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Egypt claims to have brokered ceasefire agreement; Palestinian factions say they were not consulted

By Celine Hagbard | IMEMC News | July 15, 2014

The Israeli security cabinet reportedly agreed to a ceasefire agreement on Tuesday proposed by the Egyptian government, but leaders with the Palestinian resistance said that no one had contacted them to negotiate any ceasefire.

According to Israeli military reports, the alleged ceasefire proposal would require the Israeli military to end its aerial and naval bombardment of the Gaza Strip that has been constant for the past week, while Palestinian armed factions would be required to stop firing homemade shells into Israel.

Despite claims of having agreed to a ceasefire, Israeli bombardment continued to pound Gaza on Tuesday morning.

The armed wing of the Hamas party, the Izz-al Deen al-Qassam Brigades, claimed that the ceasefire agreement amounted to a ‘surrender’, and that no representative of Hamas or any other armed resistance group had been involved in the negotiations. Therefore, the group said, they would continue their resistance to Israeli aggression in Gaza.

The supposed agreement does not meet the four key elements reiterated by Hamas leaders in recent days. These requirements include the lifting of the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip, which has led to the unemployment rate of 80%, the sealing of all borders and the prevention of aid, construction materials and fuel, as well as staple goods, from entering Gaza.

Ismail Haniyeh, the elected Prime Minister of the Palestinians people who has not been recognized by Israel because of his association with the Hamas party, said on Monday, “The Gaza blockade must be lifted so that our people live in freedom like all other peoples around the world.”

Egyptian officials negotiated with Israel, apparently without involving Palestinians in the negotiation of the proposed ceasefire. Despite the lack of involvement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with the Fateh party urged rival parties to accept the agreement.

Hamas officials stated over the weekend that Egypt was an unacceptable negotiator for any ceasefire negotiations, and only Turkey or Qatar could be considered as potential negotiators of a ceasefire.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has kept the Egyptian border with Gaza closed over the last week, apart from one opening to allow critically wounded patients through. This has led to widespread disapproval of Egypt as a negotiator among the Palestinian populace of Gaza, who have not had any way to escape the near-constant bombardment that began on July 8th.

In the two weeks prior to July 8th, 13 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

In the week since, 195 Palestinians have been killed, including three babies under age two, and several families that were totally wiped out.

2 Israeli girls were wounded on Monday night by a Palestinian shell, the first such injuries in the week of escalation. One of them, age 10, was wounded critically, according to Israeli sources.

Over the past week of escalation, at least 1,385 Palestinians have been wounded, many with head injuries, amputated limbs, permanent disabilities and embedded shrapnel. They include a four-day old infant, who was critically wounded by Israeli forces on Tuesday morning.

More than 180 Palestinians have been killed and 1,385 injured since Israel launched Operation Protective Edge against Gaza exactly a week ago.

Early on Tuesday evening, as Operation Protective Edge entered its second week, Israeli air strikes and rocket continued to strike Gaza even while reports of the ceasefire began to emerge.

Hamas rockets also continued to fly toward Israel where they have largely caused minor injuries and damage. Monday evening saw the most serious incident of the week-long conflict so far with two sisters – aged 10 and 13 – being hospitalised following a rocket attack. The younger sister, 10-year-old Maram Wakili remains in critical condition.

July 15, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli forces engaged in punitive destruction of homes in the Gaza Strip

Palestinian Center for Human Rights | July 10, 2014

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is strongly concerned by Israel’s conduct of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, and in particular by the widespread punitive targeting of homes belonging to members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

In recent days, the Israeli air force has conducted two phase targeting of fighters’ homes whereby a ‘warning’ is issued to the house in question so that it may be evacuated. This warning takes the form of either a dud missile (termed ‘roof knocking’) or a phone call. The house is then subsequently targeted and destroyed, typically 15 minutes later.

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Photo by Palestinian Center for Human Rights

PCHR highlights that during active hostilities, only fighters and military objectives may be targeted. Civilians and civilian objects are protected from direct attack.

Article 52(2) of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions defines a military objective as: ‘those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage.’

