On the Road to Nowhere, [Palestinians] Pay the Toll

Israeli soldiers, border police and police officers arrest foreign activists, members of the International Solidarity Movement, protesting against the construction of Israel's separation fence in the northern West Bank village of Masha, near the town of Qalqilya, Tuesday Aug. 5, 2003. Israeli forces detained 47 Palestinians and foreign activists and the army said the protesters were arrested after refusing to leave a closed military zone. (AP Photo/Muhammed Azba). Since the 1970s Israel has confiscated at least 7,000,000 square metres -- eighty percent -- of the land of Mas'ha, to build the illegal Jewish settlement of Elkana.

Scott Wilson, Washington Post Foreign Service, 21.10.07. Route 505 has been blocked at the western edge of this village by the $2.5 billion barrier Israel is building to separate Jews from the Palestinians of the West Bank, splitting a largely shared economy whose shops, factory floors and restaurant terraces once provided a rare meeting place for two peoples. Now they are living increasingly estranged lives in the land they are unable to share.

Hani Amer walking near the wall which runs next to his home in Mas'ha. In the background lies the illegal Jewish settlement of Elkana. (Amer Madi). When Hani Amer refused to leave his land 'voluntarily', a new strategy was introduced. An Israeli officer came to Hani Amer and threatened that he could not stay. According to Hani Amer, he said, 'We will break you, if you don't accept our good offers. We could send someone to shoot at the settlement and we will have already prepared the charge against you. Then your house will be bulldozered because you are known as a terrorist.'

The Israeli government says the steps it has taken help ensure Israel's security in the absence of a peace deal. But Palestinian officials argue that the impoverishing effects of the economic separation spawn unrest in the territories and increase the potential for attacks inside Israel. Israel's economy is nearly 40 times larger than that of the territories, even though its population is less than twice the Palestinian one in the territories. The lopsided effects of Israel's economic withdrawal have left much of the territories economically lifeless. "We knew them," said Ruven Hirak, 51, an Israeli economics professor at Bar-Ilan University, who lives in the wealthy Jewish settlement of Elqana along Route 505 just beyond the separation fence from the village of Mas-Ha. Grocery shopping in Elqana's busy central mall one recent afternoon, Hirak said of his Palestinian neighbors, "I sat with them in restaurants, bought from them, and some of them worked here.

"Now," he said, "there is no relationship at all."

אלקנה

Elkana

	דונם Dunam	מקרא Legend	אחוז %Percent	אקרים Acres
שטח כולל	1,444		100	361	Total Area
קרקע פרטית פלסטינית	746.5		51.7	186.6	Private Palestinian Land
אדמת סקר	0		0	0	Survey Land
אדמה שנרכשה ע"י יהודים	0		0	0	Land bought by Jews

Graphic by Peace Now

According to the World Bank, the Palestinian gross domestic product per capita has shrunk 30 percent -- to $1,129 -- since the uprising began. Unemployment and poverty rates have spiked across the territories, especially during the 16-month international embargo that followed Hamas's election victory. By contrast, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Israel's per-capita GDP is $31,767, nearly double what it was on the eve of the Palestinian uprising. The more than 550 military checkpoints, roadblocks and other obstacles within the West Bank, along with restrictions presented by the 456-mile separation barrier, have made it impossible for many Palestinian merchants to attract customers outside their small local markets. On the eve of the uprising, 136,000 Palestinians, or nearly a quarter of the labor force, worked inside Israel or in Israeli-owned enterprises in the territories. With a financial stake in Israel's security, said Persky, the Israeli army officer, only a "very few" were even tangentially involved in suicide attacks. Today, 47,400 Palestinians from the West Bank, or less than 9 percent of the workforce, have such permits. The United States and Europe are increasingly the largest markets for Israel's more than $40 billion in annual exports -- including cut diamonds, high-tech hardware and software, arms and agricultural products. Less than 5 percent of Israel's exports are sold in the Palestinian territories. By contrast, roughly 90 percent of Palestinian exports are sold inside Israel.

full text

related links
Israeli Troops Arrests 47 Barrier Activists
"They will not break me"

PCHR Calls for Investigating the Death of 4 Palestinians and injury of 31 in Rafah and Gaza City

PCHR calls for investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of 3 people, including 2 children, and injury of 16, including a child critically wounded, yesterday and this morning in Sheja’eya Quarter in Gaza City. The Centre also calls for investigating the death of a woman and injury of her son and 14 others in armed clashes between Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Rafah yesterday. The Centre calls for publishing the results of the investigation in public, and for prosecuting the perpetrators.

In the early morning hours of Saturday (20 October 2007), clashes resumed between the Palestinian Police and members of Hilles clan in Sheja’eya Quarter in the eastern part of Gaza City. The clashes came after 2 days of relative calm. The new round of clashes resulted in the death of 3 persons and injury of 18 others; raising the total since the start of these clashes to 7 killed and 42 injured.

