:icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

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South African cleric and activist, Desmond Mpilo Tutu, stresses that Israel and other parties have no choice but to talk to the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.

"You don't make peace with friends," he told the Ma'an news agency in Ramallah. "You negotiate with those who are regarded as pariahs."

The archbishop meanwhile noted that Tel Aviv's boycott on Hamas bears an uncanny resemblance to white South Africa's snub to interact with Mandela's anti-apartheid African National Congress (ANC) which then was branded as a terrorist outfit by South Africa's apartheid regime.

"It's the same thing that happened in South Africa for a very long time," he said. "The apartheid government said they wouldn't negotiate with Nelson Mandela, and so on -- and they had to."

The archbishop met Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in 2008 when he headed a UN fact-finding commission investigating the deaths of 19 Palestinians in a 2006 Israeli artillery attack on a row of houses in Beit Hanoun.

Israel claimed a technical malfunction caused the shells to mistakenly hit the targets. Israel described the United Nations investigative team as biased and denied Tutu a visa, forcing him to cross into the impoverished Gaza Strip through Egypt.

MP/SME/MMA

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3 Citizens Suffocated of Israeli Tear Gas in Rally Against the Wall in Ni’lin Date : 30/8/2009 Time : 04:55

RAMALLAH, August 29, 2009 (WAFA)- Three citizens were suffocated tonight in a rally organized in lands the Israeli occupation plan to seize for the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank village of Ni’lin near Ramallah .

The citizens marched in the rally after a collective Ramadan breakfast. Israeli soldiers fired tear gas against protestors, resulting in suffocation of three citizens.

Since May 2008, citizens of Ni’lin have been organizing and participating in unarmed demonstrations against construction of the Apartheid Wall. Despite being deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, the Occupation continues to build the Wall, further annexing Palestinian land.



Ni’lin will lose approximately 2,500 dunums of agricultural land when construction of the Wall is completed. Israel annexed 40,000 of Ni’lin’s 58,000 dunums in 1948. After the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the illegal settlements and infrastructure of Kiryat Sefer, Mattityahu and Maccabim were built on village lands and Ni’lin lost another 8,000 dunums. Of the remaining 10,000 dunums, the Occupation will confiscate 2,500 for the Wall and 200 for a tunnel to be built under the segregated settler-only road 446. Ni’lin will be left with 7,300 dunums.
Source: AJP

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OF Arrests 7 Citizens in West Bank Date : 30/8/2009 Time : 03:16

NABLUS, August 29, 2009 (WAFA)- Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested Saturday seven citizens including a woman in the West Bank.

In Nablus, IOF attacked Ein Camp west of the city, vandalized houses arresting four citizens including a woman.

In Bil’in village west of Ramallah, IOF arrested at dawn three citizens.
Source: AJP

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Palestinians Petition High Court against Bank of Israel Date : 30/8/2009 Time : 02:59

TEL AVIV, August 29, 2009 (WAFA)- Six Gazans filed a petition with the Israeli High Court against the Bank of Israel, the Israeli National Insurance Institute and the Israeli government, demanding that the court order the Bank of Israel to grant them the disability benefits they are entitled to, Ynet reported.

The petitioners have not been receiving their allowance for some eight months and they claim this is due to the Bank of Israel's decision to cease contacts with banks in Gaza.

The six petitioners were injured and became disabled while working in Israel and include two construction workers and a roof tar worker who suffered serious injuries after falling from top floors; a gardener in the Herzeliya city council that a crane fell on him; a carwash worker whose two fingers were cut off, and a road accident victim.

They were all acknowledged as being disabled and received a monthly allowance of thousand of shekels.

The petitioners received the funds on a regular basis for years until a decision by the Bank of Israel in December 2008. According to the petition, the Bank of Israel authorized Israeli banks to stop working with Palestinian banks in the Gaza Strip.

The petitioners claim that this resulted in a cessation of all business transactions between Israeli banks and Gaza banks. From that moment on, the National Insurance Institute stopped transferring payments for the six, as well as for the rest of Gaza residents entitled to disability benefits.

The petition was filed through the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights. It stated that the cessation of allowances lead to a major compromise of the petitioners' right for property and constitutional rights for social welfare and dignified minimal existence.