Unless a home is being used to ‘make an effective contribution to military action’ – i.e. unless it is being used to store weapons or as a base from which attacks are launched – it cannot be considered a military objective. A home cannot be classified as a military objective merely because it owned by a fighter. Instead, it must be recognised as a civilian object and protected from direct attack. Issuing a warning does not remove this protection from direct attack.

Significantly, Article 52(3) of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions clearly states: ‘In case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used.’

From the facts of the cases documented by PCHR, in the majority of instances there does not appear to be any military necessity justifying the destruction of Hamas or Islamic Jihad members’ homes. To-date, no secondary explosions have been documented indicating that the houses were used for weapons storage. PCHR highlight that the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, and that the targeting of homes inevitably results in significant collateral damage to individuals and property nearby.

PCHR is forced to conclude that the houses are being destroyed as a ‘punitive’ measure, targeting members of Hamas and their families. PCHR notes that Israel has recently resumed its policy of punitive house demolitions in the West Bank. This appears to be a continuation of the Dahiya doctrine, whereby civilian suffering is deliberately caused in order to act as a deterrent. This doctrine was developed during the 2006 Lebanon War, and continued during Operation Cast Lead.

The destruction of homes has resulted in a number of civilian deaths to-date. For example, in an attack on the Kaware family home in Khan Younis, 7 civilians were killed, and 28 injured, while an attack on the Hamad family home in Beit Hanoun resulted in the death of 6 civilians.

The direct targeting of civilians and civilian objects is a war crime. All suspected war crimes must be investigated and, if appropriate, those responsible must be prosecuted.

July 10, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

UN chief calls for ceasefire in Gaza Strip

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: a ceasefire with Palestinians is not “even on the agenda”

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Press TV – July 10, 2014

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians, asking the international community to take actions to stop the violence in Gaza.

“It is now more urgent than ever to try to find common ground for a return to calm,” Ban said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday.

The UN chief expressed his concerns over the “Palestinian deaths and injuries as a result of Israeli operations.” He said, Israel has carried out more than 500 air strikes and that the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas responded with firing more than 550 rockets.

Ban said some 900 Palestinians have been displaced in the besieged Gaza Strip since Israel began its offensive on Tuesday, while 150 homes were destroyed. He put the death toll at 88 and noted that about 340 others were injured.

“It is clear that the international community must accelerate efforts to achieve an immediate halt to this escalation and reach a durable ceasefire,” he also told the council.

Ban’s remarks came only hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Knesset’s foreign affairs and military committee that a ceasefire with Palestinians is not “even on the agenda.”

Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour has said Tel Aviv began the violence in the enclave.

“They started the attack against our people … and the rockets started after that,” he said after briefing the council.

He stressed that Palestinians would honor any ceasefire in Gaza, but it is clear that Israelis “are not interested in a ceasefire and stopping the rockets.”

“The Palestinian people are united … and we hope the Security Council can act in accordance with its responsibilities,” Mansour added.

July 10, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel deploys dehumanizing rhetoric to justify mass assault on Palestinians

By Chloé Benoist | Al-Akhbar | July 9, 2014

As Israeli forces began their assault on the Gaza Strip, Israel’s leaders and media ramped up a rhetoric offensive, using dehumanizing discourse to garner support for deadly military action in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Operation “Protective Edge” – Israel’s latest military offensive to be given a name with nurturing undertones after “My Brother’s Keeper” and “Pillar of Defense” – has already killed at least 43 Palestinians and bombarded more than 400 locations in the Gaza Strip in less than 48 hours.

An estimated 200 rockets have been fired from Gaza since Tuesday, but there have been no recorded Israeli casualties.

Despite the intensity of the Israeli assault on Gaza, Israel’s politicians are framing the military operation as one they entered against their will.

“We are not eager for battle, but the security of our citizens and children takes precedence over all else,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

An Israeli official quoted by The Jerusalem Post lamented that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas could not “influence his Hamas partners to exercise restraint and stop kidnapping and murdering Israeli teenagers and sending rocket barrages into Israel.”

“That sort of restraint would have prevented the current crisis,” he added.

