- 5 febr 2011
Israeli forces detain dozens of Palestinian workers
29 oct 2012, 12:26 , Respect -
Maria 6 febr 2011
Statement: Israeli soldiers attempt murder of six reporters in OJ
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian rights group accused in a press statement released Sunday the Israeli army of attempting to kill six journalists amid assaults on 36 civilians during clashes that broke out Friday in East Jerusalem.
According to the Rasid (Monitor) human rights society, a military unit deliberately targeted an assembly including news correspondents covering clashes that erupted between the troops and residents of the Bab Al-Amoud neighborhood, when soldiers fired rubber bullets and toxic gas used for the third time against unarmed civilians. The soldiers had intent of premeditated murder, the statement says.
Victims were hospitalized after sustaining breathing difficulties and losing consciousness.
Rasid expressed surprise at US silence over Israeli assaults on news reporters.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "did not leave any media platform to broadcast her condemnation of attacks on journalists and protesters in Tunisia and Egypt," the statement reads.
http://bit.ly/ejpXVe
Cabinet cancels Galant appointment, postpones decision on Gantz
Before Tuesday's High Court hearing, government votes to officially cancel Galant's chief of staff appointment, postpones decision on Gantz. Barak says timing of land affair reports 'not random'; Ashkenazi: I'm leaving army in professional hands.
The High Court of Justice hasn't quite shut the door on Yoav Galant, at least until Tuesday's hearing into the appeal the general submitted against the cancellation of his appointment as chief of staff over the land affair, but the government decided not to wait.
During its weekly meeting Sunday, the cabinet officially cancelled Galant's appointment to the post of IDF chief of staff, but it did not vote over the appointment of Benny Gantz as the new designated army chief. A senior IDF officer told Ynet that "Galant is fighting for his life and acting just as he would have in the army: Going all the way."
The formerly designated chief of staff had earlier presented his two-part appeal before the High Court of Justice. He requested that the judges issue an interim order to freeze the appointment process in order to allow the Turkel Committee to reconsider his appointment, which was cancelled over the Moshav Amikam land grab affair.
While Judge Elyakim Rubinstein did reject Galant's appeal for an interim order, he stated that Galant's claims against the cancellation of his appointment should be brought before high court judges, who will convene to discuss the issue on Tuesday.
But even before Tuesday's hearing, the government voted to cancel Galant appointment's. However, it chose to wait for the High Court decision before proceeding with Gantz's appointment.
Galant's decision to present the appeal a short time before the weekly cabinet, meeting which was set to present Gantz's appointment before the ministers, surprised some of senior IDF officers, including those thought to be close friends of Galant's.
Ehud Barak told his fellow ministers that Galant "would have been approved as defense minister," adding that "anyone who thinks that the delay of the land affair upheaval until recent weeks is random and unrelated doesn't know where he is living."
Minister Limor Livnat criticized the media's coverage of the affair, saying "a terrible injustice" was done the general, who she claimed was "skinned alive."
Uzi Landau was the only minister to vote against the cancellation of Galant's appointment.
Following the vote, Minister Moshe Yaalon said, "It feels as though we're on the right track again” I admire Galant, but it seems he failed in matters related to morality and abiding by the law."
One officer, who was among Galant's subordinates during Operation Cast Lead needed only three words in order to describe Galant's qualities: "Daring, persistence and resolve". He explained, "that's what drove him in the military and that is his driving force now %u2013 in the courtrooms."
Outgoing Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Sunday that he was leaving "with a feeling of fulfillment and with the knowledge that Israel's defense is in professional hands". He then added: "I have no doubt that the IDF will continue to focus on the fundamental issues."
IDF gets ready for Gantz
In spite of the lack of an official decision, the IDF has, at least on a symbolic level, begun preparing for Gantz to become Israel's 20th chief of staff. Many voices within the IDF admitted that the system needs stability more than anything else and yet, senior commanders stated that if Galant wasn't appointed chief of staff, he should not be allowed to retire from the UDF when the stain of the land affair hovers over him.
