:icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

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Israel likely to build super-settlement in WB
Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:08:17 GMT
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Israel is likely to give the go ahead to a project to build what would be the most populous settlement in the territories occupied in 1967.

The joint project undertaken by the Interior Ministry and the Jerusalem (al-Quds) Municipality sees the construction of 14,000 housing units near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, the Israeli daily Maariv reported on Wednesday.

The settlement will be built in three million square meters of land and will be home to 40,000 Jewish settlers.

The land will also include the property of the Palestinians in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja.

The project has the endorsement of the ruling Likud Party and its far right allies.

Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction projects in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The regime, however, has so far refused to fulfill its commitments despite demands by the international community.

SB/SS/RE

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Israel receives more N-capable German subs
Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:58:43 GMT
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Israel has received two German-made submarines which are capable of launching missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that the regime has received the two Dolphin-class submarines.

Israel ordered the submarines in 2005 and they were expected to be delivered in 2010.

Nuclear capable submarines are key weapons in Israel's arsenal.

With the delivery of the two subs the number of Israel's German-made submarines has reached five.

SB/SS/RE

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Israel 'knowingly' hit civilians in Gaza
Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:29:07 GMT
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Goldstone said his committee was sure some of the killing of civilians by Israel was intentional.
The head of the UN Human Rights Council commission on Gaza war says Israel intentionally targeted some civilian sites during the 23-day offensive in the Gaza Strip.

"Some of the killing...was certainly intentional. There was no mistake in bombing factories. The Israeli intelligence has very precise information," Richard Goldstone told CNN on Wednesday.

The former judge, however, did not endorse targeting civilians was the Israeli army's policy during its attacks on Gaza. "A fully fledged formal investigation will find that out. We didn't get near being judicial."

On Tuesday, the Goldstone report, mainly highlighting evidence of war crimes by the Israeli army during its military action against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, was formally presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The 575-page document listed several instances of alleged war crimes, such as Israel's deliberate shelling of civilian targets, opening fire at fleeing civilians and 'direct and an intentional attack' on hospitals. It also documented Palestinians' complaints of having been used as human shields by Israeli soldiers.

On the Palestinian side, the report charged armed groups operating in Gaza with failing to distinguish between military targets and the civilian population in their rocket attacks in southern Israel.

Goldstone said his committee did not find any proof for Israeli accusations against the Islamic Hamas movement of storing their weapons near civilians. "We looked for proof but didn't find it."

He expressed satisfaction with the debate the report has opened in Israel and internationally, saying he hoped 'the report will have consequences in the future in the protection of innocent civilians'.

But Israel's ultra-rightist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday attacked the report again as a blow to the United Nations. He also warned that allowing The Hague-based International Criminal Court to try the alleged war crimes listed in the report would deal a 'death blow' to peace.

Earlier in the day, the premier announced plans for the establishment of an investigative commission to probe the findings of the Goldstone report.

MRS/AKM

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Israel 'knowingly' hit civilians in Gaza
Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:29:07 GMT

Goldstone said his committee was sure some of the killing of civilians by Israel was intentional.
The head of the UN Human Rights Council commission on Gaza war says Israel intentionally targeted some civilian sites during the 23-day offensive in the Gaza Strip.

"Some of the killing...was certainly intentional. There was no mistake in bombing factories. The Israeli intelligence has very precise information," Richard Goldstone told CNN on Wednesday.

The former judge, however, did not endorse targeting civilians was the Israeli army's policy during its attacks on Gaza. "A fully fledged formal investigation will find that out. We didn't get near being judicial."

On Tuesday, the Goldstone report, mainly highlighting evidence of war crimes by the Israeli army during its military action against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, was formally presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The 575-page document listed several instances of alleged war crimes, such as Israel's deliberate shelling of civilian targets, opening fire at fleeing civilians and 'direct and an intentional attack' on hospitals. It also documented Palestinians' complaints of having been used as human shields by Israeli soldiers.

On the Palestinian side, the report charged armed groups operating in Gaza with failing to distinguish between military targets and the civilian population in their rocket attacks in southern Israel.

Goldstone said his committee did not find any proof for Israeli accusations against the Islamic Hamas movement of storing their weapons near civilians. "We looked for proof but didn't find it."

