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Israel places Hamas leader in administrative detention

Palestine Information Center – 15/05/2011

NABLUS — The Israeli prison authority transferred Khalid al-Hajj to administrative detention Saturday night, the Tadhamon international organization for human rights reported.

The Ofer military court sentenced Hajj, 45, to six months in administrative detention a week after he was arrested at an Israeli checkpoint near the West Bank city of Jenin.

He has been detained seven times in Israeli prisons over the past two decades, with prison time exceeding 13 years. He was released about a year ago after he was placed in administrative detention for three years. He was later arrested as the Palestinians began to reconcile.

Israel has also transferred prisoner Rami Esam Suleiman, 32, from Marda near Salfit to serve six months in administrative detention. That was after he had already served four years in prison, Tadhamon researcher Ahmed al-Beitawi added.

The Israeli army arrested Suleiman 18 May 2007 and placed him in administrative detention before he was sentenced to four years in prison. After he completed the term, he was switched to administrative detention. He was said to have been arrested three times spending more than nine years in Israeli prisons.

Beitawi said that the policy of placing prisoners in administrative detention after they serve their terms is a regular policy that Israel has taken against its Palestinian captives.

May 15, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

Afghan Civilians Intentionally Targeted by NATO/ISAF Forces

Veterans Today | May 14, 2011

Careful examination of numerous reports, and images/video footage, along with eye-witness and victim testimonies, clarify that Afghan civilians are the main targets of deadly attacks by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Although the Coalition forces claim that previous civilian massacres were accidental, Afghan-led peace movements believe that the killings are at best negligent to at worst intentional in nature.

Foreign military presence and intervention in the past ten years has worsened the Afghanistan situation while civilian casualties have increasingly created tension between the Coaliton forces, the Afghan government, and the people of Afghanistan.

These events have further brought into perspective the sheer human and material damages of the war. No one should become accustomed to or believe in this illogical method of bombing the country to peace.

This mentality is not justifiable and should not be the norm. Acts of violence must always be questioned. The people of Afghanistan want justice and accountability. Not surprisingly, they get the usual response from NATO – an initial denial of civilian casualties, a shift of blame on insurgency, occasional investigations with an admittance to a tweaked number of civilian deaths, and rarely a contrived apology. This has become a wanton pattern. Explaining away repeated deadly civilian attacks as “mistakes” is unacceptable. Furthermore, this proves that the military solution to Afghanistan is not a viable option.

NATO-led forces are equipped with the most advanced technology with the capability of zooming in on even the smallest of objects with precise vision. This begs the question as to why so many civilians are dying. To put it into perspective, below is a compiled short summary of recent NATO attacks:

It was reported that a total of three civilian atrocities were committed by the Coalition forces within the last two weeks. The correct estimate is actually four.

  • Alahsay district of Kapisa province (5 civilians) Feb 17, 2011
  • Khoygani District of Nangarhar province (6 civilians) Feb 20, 2011
  • Ghazi Abad District of Kunar province (60+ civilians) Four Day Operation February 17/18/19 (different reports)
  • Mountains of Nanglam in Kunar province (9 children/boys)  March 1st, 2011

In Kapisa province on Thursday February 17th, Alahsay district Governor Mohammed Omari confirmed that five civilians were killed by an air strke from the NATO-led ISAF. The five civilians- three of them adult males and two children ages 12 and 13 – were reportedly without meat for the last few months and were desperate to hunt, hence why they were carrying bird hunting equipment.

In Nangarhar province on February 20th, an entire family of six was killed by a NATO air strike into their home in the Khoygani district. A photo captured by Reuters shows that the missile directly hit the roof of the family’s home. The parents and their four children were all inside when the reportedly stray missile landed in their residential community. The father was a soldier for the Afghan National Army who died of excessive bleeding after troops delayed his arrival to a hospital.

After a four day operation by ISAF and NATO in the Ghazi Abad District of Kunar over 65 civilians were killed, and this was confirmed by the governor of the province. More than half of the casualties were women and children. Contrary to the abundant evidence, NATO claimed no civilians were killed and later insisted that insurgents were among the deceased, although villagers rejected this assertion.

Two reports from the Afghan investigation team:

“As soon as the villagers heard the shooting and planes roaring overhead, they all struggled to take refuge in an old trench that was used by the mujahedeen during jihad [against the Russians].”