"The complex situation created by recent events means that Galant won't be able to clear his name through the Turkel Committee," explained one commander. "Dozens of media appearances by both Galant and his friends and supporters couldn't remove the dark cloud that hangs over him. This is why it is natural and right for him to come before the Turkel Committee for a second time with all the new paperwork and documents. He needs to allow the committee to say its piece."
The same commander stressed that either way, Galant deserves credit for his many years of service, mostly at the 'tip' of the IDF, which is why he called on those responsible to give Galant a chance to leave the IDF with his head held high. Others stated that they are convinced that Defense Minister Barak still had Galant in his sights for the role of chief of staff.
And yet, they explained that despite the complicated circumstances and Barak's problematic relationship with IDF chief Ashkenazi, whose term in office Barak refused to extend, the process went ahead so quickly that Galant was deprived of his chance to appear before the Turkel Committee.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4024583,00.html
Israel appoints new chief of staff
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has appointed Major General Benny Gantz as the regime's 20th armed forces chief of staff after months of infighting among the high command over the issue.
Barak said he has Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's backing for promoting Gantz, a former deputy chief of staff, to head Israel's military, Israeli media reported.
The decision was taken for "the urgent need at this time to dispel the uncertainties surrounding the appointment of a chief of general staff," Barak said.
The choice of Gantz has to be ratified by the government on Sunday and also by an ethics committee.
Barak's first choice for the post, Major General Yoav Galant, was ruled out by the attorney general and the state comptroller last Tuesday after he was accused of illegally obtaining land around his house on Moshav Amikam.
Galant commanded Israel's 22-day war on the Gaza Strip in December-January 2008, during which at least 1,400 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians were killed and thousands of others were displaced.
Former chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Barak were "no longer able to work together," Israeli daily Ha'aretz quoted Netanyahu as saying.
Tension between the two increased amid calls by politicians and public figures to extend Ashkenazi's term as chief of staff beyond his scheduled retirement on February 14 and until the cabinet appoints a suitable successor.
Barak has formerly accused Ashkenazi of ethical and professional flaws.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163942.html
29 oct 2012, 12:26 , Respect -
Maria 6 febr 2011
European doctors denied access to Palestinians in Israeli prisons
Group: Prisoners denied basic needs
29 oct 2012, 12:26 , Respect -
Maria 7 febr 2011
Three injured as Israeli army fires upon rock collectors
Forty-five year old Abdallah Rabea Odwan works as a rock collector around Beit Lahiya. On the morning of 6th February, he and many others were working outside Abu Samra, around 700 meters from the border, when they were fired upon by Israeli soldiers. Abdallah was hit once below the knee and taken to the Kamal Udwan Hospital. Thankfully, no bones were broken, and doctors say he will recover over the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, 19 year old Bilal Abdallah Al Daour and 22 year old Ibrahim El Nabaheen were fired upon whilst working in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood to the east of Gaza city. Hundreds of people were out collecting rocks in the area, about 500 meters from the Israeli border. At around 8:30am the first shots rang out, but no one was injured. The soldiers stopped shooting and, assuming it was safe, people returned to work.
An hour later, the soldiers started shooting again; Bilal was shot in the knee and Ibrahim was shot in the pelvis. The other workers rushed them to a nearby car, but the car was out of gas due to the shortages caused by the closing of the tunnels under the Egyptian border. Bilal was finally taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza city; when we found him, he did not know where Ibrahim had been taken.
These are not the first rock collectors shot by the IDF, as countless others have been shot over the last two years in the ever expanding buffer zone. Originally 50 meters under the Oslo agreements, it was expanded to 150 meters in 2000, and then to 300 meters in January 2010. However, the buffer zone isn't really 300 meters: Adballah was shot 700 meters from the border; others have been shot at up to 2 km from the border it is as big as the Israeli military wants to make it on any given day.
