Humanitarian Issues

[ninathedog]

Soldiers charged with
abusing Palestinian minor

Border Guard officers Yishai Ben Ozri, Shani Sivilya indicted over
checkpoint incident during which they beat 17-year-old Palestinian.
They allegedly continued abusing victim at local police station

Aviad Glickman
Published: 05.01.11, 18:17 / Israel News
Ynetnews.com

The Police Internal Investigations Department filed an indictment with the Jerusaelm District Court on Sunday against two Border Guard officers – Yishai Ben Ozeri, 30, from Ariel and Shani Sivilya, 22, from Jerusalem, for aggravated abuse and assault of a 17 year-old Palestinian, Ynet has learned.

According to the indictment, which was first filed by attorney Tali Friedman from the Police Internal Investigation Department in March 2010, the minor was detained at the Rockefeller checkpoint near Jerusalem. A search revealed that he was carrying three firecrackers.

After the search, police claim that Ben Ozeri grabbed the minor's shirt, took him behind a nearby parked bus, beat him in the jaw and kicked him in the knee.

The indictment further suggests that the victim was then handcuffed and turned over to Sivilya and another officer named Zion Benishti. The two put the minor into a squad car and during the drive to the police station Sivilya tightened his cuffs and pulled them down in order to hurt the teen.

When they reached the station, Sivilya and Benishti took the elevator with the minor where Sivilya covered his head with the coat he was wearing.

When they got out of the elevator, Sivilya kicked the teen on his behind and threatened him, saying: "Ten more minutes and you're dead". It is claimed that the two officers led the Palestinian to an empty room at the station where they lowered him to his knees with his hands still tied behind his back and his head covered.

Motivated by racism

At this point, Sivilya took out her personal weapon, co.cked it, and pointed the unloaded weapon to the victim's neck, while she counted down from 10 to one.

The teen is then alleged to have screamed "no, no" after which, when she finished her countdown Sivilya pulled the trigger while yelling "Death to Arabs" and "All Arabs are whores". During the incident Benishti urged Sivilya to stop, but she refused.

Later Sivilya took the coat off the Palestinian's head, took one of the firecrackers found on his person and put it back in his pocket and covered his head again. She then used a lighter to make noises and scare him into thinking she was going to light the firecracker in his pocket.

Sivilya allegedly hit the victim and slapped him on the head. As a result, the teen suffered a split lip, bruises on his hands and pain in his leg. The Police Internal Investigations Department claims that Sivilya's actions were motivated by racism.

The department also filed an indictment against Benishti, 23, from Givat Ze'ev. As he was only present during the incident and did not actively abuse the minor, Benishti has only been charged with breach of trust and fraud. He is also listed as a witness for the prosecution in the indictment against Sivilya and Ben Ozeri.

www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063012,00.html

(many thanks to Edo M)

[ninathedog]

Rabbi with Erie ties to
receive peace award

Published: May 1, 2011 3:57 PM EST
staff report, Erie Times-News

An Israeli rabbi with roots in Erie County was to receive a peace award today in Connecticut.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a 1977 Fairview High School graduate who attended Erie's Temple Anshe Hesed, was chosen to receive a Gandhi Peace Award from Promoting Enduring Peace.

Ascherman is general secretary of Jerusalem-based Rabbis for Human Rights.

See Monday's Erie Times-News and GoErie.com for more coverage.

www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110501/NEWS02/305019850

Feb 25, 2011 23:47:08 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

>>edited for length


www.youtube.com/watch?v=whBMEsD_6V4


www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-d_KZDINhE



If All Rabbis Were Like Arik Ascherman,
Middle East Peace Would Be Attainable
www.wrmea.com/archives/october01/0110015.html

Jul 8, 2010 21:07:20 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

In Israel, the Noble vs. The Ugly

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Op-Ed Columnist
Published: July 7, 2010

JERUSALEM — Israel goes out of its way to display its ugliest side to the world by tearing down Palestinian homes or allowing rapacious settlers to steal Palestinian land.

Yet there’s also another Israel as well, one that I mightily admire. This is the democracy that tolerates a far greater range of opinions than America. It’s a citadel of civil society. And, crazily, it’s the place where some of the most courageous and effective voices on behalf of oppressed Palestinians belong to Israeli rabbis — like Arik Ascherman, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights.


Rabbi Arik Ascherman, executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights.

Rabbi Ascherman — 50, tall, lean and bearded with mournful eyes (if central casting ever needed a Prophet Jeremiah type, he’d be it) — grew up in Erie, Pa. He fell in love with Israel on a brief visit between high school and college and moved here in 1994. At Rabbis for Human Rights, he presides over 20 staff members and hundreds of volunteers who sometimes serve as human shields to protect Palestinians — even if that means getting arrested or beaten.

I watched the ugly side of Israel collide with its more noble version, as Rabbi Ascherman and I visited a rural area in the northern West Bank where Jewish settlers have taken over land that Palestinian farmers say is theirs.

“If we try to enter our land, settlers will be waiting, and we will be beaten,” said Muhammad Moqbel, a 71-year-old Palestinian from the village of Qaryout who pointed to fields that he said had been stolen by settlers. Last year, he said, he was hospitalized with a broken rib after settlers attacked while he was picking his own olives.

Rabbis for Human Rights has helped Palestinians recover some land through lawsuits in Israeli courts. And Rabbi Ascherman and other Jewish activists escort such farmers to protect them. The settlers still attack, but soldiers are more likely to intervene when it is rabbis being clubbed.

As Mr. Moqbel and Rabbi Ascherman were explaining all this to me, a settler vehicle came down to confront us. And then another. The settlers photographed us. We photographed them. I asked them if they would agree to be interviewed. They refused to respond to my questions.

“They’re just trying to intimidate us,” Rabbi Ascherman said.

As was the case in the American civil rights movement, the activists here often become targets. Palestinian youths have stoned Rabbi Ascherman’s car, and he has been arrested and beaten up by security forces and settlers alike. (His car is almost as ancient as Jerusalem, and he has to lift the hood and fiddle with wires to get it started, which impedes fast getaways.)

Yet shared beatings also break down malevolent stereotypes of Jews among Palestinians.

Once, he says, he got a call that a 13-year-old Palestinian kid was being beaten by Israeli soldiers and rushed to the scene. Then he was himself tear-gassed, head-butted and arrested by the soldiers. The boy later recounted wonderingly that a tall Jewish stranger had run to his rescue and, in the process of being arrested, comforted him by saying: “Don’t be afraid.”

This “other Israel” extends far beyond Rabbis for Human Rights. The most cogent critiques of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians invariably come from Israel’s own human rights organizations. The most lucid unraveling of Israel’s founding mythology comes from Israeli historians. The deepest critiques of Israel’s historical claims come from Israeli archeologists (one archeological organization, Emek Shaveh, offers alternative historical tours so that visitors can get a fuller picture). This more noble Israel, refusing to retreat from its values even in times of fear and stress, is a model for the world.

In the Middle East, on all sides, the most religious people are sometimes the most hateful. By challenging religious extremism, Rabbis for Human Rights redeems not only Israeli values, but also Jewish ones.

Rabbis for Human Rights has had strong support from North American Jews, and some American children participate in the classic Zionist gesture — planting a tree for Israel — by sending money so that the rabbis can replant an olive tree for a Palestinian whose grove was uprooted by settlers.

Not everyone finds Rabbi Ascherman inspiring. He gets death threats, and hard-line Israelis see him as a naïve traitor.

He responds that he is struggling to uphold his religious and moral values. But he also argues that building bridges between Jews and Palestinians helps make Israel a safer place for his children. “In the long run, we’re going to live here together,” he says, “or we’re going to die here together.”

“When we get the death threats and people say we’re traitors and anti-Israel, I think, ‘Who is really doing more for Israel’s physical survival?’ ” he says. “ ‘Those who demolish homes and uproot trees, or those who rebuild homes and replant trees?’ ”

www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/opinion/08kristof.html?_r=2&src=me

[ninathedog]

Gandhi Peace Award Honors RHR’s
Rabbi Arik Ascherman & Rabbi Ehud Bandel

Posted by Joshua Bloom
Rabbis for Human Rights—North America
Categories: Events, Israel on Apr 22nd, 2011

Gandhi Peace Award Honors RHR’s Rabbi Arik Ascherman and Rabbi Ehud Bandel

On Sunday May 1, 2011, Promoting Enduring Peace will present the Gandhi Peace Award to Rabbi Arik Ascherman, General Secretary of Rabbis for Human Rights, and Rabbi Ehud Bandel, a co-founder of Rabbis for Human Rights, for their nonviolent methods of resolving human rights abuses in Israel and the Occupied Territories.

The Gandhi Peace Award has been presented since 1960 for contributions made in the promotion of international peace and good will to peace heroes such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, Secretary General U Thant, Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, Dorothy Day, and César Chávez. This year’s presentation will be made at Center Church on the Green in New Haven, CT in conjunction with May Day activities.

Mazel tov to Rabbi Ascherman, Rabbi Bandel and Rabbis for Human Rights!

Rabbis Ascherman and Brandel will be speaking at select events during their up-coming trip to the U.S. For more information on any of these events, please contact Rabbis for Human Rights-North America.

Wednesday, April 27: Parlor Meeting with Rabbi Arik Ascherman in Pittsburgh, PA
Thursday, April 28: Rabbi Arik Ascherman speaking at B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, OH
Thursday, April 28: Parlor Meeting with Rabbi Ehud Bandel in New York, NY
Sunday, May 1: Rabbi Arik Ascherman and Rabbi Ehud Bandel Receive the Gandhi Peace Award in New Haven, CT
Monday, May 2: Parlor Meeting with Rabbi Arik Ascherman in Berkeley, CA
Tuesday, May 3: Parlor Meeting with Rabbi Arik Ascherman in Palo Alto, CA
Thursday, May 5: Parlor Meeting with Rabbi Arik Ascherman in Rockville, MD

www.rhr-na.org/blog/?p=1957&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gandhi-peace-award-honors-rhrs-rabbi-arik-ascherman-rabbi-ehud-bandel

(many thanks to Rabbis for Human Rights-NA/K'vod Habriot: A Jewish Human Rights Network)

[ninathedog]

[OccupationNews] Digest Number 1369

Sun May 1, 2011 7:51 pm (PDT)

*Occupied Palestine and Israel: News and Articles*

*News*
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

*Ma'an News* <http://maannews. net/en/>

*Israel freezes cash transfers over unity deal*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383674>
5/1/2011 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israel's Finance Minister Yuval
Steinitz said Sunday that he would freeze cash transfers to the
Palestinian Authority because of the reconciliation of Palestinian
factions. Steinitz told Army Radio that he had postponed a regularly
scheduled meeting with the PA to discuss the transfer of cash collected
at.... Related:PA could fail to pay salaries if revenues held
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383811>

*60-year-old American woman injured in protest*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383744>
5/1/2011 - QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces injured an American
activist and detained three other foreign nationals Sunday, as they
attempted to stop Israeli bulldozers from razing Palestinian
agricultural land east of Qalqiliya, witnesses said. International
solidarity activists gathered in Izbat At-Tabib in the northern West
Bank on privately-owned Palestinian property, which Israel seeks to
confiscate.. .. Related:American women hospitalized with head injury and
three international activists arrested in West Bank protest
<http://palsolidarit y.org/2011/ 05/18071/>

*Report: Mash'al arrives in Cairo for Abbas meet*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383819>
5/1/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Hamas leader in exile Khalid Mash'al
arrived in Cairo Sunday night as head of a delegation from his Islamist
party, Al-Jazeera reported, a day ahead a meeting with president Mahmoud
Abbas, who arrived in the Egyptian capital earlier in the week. The two
are expected to sign a historic....