The Center’s preliminary investigation indicates that clashes erupted between both sides in the early morning hours of yesterday in Baghdad Street. Gunmen deployed in the streets, took positions on rooftops, and closed streets with earth barriers. Both sides used machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG). An RPG fell in Sobhi Abu Karsh Elementary School, causing material damages and panic among children. The clashes continued till approximately 1:00 on Sunday and resulted in the death of 2 people; one of them a child. Thirteen others were injured, including 2 policemen. The people killed are:

- Mohammad Salama Hilles (25), killed by an RPG shrapnel to the head, legs and body.

- Mohammad Fu’ad El-Susi (15), killed by a bullet to the head.

El-Susi’s brother, Osama (19), informed PCHR that his brother was standing at the corner of the street leading to their house, about 500 meters from the clash area. Osama was standing about 100 meters away from his brother. He stated that the clashes were sporadic; and that they were surprised by gunfire. His brother was hit by a bullet in the head and fell on the ground. Osama was injured by 2 bullets in the legs.

In a related incident, a child was killed and 3 others injured by the Police in Sheja’eya Quarter yesterday evening. The Center’s preliminary investigation indicates that at about 16:00 on Saturday (20 October 2007), a group of youth in Mansour Street in Sheja’eya attacked a policeman and beat him. A police force arrived and fired indiscriminately, killing Khaled Salman Hamdan (8) by a bullet to the chest as he was walking with his mother to a wedding in the area. Three others were injured, including one child who was critically injured.

It is noted that tension persists in Sheja’eya Quarter with gunmen deployed in the streets and on roof tops. The police continue to surround the quarter despite the announcement yesterday of an agreement between both sides to end the clashes.

In Rafah, clashes broke out at about 2:00 on Saturday between gunmen from Islamic Jihad and others from Hamas in various parts of the city. Machine guns and RPG’s were used in the clashes; gunmen took to the roof tops; and both sides exchanged kidnappings. The clashes continued till the early morning hours of Sunday (21 October). Heyam Ahmad Saqer, a 51-year old woman, was killed by a bullet in the back. Fifteen people, including 3 policemen and 2 children, were injured. Most of the injuries were listed as moderate. Mohammad Khalil Saqer (22), the son of the woman killed, informed PCHR that his mother was killed in front of their house in Shaboura refugee camp when members of Islamic Jihad attempted to kidnap one of their neighbors who was a Hamas activist. Armed Hamas members intervened to prevent the kidnapping and fired indiscriminately in the area. Saqer did not specify the source of fire that killed his mother.

In continuation of the Rafah clashes, members of Islamic Jihad shot this morning the policeman Mohammad Eleyan Barhoum (19) and hit him with several bullets in the legs. In addition, they injured 2 passers in the area:

- Khaled Mohammad Dahliz (45), injured by shrapnel in the right shoulder.

- Hala Suliman Ayesh (31), injured by a bullet in the foot.

The clashes in Rafah came on the backdrop of a police attempt to detain an Islamic Jihad activist, Abd El-Fattah El-Afifi, charged with a “hit and run” of a policeman at the entrance of Tal El-Sultan area on Friday morning.

In light of these developments, PCHR:

- Calls upon the PNA, represented by the Attorney-General, to seriously investigate these clashes, to publicly announce the results of the findings, and to prosecute the perpetrators.

- Affirms the need to respect the law regarding use of firearms by law-enforcement personnel in line with international standards, and in a manner that guarantees respect of human rights.

Public Document

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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

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The Opposite of Silence

Phil Zabriskie/Jerusalem, TIME, 20.10.07. There is an Israeli group called Breaking the Silence, former soldiers who want to publicize what they’ve seen and done in the Palestinian Territories in order to counter what they perceive as Israeli leadership's desire to obscure what happens day-to-day in the name of security, and an inclination amongst the public to ignore it. They’ve collected several hundred interviews with ex-soldiers, staged exhibitions, and, with a group called Children of Abraham, they lead tours in Hebron. Members act as guides, discussing past experiences and current dynamics. They tour Hebron because there is an Israeli-administered area in the middle of the town, IDF soldiers protecting small groups of Israeli settlers, which Israeli citizens can legally enter. Plenty attention paid to the historical Jewish presence in Hebron, the strife between populations, the still-resonant massacre in 1929 of 67 Jews by Arabs, the near wholesale absence of Jews in Hebron until after the 1967 War. Their route into Hebron passes through Kiryat Arba, one of the larger West Bank settlements, wherein one finds Rabbi Meir Kahane Park and the grave of Baruch Goldstein. In 1994, Goldstein, an American-born doctor and resident of Kiryat Arba, shot and killed 29 Palestinians as they prayed in the Muslim section of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and was then himself killed. He was a follower of Kahane, a man who called Arabs a “cancer” that must be excised and founded the extremist Kach Party, which Israel outlawed and branded a terrorist organization. The guide starts to speak. A man storms into the circle loudly denouncing the tour’s presence, accusing everyone of planning to defile a holy site. This is Noam Federman from Tel Rumedia, a small settlement inside Hebron, a Kahanist who has been jailed in the past. Federman reaches the guide and shoves him in the chest with both hands. Yehuda Shaul, a Breaking the Silence founder, pulls out his video camera. When the guide speaks, Federman shouts or sings over him. Other settlers arrive, including Baruch Marzel, another of Kahane's American-born, oft-arrested acolytes and the founder of an outfit called the Jewish National Front. One of the settlers calls Shaul a terrorist and a Nazi. The police come. The guide accuses Federman of assault. Federman, despite the roughly 30 witnesses, accuses the guide and Shaul of assaulting him. The guide, Shaul, and Federman must all go to the police station to give statements. The tour continues into town, a Children of Abraham member pressed into the role of tour guide. Through a fortified army checkpoint, shuttered shops in an abandoned marketplace along the main road, which is closed to the Palestinians who make up roughly 80% of Hebron's population. An IDF military outpost that's also, for some reason, home to some settler families. Pathways Palestinians use to get to their homes since they can't drive or walk on the roads they once used. A checkpost at the edge of Tel Rumeida, where further passage is denied for security reasons. One feels the absence of leaders ready to confront the complexities and perils of this place. One feels the the prominent presence of people who think this bizarre, embattled state is how things are supposed to be, as dictated by book, or history, or psyche.