He expressed satisfaction with the debate the report has opened in Israel and internationally, saying he hoped 'the report will have consequences in the future in the protection of innocent civilians'.

But Israel's ultra-rightist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday attacked the report again as a blow to the United Nations. He also warned that allowing The Hague-based International Criminal Court to try the alleged war crimes listed in the report would deal a 'death blow' to peace.

Earlier in the day, the premier announced plans for the establishment of an investigative commission to probe the findings of the Goldstone report.

MRS/AKM

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Hamas blames UK for Israeli atrocities
Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:15:28 GMT
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Hamas slammed UK Foreign Minister David Miliband's pro-Israeli remarks.
The Islamic Hamas movement has criticized Britain for its support of the Israeli regime, holding London responsible for the sufferings of the Palestinian nation.

The head of the Refugee Affairs Department in the Gaza Strip, Hussam Ahmed, on Wednesday slammed recent remarks by British Foreign Minster David Miliband, who described Tel Aviv as 'peace-seeking'.

The UK minister's comments come as the Israeli occupation forces indulge in all kinds of atrocity and acts of terror against the Palestinians and use prohibited arms in their massacre of civilians, he said.

Ahmed further condemned London's call for a compromise -- in favor of Israel -- on the key issue of Palestinian refugees.

The Hamas official accused the British government of bringing about misery for Palestine and playing an active role in the displacement of thousands of Palestinians by supporting the formation of the Zionist regime in the occupied territories.

London must apologize to the Palestinians for all the pain it has inflicted upon them, he said.

MRS/AKM

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Israel lobbying to expunge UN report, avoid prosecution
Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:16:26 GMT
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Richard Goldstone
Tel Aviv is lobbying Western powers to prevent a UN report, attesting to Israel's war crimes during the Gaza carnage, from being adopted by the UN Human Rights Council.

After a three-month investigation, former South African judge and Head of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, Richard Goldstone, submitted his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday.

The report says that Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, during a three-week long non-stop onslaught at the turn of the year.

The Israeli army assault, led by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, on Gaza between December 2008 and January 2009, killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

Stung by the UN report, hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking drastic steps to fend off potential international prosecution of its political and military leaders, hiring high-powered attorneys, lobbying Western governments and launching a public relations blitz.

Netanyahu claimed in a cabinet meeting on Thursday, that if the UN adopts Goldstone's 575-page report and implements its recommendations, it would strike a "critical blow" to the Middle East peace process.

The hawkish premier is now trying to convince members of the UN Human Rights Council, convening in Geneva, to vote against the proposal.

The Goldstone report demands that both Israel and Hamas launch independent investigations to respond to the allegations brought against them.

The UN report has energized pro-Palestinian groups that have hoped for years to bring Israeli leaders before courts. It was only this week that a pro-Palestinian group, including nine British lawmakers, protested in London calling for the arrest of the visiting Ehud Barak over the Gaza war crimes.

FTP/SS/MMN



Israel to seal off West Bank border for 9 days
Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:57:02 GMT
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The West Bank border at Bethlehem
Israel has announced plans to shut down the West Bank border for almost ten days so that Jewish Israelis can celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).

The closure will begin on Thursday, October 1 and will end at sunset on Saturday, October 10, the Israeli military spokesman announced.

The closure will begin from Thursday at midnight; a military statement said and added that persons in need of medical care will not be affected by the closure.

"The passage of humanitarian aid as well as doctors, medical personnel, NGO members, lawyers, religious workers and additional professional groups will be authorized by the District Coordination and Liaison office," the statement added, dpa reported.

Israel regularly seals off the Palestinian territories under the pretext of security reasons and Jewish festivals.

FTP/SS/MMN


Hamas wants peace but reserves right to armed resistance
Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:19:59 GMT
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Ahmad Yousef, an advisor to Prime Minister Ismail Haniya on foreign affairs
Hamas says it is after peace, but will nonetheless resume armed resistance, should Israel refuse to cease its regular attacks on the Gaza Strip.

"Now, for the most part they [the Israelis] have stopped the daily aggression. That's why we're not firing rockets," said Ahmad Yousef, a foreign affairs advisor to democratically elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.

Yousef warned that the Palestinian resistance movement reserved the right to defend itself, and would use "whatever weapons they have in their hands" against Israeli "aggression and incursions," Ma'an news agency reported on Friday.