*Israeli soldiers injure Palestinian worker*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383702>
5/1/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers on Sunday assaulted two
Palestinian workers trying to enter Jerusalem near the Zayem checkpoint,
at the eastern entrance to Jerusalem. Mahmoud Abu Sarhan, 25, said he
lost consciousness and fell from a cliff after an Israeli forces officer
threw a rock at his head. The Bethlehem resident sustained serious....

*Israel tells UN of 'concern' at Palestinian unity*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383617>
5/1/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel expressed its concern Saturday to
the UN about a reconciliation deal between Palestinian factions, as
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he was ready to resign as part
of the pact. Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday told UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon of "Israel's concern" over the unity accord....

*Egypt calls on US to recognize Palestinian state*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383809>
5/1/2011 - CAIRO (AFP) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi on
Sunday called on the United States to recognize a Palestinian state, as
rival Palestinian factions prepare to sign a reconciliation accord in
Cairo. Arabi urged visiting US Congressman Steve Chabot to "press
Congress and the American administration to recognise a Palestinian
state." Recognition "would correspond with previous....

*Israel court dismisses petition for Gaza war victims*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383470>
5/1/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israel's High Court on Thursday
dismissed a petition filed on behalf of 1,046 victims of Israel's
Operation Cast Lead offensive on the Gaza Strip, a human rights group
said. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights filed a petition in
December to challenge the two-year statute of....

*Egyptian soldier injured in clashes with smugglers*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383772>
5/1/2011 - EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- An Egyptian soldier was injured
near the Israeli border on Sunday during clashes with smugglers,
security sources said. Husam Mustafa, 22, was guarding a 12-kilometer
stretch of the border south of Kerem Shalom, when he saw a group trying
to breach the border. Security sources said smugglers were trying....

*Minister: Israel worried by Egypt Rafah decision*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383664>
5/1/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel is "worried" by Egypt's plan to
imminently reopen the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip, Israeli
Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday. His comments came as
Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that the country's Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was considering sending an envoy to Cairo
for....

*Rafah open this week only for registered travelers*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383787>
5/1/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Despite a Thursday announcement
announcing the opening of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza,
conditions for those seeking passage remain stringent, requiring
registration and documentation weeks in advance. The crossings
administration said Sunday that the terminal would open from Monday to
Thursday, allowing passage to those registered as patients....

*PA could fail to pay salaries if revenues held*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383811>
5/1/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Caretaker Minister of Economy in the
Palestinian Authority government Hassn Abu Libdeh warned Sunday that the
PA could fail to meet its payroll if Israel went ahead with a plan to
withhold tax revenues. Salaries were due to be transferred into the
accounts of employees on Monday, but could be delayed.... Related:Israel
freezes cash transfers over unity deal
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383674>

*Gaza crossing opens after 2-day closure*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383619>
5/1/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities agreed to allow
limited goods to enter Gaza on Sunday through Kerem Shalom crossing,
Palestinian officials said. The crossing has been closed since Thursday.
It is the sole operating border crossing since Israeli authorities
permanently closed all other terminals Palestinian liaison official Raed
Fattouh said around 270 truckloads.. ..

*Delays at Allenby go unexplained*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383790>
5/1/2011 - JERICHO (Ma'an) -- Travelers returning to the West Bank from
Jordan Sunday said hours-long lines saw them wait in buses transporting
hundreds across the border terminal."We were trapped in the bus since
almost five hours and we do not know what is going on," one frustrated
traveler told Ma'an....

*Palestinian workers don't celebrate May Day*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383669>
5/1/2011 - QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- On Sunday, laborers around the world
celebrate International Workers' Day butthe holiday is not taken by most
Palestinians. Laborers celebrate the history and successes of the
workers' struggles on May Day and commemorate the achievements of
workers' movements. May 1 is an official holiday in Palestine's. ...

*Man killed in fight near Ramallah*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383780>
5/1/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A 24-year-old man was killed on Sunday
when a fight broke between two families near Ramallah, police said.
Haitham Izzat Hamadneh was shot dead in the fight in Deir Jarir, a
police report said. Two men were transferred to hospital, one with
critical injuries, the report added. Police said they....

*Report: Egypt releases 2 Palestinian detainees*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383609>
5/1/2011 - CAIRO (Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities have released two
Palestinian members of a Hezbollah-affiliate d cell, Arabic media
reported Sunday. The men were detained during the rule of former
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite
channel reported. Muhammad Ramadan, 17, was detained in Egypt three
years ago and sentenced to six months, but he....

*PA security chief optimistic on unity*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383794>
5/1/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Head of Palestinian military
intelligence in the West Bank Nedal Abu Dukhan is optimistic over the
signing of the proposed unity deal in Cairo, the official told Ma'an on
Sunday. Speaking in an interview at Ma'an's Bethlehem office, Abu Dukhan
said he was optimistic about....

*Premier League down to basketball finalists*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383833>
5/1/2011 - Ibdaa and Ibal will face off in the Basketball finals of the
Premier League later this month, after the teams triumphed in the
second-to-last round of the tournament in Al-Bireh's Majid Assad sports
complex. A match-up between Ibal (purple), and Ahli Al-Quds (black and
white), saw the former team outscore their rivals 79....

*Gadhafi son killed after talks offer rejected*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383603>
5/1/2011 - TRIPOLI (AFP) -- A NATO air strike killed Moammar Gadhafi's
youngest son and three grandchildren but the strongman escaped unhurt, a
Libyan spokesman said on Sunday, after rebels and NATO spurned an offer
for talks to end the crisis. The house of Seif Al-Arab Kadhafi, 29, "was
attacked tonight with full power," government spokesman... .

*Obama urges Bahrain king to respect 'universal rights'*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383614>
5/1/2011 - WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Barack Obama urged Bahrain's
monarch to respect "universal rights of the people" on Saturday, two
days after the tiny Gulf state sentenced several protesters to death. US
officials have criticized Bahrain over the speed of a trial in which
Shiite pro-democracy protesters were sentenced to death and life in....

*Gadhafi forces 'attack Turkish aid ship'*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383835>
5/1/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Forces loyal to Libya's Muammar Gadhafi
have attacked a Turkish aid vessel attempting to break a naval blockade
of the port city of Misrata, Turkey's IHH charity group said late Sunday....

*Palestine Note* <http://palestinenot e.com/cs/>

*Arab armies are taking a 'detour'.*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ blogs/archive/ 2011/05/01/ arab-armies- are-taking- a-detour. aspx>
Palestine Note 1 May 2011 - Syria, Yemen and Libya gives Arabs good
reasons not to trust their national armies and must think twice if they
decide to go to the streets to force change. The Egyptian and Tunisian
armies proved to be an exception, giving...

*Aljazeera* <http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/>**
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ americas/ 2011/05/20115123 227920327. html>

*UN staff leave Tripoli after mob attack*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ africa/2011/ 05/2011512251436 42809.html>
AlJazeera 1 May 2011 - Western embassies and UN offices targeted after
NATO bombing reportedly kills Gaddafi's son and grandchildren.

*Saleh refusal forces Yemen deal postponement*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/ 2011/05/20115194 55413402. html>
AlJazeera 1 May 2011 - GCC-brokered deal in limbo as president refuses
to sign and opposition calls off trip to Riyadh.

*Syrians urge fresh protests amid crackdown*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/ 2011/05/20115120 2330972167. html>
AlJazeera 1 May 2011 - Week of renewed demonstrations called by
activists as scores are arrested in intensifying operation by security
forces.

**
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ europe/2011/ 05/2011511924147 23.html>*Relatives
fearful over Bahrain trials*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/video/ middleeast/ 2011/05/20115114 5514937193. html>
AlJazeera 1 May 2011 - Scores of medical employees detained for treating
injured demonstrators, rights groups say.

*Israel withholds Palestinian cash transfer*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/ 2011/05/20115182 147504313. html>
AlJazeera 1 May 2011 - Israel suspends transfer of $89m to Palestinian
Authority in view of recent unity deal between Fatah and Hamas.

*'Differences' emerge in top Iran leadership*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/ 2011/05/20115155 428631352. html>
AlJazeera 1 May 2011 - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been boycotting cabinet
sessions since intelligence minister was reinstated by supreme leader.

*Saudi Arabia tightens media laws*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/ 2011/05/20115135 621233618. html>
AlJazeera 1 May 2011 - Royal order threatens fines and closure of
publications that jeopardise kingdom's stability or offends clerics.

*American women hospitalized with head injury and three international
activists arrested in West Bank protest*
<http://palsolidarit y.org/2011/ 05/18071/>
5/1/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - An American 60 year-old
women was evacuated to an Israeli hospital this afternoon, after Israeli
soldiers caused her a serious head injury as they demolished a protest
tent in the West Bank village of Izbet al-Tabib near Qalqilya. A Swede
and two British activists were arrested during the protest. Israeli
soldiers, accompanied by bulldozers and.... Related:60-year- old American
woman injured in protest
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=383744>

*Alternative Information Center* <http://alternativen ews.org/>

*Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation Agreement: Possibilities and Challenges*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ news/3568- fatah-hamas- reconciliation- agreement- possibilities- and-challenges->
Alternative Information Center - After four years of discussions, the
Fatah and Hamas movements agreed to reconciliation last week. What are
the meanings of this agreement, together with the possibilities and
challenges it may face on the local, regional and...

*Egypt to Open Rafah Border Crossing*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ news/3567- egypt-to- open-rafah- border-crossing>
Alternative Information Center - Egypt's interim government has
announced it will permanently open the Rafah border crossing between
Egypt and Gaza, in order to ease the Israeli military blockade of the
coastal strip.

*Call for a Letter-Writing Campaign*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ news/3565- call-for- a-letter- writing-campaign>
Alternative Information Center - Coalition of Organizations for the
Recognition of the Unrecognized Bedouin Arab Villages in the Negev Call
for a Letter-Writing Campaign

*Israel Withholding Palestinian Tax Refund*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ news/3564- israel-withholdi ng-palestinian- tax-refund>
Alternative Information Center - Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz
has announced that he is delaying the transfer of $89 million in
Palestinian tax funds and customs fees to the Palestinian Authority
because of the new unity agreement with Hamas.

*Israel to Increase Military Presence for Nakba Day*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ news/3561- israel-to- increase- military- presence- for-nakba- day>
Alternative Information Center - The Israeli military has announced
plans to increase military presence near Palestinians cities ahead of
Nakba Day, held every year on 15 May to mark the death, expulsions and
flight of thousands of Palestinians from their...

*Relief Web*
<http://reliefweb. int/rw/rwb. nsf/doc106? OpenForm& emid=ACOS- 635PFR&rc= 3>

*State appeals to Supreme Court to prevent exposure of document
containing minimal calorie requirements for residents of the Gaza Strip*
<http://reliefweb. int/node/ 399419>
Relief Web 1 May 2011 - Source: Gisha Country: occupied Palestinian
territory On Thursday, April 28, 2011, the state appealed the Tel Aviv
District Court ruling that the Defense Ministry must provide Gisha with
the "red lines" document, in which the Defense Ministry apparently
determined the...

*Palestinian unity process needs to promote peace, security and
non-violence -- Ban* <http://reliefweb. int/node/ 399418>
Relief Web 1 May 2011 - Source: UN News Service Country: occupied
Palestinian territory Intra-Palestinian reconciliation should take place
in a way that promotes peace, security and non-violence,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed, just days after Hamas and
Fatah announced they had reached an agreement to...

*28 April '11:Army set dogs on Palestinians trying to enter Israel to
work without a permit* <http://reliefweb. int/node/ 399413>
Relief Web 1 May 2011 - Source: Israeli Information Center for Human
Rights in the Occupied Territories Country: occupied Palestinian
territory At least three people bitten in April, two additional cases
are being investigated by B'Tselem B'Tselem has written to the OC
Central Command and to...

