- 24 sept 2011
Soldiers fire on Palestinian car near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces opened fire on a Palestinian car south of Bethlehem early Friday, witnesses said, injuring two members of the same family who were also arrested.
Muhammad Ghannam, 41, and his daughter Qamar, 17, from Dura village in Hebron, were injured in the incident and subsequently arrested, according to witnesses.
They had been driving on a main road in the Tuqu village which links several settlements.
Israeli and Palestinian ambulances arrived at the scene.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=423077
30 oct 2012, 14:51 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 14:52 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 14:52 , Respect -
Maria 29 sept 2011
In Gaza, fishermen are under constant attack for trying to make a living
(3:59) The Oliva accompanies fishermen on 28 September 2011
Today, the Oliva, a monitoring boat manned by the Civil Peace Service Gaza project, accompanied three hasaka boats (the size of small rowboats) and one trawler as they attempted to fish. The Israeli naval boats relentlessly pursued the Oliva, until the crew decided to retreat back to shore only three hours after they launched. The Oliva's previous engine was destroyed by the Israeli navy in July and replacing the engine again is not an option given financial limitations.
The permissible fishing area has been reduced from twenty nautical miles under the 1994 Jericho-Gaza addendum of Oslo to twelve under the 2005 Bertini commitments, enforced at six nm and since Operation Cast Lead, the fishing limit is three nautical miles. (This doesn't include the times in which Israel violently prevented boats from sailing at all after the government takeover by Hamas and during Cast Lead itself.)
But Israel doesn't just blockade the Strip by air, land and sea. Deliberate and violent actions are taken to prevent Palestinians from farming in the arable 'buffer zone' and fishing in Gazan territorial waters, even within the imposed three nautical mile limit. International activists are therefore inclined to look for ways to raise awareness of these issues and use their presence as a deterrent to the violence. This has backfired in the past, not just for the volunteers but for Gazans as well.
In November 2008, Israel arrested and later deported three International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists (including Vittorio Arrigoni) for accompanying fishermen. The navy also arrested the fifteen Palestinian fishermen aboard and confiscated their only source of livelihood, their three boats. After significant legal and media efforts, the Palestinians and their boats were released (albeit damaged by the captors). Only one month later, Israel bombed the port during Cast Lead and destroyed the boats ISM had spent days working to retrieve.
The ISM ceased to accompany the fishermen following the November incident worried that their presence would have a negative effect and the fishermen continued to be harassed, arrested and fired upon. The launch of CPSG in April was the embodiment of a renewed belief in the idea that challenging the Israeli siege from inside Gaza is not impossible and that international attention can mitigate Israeli violence. Several human rights organizations have thrown their money and efforts into this hope; that the Oliva will document the Israeli violations of international law and Palestinian rights and that the world will care.
Only time will tell if this project is successful, but the Oliva will continue to sail, document Israeli aggression and provide support and solidarity for Gazan fishermen.
Sasha Gelzin is the media coordinator for Civil Peace Service Gaza and resides in Washington D.C.
http://fwd4.me/0CgP
30 oct 2012, 14:52 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 14:52 , Respect -
Maria 30 sept 2011
Israeli warplanes raids central Gaza Strip
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli warplanes raided the central Gaza Strip early Friday morning causing damage but no injuries, medics and the army said.
Witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli fighter jets fired on a site used by the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, near al-Maghazi refugee camp.
Gaza medical officials said no injuries were reported.
The Israeli military said it targeted "a terror activity site" in Gaza, adding that "a direct hit was confirmed" in a statement.
The attack was in response to a rocket fired into southern Israel from Gaza on Thursday evening which damaged an abandoned building, the army said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424870
Israel attacks Gaza refugee camp
The Israeli Air Force has once again attacked the Gaza Strip, this time targeting a refugee camp in the central areas of the coastal territory.
On Thursday, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a security checkpoint in the Maghazi refugee camp, AFP reported, citing the residents of the camp.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Last month, 27 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
The offensives continue as Tel Aviv keeps up its 2007-present siege on the enclave, which has been depriving 1.5 million Palestinians there of food, medicine, fuel, and other necessities.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201907.html
30 oct 2012, 14:52 , Respect -
Maria 30 sept 2011
Army invades Jenin and Other Villages
The Israeli army invaded, on Friday morning, the West Bank city of Jenin. The Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA) reported that a large military force invaded the city and Jenin refugee camp in addition to some other surrounding villages in the early hours of Friday Morning.
Eyewitness reported that twelve military vehicles swept most of their neighborhoods and streets for five hours and fired grenades and machine gun fire, however no injuries were reported.
