Report: 44 assassinated in October

Ameen Abu Warda nisreen at imemc dot org - IMEMC, 6.11.07 10:19. The International and Public Relations department of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Monday issued a report claiming that 44 Palestinians had been deliberately targeted and assassinated by the Israeli army during the month of October, 27 of them by Israeli army air strikes, and a further 120 injured. The report also details the abduction of at least 350 Palestinian civilians, the destruction of at least 3 homes, the damaging of 445 Dunums of Palestinian-owned land, and the confiscation of over 1130 Dunums for Illegal Israeli settlements.
The department further criticizes a perceived increase of pressure on the Gaza Strip, with fuel and other essential supplies being further restricted, and the threat of a power-cut being expressed by the Israeli government.

The report finishes with a sharp criticism of recent events in the Negev detention facility, branded the enacted procedures as inhumane and illegal, and calling on all concerned parties to intervene on the behalf of the detainees.

Translated by Nisreen Qumsieh - IMEMC News.
.

Nine Palestinian civilians kidnapped in northern West Bank

Ghassan Bannoura ghassanb at imemc dot org - IMEMC News, 6.11.07 09:59. Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army invaded the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Qalqilia on Tuesday morning, kidnapping at least nine civilians. In Nablus, several army jeeps and one bulldozer invaded the downtown area. During as subsequent search of homes, Israeli troops kidnapped seven civilians.

The kidnapped were later identified as Ahmad Abu al-Iesh, 17, Maher al-Kharaz, 50, Ghaith Awawdah, 23, Mohamed Abu Saleh, 19, Jalal Halboni, Mohamed Kalponah, 23, and Ala Ghaneem, 25.

Elsewhere Israeli soldiers stormed the city of Qalqilia, searched homes and kidnapped two civilians. The men were later identified as Ibaraheem Miskawi, 30, and Nour Jo'adi, 25.

Israeli military abducts senior West Bank Hamas leader

Ameen Abu Warda nisreen at imemc dot org - IMEMC News. 6.11.07 08:54. Israeli forces abducted a senior Hamas leader from the northern West Bank city of Nablus in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The man, al-Sheikh Maher al-Kharaz, 55, was kidnapped after Israeli forces invaded the old city area of Nablus and stormed his house. Al-Kharaz was transferred to an undisclosed detention center. Al-Kharaz is considered one of the most prominent Hamas leaders in the West Bank, and was among those 400 leaders and activists of Hamas that were deported to Marj al-Zuhoor in 1993. He has been abducted on many different occasions, with the last culminating in 6months detention in the notorious Negev prison.

Translated by Nisreen Qumsieh - IMEMC News.

IOF troops detain two Palestinian mothers to pressure their sons

QALQILIA, (PIC), 30.10.07. IOF troops detained two Palestinian mothers at dawn Tuesday in the West Bank city of Qalqilia to pressure their sons and rounded up two other young men in the city. In Arka village IOF soldiers besieged the 4,000 inhabitants' village for several hours and kidnapped ten of its youths, all in their twenties, before retreating, later in the morning. The occupation forces on Monday arrested five other citizens in Seelat Al-Harthia village, also in the Jenin district. In Nablus district, inhabitants of Deir Al-Hatab village were shocked to witness all their olive trees dying after settlers in nearby settlement of Alon Moreh, east of Nablus city, drowned the village's cultivated lands with sewage water.The villagers said they were not allowed by IOF soldiers to cultivate their olive trees for six years and when they were allowed this year they were shocked to find the sewage waters flooding their fields and destroying the olive trees.

The Nafha society defending human and prisoners' rights condemned the IOF arrest of Firdous Al-Samman, the mother of a wanted Palestinian activist, and Kawther Abu Dhiab, the mother of two young men held in Israeli occupation jails for more than six months.

Israeli Bombardment of Police Station in Khan Yunis Kills Four Policemen on Guard Duty

Palestinian Center For Human Rights. In the evening of 30 October 2007, Israeli war planes fired rockets at a police station in the southern Gaza Strip and killed 4 Policemen in the police force of the dismissed government in Gaza. Israeli military sources commented on this crime saying that “the air strike that is relatively rare recently is an indication that Israel will not continue to exhibit restraint towards the firing of mortars at Israeli population centers.” PCHR expresses concern over the Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip, and calls upon the international community to intervene to stop these crimes. This week only, the Centre has documented the death of 15 Palestinians in the Strip as a result of Israel aerial and land bombardment that disregards the civilian nature of targeted areas.

The Center’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 21:40 on 30 October 2007, Israeli war planes fired 2 rockets at a police station in the town of New Abasan to the east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. The rockets hit the entrance of the station, where the 4 policemen were on guard duty. They were killed instantly, and their bodies were dismembered. The victims are:

- Maher Shehda Abu Teir (25).

- Bilal Ibrahim Awwad (22).

- Ismail Suliman Qudeih (23).