The Gazan economy has been choked by the three year Israeli siege. Unemployment is widespread, and so poverty combined with the impossibility of importing cement to rebuild the thousands of homes destroyed and damaged during Operation Cast Lead forces people to collect rocks. These new injuries are yet another result of Israel's inhumane policy of shooting anyone it thinks is too close to the border, even if they are forced there, risking their lives to feed their families.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/02/16538/
29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 7 febr 2011
Israeli gunboats strike Palestinian fishermen
Gaza Strip, (Pal Telegraph) -Israeli gunboats stationed off Gaza city shore opened Monday heavy fire at Palestinian fishermen; no causalities were reported.
Local sources said that the fishermen were enforced to leave the sea after being targeted by Israeli fire .
It is worth to mention that Palestinian fisherman regularly are attacked by Israeli navy along the coast of Gaza Strip, causing great damage with the fishermen's equipments .
There are nearly 3500 Palestinian fishermen in Gaza; however, Israel used to attack and detain them from Palestinian waters, leaving several families without support as well as destroying Gaza economy.
http://bit.ly/e4CgYn
29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 7 febr 2011
The circles in the sky over Gaza
The sky over Gaza City, 21 January 2011. (Yasmeen El Khoudary)
People keep talking of a new war. They tell you about their neighbors -- they're probably too shy to admit that its their family, not their neighbors -- who already started stocking up on food items and candles in preparation for the upcoming war. "People are really scared," they tell you, using "people" instead of "we." Everyone -- groundless news reports and loud rumors -- is saying that they can hear the war drums, can't you?!
Well, to me war has already started, and Israel is already chanting victory, given the very conversation the two of us are having. About two weeks ago I saw what looked to me like a confused Israeli pilot flying around in his F-16 jet, drawing circles in the sky. People immediately took it as a sign, a threat and a signal that war was coming. They even made up memories from back in 2008, and were convinced that on 27 December 2008, an Israeli jet, possibly even the same one, drew the same circles in the sky, and that was when war started.
Well, congratulations Israel for winning the psychological war on Gaza. No, you don't find it enough that you are honored to be the only power on the planet that finds purpose in physically besieging a whole population, but you also want to drive them mad. Only when people started to heave a sigh of relief and take baby steps towards recovering from the 2008-09 war do you start disseminating rumors about a new war. What a fool you are, even if you think you're winning!
Sure, some people actually believe your rumors and have already started buying supplies in preparation for the "eventual" war and shortage in all kinds of supplies, from baby formula to medicine. But have you heard of a single family that prepared itself for leaving Gaza? That question sounds absurd to you, doesn't it? How can anyone question the possibility of running away in times of fear? In your traditions, you build and hide in safe shelters, prepare mass evacuation plans for your citizens and buy tons of gas masks as soon as you anticipate the launching of even the smallest rocket. In our traditions, people only buy candles to light their homes and flour to bake bread while you flatten their cities to the ground with your merciless army. They seek no safe havens and nor are they provided with any kind of protection against gas, let alone phosphorous bombs. They seek protection from God and in their unity and their love, as they find war a good time for families, or whoever remains amongst them, to gather and share love and warmth.
You know, Israel, you remind me of the scientist and the frog. You -- in this case the scientist -- order the frog to jump, and it obeys. You cut off its arms, order it to jump, then it struggles to jump. You cut off its legs, order it to jump but it doesn't jump. You then proudly announce your discovery: when a frog is limbless, it becomes deaf, and so it cannot jump. Yes, deafness caused the frog to lose that physical skill, not the fact that you amputated its four limbs. Is that not what you are trying to do to the Palestinians every single day? You have been slowly cutting off our limbs for the past sixty years, one by one. You have been forcing us into getting used to a life with one missing limb, two missing limbs, three missing limbs, and now four missing limbs slowly as the years go by. You run your experiments on us and show the world that we can still jump. When you cut off that last limb, however, you claim that we were unable to jump because we suddenly turned deaf. In real world terms, that translates into you blaming us for the misery that shapes our every day life, and take your occupation, your wars, your siege and your merciless acts out of the equation.