The Israeli military has also invaded many other nearby cities accompanied by military vehicles touring the streets and neighborhoods for several hours, no detentions were reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62146
- 17 sept 2011
Beirut conf. urges ban on cluster bombs
(2:52) Beirut conf. urges ban on cluster bombs - Press TV News
Participants in a conference on cluster munitions in the Lebanese capital Beirut have condemned the use of cluster bombs across the globe, including Israel's bombardment of Lebanon in 2006, Press TV reports.
During the four-day conference, delegates from approximately 130 countries gathered in Beirut for the second conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
The participants discussed major provisions of the treaty which outlaws the use, production, stockpiling or transfer of cluster munitions.
Lebanon is one the world's victims of these weapons, with the Israeli military dropping as many as four million cluster bombs on the country during the 33-day war in the summer of 2006.
The use of cluster bombs by the Israeli military against the Lebanese people is considered a major driving factor behind the adoption of the convention in May 2008.
“Israel used extensively cluster munitions in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war, which provided a great help and encouraged international community to get this treaty done in 2008,” Ayman Soruos from the Protection of Armament and Consequences told Press TV.
The foreign delegations and NGO members also visited the most severely affected areas in south Lebanon and met Lebanese civilians who fell victim to Israeli cluster bombs.
“Many delegates who came here, diplomats who are used to going Geneva, to New York and sitting in a room and looking at paper all day and debating resolutions… this is very a different experience for them to go down to meet the people who have been affected by cluster ammunitions,” said May Wareham from Human Rights Watch.
Many highlighted the importance of these tours, saying they exposed the Israeli conduct during times of war with Lebanon.
Lebanese officials appeared optimistic that hosting such a conference will serve as a deterrent against the future use of cluster munitions by Israel.
The conference ended with the issuance of the Beirut Declaration which strongly condemns the use of cluster bombs anywhere and by any party.
Thus far, countries like Israel, along with the US and Russia, have yet to sign the convention on cluster munitions.
Lebanese officials have also sought to bring attention to Israeli cluster bombs attacks on civilians, which has put the lives of many Lebanese at risk.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/199604.html
30 oct 2012, 14:50 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 14:50 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 14:50 , Respect -
Maria 19 sept 2011
Israel attacks Gaza on eve of UN bid
Israeli troops have launched an attack on the northeastern Gaza Strip on the eve of the presentation of the Palestinians' proposal for membership in the United Nations.
The assault targeted an area in the northeast of Gaza City on Monday, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Residential buildings were struck during the offensive, but there are no reports of any casualties so far.
Although Israeli military forces officially withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, they still frequently attack the territory.
The Palestinian Authority will formally submit a request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for approval of Palestine's membership in the world body on September 20, during the 66th session of the UN General Assembly.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/200090.html
30 oct 2012, 14:50 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 14:50 , Respect -
Maria 20 sept 2011
IOF troops raid eastern Gaza
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced 300 meters into eastern Gaza on Monday night after claiming that a locally made rocket was fired from Gaza at the western Negev.
Local sources told the PIC reporter that the IOF unit included army tanks and escorted two huge bulldozers that leveled land amidst intermittent firing at nearby areas.
The Hebrew radio said that the rocket blasted in an open area and did not cause any human or material losses.
http://fwd4.me/0Bsh
30 oct 2012, 14:51 , Respect -
Maria 20 sept 2011
IOF soldiers fire at Palestinian citizens in Al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired at Palestinian citizens in Arub refugee camp in Al-Khalil and at Beit Ummar village to the north of the city on Tuesday, local sources reported.
They said that young men at the entrance to the refugee camp threw stones at the invading troops.
In the village, the IOF soldiers occupied a house that is under construction at a late night hour on Monday prompting clashes with neighbors and civilians in the vicinity.
http://fwd4.me/0BvZ
30 oct 2012, 14:51 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 14:51 , Respect -
Maria 21 sept 2011
PRC fighter shot by Israeli naval forces
GAZA, (PIC)-- A fighter from the Popular Resistance Committees’ military wing Al-Nasser Salaheddin Brigades was shot and injured Wednesday morning in an attack by Israel naval forces.
The fighter was targeted by an Israeli boat as he was stationed at a resistance base near the coast of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, Al-Nasser Salaheddin Brigades said on its homepage.
The injured fighter was transported to a local hospital where his wounds were described as moderate.
http://fwd4.me/0C16
30 oct 2012, 14:51 , Respect -
Maria 21 sept 2011
Yediot: IDF Investigation Confirms All Eilat Attackers Were Egyptian, Not Gazan
Alex Fishman, Yediot Achronot’s veteran security correspondent, and one of the few Israeli journalists skeptical about the official government version of the Eilat terror attack, confirms what many of us knew all along: it was a tissue of lies.