*Israel stops cash transfers to PA after unity deal*
<http://reliefweb. int/node/ 399379>
Relief Web 1 May 2011 - Source: Agence France-Presse Country: occupied
Palestinian territory JERUSALEM --- Israel is suspending the transfer of
Palestinian tax and customs fees to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until
it is sure the money will not reach Hamas, Israel's finance minister
said on...

*Palestine Telegraph* <http://paltelegraph .com/>

*Palestinian child detained by Israeli forces in Jerusalem*
<http://www.palteleg raph.com/ palestine/ west-bank/ 9044-palestinian -child-detained- by-israeli- forces-in- jerusalem. html>
1 May 2011 - West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli occupation forces
detained yesterday at night a Palestinian child known as Mohammed
Houshia, 12, after raiding his house in Jerusalem under the pretext of
throwing stones at Israeli soldiers existed near the Separation Wall.

*The National* <http://thenational. ae/section/ FOREIGN?profile= 1011>

*Turkey fears refugee influx*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ turkey-fears- refugee-influx>
The National 1 May 2011 - Ankara is worried about a wave of Syrians
fleeing the ongoing conflict in their homeland between government forces
and protesters that has killed more than 550 people.

*Ha'aretz* <http://haaretz. com/>

*U.S. prods Israel over intended freeze of Palestinian tax money*
<http://www.haaretz. com/print- edition/news/ u-s-prods- israel-over- intended- freeze-of- palestinian- tax-money- 1.359242>
Ha'aretz - Senior U.S. officials ask Israel to clarify Finance Minister
Yuval Steinitz's statement indicating that Israel will withhold funds
from the PA due to reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas; PM
office says 'no decision has been reached in matter'.

*Amira Hass / Palestinian reconciliation may lead to Israel's
Palestinian separation*
<http://www.haaretz. com/print- edition/features /palestinian- reconciliation- may-lead- to-israel- s-palestinian- separation- 1.359276>
Ha'aretz - Back in February, Egyptian diplomats predicted that Egypt
would help bring about an internal Palestinian rapprochement, but what
good is reconciliation if Palestinians from Gaza still won't be able to
travel to the West Bank?

*Netanyahu: World must stop those wishing to destroy the Jewish people*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/netanyah u-world-must- stop-those- wishing-to- destroy-the- jewish-people- 1.359213>
Ha'aretz - Speaking at Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Jerusalem's
Yad Vashem memorial, Prime Minister says Israel must be prepared to
defend itself modern enemies, such as Iran and its proxies Hezbollah and
Hamas.

*Peres in Yad Vashem: Holocaust proves Jews must fend for themselves*
<http://www.haaretz. com/jewish- world/peres- in-yad-vashem- holocaust- proves-jews- must-fend- for-themselves- 1.359206>
Ha'aretz - In speech opening national Holocaust Remembrance Day,
President denounces Iran's leaders for denying the Holocaust, lauds
Israel's commitment to the fight against racism.

*Egypt says it will soon open Gaza border permanently*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/egypt- says-it-will- soon-open- gaza-border- permanently- 1.359224>
Ha'aretz - While Gaza border policy will change, international
commitments -- like 1979 peace treaty with Israel -- will be maintained,
says Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

*McCain: It would be 'fine' if NATO strikes killed Libya leader Gadhafi*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ international/ mccain-it- would-be- fine-if-nato- strikes-killed- libya-leader- gadhafi-1. 359297>
Ha'aretz - The former U.S. presidential candidate slams President Obama
for taking a 'backseat role' in Libya operations, says U.S. should
contribute more air power to the NATO operation.

*Security forces arrest hundreds of pro-democracy sympathizers across
Syria as government crackdowns persist*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ mideast-in- turmoil/security -forces-arrest- hundreds- of-pro-democracy -sympathizers- across-syria- as-government- crackdowns- persist-1. 359282>
Ha'aretz - Security forces break into Syrian homes searching for men
under 40 years old; prominent rights campaigners have been arrested as well.

*Hamas leader Meshaal in Cairo to sign unity deal*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/hamas- leader-meshaal- in-cairo- to-sign-unity- deal-1.359209>
Ha'aretz - Egypt-brokered agreement will end rift between two largest
Palestinian factions, Fatah, who control the West Bank, and Hamas, who
rule the Gaza Strip.

*Fayyad urges international intervention over Israeli freeze on
Palestinian taxes*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/fayyad- urges-internatio nal-intervention -over-israeli- freeze-on- palestinian- taxes-1.359171>
Ha'aretz - Palestinian PM denounces Israel's suspension of $89 million,
says Israeli 'threats' would not disrupt Fatah-Hamas reconciliation.

*Netanyahu: Hamas-Fatah unity deal should worry all those who care about
peace*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/netanyah u-hamas-fatah- unity-deal- should-worry- all-those- who-care- about-peace- 1.359134>
Ha'aretz - Speaking at a weekly cabinet meeting, the prime minister says
anyone in the world who wishes for peace should be concerned about a
Palestinian government containing Hamas.

*Israel freezes cash transfer to Palestinians due to Fatah-Hamas unity
deal*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/israel- freezes-cash- transfer- to-palestinians- due-to-fatah- hamas-unity- deal-1.359123>
Ha'aretz - Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz says he will hold up transfer
of $89 million in Palestinian tax funds and customs fees until it was
clear it would not reach Hamas militants; PA condemns the move.

*'Hatred and denial of Jews has become hatred and denial of Jewish
state'*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ national/ hatred-and- denial-of- jews-has- become-hatred- and-denial- of-jewish- state-1.359152>
Ha'aretz - The prime minister spoke ahead of Israel's Holocaust Memorial
Day; Holocaust victims group releases survey saying 208,000 survivors
live in Israel today, but are passing away at a rate of around 35 per day.

*Israel gets new police chief as Yohanan Danino sworn in*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ national/ israel-gets- new-police- chief-as- yohanan-danino- sworn-in- 1.359140>
Ha'aretz - Danino has previously served as head of investigations and
intelligence branch, and as commander of the Southern District police force.

*Pope John Paul II granted title of 'Blessed' before Rome crowd*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ international/ pope-john- paul-ii-granted- title-of- blessed-before- rome-crowd- 1.359167>
Ha'aretz - Only six years after his passing, Catholic church 'beatifies'
the former pope in front of a crowd of a million and a half people,
putting him on the path towards sainthood.

*Syria rights group: Opposition figures, female protester arrested by
security forces*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ international/ syria-rights- group-opposition -figures- female-protester -arrested- by-security- forces-1. 359102>
Ha'aretz - Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah says security
forces have killed at least 560 civilians since protests started just
over six week ago; Syrian security arrested 11 women participating in a
silent demonstration on Saturday.

*Treasury divided over pension reform plans*
<http://english. themarker. com/treasury- divided-over- pension-reform- plans-1.359056>
Ha'aretz - The most daring component of Oded Sarig's plan would shift
the incentive for the lowest earnings brackets, from one based on tax
credits to one based on matching payments. It calls for the state to
contribute 35 agorot for every shekel that employees deposit in their
pension accounts.

*French court clears Gaydamak of most 'Angola-gate' charges*
<http://english. themarker. com/french- court-clears- gaydamak- of-most-angola- gate-charges- 1.359053>
Ha'aretz - Investigators had alleged that Gaydamak and Falcone were the
masterminds behind a network trafficking Soviet-made weapons to Angola
during its civil war in the 1990s.

*Warren Buffett admits errors in handling disgraced former exec*
<http://english. themarker. com/warren- buffett-admits- errors-in- handling- disgraced- former-exec- 1.359052>
Ha'aretz - Warren Buffett believes that David Sokol clearly violated
Berkshire Hathaway's ethical standards when he bought stock in Lubrizol
before recommending that Berkshire buy the chemical company.

*Jerusalem Post* <http://jpost. com/>

*'Israel initiated Mashaal's 2006 visit to Turkey'*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218743& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Former Turkish deputy PM says during
interview that Hamas leader's visit was planned by J'lem officials after
secret agreement brokered.

*McCain slams Obama for taking 'backseat role' in Libya*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218741& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - US Senator says during CBS interview "we
should be taking out Gaddafi's command and if he is killed or injured
because of that, that's fine."

*'US sanctions on Syria are a cruel joke'*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218735& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Head of Washington-based Reform Party of
Syria says as crackdown continues, Israel shouldn't sit idly by.

*Peres: We were alone, without a country of our own*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218730& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - President at Holocaust Remembrance Day
ceremony at Yad Vashem says "today we have an excellent army that has
gained the respect of the world."

*Israel halts transfer of tax funds to PA*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218728& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - PA minister says salaries to 170,000 civil
servants may not be paid; Fayyad says decision would not dissuade
Palestinians from achieving unity.

*IMA claims 'incitement against doctors' by Treasury*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218725& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Levine said doctors' strike was "immoral"
and called them "killers and murderers" who would be to blame if
patients died due to lack of care.

*To Lonely Planet: Include Arab history on City of David*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218723& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Ir David Foundation calls protest by Sheikh
Jarrah Solidarity Movement PR move on par with boycotting universities.

*'In times of revolution, opinion surveys are more accurate'*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218722& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Supervisor of first poll of east Jerusalem
Arabs talks about importance of polling in Arab world.

*BGU team helps create emergency preparedness website*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218721& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - The "Crisis Communication Scorecard,"
website was created by Israeli research team led by Dr. Reich from BGU's
Department of Communication.

*Hamas leader Meshaal in Cairo to sign unity deal*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218716& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - On eve of visit, Hamas reiterates refusal
to recognize Israel's right to exist, says issue is not related to
establishment of Palestinian state.

*Jordan hunkers down as Egyptian gas supplies disrupted*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218706& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Israel was also hit by explosion at El
Arish gas center, but Jordan is more vulnerable to cut-offs because
relies heavily on Egypt for gas.

*Hamas official doesn't trust UN to grant Palestinian state*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218700& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Mahmoud Zahar says he doubts int'l
community will come through for Palestinians; claims Bush, Obama failed
the Palestinians.

*66 years later, state still unsure who to call a 'survivor'*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218699& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Lawmakers try to push legislation that will
create official authority to maintain database, improve treatment of
survivors before they pass away.

*Syrian gov't makes mass arrests in protest hub*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218698& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Deraa residents say authorities are
detaining all males over the age of 15; Rebels say a soldier from
Assad's elite army unit defected.

*PM: 'If we don't defend ourselves, world won't stand by us'*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218690& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Netanyahu speaks at official Holocaust
Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem, says "threats against us can't
be swept aside"; Peres: "The Holocaust proved that we have no
alternative other than a homeland."

*Peres: In shadow if Iran threat, Israel remembers 6 million*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218687& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - President speaks at official Holocaust
Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem; "Holocaust proved
that we have no alternative other than a homeland."

*State appeals order to release minimum Gaza food info*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218682& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Defense Ministry claims exposing "red lines
document" that outlines caloric intake will have chilling effect on
internal deliberations.

Mar 31, 2011 3:04:27 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

Defense Ministry ordered to
release internal documents on Gaza policies

The ministry has been ordered to release information regarding the
minimum nutritional requirements needed to sustain Gaza residents, names of
officials responsible for policy of limiting the entry of goods into the strip.

By Amira Hass
Published 03:31 30.03.11

The Tel Aviv District Court last week ordered the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to release internal documents that detail the minimum nutritional requirements and calorie calculations needed to sustain the residents of the Gaza Strip.

In addition, the court ordered the agency, also called COGAT and which operates under the auspices of the Defense Ministry, to reveal the names of the officials who helped implement the policy of limiting the entry of goods and foodstuffs into the Gaza Strip.

The documents still have not been uncovered while the Defense Ministry decides whether it will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Tel Aviv District Court Judge Ruth Ronnen's directive represents the latest stage in a legal battle being waged by the non-government organization Gisha, a group dedicated to advancing freedom of movement for Palestinians.

In October 2009, Gisha filed a petition under the Freedom of Information Act, requesting that the state release documents related to its closure policy in the Gaza Strip. The group turned to the court after it directly requested the data from the Defense Ministry, which refused to provide it.

