidst clear indifference on the part of the international community to end their ordeal.

Wedding in Bil'in - Friday 19-10-07

Palestinians live as "ghosts" in Gaza

Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters, 19.10.07. JABALYA, Gaza Strip, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Officially, Mahmoud Jnaid does not exist. The 25-year-old Palestinian almost made that a reality earlier this month when he doused himself with petrol and tried to set himself alight. Jnaid is one of about 54,000 displaced Palestinians who returned to Gaza and the West Bank from abroad after an interim peace accord in 1993, but still have no identity cards because Israel refuses to approve them. Following years of silence, they recently started holding weekly protests in Hamas-run Gaza to demand the documents, which they need to travel as well as for daily basics like opening a bank account or getting a driving licence. Israel granted identity cards to some 3,500 Palestinians in the West Bank earlier this month as part of efforts to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah ahead of an Israeli-Palestinian conference on statehood. But there is little hope the goodwill will extend to Gaza, which Israel recently branded an "enemy entity" because militants in the territory regularly fire rockets into the Jewish state. Under the 1993 peace accords, Israel must approve all Palestinian personal documents, including ID cards

MONDE ARABE • La famille Kadhafi vole au secours de Mme Arafat

Expulsée au mois d'août de Tunisie et déchue de la nationalité tunisienne, qui lui avait été accordée, Souha, la veuve du chef palestinien Yasser Arafat, et sa fille Zahwa ont trouvé refuge sur l'île de Malte. Selon le quotidien panarabe Al-Quds Al-Arabi, c'est aujourd'hui le leader de la Jamahiriya libyenne, Muammar Kadhafi, qui joue le rôle du bienfaiteur de la famille Arafat. Le bouillonnant colonel a envoyé à La Valette son fils Saif Al-Islam pour rencontrer Mme Arafat et lui assurer que la Libye subviendrait à tous ses besoins. Kadhafi vient d'ailleurs de lui acheter la prestigieuse villa qu'elle avait louée et dont le prix serait de 1 million d'euros.

Les raisons de l'expulsion de Souha Arafat de Tunisie demeurent obscures : il s'agirait d'une affaire de gros sous avec la famille Ben Ali qui aurait mal tourné. De son côté, l'Autorité palestinienne souhaitait récupérer l'argent et les biens de Yasser Arafat en Tunisie. Mais Souha aurait emporté le magot avec elle.

Il nucleare di Israele? «Colpisce i bambini»

Il programma atomico e di deposito delle scorie nucleari
portato avanti da decenni da Israele
continua a svolgersi
senza alcun controllo

Michele Giorgio, il manifesto. 18.10.07. Una Commissione di medici internazionali denuncia: rare forme di tumore nei bambini che vivono vicino alle centrali. L'esperto palestinese Mahmud Saada: c'è tanto cesio 137 come vicino a Cernobyl. Le radiazioni emanate dal reattore nucleare israeliano di Dimona e le scorie nucleari di tre depositi sotterranei adiacenti sarebbero la causa di rari casi di cancro che hanno colpito bambini palestinesi nel distretto di Dahariyeh, a sud di Hebron (Cisgiordania).
Saada ha riferito del caso di bambini palestinesi affetti da «rarissime forme di tumori agli occhi e cervello» e di analisi di laboratorio che affermerebbero che «le radiazioni e le scorie nucleari sotterrate in tre zone limitrofe all'area di Daheriyeh» sono «la principale causa dei casi di cancro, aumentati negli ultimi tempi del 60%». A ovest di Daheriyeh, ha aggiunto l'esperto palestinese, sono state registrate percentuali di cesio 137 simili a quelle che si riscontrano a trenta chilometri di distanza dal reattore di Chernobyl. Saada ha chiesto che gli enti internazionali facciano i passi necessari per obbligare Israele a «fermare lo stoccaggio sotterraneo di scorie nelle zone abitate», a «installare un impianto per monitorare le radiazioni nucleari» e a «costruire un ospedale per curare le malattie dovute alle radiazioni». Da parte sua Al Hayat ha denunciato «la negligenza delle autorità israeliane» che, secondo il quotidiano, «non avrebbe preso alcun provvedimento per esaminare la presenza di radiazioni della zona interessata».
Già due anni fa un gruppo di medici palestinesi aveva denunciato l'aumento di cancri e aborti spontanei in cinque villaggi a sud di Hebron, trovando sostegno nel loro collega ed esperto israeliano Michael Shapira che non aveva escluso, come causa delle malattie, proprio la presenza dei depositi di scorie nucleari. Affermazioni che meriterebbero una verifica che le agenzie internazionali competenti, però, non sembrano voler effettuare. In passato tuttavia il Programma per la protezione dell'ambiente delle Nazioni unite (Unep) ha in più occasioni messo in rilievo che il programma atomico e di deposito delle scorie nucleari portato avanti da decenni da Israele continua a svolgersi senza alcun controllo. Non è insignificante peraltro che qualche anno fa le autorità israeliane abbiano distribuito farmaci per contenere il rischio delle radiazioni in alcuni centri abitati del Neghev vicini alla centrale di Dimona, dove Israele - secondo le rivelazioni fatte nel 1986 dall'ex tecnico nucleare Mordechai Vanunu e gli studi di esperti internazionali - ha prodotto il plutonio per costruire tra i cento e i duecento ordigni atomici che costituirebbero il suo arsenale.
Le denunce sulle conseguenze delle radiazioni tuttavia non inducono Israele a un ripensamento, anzi lo stato ebraico intenderebbe dotarsi della prima centrale nucleare civile (quella di Dimona ufficialmente è solo un «centro di ricerche avanzate»). Indiscrezioni riferite nelle scorse settimane dalla stampa locale e internazionale parlano della scelta imminente del governo israeliano di realizzare una centrale elettrica atomica al fine di soddisfare, almeno parzialmente, la crescente domanda nazionale di elettricità. Dimona nel frattempo continuerà a produrre bombe e tumori?

