:icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

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The Palestinian Authority (PA) forms a committee to probe the 'organs harvest' issue after the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet and families of Palestinian victims raised the issue.

An August 17 article titled They plunder the organs of our sons sparked a diplomatic crisis between Israel and Sweden for suggesting that the Israeli army kidnapped and killed young Palestinians to harvest their organs for the black market.

Hasan Abu Libda, the secretary-general of the Palestinian Ministerial Council in Ramallah said on Thursday that a committee has been formed under the direct orders of the PA to investigate the claims made in the article.

Abu Libda, who made the comments in an interview with Palestinian Radio, added that the committee would act internationally, the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) reported.

He said that the PA will have a direct and sharp response to the issue, as organ harvesting is a clear violation of international law, the basic principles of human rights and also a direct violation of religious beliefs.

The committee will include the interior, health and foreign ministers, who will head the investigation, he said.

"If these allegations prove true, we will take an unequivocal stance," Abu Libda added.

After failing to extract and apology from the Swedish government through diplomatic channels, the Israeli government said that it will take legal action against the paper, seeking USD 7.5 million in compensation.

This is while Swedish freelance journalist Donald Bostrom, who authored the article, says that the article was based on his observations and claims of the Palestinian families who lost their loved ones in 1992, during the first Palestinian uprising.

"The article is not accusing the (Israeli) army of snatching organs. The Palestinian families, the Palestine mothers, say that they think or they are sure that 'someone' took organs from their young men," Bostrom told Press TV last week.

He said that the purpose of his article was to call for an investigation into numerous claims in the 1990s that such activity was going on.

FTP/SME/MMN

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The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) says that in August, a total number of 63 Palestinians have been kidnapped from the West Bank by Israeli soldiers.

Most of the kidnappings took place in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) and its nearby towns of Beit Ummar, Tarqoumia, Doura, Bani Neim, Surif, Beit Ola, Al-Thahiriyya and Al-Arroub refugee camp, the PPS said on Thursday.

The society added that at least eight of those kidnapped were sick and required immediate medical attention.

Most of the kidnappings took place during overnight raids by Israeli soldiers, and several detainees, according to their statements to lawyers, were violently attacked and beaten by the soldiers before they were loaded into military vehicles.

The detainees also said that they were not provided with sufficient food or even drinking water, and that they were subjected to bad treatment and harassment.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military, during a pre-dawn invasion on Thursday, searched and ransacked homes in Jenin city and the nearby Burken village, the northern West Bank as well as Jericho (Ariha) city, in the Jordan valley, and kidnapped five Palestinian civilians.

FTP/SME/MMN

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Israeli warplanes have launched an attack on the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian and Israeli officials say.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the early Friday airstrike, saying that the Israeli fighter jets targeted a tunnel used by the Palestinians to import food and supply, AFP reported.

Palestinian security officials said that no one was injured in the overnight attack.

Israel charges that Palestinians use the Gaza Strip tunnels to 'smuggle' weapons for cross border attacks.

However, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip say that they use the tunnels -- also known as Gaza feeding tubes -- to import food, medication and other vital supplies into the besieged enclave.

The 1.5-million population of the Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli imposed strict siege for more than two years.

In order to increase pressure on the blockaded residents of Gaza, Tel Aviv frequently targets means by which the Palestinians obtain their rudimentary necessities.

On Thursday, Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded the eastern border areas of the strip, destroying cultivated agricultural Palestinian land. On the same day, Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the sliver.

MGH/SME/MMN

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The Palestinian chief peace negotiator says Israel's plan to build hundreds of new settlement homes in the West Bank before weighing a freeze is "absolutely unacceptable".

"The only thing suspended by this announcement will be the peace process," Saeb Erakat said in a telephone interview with AFP on Friday.

"This is absolutely unacceptable," the top Palestinian peace negotiator went on to say.

Erakat is currently accompanying the Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas in Paris.

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier on Friday, "The prime minister plans to approve the construction of hundreds of news housing units in Judea and Samaria, before the freeze."

Tel Aviv has recently announced plans for the construction of hundreds of new Jewish homes in the territory, including in East al-Quds, where the Palestinians consider their future capital city.

Israel had previously defied international and US calls for freezing the construction of settlements in the occupied territories which stalled the peace process with the Palestinians.