- Mahmoud Jamal Radwan (21).

PCHR expresses great concern over the continued escalation of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), and:

1. Renews condemnation of these actions that are part of a continuous series of Israeli war crimes in the OPT. These war crimes clearly show Israel’s total disregard for the lives of the civilian population. These actions are forms of reprisal and collective punishment that violate Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949).
2. Calls upon the international community to act immediately to stop these war crimes; and calls upon the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their responsibility to ensure that the Convention is respected by all parties, their responsibility to pursue suspected perpetrators of serious violations of the Convention under article 146, noting that these serious violations are considered war crimes under Article 147 of the Convention and in the First Optional Protocol Additional to the Convention.

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

IOF Kills Three Palestinian and Start Fuel Cuts in Gaza

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) launched its eighth incursion into the Gaza Strip in eight days today, Monday 29 October 2007. IOF penetrated the towns of Beit Hanoun and Rafah and killed three Palestinians; of whom one is disabled. Nine others were injured and one school bombarded. This military escalation coincides with IOF's commencement of reducing fuel supplies to the Strip.

According to field investigations by Al Mezan, at approximately 5.30am on 29 October 2007, eight Israeli armored vehicles penetrated Ashobaki area north Beit Hanoun town and took positions under helicopters cover. They opened arbitrary fire as a special force sneaked into the Agricultural College of Al Azhar University in the north of the town. The force took positions inside the College and opened fire killing a 44-year-old disabled man; Farid Ibrhim Abu Udeh. The victim was killed from a live bullet to the head while he was inside his home, which is located near the nearby Agricultural Secondary School. A 15-yar-old schoolboy, Ahmed Atta Az-Za'anin, was also shot in the chest near his school north of the town. Medical sources reported his injuries as critical.

At approximately 8.45am the IOF opened machinegun FIRE at a nearby residential area injuring 44-year-old Adnan Mahmoud Yousif, who was near his house in An-Nada neighborhood, northwest Beit Hanoun. At approximately 9.20am an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile that landed in the western entrance of Beit Hanoun Girls Preparatory School, which is located in Al Qaraman Street. 28-year-old Muhammad Yousif Hamad was killed and five others injured, of whom three critically, in this raid. Israeli tanks fired two artillery shells that landed in an open area near the Agricultural College; however no injuries were reported. Additionally, IOF wounded a child and a woman just before they withdrew at approximately 11am. Dozens of civilian houses, the Agricultural College, the Agricultural Secondary School, and Beit Hanoun Girls Preparatory School sustained damages in this incursion. It was reported that UNRWA's five schools and clinic in the town evacuated during the incursion.

In the same context, at approximately 1.30am on 29 October 2007, eight Israeli armored vehicles entered as deep as 1.5 kilometers into the Karem Abu Mu'aammar area east of the southern Gaza town of Rafah. The IOF opened heavy fire killing 22-year-old Ahmad Ibrahim Abu Tahoun. According to medical sources, IOF restricted the ambulances' access to the area. An ambulance managed to access to Abu Tahoun's body and collect it at approximately 6.30am, only after the IOF withdrew from the area.

According to Al Mezan's fieldworker, at approximately 1am on Sunday 28 October 2007, ten Israeli armored vehicles entered 500 meters deep west the borderline in Wadi As-Salqa village in the east of middle-Gaza town of Deir Al Balah. IOF broke into a three-story house owned by 53-year-old Hussein Ibrahim Abu Mghissib and used it as a military post. At approximately 8.30am the IOF opened fire injuring 22-year-old Ahmad Awad Al Amour with shrapnel to his chest, and 45-year-old Thurayya Muhammad Abu Mghissib with live bullets to her leg and her left arm. IOF withdrew from this area at approximately 5pm on the same day.

In addition, IOF commenced the implementation of the decision reducing fuel supplies to Gaza Strip. Al Mezan's fieldworkers reported the quantities of fuel allowed to flow into Gaza on 28 October 2007 as follows:

- 258,000 liters of fuel used for the operation of the power plant;

- 213,000 liters of diesel;

- 90,000 liters of benzene (for two days);

- 240,000 tons of cooking gas.

This represents a 50% cut in cooking gas and about 30%, cut in fuel compared with the quantities allowed into Gaza before. The same applies to the fuel used for the operation of the power plant. Al Mezan fieldworker reported that gas supply was allowed to flow in today. It is expected that Gaza will experience longer electricity cuts and more shortage in the diesel, which is necessary to operate small electric generators to compensate electricity shortage.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights reiterates its condemnation of the Israeli military escalation against civilians in Gaza. It also asserts that the reduction of fuel supplies represents a flagrant violation of the rules of the International Humanitarian Law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, that will infringe upon the population's life quickly. Therefore, Al Mezan calls on that the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to uphold its moral and legal responsibilities and intervene to immediately stop the Israeli grave breaches of the Convention and provide protection for civilians. Under rapidly increasing punitive measures Gaza faces the threat of imminent worsening of the humanitarian crisis it lives. Therefore, these measures must not be allowed to materialize.