Forze politiche della sinistra palestinese: come fare della conferenza di Bush un successo

Il livello di serietà di qualunque sforzo Internazionale per risolvere il conflitto si traduce nell'impegno di spingere Israele a cessare le sue pratiche di aggressione contro il nostro popolo e di smettere di imporre il de facto unilaterale sul campo. Ciò comprende: mettere fine all'occupazione, bloccare la costruzione del muro dell'apartheid e smantellarne la parte già esistente , metter fine alle incursioni, alle uccisioni e agli arresti, smantellare i posti di blocco, rilasciare i prigionieri politici, annullare l'ordine prepotente di considerare Gaza come entità nemica e di mettere fine all'embargo. Noi firmatari, ribadiamo l'invito a Hamas a tornare sui suoi passi del colpo militare e violazione della democrazia e chiediamo che ponga fine all'anomala separatista a Gaza e di tornare sotto il quadro legittimo.

Le forze invitano anche a rimuovere tutti gli ostacoli che si oppongono ad un dialogo nazionale completo che conduca ad una soluzione pacifica e democratica alla crisi interna sulla base del documento d'accordo nazionale e della dichiarazione del Cairo.

Come prevenzione per i possibili rischi c'e bisogno di una partecipazione collettiva per amministrare il processo dei negoziati , con la partecipazione attiva di tutte le forze palestinesi interessate e con il completo svolgimento del ruolo dell'esecutivo dell'OLP di leadership nell' orientare la mobilizzazione politica e designare le sue strategie.

Fronte Popolare per la Liberazione della Palestina

Fronte Democratico per la Liberazione della Palestina

Unione Democratica Palestinese FIDA

Partito del Popolo Palestinese

Iniziativa Nazionale Palestinese - Al Mubadara

Annapolis: un'opportunità unica per porre fine all'occupazione e risolvere il conflitto arabo-israeliano

Ottobre 2007. La Commissione internazionale di donne per una pace giusta e sostenibile tra Israele e Palestina (IWC- International Women's Commission for a Just and Sustainable Palestinian-Israeli Peace) riconosce che la conferenza di Annapolis sponsorizzata dagli Stati Uniti e prevista per il prossimo novembre potrebbe fornire un'opportunità unica per porre fine all'occupazione e risolvere il conflitto arabo-israeliano. Il solo modo per raggiungere la sicurezza umana e il diritto di vivere con dignità è la fine dell'occupazione attraverso un accordo negoziato su tutti i restanti e permanenti temi dell'accordo. Preoccupa, tuttavia, che se questo incontro non verrà usato per lanciare negoziati definitivi su tutti i temi rilevanti all'interno di un chiaro quadro temporale, allora non avrà successo. Un fallimento avrà dei risultati disastrosi per entrambe le popolazioni e per l'intera regione. L'IWC considera l'adozione di un nuovo approccio, inclusivo e consultivo, che sostituisca quello fallimentare dominato dagli uomini guidati da prospettive militari, come un imperativo in questo momento cruciale per raggiungere la nostra visione comune di un'esistenza dignitosa e libera dalla paura e dai bisogni.

BECAUSE G-D SAID SO

Ruth Matar image. Mr. President, your “vision” is based on a faulty premise. Israel is not occupying Arab territory! On the contrary: LARGE PARTS OF ISRAEL ARE OCCUPIED BY THE ARABS. Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., i.e. 2,000 years BEFORE the rise of Islam, and long before there was any Arab nation. Israel (Palestine) has been the homeland of the Jewish People since biblical times. It was subsequently “occupied” more than 15 times. Among its occupiers were the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Ottoman Turks. The longest occupiers of the Holy Land who ruled on and off for 400 years­between 1517-1917 ­were the Ottoman Turks. They were followed by the British who ruled under a Mandate of the League of Nations (later the U.N.) to renew a homeland for the Jewish People. Jews had dominion over the land of Israel over 1,300 years before their expulsion by the conquering Roman Empire. Moreover, Jews have had a continuous presence in this land for over 3,300 years. My husband and I have four children and seventeen grandchildren. We currently live in Jerusalem, Israel. We consider the United States as our homeland. At the same time, as religious Jews, we feel that Israel is our spiritual homeland, promised to us Hebrews by the Almighty G-d as an everlasting inheritance. From my perspective as a Holocaust survivor, I fear that my children and grandchildren are not safe from another Holocaust. In light of all this, I implore you, Mr. President: Do not divide the Holy Land! I believe very strongly that we ought to support Israel; that it has a right to the land BECAUSE G-D SAID SO.

