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.

Activists: Israel pressuring ill Palestinians to be informers

Dion Nissenbaum | McClatchy Newspapers. 24.10.07. Israel gave Hiyya permission to leave the Gaza Strip last month and cross Israeli territory for immediate surgery in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank. But when he arrived at the Israeli border crossing, he learned that there was a catch. In a daylong interrogation, Hiyya said, Israeli intelligence offered him a deal: Tell us about your brother, a wanted militant, and we'll let you enter Israel for the operation you need. When Hiyya refused, they turned him away. Human rights groups charge that Hiyya's case is one of nearly a dozen they've documented in which Israelis allegedly have tried to recruit ailing Palestinians as informers in the low-intensity war with the militant Islamic group Hamas. Since June, at least five Palestinians have died after being denied permits to leave Gaza for emergency medical treatment, according to Physicians for Human Rights, an Israeli human-rights group that's working to help patients in Gaza. Human Rights Watch's Abrahams warned that the Israeli strategy could create risks for Palestinians who're allowed out of Gaza because militants will suspect them of being collaborators. "It casts a shadow of suspicion over those who succeed to leave Gaza," he said. "People will wonder what they did to be able to get out."

Territori Occupati Palestinesi, rapporto Amnesty: gli scontri tra le fazioni alimentano le violazioni dei diritti umani

Amnesty International Italia. 24.10.07. Amnesty International ha pubblicato oggi un rapporto in cui segnala che gli scontri tra i gruppi palestinesi Hamas e Fatah nella Striscia di Gaza hanno gia’ causato, quest’anno, 350 morti e hanno provocato gravi violazioni dei diritti umani, non solo a Gaza ma anche in Cisgiordania. Il rapporto, di 57 pagine, accusa Hamas di aver fatto sempre maggiore ricorso alla detenzione arbitraria e alla tortura, da quando a giugno ha assunto il potere nella Striscia di Gaza. Hamas ha inoltre autorizzato le proprie forze ad attaccare e aggredire manifestanti pacifici e giornalisti che seguivano le proteste. Per quanto riguarda la Cisgiordania, Amnesty International accusa le forze fedeli al presidente palestinese Mahmoud Abbas di aver arrestato arbitrariamente centinaia di sostenitori di Hamas e di non aver intrapreso alcuna azione nei confronti dei militanti di Fatah responsabili di rapimenti, incendi e altri attacchi. Nell’ultimo anno, la violenza tra le fazioni palestinesi nella Striscia di Gaza ha raggiunto un livello senza precedenti fino al culmine del giugno di quest’anno, quando Hamas ha assunto il controllo delle forze di sicurezza dell’Autorita’ palestinese. Secondo Amnesty International, i gruppi armati e le forze di sicurezza di entrambi i gruppi hanno mostrato un flagrante disprezzo per la popolazione civile, lanciando attacchi indiscriminati e dando vita a scontri a fuoco all’interno di zone residenziali. Gli abitanti di Gaza sono rimasti praticamente prigionieri  nelle proprie abitazioni e numerose decine di persone che non prendevano parte ai combattimenti, bambini compresi, sono state uccise. 

‘I dirigenti di Hamas e Fatah devono prendere provvedimenti immediati per spezzare il ciclo dell’impunita’ che continua ad alimentare le violazioni dei diritti umani, tra cui detenzioni arbitrarie, rapimenti, torture e maltrattamenti’ – ha dichiarato Malcolm Smart, direttore del Programma Medio Oriente di Amnesty International. ‘La perdurante lotta tra le due fazioni sta avendo un effetto devastante sulla popolazione palestinese, specialmente nella Striscia di Gaza, acuendo la crisi umanitaria e dei diritti umani provocata dalle azioni militari e dai blocchi ordinati da Israele’.

Nel suo rapporto, Amnesty International chiede l’istituzione di una commissione di esperti indipendenti che indaghi sulle violazioni dei diritti umani commesse da Hamas e Fatah dall’inizio del 2006; l’organizzazione chiede inoltre ai dirigenti di entrambe le parti di impegnarsi ad attuare le raccomandazioni della commissione.

Il rapporto di Amnesty International contiene atroci testimonianze di vittime di violazioni dei diritti umani, appartenenti a entrambe le fazioni, e di persone che sono rimaste comunque direttamente coinvolte negli scontri armati nella Striscia di Gaza.