Bilancio delle aggressioni israeliane di ieri: 7 palestinesi uccisi e molti feriti. Intanto, Incontro ennesimo Abbas-Olmert, ennesimo "nulla di fatto"

Gaza/Gerusalemme -Infopal.27.10.07. Fonti ospedaliere hanno reso noto che uno dei feriti, Ahmad Hassanen, militante delle Brigate Al-Quds, ala armata del Jihad islamico, è morto. Era stato ferito a seguito degli scontri con l'esercito di invasione israeliano, durante il bombardamento dell'artiglieria contro il quartiere As-Shuja'iyah, a est della città di Gaza. Sempre ieri, 3 combattenti delle Brigate Qassam, ala armata di Hamas, sono stati uccisi a est di Jabaliya. Un quarto è stato ucciso in una sparatoria con i soldati israeliani. Un altro combattente è stato ucciso vicino alla moschea As-Salaam, a Shuja'iyah. Un combattente delle Brigate Qassam, Abdul-Rahim Omar Hamdouna, 21, è stato ucciso dal missile lanciato da un drone israeliano sempre a Shuja'iyah. Molti palestinesi sono rimasti feriti, alcuni gravemente.

Nel frattempo, a Gerusalemme, il presidente dell'Anp, Mahmoud Abbas, ha incontrato il premier israeliano Ehud Olmert e la ministra Tzipi Livni per preparare un documento congiunto da portare alla "Conferenza di pace" di Annapolis, il mese prossimo.

Abbas ha chiesto a Olmert di "non tagliare i rifornimenti essenziali di elettricità e carburante alla Striscia di Gaza", ha informato il Capo dei negoziatori palestinesi, Saeb Erekat.

Erekat ha anche aggiunto che il presidente dell'Anp ha chiesto al suo interlocutore di "fermare gli assassinii extragiudiziari e l'arresto di attivisti palestinesi, perché queste politiche danneggiano la pace e i negoziati".

Abbas ha chiesto a Israele di emettere 54.000 carte di identità per palestinesi nei territori occupati.

Il ministro della difesa israeliano ha approvato un piano per tagliare i rifornimenti di energia elettrica e di carburante alla già stremata Striscia di Gaza.

Inoltre, il documento congiunto fatica a nascere: Abbas ne chiede uno vincolante che preveda un calendario per i negoziati sullo status finale, Olmert vuole una "dichiarazione di intenti" più vaga possibile.

Il bilancio delle aggressioni israeliane nella giornata di ieri, contro la Striscia di Gaza, è di 7 vittime.

Le forze d'occupazione israeliane sequestrano 14 palestinesi

infopal. 26.10.07. Questa mattina, a Nablus, Jenin e Ramallah, in Cisgiordania, le forze di occupazione israeliane hanno sequestrato 14 cittadini palestinesi. Ha diffuso la notizia la radio israeliana. E ha aggiunto che a Ramallah, adolescenti palestinesi hanno lanciato sassi e bottiglie vuote contro un pullman israeliano. Ieri, a Hebron, 4 ragazzi sono stati feriti a seguito di scontri con i soldati israeliani. Un gruppo di adolescenti ha lanciato pietre e bottiglie vuote contro una postazione di soldati israeliani, all'ingresso della strada dei Martiri, nel centro di Hebron (postazione che protegge un insediamento di coloni ebrei estremisti). I soldati hanno lanciato bombe lacrimogene, granate e sparato proiettili di metallo rivestiti di gomma, e hanno sequestrato un ragazzino.

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

Gaza kids don't play

Children in Gaza don't play hide 'n seek Photo: AFP

Roy Peled, ynetnews, 03/10/07. According to army, children killed by IDF are part of Palestinian war machine. When Palestinian children are killed in what the IDF refers to as "Qassam-launching sites," the explanation is that "the Palestinians are well aware that those are areas they must not enter." Yet "forbidden areas" have been arbitrarily defined by Israel and attributed to dozens of square kilometers in the Gaza Strip. Contrary to common perception, many Palestinians have no idea where these border lines are. Children who walk around the sand dunes in the afternoon certainly have no idea. And an update: As this article was being published, the IDF investigation showed that the three Palestinian kids who were killed were playing catch. Imagine that. Palestinians? Catch? Children? The surprises just never end.

"Palestinian children are not made up of the same fabric as Israeli children, who at times walk around for fun and at times look for dangerous adventures, mostly due to boredom. When a Palestinian child is killed by the IDF, he certainly did something very wrong.The Palestinians make cynical use of children" – according to the IDF, the children killed in Gaza this past week arrived at the scene for one of two reasons: Either they were part of a particularly young terror cell, or they were sent there by terror groups as human shields.