“Those who succeeded in reaching the trenches were killed when the trench collapsed after it was hit by rockets or bombs being fired from coalition helicopters,” he said. “Those who were on their way to the trench were killed by rockets or bullets. I visited the trench. I saw old, dried blood. I saw women and children’s garments. I saw blood-stained walls of the trench. I saw pieces of blankets and cotton from the quilts the villagers wrapped themselves in because of the cold weather.”

In an attempt to hide the news story ISAF detained two Al Jazeera journalists, Abdullah Nizami and Saeedullah Sahel during the investigation of the Kunar massacre. Samer Alawi, the Al Jazeera bureau chief in Kabul, strongly described the detentions of Nizami and Seedullah as repressive acts since it kept them from reporting. Another report released this past month by Columbia Journalism Review, has documented the difficulty of reporting honest accounts of the Afghanistan war.

On March 1st, NATO helicopters killed 9 Afghan boys, and injured one. This occurred without any warning signals as the children were targeted “one after another”. Aged seven to nine years old, the boys were from poor families, and were collecting firewood in the mountains. This is once again an attack on the young children of Kunar. How is it that NATO soldiers, again, confused children for insurgents, and this time by gunfire?

General David H. Petraeus apologized for this killing, yet regarding the previous attack in Kunar (that killed over 65 civilians), he erroneously accused the Afghan parents of intentionally burning their children due to cultural practices of discipline. Hamid Karzai’s spokesman Waheed Omar described the US Generals comments as being “outrageous, insulting and racist.” Karzai, himself, has rejected the apology. Mohammed Bismil, the brother of two of the boys killed,  did not care for Petraeus’ apology but said, “The only option I have is to pick up a Kalashnikov, RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] or a suicide vest to fight.”

The father of two of the boys killed cried, “They don’t value humanity and don’t care about our children.”

Waheed Mujda, an Afghan political analyst stated that, “[for international forces], Afghan people’s blood is of no value. For the Americans, apologising for a mistake is a very big deal but for Afghans it is not. ISAF troop actions that raise anger among Afghans are a major reason for people joining the insurgents or Taliban.”

These are the four war crimes committed by the Coalition forces in the past two weeks. Victimization and the feeling of betrayal continues to spread all across Afghanistan.

While this article initially started on the four recent attacks by NATO, it is important to look at the previous events as well.  In doing so, we realize that these are not isolated incidents or simply negligence but an ongoing pattern of the failures of the “military solution to Afghanistan”.

Apologies from the Coalition, as rare as they are, mean little to nothing to Afghans. Months earlier in 2010, after initially choosing not to investigate, NATO forces offered an apology for killing a fourteen year old girl. Her father Mohammad Karim simply responded, “Now, what should I do with ‘sorry’?”

Earlier in Nangarhar, in May 2010, when NATO soldiers raided a home shooting at least nine civilians indiscriminately, a mourner said:

“If the Americans do this again, we are ready to shed our blood fighting them. We would rather die than sit by and do nothing. If there was anyone here trying to destroy our country, we would capture them and hand them over to the government. It is our land and our duty to defend it against both foreigners and insurgent infiltrators.”

He spoke further on this by saying, “If the military keeps doing this, the people will go into the mountains to fight them. When I saw my daughter injured, all I could think about was putting on a suicide jacket.”

Last month was the one year anniversary of the killing of two pregnant mothers, men and a teenage girl by a NATO night raid.  In an attempt to cover it up, the US forces literally dug the bullets out of the victims bodies. In a Democracy Now interview Glenn Greenwald said, “Here you have an incident that we know about only because of sheer luck with the determination of a single reporter, and again the military lying about what took place.” A recent report on survivors of night raids gives a close look at how foreign troops justify killing civilians. One witness of night raids, Anwar Ul Haq, said, “Whenever they shoot or kill anybody, they call him al Qaeda whether he is or not.”

Without regard for civilians, the Tarok Kolache village in Afghanistan’s Arghandab River Valley was completely destroyed with 25 tons of bombs.  Is the destruction of entire villages, which are the support system for the majority of Afghans, a logical tactic in counter-insurgency?  Clearly, the Afghans who have suffered due to this disagree. A farmer of the Arghandab district asked “Why do you have to blow up so many of our fields and homes?”, while one angry villager accused the military of ruining his life after the demolition.