On the issue of the formation of a Palestinian state, Yousef stressed that Hamas' stance is 'crystal clear', adding that the resistance movement endorses a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. Moreover, he dismissed that the movement had become more moderate.

"Our political platform is clear in the sense that we will accept peaceful resolutions that liberate our people from occupation…Our political platform is consistent on the willingness to sit down and discuss issues including historic Palestine and the refugees' right of return."

"However, we will not relinquish our right to resistance," he underscored.

When questioned about the likelihood of another military confrontation with Tel Aviv, Yousef said, if the condition on the ground did not change, armed resistance against Israel's occupation would be inevitable.

"If the situation will continue like this, if the world community doesn't do anything and also the occupation is still the same and the sanctions have not been lifted and Gaza is still under siege, then of course the people will resort to military resistance."

MRS/MMN





Obama agrees to cover up Israel's nukes: report
Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:28:52 GMT
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US President Barack Obama (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel has reportedly received an assurance by US President Barack Obama that it would not be pressured into accounting for its alleged nuclear arsenal or signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

In a meeting with, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu obtained President Obama's guarantee that the White House would continue a 4-decade-old secret deal to allow Israel keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, The Washington Times reported on Friday quoting officials familiar with the matter.

"The president gave Israel an NPT treaty get out of jail free card," said a Senate staffer speaking on the condition of anonymity. "What this means is that the president gave commitments that politically he had no choice but to give regarding Israel's nuclear program."

"However, it calls into question virtually every part of the president's nonproliferation agenda."

Israel, which has allegedly introduced nuclear weapons in the volatile Middle East, maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity and has so far refused to sign the NPT- a treaty which seeks to limit the spread of such weapons of mass destruction.

The tacit agreement prolonged the nuclear understanding reached between President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister Golda Meir in 1969.

In a reference to the May meeting with President Obama, the Israeli premier said in an interview with Israel's Channel 2 last week he had received "an itemized list of the strategic understandings that have existed for many years between Israel and the United States" regarding the nuclear arsenal.

"It was not for naught that I requested, and it was not for naught that I received [that document]," Netanyahu said.

Avner Cohen, author of the revelatory Israel and the Bomb, which has drawn upon thousands of documents and tens of interviews on the Israeli nuclear firepower, said the accord amounted to "the United States passively accepting Israel's nuclear weapons status as long as Israel does not unveil publicly its capability or test a weapon."

In 1958, Israel began building its suspected plutonium and uranium processing facility near Dimona in the Negev desert. The regime claims the facility - which was originally revealed as "textile factory" - is a "research reactor."

In early June, George Washington University's National Security Archives declassified a 1960 report by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) which had explained how Tel Aviv was to benefit from a nuclear arsenal.

"Possession of a nuclear weapon capability, or even the prospect of achieving it, would clearly give Israel a greater sense of security, self-confidence and assertiveness," the documents said.

HN/MD

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Israeli jets pound Gaza's 'survival tunnels'
Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:40:11 GMT
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Site of an Israeli air raid on tunnels in Rafah which left three Palestinians dead and eight others wounded last week.
In another night-time raid, Israeli fighter jets attack several targets across the Gaza Strip, witnesses and the army say.

A building on the outskirts of Gaza City as well as two cross-border tunnels --also known as "Gaza's feeding tubes" -- along Rafah were hit in the pre-dawn attack.

The tunnels --linking the south of the impoverished enclave to Egypt, have served as conduits for vital supplies to the besieged Gaza Strip- and are frequently attacked by Israeli and Egyptian security forces.

The Israeli army says the strikes were carried out in response to a rocket attack from the strip on southern Israel.

Commenting on the attack on a building near Gaza City, an Israeli military spokesman claimed it was being used for manufacturing rockets.

There were no immediate reports of damages or casualties from Saturday's attack.

As a result of the crippling land, sea, and air blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since June 2007 when the democratically-elected Hamas government gained control of Gaza, the enclave's 1.5 million inhabitants have had to rely heavily on perilous tunnels as the sole means of obtaining essential supplies such as food and medicines.

HE/TG/DT

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Abbas accused of helping Israel bury 'war crimes'
Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:02:44 GMT
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Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas
Human rights groups have accused the Palestinian Authority of "helping Israel bury its crimes" for bumping UN draft proposal over alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in various parts of the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian Authority defered a UN Human Rights Council vote on the Goldstone report on Israeli war crimes during the 2008 war against Gazans, The Jerusalem post reported Saturday.