One year after the petition was filed, the state agreed to release three documents related to its Gaza policy. According to these documents, COGAT officers relied on mathematic formulas which computed minimum nutritional requirements that would meet the basic needs of Gaza residents.

Based on these formulas, the state determined the amount and volume of goods that were permitted to enter the Strip.

This policy was first instituted by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, his deputy, Matan Vilnai, and the acting head of COGAT at the time, Amos Gilad, in June 2007, shortly after Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip.

COGAT, however, refused to publicize the names and job titles of those who implemented the policy. In addition, it balked at requests to hand over the "Red Lines" document, a position paper whose existence was first discovered by Haaretz reporters Uri Blau and Yotam Feldman in June 2009.

The Defense Ministry claimed that the document was drawn up for internal use only and that it did not serve as the basis for forming policy. Ministry officials also claimed that the documents that were unveiled were handed over after the policy was altered. But the court disagreed.

Israel lifted numerous restrictions on the entry of goods into Gaza following last year's raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla.

According to the ministry, as long as the policy in question was in force, the release of the documents would constitute harming national security and Israel's foreign relations. The ministry also refused to release the "Red Lines" paper, claiming that the law grants immunity to officials in sensitive positions.

In her decision to have the information finally let into the light, Ronnen rejected the state's assertion that it could not hand over the documents since they were in draft form.

The judge also determined that the Defense Ministry did not adequately explain why the information contained in the documents was of a sensitive nature.

"The obligation to explain is one of the duties to which the authorities are bound when they refuse a request to reveal information," the judge wrote. "If the state would have made clear the reasons for the sensitivity of the information, which data are sensitive, the court would have taken this explanation into consideration."


Judge Ruth Ronnen — Photo by Moti Kimche

Ronnen said that the Freedom of Information Act explicitly states that the public has an interest in obtaining information that bears a direct impact on its safety.

The judge did agree with the Defense Ministry's position that it is not obligated to reveal documents pertaining to its present-day policies.

On Monday, COGAT officials requested against an injunction of the court's order to release the Red Lines presentation pending a decision on whether to appeal.

www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/defense-ministry-ordered-to-release-internal-documents-on-gaza-policies-1.352768

(many thanks to Gaza TV News)

Oct 25, 2010 21:29:48 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

NGO Forces IDF to Release Secret Memo
Documenting Gaza Strangulation

Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam: Make the World a Better Place
Sunday, October 24th, 2010

While Wikileaks may have the biggest national security expose of the moment, the one I’m going to report tonight on one that in the Israeli context is a close second.

Thanks immensely to Ed Mad X for alerting me to the IDF’s release of a much sought after April, 2009 memo (23 pages linked here, with the original Hebrew document here) (posted following this article in its entirety: Hebrew and English) which served as the rationale and underpinning of the Gaza siege and explained how it was interpreted and enforced. It was in effect before the Mavi Marmara massacre (after which the siege was loosened). Immense thanks to the unrelenting effort of the Israeli NGO, Gisha, to bring this report to the light of day. As far as I know, this is likely its first publication in English.

Frankly, when Ed first sent me the link to his translation I thought it might be a joke, especially when I read the mathematical equations used to determine how much basic foodstuffs should be allowed into Gaza. I had to query him a few times before I assured myself it was legit. It’s just that crazy a document.


'Mathematical calculations' govern import of basic human necessities


The IDF report is a wonder of almost Eichmanesque military-speak, obfuscation and self-justification. If any future historian of the Occupation wishes to study how the IDF got the Occupation’s “trains” to run on time in Gaza (much like Raul Hilberg did in his study of the mundane bureaucracy of the Holocaust), they will only have to look here and study.

Here, for example, is the “mission” described:

MISSION:

# Supervision of basic products from the variety of those imported into the ‘Strip,ʼ including basic food stuffs, fuels, maintaining oversight of the quantity of these products, identifying shortage, surplus, and establishing levels of warning (ʻred-linesʼ e.m.x), dealing with the issues caused and providing concurrent information and realtime alerts to decision makers.

Gisha’s website notes that when it first sued the state in order to expose this 2009 memo the latter denied it existed. When that didn’t work, it conceded the memo existed but that releasing it would endanger “national security” (now, you have a chance to judge for yourself the probity of this claim). The government has now conceded that it must release them under an FOIA legal proceeding. However, the government continues to refuse to release the current rules governing the siege which are supposedly more lenient than the pre-Marmara rules.

Gisha notes the bizarre logic of the memo which called for a “deliberate reduction” in the level of basic necessities like fuel used to power the only operating power plant. This in turn caused regular electrical and water outages. Though the IDF created a “red-line warning” that would notify that a necessity was becoming inaccessible, it also permitted itself to ignore the warning.

Though international law permits goods to be restricted under siege conditions only if the specific item poses a security threat, the IDF prohibited items based on whether their public perception within Gaza was as a luxury. This is how chocolate and paper came to be prohibited.

Though the Israeli government has indicated it would permit the rebuilding of Gaza (and the world community has insisted on this), the 2009 rules tell a wholly different story. Building materials were only permitted by special permission, and attempts to rebuild within Gaza were viewed as a decided negative. Israel refused transfer of goods from international relief agencies and western governments to Gaza for rebuilding schools and homes.


What can one say after reading this? (&$!!)$%


The rules also indicate that they could not be released in any form to anyone unless specified. This served the function of leaving Gaza merchants in the dark about what was on or off the list. Thus, they would never know whether they could import an item into Gaza or not, until it was impounded at the border or permitted through. Items like cumin which were not on the permitted goods list could only be approved by special permission despite the fact that there was no security consideration in banning it.

Gisha’s director notes more oddities of the rules and their logic:

"Israel banned glucose for biscuits and the fuel needed for regular supply of electricity – paralyzing normal life in Gaza and impairing the moral character of the State of Israel. I am sorry to say that major elements of this policy are still in place“.

It’s truly worthwhile reading extended passages of the document to understand the true nature of the ghoulishness of Israel’s siege and the way it is imposed and enforced. Here the memo describes monitoring imported items in order to determine their levels of availability:

The data will be collected in the economy division, once a week, on Tuesday, and a calculation compiled of products transferred, then added to existing inventories, and then consumed amounts will be deducted according to the models.

F.# After the calculation is performed, a draft of inventory estimates will be prepared…[and] the following data will be checked:

# 1. Upper level warning – in case inventory of one of the short shelf life products is over 21 days or long shelf life product inventory is over 80 days.

# 2. Lower level warning – in case inventory of one of the short shelf life products is under 4 days or long shelf life product inventory is under 20 days.

# 3. Shortage - in case inventory of one of the short shelf life products is under 2 days or long shelf life product inventory is under 5 days.

H. In case inventory of one or more products reached a ‘level of warning,’ the following actions will be taken:

1. Xxxx will verify the information with leading Palestinian merchants.

2. Xxxx will perform mathematical evaluation of the model to verify the data.

3. In case of an upper level warning, the issue will be brought up for discussion and update for a decision on policy of entering the # relevant product.

4.! In case of a lower level warning an update will be transferred, and Gaza DCO will take action to facilitate transferring the relevant product, unless it is an intentional policy of reduction. [ed., italics mine]

5. In case of shortage, the same actions as of ʻlower level warningʻ will be taken. In case it is an intentional policy of reduction, decision makers will be presented with the consequences of shortage of the relevant product.

One wonders what warning the decision makers would be presented with: would they be warned that preventing entrance of a piece of medical equipment would cause the death of children? Or that the categorization of milk, or hummus or any number of staples of the Palestinian diet as “superfluous” might exacerbate the already existent malnutrition among children? Or that a shortage of fuel and hence water outages would cause women not to be able to cook properly or families to observe hygienic practices. What type of discussion do you think happened among the decision makers when they were ‘warned’ about these red lines?

The report notes that “need” can be determined from a variety of sources but that need as defined by military headquarters supersedes them:

According to an internal procedure which incorporates headquarters work in relation to relevant security needs and demands.

In other words, the need for rice or flour or any item whatsoever can be changed according to an artificial determination by the IDF that this item corresponded to some imagined security interest.

In a section of the memo devoted to how an item is determined to be necessary or superfluous–keeping in mind that international law says the only criteria is security–this is one of the criteria:

Implications of the product’s uses (is it used for preservation, rehabilitation or development?) with emphasis of the effect its entry has on the status of the Hamas regime.

In other words, if an item may be used for preservation, rehabilitation of development of infrastructure that could benefit Hamas in any way in the eyes of the people, it will be prohibited.

In reviewing the list of permitted items for import, you come to realize that these are the only items allowed. In other words, if an item is not on the list, it’s prohibited. So, for example, here is the list of permitted spices:

Black pepper, soup powder, hyssop, sesame. cinnamon, anise, babuna (chamomile), sage

Sorry, cumin, basil, bay leaf, allspice, carraway, cardamon, chiles, chives, cilantro, cloves, garlic, sesame, tamarind, thyme, oregano, cayenne ([urlhttp://rassudrsinai.blogspot.com/2010/02/z-of-spices-used-in-arabic-cooking.html]here’s a list I consulted of popular Arab spices

[/url]). Not on the list. You’re not a spice Palestinians need according to some IDF dunderhead. And tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, toys, glassware, paint, and shoes? You can forget about them too. Luxuries all, or else security threats.

I’m displaying here the “mathematical model” by which the IDF determined whether it was allowing in too much of any particular item. The very notion that not one, but hundreds of IDF soldiers occupied all (or even part) of their waking hours implementing this insane policy adds another nail to the coffin of the Occupation. Can there be any doubt that not only is the siege immoral and illegal, but borderline insane. Grown men actually sat in office cubicles and used calculators to determine the answers to these absurd questions. It comes close to leaving one speechless.

www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/10/24/ngo-forces-idf-to-release-infamous-memo-documenting-gaza-strangulation/







































..........













































(many, many thanks to Tali S.)[/quote]
[/quote]





*Moshe Landau, judge at Eichmann trial, dies at 99*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=218680& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - German-born Israel Prize laureate served on
Agranat Commission that probed failures of Yom Kippur War.

*Ahmadinejad attends cabinet amid boycott rumors*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218674& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Earlier reports said a rift was growing
between Iranian president, Ayatollah Khamenei; "He has father-son
relationship with Khamenei."

*UK expels Libyan ambassador after attack on mission*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218672& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Smoke seen rising from Italian embassy in
Libya; United Nations pulls staff out Libyan capital; protests take
place outside US embassy.

*Smoke seen rising from Italian embassy in Tripoli*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218665& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Gaddafi forces fire artillery into Tunisia,
rebel-held town of Zintan; United Nations pulls staff out Libyan
capital; protests outside US embassy.

*Aging survivors give up precious Holocaust relics*
<http://www.jpost. com/JewishWorld/ JewishFeatures/ Article.aspx? ID=218649& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - For Yad Vashem campaign described as "race
against time," thousands of survivors' personal relics are collected and
preserved.

*Damascus rules*
<http://www.jpost. com/Magazine/ Features/ Article.aspx? ID=218646& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Syria's location and geopolitical alliances
means that the fate of the Assad regime bears heavy implications for
Israel. While on the outset, a weakened Assad may perhaps be better than
either deposition or triumph, Syria's massive arsenal and connections
with Hizbullah make this a formidable scenario.

*Yemen transition deal teeters as Saleh fails to sign*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218645& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - GCC secretary-general leaves Yemen without
Saleh signature; opposition says considering steps to escalate pressure;
three soldiers killed in southern attack, al Qaida blamed.

*UK cannot verify report of death of Gaddafi's son*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218642& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Gaddafi survives airstrike that reportedly
killed his 29-year-old son and 3 of his grandchildren; NATO: Gaddafi not
target of strikes.

*Fayyad: Israeli suspension of funds to PA won't stop unity*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218641& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - PA prime minister says Israeli economic
sanctions in response to Hamas-Fatah reconciliation won't stop
Palestinian unity deal.

