Haniyeh urges Abbas to ignore US demands
Ma’an – 26/11/2011
GAZA CITY — Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh on Friday listed three basic factors needed to resolve a power-sharing deal with his Fatah rivals: ditch the US, stick to the terms of the May agreement, and find an alternative to Israeli tax-collection.
Speaking at the al-Omari mosque in Gaza, Haniyeh urged Fatah leader and president Mahmoud Abbas to defy US and Israeli threats, and not to respond to them under any circumstances. The US has no plans that would benefit the Palestinian people, he said.
Gaza, for example, has managed to survive independently despite many attempts from external powers to control the enclave, he said. The government and the people have managed to live in dignity thanks to assistance from Arabs and Muslims, he said.
Haniyeh said the key element of a successful power-sharing deal would be sticking to the terms of an agreement signed in May under Egyptian mediation. It should be implemented “accurately, honestly and inherently in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” he said. The release of political detainees would be the first indication of the deal’s success, he said.
However, Haniyeh said there were no political detainees in Gaza prisons, a point which Fatah leaders have disputed. Haniyeh said there were hundreds of political prisoners in the West Bank. Haniyeh said he would free political detainees in Gaza if any were in Hamas’ jails.
The third factor Haniyeh mentioned was necessary reforms to a tax system in Palestine that leaves revenues in the hands of a hostile power. An alternative to Israel’s collection of taxes and customs on the Palestinian Authority’s behalf must be found, as it leaves domestic politics subject to foreign meddling.
The alternative should be funds from Arab and Muslim countries, he said. The Palestinian budget is small compared to the funds in Arab banks, he said suggesting Palestinian needs could be met with ease.
Haniyeh also said elections should be held in May, as planned, among other factors like forming a national unity government, rebuilding the PLO, security reforms and reconciliation between certain families.
Four houses and one mosque fall to Israeli demolitions in Susiya
25 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Four houses and one mosque were destroyed this morning, November 24th, in the villages in the south of the West Bank. Around 10 am, fifty soldiers and seven police cars arrived to village Susiya. Two bulldozers destroyed the house of Musa Magna’s family and two women were arrested after attempting to protect the house.
In addition to these demolitions, the Israeli military also plan to destroy part of a school, the road leading from the village to the school and a several tents in the village.
House demolitions also occurred in Um Fagarah, a few kilometres south of Susiya. The Israeli military destroyed a house which was home to a family of twelve, some tents and a pen holding sheep and rabbits, some of which were killed. Two women were arrested and the occupation forces broke the leg of one elder woman in the village. The houses of Hammamdi family were destroyed even though the demolition order had not been finalised as the court hadn’t yet reached a final verdict. The military also destroyed a mosque in the village.
Both of these shepherd’s villages are often attacked by settlers and subjected to demolitions by the Israeli military.
‘UK government in blind panic over strike’
Press TV – November 25, 2011
The chief of UK’s leading civil service union has accused the government of being in ‘blind panic’ after Home Office asked some government employees to work as border officers during pension strikes planned for next week.
Selected groups of government employees were contacted to walk through picket lines and check passports as passengers arrive at airports and ports from abroad during the industrial action planned for November 30 by public sector workers against pension reforms, The Guardian reported on Thursday.
The crisis-hit British government hopes to make annual savings of 2.8 billion pounds (USD 4.3 billion) by 2014 through reducing pensions, while forcing employees to work for longer years. Many of the workers are already facing wage freezes.
The General Secretary of Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Mark Serwotka said, “They are forcing people to work up to eight years longer, forcing people to pay thousands of pounds for less of a pension; it’s completely unfair.”
He criticized ministers for failing to prevent the move by calling unions in for urgent talks, despite months of warning about the strikes.
Serwotka noted that the government had been more interested in spinning over the issue rather than trying to handle the row, saying, “Yesterday in parliament it was revealed the prime minister misled parliament on the 2 November when he made claims about public sector pensions that have been shown to be false.”
“What that indicates is that rather than worry about the services on the day, rather than plan properly for 30 November, they have been engaging in a PR exercise putting out misleading information to try and force through damaging changes that are unfair. Less than a week before the strike, to suddenly turn round and act in a blind panic is completely irresponsible,” he added.
About four million public sector workers are expected to take part in the protest measure organized by Trade Union Congress (TUC), despite the government’s threats to cut the protesters’ pay and cancel out the concessions it has already made to them if they kept up the demonstrations for longer than 15 minutes.