Several Palestinian human rights organization issued a statement, accusing the PA leaders of succumbing to US pressure.

"This deferral denies the Palestinian peoples' right to an effective judicial remedy and the equal protection of the law. It represents the triumph of politics over human rights. It is an insult to all victims and a rejection of their rights," the statement said.

Members of acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction also condemned the move and called for an emergency meeting of the Fatah Central Committee to discuss the issue.

On Friday, the UN was due to vote on a resolution that would have condemned Israel's failure to cooperate with the UN war crimes investigation, but it was suspended after Abbas withdrew his support for the resolution.

Palestinian officials dropped their support for a scheduled vote after intense lobbying from the US administration which argues that any action on the report will "backfire" by driving Israel away from possible peace talks.

The report issued by United Nations human rights investigator Richard Goldstone has strongly criticized Israel over its 22-day offensive on the Gaza Strip and called for the prosecution of Israeli officials.

SB/MD

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srael musing over another Gaza onslaught: Report
Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:31:14 GMT
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In this Jan. 13, 2009 file photo, smoke rises following explosions caused by Israeli military operations in Gaza City.
The military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement known as the Al-Quds Brigades says that Tel Aviv is mulling over another round of attacks on the Gaza Strip.

"The ongoing status quo has led the military arm of Islamic Jihad to infer Israel was planning an imminent but unspecified incursion in the coming days or weeks," a spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, Abu Ahmad, was quoted as saying by Ma'an news agency.

The Gazans are still struggling with the aftermath of the Operation Cast Lead, which resulted in the death of over 1,500 Palestinians and the injury of about 5,450 people in the impoverished coastal sliver.

With USD 1.6 billion damage inflicted upon Gaza's economy during three weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment this January, the Palestinians in the strip are striving hard to survive under a siege preventing any import or export. The carnage has left 44 percent of the population in the war-wreaked enclave unemployed.

Meanwhile, a United Nations inquiry led by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone detailed what investigators called Israeli actions "amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during Tel Aviv's winter offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza.

The 575-page report by Goldstone and three other investigators asserts seven incidents, in which Palestinian civilians were shot while leaving their homes, trying to run for safety or waving white flags.

According to the report, Israel has targeted a mosque at prayer time, killing 15 people, and has shelled a Gaza City house where soldiers had forced Palestinian civilians to assemble. These attacks constituted war crimes, the report says.

The probe also found that Israel violated international humanitarian law in many different manners. Dozens of Palestinian policemen were killed at the start of the Gaza onslaught when Israel bombed their stations. The security agents were not involved in hostilities and should have been treated as civilians.

Palestinians, in addition, were forced to walk ahead of the Israeli soldiers, providing human shields for the troops, who were searching civilian neighborhoods.

MP/SS/MMN

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Israeli troops close Ibrahimi Mosque to non-Jews
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:34:09 GMT
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The Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil
Israel has closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil (Hebron) to Muslims for two days under the pretext of a Jewish holiday.

"Israeli troops have been deployed outside the structure since late Friday evening and designated the area for the exclusive use of Jewish settlers until Monday," Head of the Endowment and Religious Affairs Department in al-Khalil (Hebron), Zeid al-Ja'bari, said on Saturday.

The Ibrahimi Mosque compound also known as the Sanctuary of Abraham is Judaism's second-holiest site after the Temple Mount. It is also a place of veneration for Christians. The 1,000-year-old Ibrahimi Mosque is the second holiest Islamic site in the Palestinian territory after al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The mosque was divided into Muslim and Jewish sections by the Israeli government's Shamgar Committee after a 1994 massacre that killed 29 Muslim worshippers and left 150 others wounded.

Since then, Israeli authorities have violated Muslim rights in the Ibrahimi Mosque under the pretext of Jewish holidays and restricted Muslims from praying in the mosque. The Israeli officials have also prevented the call to prayer for the evening and night worship times.

Radical Jewish settlers have at times desecrated this holy Mosque and ridiculed Muslims while praying there.

Extremist settlers are said to be trying to bar Muslims from entering the Ibrahimi Mosque and are attempting to transform it into a synagogue.

MP/SS/MMN