We might be accustomed to a limbless life, but that doesn't mean that we lost our ability to jump. We will crawl on the floor and catch our own food. You will always be the oppressor, rather the foolish oppressor with false scientific theories, at least in this case. Living a limbless life means that we will continue to live any kind of life as long as we live it in our country, where we legitimately belong. Israel, when you cut off our limbs, we lose our ability to jump because you cut off our limbs, not because we turned deaf. However, we would indeed turn a deaf ear to your threats and your illogical claims; because frankly, nothing you say or do will succeed in making us even think of leaving this place. Some of us might see the circles in the sky as a sign of war, others might see it as a barbed wire fence stating that even the sky has a limit. To the frog, however, the circles in the sky are reason to keep its head high towards the sun, regardless of the missing limbs.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11779.shtml
(12 jan 2011)
AmoonaE
2yrs ago,Israeli terrorists left similar signs in #Gaza sky before Cast Lead massacre. Don't lose Gaza from sight. http://twitpic.com/3pgdmt
This pic has been taken recently in #Gaza. Last time Palestinians recall having seen it was on Cast Lead massacre's eve.
marks left by Israeli planes. The rumor of a new war is growing bigger in #Gaza.
AmoonaE Today? Who took that pic?
AmoonaE @georgehale the pic has been taken today by a friend of my friend. Several witnesses saw the planes.
Army Chief Ashkenazi: Prepare for all-out war
In his final days on the job, Chief of Staff Ashkenazi warns about growing radicalization in region; given recent changes across Middle East, Israel must prepare for a battle in several theaters, he says.
Given recent changes in the Middle East, Israel must prepare for a battle in several theaters, outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday at the Herzliya Conference.
"The connection between the different players requires us to contend with more than one theater," he said.
The radical camp in the Middle East is gaining strength, Ashkenazi warned, adding that "the moderate camp among the traditional Arab leadership is weakening." He also made note of what he characterized as the "fascinating phenomenon" whereby power is shifting to the people of the region thanks to online social networks.
The army chief said that in the wake of the growing threat of radical Islam among Israel's neighbors, the defense budget would have to be boosted in the coming years. The main change faced by the army is the widening spectrum of threats, he said.
"Because of this spectrum, we must prepare for a conventional war it would be a mistake to prepare for non-conventional war or limited conflicts and then expect that overnight the forces will operate in an all-out-war," he said.
Praising Israel's youngsters
However, Ashkenazi said that both Hamas and Hezbollah pose only a limited threat to Israel at this time.
"I do not underestimate Hamas or Hezbollah, but they cannot take over the Negev or Galilee," he said.
Hezbollah and Hamas understood that encountering the IDF on the classic battlefields is lethal, and are therefore fighting out of urban areas, the army chief added.
Ashkenazi also praised Israel's youths and said they possess impressive qualities despite their lowly image. The army chief also highlighted the growing desire among Israel's youngsters to join combat units.
"We are going to the schools, and I want to tell you that these young people, with the piercing and tattoos or whatever you call it, are enlisting," he said. "These are incredibly high-quality youths."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4025266,00.html
Analysts: Israeli threats to re-capture Philadelphi only mind games
GAZA, (PIC)-- Analysts say Israeli threats to restore control of the Salahuddin axis are only mind games, assuring that the occupation would pay a hefty price for such a move.
Analysts specializing in Palestinian affairs say Israel is too weak to occupy Salahuddin, known by the Israelis as Philadelphi, a belt separating Gaza and Egypt. It is only trying to break the Palestinians' high morale stemming from popular protests in Tunisia and Egypt, they said.