Ruth Matar

Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights http://www.pchrgaza.org
Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory	No. 41/2007 11 - 17 Oct. 2007
The suffering of Palestinian civilians at Israeli military checkpoints continues 5 Palestinians, including an old man, were killed by IOF. 2 of the victims were extra-judicially executed by IOF. 31 Palestinians, including 8 children, 2 women and a journalist, were wounded by IOF. IOF conducted 34 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 5 ones into the Gaza Strip. IOF arrested 54 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and 3 others in the Gaza Strip. IOF arrested 4 Palestinian fishermen opposite to Rafah seashore. IOF razed at least 163 donums[1] of agricultural land and demolished a house in the Gaza Strip. IOF destroyed an under-construction house in Qalqilya. IOF transformed a number of houses into military sites. IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT. IOF have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world and a humanitarian crisis has emerged. Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been denied access to Jerusalem. IOF troops arrested 5 Palestinian civilians at checkpoints in the West Bank. IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attacks Palestinian civilians and property. Summary Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law continued in the OPT during the reporting period (11 – 17 October 2007): Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed 5 Palestinians and wounded 31 others, including 8 children, 2 women and a journalists, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, IOF killed 3 Palestinians, including an old man, and wounded 15 otehrs, including 5 children, a woman and a journalist. On Thursday, 11 October 2007, an IOF undercover unit extra-judicially executed a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (an armed wing of Fatah movement) and wounded and arrested another one. On Tuesday, 16 October 2007, a member of the Palestinian resistance and an old man were killed and 8 others, including a child, a woman and a journalist, were wounded during an incursion by IOF into Nablus. The resistance activist was killed when a home-made shell, which he and his colleagues wanted to fire at IOF, exploded near him. Two of his colleagues were also wounded. The old man was killed when IOF troops opened fire at him as he was about to open the door of his house when they knocked it. During the reporting period, 6 other civilians, including 4 children, were wounded by IOF troops in various areas in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, IOF killed 2 Palestinians and wounded 16 others, including 3 children and a woman. On Saturday, 13 October 2007, IOF extra-judicially executed a member of the ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) and wounded 3 others and a passing child. On Wednesday, 17 October 2007, IOF killed a member of the Palestinian resistance and wounded 6 others and a woman during an incursion into al-Farrahin area in ‘Abassan village, east of Khan Yunis. During the reporting period, 6 Palestinians civilians, including 2 children, were wounded by IOF in various areas in the Gaza Strip. Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 34 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During those incursions, IOF arrested 54 Palestinian civilians, including 5 children. Thus, the number of Palestinians arrested by IOF in the West Bank since the beginning of this year has mounted to 2,146. IOF also destroyed an under-construction house in Qalqilya belonging to a Palestinian who has been detained in Israeli jails. In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted 5 incursions into Palestinian communities. During those incursions, IOF troops transformed a number of houses into military sites, demolished a house, razed 163 donums of agricultural land and arrested 3 Paletsinian civilians. Restrictions on Movement: Since Wednesday morning, 26 September 2007, IOF have imposed a total siege on the OPT. IOF have continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Gaza Strip IOF have imposed a strict siege on the Gaza Strip. They have closed its border crossings as a form of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians. IOF have closed Rafah International Crossing Point, even though they do not directly control it. They have prevented European observers working at the crossing point form reaching it. IOF had already closed Rafah International Crossing Point following an armed attack against an IOF military post in Kerem Shalom area, southeast of Rafah, on 25 June 2006. The crossing point had been partially reopened for short, sporadic periods to allow few numbers of Palestinian to travel through it. The crossing point has been completely closed since Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of Palestinian security forces from the crossing point. There are approximately 6,000 Palestinians held at the Egyptian side of the border awaiting to return to their homes in the Gaza Strip. Most of them have run out of money and are living on assistance. In addition, 19 of them have died in Egypt. The bodies were returned to Gaza through the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing. In addition, thousands of travelers were allowed to return to the Gaza Strip through al-Ojah crossing, 8 kilometers southeast of Rafah. From there, they were transported to Erez Checkpoint to enter the Gaza Strip. IOF have also closed commercial crossings, especially al-Mentar (Karni) crossing. IOF have continued to close Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have been prevented from traveling through this crossing. During the reporting period, IOF arrested 4 Palestinian fishermen opposite to Rafah seashore. West Bank IOF have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians to and from Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been denied access to the city. IOF have established many checkpoints around and inside the city. Restrictions of the movement of Palestinian civilians often escalate on Fridays to prevent them from praying at the al-Aqsa Mosque. IOF often violently beat Palestinian civilians who attempt to bypass checkpoints and enter the city. IOF have imposed additional restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the city during the Eid al-Futr. IOF have also tightened the siege imposed on Palestinian communities in the West Bank. They have isolated Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. IOF positioned at various checkpoints in the West Bank have continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians. IOF also erected more checkpoints on the main roads and intersections in the West Bank. During the reporting period, IOF arrested 5 Palestinian civilians at checkpoints in the West Bank. Settlement Activities: Israeli settlers living in the OPT in violation of international humanitarian law have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. During the reporting period, Israeli settlers escalated attacks against Palestinian farmers in an attempt to prevent them from cultivating olives. Israeli Violations Documented during the Reporting Period (11 – 17 October 2007) The full report is available online at: html format: http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2007/18-10-2007.htm pdf format: http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2007/pdf/Weekly%20Report%2041.pdf Public Document For further information please visit our website (http://www.pchrgaza.org) or contact PCHR’s office in Gaza City, Gaza Strip by email (pchr@pchrgaza.org) or telephone (+972 (0)8 2824776 – 2825893). *Office Hours are between 08:00 – 16:00 hours (05:00 GMT – 13:00 GMT) Sun – Thurs. ----------------------------------- If you got this forwarded and you want to subscribe, send mail to request@pchrgaza.org and write "subscribe" in the subject line.

The 41st kilometer. Israel has turned the Gaza Strip into a zoo

Amira Hass, Haaretz, 19.10.07. A zoo. This is one of the ways that Palestinians describe the conditions under which nearly 1.5 million of them have been living: in an area of some 360 square kilometers, closed in on three sides by sophisticated barbed-wire fences, concrete walls and military lookout towers, and to the west by Israeli navy ships that seal them off from the sea. Overhead, in the sky, unmanned aircraft and hot air balloons continually photograph whatever happens inside this closed cage, which has seven gates connecting it to the world, all of which are sealed off almost hermetically. During the past four months, Israel has permitted about 2,000 people to leave the Gaza Strip - a minority of them were ill; more than half were Fatah senior activists or loyalists who were fleeing from the Strip; and the rest were individuals holding dual citizenship or visas for prolonged stays abroad. For the sake of comparison: In 1999, 1,400 people a day went through the Rafah crossing point alone, in addition to the thousands who passed though the Erez crossing point, despite the permanent closure policy. Now, 1.5 million human beings are living with the knowledge that the length of their world is at most 41 kilometers long and 12 kilometers wide.

The comparison to a zoo was made by Dr. Mamdouh al Aker, a doctor who heads the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights. For another Gazan, a prominent businessman whose food plant is working at about 5 percent of its capacity, the situation is reminiscent of a hospital: Like patients, the inhabitants do not work, but they receive food. They do not work, because for four months Israel has prohibited not only the exit of any Gazan products to market, but also the entry of any raw materials or means of production. If the prices of goods continue to rise and the cash crisis worsens because of the severing of contact between banks in Israel and the banks in Gaza, the international aid organizations will soon increase the quantities of food that they donate, which today account for about 10 percent of the supplies that are brought in. Perhaps the day will come when they will drop food packages from helicopters.

The governments of Israel, the United States and Europe see the hermetic imprisonment of 1.5 million human beings and the final destruction of Gaza's economic infrastructure as a suitable answer to Hamas, at least until it falls. It appears that the Ramallah "government" agrees with them. Indeed, the head of the Gazan "government," Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, has hinted that the exclusive Hamas regime in Gaza is temporary. But, this temporary nature depends on the success of a dialogue between Hamas and Fatah, whereas Israel and the United States are forbidding Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from carrying on such a dialogue. And Abbas, in any case, is for the moment sticking to the approach that Hamas is a hostile entity.