Le forze di sicurezza rivali, che avrebbero dovuto proteggere la popolazione e rafforzare il rispetto della legge, hanno tradito il proprio compito attraverso una condotta faziosa. Insieme ai gruppi armati che fungono come loro miliziani, hanno loro stesse violato la legge e commesso gravi violazioni dei diritti umani nella totale impunita’.

La decisione del presidente Abbas di sospendere le attivita’ delle forze di sicurezza e delle istituzioni giudiziarie dell’Autorita’ palestinese nella Striscia di Gaza, conseguente alla presa del potere da parte di Hamas, ha creato un vuoto legale e istituzionale, favorendo la creazione, da parte di Hamas, di un sistema parallelo di forze dell’ordine e di sicurezza che, secondo Amnesty International, manca di formazione e di meccanismi di garanzia e non e’ chiamato a rispondere del proprio operato.

Il risultato e’ che ora a Gaza gli arresti arbitrari e la tortura nei confronti dei detenuti sono una pratica diffusa, cosi’ come gli attacchi contro i manifestanti e i giornalisti che seguono le proteste. L’iniziale miglioramento delle condizioni di sicurezza, seguito alla presa del potere da parte di Hamas, si sta velocemente erodendo.

In Cisgiordania, le violazioni dei diritti umani da parte delle forze di sicurezza dell’Autorita’ palestinese sono a loro volta massicce, anche se meno conosciute. La comunita’ internazionale pare intenzionata a non prendere una posizione forte, alla vigilia della conferenza promossa dagli Usa per tentare di resuscitare gli accordi di pace tra il governo israeliano e il governo di emergenza dell’Autorita’ palestinese.

Centinaia di sostenitori o presunti simpatizzanti di Hamas sono stati imprigionati arbitrariamente dalle forze di sicurezza dell’Autorita’ palestinese; le violazioni delle procedure detentive sono all’ordine del giorno e le denunce di maltrattamenti e torture si fanno sempre piu’ frequenti. Le persone arrestate sono tenute in luoghi non autorizzati dalla legge e le forze di sicurezza spesso ignorano le ordinanze dei giudici di rilasciare i prigionieri nei confronti dei quali non vi sono prove.

Il governo di emergenza dell’Autorita’ palestinese non ha preso provvedimenti nei confronti degli uomini armati appartenenti a Fatah, che hanno sequestrato sostenitori di Hamas e incendiato abitazioni, uffici commerciali e sedi di organismi umanitari, nonostante gli autori di questi episodi siano spesso persone ben note e le forze di sicurezza fossero al corrente del loro operato.

L’arresto e l’imprigionamento di oltre 1000 presunti sostenitori di Hamas, molti dei quali non sono accusati di alcun crimine, si pone in netto contrasto con il mancato arresto, da parte dell’Autorita’ palestinese, dei membri delle Brigate dei martiri di al-Aqsa, il braccio armato di Fatah, responsabile di uccisioni sommarie, catture di ostaggi, incendi e altri attacchi contro persone e proprieta’.

‘L’assenza di legge che negli ultimi anni ha predominato in Cisgiordania e nella Striscia di Gaza, culminata negli scontri tra fazioni di giugno, e’ in gran parte il risultato del fallimento, prolungato e sistematico, dell’Autorita’ palestinese di mantenere e rafforzare la legge’ – ha commentato Smart.

Il rapporto di Amnesty International chiede alla comunita’ internazionale di porre fine alla vendita e al trasferimento di armi a entrambe le parti, fino a quando non vi saranno esplicite garanzie che non verranno usate per violare i diritti umani.

‘La comunita’ internazionale deve ottenere da tutte le parti palestinesi il rispetto dei medesimi standard internazionali sui diritti umani’ – ha concluso Smart. ‘Deve inoltre garantire che la popolazione della Striscia di Gaza non sia punita per le posizioni e i comportamenti dell’amministrazione di Hamas e assicurare che l’assistenza di emergenza essenziale per proteggere i diritti umani fondamentali non sia mai usata come uno strumento di ricatto per perseguire obiettivi politici’.