The implication of these statements are that Hamas has forced Israel into launching a full-scale military operation against them, conveniently ignoring the recent crackdown on the West Bank after the disappearance of three Israeli youths, which Israel blamed on Hamas without providing evidence to back its claims.

In an op-ed titled ‘Send Gaza to the Stone Age’ published on Wednesday, Israel Hayom’s Editor-in-Chief Amos Regev praised the Israeli government for “the levelheadedness, restraint and sound judgment it exhibited before ordering the Israel Defense Forces [sic] to launch Operation Protective Edge,” calling for a ground operation in Gaza to be “carried out with determination and clenched lips, with the knowledge that this is a war of no choice.”

Israel, its leaders would have you believe, is reluctantly entering an open conflict out of a sense of duty, once again indulging in the self-victimizing rhetoric that all Israeli military actions are defensive or retaliatory.

Israel’s enemy, once again, is Hamas, and Zionist political figures have stepped up their eliminationist discourse.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon called for the destruction of Hamas.

“We are continuing to carry out attacks that are exacting a heavy price from Hamas,” Yaalon said. “We are destroying its arms, terrorist infrastructure, command and control systems, institutions, government buildings, terrorists’ homes, and we are killing terrorists in the organizational high command.”

Other politicians echoed the sentiment.

“A sovereign state cannot allow for a bunch of terrorists to run its life; we must cut off the head of the snake and for every Hamas man to know that his blood is upon his head,” Shas party leader Aryeh Deri tweeted on Wednesday.

Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon took it one step further, calling on Israel Wednesday to cut off fuel and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip.

“It is inconceivable that on the one hand we fight Hamas and on the other we provide fuel and electricity that are used to transport missiles that are fired at us,” Danon said. “We are in a campaign against Hamas, which is firing missiles at Israel’s citizens.”

Neither Yaalon, Deri or Danon have acknowledged the human cost of such actions on Gaza, an enclave already suffering because of the crushing Israeli siege and already struggling with fuel and electricity shortages. Nor did they mention the loss of civilian life which is the inevitable consequence of wide military actions in such a densely populated territory.

Israeli leadership, however, has repeatedly emphasized the plight of Israeli civilians. Israeli news outlets have dutifully reported every siren sounded in Israeli towns since the beginning of Operation “Protective Edge” and lamented the closure of some Israeli summer camps.

Cara Lebenzon, a blogger for The Times of Israel penned a post berating those who have spoken out against Israel’s attacks, saying “I would actually argue we are TOO nice to Hamas and the people of Gaza. I’ve never heard of a single country on earth that supplies their mortal enemies with water, goods and electricity on a daily basis, have you?” For these folk, Palestinians are not people entitled to basic human rights, and an assault on Gaza is not only warranted, but long overdue.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have bombarded Twitter with stylized graphics trying to garner sympathy for the fearful Israeli population who must run to bomb shelters — conveniently ignoring Palestinians’ lack of shelters during its deadly air raids.

The IOF has also shared an image which it claims is representative of Hamas’ own visual campaign to convince civilians stand in as human shields. The graphic, available only on IOF social media platforms, could have been created by the IOF’s own design team, purportedly standing as “proof” of Hamas’ treachery instead of showing actual existing Hamas posters.

The argument about Hamas forcing people to stand as human shields is one Israel regularly trots out, despite the fact that such claims have been dismantled in the past, and that the IOF is itself guilty of using such tactics repeatedly.

But the “human shield” argument is a convenient excuse for Israeli forces to continue with tactics that they know full well will lead to many civilian casualties while rejecting any responsibility for these deaths. Palestinians living in Gaza are not granted the luxury of being considered innocent civilians in Israeli rhetoric; dead Palestinian men, women and children are all guilty of standing in the way of Israeli weapons, despite the fact that there is nowhere to run in the open-air prison that is Gaza.

Dehumanization of Palestinians and demonization of the Palestinian struggle are essential tools of the Israeli military machine in order to continue justifying expansive military action while maintaining its discourse of victimization.

Follow all the latest updates on Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.

July 9, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

9 Palestinians killed, several injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC News | July 7, 2014

Palestinian medical sources have reported that nine Palestinians have been killed by Israeli missiles and shells in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, and Monday at dawn.