In addition to witness and victim testimonies, the Coalition forces themselves have made eye-opening revelations on the target killings of civilians. In September 2010, it was revealed that a dozen US soldiers faced charges in their involvement of not only killing innocent Afghan civilians at random for sport, but also collecting the victims finger bones, leg bones, teeth, and skulls as trophies. The military refuses to release photos that show US soldiers posing with naked, mutilated and charred corpses of their victims. Sound familiar? The father of one of the victims killed was quoted as saying, “The Americans really love to kill innocent people.” In fact, they had planned on killing more civilians had it not been for one soldier, Spc. Adam Winfield, and his father who tried relentlessly to blow the whistle. He had said his squad leader “gives high-fives to the guy who kills innocent people and plans more with him.- I have proof that they are planning another one in the form of an AK-47 (machine gun) they want to drop on another guy.” Instead of honoring Winfield for exposing the truth, he was instead charged with the same crimes. His father had reported Winfeld’s statements to Army officials, but they turned a blind eye. One can’t help but to wonder whether the killing of civilians for sport is more abhorrent or the apparent negligence and silence by the higher ups in the Armed forces.

Speaking of higher ups in the Armed forces, General Mattis, who replaced Petreaus as chief of US Central Command, said “Its fun to kill people…it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot [Afghans].” He continued: “Actually, it’s a lot of fun to fight. You know, it’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right upfront with you, I like brawling.” A bit later he spoke of the “emotional satisfaction you may get from really whacking somebody.”‘ He reportedly even told his troops to “have a plan to kill everybody you meet.”

Afghans have been resisting this dehumanizing way of life where they are regarded as savages or merely objects to be killed for sport.  A recent poll conducted in Afghanistan shows that more than half of the Afghans interviewed believed NATO-led forces should begin withdrawing from the country in mid-2011 or sooner. Afghans no longer want anything from NATO but to simply leave. Massive protests and demonstrations against the Coalition following recent attacks are now erupting throughout Afghanistan in cities like Kunar, Kabul city and Nanglam, where Afghan demonstrators have been marching in streets chanting, “death to the invaders” and “We don’t want the invading forces.” Another man explained, “We say to ISAF that revenge is part of our culture. We say to our leaders, our government, that this kind of violence should be investigated. Those responsible should be punished.” A woman held a placard that read, “Occupation = Killing + Destruction.” In one demonstration, angry protesters burned a pile of blankets, clothing, and other items donated by Coaltion troops. An independent member in the legislature, Ramazan Bashardost, said “These killings must be stopped or the people will rise against foreigners and we will stand by them.”

Civilians fear not only NATO and ISAF but also suicide bombings by Armed Opposition Groups. Simultaneously with the terror by Coalition forces, recent suicide blasts have taken the lives of around 100 Afghan civilians.

The almost decade long war and occupation has done more harm than good, escalating violence in Afghanistan to its peak, and continues to deteriorate chances of peace for the future. Afghanistan has already been subjected to previous decades of war and now each new generation is haunted with both the memory and reality of endless bloodshed, death, and misery. The fact remains that Afghans continue to live with hunger and worsening poverty, torture and humiliation, planted with weapons, escalating air strikes and night raids.

The responsibility lies on the Afghan government, Taliban, warlords, and especially NATO/ISAF forces, including top commanders like General Petreaus, who must be brought by the people of Afghanistan and the world through a judicial process to account for their crimes, failed military solutions, and indiscriminate killings. Instead, the corrupt system in power continues to leave Afghans helpless and without a voice, and has them convinced that they are incapable of self-determination. However, it must not be forgotten that Afghanistan has a long history of independence and are more than capable of running their affairs. It is vitally important to listen to Afghans. It is the right of the people to decide the fate of their country and there are no exceptions. With the recent revolts in Arab countries, it’s only a matter of time before Afghans follow their lead. This requires immediate change and an honest vision for a truly democratic Afghanistan. In doing so, we must be aware of the ground realities, namely the presence of NATO, Taliban, warlords as well as regional intervention.

Global Afghan-led peace groups such as Afghans for Peace (AFP), Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers (AYPV), and the Afghan Canadian Student Association (ACSA) stand in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan in their struggle for justice and freedom. They fully acknowledge and strongly condemn these cruel, targeted massacres of innocent human life. AFP, AYPV and ACSA calls on the people of the world, especially Afghans, to rightfully demand an end to this illegal war and occupation. When children are being killed one by one, as was the case in Kunar last week, all of humanity suffers. When civilians have become the targets, it is time for everyone to stand up.