The government reported originally that the Popular Resistance Committees of Gaza were responsible for the attack and that the attackers were affiliated with it.
Then an Egyptian newspaper reported that its military killed three of the attackers and that they were Egyptian.
That’s one of the reasons many of us doubted the official version. Now Fishman reports that in fact, the military investigation confirms that all the militants were Egyptian. It also raises the possibility that at least one of their member was an active duty policeman.
It was Fishman (along with myself and Idan) who asked where the bodies were and why they weren’t identified by Israel. The reporter claimed that the IDF was playing a strange game of poker with Hamas, demanding that the latter acknowledge the dead were Gazan before Israel would release the bodies.
This explains why there were no mourning tents in Gaza and no reports there of any fighters killed by Israel. Ehud Barak knew the knowledge that the attackers were not Gazan, as he claimed, would sink Israel’s entire plan to blame Gaza on the attack and its plan to take vengeance on it instead of the source of the attack, Egypt.
Idan and I have also reported that it is extremely suspicious that Bibi Netanyahu prohibited the Shabak chief, Yoram Cohen, from testifying before the Knesset intelligence committee on the Eilat attack.
This is an unprecedented breach of protocol on the part of the prime minister’s office. It can only be explained by the fact that Bibi doesn’t want Cohen to expose the government to any more ridicule than it’s already facing regarding its ineptitude surrounding the Mavi Marmara attack, and the frantic extraction of Israeli diplomats frm the Cairo embassy while under assault by Cairo protestors.
The prime minister can only explain away so many lies and so much incompetence at any given time. Defending the lies he and Ehud Barak spread about Eilat might be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Miraculously, the IDF still claims, according to Fishman, that the PRC was the author of the attack. (google translation)
Idan Ladau, who’s been one of the sharpest Israeli bloggers covering this issue has written a comprehensive rebuttal of the government’s version. One thing that he notes, and which Amira Hass confirmed in her reporting in Haaretz, is that the Eilat attack was a very complex, sophisticated one which required tremendous logistical and organizational skill. Anyone who knows anything about the PRC knows that their cadre receive elementary training and possess nothing but very light weapons. They simply don’t have the skills, manpower or sophistication to pull this off. The statement by a PRC representative below confirms this.
This report by Time reveals that not only did the PRC deny responsibility, but they continue to do so even after Israel murdered their top commanders in a drone strike:
“If the Israelis have any proof, give it,” says Ahmed Yusuf, a former Hamas official who now runs a Gaza think tank. “I met with these people for the Popular Resistance. They said, ‘We want to distance ourselves from what happened in Eilat and wondered why they were threatening us.’ ”
…”I mean, the operation was still on when they assassinated our people,” says a spokesman for the PRC who goes by the name Abu Mujahed. “The way they controlled and managed to fight for hours, it shows that whoever’s behind it has a very strong organization structure. It’s like they have a military background and experience in how to do this.”
PRC militants, he says, undergo “normal basic military training — small arms, nothing fancy.” Recruits specialize either in small arms or the swift firing of mortars and rockets into Israel. “You have to understand, we’ve only worked against the Israelis on the Gaza front,” says Abu Mujahed. “Up to now, the decision is, you only can operate within your geographical border. This has to do with our strategic thinking. It has to do with our relationship with others — Egypt and the other factions.”
For any who aren’t familiar with Palestinian militant groups, they’re not shy about claiming responsibility for terror attacks against Israelis, especially ones in which there are shahids, martyrs for the Palestinian resistance. Yet still the PRC refuses to conform to the Israeli narrative.
Landau also reveals that SITE, a website monitoring jihadi activity, claims a different terror group claimed responsibility (paid membership required) for the Eilat killings:
A group calling itself “Jama’a Ansar Beit al-Maqdis” (Ansar Jerusalem, or Supporters of Jerusalem), claimed responsibility for the August 18, 2011, multi-stage attacks in Eilat, Israel, in which eight Israelis were killed.
No Israeli media have reported this fact nor seriously challenged the government version that the PRC was responsible.
Landau, who has a delicious ironic sense of humor, credits a group of us “crazy, deluded” bloggers for pursuing this story and not allowing the government to maintain its tissue of lies unchallenged. Note that this is almost precisely the language used by Haaretz’s Avi Issacharoff, in deriding my own version of events. So far, Landau’s and my version is holding up pretty well. Issacharoff’s, not so well.
