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Thread: :icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

  1. #1441
    Israelis 'sick of religious coercion'
    Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:30:49 GMT

    An Israeli woman holds placard during a rally against ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem Al-Quds on Saturday.
    Hundreds of Israelis have taken to the streets of Jerusalem Al-Quds to protest what they call the religious coercion of extremist Jews.

    A 'secular majority' Saturday condemned the extremist minority that is pressuring residents to shutter all businesses on the Sabbath -- Saturday, held to be the day of rest and prayer in the Jewish religion.

    The protesters said the city belongs to everybody and the ultra-Orthodox Jews must not dictate how to run it.

    Police said hundreds marched in the predominantly Jewish western section of Jerusalem Al-Quds, holding placards reading "We are sick of (religious) coercion".

    The ultra-Orthodox have staged protests on an almost weekly basis, in what appears to be an attempt by some rabbis to reassert influence after a religious mayor lost a hotly contested 2008 election, Reuters reported.

    MGH/JG/DT

  2. #1442
    Likud activist: Obama regime is anti-Semitic
    Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:59:25 GMT

    US President Barack Obama
    A Likud activist has accused US President Barack Obama of being anti-Semitic for his repeated calls for a settlement freeze in the West Bank.

    About 200 Likud activists attended a meeting on Saturday to express their objection to a temporary settlement freeze announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Beit Ariyeh local authority head, Avi Naim, slammed the US administration for exerting pressure on Netanyahu.

    "The Obama regime is anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic; it's the worst," Ynet news quoted Naim as saying.

    Pro-settlement leader Ron Nachman was also critical of Obama over his support for Netanyahu's decision.

    Netanyahu on Wednesday declared a 10-month moratorium on Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

    MGH/JG/MMA

  3. #1443
    Israel to free 980 Palestinians for Shalit
    Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:49:50 GMT

    Gilad Shalit was captured in a cross border operation by Palestinian fighters in 2006.
    Israel claims it may release 980 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for its captive soldier Gilad Shalit, taken prisoner by the Hamas Islamic resistance fighters.

    Israel's 'State Prosecution' said it is likely to free the 450 prisoners requested by the movement "as part of an agreement with Hamas, which would allow the return of soldier Gilad Shalit to Israel," the Israeli media reported Sunday.

    "There is a possibility for the release in principle of about 450 prisoners whose names are being delivered by Hamas, and whose release is being examined in detail in accordance with different considerations and based on rationales of security and values," said the prosecution.

    The regime would also free another 530 prisoners as a "gesture to the Palestinians," it added. "The list of these prisoners has not been formed yet and no criteria have been set on this matter."

    However there are some 70 to 100 names of Palestinian prisoners which Israel is not willing to release, including Fatah's West Bank Secretary General, Marwan Barghouti, according to the media sources.

    SB/MB

  4. #1444
    Israeli navy shells Palestinian fishing boats
    Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:34:49 GMT
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    The Israeli navy has fired several shells at a number of Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Gaza.

    The Israeli navy opened fire on the fishermen near the al-Shudaniyya shore, northwest of Gaza City. No injuries were reported in the shelling, according to the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC).

    An Israeli army spokesman said the fishing boats “violated security boundaries off the coast of the Gaza Strip... out of the permitted fishing zone.”

    The Israeli navy enforces a blockade on the Palestinian territory and prevents fishermen from venturing more than five kilometers from shore.

    Israeli gunboats enforce this limit by patrolling the internationally recognized waters off the coast of Gaza. The fishermen complain that they get fired on before they even get close to the limit.

    About 3,500 fishermen struggle to trade off Gaza's 40km Mediterranean coastline despite the blockade.

    Israel imposed a crippling siege on the Gaza Strip in 2007 after the Hamas movement took full control of the territory after pushing out Fatah security forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the acting Palestinian Authority chief.

    MP/HGL

  5. #1445
    Israeli youth evading military service
    Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:38:02 GMT

    The Israeli cabinet has held a meeting to seek initiatives to curb draft evasion, as 25 percent of military aged boys and 40 percent of girls evade military service.

    Israel's Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) who attended the meeting on Sunday recommended denying driver's licenses to those who rely on mental health deferment to dodge military service.

    "Those who get out of the army because of a mental health deferment can't be drivers," The Jerusalem Post quoted Katz as saying.

    The cabinet has decided to establish a committee to come up with ways to reduce the number of women who use religion as a reason to evade military service.

    Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) said military-aged females make false statements regarding religious observance to avoid military duty and this has become an "industry."

    National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau (Israel Beitenu) said the army was no longer a "people's army," but rather "half the people's army."

    MGH/TG/DT

  6. #1446
    Israeli tanks target houses in Gaza
    Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:43:36 GMT
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    Israeli army tanks have opened fire on houses and farmlands in the northern sector of the Gaza Strip, according to a report.

    A number of Israeli tanks commenced firing Monday afternoon while withdrawing from an area southeast of the town of Beit Hanoun, which they had entered in the morning, witnesses told Ma'an news agency.

    The area where the gunfire was reported lies approximately 800 meters from the Green Line in the farming region of Abu Sufiyah, according to local Palestinian sources.