As always, the students who are not being allowed to leave are a minority whose imprisonment reflects the extent of the destruction inflicted upon the Palestinian future. For years now Israel has been preventing Gazans from studying in the West Bank. As a consequence, those who want to undertake advanced studies at the university level must go abroad. Take, for example, 10 outstanding students who have received scholarships for master's and doctoral studies in Germany. Take another several hundred students who are already studying abroad and got stuck in the Gaza Strip over the summer, and others who registered for studies abroad this year. The essential future contribution by all of these students to their community is ensured. But if they do not leave the Gaza Strip today, right now, some of them will lose their scholarships, others the first semester of the school year and still others the entire year. Thousands of other young people have simply given up on their aspiration to study abroad because of the closed-gates policy. And when they do not receive the opportunity to get to know the world, the world according to Hamas and the religious horizons that it offers are the most persuasive.

Since 1991, Israel has been using the partial or total imprisonment of the Gazans in their cage, for longer or shorter periods, as a political strategy: Sometimes it is depicted as punishment, sometimes as a deterrent action and always as a preface to a political plan. Until not long ago, it seemed as though the terms of imprisonment could not be any worse. The past four months have proven that there is always "worse."

Needed in Gaza: Israeli journalists

Gideon Levy, Haaretz, 15.10.07. The Gaza Strip has been completely closed to Israeli journalists for nearly a year. A complete blackout has been imposed on Gaza. The place so present in the public consciousness, which dictates the security and diplomatic agenda, has been closed by the Israeli authorities to the Israeli media. Long before it was declared a "hostile entity," Gaza had become a closed territory, without any media coverage or documentation. Such is Israeli freedom of the press. Anyone who expected such an intolerable reality to stir a protest was proven wrong. In any case, the readers do not want to read about it, the government and army do not want them to know and the journalists are not yearning to tell. There is no real fight for freedom of media coverage (which is also freedom of expression, information and livelihood) - not by the High Court of Justice, the Press Association and Press Council, or the Association of Civil Rights in Israel. This might have been understandable were it only for a limited time - but how long will this continue? It is hard to know what really motivates Israel to close Gaza in this way. Is it the aspiration, so easy to fulfill, that Gaza will not be exposed here? If, on the other hand, it is an exaggerated concern for our safety, I waive this right. According to our foreign colleagues' reports, it is much safer in Gaza now than it was a year ago, when we still traveled there. Armed gangs no longer roam the streets and Hamas is even willing to protect Israeli journalists. But how will we know if we are not there?

Planting seeds of independence

Forty-five-year-old widow Sara Zo'rob holds chickens she received from the Save Gaza gardening project at the training hall in the Rural Women Development Society, Kerbet al-Adas village, southern Gaza Strip, October 2007. (Iyad Albaba)

Rami Almeghari, The Electronic Intifada, 15.10.07. A domestic gardening project in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah has been a part of the US-based Save Gaza program, is intended to empower poor women in the rural and remote areas of the Gaza Strip. In the furthest eastern location of Rafah city, an area called Kherbet al-Adas, a local public service facility for rural development has been designated for the training of 20 Palestinian women representing 20 different families. Chickens and small plants are some of the items provided by Save Gaza for the participants with the hope that the women can create their own domestic gardens and become independent of "Israeli-controlled products and goods." "Now ... hopefully with these gardens the women can have some of their own vegetables, but also can trade with their neighbors, so we are also building community relations and mobilizing them to move towards sovereignty and sustainability and not have to rely on Israel for anything," says Yassmin. Participants have found the project beneficial as most come from poor families or live alone as widows or divorcees. The project ensures that local Palestinian women, who have uniquely suffered the hardships of the four-decades-long Israeli occupation in Gaza, are being active by taking part in the training. Currently, 81 percent of Gazans are living below the poverty line and more than half of the population rely on foreign aid for such basic needs as flour, rice, and sugar. Most in Gaza come from farming backgrounds and the desire to care for the land is something they still carry with them from when their families tended land in historic Palestine. After the dispossessed of historic Palestine with the creation of the state of Israel, the Gaza labor force became subservient to the Israeli economy. Save Gaza aims to bring Palestinians back to their roots and allow these women to rise above Israel's economic occupation.

see: Prof. Muhammad Yunus & Grameen Bank Awarded The Nobel Peace Prize for 2006

Save Gaza is ready to launch its first Home Gardening Project. 30 families have been identified for training in methods of sustainable gardening including composting and water conservation. Each family has a space to garden and will have access to water, seedlings, and small plants to begin the planting. All resources have been identified however implementation has come to a halt due to a lack of funding.

$3,000 is urgently needed in the coming weeks in order to provide the training seminars and for the purchase of chickens and vegetable plants. Each family will receive 5 chickens and several different vegetable plants to jump start their home gardens for greater success and sustainability.

Blair admits he is shocked by discrimination on the West Bank

Donald Macintyre in Hebron, The Independent, 13.10.07. Mr Blair is on the road, grappling with the mind-numbing complexities of how the physical security infrastructure of the occupation has squeezed the Palestinian economy. It is a theme reinforced for him in Hebron, the Palestinian city whose core was once the thriving commercial hub of the southern West Bank. Its mayor, Khaled Osaily, briefs him extensively about how much of its old city is boarded up, stripped of Palestinian life because of the presence of some 800 Jewish settlers, and their military protectors. e was shocked by what he was told about conditions in Hebron and diplomats say he was genuinely taken aback by his trip to the West Bank sector of the Jordan Valley – where Palestinians are allowed to dig wells only a third as deep as Israelis – at the exploitation of resources by the rich Jewish agricultural settlements at the expense of closed in Palestinian farmers. And he has been privately dismissive – rather more so perhaps than he was as Prime Minister – of the argument by some Israelis that security comes first, with economics and a political deal well behind it. "All three have to happen together" he has told diplomats – which is what he sees Annapolis as being about. Blair accepts in private that settlement expansion will soon make a Palestinian state unrealisable, increasing the urgency of a solution. But he is said to believe that Mr Olmert sees a two-state solution as necessary in Israel's interests and accepts time is short. He thinks the similarities with Northern Ireland are as great as the differences but since it irritates Israelis for him to say so, he doesn't.

Over the Line

Photograph by Jerome Delay/Associated Press
A settler walks by an Israeli Army patrol in Hebron, 1996.