FINE DEL COMUNICATO
Roma, 24 ottobre 2007

Il rapporto Occupied Palestinian Territories: torn apart by factional
strife e’ disponibile in lingua inglese all’indirizzo:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE210202007

Per ulteriori informazioni, approfondimenti e interviste:
Amnesty International Italia – Ufficio stampa
Tel. 06 4490224 - cell. 348-6974361, e-mail: press@amnesty.it

Israele riduce la fornitura di energia alla Striscia di Gaza

GERUSALEMME (Reuters) 25.10.07. - Il ministro israeliano della Difesa Ehud Barak ha deciso oggi la riduzione della fornitura di energia per la Striscia di Gaza controllata da Hamas in risposta agli attacchi con i razzi compiuti dai palestinesi. Le Nazioni Unite hanno detto a Israele che non deve infliggere punizioni collettive negando ai palestinesi della Striscia energia e servizi necessari. Israele ha ritirato nel 2005 le truppe e i coloni dai territori ma ne controlla ancora i confini.

I militanti palestinesi sparano frequentemente razzi a corto raggio dalla Striscia di Gaza verso la zona meridionale di Israele -- attacchi che né le incursioni israeliane né gli attacchi aerei sono riusciti a fermare. Oggi le forze israeliane hanno ucciso almeno tre cecchini ai confini con Gaza.

"Poichè sono nostri nemici per noi non c'è ragione di fornire loro energia oltre il minimo previsto per evitare crisi", ha riferito il vice ministro della Difesa Matan Vilnai ad Army Radio.

Secondo i funzionari israeliani e palestinesi, la popolazione di Gaza usa circa 200 megawatt di elettricità, dei quali 120 sono forniti direttamente da Israele, 17 dall'Egitto e 65 sono prodotti in un impianto palestinese.

Palestinian cancer patient denied entry from Gaza into Israel for hospital care

Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem, The Independent, 26.10.07. A 21-year-old cancer patient in urgent need of specialist treatment was stopped from entering Israel from Gaza despite securing prior permission from the Israeli military to cross the border. The incident, the latest in a series which the Israeli group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) claims is part of a tough new policy by the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet towards seriously ill patients from Gaza seeking treatment in Israel, came as Israel separately stepped up its response to the firing of Qassam rockets by Gaza militants. The patient turned back from Erez on Monday. Mahmud Kamal Abu Taha, was sent back to hospital in Khan Yunis after waiting two-and-a-half hours in an ambulance at the Erez crossing while he was receiving oxygen and on an intravenous drip. Shin Bet agents also arrested his father at the crossing even though he had also been told he had permission to accompany his son to a hospital in Tel Aviv.

In testimony to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, the patient's brother Hani, 34, explained that his brother had lost about a quarter of his body weight, prompting fears for his life after 75 centimetres of his small intestine had been removed when doctors had found a cancerous growth.

He added that, unable to eat, his brother had been fed with four to six doses a day of vitamin solution but that the dosage had been reduced to one because the hospital was suffering a shortage of the solution. He said that specialists decided to transfer him to Tel Hashomer hospital in Israel. He added: "Mahmud is melting away in front of our eyes like a candle."

Israel breaks promise to Gaza students

DAN IZENBERG , Jerusalem Post, 25.10.07. The army has broken a promise given to the High Court of Justice to renew bus transportation for Gaza Strip students to Egypt so that they can pursue their academic studies abroad, Gisha - the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement - said Thursday. According to the NGO, 670 students with visas to study abroad cannot leave the Gaza Strip because the Rafah border crossing is closed and there is no other way for them to reach Egypt. On September 17, Gisha petitioned the High Court to allow Khaled Mudallal, a student at Bradford University in England, and his wife, to return to his studies. The court rejected the petition after the state said it would renew the shuttle service on October 2. But no buses have operated in the more than three weeks that have ensued.

On Monday, Gisha submitted a new petition on behalf of seven students and four family dependents who are among those waiting to return to their studies.

One of them is Wissam Abuajwa, 30, who was accepted by a British university for postgraduate work in environmental science. This is his fourth attempt to study outside of Gaza. In 2001, he was accepted to a program at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura, near Eilat, but barred from entering Israel. In 2003 he was accepted to a master's program in Germany, but Israel refused to let him leave via the Rafah crossing. Last year, he was accepted for the first time by the British university but barred from leaving. Now, he is trying again.