Israel has many scenarios for attacking the Gaza Strip and Arab lands, but has no chance to succeed, political analyst Mohammed Abdo tells the PIC, adding that military action would be answered with resistance and a new wave of disapproval on the international level.
Occupation would be impossible at this stage, he said, "because the strip is narrow and long and the enemy can be easily targeted there. Also, the future Egyptian regime is expected to be more wary of normalization of affairs with the enemy and will therefore not give Israel the green light to attack Gaza or re-occupy part of it.
Another analyst Dr. Hassan Adwan said in statements to the PIC that Israeli leaders are trying to trigger confusion break Arab morale that flared following events in Tunisia and Egypt, and instill fear in the ranks of those who try to change the existing strategies with it, especially in Egypt.
Similarly, Hamas spokesman addressed the threats saying Israel would pay a hefty material and political price if it tried to materialize threats without making significant gains.
The Palestinians stand ready for any coming aggression, he said.
http://bit.ly/eNWu9D
...Read more 29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 7 febr 2011
IOF troops storm Tulkarem, clash with citizens
Ten civilians arrested during Israeli invasions to West Bank communities
29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 8 febr 2011
IOF troops round up seven West Bankers
Center: Detainee in need of urgent medical attention
29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 9 febr 2011
Palestinian injured in clashes south of Nablus
NABLUS (Ma’an) -- A teenager was hospitalized Wednesday morning after being shot in the leg by Israeli forces with a rubber-coated bullet, as witnesses said the force entered the village of Urif.
South of the illegal Yitzhar settlement, locals said the military patrol sparked clashes as a group of armored cars drive through the area, prompting teens and children on their way to class to throw stones and yell.
Medical sources at the Palestinian Red Crescent identified the injured teen as 18-year-old Ahmad Muhammad Shehadeh, who was moderately injured in his left leg by rubber bullets and was taken to Rafedia Hospital in Nablus.
Shehadeh is the second teen to have been hospitalized with injuries from Israeli rubber-coated bullets in two days.
On Tuesday, an 18-year-old was hit four times with the bullets, used as part of what Israeli military officials call "riot dispersal mechanisms."
The teen was shot in the back, hands and neck, medics said, as he walked near an Israeli military patrol in the southern West Bank town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron.
An Israeli military spokesman said troops conducting a search operation identified a group of approximately 20 individuals throwing rocks at the force, and responded with riot dispersal mechanisms. The spokesman said soldiers were aware of one person who was moderately injured.
According to witnesses, the teen was later detained by Israeli forces, but a spokesman for the military said he could not confirm the report.
http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358271
29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 9 febr 2011
IOF troops shoot, wound Palestinian teen
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- A Palestinian teen was shot and inured on Tuesday night when Israeli occupation forces (IOF) shot rubber-coated bullets at houses in Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, eyewitnesses reported.
They said that the IOF soldiers were spraying Palestinian homes in the village with rubber bullets which wounded Shadi Khalil, 17.
IOF soldiers also apprehended the two brothers Razi and Bakir Z'aqiq in the same village on Tuesday night.
Over the past few days, IOF soldiers rounded up ten inhabitantsthats of the village that witnessed repeated IOF raids.
http://bit.ly/eJ6qP2 29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 9 febr 2011
Ten Palestinians including women and children wounded in IOF raids
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli warplanes launched three air raids on the Gaza Strip overnight wounding ten citizens including three women and two children, medical sources reported on Wednesday.
Adham Abu Salmiya, the spokesman for medical services, told the PIC reporter that the Israeli F-16s bombed a medicines warehouse east of Gaza city wounding three women, two children, and three men.
He added that the warehouse was completely destroyed while a nearby carpentry was also damaged, noting that the Gaza Strip already suffers shortage in medicines.
The PIC reporter said that the raids targeted a warehouse in Jabal Al-Rayyes starting a big fire and causing big damage to the carpentry and nearby houses and installations.