Adam LeBor, The New York Times, 14.10.07. The West Bank, captured in 1967, is a lawless place, where the Jewish settler, rifle in one hand and prayer book in the other, is undisputed king. The settlers have their own roads, guarded by the Israeli Army, water, electricity, supplies and — occasional if well-publicized crackdowns aside — substantial impunity from the law. Much of the land on which their settlements stand, was, as Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar detail in this important book, simply stolen. The settlements are illegal, in contravention of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids an occupying power from transferring its civilian population to occupied territories. But for those who claim a divine mandate, the Geneva Conventions count for nothing. According to the United Nations, more than a third of the West Bank is now off limits to Palestinians. A web of Israeli Army checkpoints and obstacles further atomizes what is left of Palestinian society.

“Lords of the Land” is the first complete history of the settlement project. It provides a detailed narrative of injustice, and is profoundly depressing for anyone still hoping for a fair resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or even hoping that Jews and Arabs will be seen as equal in the eyes of Israeli law. In a chapter entitled “Everything Is Legal in the Land of Israel” Zertal and Eldar chronicle the paltry punishments given to settlers who kill Arabs, like the settlement leader Pinchas Wallerstein, who in 1988 shot two young Arabs in the back after he saw them burning a tire on the road. One died. Wallerstein was sentenced to four months community service.

If Palestinian lives are cheap, much Palestinian land is even cheaper — that is, free, at least to the settlers and Israeli authorities. The security fence that snakes through the West Bank is, according to Zertal and Eldar, an unparalleled land grab. They write that it was “constructed with no reckoning and no logic other than the purpose of enclosing as many settlements as possible on the western, Israeli, side and dividing up and seizing Palestinian lands.”

This may be an angry, embittered book, but the two authors are well-informed experts. Zertal is a noted Israeli historian, who now teaches at the University of Basel, and Eldar is an influential columnist for the left-wing daily, Ha’aretz. They are especially good on Gush Emunim, the Bloc of the Faithful, the religious Zionists driving the settlement project and the compromises with them made by a weak secular Israeli establishment.

Une ONG israélienne dénonce le chantage sur les malades de Gaza

De notre correspondant à Jérusalem P. S.-P., Le Figaro, 17.10.07. S'ils veulent être soignés en Israël, les Gaziotes doivent collaborer avec les forces de sécurité. Selon l'ONG israélienne PHR (Physicians for Human Rights), le gouvernement israélien a progressivement durci les conditions de délivrance de permis de sortie pour les malades nécessitant des traitements qui ne sont pas disponibles dans la bande de Gaza. Les rares « privilégiés » qui parviennent à obtenir le précieux sésame n'ont pas la garantie de pouvoir sortir pour bénéficier de leurs traitements. Les patients sont retenus au point de passage d'Erez pendant plusieurs heures. Ensuite, ils sont appelés par le « capitaine », le coordinateur du Shin Bet (service de renseignement intérieur) chargé de recruter des agents. Le « capitaine » leur demande des noms de militants armés et des renseignements concernant les diverses milices de la bande de Gaza. Ceux qui refusent de se soumettre aux questions ou de collaborer avec Israël sont refoulés vers la bande de Gaza sous le prétexte qu'ils représentent une « menace à la sécurité » d'Israël. « Prends des jumelles, Israël est encore loin », s'est vu conseiller, après son refus de collaborer, un malade risquant de devenir aveugle s'il ne subit pas une opération de la rétine.

LES GAZIOTES n'en finissent pas de payer le prix du coup de force du Hamas, qui a pris le contrôle de la bande de Gaza le 15 juin dernier. Depuis quatre mois, ils sont soumis à un blocus économique, qui a provoqué leur ruine. Un million et demi de Palestiniens sont hermétiquement enfermés dans cette bande sablonneuse longue de 41 kilomètres sur 12 de large, où ils survivent grâce à l'aide internationale. Et depuis qu'Israël a déclaré Gaza « entité hostile », il y a un mois, même les malades dont la survie dépend d'un traitement à l'extérieur n'ont plus le droit de quitter Gaza.

Tirs de roquettes quotidiens

La collaboration avec Israël est passible de la peine de mort dans les Territoires palestiniens. « Les patients craignent pour leur santé et sont prêts à tout pour quitter Gaza afin de pouvoir suivre un traitement. Mais ils ont peur de coopérer avec Israël », explique le Dr Ran Yaron.

PHR s'est saisi du cas de six patients souffrant de cancer, d'une hépatite, ou nécessitant une opération cardiaque urgente, et dont les jours sont comptés. « Un patient en oncologie ou une jeune fille âgée de 16 ans avec une malformation cardiaque congénitale... ce sont des cas urgents, s'indigne Dr Danny Filk, directeur de PHR. La santé de ces patients se dégrade de jour en jour et les semaines de délais peuvent rendre leur condition irréversible. Il s'agit de l'exploitation de personnes très malades. Ces pressions sont contraires à l'éthique médicale et à la morale. »

Les services de renseignements israéliens espèrent ainsi combattre les tirs de roquettes, lancées quotidiennement depuis la bande de Gaza vers le sud d'Israël. Abasourdis par ces nouvelles restrictions, les Palestiniens dénoncent, quant à eux, une nouvelle forme de « punition collective ».

Al Mezan Condemns the Escalation of Siege of Gaza and Collective Punishment by the IOF

Al Mezan, 17.10.07. Israel has continued to tighten its siege of the Gaza Strip and to employ Hamas' control over the Strip as a pretext to justify collective punishment and other crimes against civilians. This situation continues under full complicit silence from the part of the international community. Besieging Gaza has influenced all aspects of civilian life. More than 6,000 of those who entered Gaza before 9 June 2007 have been unable to leave, in a violation to their right to free movement. Restrictions on the movement of the population have been expanded impacting the enjoyment of many other basic rights. Students who joined, or in the process of joining, universities outside the Gaza Strip have been deprived from free access to education owing to the prolonged closure of the Rafah Crossing since early June 2007. Al Mezan calls the international community to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities towards the civilian population of the OPT, and to take effective steps to halt the violations of human rights in OPT. In particular, the international community is called upon to exert pressure on Israel to lift the unjustified siege of the OPT; and especially the Gaza Strip, and provide protection for civilians.