Another petitioner, Alaa Abo-Jasser, who scored 98.6 on her matriculation exams, was accepted to study medicine at Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany. A German language course to prepare her for her studies began at the university in July.

Higher educational opportunities in the Gaza Strip are extremely limited. Undergraduate and master's degrees are unavailable in key subjects such as occupational therapy, medicine, speech therapy, dentistry and physiotherapy, according to Gisha. There are no doctoral programs in any subject. Furthermore, Israel bars Gaza Strip students from studying in Israel or the West Bank.

For the first time since Cabinet decision declaring Gaza "hostile territory", Israeli Supreme Court asked to nullify collective punishment policy:

“Israel is punishing the student population of the Gaza Strip”

Gisha. Monday, October 22, 2007: University students in Gaza today petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court against an Israeli policy preventing them from traveling abroad to study. “People dream many dreams,” states the court petition, submitted by Gisha. “One wants to be a pilot, another wants to be a scientist… The petitioners dream of studying.”

Israel is preventing some 670 students from the Gaza Strip from traveling to the USA, Europe, Jordan, Asia and other destinations to pursue higher education. Since the government declared the Gaza Strip “hostile territory,” restrictions on movement to and from Gaza have been further tightened, and a busservice taking students out of Gaza has been canceled. Many of the students “imprisoned” in Gaza have already missed the start of the academic year at universities around the world. Some stand to lose their places for the entire year – and scholarships – if they do not arrive to their campuses immediately

US to speed up stealth fighter delivery to Israel

YAAKOV KATZ , Jerusalem Post, 25.10.07. In an effort to bolster the Israel Air Force in the face of Iran's race toward nuclear power, the Pentagon has agreed to move up delivery of its newest stealth fighter to Israel by two years, to as early as 2012, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Last month, the IDF announced plans to purchase a squadron (at least 25 aircraft) of the fifth-generation Joint Strike Fighter. That delivery was expected to commence in 2014. Eight countries - including Britain, Turkey and Australia - are members of the Joint Strike Fighter project. Israel became a security cooperation participant after paying $20 million in 2003 for access to information accumulated during the jet's development. The jet will be priced at between $50m. and $60m. Also Wednesday, defense officials expressed concern regarding reports in the Russian media that China has signed a deal with Iran for the delivery of two squadrons of J-10 fighter jets, developed by Beijing and based on a model of the Israeli-made Lavi.

They said it was possible that Syria would also buy the aircraft, a move that would greatly enhance its capabilities. The J-10 is based on technology and components sold to China by Israel following the decision to stop development of the Lavi project in the 1980s. The J-10 can use detachable fuel tanks to fly to targets 2,940 kilometers away. If true, it could reach Israel and return to base. Until now, the Russian-made MiG-29 (Fulcrum) has been the Iranian fighter jet with the longest range, 2,100 km.

52 mortar shells fired and Al-Qassam took responsibility for Ariel operation

Ezzedeen Al-Qassam. 25.10.07. Despite the continuous aggression against the Mujahideen of Hamas movement by the occupation forces and their bodyguard from the Palestinian security forces. Despite all of that , Al-Qassam men are continuing their operations against the Zionist enemy.

Al-Qassam Brigades men fired 52 mortar shells at the Zionist settlements around the Gaza Strip and at the Zionist groups and vehicles in the Strip, which came as a response to the Zionist aggression against our prisoners when kiliing one prisoner and injuring the hundreds.

Al-Qassam Mujahideen targeted a group of soldiers and settlers near the settlement of Ariel, injuring three of them , at least.

Al-Qassam Brigades conducted the operation yesterday but did not declare at the moment of the operation for security conditions.

The Brigades confirmed that Our operation yesterday is a pre-response to the martyrdom of the prisoner "Muhammad Al-Ashqar and the rest of the Palestinian martyrs.