Local sources said that the Israeli warplanes launched three raids that started with shelling a deserted area in Zaitun suburb east of Gaza city with at least one missile.
They added that the raids then targeted Barkan position for the Islamic Jihad Movement's armed wing injuring two citizens before raiding the warehouse area.
Jihad militants retaliated to the Israeli occupation forces' incursion in northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday by firing mortar shells at 1948 occupied lands.
http://bit.ly/dUjYdQ
(0:50) Israel airstrikes on Gaza injure 10 (3:23) Life in Gaza 02.09.11. Israel Deliberately Bombs Medical Supply Building
Ken O'Keefe reports from Gaza 02.09.11 Medical Supply Building Bombed
10 Palestinians injured in Gaza strikes
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Ten Palestinians were injured Wednesday morning in Israeli air strikes which started after midnight and hit in a series of explosions running from the northern end of the Strip to the south.
Spokesman of the higher committee of ambulance and emergency services Adham Abu Salmiya said that eight were lightly injured including two children and three women. The injured were transferred to the Kamal Odwan Hospital north of Gaza City.
Abu Salmiya said one strike targeted a medicine warehouse east of Gaza City. The strike obliterated the warehouse and damaged a carpenters workshop next door, he said.
The Israeli warplanes dropped another two missiles on an empty area east of Gaza City with no injuries reported.
Further south, two Palestinians were injured when missiles hit a training ground used by Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades.
Medical sources said the injured were civilians who lived adjacent to the site.
Additional strikes hit near the tunnel area of the Gaza-Egypt border, where no injuries were reported.
An Israeli military statement said the last strike targeted a "terror tunnel," which was "intended to be used by terrorists to infiltrate into Israel and to carry out terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers."
The earlier bombings a "terror activity site" in the central Gaza Strip, in addition to a "second terror activity site" in the north.
The statement noted that "direct hits were confirmed," and that in two of the sites "secondary blasts were identified."
According to the military, the sites were targeted "in response to intensive rocket fire into Israeli territory over the course of the day." during which the military said five military-use projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip landing in southern Israel.
Brigades say shell hits Israeli patrol
Hours after the strikes, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, said militants fired a projectile on an Israeli military jeep east of Gaza City's Ash-Shujayiya neighborhood.
According to a statement sent by the group, Israeli soldiers entered the area to rescue the targeted patrol.
In their statement, the brigades said they would remain steadfast to the option of resistance and would continue to confront "the crimes of the Israeli occupation."
An Israeli military spokesman said he was not immediately familiar with the report, but said he would investigate.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358260
IDF strikes in Gaza after mortar fire
Palestinians report eight people lightly injured in Air Force attack in Strip. Army says bombed terror targets, including tunnel slated to be used to smuggle terrorists into Israel.
According to the IDF Spokesperson's Office, the bombed tunnel was slated to be used to smuggle terrorists into Israel for the purpose of terror attacks. The army added that all targets were hit.
"The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to target Israel's citizens and the IDF's soldiers, and views Hamas as solely responsible for what is happening in the Gaza Strip and for maintaining the calm in the area," the army said in a statement.
According to the Palestinians, one of the targets was a rocket manufacturing facility. A fire broke out in the place after it was hit by the IAF missile, they said. According to another report, an area near the Jabaliya refugee camp was also bombed.
Sources in the Gaza hospital said two women and two men were lightly injured in the airstrikes.
At the same time, blasts were heard in the Gaza vicinity communities. A frightened resident told Ynet that "the entire city of Netivot is trembling." Another woman said, "Three strong explosions were heard in the past hour. I don't know if they were caused by the IDF's activity in the Strip or by rockets landing without an alert."
4 mortar shells hit Israel
Four mortar shells were fired into Israel from Gaza in two different barrages on Tuesday. The Color Red rocket alert system was sounded at 11 am in Gaza vicinity communities, followed by a loud blast caused by a mortar shell which exploded in a parking lot in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council.