And an update: As this article was being published, the IDF investigation showed that the three Palestinian kids who were killed were playing catch. Imagine that. Palestinians? Catch? Children? The surprises just never end.

The writer is a member of the Meretz directorate

Parallel lives

Dalia Karpel, Haaretz Magazine excerpts, 06/10/07. Some junior commanders encouraged the brutality and even endorsed it. "After two months in Rafah a [new] commanding officer arrived ... So we do a first patrol with him. It's 6 A.M., Rafah is under curfew, there isn't so much as a dog in the streets. Only a little boy of four playing in the sand. He is building a castle in his yard. He [the officer] suddenly starts running and we all run with him. He was from the combat engineers. We all run with him. He grabbed the boy. Nufar, I am a degenerate if I am not telling you the truth. He broke his hand here at the wrist. Broke his hand at the wrist, broke his leg here. And started to stomp on his stomach, three times, and left. We are all there, jaws dropping, looking at him in shock ... The next day I go out with him on another patrol, and the soldiers are already starting to do the same thing."

There were some tough soldiers who developed an ideology holding that even minor events necessitated a brutal response. "A 3-year-old kid, he can't throw, he can't hurt you no matter what he does, but a kid of 19 can. With women I have no problem. With women, one threw a clog at me and I kicked her here [pointing to the crotch], I broke everything there. She can't have children. Next time she won't throw clogs at me. When one of them [a woman] spat at me I gave her the rifle butt in the face. She doesn't have what to spit with anymore."

An incident that fomented a crisis began when a squad commander from the hard-hearted group maltreated three bound teenagers. A soldier of conscience summoned another squad commander who was a paramedic. He told Yishai-Karin that by the time help arrived the three Palestinian boys were already "completely covered with blood, their clothes were saturated with blood and they were shaking with fear. Their hands were tied and they were afraid to move, they were on their knees."

"Ash'har Company, which was drafted before us, was a deviant, extreme unit at the human level. The absence of supervision from the commanding level left its mark on them, and things they did before we arrived were extreme. Take the story about the boy and the kick to the crotch, for example".

The reality of the situation and the fraternity of fighters prompted some of them to cover up for their friends, even if they stole from homes where they conducted searches or sexually harassed or provoked Arab women. Some of the soldiers were singled out in the study as "prone to being led" - that is, they were swept up in the wake of their officers and buddies - and there were some who had never lifted a hand against anyone before their army service. "The moment the red line is broken, it is not just broken, it is smashed to smithereens, and from that moment everything is permitted," one soldier testified.

His mother said last week: "He matured and changed in the army. I sent a nice kibbutznik and I got back an Arab-hater."

full text

'Our job was to hit them'

Mohammed al-Dura lives on

Gideon Levy, Haaretz, 07/10/07. All of these are tasteless questions [of who killed al-Dura] designed to divert attention from the truly important issues: According to data collected by human rights group B'Tselem, Israel is responsible for killing more than 850 Palestinian children and teenagers since al-Dura was killed, including 92 in the past year alone. Last October, we killed 31 children in Gaza. If Israel were really interested in improving its "public relations," it would embrace the al-Dura family instead of all the foolish investigations. It would provide compensation to the family and show the world that it is truly and sincerely sorry about the death of one child. But even if there is some doubt, it is certain that the IDF has killed and is killing children. So this ridiculous focus on who killed al-Dura, a question that will never be resolved, is no more than a tempest in a putrid teapot. There should be a tempest, a great and mighty one, but one focused on an entirely different issue: Why is the IDF continuing to kill children at such a frightening pace, and why doesn't Israel take responsibility for this and compensate the families of those killed? But no one is conducting "investigations" about this. The concern Israel demonstrates for the fate of one Palestinian boy touches the heart: Again, note what a fuss is being made about the case of the killing of Mohammed al-Dura. Our heart is impervious to the fate of other children who have been killed. Just little Mohammed continues to haunt us. But the question of who killed al-Dura is not important. And maybe he is even alive, as some eccentrics claim. Perhaps he committed suicide, as the strange investigations are liable to suggest. All of these are tasteless questions designed to divert attention from the truly important issues: According to data collected by human rights group B'Tselem, Israel is responsible for killing more than 850 Palestinian children and teenagers since al-Dura was killed, including 92 in the past year alone. Last October, we killed 31 children in Gaza. This is what should have raised a storm and not the measurements by the former head of the Israel Defense Forces' Southern Command, Yom Tov Samiyeh, aimed at proving that his soldiers did not kill al-Dura, or the "investigations" by the physicist Nahum Shahaf. In an eccentric obsession, Shahaf has devoted the past years to this affair, after previously having also obtained "amazing material" on the murder of Yitzhak Rabin. Al-Dura refuses to step down from the stage because he has become an icon of the Palestinian struggle and a symbol of Israeli brutality. A thousand Nahum Shahafs will not succeed in blurring the unequivocal fact that a scandalous killing of children is taking place in the territories. Even if the director of the Government Press Office, Danny Seaman, is right in determining that the film made by the reliable and experienced French journalist Charles Enderlin was "staged," and even if he succeeds in clearing Israel from responsibility for this killing, what will we say about the other children who have been killed? That their killing was also "staged?" That the IDF did not kill them through carelessness and contempt for their lives; by being trigger-happy and even acting with premeditation? If Israel were really interested in improving its "public relations," it would embrace the al-Dura family instead of all the foolish investigations. It would provide compensation to the family and show the world that it is truly and sincerely sorry about the death of one child. The question of who killed al-Dura is like the question of what Joseph Trumpeldor mumbled before his death. The myth in both cases is already stronger than any investigation. Al-Dura became a symbol because his killing was documented on videotape. All the other hundreds of children were killed without cameras present, so no one is interested in their fate. If there had been a camera in Bushara Barjis' room in the Jenin refugee camp while she was studying for a pre-matriculation test, we would have a film showing an IDF sniper firing a bullet at her head. If there had been a photographer near Jamal Jabaji from the Askar camp, we would see soldiers emerging from an armored jeep and aiming their weapons at the head of a child who threw stones at them. But these children did not become symbols; there are no stamps bearing their portraits, no streets named after them and no songs composed for them as with al-Dura because they were not filmed at the time of their deaths. Al-Dura became a symbol because every struggle needs a symbol, a shrine for the masses of dead and the anonymous heroes. The assumption that the IDF soldiers firing at Palestinians at the Netzarim junction killed the boy cradled in his father's arms exactly seven years ago is the most reasonable one. As far as we can remember, there has been no other case in which Palestinians fired at the IDF and hit a Palestinian child. But even if there is some doubt, it is certain that the IDF has killed and is killing children. So this ridiculous focus on who killed al-Dura, a question that will never be resolved, is no more than a tempest in a putrid teapot. There should be a tempest, a great and mighty one, but one focused on an entirely different issue: Why is the IDF continuing to kill children at such a frightening pace, and why doesn't Israel take responsibility for this and compensate the families of those killed? But no one is conducting "investigations" about this.