Landau writes a damning critique of Israel’s behavior after the attack:
Israel knew that the terrorists were not from Gaza and did not receive their orders from Gaza. Even further, Israel dragged Hamas into an escalation of conflict against the latter’s wishes. Israel knowingly lied to its citizens about the origin of the attack and the purpose of its targeted killings [of five PRC leaders and a one year old baby] in Gaza.
The real reasons for the lie:
a) the government of Israel and its security apparatus wanted to drag the Palestinians into a cycle of blood vengeance just before the UN statehood vote, thereby strengthening the militant elements on the other side [i.e. Hamas, PRC at the expense of Fatah] and to frustrate the options for [non-violent] popular resistance, because every militant killed in Gaza further inflames their colleagues;
b) to take the wind out of the sails of the J14 social protest movement and divert the anger of the Israeli public outward [toward Gaza];
and c) to frustrate those demanding drastic reductions in the military budget, part of the platform of the social justice movement.
The IDF investigation further reveals that the only Israeli soldier to be killed in the attack was actually killed after dark by Egyptian forces hunting the terrorists and that the five Egyptian security forces killed were shot in return fire from Israeli forces.
It sounds like the situation was a holy mess. Any legitimate investigation would want to figure out how to avoid this slaughter so that both sides could be shooting at the bad guys instead of killing each other.
http://fwd4.me/0Byv
30 oct 2012, 14:51 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 14:51 , Respect -
Maria 22 sept 2011
Palestinian boy loses left eye in Israeli quelling of demonstrators
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- A Palestinian child lost his left eye on Wednesday when Israeli occupation forces fired teargas canisters at demonstrators near Qalandia in occupied Jerusalem.
Medical sources said that 15-year-old Ahed Wahdan was seriously injured in his left eye when a teargas canister hit him in the face.
They said that he was carried to Ramallah government hospital then to the eye hospital in Jerusalem from where he is expected to be moved to Hadassah hospital in view of his critical condition.
IOF soldiers used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse Palestinian demonstrators who were throwing stones at the soldiers.
The medical sources noted that ten Palestinians were treated on the field for rubber bullet injuries.
Soldiers in plain clothes were deployed in the area to chase and nab those throwing stones and succeeded in detaining a number of them.
http://fwd4.me/0C45
30 oct 2012, 14:51 , Respect -
Maria 30 oct 2012, 14:51 , Respect -
Maria 23 sept 2011
IOF troops kill Palestinian man in Qusra
Man shot dead in West Bank village hours before Mahmoud Abbas's request to the UN for recognition of a Palestinian state.
A Palestinian man has been shot dead in a clash with Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank.
Hours before President Mahmoud Abbas's address to the United Nations general assembly and his formal request for recognition of a Palestinian state, the man, identified as Issam Badran, 35, was shot in the neck, according to witnesses including an Associated Press reporter.
The incident began with a warning broadcast made over mosque speakers in Qusra of an approach by settlers from a nearby outpost. Scores of village men and youths headed towards a hill where around 20 settlers had gathered, waving Israeli flags.
Israeli troops arrived and fired tear gas, then live rounds. Settlers also fired their weapons.
Qusra has been the scene of repeated incursions by settlers in recent weeks, including an attack on a mosque in which tyres were set alight inside the building and the walls defaced with Hebrew graffiti.
Elsewhere, sporadic clashes between Palestinian protesters and the Israeli military broke out in East Jerusalem and across the West Bank on Friday.
Several hundred young Palestinians, swathed in Palestinian flags, their faces covered with scarves, gathered at Qalandiya checkpoint to throw stones, in defiance of Abbas's call for non-violent demonstration.
"We're not listening to Abu Mazen [Abbas], we never do," said one 20-year-old student, clutching several rocks in his hand. "Really we're just playing. It's a game we play every week. We want to send a message that after 60 years of occupation, we're still here."
One group of youths marched towards a line of Israeli troops holding aloft an American flag with the word "veto" printed on before torching it. Others threw rocks and miniature molotov cocktails at the advancing soldiers.
On the other side of the separation wall, Israeli police reported five arrests in East Jerusalem for rock throwing in an afternoon described by spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld as "relatively quiet".
The arrest of Hamze Jaber, 17, in the neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud sparked outrage. "He did nothing. He just saw the soldiers, got scared and ran. They chased him and jumped on him. Now he'll be in prison for maybe two months," said Jamil Abu Madi, 27, a local who struggled to hold back furious young boys from throwing stones at retreating Israeli soldiers.
"They closed Al-Aqsa mosque today so we just prayed on the street. Why? Because of a Palestinian state? We just want to live."