Gaza. Israele toglie la luce Onu: così cresce la rabbia

l'Unità. 25.10.07. Gza senza luce. Il ministro della Difesa israeliano Ehud Barak ha deciso giovedì il taglio della corrente elettrica nella Striscia di Gaza. Una misura che viene duramente condannata da Christopher Gunness, portavoce dell'Unrwa: «La gente di Gaza si sente sempre più isolata e abbandonata; il blocco imposto da Israele sta contribuendo a radicalizzare gli animi e non porta sicuramente alla pace». Christopher Gunness, portavoce dell'organismo dell'Onu per l'assistenza ai rifugiati palestinesi rilascia una intervista all'agenzia cattolica Misna in cui sostiene che la misura approvata dal ministro della Difesa Ehud Barak per ridurre la fornitura di energia elettrica a Gaza può avere conseguenze ulteriormente negative per una popolazione già allo stremo. "Secondo i dati in nostro possesso - continua - il 35% della popolazione di Gaza vive al di sotto della soglia di povertà, il 44% della forza lavoro è disoccupata, il 90% degli stabilimenti produttivi è fermo; da mesi non si può né importare né esportare, oltre un milione di persone vive esclusivamente grazie alla distribuzione di viveri organizzata dall'Onu e da organizzazioni non governative". Una situazione al limite della sopportazione che alcuni giorni fa era stata descritta con toni preoccupati alla MISNA anche da John Dugard, l'inviato delle Nazioni Unite nei Territori Palestinesi: "E' da sette anni che visito con regolarità Cisgiordania e Gaza - aveva detto in quell'occasione Dugard - e da un punto di vista umanitario la situazione non è mai stata peggio di così. La chiusura dei principali valichi di frontiera ha rinchiuso la popolazione della Striscia in una vera e propria prigione: è impossibile la circolazione delle persone, difficile il reperimento di generi di prima necessità; ci troviamo di fronte a un serio livello di povertà che potrebbe anche generare una terza Intifada".

The routine Israel killing of Palestinians - and 'Good Men' do Nothing

An Israeli soldier shooting at Palestinians
from its tank in Nablus (IPC)

Joharah Baker for MIFTAH, 24.10.07. The 535 wardens who participated in the raid used something called “crowd dispersal sachets”, basically a bag full of metal pellets, which Israel claims are “non-lethal”. Israeli prison authorities maintain that the wardens shot the sachets at the prisoners’ legs according to standard procedure, but that Al Ashqar was “bending down” when he was hit in the head. For Israel, killing Palestinians, whether armed members of military groups or unarmed civilians, has become more or less, run-of-the-mill. The world hardly blinks an eye when a Palestinian is killed by Israeli soldiers, settlers or in this case, prison wardens. Perhaps this is partly because the Palestinians are on such unfortunate standing these days with the international community, that in some twisted way, their lives are deemed less valuable than others. But mostly, this imbalance in the sanctity and value of human life – especially between an Israeli and a Palestinian one – is due to the complex and intricate web of deception Israel has weaved around the definition of Palestinian.

With the help of others, especially the United States and various other western allies, Israel, regardless of the magnitude of the atrocity it perpetrates, is always able to absolve itself of any wrongdoing. They make themselves out, like the common Arabic saying, “like a hair pulled from a ball of dough” – completely clean.

But the fact that it happens so often does not make it any more justifiable. Take this incident. Israel killed Al Ashqar, who is married with one son, hours before Israeli troops stormed Jenin and killed Al Quds Brigades commander Khaled Hussein and his assistant Mohammed Jawabri. Mubarak Hasanat was also killed that day when his car was hit by an Israeli missile on the Gaza coastal road.

Israel does not even bother itself with offering credible justifications for killing Palestinian activists. As long as they are so-called “terrorists plotting to kill innocent Israelis”, the Israeli state has given itself every right to shoot and kill whenever it deems appropriate. Never mind that these charges were never made in a court of law or that this sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen in so-called “civilized and democratic countries”. Apparently, the rules that apply to other countries don’t seem to apply to Israel, at least when it comes to the Palestinians. Assumedly, if the riots happened in a prison where Israeli prisoners were held, the outcome would have been different, including legal action taken against the prison authorities. No one in Israel would tolerate such brutality against its citizens, and rightly so.

But if one thing can be learned from this lack of balance between Israel and the Palestinians, is that the latter is usually left to defend itself. Today, for example, demonstrations have broken out throughout the Palestinian territories in protest of Al Asqhar’s death. Furthermore, the prisoners’ movement – over 10,000 political prisoners in Israeli jails – declared a one-day hunger strike in protest of yesterday’s events in the desert detention facility. The Palestinian Authority and all Palestinian factions have strongly condemned the assault on prisoners, calling for the protection of those behind Israeli bars.