*Anti-Semitism dips 46%, but dangerous trend remains*
<http://www.jpost. com/JewishWorld/ JewishNews/ Article.aspx? ID=218639& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Violence against Jews declined globally in
2010, but overall, anti-Semitism remains at 30-year high, Tel Aviv
University study reveals.

*Syrian army renews tank shelling of Deraa*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=218638& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Besieged southern city where uprising
against Assad began once again target of fire following weekend in which
nearly 50 killed.

*PM: Lessons of Shoah not learned, anti-Semitism spreads*
<http://www.jpost. com/DiplomacyAnd Politics/ Article.aspx? ID=218630& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - Netanyahu announces forming of group to
represent Holocaust survivors; says Hamas-Fatah unity deal should worry
those who want ME peace.

*Livni: Netanyahu to blame for Hamas-Fatah unity deal*
<http://www.jpost. com/DiplomacyAnd Politics/ Article.aspx? ID=218625& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 1 May 2011 - In Army Radio interview, opposition leader
says diplomatic stagnation brought about by government's policies led PA
to reconcile with Hamas.

*Inter Press Service* <http://ipsnews. net/middle. asp>

*Moves to Undermine Egyptian Revolution*
<http://ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 55446>
IPS More than two months since former president Hosni Mubarak was forced
from office after 30 years in power, local political figures and
analysts warn of "counterrevolutiona ry elements" still working behind
the scenes to thwart Egypt's ongoing transition to democracy.

*[uruknet.info] In Syria's rebel city 'they will shoot anything that
moves'* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77322>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - There was shooting again last night. It has become
routine. We haven't slept more than two hours at a time since the
shooting began. It stops and then starts again. There is maybe one hour
break between shooting. We are like hostages in our homes. We are
surrounded by tanks. Yesterday we heard another...

(continues in following post)

[ninathedog]

(continues from preceding post)

[OccupationNews] Digest Number 1369
Sun May 1, 2011 7:51 pm (PDT)

*[uruknet.info] Panic From The Houses Of Congress And Aipac?*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77321>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - On April 13, 2011, more than a dozen Israel
"First, last and always" US congressional leaders from both houses of
Congress held an urgent conference call organized by the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Their purpose was to discuss how best
to promote Israel during next month's US visit by Israel's Prime Minister...

*[uruknet.info] Syria arrests hundreds, shells Deraa into submission*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77320>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - Security forces arrested hundreds of pro-democracy
sympathisers in cities across Syria after taking control of the city of
Deraa, cradle of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's
autocratic rule. Looking for men under 40 years old, security forces
broke into houses Sunday in the old quarter of Deraa, which a
tank-backed force led by...

*[uruknet.info] Egyptians celebrate first May Day since popular
uprising* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77319>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - Three months after the beginning of the Egyptian
popular uprising which eventually led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak and
top officials of his regime, the country's workers and labour activists
are celebrating May Day today. Absent from the festivities, however,
will be the president of the republic and the chairman of the official...

*[uruknet.info] Israel freezes PNA fund transfer of $89 million*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77317>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - The Israeli Finance Ministry on Sunday announced
it will hold up the transfer of $89 million which Israel collects in tax
funds and customs fees to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in
response to the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal. Israeli Finance
Minister Yuval Steinitz told the Israeli Army Radio that he will delay
the money...

*[uruknet.info] Syria invites Israeli rabbi to visit Damascus*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77314>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - With highly improbable timing, even as it guns
down its own people while attempting to retain power, the Syrian
government has invited an Israeli rabbi to visit the country where many
of his forefathers are buried, and to pray at their Damascus gravesites.
Over the course of Mimouna celebrations at Moshav Gimzo, between Lod...

*[uruknet.info] Libyans burn UK, Italy missions after NATO strike*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77313>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - Angry mobs attacked Western embassies and U.N.
offices in Tripoli Sunday after NATO bombed Moammar Gadhafi's family
compound in an attack officials said killed the leader's second-youngest
son and three grandchildren. Russia accused the Western alliance of
exceeding its U.N. mandate of protecting Libyan civilians with the
strike... In some of its strongest language,...

*[uruknet.info] Bishop confirms Gaddafi son's death*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77312>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - The most senior Catholic official in Tripoli has
confirmed that Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Arab was
killed, and has appealed for a ceasefire. "I confirm the death of the
son of the leader," Giovanni Martinelli, the bishop of Tripoli, said on
an Italian television channel on Sunday. Television pictures showed him
standing...

*[uruknet.info] Israel court dismisses petition for Gaza war victims*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77311>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - Israel's High Court on Thursday dismissed a
petition filed on behalf of 1,046 victims of Israel's Operation Cast
Lead offensive on the Gaza Strip, a human rights group said. The
Palestinian Center for Human Rights filed a petition in December to
challenge the two-year statute of limitations imposed on compensation
claims, which would allow...

*[uruknet.info] Annals of a Golden Age: Peace Laureate Surpasses Reagan
in Killing Gadafy Kin* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77309>
Uruknet May 1, 2011 - how wonderful it is to live in such an enlightened
age! Just think: not long ago, the U.S. government was seen as little
more than a vast war machine -- brutal, murderous, inhumane, bent on
global domination. Yet now, by some marvelous, miraculous twist of fate,
that same government is being led by a...

*[uruknet.info] Saturday, April 30, 2011: 1 US Soldier, 22 Iraqis
Killed; 27 Iraqis Wounded* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77308>
Uruknet April 30, 2011 - At least 22 Iraqis were killed and 27 more were
wounded in a bombing and several targeted assassinations. Also, a U.S.
soldier was killed during operations yesterday, making April the
deadliest month for American troops November 2009. Meanwhile, parliament
approved $400 million to compensate Americans used as human shields
during the 1990-91 Gulf War....

*[uruknet.info] Gaza: Family house shelled: two children, a woman and a
man injured* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77307>
Uruknet April 30, 2011 - "I dreamt of my wife last night, she said the
day would have a surprise in store for me". Nasser Abu Said (37) is
pleased: an NGO has confirmed a 2000 dollar contribution to the
construction of his new house. He often smiles, but his face is
predominantly characterized with the traces of worries...

*[uruknet.info] SICK, MURDEROUS BASTARDS*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77306>
Uruknet April 30, 2011 - I just read the news that Moammar Gadaffi's son
and three grandchildren were killed by a NATO missile strike. Notice
that the wording said "NATO," so no one country can be blamed at this
point, however, I would not be remiss in thinking it was a US piece of
hardware. This is another accolade...

*[uruknet.info] Family house shelled: two children, a woman and a man
injured* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77304>
Uruknet April 30, 2011 - "I dreamt of my wife last night, she said the
day would have a surprise in store for me". Nasser Abu Said (37) is
pleased: an NGO has confirmed a 2000 dollar contribution to the
construction of his new house. He often smiles, but his face is
predominantly characterized with the traces of worries...

*[uruknet.info] Iran: Joint Statement in Observance of International
Workers' Day* <http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77303>
Uruknet April 30, 2011 - May 1st, International Workers' Day, is the
global day of unity and protest by workers against the tyranny and
inequality of capitalist system. This day is a reminder of the global
struggles by workers for achieving their human rights. Iranian workers
celebrate this day alongside workers of the world, and, in protest
against their...

*[uruknet.info] Libya: Illegalities of Humanitarian Intervention*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77302>
Uruknet April 30, 2011 - Experts disagree on the legality of the
intervention in Libya by the U.S. and its "allies" without even getting
to the bottom of the issue, which goes beyond the actions of the
dictator (until then "president" for the Western powers and the media),
but falls on the international hypocrisy of hand picking the human...

*[uruknet.info] Iraq: Protests, calls for a vote of no-confidence*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77301>
Uruknet April 30, 2011 - Dar Addustour reports "hundreds" turned out in
Tahrir Square (Liberation Square) in Baghdad yesterday to protest and
demand reforms and the end to the occupation. The demonstration, the
paper notes, is a continuation of the protests which began February
15th. The protesters carried banners which they unfurled in Tahrir
Square. The banners called for...

*[uruknet.info] Military Resistance 9D 22: Free At Last*
<http://www.uruknet. info/?new= 77300>
Uruknet April 30, 2011 - The San Francisco Chronicle is apparently in
trouble with the White House for postingvideo of a protest against the
White House's treatment of suspected WikiLeaks sourceBradley Manning.The
Chronicle's Carolyn Lochhead reports:The White House threatened Thursday
to exclude the San Francisco Chronicle frompooled coverage of its events
in the Bay Area after the paper posted...

*Daily Star* <http://dailystar. com.lb/>

*Yemen power deal unraveling as Saleh still defiant*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/May/ 02/Yemen- power-deal- unraveling- as-Saleh- still-defiant. ashx>
Daily Star 1 May 2011 The secretary-general of the six-member Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC), a league of Arab states that drew up the
plan, was due to go to Sanaa as early as Monday to try to salvage the
deal, a...

*Libyans burn UK, Italy missions after NATO strike*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/May/ 02/Libyans- burn-UK-Italy- missions- after-NATO- strike.ashx>
Daily Star 1 May 2011 Angry mobs attacked Western embassies and a U.N.
office in Tripoli Sunday after NATO bombed Moammar Gadhafi's family
compound in an attack officials said killed the leader's second youngest
son and three grandchildren, ages six months...

*Syria arrests hundreds, shells Daraa into submission*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/May/ 02/Syria- arrests-hundreds -shells-Daraa- into-submission. ashx>
Daily Star 1 May 2011 Security forces arrested hundreds of pro-democracy
sympathisers in cities across Syria after taking control of the city of
Daraa, cradle of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's
autocratic rule.

*March 14 betting on Cabinet delay to return to power: Hezbollah*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Politics/ May/01/March- 14-betting- on-Cabinet- delay-to- return-to- power-Hezbollah. ashx>
Daily Star 1 May 2011 The March 14 coalition is counting on the
continued delay in the formation of the Lebanese Cabinet as a means to
return to power, but that bet is a mirage, a senior Hezbollah official
said Sunday.

*Israel stops cash transfers to PA after unity deal*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/May/ 01/Israel- stops-cash- transfers- to-PA-after- unity-deal. ashx>
Daily Star 1 May 2011 Israel is suspending the transfer of Palestinian
tax and customs fees to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it is sure
the money will not reach Hamas, Israel's finance minister said on Sunday.

*Baroud says doesn't want to stay in govt*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Politics/ May/01/Baroud- says-doesnt- want-to-stay- in-govt.ashx>
Daily Star 1 May 2011 Caretaker Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud said on
Saturday night that he was no longer interested in serving in the
Cabinet, a move that appeared to remove a key hurdle blocking the
formation of a new government.. .

*Gaddafi survives air strikes, son killed*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/May/ 01/Gaddafi- survives- air-strikes- son-killed- govt.ashx>
Daily Star 1 May 2011 Libyan officials took journalists to the house,
which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely
caved in in places, leaving mangled rods of reinforcing steel hanging
down among splintered chunks of...

*Syrian protesters plan week "to break the siege"*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ News/Middle- East/May/ 01/Syrians- protest-from- rooftops- after-army- action.ashx>
Daily Star 1 May 2011 Activists said countrywide protests from Sunday
would begin a "week of breaking the siege" -- a reference to Daraa and
the Damascus suburb of Douma, which the army has controlled since Monday.

*YNet News* <http://ynetnews. com/>

*Israel launches bid to reclaim Holocaust assets*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4063106,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Israel on Sunday launched a commission to track
down property taken from Holocaust victims across Europe and get
compensation for wartime losses. The Holocaust Era ... ....

*IDF chief: Army ready to protect Jewish people*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4063096,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Benny
Gantz said Sunday that the IDF is ready to meet any threat to Israel's
safe future. Speaking at a ceremony on Holocaust ... ....