Al Mezan Calls for an Impartial Investigation in the Murder Ad-Dura in 2000

Al Mezan, 04.10.07. The Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) claimed yesterday that the video of the murder of the Muhammad Jamal Al-Dura on 30 September 2000 was staged by a cameraman in Gaza. The scene of the killing of the then 11-year-old boy was one of the most moving scenes ever broadcast during the Al Aqsa Intifada; which had started three days before the incident.

The video shows Ad-Dura and his father trying to take cover behind a concrete block while the father trying to protect his son as the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) opened fire directly at them. The child was killed and the father was moderately injured in this incident. The video shows the child and the father in a desperate situation while neither of them posed any danger on the IOF. The video was broadcast by France 2 TV, and provoked strong condemnation by official and popular levels worldwide at the time.

Based on the GPO's allegations, Israel stripped the credentials of the two journalists who took the footage. The decision was approved, and therefore accepted, by Israel's Prime Minister Office Legal Advisor. The GPO claims that IOF does not bear responsibility for killing the child.

Nevertheless, according to the information and evidences collected by Al Mezan from the field rebut the GPO's allegations. Al Mezan had availed its evidences to an international fact-finding-mission in 2000. The mission encompassed the UN independent expert Professor John Dugard and fifteen experts. Al Mezan invited eyewitnesses and other presented other evidences to the mission, which investigated the perpetration of multiple crimes by IOF in this incident. IOF also targeted an ambulance that tried to help Ad-Dura and his father and killed its driver; 48-year-old Fayiz Saleem Al-Bilbissy.

Al Mezan Condemns IOF's Aggression and Closure against Gaza, Calls for International Protection

Gaza. Al Mezan. 03.10.07

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has escalated its aggression against the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians and injuring three others. This escalation occurred as the IOF tightened the closure imposed on the Strip, depriving the Gazans of their right to movement and access. The closure includes the prohibition and/or restriction of the flow of goods into the Strip, which has resulted in shortages and unprecedented increase in prices.

According to field investigations by Al Mezan, at approximately 3.30am on Wednesday 3 October 2007, five Israeli tanks and an armored bulldozer penetrated the Sufa Crossing area, through the borderline east of Khan Younis town. IOF soldiers broke into homes as the bulldozer razed agricultural lands in the area. Moreover, the IOF opened fire arbitrarily, killing 22-year-old Said Al Amour. The victim died from a live bullet to his head at approximately 9.10am. IOF have still been in the area at the time of issuing the press release.

Earlier at approximately 1am, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a crowd near Khaled Ibn Al Waleed Mosque, in As-Slam neighborhood in Rafah town. The attack resulted in killing 25-year-old Muhammad Bassam Hassan, who died an hour after being admitted in Abou Yousif An-Najjar Hospital, from critical wounds in the head. 25-yaer-old Muhammad Juma'a Abu Sha'ar was also wounded in this raid. Medical sources have reported his injuries as moderate.