    No injuries were reported, according to Muawiyah Hassanein, the director of ambulance and emergency services for the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Resident homes however sustained different levels of damage.

    The Israeli army launched a massive military offensive, known as 'Operation Cast Lead' against the coastal Gaza Strip in December and January. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week offensive, which inflicted $ 1.6 billion damage on the Gaza economy.

    MP/TG/DT

  7. #1447
    Israel constructs 25 new units in West Bank
    Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:25:35 GMT

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has okayed the construction of 25 new housing units in the West Bank settlement of Keidar despite international calls to the contrary.

    During a phone conversation with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday, Netanyahu instructed Barak to stop preventing the construction of the new units in the West Bank, claiming the units do not fall under the cabinet's decision to halt settlement construction activities for 10 months.

    Tel Aviv had earlier agreed to freeze all settlement activities, except in Jerusalem Al-Quds, for 10 months in a bid to re-launch stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

    Israeli officials hope that the official declaration of a settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank would enable the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, which has refused to engage in peace talks until Israel implements such a measure.

    Tel Aviv is, moreover, currently under intense pressure from the international community to halt the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank. Israeli settlements are widely considered the main obstacle in the way of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

    Under the 2002 Roadmap for Peace plan brokered by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and freeze all settlement activities'.

    There are currently 121 Israeli settlements and approximately 102 Israeli outposts built on Palestinian land occupied by Israel in 1967. All of these settlements and outposts are illegal under international law and have been condemned by numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions.

    These settlements and outposts are inhabited by a population of approximately 462,000 Israeli settlers. Some 191,000 Israelis are living in settlements around Jerusalem Al-Quds and an additional 271,400 are spread throughout the West Bank.

    All such Jewish settlements are deemed illegal under international law because they have been erected on occupied lands that the Palestinians claim for a future state.

    MP/TG/DT

  8. #1448
    South Africa: Israel Actions in East Jerusalem Akin to Apartheid
    Date : 26/11/2009 Time : 11:58

    PRETORIA, November 26, 2009 (WAFA)- The South African government has issued an unusually harsh statement condemning Israel for approving 900 new housing units in Gilo and evicting Palestinians from their East Jerusalem homes, comparing Israel's actions to the 'forced removals' of the apartheid era. 'We condemn the fact that Israeli settlement expansion in East Jerusalem is coupled with Israel's campaign to evict and displace the original Palestinian residents from the City,' the statement said. 'South Africa is deeply concerned that these activities by Israel will only serve only to deepen the cycle of violence in the region.'

  9. #1449
    Facebook, Twitter, Israel's new battle ground
    Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:48:25 GMT

    Israeli military videos posted on the internet by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during Tel Aviv's bloody offensive on the Gaza Strip, which killed 1400 Palestinians.

    The Israeli military has announced that it will begin recruiting computer experts for a planned Internet and new media department unit.

    Army Spokesman Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu made the announcement on Monday while speaking at the Eilat Journalists Conference, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

    The spokesman explained the new department would target the Internet's social networking sites to create a direct link with international audiences rather than addressing them through the regular media.

    The plan was presented at the Monday conference alongside another initiative by the Israeli Information and Diaspora Ministry to train people to represent Israel independently on the Internet and other domains.

    According to Benayahu, from each group recruited at the Army Spokesman's Office, between 8 to 10 young people who are experts in Web 2.0 — YouTube, Facebook and Twitter — would be identified before training and assigned to the new unit.

    Benayahu told Haaretz that the new program would be implemented in the next few months.

    The Army Spokesman's Office started work in this area during Operation Cast Lead, Israel's deadly 23-day military offensive on the Gaza Strip in December 2007-January 2008.

    The military unit posted videos of attacks on targets in the Gaza Strip on YouTube.

    The Spokesman's Office has also contacted bloggers who are known as opinion-makers and directly sent them information and pictures.

    MJ/AKM

  10. #1450
    Israel vows more settlements after brief freeze
    Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:36:34 GMT

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to continue West Bank construction after a 10-month moratorium.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the regime will return to settlement construction after a "temporary" moratorium on new construction in the occupied West Bank.

    Netanyahu said on Tuesday that a 10-month settlement freeze he had earlier announced was only a "one-time, temporary" move, the Israeli media reported.

    Israel has rejected all international demands for the permanent freeze on building settlements in the occupied territories.

    "The future final-status accord in Judea and Samaria will be determined at the end of negotiations and not a day earlier," he added.

    He made the remarks amid sharp criticism from Israeli rightists who vowed to defy the government decision and "do everything" to continue the constructions.

    The building of settlements in the occupied territories has been a key point of contention in the 'peace' talks between the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority. The Islamic Hamas resistance movement rejects peace talks with the Israeli regime and insists than peace for Palestinians will only come through resistance.

    "I know the decision not to approve any additional construction is not easy to accept. It's not easy for the settlers, and it's hard even for me," he proclaimed.

    Earlier in the day, West Bank settlers clashed with inspectors who were to enforce the moratorium on construction, a military official said.

    Israel keeps 242 settlements in the West Bank, where more than 187,000 settlers live.

    SB/MB

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