Near Tel Rumeida, Baruch Marzel, who’d been with Federman at the Goldstein grave--and who once advocated assassinating the founder of Peace Now--turns up again. “You are hearing nothing but lies,” he says. “Have you heard the history? Have you heard about Jews who were killed?”

“Yes,” says a tour participant. “Yes, we have.”

“Not the real truth,” Marzel responds. “They terrorize us, attack us constantly, and these people”—the tour leaders—“tell you lies.” Presumably, he feels the same about B’tselem, which just released a report on settler violence in Hebron, saying it's getting worse.

On the way out, the original guides return from the police station. One tour member had video of the confrontation, but says a file was opened, an investigation begun, into the charges against and made by Federman. Thus endeth the tour.

Applying law not clashes

Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades Information Office, 20.20.07. At least one person was killed when new clashes broke out on Saturday between the Palestinian police in the Gaza Strip and a clan called "Hellis" family ,medics said.

"Mohammed Hellis was killed today and 12 others were wounded in renewed clashes between the Executive Force and the Hellis family," a medical official said on condition of anonymity.

It should be noted that the clashes erupted after stopping a jeep full of militants in the Gaza Strip. The militants, who belonged to Hellis family, shot three of the Executive Forces. The executive forces tried to catch those who shot the Executive force men but found fire from the Hellis family.

The Spokesman of the Interior Ministry in Gaza, Ehab Al-Ghusain, said that the Fatah-affiliated Hillis family is responsible for the fighting after not adhering to an agreement reached with the police through mediators.

Today, The Interior Ministry decided to catch the charged persons whomever they are and to apply the law in the Palestinian street to end chaos and to achieve calmness in the Gaza Strip.

Jérusalem, une ville sainte qui divise

Monique Mas, RFI, 19.10.07. Jérusalem-Est ayant été annexée en juin 1967 au secteur occidental de la ville sainte occupé depuis 1948, la Knesset, le Parlement, avait décrété Jérusalem «capitale éternelle et indivisible d’Israël», le 30 juillet 1980. Une décision jugée nulle et non avenue par le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies, Etats-Unis compris. Il n’empêche qu’aujourd’hui encore, une loi prévoit que toute concession territoriale concernant Jérusalem doit être approuvée par la majorité absolue des députés. Hier, la moitié d’entre eux (60 sur 120) ont signé une pétition hostile à tout abandon de souveraineté aux Palestiniens sur les quartiers arabes.

L’idée d’un «partage» de Jérusalem avec les Palestiniens révulse la majorité de l’opinion israélienne, comme en témoigne par exemple le sondage publié mardi par le journal Yediot Aharonot. Selon ce dernier, 68% des Israéliens interrogés ne veulent même pas y songer, 11% renvoyant la question à un référendum devant lequel ils accepteraient de s’incliner si la majorité de leurs compatriotes concédaient le transfert de certains quartiers arabes de Jérusalem sous administration palestinienne, ce qui laisse un petit 20% de citoyens de l’Etat hébreu favorables à cette perspective.
Tout particulièrement sensibles à la symbolique religieuse de sites tels que le Mur des Lamentations, l’Esplanade des Mosquées (érigée sur l’ancien Temple juif) ou le Saint-Sépulcre, les Israéliens sont encore moins partageux concernant la Vieille Ville de Jérusalem. 16% seulement d’entre eux accepterait une souveraineté conjointe israélo-palestinienne sur les lieux saints du judaïsme, de l'islam et du christianisme, 21 % préconisant une souveraineté internationale et 61% revendiquant l’autorité pleine et entière d’Israël sur ces vestiges emblématiques.
Depuis 1967, Israël s’est attaché à limiter la présence arabe à Jérusalem en s’efforçant en même temps d’isoler sa «capitale éternelle» du reste des territoires palestiniens et de rendre toute rétrocession illusoire. "ésidents étrangers» dotés du seul droit de vote aux municipales à Jérusalem, les Arabes sont aujourd’hui plus nombreux que les Juifs à Jérusalem-Est.

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.