The six claimed that they have not been receiving the money they are entitled to for over eight months, despite repeated complaints with the National Insurance Institute. As time goes by, they said, this hurts them even more.

They stress that there is no question as to their entitlement to the benefits since it was already established by the National Insurance Institute.

The only disagreement is on whether it was the order given by the bank of Israel that caused the cessation of the allowances for them and the rest of Gaza residents.

Attorney Sawsan Zaher from the Adalah center said, 'This is money which is for employees that were injured during work in Israel. Leaving the funds in the hands of Israeli authorities amounts to unjust enrichment which is forbidden by law.'
Source: AJP

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HAARETZ REPORTS

Israel Defense Forces troops early Tuesday shot and killed a Palestinian youth suspected of hurling firebombs near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Channel 10 reported.

The 14-year-old, later named as Muhammad Nayef, was critically wounded in the incident and died shortly after. The incident occurred near the Jalazun refugee camp, just north of Ramallah.

the youth was shot during clashes with troops, who were searching the area for Palestinians who had earlier thrown Molotov cocktails at the fence bordering the settlement of Beit El.

Two others Palestinian youths were wounded in the incident, Palestinian media reported.

IDF troops arrested nine wanted Palestinian militants in overnight West Bank raids.

The Israel Defense Forces is setting up a separate military court for West Bank youths, Haaretz learned last week. Until now, adults and minors have been judged by the same legal authorities.

The change was ordered by GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni on July 29. The order calls for a "first-instance military court for youth, presided over by a single juvenile-court judge or by a panel led by a juvenile-court judge."

The president of the military appeals court will "appoint military judges trained to serve as juvenile-court judges," and will set them limited terms.

The order requests the juvenile court sessions be "as separate as possible" from regular court sessions, and allows the youth court to demand a Civil Administration welfare report on the defendant's family "if the court believes this necessary to determine the minor's verdict."

Khaled Kuzmar, legal advisor to the Palestinian branch of Defense for Children International (DCI), told Haaretz, "The new order is a clear, if belated, confession to a systemic flaw," but that "a thorough examination of the order suggests that the changes are not fundamental. It allows significant space for the military prosecution to intervene."

He added, "The root of the problem is not the minors' criminality, but the occupation under which they live."

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Report: 35,000 East Jerusalem Students Don't Attend Public Schools Date : 1/9/2009 Time : 06:38

TEL AVIV, August 31, 2009 (WAFA)- Roughly 35,000 east Jerusalem students will not begin the new school year on Tuesday in the Israeli municipality schools, a Civil Rights Association and Ir Amim foundation report suggests.

The reason for this, as stated in the report, is a shortage of 1,000 classrooms in east Jerusalem which grows bigger with each passing year. By 2011 the shortage is expected to reach about 1,500 new classrooms.

The report suggests that 5,000 students are not registered into any educational institute. 30,000 students are forced to study within private education establishments in exchange for large amounts of money.

These are private schools or informal establishments being activated by private companies, churches, the Waqf, the United Nations and various Palestinian elements.

The report also indicates that among those who attend the city's educational system, thousands are forced to study in classrooms and rented buildings unfit for studies, small rooms with no ventilation and no playground yards. This condition of the classrooms has been so for years and gets worse with each year.

Half of the classrooms activated by the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem in the city's eastern neighborhoods are below standards: 704 below-par classrooms as opposed to 656 up-to-standard classrooms. Among the below-standard classrooms, 221 are within facilities 'in unfit condition.'

The report also raises issues regarding the students' registration to the schools and reveals that in some eastern Jerusalem establishments various service payments are being charged upon registration illegally. These payments, which at times amount to hundred of shekels take a heavy toll on residents, many of them needy. This is due to the fact that 67% of east Jerusalem's families are considered poor.

Ir Amim Director-General Yehudit Oppenheimer said, 'We call upon the government of Israel to recognize the importance of the issue of education in eastern Jerusalem and to give it priority in dividing the Education Ministry's budget in order for proper budgets to be quickly and efficiently allocated.'
Source: AJP

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A 15-year-old Palestinian girl has demanded the International Criminal Court to probe into the Israeli three-week war on the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Amira Alqerem whose family was killed in an Israeli assault on the Tal Al Hawa neighborhood in the Gaza Strip told journalists in The Hague" I am here to lodge a complaint against the occupying army".