Signed by:
Afghans for Peace
Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
Afghan Canadian Student Association
Afghan Perspectives

May 14, 2011 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular | Leave a comment

22 Wounded One Critically in The Weekly Nonviolent Protest in Nabi Saleh

By George Rishmawi – IMEMC & Agencies – May 13, 2011

A large march started after the Friday prayers midday towards the construction site of the new settlement Israel is building on the land of the villagers of Nabi Saleh near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

Israeli soldiers fired a number of tear gas bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets at the nonviolent protesters wounding at least 22 civilians.

One American protester was wounded in the head when he was hit with a tear gas canister. He was moved to the hospital for treatment and his wounds were described as critical.

Israeli troops also kidnapped two women identified as Nida and Iqbal Tamimi. Eyewitnesses said they were handcuffed and blind-folded and were taken to unknown destination. Troops also arrested two Israelis from the site. Dozens other were treated for gas inhalation and for being beaten by the Israeli soldiers.

Israeli soldiers also assaulted photojournalist Hilmi Tamimi, and broke his camera during the protest.

May 13, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

Israeli Police deploy in preparation for Nakba Day

Ma’an – 13/05/2011

BETHLEHEM — Israeli police will limit the number of Muslim worshipers in Jerusalem on Friday, in accordance with special deployment in preparation for Nakba Day.

Only men aged 45 and older with Israeli ID cards will be allowed to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, police announced. No restrictions will be placed on women, they said.

Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told public radio that police would “thin out the number of worshipers at the Temple Mount” — Israel’s term for the compound inside the walled Old City which houses the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

The move to limit access to what is the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina, came as the Palestinians were poised to begin a series of marches and demonstrations in the run up to Nakba Day, which will be commemorated on Sunday.

Activists behind a website called “The Third Intifada” have also called for a new uprising, which would see thousands of Palestinians march towards Israeli checkpoints, and refugees towards homes from which they fled or were forced out of when Israel was created in 1948.

Palestinian refugees are also expected to stage rallies and demonstrations in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that some restrictions would be in force during the Friday prayers but he was not immediately able to give details.

Israel on Tuesday celebrated the 63rd anniversary of its creation, marking the date according to the Hebrew calendar.

Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel and abroad, who mourn the day as the “Nakba” or “catastrophe,” are to stage three days of rallies and protests starting on Friday.

But Aharonovitch told the radio he believed the anniversary would pass quietly, and Israeli news website Ynet quoted him as saying he had instructed the security forces “to exercise restraint and avoid using force.”

More than 760,000 Palestinians — estimated today to number 4.8 million with their descendants — were pushed into exile or driven out of their homes in the conflict surrounding Israel’s creation.

Around 160,000 Palestinians, who remained in Israel after 1948, now number around 1.36 million people, or 20 percent of the country’s population.

Successive Israeli governments have refused to allow the Palestinian refugees to return to homes they fled from or were forced out of in 1948 for fear that a massive influx would threaten the Jewish majority in Israel, which now counts some 5.8 million Jewish citizens.

May 13, 2011 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

Israeli revenue freeze is “a warning” to the Palestinians

MEMO |12 May 2011

Israel’s finance minister has said that the Israeli decision to freeze the tax revenue transfer to the Palestinian Authority is a “punishment”. Yuval Steinitz said that the “warning” move by Israel was a response to Fatah signed a reconciliation agreement with Hamas.

Speaking to Radio Israel, Steinitz said, “The delay in transferring funds is a yellow card for the Palestinian Authority after the signing of the agreement with Hamas.” At the moment, it is a delay of a week to ten days, but it could become a “red card”, depending on “clarifications” from the Palestinians.

Annually, Israel collects taxes totaling between $55 – 62 million at border crossings and ports on behalf of the PA and transfers it to the Palestinians under an economic deal agreed alongside the Oslo autonomy accords.

May 13, 2011 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

Political Communiqué for “The Return to Palestine March-May 15th”

The Return to Palestine March

The Organizing Committee for the “Return to Palestine March” issued the following political communiqué on its blog marking 63 years since 1948 Nakba Day (catastrophe):

From the suffering caused by the Nakba, from our aspirations for return and liberation, from the inspiration brought about by the Arab people’s revolutions, and from our longing to return to the land and the skies of Palestine, we rise.

Marking the 1948 Nakba and restating our commitment to the Right of Return of all Palestinians to historical Palestine, the Palestinian people and all the free men and women who support the Palestinian cause will rally on May 15, 2011 in various countries around the world to commemorate the day in a massive Palestinian, Arab and global revolution.