The full closure started just after the commencement of summer vacation, when hundreds of students came to the Gaza Strip to spend the holiday with their families. Moreover, the 2007 secondary school graduates who registered in universities outside the Gaza could not join to their universities.

The closure has separated thousands of families who came to the Gaza Strip to visit their relatives and/or apply for ID to their children. The closure of Rafah and Erez Crossings deprived those from joining their families. In addition, many are threatened loosing their residency and employment abroad; especially as many countries impose severe restrictions on the Palestinians' entry to their territory. Additionally, many schoolchildren are threatened by missing the school year where they are supposed to live.

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) closed Rafah Crossing since 26 June 2006 allowing for limited numbers of Gazans to pass it in a sporadic way. Since 9 June 2007, which marks the start of clashes that ended with Hamas' control over Gaza, the IOF has imposed a complete closure of the Crossing. As an alternative, Israel allowed a few thousand Palestinians, who were then stranded in Egypt, to enter Gaza through Al Ouja Crossing via Erez. A few hundreds were also allowed to leave from the same route; however, on a highly sporadic way. This mechanism has been halted recently.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the escalation of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip by the IOF. It reasserts that this siege represents a severe form of the collective punishment that recklessly violates the rules of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the principle of human rights.

The Center also condemns the silence of the international community and the absence of serious and affective action to halt the violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and to provide the protection for the civilian population; which lies at the heart of the obligations of the international community under the provisions of the IHL and Human Rights Law. Al Mezan emphasizes that IOF bears responsibilities that extend beyond ensuring civilians' life and welfare to include ensuring the enjoyment of their basic rights, including the right to movement and access.

Al Mezan calls the international community to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities towards the civilian population of the OPT, and to take effective steps to halt the violations of human rights in OPT. In particular, the international community is called upon to exert pressure on Israel to lift the unjustified siege of the OPT; and especially the Gaza Strip, and provide protection for civilians.

related:
Envoy says UN should consider leaving Quartet

Palestinian refugees suffer in Lebanon

Amnesty International, 17.10.07. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon face discrimination in employment and a lack of access to adequate education and housing. A new Amnesty International report: Exiled and Suffering: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, examines the wide range of restrictions that continue to impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees. More than half of the 300,000 Palestinian refugees residing in Lebanon live in 12 official Palestinian refugee camps. The area of land allocated for these camps has remained largely unchanged since 1948 despite significant population growth. In some households, families of 10 share a single room.

They continue to be denied the right to adequate housing, due to unacceptable levels of habitability and restrictions on property ownership.

In camps in the south of Lebanon, unreasonable restrictions have been imposed on refugees' right to repair or improve their homes. Some refugees have been intimidated, fined and detained simply for seeking to build a brick wall to protect their home from the elements.

Palestinians continue to suffer discrimination and marginalization in the labour market, contributing to high levels of unemployment, low wages and poor working conditions.

The Lebanese authorities recently lifted a ban on 50 of the 70 jobs - - around 20 still are - not permitted to Palestinians, but refugees continue to face obstacles finding employment in such jobs.

This lack of employment prospects has led to a high drop-out rate for Palestinian schoolchildren, who also have limited access to public secondary education (they are generally denied recognition of educational achievement in Lebanese secondary schools as all students require identification documents – conspicuously lacking for non-ID Palestinian refugees – to sit the Lebanese state exams, which in turn give access to higher levels of education). The resultant poverty is exacerbated by restrictions placed on their access to social services.

The Lebanese government must take concrete steps to end all forms of discrimination against Palestinian refugees and to fully protect and uphold their human rights.

The international community must also attempt to find a durable solution for refugees that fully respects and protects their human rights, including their right of return. This may involve providing financial and technical assistance to Lebanon, helping it provide the best possible human rights protection to its Palestinian refugee population.

Read more:
Lebanon: End discrimination against Palestinian refugees (Press Release, October 17 2007)
Lebanon: Exiled and suffering: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (Report, October 17 2007)
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon: Six decades of exile and suffering (Focus Sheet, October 17 2007) (PDF version, 2 pages, 89 KB)

2 Palestinians Killed and 2 Others Wounded by Security Officials in Qalqilya and Gaza

PCHR calls upon the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to investigate the killing of 2 Palestinians, including a child, by security officials in the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya. PCHR calls also for investigating the circumstances in which 2 other Palestinians were wounded by the police in Gaza City. PCHR is concerned that excessive and disproportionate force might have been employed against civilian persons in the two incidents.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 14:00 on Saturday, 13 October 2007, a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces ordered Hussam Wajeeh Salam Abu ‘Assab, 22, to stop while he was riding his bicycle near the headquarters of the forces in the center of Qalqilya, but he did not obey the order. Immediately, security men fired at him. He was seriously wounded by a gunshot that entered the back and exited the chest. He died on the way to the hospital. At approximately 16:00, dozens of the victim’s relatives gathered and threw stones and empty bottles at the headquarters of the National Security Forces in the center of Qaqlilya. The clashes between the two sides developed into the exchange of fire and the use of sharp tools. As a result, Yazid Mohammed ‘Obaid, 5, was killed by a gunshot to the head.

In a separate incident, on Tuesday evening, 16 October 2007, 2 Palestinians were wounded when the police opened fire indiscriminately in al-Shoja’eya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. The police had arrived in the neighborhood at approximately 15:30 to confiscate a jeep from Rami Akram Helles, who used to be a member of the police investigation bureau before Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip. Helles refused to hand the jeep and a debate erupted between him and the police. Members of the police force opened fire indiscriminately. As a result, 2 Palestinians were wounded:

1. Salim Mohammed al-Safadi, 39, wounded by a gunshot to the left leg; and

2. Fayez Tawfiq al-Belbaissi, 27, wounded by shrapnel to the left leg.

In light of the above:

1) PCHR calls upon the PNA, represented by the Attorney General, to investigate the two incidents and declare the results of investigations.

2) Stresses that there must be clear instructions to regulate the use of firearms by law enforcement officials that conform to international standards and ensure protection of human rights.

Public Document

**************************************

For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 - 2825893

PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org

-----------------------------------

If you got this forwarded and you want to subscribe, send mail to request@pchrgaza.org

and write "subscribe" in the subject line.