On 2 October 2007, and for the second time, IOF opened fire from Erez Creossing at a crowd of people who gathered around Erez to receive the prisoners who were released from Israeli prisons. At approximately 12.30am, the journalist Muhammad Jadullah Salem was wounded from a live bullet to his left leg. Salem was covering the events and was shot when the prisoners' families approached the checkpoint gate when they saw the released prisoners.

The families had waited at Erez Crossing the day before, but the IOF delayed the release of the prisoners. At approximately 1.30pm on Monday 1 October 2007, 4-year-old Ibrahim Muhammad Al Madhon was shot in the left arm by the IOF while he was waiting with his family at the Crossing before Israel's announcement that the release was postponed till the next day.

This escalation comes as IOF expanded the tight closure on the Gaza Strip, where the civilian population has been deprived of their right to free movement. About 1000 Palestinians have been stranded at the Egyptian side of the Rafah Crossing since June 2007. At the same time there have been about 5000 Gazans who have not been allowed to leave the Gaza strip for health, education, employment and other urgent reasons.

Gazans' suffering has been aggravated by the limitation of the goods that are allowed to flow into the Gaza Strip to basic food stuffs and humanitarian aid. Many basic goods have started to run out from the markets and their prices have seriously increased. This includes meats, canned food and clothes. This has added to the already devastating humanitarian and economic crisis.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the acts of killing and the excessive, indiscriminate use of force by IOF. The Center also condemns the escalation of collective punishment by the IOF against Gazans. The Center asserts that such illegal conducts by IOF represent serious and systematic violations of the International Humanitarian Law, particularly, the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (FGC). Al mezan therefore calls on the High Contracting Parties to the Convention to intervene immediately and ensure Israel's compliance by its provisions under all circumstances.

Al Mezan renews its calls to the international community to intervene to stop the Israeli conducts and provide international protection for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), and to prevent the employment of collective punishment and other breaches of international law.

Attacco israeliano a Gaza. Uccisi sette palestinesi

l'Unità, 26/09/07. Tre miliziani e quattro civili palestinesi sono stati uccisi in una duplice operazione israeliana nella striscia di Gaza. In un'operazione di terra quattro civili, membri di una stessa famiglia, sono stati uccisi da una cannonata sparata da un carro armato israeliano contro l'abitato di Beit Hanun. L'incursione israeliana è iniziata nelle ore in cui le famiglie palestinesi, impegnate nel mese di digiuno del Ramadan, erano riunite nelle abitazioni per la cena, consentita solo dopo il tramonto. I guerriglieri, che secondo testimoni appartenevano ad Hamas secondo altre fonti appartenevano al gruppo radicale islamico riconducibile ad Al Qaeda erano a bordo di un'auto lungo una strada del quartiere di Zaitun quando il veicolo è stato centrato da un missile. Nell'attacco sono rimasti feriti anche alcuni passanti uno dei quali si trova in gravi condizioni.

IOF Kill 3 Palestinian Children in Beit Hanoun, Increasing Deaths among Palestinian Children since the Beginning of the Intifada to 797

PCHR strongly condemns the crime committed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, which took the lives of 3 Palestinian children from one same family. IOF fired a surface-to-surface missile at the three children who were grazing sheep near an area, from which home-made rockets are often fired. Investigations conducted by PCHR indicate that no Palestinian resistance activists were present in the area when the children were attacked. The three children had always grazed animals in the area. Less than 10 days ago, two Palestinian children were killed in a similar attack in the same town.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 17:00, on Wednesday, 30 August 2007, IOF positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, southeast of Beit Hanoun fired a surface-to-surface missile at 3 Palestinian children, including a girl, who were grazing animals to the north of Beit Hanoun, nearly 2000 meters away from the border, and 30-40 meters away from launchers used by Palestinian resistance activists to fire home-made rockets at Israeli town. Two children were instantly killed and the third one was wounded, but died later. The victims were identified as:

1. Yahia Ramadan ‘Atiya Abu Ghazal, 12;

2. Mahmoud Mousa Hassan Abu Ghazal, 8; and

3. Sarah Suleiman ‘Abdullah Abu Ghazal, 9.

This crime has been the second of its kind in less than 10 days as on 21 August 2007, IOF fired a surface-to-surface missile at two Palestinian children who were playing near launchers of home-made rockets in Beit Hanoun, killing them. Thus, the number of Palestinian children killed by IOF since the beginning of the current Palestinian Intifada had increased to 797.

PCHR expresses deep concern over this latest crime, and:

1. Condemns such crimes that are a continuation of a series of crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that reflect disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, and views IOF operations as acts of reprisal and collective punishment that violate Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949).

2. Points out that IOF does not respect the principles of necessity and proportionality in using its war machine in inhabited areas, leading to additional victims among the civilian population and their properties.