Seven of the slain Palestinians are members of the al-Qassam Brigades of the Hamas movement.

The Brigades stated the six fighters have been killed when the Israeli army fired missiles into a siege-busting tunnel in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Their bodies were found on Monday, at dawn.

The fighters have been identified as Ibrahim al-Bal’aawy, 24, Abdul-Rahman az-Zamely, 22, Mustafa Abu Morr, 22, his twin brother Khaled, Yousef Sharaf Ghannam, 22, and Jom’a Abu Shallouf, 24.

A Qassam fighter, identified as Ibrahim ‘Abdeen, died of wounds suffered during an earlier shelling in Rafah.

Sami Abu Zohri, spokesperson of the Hamas movement, stated the assassination of the fighters is a serious escalation, adding that “the enemy will pay a heavy price”.

Dr. Ashraf al-Qodra, spokesperson of the Ministry Of Health in Gaza, stated that five Palestinians, including a child and two young girls, have been injured when an Israeli missile detonated near their homes, in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza.

Another airstrike targeted al-Qarara town, east of Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Missiles have also been fired into agricultural lands in Shekh Radwan in Gaza, causing damage but no injuries.

Two fighters, identified as Mazen al-Jedya and Marwan Salim, have been killed by Israeli missiles in al-Boreij refugee camp. Their bodies have been severely mutilated.

Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza claimed responsibility for firing dozens of shells into adjacent Israeli areas in retaliation to the Israeli military escalation.

July 7, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas calls on Abbas to cancel participation in Israeli conference

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Hamas’ Sami Abu Zuhri
MEMO | July 6, 2014

Hamas has called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw from participation at the Israel Peace Conference scheduled for Tuesday in Tel Aviv.

In a press statement on Saturday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Abbas’s participation “would constitute an insult to the feelings of the Palestinian people,” in the aftermath of the lynching of a Palestinian boy in occupied East Jerusalem last Tuesday, as well as the ruthless beating of his cousin two days later.

Abu Zuhri added that Abbas’s participation would give Israel a chance to “beautify its image” after international anger at its “heinous crimes.”

Haaretz has published the agenda of the conference, which includes a pre-recorded speech by Abbas.

Palestinian chief negotiator and senior Fatah official Saeb Erekat turned down an invitation to attend the same conference “out of respect for the feelings of Palestinians and their plight”.

The Israel Peace Conference is an annual event organised by Haaretz to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how to bring about peace.

July 6, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

Former Israeli Defence Minister calls on government to assassinate Hamas leaders

MEMO | July 3, 2014

Binyamin-Ben-EliezerIsrael’s former Defence Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer called for the Israeli government to immediately assassinate Hamas leaders, an Israeli news site has reported.

Ben-Eliezer is reported to have said: “The government must immediately return to the assassination policy, and let Hamas leaders understand that there is no security for them day and night and that there is no difference between political and army wing leaders.”

He said: “Hamas political leadership incites and inflames the atmosphere [against Israel] and encourages terrorism.”

Ben-Eliezer called on the Israeli government to strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and to pressure him to remove Hamas from government and then work on the resumption of the peace process.

July 4, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli settler strikes 9-year old girl with his car, leaves her in ditch with head injuries

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Child hit by settler car (image by Nasser @PAL_1948 )
IMEMC | July 1, 2014

A child was seriously wounded in the head when an Israeli settler ran her down Monday night as Israeli settlers marched through the city of Hebron demanding vengeance.

Sanabel Attous, 9, from Jab’a village southwest of Bethlehem was hit by an Israeli car which witnesses say deliberately ran her down.

She was taken to the Bethlehem Arab Society Hospital suffering serious fractures and bruises in the head, face and abdomen.

Eyewitnesses said the settler struck her intentionally, and left her in a ditch, on the side of the road without providing assistance to the wounded child, and left the scene.

Israeli troops closed all entrances to the city of Hebron and the village of Halhoul, near Hebron, where the bodies of three settlers were found on Monday.

Israeli extremists attacked two Palestinians in Jerusalem. A taxi driver was sprayed with pepper spray, and a second man was beaten by Israeli settlers in West Jerusalem.