In Lebanon the Return to Palestine March will set out towards the Palestinian/Lebanese borders on Sunday May 15, 2011, on the day commemorating the 1948 Nakba. The March will include various Palestinian and Lebanese civil and popular organizations and associations, professional associations, federations, NGOs, political parties and groups, in addition to independent activists from different regions and refugee camps around Lebanon.

This March will take place in order to affirm the right of all Palestinians to return to their homeland and their properties, from which they were forcibly uprooted in 1948 by Zionist terrorism and violence.

This popular and peaceful March will include thousands of Returnees from various refugee camps and their partners and supporters from diverse groups representing the Lebanese political and social spectra.

This popular March aims at the following:

• Affirming the Right of Return of the Palestinians to their homeland, possessions and villages from which they were coercively driven out, and refusing any compromises or concessions vis-à-vis this inalienable Right, while at the same time also refusing all forms of Zionist settlement and displacement programs.
• Affirming the Right of Return as a sacred, historical, legitimate, legal, humane and political right. It is both an individual and collective right and will continue to be applicable to successive generations.
• Affirming that the Right of Return is a permanent, unconditional, non-negotiable and irrevocable right.
• Emphasizing the right to resistance in all its forms in order to liberate all the Palestinian lands, from the sea to the river.
• Underscoring and asserting Palestinian national unity and putting an end to all divisions and discord by returning to respecting popular will on the basis of endorsing resistance and the total liberation of all Palestinian lands.
• Supporting the freedom of the Arab people as a guarantee for the continuation of resistance for the liberation of Palestine.
• Affirming that Palestine is an Arab country, and that every Arab has the right to return to this land and a duty to seek its liberation.
• Asserting the role of both the Arab and the Islamic nations in supporting the Palestinian cause and the Right of Return of Palestinian refugees; a dignified, unconstrained and comprehensive return.

This March in Lebanon will be taking place concurrently with several other Marches being organized towards the Palestinian borders with other surrounding Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, Jordan). Demonstrations targeting Israeli embassies are also planned in a number of Western cities to protest the occupation of Palestine and the Zionist apartheid regime.

May 13, 2011 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism | Leave a comment

Netanyahu asks the Palestinian Authority to regulate Nakba anniversary rallies

MEMO | 13 May 2011

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Palestinian Authority and its security apparatuses to regulate Palestinian rallies commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe), the name given by Palestinians to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

The PA should also, insists Netanyahu, prevent the rallies from crossing the Separation Wall established on Palestinian territory in the West Bank and clashing with Israeli occupation forces.

Reports on Radio Israel added that according to Israeli security sources, “The Nakba commemoration rallies will not develop into violent confrontations, but will mostly take place inside Palestinian cities.”

The rallies are expected to begin after Friday prayers on 13th May and reach a peak on Sunday 15th, the exact anniversary of the declaration of independence of the state of Israel. That event took place in an orgy of ethnic cleansing which created the Palestinian refugee problem which persists to this day.

May 13, 2011 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism | Leave a comment

Extensive Human Rights Abuses noted in B’t Selem report

Middle East Online | May 12, 2011

JERUSALEM – Israel has systematically exploited the resources of the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, favouring settlers over Palestinians, a report by Israeli rights group B’Tselem found on Thursday.

Entitled “Exploitation and Dispossession,” the report found Israel dominated the land, water resources and even tourist sites along the strip of land which runs along the eastern flank of the West Bank, in what appeared to be a prelude to a de facto annexation of territory.

“Israel has instituted a regime that massively exploits the resources of the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, far more than elsewhere in the West Bank, demonstrating its intention: to de facto annex the area to the state of Israel,” the rights group said.

“Israel has taken over most of the water sources in the area, allocating almost all derived water to settlements,” it said, charging that such actions violated international law, which prohibits the exploitation of natural resources within an occupied territory.

B’Tselem said the 9,400 Jewish settlers living there were able to develop intensive agriculture because they received an annual water allocation of 45 million cubic metres — almost a third of the quantity accessible to the West Bank’s 2.5 million Palestinian residents.

“This generous water supply has enabled settlements to develop intensive-farming methods and to work the land all year round, with most of the produce being exported,” it said.

At the same time, Israel’s control of water sources in the area had depriving Palestinian farmers who had been forced to cut back.

“Due to the water shortage, Palestinians have been forced to neglect farm land that used to be cultivated and switch to growing less profitable crops,” the report’s authors wrote.