*Seattle: Anti-Israel billboard ads to be removed*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4063089,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - A Seattle group seeking to publish ads calling
for an end to US financing of Israel suffered another defeat recently.
Last year the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign ... ....

*PM: I doubt world has learned Shoah lesson*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4063070,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday
compared between the Holocaust and current threats on Israel from Iran,
Hamas and Hezbollah during a ceremony at the Yad ... ....

*Egypt calls on US to recognize Palestinian state*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4063039,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi on
Sunday called on the United States to recognize a Palestinian state, as
rival Palestinian factions prepare to sign a ... ....

*Soldiers charged with abusing Palestinian minor*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4063012,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - The Police Internal Investigations Department
filed an indictment with the Jerusaelm District Court on Sunday against
two Border Guard officers -- Yishai Ben Ozeri, 30, ... ....

*Eichmann Trial judge passes away*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4063015,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Retired Judge Moshe Landau, Israel's fifth
Supreme Court president and the presiding judge in the trial of Adolf
Eichmann, passed away in Jerusalem on Sunday at the age ... ....

*'Hamas ready for peace talks with Israel'*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062868,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Palestinian billionaire Munib al-Masri, who
helped mediate Hamas-Fatah unity....

*IDF chief, general staff visit Yad Vashem*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062858,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Top military echelon attends special seminar at
Shoa museum on eve of Holocaust... .

*Israel suspends tax transfer to PA*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062706,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Treasury halts transfer of customs funds, taxes
collected by Israel on behalf of....

*Israel wary of change in Rafah crossing's status*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062831,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Security official claims that while Israel
cannot afford reopening of border....

*Danino takes office as new police chief*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062810,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu awards Yohanan
Danino new rank of police....

*Pope John Paul officially beatified*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062801,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Masses pack St. Peter's Square as Pope Benedict
XVI presides over ceremony....

*Sharp decline in anti-Semitic violence in 2010*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062777,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Stephen Roth Institute survey says acts of
violence against Jews drop 46% last....

*Report: Mubarak's wealth came from Israel gas deal*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062779,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Cairo's new justice minister says ousted
Egyptian president owes his vast....

*Livni: Netanyahu isolating Israel*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062685,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Opposition chairwoman lashes out at Prime
Minister Netanyahu's response to....

*Over 25% of Holocaust survivors live in poverty*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062637,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Report published ahead of Holocaust Remembrance
Day indicates some 208,000....

*State to increase building enforcement in West Bank*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4062635,00. html>
YNet News, 1 May 2011 - Defense Ministry to file response to Peace Now
petition over illegal outposts in....

*B'tselem* <http://www.btselem. org/English>

*Army set dogs on Palestinian workers*
<http://www.btselem. org/English/ Press_Releases/ 20110428. asp>
B'tselem 30 Apr 2011 - B'Tselem has written (April 28) to the OC Central
Command and to the judge advocate general, demanding that they
immediately terminate the use of attack dogs against Palestinian workers
who enter into Israel without permits. In the last month alone, at
legram Files\QuickTime\ QTSystem\

*WAFA - Palestine News Agency* <http://english. wafa.ps/>

*Israeli Forces Injure Two Palestinians near Jerusalem*
<http://english. wafa.ps/index. php?action= detail&id= 16014>
WAFA

*Fayyad Condemns Israeli Decision to Freeze Palestinian Assets*
<http://english. wafa.ps/index. php?action= detail&id= 16013>
WAFA

*Islamic Development Bank Grants PA $120m*
<http://english. wafa.ps/index. php?action= detail&id= 16012>
WAFA

*Intifada Palestine* <http://www.intifada -palestine. com/>

*EXPOSING DEMOCRACY PROMOTION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

[ninathedog]

Michigan Peace Team Member Seriously Injured by
Illegal Israeli Military Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MICHIGAN PEACE TEAM MEMBER SUFFERS HEAD, WRIST INJURIES AS RESULT OF
ILLEGAL ISRAELI MILITARY ACTION

Izbet al-Tabib, Palestinian Authority (West Bank)
Released: Sunday, May 1st, 2011 at 19:30 EST (GMT -4:30)
Michigan Peace Team

Contact: Sheri Wander, Michigan Peace Team (USA Contact)
734-754-0648, or [e-mail].

On Sunday May 1st, 2011 in the village of Izbet al-Tabib in the Qalquiliya District of the Palestinian Authority, Michigan Peace Team (MPT) member Sandra C. Quintano suffered serious injuries after being physically assaulted by Israeli Military forces at a peaceful demonstration. The injury occurred at approximately 2:30pm local time, after Israeli military forces and bulldozers arrived at a demonstration site.

Ms. Quintano was standing with a group of 8 nonviolent peace activists on a roadway, gathered in an attempt to prevent violence by Israeli military, and prevent military and bulldozers from proceeding further into the area. The soldiers closest to the activists first approached a young man standing next to Ms. Quintano, and indicated he would be arrested if the group did not move. According to the Michigan Peace Team members present, several soldiers then closed in on this young man in a physically threatening manner. As had been previously agreed, the activists attempted to link arms to prevent one person from being singled out of the group as a target for violence.

It was as the soldiers made physical contact with the activists that Ms. Quintano says she felt herself being sent “flying through the air.” She describes that she felt she was “picked up and thrown out of the way” by Israeli soldiers. The nature of the assault is unclear; video footage of the incident and many additional eyewitness accounts are being reviewed at this time. MPT hopes to release more information as soon as possible.

Ms. Quintano suffered a gash to the head (see photo) and both of her wrists were broken. One of the wrist injuries appears to be particularly severe, according to her doctors. She was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital and is undergoing observation and testing to determine the full extent of her injuries. Ms. Quintano was admitted to the hospital and will stay at least overnight. She was accompanied by an MPT teammate. We will share more information on Ms Quintano's medical condition when it is made available.


Injuries suffered by a 60 year old female American activist.
The International Solidarity Movement provided this photo of Sandy
immediately following her injury.


Nonviolent protester after being injured by Israeli soldiers.
Both photos are from the website of the International Solidarity Movement—
palsolidarity.org/2011/05/18071/ (posted below)

Shortly before Ms. Quintano was injured, MPT Team members estimated that there were approximately 50 Israeli authority personnel present and more arriving all the time. These included military (Israeli Defense Forces) and special Border Police forces. The number of military and police present, as well as the number of activists is still being determined as MPT reviews video footage and eyewitness accounts. There are reports that at least three other nonviolent international activists were injured by military personnel and detained or arrested at the scene.

MPT Team members had been in the village since Friday, along with other local community organizers and international activists, to protest the construction of the separation wall through village land, the confiscation of agricultural and homestead land to build the wall, and to protest the scheduled demotion of 31 homes currently owned and occupied by Palestinian families.

Ms. Quintano is certainly not the first nonviolent peace activist injured by the Israeli military. Perhaps the most well-know incident is that of 23 year-old peacemaker, Rachel Corrie, who was killed while attempting to prevent an illegal home demolition. Her case is currently in the Israeli court system.

Michigan Peace Team (MPT) trains volunteers from all walks of life in nonviolent action and communication, and deploys peace teams to areas of conflict worldwide. MPT currently maintains a presence of rotating teams in the West Bank (Palestine), and has worked in the region for over 8 years.

For more information on MPT, see www.michiganpeaceteam.org and MPTinPalestine.blogspot.com.

Read about a previous MPT Team Member visit to the village of Izbet al-Tabib at: mptinpalestine.blogspot.com/2009/09/izbat-at-tabib-daily-harassment.html, or search “Tabib” or “Qalqilya” on MPTinPalestine.blogspot.com for more Peace Team reports about the village/region.

More information regarding the injuries and arrest/detainment of at least three other international activists at the same demonstration can be found on the International Solidarity Movement website: palsolidarity.org/2011/05/18071/
(below)

For further information contact:
Sheri Wander, Michigan Peace Team President (USA Contact) 734-754-0648 or [e-mail]

Nicole Rohrkemper, MPT International Teams Coordinator (USA Contact) 734-754-0648 or [e-mail]

XXX

Michigan Peace Team | 808 W. Barnes Ave. | Lansing, MI 48910 USA

mptinpalestine.blogspot.com/2011/05/mpt-team-member-seriously-injured-by.html

...........


American woman hospitalized with head injury and
three international activists arrested in West Bank protest

Posted on: May 1, 2011 | 213 15
1 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Sandra Quintano, An American 60 year-old women working with the Michigan Peace Team, was evacuated to an Israeli hospital this afternoon, after Israeli soldiers caused her a serious head injury as they demolished a protest tent in the West Bank village of Izbet al-Tabib near Qalqilya. A Swede and two British activists were arrested during the protest.


source: International Solidarity Movement—France
www.ism-france.org/temoignages/Encore-des-tabassages-et-des-arrestations-a-Azzoun-article-7795

Israeli soldiers, accompanied by bulldozers and other heavy machinery entered the village of Izbet al-Tabib south of Qalqilya earlier today, to demolish a protest tent set up only yesterday by the villagers and begin the construction of a fence that would cut the villagers off from Highway 55 and of their agricultural land.

During the eviction of the tent, the soldiers violently arrested two British activists and a Swedish activist. They also caused a bleeding head injury to a 60 year-old American woman. She also suffered blows to her wrist, which is suspected to be broken. She was evacuated to an Israeli hospital.

The violent arrests were made solely under the pretext of declaring the area a “closed military zone”. However, the soldiers and Border Police officers carried out the arrests without having shown any document declaring the area as such, as the law requires them to do. The three are still in custody and are currently held at the Ariel police station.

During today’s protest, Bayan Tabib, the head of the village council, has received a promise from an Israeli Civil Administration officer, that the fence will only be erected on the far end of Highway 55, thus not cutting off the village’s access to the road or their land. Tabib attributed the promise to today’s protest, saying the “The protest today is the only reason that they agreed to move the fence.”

The village of Izbet al-Tabib, which consists of 45 structures and is home to 247 residents, was built in the 1920’s and is located entirely in area C according to the 1995 Interim Agreement (Oslo II). Israeli authorities do not recognize the village and 32 out of its 45 houses, as well as its school, have been served demolition orders in recent years. Izbet al-Tabib is the fifth poorest village in the West Bank and villagers have already lost 45% of their land due to the construction of Israel’s Separation Barrier.

Read more on Michigan Peace Team website (above)

Updated on May 2, 2011
Posted under: Features, Press Releases
Tags: Apartheid Wall, closed military zone, demonstrations, Izbet Tabib

palsolidarity.org/2011/05/18071/

........

edit>> article originally posted here has been moved to the following post.

[ninathedog]

note >> the first article below has been moved from the preceding post in order to discuss the village of
Awarta, while retaining sections highlighting Izbet al-Tabib from preceding post.


Human Rights: Awarta

Sunday, 01 May 2011 09:50
Mazin Qumsiyeh
The Alternative Information Center—Palestine/Israel

We finally toured the devastated village of Awarta Wednesday and were
 stunned at what we saw and heard.


Awarta, West Bank, Palestine

On the way, we stopped by a tiny village 
called Izbet Al-tabib, a village of 350 people was served with a new order
 by the Israeli military to take over a significant portion of their land.
 The wall that will be built and isolate this land behind it is supposed to 
"protect" the illegal highway 55, an Israeli road built already on 
Palestinian lands to serve the Jewish colonies built on the rich Western water aquifer of the Palestinian West Bank. Yet, instead of building the wall on the colonial road 55, it is to be built a long distance from that to the north side near the village houses with the idea of capturing the rich agricultural land between. The villagers do not know what to do beyond going to the biased Israeli courts run by Israeli judges that obviously favor Israeli colonial interests. The work on the wall is slated to start Sunday and the villagers asked if we could all go there then. Leaving this small devastated village near Qalqilia, we headed east towards Nablus and 
Awarta.