3. Calls upon the international community to immediately intervene to stop such crimes, and calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War to fulfill their obligation under article 1 of the Convention to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and their obligation under article 146 to search for and prosecute those who are responsible for perpetrating grave breaches of the Convention, as such breaches constitute war crimes according to article 147 of the Convention and the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I).

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

Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian
23-29 August 2008
Territory
Three children from the Abu Ghazala family, who were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces in Beit Hanon on 29 August 2007

• 12 Palestinians including 6 Children killed by IOF and a 13^th Dies of previous Wounds.
  
• 33 Palestinians, including 11 children and a mentally ill person, were wounded by IOF gunfire in the OPT.
• Mother and brother of a killed child among the injured.
• IOF conducted 21 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
• IOF arrested 30 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and 13 in the Gaza Strip.
• IOF raze 12 Dunums of agricultural land in the southern Gaza Strip.
• IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT, and continues to isolate the Gaza Strip from the outside world.
• Severe humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip due to the closure.
• IOF positioned at various checkpoints and border crossings in the West Bank arrested 3 Palestinian civilians, including a woman and a child.
• 1 Gaza resident detained at Erez on his way to Gaza from Ramallah.
• Israeli settlement activity and attacks by Israeli settlers continue:

Summary

IOF escalated violations of international law and humanitarian law continued in the OPT during the reporting period (23 – 29 August 2007):

Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed 12 Palestinians including 6 children. Five children were killed in the Gaza Strip in 2 extra-judicial executions. A 13^th Palestinian died of wounds sustained two weeks ago during an incursion into the town of New Abasan in the southern Gaza Strip. 33 Palestinians, including 11 children were injured.

In the Gaza Strip, IOF killed 8 Palestinians, including 5 children, and a 9^th died of wounds sustained two weeks ago during an incursion into the town of New Abasan in the southern Gaza Strip. On 29 August, 3 children were killed in Beit Hanoun by an Israel surface-to-surface missile fired near launchers of locally produced rockets. There were no launching cells in the area at the time, and the children were at a considerable distance from the launching ladders. And on 23 August, IOF killed 2 members of Izzedeen El-Qassam Battalions (the armed wing of Hamas) by a surface-to-surface missile fired near the Palestine Car Market east of Gaza City. On 4 August, IOF used excessive force to kill 2 children east of Jabalia. The children were carrying hand grenades and were shot at a distance of 400 meters away from the border. On 27 August, IOF killed a sheep herder in the village of Wadi Gaza in the center of the Gaza Strip as he was herding his sheep near the border.

A Palestinian civilian was injured on 25 August by shelling of El-Shoka town in the southern Gaza Strip. And on 23 August, 6 Palestinians were injured during an incursion into the town of Khuza’a in the southern Gaza Strip. A mentally-ill civilian was injured by IOF gunfire north of Beit Lahia.

In the West Bank, IOF killed 4 Palestinians and injured 25 others. On 24 August, IOF killed an activist in Al-Quds Battalions (armed wing of Islamic Jihad) and a child in the town of Saida near Tulkarm. The child’s mother and brother were injured in the attack. And on 25 August, IOF conducted an extra-judicial execution of 2 Islamic Jihad activists, killing both and injuring 3 others, in Jenin. Four civilians were injured in Jerusalem when IOF fired sound charges at a dinner in a house in the city. And on 29 August, 14 Palestinians were injured during an incursion into Qalqilya. Finally, 2 demonstrators were injured in the weekly demonstration against the Annexation Wall in the village of Bal’in near Ramallah.

Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 21 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During those incursions, IOF arrested 46 Palestinian civilians. And in the Gaza Strip, IOF razed 12 dunums of agricultural land in the southern Gaza Strip.

Restrictions on Movement: 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. At least 6,000 Palestinians stuck in Egypt were allowed in the Gaza Strip through El-Ojah – Erez route. According to PCHR’s documentation, 19 Palestinians of those who are stuck in Egypt have died due to the deterioration in their health conditions. This week, IOF allowed 70 Palestinians residing in other countries or studying abroad to travel outside the Strip through Erez – El-Ojeh.

IOF have also closed commercial crossings, especially al-Mentar (Karni) crossing. During the reporting period, IOF reopened the crossing for some hours to allow the entry of some goods into the Gaza Strip. If this closure continues, a humanitarian crisis is likely to emerge in the Gaza Strip. IOF have also continued to close Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip are prevented from traveling through this crossing. They prevented traders and patients from passing through. IOF allow very few patients to travel through the crossing, but following coordination through the ICRC. During the reporting period, IOF reopened Kerem Shalom crossing, southeast of Rafah, and Sofa crossing, northeast of the town. During the reporting period, Nahal Ouz crossing, east of Gaza City, which is deigned for the entry of fuels into the Gaza Strip, witnessed active movement.