The study reviewed various measures used by Israel to take control of 77.5 percent of land in the Jordan Valley by declaring large swathes to be military firing zones, nature reserves or to be under state control.

Israel had also taken over most of the major tourist attractions in the area, such as the northern shores of the Dead Sea, the Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and the springs on the Ein Fashkha reserve, allowing private Israeli businesses to profit from mineral extraction and tourism.

The report was hailed by Dr Shadad Attili, head of the Palestinian Water Authority who said the disparity in water allocation was a clear example of the “systemic inequalities” taking place under Israel’s occupation.

“The Jordan Valley serves as a microcosm of what is going on across the occupied Palestinian territory when it comes to Israel’s systematic exploitation of Palestinian water resources in violation of international law,” Attili said in a statement, accusing Israel of using water “as a weapon to target some of the most vulnerable” Palestinians.

“Restrictions imposed by Israel on the amount of water Palestinians can access are part of a deliberate policy designed to put additional pressure on struggling Palestinian communities to leave their land,” he charged.

The Jordan Valley, which was captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War along with the rest of the Palestinian territories, spans 1.6 million dunams and makes up 28.8 percent of the West Bank.

Statistics in the report show it is home to 65,000 Palestinians living in 29 communities, and around 15,000 Bedouins, while 9,400 settlers live in 37 settlements in the area (seven of them wildcat outposts).

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told AFP the Jewish state would insist on maintaining troops in the Jordan Valley in any peace agreement with the Palestinians, saying it would be crucial for Israel’s future security.

But Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas completely rejected the idea, telling AFP last month that such a troop presence would torpedo the possibility of an independent state, and would effectively destroy his Palestinian Authority.

May 12, 2011 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

Israeli forces, tanks cross into Gaza

Press TV – May 11, 2011

Israeli forces backed by tanks and bulldozers have crossed into the Gaza Strip, destroying Palestinian farmlands in north of the enclave.

Israeli soldiers apparently entered the Palestinian territory from Karni crossing on Wednesday and advanced hundreds of meters toward the east of Gaza City.

According to Press TV’s correspondent in Gaza, Israeli soldiers dug a series of holes in the area and filled them with explosives.

Israeli soldiers then blew up the explosives, causing loud explosions in the area, our correspondent added.

Israeli officials claim that the troops were searching and destroying “possible tunnels” in the area that could be used by Palestinian resistance fighters to enter Israeli posts and capture Israeli soldiers.

But analysts believe the Israeli attack aimed at provoking Palestinian fighters into firing on Israeli troops, which could have escalated the situation.

It was the first Israeli attack on Gaza after the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, signed a unity deal.

Israel has repeatedly voiced anger at the reconciliation accord signed between the two Palestinian groups which aimed at forming a Palestinian unity government.

May 11, 2011 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

Pizzarotti should follow in Deutsche Bahn’s footsteps

By Stephanie Westbrook | Mondoweiss | May 11, 2011

Italian construction firm Pizzarotti is stupefied, bewildered, stunned.

In an article on today’s Corriere della Sera, Italy’s top newspaper, covering Deutsche Bahn’s withdrawal from the Israeli project for a high-speed train line that cuts through the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Michele Pizzarotti said “We are astonished to find ourselves involved in these protests.”

Pizzarotti, through a joint venture with Israeli Shapir Engineering, has been contracted to build tunnels in section C of the planned A1 train route from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv; section C starts in the Latrun enclave and ends at Cedars Valley, both in the occupied West Bank.

Michele Pizzarotti can’t seem to understand what all the fuss is about. “We are not the project leaders, we entered into the Israeli high-speed rail as mere executors of a project designed by others, which has already been modified by the Israeli Supreme Court. We had no idea there were complications with the peace process.”

Complications indeed. The German Minister of Transport defined the project as “problematic” from a foreign policy perspective and “possibly in violation of International Law,” leading to the withdrawal of Deutsche Bahn.

In addition to the easily rebutted justifications presented by Pizzarotti during a recent meeting with the Italian Coalition Stop That Train, including having no role in planning the route, the limited environmental impact of tunnels and that the firm is only working on the end of the tunnel on the Israeli side of the Green Line, the Corriere della Sera article included two new gems.

“[T]he railroad could connect Ramallah and be used by Palestinians, and in our construction sites we provide work to Arab technicians and workers.”