"I hope this complaint will succeed because it is the truth," the soft-spoken teenager said, seated next to her lawyer on his way to the ICC to file the complaint with the office of the prosecutor.

According to AFP, in her court filing, Alqerem says her 67-year-old father Fathi, 16-year-old-sister Ismat, and 14-year-old brother Ala, were killed by Israeli army fire in the early hours of January 14.

"This was a crime against humanity, that is why we brought it to the ICC," said her lawyer Gilles Devers, who said the attacks were aimed at civilians.

"Israeli politicians and military leaders must be held responsible."

Tel Aviv launched its large-scale military operations against Gaza's 1.5 million besieged Palestinian residents on December 27. The ensuing three weeks of air and artillery bombardments and a ground incursion left nearly 1,350 Palestinians dead, and about 5,450 injured. At least 1,100 of those killed were civilians.

The international community has accused Israel of committing war crimes, including the use of deadly white phosphorus shells in densely populated civilian areas and the use of civilians as human shields.

The incendiary shells cause horrific burns and poisoning and their use against human targets is against international laws.

Israel initially denied using phosphorus shells. However, Tel Aviv later admitted using such shells after indisputable evidence, shown globally on video feed, proved that such weapons were used widely against Gazans.

MSH/SC/DT

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Fayyad Meets with Solana: Building State Institutions Is Palestinian Responsibility Foremost Date : 1/9/2009 Time : 07:22

RAMALLAH, August 31, 2009 (WAFA)- PM Salam Fayyad said tonight in a joint press conference with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana the building of the state institutions is a Palestinian responsibility foremost.



Speaking on the Government Document on statehood, Fayyad said: 'The building of the state institutions is a Palestinian responsibility foremost and we have to take the initiative” stressing that “we are in need for international support to carry out this mission.”



“If it is a unilateral act,” Fayyad said. “It is positive unilateralism. Statehood is a basic objective of this political process, how can it be described as a negative measure?'



Solana announced support for the Governments Document, saying “I've discussed the important and solid document the Palestinian government has produced. It gives a lot of important idea of how to build institutions of the Palestinian state. we support it.”



“We are going to support this document. It's a very good, very solid and very political document,” Solana added. “Any criticism of it. I don't understand it.”



“We have very important days ahead of us. On September 23 we have the U.N. general assembly meeting. I hope around that day we will have important discussions on Palestinian statehood,” Solana said. “In all the places I've been, everybody says: We want to use the time. We can't waste time. There is an opportunity. We are in full cooperation with the U.S., the Arab League, the Palestinians. We're in a very important moment. We are going to be with you.”



On settlements, Fayyad reiterated the need to halt all settlement construction, wondering:

'Where will this state be established? how will any political process have credibility among the Palestinians with settlements activity?”



“The EU has said to stop settlement activity is a must,” Solana emphasized.


Source: AJP

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srael has accepted a German-mediated prisoner swap deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, a German weekly has reported.

Hamas is yet to respond to the swap deal, Der Spiegel said in its edition to appear Monday.

"The German secret services have recently been holding talks with the Israeli government and Hamas. The aim is to obtain the exchange of Gilad Shalit against several hundred Palestinian prisoners," AFP quoted the report as saying.

The Israeli government has accepted a proposal, which would see 450 Palestinian prisoners released and Hamas has until early September to respond, Der Spiegel said, without citing sources.

Shalit was captured in June 2006. Until now, successive Egyptian efforts to broker a prisoner swap deal in order to release him have failed.

MGH/SC/DT

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Israeli aircraft have bombed a building in the Gaza Strip, the latest in a series of attacks which killed four Palestinian and injured several others in the past week.

The air strike, in which no one was hurt, took place in the early hours of Sunday, Reuters reported.

The Israeli military claimed the house had been used to access a tunnel and was in response to a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip.

Israel says Palestinians use the Gaza Strip tunnels to carry out cross border attacks, but Gazans say they dig tunnels to carry food and supplies into the besieged coastal enclave.

The impoverished Palestinian sliver has been under a strict blockader ever since the Islamic resistance movement won 2006 parliamentary elections.

The siege of Gaza has created a humanitarian crisis for its 1.5 million-population.

MGH/DT