Israel says it will open an investigation into the incident, but we all know where Israel’s “investigations” into Palestinian deaths lead: nowhere. Or in the worst case scenario, the investigation will conclude that it was primarily the Palestinians’ fault that its authorities had to use extensive force to quell the riot and additional restrictions placed on the prisoners in order to avoid any future disturbances.

This is certainly not the first time a Palestinian prisoner has died in an Israeli jail. Since the start of the Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, there have been 17 prisoner deaths, according to the Prisoners’ Club. After each death, the Palestinians rise up on anger, condemning the injustice and calling on international organizations to step in and protect the prisoners. And while organizations such as the International Committee for the Red Cross facilitate in matters such as family visits and securing clothes to the men and women behind bars, they are rendered ineffective when Israel orders a shut down. After Monday’s riots at Ketziot, Israeli prison authorities canceled all family visits to the prison.

So basically, the Palestinians, whether inside prison or not, are all at the mercy of Israel’s oppressive policies and Israel, regardless of its actions, is almost always exonerated in the eyes of the international community under the pretext of its “security” and “self-defense.”

Since the Palestinians do not have all the means to persecute Israel for their actions, this responsibility should fall on those people (or countries) of conscience who do. In the words of English philosopher Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Programme at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mip@miftah.org.

!!!!!Gaza gas given as a gift by then-Prime Minister Barak to the PA!!!!!

IsraelNationalNews, 25.10.07. Former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon maintains, in a paper he prepared for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, that one of the reasons Israel is not invading Gaza is its fear that the PA will hold off on supplying Israel with gas from an off shore gas field discovered by Israel in 2000. The field, with an estimated worth of $4 billion of gas, was given as a gift by then-Prime Minister Barak to the PA, which is developing it together with British Gas. Ex-Prime Minister Sharon opposed the deal, fearing that revenues would be used to fund terrorism, but Prime Minister Olmert apparently plans to go ahead with it.

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Map of Apartheid Roads in the West Bank

Apartheid Masked as Peace, Posted in October 24th, 2007

by admin in Apartheid Roads, Current News Articles, Maps

for map:

The law as roadkill on Highway 443

Akiva Eldar, Haaretz, 27.09.07. There is no order that can give legal validity to discrimination among travels according to nationality. In reply to a question from Haaretz, the IDF Spokesman has confirmed that "in light of the many security risks and threats to traffic on Highway 443 in recent years, it was decided in the Israel Defense Forces Central Command to close several approach roads that connect directly from the village expanse to the highway." At the same time, the spokesman stresses that "no order has been issued that prohibits travel on the highway," and in any case, "there is no prohibition on the part of the IDF regarding Palestinian traffic on the segment of the highway located in the territories of the Judea and Samaria [West Bank] area." Nevertheless, in the same statement in which it is claimed that "there is no prohibition regarding Palestinian traffic on the Palestinian segment of the road," it is also stated that because of the security risks, some of the approach roads that link the villages to the highway are closed "permanently."
According to the statement, some of the other roads are open and "are closed in accordance with the assessment of the security situation." Attorney Limor Yehuda of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), who is preparing a petition to the High Court of Justice on the matter, sees the situation differently. According to her, most of the roads are usually closed, and from time to time special permission to use the road is given to a limited number of cars. Some of the approach roads have been blocked with boulders, others with concrete barriers, and there are those that have been closed with iron gates. A Palestinian driver who is caught on the road can expect a lengthy delay, a warning and a scare, and sometimes even the confiscation of the keys to the vehicle and also harsher sanctions. Last May ACRI applied to the GOC Central Command, Yair Naveh, on behalf of the heads of the village councils of Beit Sira, Beit Likiyeh, Hirbet al-Masbah, Beit 'Ur al Tahta, Beit 'Ur al Fuqa and Tsaffeh. Yehuda noted that Highway 443 is the main approach road that links the 25,000 inhabitants of the six villages to the main city in the area, Ramallah, and serves as a link among these villages. Trips in the area have become prolonged, dangerous and costly. Instead of a trip of a quarter of an hour in comfortable conditions on Highway 443 from the village of Beit Sira to Betunya and from there to Ramallah, the inhabitants have to wind their way along dirt roads that become impassable on winter days. The cost of the trip has more than doubled and many of the inhabitants of the villages are unable to bear the costs.
This is not a matter of preventing Palestinians from entering territories on the Israeli side of the Green Line (the pre-Six Day War border), but rather of a road that is located entirely in the area of the West Bank. At the two entrances to the territory of the state of Israel there are roadblocks that are permanently manned by soldiers (the Maccabim roadblock and the Atarot Junction roadblock). When lands of the six villages were confiscated in the 1980s and the 1990s, it was explained to the inhabitants that widening the road was essential for the needs of the inhabitants of the entire area. Including their needs, of course. In response to the petition to the High Court of Justice concerning the confiscation of lands for purposes of paving a road in the Ramallah area, the state argued that the planning "took into account the conditions and needs of the area and not only Israel's conditions and needs." Based on that principled commitment, Justice Aharon Barak rejected the petition in September 1983, and issued a ruling in principle that the rules of international public law grant the right to a military government to infringe on property rights if a number of conditions are fulfilled. The first of these conditions: "The step is taken for the benefit of the local population."