The first mortar shell damaged one car. A second one landed in a nearby field and damaged a hose. There were no reports of injuries.
About three hours later, the Color Red alert system was activated once again and two more explosions were heard in the area. There were no reports of injuries.
The al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad's military wing, claimed responsibility, saying the mortars were directed at a military post east of the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis.
A rocket fired by Palestinian gunmen on Friday hit an open area within the Sdot Negev Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The Qassam was launched three days after a Grad barrage from the Strip the first rockets to be fired into Israel since the start of the popular uprising in Egypt.
A Grad rocket landed near the southern city of Netivot on Tuesday. Four people suffered from shock, and a parked car and a road sustained damage. Several minutes later, another Grad was fired at the town of Ofakim. Later that evening, a third rocket hit an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4025917,00.html
29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 9 febr 2011
IOF sweeps West Bank arresting at least 7, including man from Hamas
IOA denies Palestinian prisoner urgently needed dental treatment
IPS bargains to heal attempted murder victim for his silence
Daily Roundup: Four Arrested near Hebron, Gunfire near Nablus, Assault in Sheikh Jarrah
29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 10 febr 2011
Israel Bombs Medical Supply Building
(5:04) Israel Bombs Medical Supply Building — Ken O'Keefe in Gaza, Feb. 8, 2011
This video was sent to me by Ken O'Keefe from Gaza. I assume that the attack happened on Tuesday night, February 8th, 2011.
Ken O'Keefe wrote: Israel has intentionally dropped two large bombs on the AL-Qerem Medical Supplies Factory in Jabalya, Gaza. The building is totally destroyed, as was all of the medical supplies and equipement. Gaza is already in crisis mode for lack of medical supplies, this bombing will mean even the most basic of medical needs will continue to be impossible to satisfy.
Comment from me, Anthony Lawson The Israelis are again demonstrating that the welfare and health of the people of Gaza mean absolutely nothing to them. They will probably come up with some excuse that rubbing alcohol can be used in bombs or rockets. Is there no end to their viciousness?
Health ministry: The bombing of medical aid depot worsened crisis in Gaza
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian ministry of health warned that the crisis of medicines in the besieged Gaza Strip was aggravated after Israel bombed a medical aid warehouse at an early hour Wednesday morning.
Minister of health Basem Naim said in a news conference inside the bombed depot that Gaza already suffers from acute shortage of medical supplies and the bombing worsened the problem and noticeably affected the work of hospitals.
Naim told journalists that this store is well known by international organizations, especially, the world health organization, the Red Cross, the network of NGOs.
The minister accused the de facto ministry of health in Ramallah city of being behind the bombing of the warehouse after it claimed earlier that Hamas was hiding medicines in secret stores.
He appealed to international health and human rights organizations to urgently intervene to provide Gaza with its needs of medicines and medical supplies.
http://bit.ly/fVqiSd 29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 10 febr 2011
Israeli Army occupies roof in Silwan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli Army has occupied the roof of a Palestinian building in East Jerusalem's Silwan district.
The military order is effective until August 5, 2011, but the residents have been given 14 days to appeal. They are prohibited from ascending to the building's roof.
The army has taken the roof as a military posts since several months after a visit by the Israeli Minister of Interior to Silwan with intent to enhance the security of Jewish settlers, leading to a recent rise in clashes. Locals have complained of harassment by the soldiers.
The structure contains the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood's main mosque and the houses of seven Palestinian families.
Meanwhile in Sheikh Jarrah, Israeli police threatened locals it would take extreme punitive measures over ongoing confrontations sparked by provocations by Jewish settlers in the area.
Police said they would arrest or exile anyone who confronts Jewish settlers who reside in Palestinian homes in the East Jerusalem district.