The idea that the train would some day link Ramallah, a sort of “railroads for peace,” has often been trotted out by Israeli officials looking to defend the extraterritorial railway. However, as Who Profits pointed out on their Facebook page, in an interview with Israel’s Channel 7 (Hebrew) last August, Minister of the Environment Gil’ad Ardan candidly stated that “reports of a new train line between Ramallah and Gaza, via Ben Gurion Airport, were premature… This is not due to become reality anytime soon, it was only a legal requirement that permitted land confiscations across the Green Line for the needs of the Tel Aviv – Jerusalem train.”

The Pizzarotti construction site as a jobs-for-“Arabs” vehicle would be laughable, if it weren’t so sad. In the Bidu enclave, the area hardest hit by the planned rail route, unemployment is 70%, or twice the average for the West Bank, due to access to Jerusalem, their traditional economic center, being cut-off by the Apartheid Wall – built on Palestinian land. In addition, a document on the Philippines Overseas Employment Office web site shows Pizzarotti wasn’t exactly recruiting “Arabs”.

When asked by Corriere della Sera if they would be following in Deutsche Bahn’s footsteps, Michele Pizzarotti replied, “Not only would that be a disaster for us, because we have already invested 70 million in machinery, but it would also be pointless: the work would continue just the same via our Israeli partner.”

If their Israeli partner had the necessary know-how to build Israel’s longest tunnel, Pizzarotti wouldn’t be involved in the first place. The massive tunnel boring machines used by Pizzarotti have, in fact, never been used before in Israel and partnering with experienced foreign contractors was a formal requirement in some contracts. (See the 28-page report on the A1 Train line from Who Profits)

The Italian Coalition Stop That Train, a network of over 80 associations, is working to convince Pizzarotti to pull out of the project. On Monday a campaign was launched to “Declare Your City Pizzarotti-free”, with a sample resolution to be presented in city and provincial councils throughout Italy excluding Pizzarotti from contracts for public works. The same tactic, drawing on a EU directive that allows for exclusion of companies “guilty of grave professional misconduct,” was used in the campaign against French multinational Veolia, who’s involvement in the light rail project in occupied East Jerusalem has cost the company $10 billion in lost contracts.

And change.org has just recently launched a petition calling on Pizzarotti to “end their involvement with this rail line”.

May 11, 2011 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism | Leave a comment

Scottish First Minister supports sanctions against Israel

By Mick Napier | Pal Telegraph | 10 May 2011

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London – First Minister Alex Salmond supported economic sanctions against Israel. He described Israel’s massacre of nine Mavi Marmara passengers as an “atrocity on the high seas” and put Israel firmly beyond the pale. “This has implications for example in trading relationships—you can’t have normal relationships if you believe another country has been involved in what Israel has been involved in.”

Scotland’s elections shattered political mould – SNP triumphant. The pro-war and pro-Israel Labour, Tory and Lib Dem parties punished  SNP Leader Alex Salmond tried to impeach Tony Blair for war crimes in Iraq.  Scottish Government offered open access to Scottish hospitals for Palestinian victims of Operation Cast Lead. Nationalist government must be pressured to match deeds with words Scotland’s elections have shattered the political mould, battered every political party other than the SNP (Scottish National Party) and given us a nationalist majority in the Edinburgh Parliament. The voting system was expressly designed to prevent such an outcome. Unlike Palestinians, though, we do not expect to be punished severely for voting in a way that London disapproves of.

The Labour, Tory and Lib Dem parties that are attacking living standards have been punished and the SNP has reaped the benefits of being seen to oppose the cuts to living standards, services and jobs .

We should also remember that the SNP leader, Alex Salmond, has steered his party over the years to oppose many of the core militarist policies of the other parties: he launched an initiative in 2004 to impeach Tony Blair for war crimes in Iraq, and the SNP opposes the Trident nuclear weapons system.

Salmond, far and away Scotland’s most popular and effective politician, has also been harshly and publicly critical of Israeli crimes. Following Israel’s abuse of British passports to murder a Hamas official in a Dubai hotel room in March 2010, First Minister Salmond supported the idea of economic sanctions against Israel. He dismissed the London Government’s expulsion of a low level Israeli Embassy official when he told a BBC Question Time audience that Israel’s unceasing crimes merited more than a “diplomatic dance” over passport mis-use.

Salmond labelled Israel’s massacre of nine Mavi Marmara passengers as an “atrocity on the high seas”. No UK Government officials would condemn Israel for the killings and David Miliband said he was “seeking clarification” from Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman. Alex Salmond, in contrast, put Israel firmly beyond the pale. “This has implications for example in trading relationships—you can’t have normal relationships if you believe another country has been involved in what Israel has been involved in”.