Palestinians officials have so far refused to resume peace talks with the Israeli government until Israel freezes all its settlement activities in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

HRF/DT

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The hawkish Israeli foreign minister has embarked on a tour of Africa with the hope of arousing hostility toward Tehran among the continent's officials.

Leading a large delegation, which included military officials, Avigdor Lieberman left Israel for Ethiopia on Wednesday.

In Addis Ababa, Lieberman rushed to urge African countries to make good use of their ties with Arab countries to help promote what he called "moderation and reconciliation in the Middle East."

"Indeed, within the African Union itself it is very important that the decisions and activities of African states reflect a positive and constructive approach, one that rejects one-sided decisions against Israel," he said in the Ethiopian capital.

Lieberman remarks came in stark contrast with the Libyan leader and current African Union chairman Muammar Gaddafi's recent comments in Tripoli, which implicated Israel as the force "behind all of Africa's conflicts."

After his short stop in Ethiopia, the Israeli foreign minister continued onto Kenya, the next state on his list of African countries to visit.

The Israeli foreign ministry has admitted that during his stop in Kenya, Lieberman would try to bring up Iran's efforts to establish partnerships in the region.

Also on the hardliner politician's agenda are trips to Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana. South Africa, Israel's top trade partner on the continent, however, will not be included in Lieberman's visit.

MJ/DT

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The US condemns an Israeli plan to endorse the construction of hundreds of housing units as part of Tel Aviv's settlement expansion in the West Bank.

The United States, which has launched a push for settlement suspension to revive the current stalled Middle East peace process, said it 'regretted' reports that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to approve West Bank settlement construction.

"We regret the reports of Israel's plans to approve additional settlement construction," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement on Friday.

"As the president has said before, the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion and we urge that it stop," Gibbs added.

This is while a top Israeli government official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the Jerusalem Post report saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would consider a construction moratorium "for a few months" after the green light is given to build hundreds of new homes in the occupied West Bank.

"In the next days the prime minister will approve construction starts and then he might consider a freeze for a limited time under certain conditions," the official told AFP.

The European Union also denounced the move, demanding an immediate end to settlement construction.

"The position of the European Union is well known. All settlement activities must stop," EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana told reporters on the margins of an EU Foreign Ministers' meeting in Stockholm.

Under a US-backed 'roadmap' peace plan, Israel is committed to halt the expansion of Israeli settlements in territories occupied in the 1967 war. The Israeli government led by the Likud party, however, says the freeze would not include construction projects already underway, on the basis of what it calls 'natural growth'.

SB/SME/MMA

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Members of the US Congress have sided with Israel on a row provoked over an article published by the Swedish daily Aftonbladet on an organ-theft scandal in Israel.

US Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, who is chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe accused the Scandinavian daily of racism over the article which accused the Israeli army of harvesting organs from wounded or killed Palestinians.

"... When major press outlets fail to meet their responsibility, and instead raise the specter of racism or anti-Semitism, then public officials are duty bound to speak out and condemn such blatant falsehoods", the daily Haaretz quoted Cardin as saying.

In another move, US officials wrote a letter to Sweden's prime minister on Thursday and criticized him for refusing to condemn the article as blatant anti-Semitism.

"... it is critical that your government unequivocally repudiate and reject the heinous allegations expressed in this article," wrote Congressmen Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Elton Gallegly (R-CA), members on the Subcommittee on Europe.

The article They plunder the organs of our sons, authored by freelance journalist Donald Bostrom, sparked outrage among Israeli officials who immediately called on Sweden to condemn the report.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt however refused the condemnation, saying a free press is an integral part of his country's democracy.

SB/SME/MMA

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US renews 'halt settlements' plea


Settlement building is one of the biggest obstacles to peace talks
The US government has again urged Israel to halt its policy of expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Such actions make a climate for talks "harder to create", the White House press secretary said.
"We regret reports of Israel's plans to approve additional settlement construction [which] is inconsistent with Israel's roadmap commitment."
The comments referred to the reported plans by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to one of his senior aides, Mr Netanyahu is expected to back work on hundreds of new homes next week in addition to 2,500 units already being built.
He said a temporary moratorium would be put in place if the "conditions are right", including if the Arab states were forthcoming in providing Israel with normalisation gestures.
The news angered the Palestinians who said it was "absolutely unacceptable".
'Moratorium'
The US has been pushing Israel to accept the Palestinians' demand for a complete halt to all settlement building in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, before they will resume peace negotiations.
But Israel wants to continue building to allow for what it calls the "natural growth" of communities there, and refuses to halt construction in East Jerusalem.

WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS
Construction of settlements began in 1967, shortly after the Middle East War
Some 280,000 Israelis now live in the 121 officially-recognised settlements in the West Bank
A further 190,000 Israelis live in settlements in Palestinian East Jerusalem
The largest West Bank settlement is Maale Adumim, where more than 30,000 people were living in 2005
There are a further 102 unauthorised outposts in the West Bank which are not officially recognised by Israel
The population of West Bank settlements has been growing at a rate of 5-6% since 2001
Source: Peace Now

Challenge of Israeli settlements
Mr Netanyahu is under pressure from right-wingers in his governing coalition, including his own Likud party, to resist the call to freeze settlement building.
The issue is expected to be discussed when Mr Netanyahu's aides meet US President Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, next week.
The development comes a day after the Israeli media quoted unnamed US and Israeli officials saying that a US-Israel deal was close, which would entail a "temporary moratorium" on building, excluding units already under construction.
But the BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says the key question now is whether the other players in this diplomatic dance will accept Israel's definition of a settlement freeze.
Under the US-backed 2003 roadmap peace plan, Israel is obliged to end all settlement activity.
The plan also requires the Palestinian Authority to crack down on militants who seek to attack Israelis.
Close to 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. The settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

BBC

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Some 50 intellectuals and filmmakers including Briton Ken Loach have accused the Toronto film festival of complicity with an 'Israeli propaganda campaign'.

The Toronto International Film Festival chose this year to present 10 films by local filmmakers on the Israeli metropolis for its 'City to City' program, which each year focuses its lens on a different city.

This year's program was devoted to Tel Aviv and the Jaffa area. However, the choice led to protests that the film festival was 'staging a propaganda campaign' on Israel's behalf, given 'the absence of Palestinian filmmakers in the program', said an open letter to festival organizers.

The program, it said, "ignores the suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants of the Tel Aviv/Jaffa area who currently live in refugee camps in the Occupied Territories" after a "mass exiling of the Palestinian population" in 1948.

"Looking at modern, sophisticated Tel Aviv without also considering the city's past and the realities of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip, would be like rhapsodizing about the beauty and elegant lifestyles in white-only Cape Town or Johannesburg during apartheid without acknowledging the corresponding black townships of Khayelitsha and Soweto."

The 50 signatories to the letter include Canadian sociologist Naomi Klein, British filmmaker Ken Loach, American actress Jane Fonda and several other filmmakers.

SG/SME/MMA

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Hamas political bureau leader Khaled Meshaal plans to visit Cairo this weekend to finalize a prisoner swap deal with Israel, the Saudi daily al-Watan reports.

Senior Palestinian sources told al-Watan on September 4 that Meshaal's upcoming Cairo visit was arranged for the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who has been held as a prisoner of war (POW), in return for hundreds of Palestinian captives in Israeli prisons.

Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu confirmed that Meshaal was traveling to Cairo today, with a number of other senior Hamas leaders from Gaza, for a round of talks with Egyptian officials.

According to the report, Meshaal intends to use the visit to approve the clauses of the prisoner swap deal and sign off on a final draft.

Mousa Abu Marzouq, Mashaal's deputy, said that a German mediator who traveled 11 times to the region to facilitate an agreement is "very earnest in his intention to bring about a deal."

However, Hamas says there have been no changes in its conditions for the release of the Israeli POW Shalit.

In exchange for the Israeli soldier, Hamas has demanded the release of 1,400 Palestinian captives, including 450 who are serving long-term sentences, a request rejected by Tel Aviv, which views Shalit's freedom as a precondition for reopening all border-crossings into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Hamas has said that the release of Shalit should be negotiated as part of a prisoner exchange deal and should not be linked to opening border-crossings or a permanent truce.

On August 30, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said during a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem (al-Quds) that there had been no progress in prisoner swap talks, and added that the Israelis should not expect a quick deal.

MSH/ZAP/DT