After a quick lunch in Nablus hosted generously by our friend Dr. Saed 
Abuhijleh, we drove the short distance to Awarta. We enter the rich valley from the Western side and past the Israeli military camp and notice the colonial Jewish settlements dotting the hilltops around the valley. The native village of 6000 brave souls is on the slope to north side of the valley and villagers have to face this scene of growing colonial settlements on their lands. The main colonial settlement built on stolen village lands is called by Jewish settlers Itamar. Over 12,000 dunums (4000 acres) of
 Awarta's lands were already taken by this colony inhabited by the most rabid and fanatical of Jewish settlers. Two Palestinians from Awarta were killed for coming within 500 meters of the fortified fencing of this colony. This is one of the many reasons why we are very convinced that the whole story about the killing of a settler family by two teenagers from the village of
 Awarta is a lie. But the killing of these settlers set stage for a ransacking of the village by the colonizing army of the state of Israel. Beating people, massive destruction, torture and more was inflicted on the village of 6000 people as collective punishment. It is hard to describe what we saw and heard. The video just reveals a glimpse of it.

The village has already suffered repeated attacks from settlers in the past. Just last year, settlers and soldiers executed (shot at close range) two youths (18 and 19 year old cousins Salah and Muhamad Qawariq) who were working their agricultural field. Villagers asked us why there was no outrage and no one held accountable in any of these atrocities. We are all
100% convinced that that the settler family was not killed by the Palestinian teenagers that are claimed as culprits by the Israeli authorities. The story the colonial army gave is so full of holes that it is simply not plausible. Things that do not make sense:

• Why would two young teenagers not involved in politics, one of them a straight A student in his last year of high school and the other a westernized rapper enjoying his life decide to do such a thing? Killing children is especially not tolerated in our culture no matter what.

• How could such a pair manage to bypass one of the most heavily guarded and secured colonies in the WB. How would they cut through the electrified security fence and its other barriers in a settlement that brags that it is the most secure of Jewish colonies in the West bank. How could two strangers manage to stay in the settlement for two hours and even go back to the same house supposedly after leaving to get an M-16 gun that happened to be just sitting there in a bedroom (army story)?

• Why would two people who committed such a crime go back to studying and enjoying their lives for days even after one of them was arrested, questioned for 10 hours and released? Why not run away?

• There were reports in Israeli papers that a Thai worker who has not been paid thousands of shekels as being involved but then this suddenly disappeared from print. Why?

• What of the villagers' contention that this whole incident is calculated to acquire 1000 more dunums of their lands?

• Why did Israeli authorities not allow media scrutiny of what was really happening?
-Why did Israeli authorities not allow independent investigation or International protection or presence to witness what was really going on?

• Why would the two young people be denied access to lawyers and family visits?

These and hundreds of other questions poured out from the villagers. I was particularly shocked to hear from Um Adam, a 77-year-old grandmother (14 
living children, over 75 grandchildren). She herself was arrested with hundreds of others and forced (like all of them) to take a DNA test and to put her fingerprints on a document in Hebrew that she does not read. She, like hundreds, was not allowed access to lawyers during their detention. 14
 of her children and grandchildren are still kidnapped by the colonial soldiers. One of her Children still held by the Israelis is the volunteer head of the Municipal council. Another child is the only doctor in town. The homes of these two children, her home, and many other homes were ransacked and heavily damaged (the fascist soldiers had clearly come to destroy as an act of collective punishment). The doctor's room and his medical books and supplies were not spared. While we visited nearly three weeks after the damage and after much of the houses were tidied-up with help of international volunteers, we still could see significant evidence of the damages. To punish a whole village in such a fashion reminds us of the worst regimes in history.

It is a stain on humanity that the world is silent about these practices of land theft and destruction of people's lives. Now that Hamas and Fatah are reconciling some of their differences, I wonder if any of them (in positions of "authority") will do something for the villages of Awarta or Izbet
Al-Tabib. We are angry and sad and we ask all decent people (Israelis, Palestinians, and Internationals) to shed what is left of our collective apathy. We must insist that settlers be removed from all stolen Palestinian lands and that Palestinians be provided protection. If the Palestinians can’t be provided protection by neutral parties, then it is almost certain that, based on our history of 15 uprisings, a new uprising against this injustice will be carried forth.

"Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,.."
—preamble of the universal declaration of human rights

"If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable."
— John Fitzgerald Kennedy

www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/blogs/mazin-qumsiyeh/3562-human-rights-awarta

........

New Settlement near Awarta,
Northern West Bank

April 21, 2011 by occupiedpalestine

21.04.11 – 13:33 | PNN (Palestine News Network)

Nablus – PNN- Israeli settlers announced on Wednesday night a new settlement to be built on lands owned by the villagers of Awarta, located near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Radical settler leader, Daniela Fays, told Israeli media that the new settlement will be named Ragiv, and it will have no limits to its borders, adding that she will head this new settlement, “ 20 new families will leave everything behind and move to this settlement” Fays added.

On Wednesday the Israeli army bulldozers and troops constructed the road leading to the new settlement and connected power lines providing the settlement with electricity.

Villagers of Awarta said that 500 settlers came to the location on the new settlement and laid the cornerstone and celebrated the start of the settlement which already has two homes and a tent step by settlers.

Qayies Awad, head of Awarta village council, told local media that since the early hours of Thursday morning settlers under the protection of the military started to build the infrastructure needed for the new settlement.

Awarta lies directly under the illegal settlement of Itamar, where a settler family was killed last month. The army accused two teens from Awarta of the attack after invading the village and surrounding it for almost a month after the attack on Itamar.

occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/new-settlement-near-awarta-northern-west-bank/




map source: Applied Research Institute—Jerusalem
www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=2724

[ninathedog]

UNDERSTANDING GAZA with Elliot Adams, Part One, excerpt

www.youtube.com/watch?v=now10Ze641o

UNDERSTANDING GAZA with Elliott Adams, Part One, Entire —
blip.tv/file/3090877

UNDERSTANDING GAZA with Elliott Adams, Part Two, Entire —
blip.tv/file/3091281


President of Veterans For Peace:
Elliott Adams



Elliott Adams was a paratrooper in the infantry serving in Viet Nam, Japan, Korea, and Alaska.

Elliott has been active in Veterans For Peace, his local Chapter (#10, Albany, NY) as well as regionally and nationally. He’s worked with IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War). Elliott has stepped forward bringing all of his experience and passion to the work of VFP, including attending the last three Board meetings, being one of the finalists for the Executive Director position and creating and filling the VFP Nonviolence Training Coordinator position.

www.veteransforpeace.org/Board_of_Directors.vp.html

[ninathedog]

European Orchestra to Perform in Gaza Strip

By JOSHUA MITNICK
Wall Street Journal
MIDDLE EAST NEWS
MAY 2, 2011, 10:04 A.M. ET


Daniel Barenboim
source: www.enkiri.com/heart_and_soul/heart_and_soul2.html

Tel Aviv — Daniel Barenboim, a renowned Israeli conductor and Palestinian rights activist, will bring an orchestra of European musicians for a performance in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

The concert, coordinated in secret with the United Nations until invitations were distributed Sunday and Monday, would mark a rare solidarity visit from a major international cultural figure to the blockaded Palestinian territory since Hamas' takeover in 2007.

The performance comes on the eve of the signing of a reconciliation accord in Cairo between Hamas and Fatah, the other leading Palestinian faction in the West Bank.

Mr. Barenboim's visit is likely to enhance the already raised expectations for the end of Gaza's years of isolation, a possibility that has stirred Israeli worries about a threat to its security.

Enlisting musicians from orchestras in Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Milan, Mr. Barenboim has an assembled an outfit dubbed the "Orchestra for Gaza."

The group plans to fly from Berlin to Egypt and then cross the border into Gaza for a brief visit that will include a concert at a cultural center outside of Gaza City.

Just last week, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Al Araby said he plans to remove restrictions at the Rafah crossing at the border with Gaza within days, a shift in policy that could lift a several-year-old blockade that has prevented most of the 1.5 million Palestinians from leaving the tiny coastal strip.

Israeli officials responded that the decision could free up the flow of militants and weapons across the border. Jerusalem is worried that the decision is a sign of a thaw between Hamas and Egypt, which shunned the Islamic militants under former President Hosni Mubarak.

The visit Tuesday by Mr. Barenboim will violate an Israeli ban on its citizens from entering the Gaza Strip. A spokesman for Hamas (?) wasn't immediately available to comment.

Mr. Barenboim, an Argentine native who was raised in Israel, is a controversial figure in the Jewish state. A decade ago he led an orchestra which performed music by Richard Wagner in Israel, despite public disdain for the composer over his anti-Semitism.

Over the last decade he has become an outspoken advocate for Palestinian statehood and a critic of Israel's military occupation in the West Bank. A former director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Barenboim was awarded an honorary passport from the Palestinian Authority in 2008.

"We are very happy to come to Gaza. We are playing this concert as a sign of our solidarity and friendship with the civil society of Gaza," said Mr. Barenboim in a statement released by the U.N.

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704569404576298910669560094.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


(many thanks to Gaza TV News)

............


From the Official Website of Daniel Barenboim:

Daniel Barenboim and the 'Orchestra for Gaza' to
perform in Gaza

Maestro Daniel Barenboim, UN Messenger of Peace, will conduct the ‘Orchestra for Gaza’ consisting of distinguished musicians from Staatskapelle Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and Orchestra of La Scala di Milano, in a peace concert for the people of Gaza. The concert will take place on Tuesday 3rd May at 12.30 pm at the Al Mathaf Cultural House, Gaza.

Maestro Barenboim said: "We are very happy to come to Gaza. We are playing this concert as a sign of our solidarity and friendship with the civil society of Gaza." This event has been organized by the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network and the Al Mathaf Cultural House, in cooperation with The Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

www.danielbarenboim.com/

..........



www.youtube.com/watch?v=auRUxPPqDcQ
Daniel Barenboim conducts Manuel de Falla's "El Amor Brujo"
(Danza ritual del fuego) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from
the Kölner Philharmonie (Germany)



www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJeD8ckihN8
Daniel Barenboim - Moonlight sonata - 3ºmov Presto agitato
Beethoven - Sonata No. 14 C sharp minor Op. 27 No. 2

[ninathedog]

Barenboim conducts
classical concert in Gaza Strip

* First classical concert in Gaza in memory
* Conductor enters Gaza Strip from Egypt

Tue May 3, 2011 1:49pm GMT
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, May 3 (Reuters) - Classical musician Daniel Barenboim, a supporter of Palestinian rights, broke new ground on Tuesday when he travelled to the Gaza Strip to conduct a concert.

Musicians from some of Europe's top orchestras entered the coastal enclave from Egypt via the Rafah border crossing amid tight security, to form the "Orchestra for Gaza" and play Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and the Symphony No. 40.

Barenboim's appearance with the orchestra, players of the Staatskapelle Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and La Scala of Milan, was a first in recent memory in Gaza where traditional Arabic music is more common.

The hour-long concert at the plush al-Madha centre along the beachfront in the northern Gaza Strip was organised by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that cares for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip.

When introducing the event, Barenboim said the concert was taking place because "these are people who care about you, this is why we are here today."

Barenboim has become a controversial figure in Israel for his vocal opposition to its occupation of the West Bank, where he has performed on several occasions.

Since 1999, he has promoted Arab-Israeli cultural contacts and he leads the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, made up of young Israeli and Arab musicians which is based in Seville, Spain.

In 2008, Argentine-born Barenboim, 68, also took Palestinian citizenship and said he believed his status could serve as a model for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

"As you know I am Palestinian ... not (just) because I have a Palestinian passport and I am also Israeli, so you see it is possible to be both, but in order ... to have justice and peace we have to do many things.

"Our conflict is a conflict of two peoples who are convinced they have the right to live in the same little piece of land, therefore, our destinies are linked," he said.

"No people should be expected to live under occupation," Barenboim added as he received a standing ovation from some 700 members of the audience of academics, foreign guests and schoolchildren.