Settlers across the West Bank have stepped up attacks on Palestinian civilians over the past 18 days, since 3 Israeli settlers disappeared.

When the bodies of the three settlers were found on Monday, Israeli settler leaders and Israeli government officials vowed revenge against the Palestinian people and particularly the Hamas party, though there has been no evidence linking the deaths of the three settlers to Hamas.

One former Israeli Knesset (Parliament) member posted a video Monday called Palestinian children “little terrorists”, and called for “Death to the enemy, evacuation, and wiping off of [their] smile”, according to a translation by the Electronic Intifada.

EI also quoted Tzachi Hanegbi, a former cabinet minister from the ruling Likud party, as saying, “I don’t know how many Hamas leaders will remain alive after tonight.”

July 1, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli Air Force Carries Out 34 Air Strikes Against Gaza Amidst Threats of ‘Vengeance’

By Saed Bannoura | IMEMC News | July 1, 2014

gaza_shelling_2The Israeli Air Force carried out, on Tuesday before dawn, at least 34 air strikes targeting different areas of the Gaza Strip, causing excessive property damage, and at least four injuries.

The WAFA news agency has reported that Israeli F-16 fighter jets fired missiles into different areas of the Gaza Strip, mainly in agricultural and open areas, in addition to several homes and civilian property.

WAFA reported that the army bombarded Gaza, Rafah, Khan Younis, the Central District and the Northern District of the besieged coastal region, adding that Israeli navy ships also participated in the attacks.

Local sources said dozens of Israeli drones remained in the Gaza skies all night, while Israeli helicopters also continue to fly over the Gaza Strip, firing rounds of live ammunition.

Medical sources said Israeli missiles struck agricultural greenhouses seriously wounding four Palestinians, in Khan Younis and Rafah, in southern Gaza.

The four, who worked as guards at the greenhouses, have been moved to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis facing life-threatening conditions.

Israeli officials confirmed the strikes against Gaza, and said that resistance groups also fired shells into Israeli areas across the border.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Hamas would pay the price for the death of the three Israeli settlers, who were found dead, Monday, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, after eighteen days of searches and invasions by the Israeli army.

On his Twitter account, the Israeli Prime Minister posted, “Vengeance for the blood of a small child, Satan has not yet created. Neither has vengeance for the blood of 3 pure youths who were on their way home to their parents who will not see them anymore. Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay.”

The Israeli army has killed five Palestinians since the settlers went missing 18 days ago, and dozens have been injured by Israeli army fire. In addition, close to 300 Palestinians have been kidnapped and imprisoned in the 18-day period. Since the bodies were discovered Monday, Israeli attacks, invasions and threats have increased significantly, so these numbers have likely increased in the last 24 hours.

Despite the threats and calls for vengeance, the Israeli government has released no information linking Hamas or any Palestinian groups or individuals to the deaths of the three settlers.

July 1, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Family of kidnap suspect deny Israeli accusations

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Ma’an – 27/06/2014

HEBRON – The father of one of the suspects named by Israel as being behind the disappearance of three Israeli youths has denied that his son was involved in the suspected kidnapping.

On Thursday, Israel named Marwan al-Qawasmeh, 29, and Amer Abu Eisha, 33, as the two main suspects behind the kidnapping of three Israeli youths on June 12.

Israel’s Shin Bet said they had been jailed in the past for taking part in “terrorist activity on behalf of Hamas.”

Speaking to Ma’an, Abu Eisha’s father denied the allegations and said the family is worried that he has been detained and is being tortured by Israeli security forces.

“The occupation kidnapped my son Amer and I’m afraid they will kill him and say that they killed the terrorist and saved the settlers,” Omar Abu Eisha said.

“I have not yet grasped that Amer and Marwan could kidnap three settlers from the most dangerous security square in Etzion. These are Israeli fabrications, whose goal could be is to strike Hamas in the West Bank and strike the national reconciliation,” he added.

Omar Abu Eisha said that he was with his son Amer at a social event the night the three Israelis went missing, but said that later on in the night he could not find his son and he has been missing ever since.

“He told his wife that he might be away for two days for work in al-Eizariya, but he has not called and I am certain that Israel has kidnapped and hid him,” he said.