In the village of Nabi Saleh, protesters burned Israeli flags and posters of US president Barack Obama in an expression of rage over his UN speech this week, widely seen as overtly sympathetic to Israel. Police fired teargas at the protesters.
There were further clashes in the villages of Bil'in and Ni'lin. Confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli troops in West Bank villages are a routine Friday occurrence.
http://fwd4.me/0CAf
Palestinian shot dead by Israeli soldiers
A Palestinian man has been shot dead by Israeli troops after they fired live bullets to break up a demonstration in the West Bank city of Nablus.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/200775.html
24 sept 2011
One Palestinian killed_ many injured by Israeli forces
(2:16) One Palestinian killed, many injured by Israeli forces
Israeli settlers attacked the village of Qusra, South of Nablus on Friday, and attempted uprooting the village's olive trees, the main source of income for many of the Palestinian villagers.
5 sept 2011
Israel seeks plan to protect planes against rocket attacks
Israeli official states that all Israeli passenger planes will soon be equipped with a system that can divert shoulder-launched rockets fired at them.
Israel wants to expedite a plan to protect passenger planes against shoulder-launched rockets, Israeli media reported Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet convened to discuss the issue and voted for the plan late Sunday.
Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, could not give details. A Defense Ministry spokeswoman was not able to give more information.
But Israel Radio, quoting an anonymous official, reported that all Israeli passenger planes will be equipped "soon" with a system that can divert rockets launched at them.
Previous Israeli governments decided already years ago to protect Israeli planes against missiles fired from the ground - after a November 2002 attack in Mombasa, Kenya, in which militants drove a booby-trapped vehicle into an Israeli-owned hotel and fired two missiles at an Israeli charter plane, but missed.
Some 10 Kenyan employees and three Israeli tourists were killed in the blast in the hotel's lobby.
The multi-million dollar anti-missile project however was delayed over an argument between the Israeli government and Israeli airlines about who should pay and which system was to be preferred.
As early as 2006, the Haifa-based Elbit company, which specializes in a host of defense systems, had won a government tender.
Members of Netanyahu's cabinet were briefed late Sunday about the development of the systems and the differences among them.
A senior government official told Israel Radio on condition of anonymity that "no more delays can be tolerated" because of intelligence warnings the militants may be planning attacks on passenger planes.
According to the media reports, planes to Eilat will be the first to be equipped with the diversion system, because of the Red Sea resort city's proximity to the border with Egypt.
On August 18, at least a dozen militants attacked two buses and a car driving on a southern Israeli road, near Eilat and the border with Egypt. Eight Israelis were killed and some 31 wounded. Israel said the militants came from Gaza, from where they crossed into the Egyptian Sinai, before made their way down the border and crossed over into Israel near Eilat.
http://fwd4.me/0Agq
Israel seeks plan to protect planes against rocket attacks
Israeli official states that all Israeli passenger planes will soon be equipped with a system that can divert shoulder-launched rockets fired at them.
Israel wants to expedite a plan to protect passenger planes against shoulder-launched rockets, Israeli media reported Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet convened to discuss the issue and voted for the plan late Sunday.
Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, could not give details. A Defense Ministry spokeswoman was not able to give more information.
But Israel Radio, quoting an anonymous official, reported that all Israeli passenger planes will be equipped "soon" with a system that can divert rockets launched at them.
Previous Israeli governments decided already years ago to protect Israeli planes against missiles fired from the ground - after a November 2002 attack in Mombasa, Kenya, in which militants drove a booby-trapped vehicle into an Israeli-owned hotel and fired two missiles at an Israeli charter plane, but missed.
Some 10 Kenyan employees and three Israeli tourists were killed in the blast in the hotel's lobby.
The multi-million dollar anti-missile project however was delayed over an argument between the Israeli government and Israeli airlines about who should pay and which system was to be preferred.
As early as 2006, the Haifa-based Elbit company, which specializes in a host of defense systems, had won a government tender.
Members of Netanyahu's cabinet were briefed late Sunday about the development of the systems and the differences among them.
A senior government official told Israel Radio on condition of anonymity that "no more delays can be tolerated" because of intelligence warnings the militants may be planning attacks on passenger planes.
According to the media reports, planes to Eilat will be the first to be equipped with the diversion system, because of the Red Sea resort city's proximity to the border with Egypt.
On August 18, at least a dozen militants attacked two buses and a car driving on a southern Israeli road, near Eilat and the border with Egypt. Eight Israelis were killed and some 31 wounded. Israel said the militants came from Gaza, from where they crossed into the Egyptian Sinai, before made their way down the border and crossed over into Israel near Eilat.
http://fwd4.me/0Agq