Peace Now in the Checkpoint

Yossi B, anarchistagainstwall, 16.10.07. The general secretary of Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheimer, was doing his reserves duty in a checkpoint in the Jordan valley, deep in the occupied Palestinian territories, and was acting just like any other good Israeli soldier. Israeli peace activists who are fighting for the last years against the occupation can't be very surprised from this story. Peace Now and their male oriented leadership have always attacked the refuseniks movement and kept on proudly committing war crimes in the occupied territories in the name of national unity and law obedience. One can just hope that they will stop being seen by the world as a part of the peace movement in Israel.

In an article published today by the Israeli news-site NRG (http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/646/857.html), Two Machsom Watch activists report seeing Oppenheimer making his military reserve duty in a checkpoint inside the occupied territories, in an area that is slowly being ethnically cleansed from it's indigenous population mainly by the checkpoints who forbid almost any kind of transportation and access between the main cities of the west bank and the valley (see also Amira Hass article http://www.countercurrents.org/pa-hass160206.htm).

Oppenheimer together with the other soldiers in the checkpoint also refused a Palestinian family with seven children who was traveling to see their relatives in a near by village to go through the checkpoint. The Fact that this was the Muslim holiday Eid Elfiter that ends the month of Ramadan didn't seam to soften the Peace Now soldier.

The Machsom Watch activist tried to speak with the soldiers to let the family go through, arguing that an exception should be made because of the holiday and the young age of the children. The soldiers kept refusing the Taxi in which the Family was in to go through, claiming it doesn't have the right permits and said that they are following orders given to them from above.

Oppenheimer didn't deny the story and told the journalist that "When I am being called to do my reserve duty in the territories, I am doing my best to make my task successfully also if it is against my point of view and to act in a humanitarian way".

againstwall@lists.riseup.net

Sale journée à Naplouse!

Nadia Ben Dhifallah, assawra, 15.10.07Il etait 2h du matin quand l'armee israelienne est entree dans Naplouse, dans le quartier de Ras El Ain.

Bilan:
2 personnes ont ete tuees.

Abed Shaker El Wazir, age de 73 ans, qui se rendait a la mosquee pour la priere du matin,

Basel Abu Saryeh, age de 35 ans, recherche depuis 4 ans par l'armee israelienne qui se cachait dans une maison abandonnee avec 2 autres jeunes hommes.

Ses 2 compagnons sont blesses, Mohamed Abdallah Shinawih, les jambes quasi arrachees par les tirs des soldats et Alem Ibrahim Elraai, brule.

A l'heure ou je vous ecris, les soldats sont toujours a Naplouse et s'approchent petit a petit de la vieille ville. Le quartier de Ras el Ain est totalement occupe par les soldats, les maisons sont fouillees une a une, les familles sorties dans la rue et mises apres la fouille dans une maison requisitionnee. Arrestations massives de jeunes hommes...

La nuit fut courte pour les Naboulsis, une fois de plus, impossible de fermer l'oeil entre les bruits de tirs, les ambulances, la voix qui emane des mosquees pour annoncer la mort du 1er martyre puis du 2eme.

La vieille ville est fermee et peu de gens dans les rues.

Je viens d'apprendre qu'un jeune garcon de 13 ans est mort avant-hier dans son sommeil, c'est son petit frere qui en allant le reveiller s'est rendu compte que son corps etait froid et grisatre.

Il est mort d'une crise cardiaque. C'est la enieme personne, jeune, qui meurt d'une crise cardiaque...

pas etonnant, les habitants de Naplouse ne connaissent de repit ni la nuit ni le jour...

C'est encore une sale journee qui commence a Naplouse!

Nadia

Envoy says UN should consider leaving Quartet

Ian Black, Middle East editor, The Guardian, 16.10.07. "Every time I visit, the situation seems to have worsened," John Dugard, the UN's special rapporteur on the rights of the Palestinians, said in a BBC Radio interview. "This time, I was very struck by the sense of hopelessness among the Palestinian people." Mr Dugard attributed this to "the crushing effect of human rights violations", and to Israeli restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement. Israel did face a security threat but "its response is very disproportionate". He said the purpose of some of the hundreds of Israeli checkpoints or barriers in the West Bank was to break it up "into a number of cantons and make the life of Palestinians as miserable as possible".

Mr Dugard suggested the UN should leave the Quartet unless it adopted a more proactive approach to protecting Palestinian rights. The grouping is composed of the UN, US, EU and Russia. The UN "does itself little good by remaining a member of the Quartet". It is "not playing the role of an objective mediator that behoves it".

Mr Dugard's comments echoed a complaint by a former UN envoy, Álvaro de Soto, in a report leaked to the Guardian in June. At the heart of the issue is whether the international community should be boycotting the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which won free elections in 2006 and took over the Gaza Strip this June, effectively splitting the occupied Palestinian territories in half and vastly complicating already difficult efforts to revive the peace process.

The Quartet, now represented by Tony Blair, is backing the government of Mr Abbas, the Fatah leader, and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad. The Quartet position is that Hamas is a terrorist organisation which will remain off limits unless it renounces violence, recognises Israel and accepts existing peace agreements. Critics say boycotting Hamas is collective punishment that is causing untold suffering in Gaza and ignoring the free will of the Palestinians who voted for the movement.

The UN "should be playing the role of the mediator", Mr Dugard said. "Instead the international community has given its support almost completely to one faction - to Fatah," he added.

Hebron Reflection: Which toys for which boys?

Jan Benvie, Christian Peacemaker Teams, 16.10.07. During the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr (the festival of fast breaking), marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, children are given Eid gifts - new clothes, toys and sweets. A common Eid gift for boys is a toy gun. Some are water pistols, some shoot little plastic pellets, some are ominously like the real thing. Palestinian children do not need to watch television or play violent video games to become attracted to guns. Here in Hebron armed Israeli soldiers patrol the streets throughout the day (and sometimes night). Palestinian children pass armed soldiers at checkpoints every day when traveling to and from school. They regularly see armed settlers in the streets between the settlements and the synagogue.

For the Israeli military it appears that real guns in the hands of Israeli's are acceptable, but toy guns in the hands of Palestinian children are unacceptable.