Omar Abu Eisha told Ma’an that his son was “working hard and saving money” to build a new house.

The family of Marwan al-Qawasmeh refused to be interviewed or comment on the Israeli accusations.

Eisha was first arrested in Nov. 2005 and was held without trial or charge by Israeli forces until June 2006. He was re-arrested in April 2007 for a short period of time.

Eisha’s brother was shot dead by Israeli forces in Nov. 2005 while ostensibly trying to “throw an explosive” at them, and his father had been arrested by Israel multiple times.

After the Israeli teens disappeared while hitchhiking in the West Bank, the army launched a vast hunt for them focusing on the Hebron area.

Israeli forces initially accused Hamas of the kidnapping, which it vigorously denied, and authorities vowed to “crush” the Palestinian political and militant group.

More than 120 Palestinians have been injured in the military operation, which Israel dubbed “Brother’s Keeper,” and more than 1,350 homes and offices, including numerous universities, have been raided.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Thursday that 566 Palestinians have been detained in the campaign, including 12 members of parliament.

June 27, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas: Israeli announcement of names of kidnappers an attempt to cover its failure

MEMO | June 27, 2014

Hamas has described Israel’s announcement of the names of some of those it accuses of kidnapping the three settlers in Hebron as “an attempt to cover up its utter failure in finding them”, Anadolu news agency reported a Hamas official as saying.

Spokesman for the movement Sami Abu-Zuhri said yesterday: “The Israeli announcement of some of the names it accuses of implementing the Hebron operation reflects its continued state of confusion and an attempt to cover up its utter failure in finding them.”

The Israeli General Security Service, Shin Bet accused two Hamas activists from Hebron, in the south of the West Bank, “of kidnapping three Israeli settlers two weeks ago”.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed reports that troops were seeking Marwan Kawasme and Amar Abu Aysha, members of Hamas in Hebron, both of whom have served time in Israeli prisons in the past.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement: “A short time after the kidnapping, I said that those who perpetrated this activity were terrorists of Hamas, and indeed today the security services of Israel published the names of two of the perpetrators of this heinous crime.”

He added: “I now expected President Abbas, who said important things in Saudi Arabia, to stand by those words and to break his pact with the Hamas terrorist organization that kidnaps children and calls for the destruction of Israel.”

Since the disappearance of three settlers from the south of the West Bank, the Israeli army has arrested nearly 571 Palestinians, mostly leaders and activists in the Hamas movement.

No Palestinian party has claimed responsibility for the abduction, but Netanyahu held Hamas responsible, an accusation the movement has rejected, without confirming or denying the charges.

June 27, 2014 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

Israel re-arrests 50 Palestinians freed in 2011 prisoner swap

MEMO | June 18, 2014

Israeli occupation forces arrested 65 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank last night, 50 of whom were prisoners released in Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit’s prisoners swap held between Hamas and Israel in 2011.

Head of Prisoners’ Centre for Studies Fuad Al-Kuffash said two Palestinian members of parliament were among those arrested. He added that Israeli forces told the families of the prisoners that they would expel them to the Gaza Strip.

Since last Thursday, when three Israeli settlers reportedly went missing, the Israeli occupation forces have been carrying out a wide house-to-house search in Hebron. They have arrested 240 Palestinians, at least 180 of whom are members of Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the operation. “The activities carried out overnight, in which Hamas terrorists were arrested, including those who were released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal, is an element with an important message that is part of a series of many actions that will continue,” he said.

Netanyahu said that the “goal is to retrieve the kidnapped teens and harm the Hamas movement in Judea and Samaria.”

Hamas kidnapped an Israeli soldier who was positioned in a military base in his tank on the Gaza borders in 2006. Israel released 1,027 Palestinians as part of prisoners’ swap with Hamas in 2011.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz said that the Israeli government is considering expelling top Hamas officials from the West Bank to Gaza.

According to the Israeli military commander in the West Bank Major General Nitzan Alon, “The battle against Hamas is complex and ongoing; it didn’t begin today and won’t end soon.” He vowed the movement would emerge from the current clash “weakened operationally and strategically”.

June 18, 2014 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

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