One newly elected MSP, Humza Yousef, correctly pointed out in a letter to SPSC that there have

“been actions also, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been released in aid to Gaza , and opening our hospitals to treat those who were injured in the horrific assault in 2009 (this was an appeal you made at the time directly to the Scot Gov’t).”

Alex Salmond has also opposed those who seek to conflate political criticism or opposition to Israeli crimes with hostility to the Jewish Community.  Addressing a Glasgow Jewish community meeting in May 2010, he was asked “to do what he could to halt” BDS actions outside Glasgow supermarkets. Salmond responded with an elementary distinction:

“I don’t think we should accept as a community that your position in Scottish society should be judged or affected by the policies of Israel. The Jewish community is not liable for those policies. It is possible to be critical of Israel without being anti-Semitic. The Jewish community should not be judged on whether people approve or disapprove of the actions of Israel.”

He also dismissed claims by some Zionists that anti-Semitism was driving Jews out of Scotland, an unfounded claim that serves the Zionist programme to have Jews move to Israel:

“I don’t share the analysis that the Jewish community is suffering a wave of persecution or that anti-Semitism in Scotland is rapidly growing and such a severe problem that it is jeopardising this community..I don’t believe that the Jewish community is under siege nor do I believe that it feels itself to be under siege…Scotland has never had to introduce any laws to deal with anti-Semitism”.

Salmond’s positions have been in sharp contrast to the London Government, which attacked and invaded Iraq and Afghanistan and endorsed every Israeli crime. David Miliband, for example, refused to condemn the Israeli attacks on boats to Gaza with humanitarian aid and David Cameron described himself as “a proud Zionist” supporting Israel, which acted  with “great restraint” against Lebanese or Palestinian “terrorists”.

But the Israeli violations of international law, and the ongoing killings, mass imprisonment and dispossession of the Palestinian people, mean that we have to go beyond humanitarian aid and words to support the Palestinian appeal for BDS, boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until Palestinians gain their freedom.

That means that we must pressure the newly-mandated Scottish Government to live up to First Minister Alex Salmond’s words that Israel’s behaviour merits trade sanctions. That must include the rescinding of the £200,000 Scottish Enterprise grant to Eden Springs, the Israeli water cooler company involved in serious human rights violations in the Golan, Syrian territory held by the British Government to be illegally occupied by Israel.

Help us to keep the pressure on the Government to act on First Minister Alex Salmond’s call for trade sanctions against Israel. Join and support the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Mick Napier
Chair, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
c/o Peace & Justice Centre
Princes Street
Edinburgh EH2 4BJ
chair@scottishpsc.org.uk
00 44 (0)131 620 0052 / 00 44 (0)795 800 2591

May 10, 2011 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism | Leave a comment

24 year old man from Iraq Burin shot by teargas canister at close range

08 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Yesterday afternoon, 24 year old Abdalah Aadus from the village of Iraq Burin was taken to hospital after being shot in the side by a teargas canister which was fired from close range. Abdalah had been participating in a demonstration against the theft of his village’s agricultural land by settlers.

At 15.00, approximately 40 villagers from Iraq Burin gathered and started walking from the village towards their land which is situated close to the illegal Bracha settlement. The demonstrators carried Palestinian flags which they planted on their agricultural land. After 30 minutes 20 Israeli soldiers and 1 security guard from the illegal settlement showed up and responded by shooting rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas canisters and sound bombs directly at the demonstrators from a close range. One of the soldiers also threatened the demonstrators by saying that the army would return to the village that night and arrest them all. During the demonstration Abdalah was shot in his side and taken to the hospital. Fortunately he was not severely injured and was able to leave the hospital later the same day.

Last year the villagers of Iraq Burin held weekly demonstrations against the theft of their land by the settlers. The Israeli military responded to the protests with great violence, firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets directly at the protesters. In March 2010 Mohammed Qadous 16, and Asaud Qadous, 19, were killed by Israeli forces during one of the non-violent demonstration. After the tragic incident the villagers decided to stop the demonstrations, as the price was just too high.

Iraq Burin is a village with 700 inhabitants located outside of Nablus, in the West Bank. The village is surrounded by the two illegal settlements of Bracha and Yizhar and their outposts. The settlers have so far stolen 4000 dunams of land from the village.

May 8, 2011 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism, Subjugation - Torture | Leave a comment

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