A few weeks ago CPTers saw heavily armed Israeli soldiers ordering Palestinian shopkeepers to remove the toy guns from their shops. Over the past week or so, Palestinians have reported instances of Israeli soldiers taking toy guns from children. Two days ago I watched in amazement as an Israeli soldier snatched a small gun from the hands of a Palestinian child. When I attempted to photograph the incident another soldier tried to stop me.

He told me "It is against the law for a Palestinian to have a gun or anything that looks like a gun, or that sounds like a gun, like fire crackers. It is dangerous1. The children point them at us. If we shoot them, that is their fault."

When I suggested to him that it would be even less dangerous if he were not walking in a Palestinian area with a real gun, he replied "We have to protect our civilians."

I don't like guns of any sort, real or toy. I do worry when I see young Palestinian children hiding in alley-ways of the old market, jumping out and 'firing' their guns at passers by. I also worry when I see the heavily armed Israeli military and settlers on the streets.

I am glad the Israeli military are concerned about shooting Palestinian children. Goodness knows, enough have been killed - since 2000 Israeli security forces have killed 858 Palestinian minors (http://www.btselem.org/English/Statistics/Casualties.asp). However, I believe ending the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories is the answer, not heavily armed Israeli soldiers snatching toy guns from the hands of Palestinian children.

1On Tuesday 2 October, 2007, the Israeli border police shot two Palestinians near the Ibrahimi Mosque. Many people reported that, immediately before the shooting, a Palestinian man had approached the checkpoint with a toy gun and set off firecrackers.

For photos of children & soldiers in Hebron see http://www.cpt.org/gallery/album222

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT's peacemaking work, visit our website www.cpt.org Photos of our projects are at www.cpt.org/

gallery A map of the center of Hebron is at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/0/5618737E38C0B3DE8525708C004BA584/$File/ocha_OTS_hebron_oPt010805.pdf?OpenElement The same map is the last page of this report on closures in Hebron: www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0705_En.pdf

Self-help Gazans still need outside world

ERUSALEM, 15 October 2007 (IRIN) - The continuing power cuts in Gaza have made candles a basic necessity, but many residents can no longer afford them. Ahmed Asidawi, aged 42, has been mostly unemployed since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000 and he is barred from entering Israel to seek work. He is a refugee registered with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. "I don't have money to buy candles. I get aid from the agency. I am registered as a special hardship case. I have no other source of income," he told IRIN from Nussairat refugee camp in central Gaza.

full text

L'administration Bush est divisée sur le dossier israélo-palestinien

AP/IVAN SEKRETAREV

Condoleezza Rice le 12 octobre
à Moscou, avant sa tournée
du Proche-Orient.

Sylvain Cypel New York Correspondant, Le Monde, 14.10.07. Depuis l'intervention israélienne au Liban, à l'été 2006, peu appréciée par la secrétaire d'Etat Condoleezza Rice, les tensions entre M^me Rice et Jérusalem sont récurrentes. Lors d'une visite, elle a évoqué la "ségrégation" que subissent les Palestiniens. Puis, la décision israélienne de décréter Gaza "entité ennemie" sans consultation l'a irritée. Le 11 septembre, le département d'Etat a demandé à Israël des "éclaircissements" sur de récentes confiscations de terres palestiniennes : un geste d'autant plus remarqué que ces confiscations fréquentes sont très rarement critiquées par Washington.

Les difficultés existent aussi du côté des Palestiniens. Ceux-ci exigent que la conférence soit le prélude à des négociations sur le "statut final" d'un Etat palestinien. Entre le président de l'Autorité palestinienne, Mahmoud Abbas, qui demande "la fin de l'occupation" israélienne et le premier ministre israélien, Ehoud Olmert, qui n'envisage pas d'accord final "avant vingt ou trente ans" (le 23 septembre), l'ambition de M^me Rice - un succès diplomatique américain avant la fin de l'administration Bush - semble une gageure.

D'autant qu'elle se heurte à de fortes réticences au sein de cette administration. L'offensive "anti-Condi" est menée par le vice-président, Dick Cheney, et l'adjoint du conseiller de la Maison Blanche pour la sécurité nationale, Elliott Abrams. Elle est relayée par John Bolton, ancien ambassadeur à l'ONU, et par des chroniqueurs "ultras" sur l'Iran, la Syrie et la Palestine, tel Bret Stephens du Wall Street Journal, ex-rédacteur en chef du Jerusalem Post.

La "tendance Cheney" apparaît aujourd'hui la plus favorable à une intervention américaine en Iran avant la fin du mandat de George Bush. Pour elle, promouvoir le dossier palestinien est au mieux une illusion et plus sûrement un danger, si cela se traduit par une ouverture vis-à-vis de la Syrie, alliée à l'Iran.

Avant son déplacement, un affrontement sévère a opposé M^me Rice au vice-président au sujet du bombardement par l'aviation israélienne, le 6 septembre, d'un site syrien. Les Israéliens disent avoir auparavant présenté aux Américains des données "spectaculaires". Le site syrien aurait abrité du matériau nucléaire livré par la Corée du Nord à Damas. M. Cheney a jugé ces informations fiables ; M^me Rice les a trouvées peu convaincantes. Elle aurait bénéficié, sur ce point, du soutien de Robert Gates, le secrétaire à la défense.

Or M. Abbas et le roi Abdallah d'Arabie ont fait savoir aux Américains qu'ils doivent inviter Damas à la conférence sur le Proche-Orient. Quitte à ce que les Syriens déclinent l'invitation si la fin de l'occupation par Israël du plateau du Golan ne figure pas à l'ordre du jour.

Malgré ces difficultés, Robert Malley, ancien conseiller du président Bill Clinton, est plutôt confiant, pour une raison paradoxale : les trois protagonistes sont politiquement affaiblis. "Une conférence internationale ne créera pas instantanément l'Etat palestinien, estime-t-il. Mais si Bush peut dire : "Pour la première fois depuis Oslo (1993), nous avons un accord" ; si Abbas peut dire : "Pour la première fois, nous avons une vraie perspective sous égide internationale", et si Olmert peut dire : "Nous avons enfin un partenaire pour sortir de la violence", tous trois pourrons crier au succès et tous en ont besoin."

Sylvain Cypel

Article paru dans l'édition du 14.10.07.