Israel’s Top Court Backs Loophole in Farming Law

Steven Erlanger, The New York Times, JERUSALEM, Oct. 24 — The Israeli Supreme Court stepped into a religious dispute on Wednesday, ordering the chief rabbinate not to allow local rabbis to decide for themselves whether to authorize produce from Jewish land to be sold during this sabbatical year.

The case centered on a loophole in religious law used to allow Jewish-owned farms to grow and sell kosher produce every seventh year, when the Bible says that Jewish land in Israel should be left fallow. The Biblical injunction about the sabbatical, or “shmita” year, is taken literally by many ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, who refuse to buy or consume produce unless it is grown by non-Jews on land not owned by Jews.

In the past, the chief rabbinate, which controls kosher regulations in Israel, accepted a compromise or loophole called “heter mechira,” or sale permit. The permit allows Jewish farmers and businesses to “sell” their land formally and temporarily to non-Jews during shmita years, enabling the land to be worked as usual.

In cities like Jerusalem, where the ultra-Orthodox make up almost a third of the total population, and a much larger proportion of the Jewish population, heter mechira was not allowed, and prices for produce were rising while Jewish agribusiness was suffering.

On Tuesday, Daniel Friedmann, the justice minister, said he would oppose the adoption of an Israeli constitution that prohibited the Supreme Court from ruling on conflicts between the state and religion. Israel has no constitution and has been debating whether to adopt one.

The road to Apartheid: Palestinian nonviolent protestors block Road 443. ACRI en demande la réouverture au trafic palestinien

Apartheid Masked as Peace, 24.10.07. An anti-apartheid protest today blocked busy Highway 443, one of many highways that run on occupied Palestinian land but are reserved for Israelis only. Israeli Security forces used force to move the demonstrators. Two of the protesters, one Israeli and one American, were arrested and are being held in an Israeli police post. The protesters blocked the highway for over fifteen minutes by organising a mass sit down in the road backed by six protestors chained into a four metre pipe. Rush hour traffic was backed up for miles before the protestors were removed by force. They distributing a message to the drivers on the highway: “We know what it feels like to be blocked. We experience it daily.”

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24.10.07, L’ACRI, l’Association pour les Droits Civiques en Israël a présenté une requête devant la Haute Cour de Justice pour demander à l’Etat de rouvrir la route 443 à la circulation des piétons et des véhicules palestiniens. L’accès à la route, qui traverse la Cisjordanie, est actuellement limité seulement aux Israéliens.

ACRI a présenté ce matin une plainte à la Haute Cour de Justice contre le Ministre de la Défense, le commandant des FDI pour la Judée et la Samarie, et le commandant de la Brigade Binyamin, qui demande un libre accès à la route 443 pour les habitants palestiniens. La pétition demande également à la Cour d’ordonner le retrait des obstacles physiques permanents qui ont été placés à la sortie des six villages qui sont situés à proximité de la route.

La pétition a été présentée par l’avocat de l’ACRI, Limor Yehuda, au nom des chefs de six villages et de 18 autres résidents de la région.

La route 443 est la seule grande route dans le sud du district de Ramallah, et la principale artère reliant les villages de la région à Ramallah. La route date du Mandat Britannique, et avant le début du Second Intifada, elle était la principale artère utilisée par les habitants locaux, y compris par les habitants des villages signataires de la pétition.