West Bank

IOF have tightened the siege imposed on Palestinian communities in the West Bank. They have isolated Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. Contrary to promises by the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to ease restrictions on movement in 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 soldiers positioned at various checkpoints and border crossings in the West Bank arrested at least 2 Palestinian civilians. In addition, IOF closed checkpoints surrounding Nablus several times during the week, especially during rush hour traffic.

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 from the settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron attacked Palestinian houses near the settlement, damaging the windows of 4 houses.

Israeli Violations Documented during the Reporting Period (23 – 29 August 2007)

Power like the king of England

Amira Hass. Haaretz. 19/07/07. The Palestinians cannot forget that thousands of Israeli commanders and soldiers who killed women and children, broke hands and feet and defended the robbery of lands with their weapons, are walking around free. Had Olmert sincerely wanted to strengthen Abbas, he would at least have agreed to the request that Fatah representatives have been making for years: Demonstrate some degree of equality, release all those who were imprisoned for life for activity against the occupation, prior to the signing of the Oslo Accords. Release those who have been sitting for 20 and 30 years, and those whose dispatchers at the time are among the senior negotiators today. The failure to release them after 1994 was one of the important contributing factors to weakening the status of the PA and Fatah. But after all, the "gestures" are being made in the concept of Israeli supremacy, of throwing a few crumbs to Abbas in anticipation of his obedience and of a grade of "good behavior" befitting a loyal subject. When that is the plan, it is also a surefire recipe for weakening Abbas.

At the end of the week, 256 families will celebrate the release from prison of their dear ones, and mothers are already relieved that the manhunt for their wanted sons has ended. In the cities where the wanted men live, there is also a sense of relief: The armed men - particularly those from Fatah - prided themselves on their weapons in the context of internal power games. They endangered their own surroundings rather than the Israeli occupation. We can gauge the extent to which the gestures will strengthen Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas not by the praise that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is getting from U.S. President George W. Bush, but by how the gestures are received in Palestinian society.

The intensive public relations campaign regarding the "gestures" reinforces the Palestinians' understanding that Israel is buying its ability to continue with the policy of occupation at a bargain price. After all, it is not planning to return the land it robbed from every Palestinian. The network of roadblocks and separate roads - which is destroying the fabric of Palestinian society - will not be removed, and the angry soldier at the roadblock will not stop turning every simple trip into torture.

The Palestinians are sufficiently experienced to know that all the smiles being exchanged by Abbas and Olmert are not stopping the bulldozers, which continue to imprison them in enclaves among the growing settlement blocs. The declarations by Saeb Erekat about adhering to "a state within the 1967 borders" do not convince the public that a government led by the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Fatah will manage to do what it has not done since 1994: to fight against the Israeli project of occupation and colonization.

The concept of "amnesty" that is being used to describe the agreement to stop chasing wanted men demonstrates to what extent Israel is entrenched in its position of domination. According to the law, the president is allowed to pardon "criminals." According to the law, a "criminal" is someone who was tried and convicted. It's true that the late president Chaim Herzog pardoned leading members of the Shin Bet security service before they were tried for the murder of the hijackers of bus no. 300, after the majority opinion in the High Court of Justice ruled that the president of Israel has the same power to pardon as the king of England and the president of the United States.

But here it is a "pardon" of the Shin Bet and the army in the field. The ease with which the concept "pardon" was accepted in the media is additional proof of the sweeping approval that Israelis grant the Israel Defense Forces and its soldiers to act as prosecutor, judge and executioner. Is it any wonder that they are given the power of a king of England, to pardon before a trial?

Even the fate of the prisoners to be released in the context of the gestures had been sealed, even before they were tried in the big show called "the Israeli military court." A show, because the same military establishment that occupies and destroys and oppresses the civilian population is the body that decides that opposing the occupation (even by popular demonstrations and stone throwing) is a crime. Its judges are loyal to the interest of defending the occupier and the settler. The gesture of the prisoner release is therefore a very minor repair of a substantial legal flaw.

The Palestinians cannot forget that thousands of Israeli commanders and soldiers who killed women and children, broke hands and feet and defended the robbery of lands with their weapons, are walking around free. Had Olmert sincerely wanted to strengthen Abbas, he would at least have agreed to the request that Fatah representatives have been making for years: Demonstrate some degree of equality, release all those who were imprisoned for life for activity against the occupation, prior to the signing of the Oslo Accords. Release those who have been sitting for 20 and 30 years, and those whose dispatchers at the time are among the senior negotiators today. The failure to release them after 1994 was one of the important contributing factors to weakening the status of the PA and Fatah.

But after all, the "gestures" are being made in the concept of Israeli supremacy, of throwing a few crumbs to Abbas in anticipation of his obedience and of a grade of "good behavior" befitting a loyal subject. When that is the plan, it is also a surefire recipe for weakening Abbas.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/883350.html

In italiano (traduttore internet) http://frammentivocalimo.blogspot.com/2007/07/amira-hass-lucida-analisi-sulla.html