The settlers had seized the homes more than a year back and turned them into settlement outposts from where Palestinians are frequently harassed.
http://bit.ly/ePPlyg
29 oct 2012, 12:27 , Respect -
Maria 10 febr 2011
New Gaza factory, jobs destroyed in Israeli attack
What remains of a plastics factory after it was bombed by Israel earlier this week.
"I still cannot believe my eyes as I see the machines of our new factory, scattered to all corners," said Rabah al-Hatto as he surveyed the rubble of his recently-established plastic water tank factory in northeast Gaza, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes early yesterday. "What have I and the twenty workers here done to find ourselves jobless?" al-Hatto told The Electronic Intifada.
The factory was due to start distributing its products in the local market in two weeks. "I am completely shocked," the trim-bearded al-Hatto said. "I never imagined that the factory in which I and my partners invested all our money and energy, would become rubble." As he spoke, al-Hatto was surrounded by workers, friends, reporters and a field worker from a human rights group.
"Yesterday [Tuesday] afternoon, we left the factory to go home. Just before 1am on Wednesday morning I heard Israeli warplanes bombing the area, but I did not imagine it was the factory. Later in the morning, I came to work to find our machines and the ceiling torn apart," Bashar al-Wehaidi, a technician in the factory, told The Electronic Intifada. "Everything in this 1,200 square meter building was hit."
Israeli air strikes early Wednesday hit a number of sites in northern Gaza, injuring eight persons, according to medical sources. Three men, three women and two children were hit by debris and shrapnel that struck area homes. The Israeli attacks also destroyed a medical storage building and damaged a school.
Near to where owner Rabah al-Hatto was seated on a chair at his factory site, there was a large truck badly damaged by the Israeli bombing and a heap of aluminum and iron bars on the ground.
"Please look! Please look! A modern truck has been struck before it even traveled the streets of Gaza to distribute our products. Why?" al-Hatto asked. Commenting on Israeli claims that the attack was in retaliation for several rockets fired from Gaza at Israel, al-Hatto said, "Oh my God! What kind of a response is this!"
Now in his early forties, al-Hatto told The Electronic Intifada the story behind his factory. "A year ago, my brother, others partners and I decided to build this factory," he said. "I used to work as a steelworker, but with the lack of steel due to the Israeli blockade, I decided to invest all my savings in manufacturing plastic water tanks."
Al-Hatto estimates the losses to him and his partners from the Israeli attack to be $300,000, as well as the incomes for the twenty now jobless workers and their families.
Bashar al-Wehaidi, the now unemployed technician, said that the attack was a complete injustice by Israel. "We have been working tirelessly over the past year in order for this important facility to see the light. May God compensate us such a great loss," he said.
In the vicinity of the factory, which is located in the al-Qerem neighborhood in the northeast of the Gaza Strip, there are a number of other facilities hit in the Israeli attack. Among them are a large medical storage building, a primary school for 600 students, as well private homes. The school's ceiling and windows were damaged, forcing the administration to suspend classes until further notice.
According to the Gaza-based health ministry, the al-Qerem medical storage facility was hit by a missile fired from an F-16 fighter jet, causing enormous damage.
"The attack on this store constitutes a flagrant Israeli occupation violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention for the protection of civilian persons in time of war, as well as other relevant world health conventions," Dr. Munir al-Bursh, chief of Gaza's medical stores with the Gaza health ministry, told The Electronic Intifada at his office in Gaza City on Wednesday.
The bombed facility is one of nine storage sites run by the Gaza health ministry according to al-Bursh, who estimates the losses from the Israeli attack at $400,000.
"This is a great loss, in light of the four-year-long Israeli blockade," Dr. al-Bursh said. "Recently we have listed 183 drugs that our stores are lacking as Israel continues to delay deliveries through the crossings into Gaza."
Israeli army sources said on Wednesday that their latest air strikes on Gaza were in response to five homemade rockets that landed in southern Israel causing no injuries and minor property damage.
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