GAZA POLITICS

The concert comes a day before Islamist Hamas, who rule the Gaza Strip, and the more secular Fatah faction that controls the occupied West Bank, were due to sign a reconciliation agreement they hope will heal a political rift between them.

Israel maintains a blockade of Gaza because it is run by Hamas, who unlike Fatah, are hostile to the Jewish state and refuse to recognise interim peace accords or renounce violence.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, once the dominant Palestinian party, was driven out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas in a brief civil war four years ago.

Barenboim, today considered one of the world's leading conductors of the operas of Richard Wagner, Hitler's favourite composer, has further damaged his reputation in Israel where he has tried unsuccessfully to break an unofficial taboo on playing the music of the German composer.

(Writing by Ori Lewis)

af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE7420HU20110503?sp=true

..........

Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT7_Y1pIBb4

Mozart's Symphony No. 40

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l45DAuXYSIs

..........


Conductor Daniel Barenboim holds
Gaza 'peace concert'

3 May 2011 Last updated at 09:26 ET
BBC.com


Daniel Barenboim was forced to enter the Gaza Strip through
Egypt's Rafah crossing

Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim has led an orchestra of European musicians in a "peace concert" in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them schoolchildren, attended the first performance in the coastal territory by an international classical ensemble.

Israel forbids its civilian citizens from travelling to Gaza, so Barenboim entered via Egypt with 25 musicians.

For years, Barenboim has used music to try to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

The conductor, who accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship in 2008, famously set up an orchestra made up of young Arab and Israeli musicians, known as the East-West Divan orchestra. In 2005, it performed in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

But Tuesday's concert in Gaza City was one of his most ambitious moves, says the BBC's Jon Donnison in Ramallah.

'Not political'

Barenboim was greeted with thunderous applause as he entered the hall of the al-Mathaf Cultural House.

He said the members of the orchestra had two things in common.

"They are tremendously good musicians... and they are musicians who care about humanity," he explained.

"This is a unique gesture from the whole of Europe for you, Gaza."

The so-called Orchestra for Gaza includes musicians from five leading European orchestras, including the Berlin and Vienna philharmonics.

The programme included pieces by Mozart including Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and the G minor symphony.

"This visit is very important to us for many reasons, both cultural and civil," Ibrahim al-Najjar, director of al-Qattan music school, the only such establishment in Gaza, told the AFP news agency.

"And from a political perspective, it is important to show that Gaza is a safe place," he added.

Gaza is governed by the Islamist group Hamas, which Israel regards as a terrorist organisation.

The impoverished coastal strip has been subjected to a crippling Israeli blockade since 2006. The embargo was eased somewhat last year following international outrage over the killing of Turkish activists on an aid flotilla.

The Israeli government has previously blocked attempts by Barenboim to perform in Gaza, and Israeli law bans citizens from entering the territory.

The concert was therefore co-ordinated in secret with the United Nations until invitations were distributed earlier this week.

Barenboim's entry through Egypt's Rafah crossing comes amid Israeli criticism of plans by Egypt's new military rulers to open up the border, our correspondent says. Former President Hosni Mubarak tacitly supported the blockade.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13264688

...........

Audio slideshow:
Gaza music school

20 April 2011
BBC.com

(Please click link underneath the photos posted below for additional images and audio presentation.)

The al-Qattan Music School in Gaza is a unique project. It is the only place for children to learn music in the Gaza Strip. The school specialises in Arabic instruments such as the Kanoun and the Oud.

The academy was destroyed during the conflict with Israel in January 2009 - but under the leadership of its director, Ibrahim al-Najjar, it has now been rebuilt and the lessons have resumed.

Gaza Music School —


Ibrahim al-Najjar — Al-Qattan music school























i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac62/queenmolly/singing2.jpg [/img]

Recorded by Jon Donnison.
Photos by Jon Donnison and courtesy of the al-Qattan Gaza Music School.

Slideshow production by Paul Kerley.
Publication date 20 April 2011.

AUDIO AND ADDITIONAL PHOTOS —
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13035704

...........

Gaza Music School 2

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPBpYhekno0


Gaza music school reopens after
being burned by Israel

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzsiE5gqZkg


Gaza Music School 1

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3JiaN2kWDc

[ninathedog]

AIPAC does not speak for me

Hedy Epstein
The Electronic Intifada
3 May 2011


Hedy Epstein (holding sign) taking part in the
Gaza Freedom March in the winter of 2009-2010.
(source: Free Gaza)

In 2004, the end of one of my first journeys to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, I endured a shocking experience at Ben-Gurion airport near Tel Aviv. I never imagined that Israeli security forces would abuse a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor, but they held me for five hours and strip-searched and cavity-searched every part of my naked body. The only shame these security officials expressed was to turn their badges around so that their names were invisible.

The only conceivable purpose for this gross violation of my bodily integrity was to humiliate and terrify me. But it had just the opposite effect. It made me more determined to speak out against abuses by the Israeli government and its military.

Yet my own experience, unpleasant as it was, is nothing compared to the indignities and abuses heaped on Palestinians year after year. Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is based not on equal rights and fair play, but on what Human Rights Watch has termed a “two-tier” legal system — in other words, apartheid, with one set of laws for Jews and a harsh, oppressive set of laws for Palestinians.

This, however, is the legal system and security state AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) will defend from 22-24 May at its annual conference in Washington, DC. And, despite this grim reality, members of Congress will converge to hail AIPAC and Israel. The Palestinians’ lack of freedom is bound to be obscured at the AIPAC conference with its obsessive focus on security and shunting aside of anything to do with upholding fundamental Palestinian rights.

Several years ago near Der Beilut in the West Bank, I saw the Israeli police turn a water cannon on our nonviolent protest. As it happened, I recalled Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 and wondered why an ostensibly democratic society responded to peaceable assembly by trying, literally, to drown out the voice of our protest.

In Masha, also in the occupied West Bank, I joined a demonstration against the wall Israel has built, usually inside the West Bank and occasionally towering to 25 feet in height. I saw a red sign warning ominously of “mortal danger” to any who dared to cross in an area where it ran as a fence. I saw Israeli soldiers aiming at unarmed Israelis, Palestinians and international protesters. I also saw blood pouring out of Gil Na’amati, a young Israeli whose first public act after completing his mandatory military service was to protest against the wall. I saw shrapnel lodged in the leg of Anne Farina, one of my traveling companions from St. Louis. And I thought of Kent State and Jackson State, where National Guardsmen opened fire in 1970 on protesters against the Vietnam War.

So as AIPAC meets and members of Congress cheer, I hold these images of Israel in my mind and fear AIPAC’s ability to move US policy in dangerous directions. AIPAC does a disservice to the Palestinians, the Israelis and the American people. It helps to keep the Middle East in a perpetual state of war and this year will be no different from last year as it keeps up a steady drumbeat calling for war against Iran.

AIPAC pretends to speak for all Jews, but it certainly does not speak for me or other members of the Jewish community in this country who are committed to equal rights for all and are aware that American interventionism is likely to bring further disaster and chaos to the Middle East.

Israel, of course, would not be able to carry out its war crimes against civilians in Lebanon and Gaza without the United States — and our $3 billion in military aid — permitting it to do so. At 86 years old, I use every ounce of my energy to educate the American public about the need to stop supporting the abuses committed by the Israeli government and military against the Palestinian people. Sometimes there are people who try to shout me down and scream that I am a self-hating Jew, but most of the time the audience is receptive to hear from someone who survived the Holocaust and now works to free the Palestinians from Israeli oppression.

The vicious discrimination brought to bear against Palestinians in the occupied territories deserves no applause from members of Congress attending the AIPAC conference. Instead, they should raise basic questions with Israeli officials about decades of inferior rights endured by Palestinians both inside Israel and the occupied territories.

Hedy Epstein is a Holocaust survivor, who writes and travels extensively to speak about social justice causes and Middle Eastern affairs. She will be participating in Move Over AIPAC, a gathering in Washington, DC from 21-24 May 2011, to expose AIPAC and build the vision for a new US foreign policy in the Middle East (www.MoveOverAIPAC.org).


Read about the life of Hedy Epstein at
www.hedyepstein.com/abouthedy/

...........

Latest articles

* Opinion/Editorial: AIPAC does not speak for me (3 May 2011)
* Diaries: Live from Palestine: When Israeli soldiers came to arrest my father (2 May 2011)
* Opinion/Editorial: No peace without release of political prisoners (2 May 2011)
* Activism News: Bassem Tamimi: "Our destiny is to resist" (2 May 2011)
* Art, Music & Culture: Poetry review: Plunging humanity's depths in "Book of Sins" (29 April 2011)
* Human Rights: Israel arrests writer, activist Ahmad Qatamesh, again (28 April 2011)
* Opinion/Editorial: Spain a bastion of support for Palestine? (28 April 2011)
* Diaries: Live from Palestine: Remembering Palestinian prisoners, renewing our struggle (27 April 2011)
* Art, Music & Culture: London festival expands view of films about Palestine (27 April 2011)
* Business & Economy: Nablus, beautiful and unvisited (26 April 2011)

Latest blog posts

* BDS Beat: USPCN: protest Bashar Masri's appearance at America-Israel Chamber of Commerce (2 May 2011)
* Rights and Accountability: Israeli high court decision a serious setback for Gaza war crimes victims (2 May 2011)
* Rights and Accountability: Long struggle ahead for Palestinian workers (2 May 2011)
* BDS Beat: Dr. Cornel West endorses BDS, supports Ethnic Studies at University of Arizona (30 April 2011)
* maureen: Disappearing Palestine and "typically Israeli" landscapes (29 April 2011)
* Rights and Accountability: Qatamesh's detention extended despite insufficient evidence (29 April 2011)
* BDS Beat: 51 Canadian filmmakers protest festival's normalization with Israel (28 April 2011)
* maureen: London Palestine Film Festival opens tomorrow! (28 April 2011)
* Lobby Watch: Israel lobby strikes again as Seattle billboards are canceled? (28 April 2011)
* Ali Abunimah: Elia Suleiman's "The Time That Remains" is a masterpiece of cinema! (28 April 2011)

electronicintifada.net/content/aipac-does-not-speak-me/9903

(many thanks to Electronic Intifada)


source: www.aclu-em.org

[ninathedog]

Full text of the Agreement between
Fatah and Hamas in Cairo

RafahToday.org
3 May 2011

This document is currently in the process of being signed by all of Palestine's factions and parties.

.......

Under the auspices of Egypt, delegations from the Fatah and Hamas movements met in Cairo on April 27, 2011 to discuss the issues concerning ending the political division and the achievement of national unity.

On top of the issues were some reservations related to the Palestinian National Unity Accord made in 2009.

Both political parties mutually agreed that the basis of understanding made during the meeting are committing to both parties in the implementation of the Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement.

The basis of understanding agreed upon by Fatah and Hamas are as follows:

1. Elections

A. Election Committee:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to identify the names of the members of the Central Election Commission in agreement with the Palestinian factions. This list will then be submitted to the Palestinian President who will issue a decree of the reformation of the committee.

B. Electoral Court:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree on the nomination of no more than twelve judges to be members of the Electoral Court. This list will then be submitted to the Palestinian President in order to take the necessary legal actions to form the Electoral Court in agreement with the Palestinian factions.

C. Timing of Elections:

The Legislative, Presidential, and the Palestinian National Council elections will be conducted at the same time exactly one year after the signing of the Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement.

2. Palestine Liberation Organization

The political parties of both Fatah and Hamas agree that the tasks and decisions of the provisional interim leadership cannot be hindered or obstructed, but in a manner that is not conflicting with the authorities of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

3. Security

It was emphasized that the formation of the Higher Security Committee which will be formed by a decree of the Palestinian President and will consist of professional officers in consensus.

4. Government

A. Formation of the Government:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to form a Palestinian government and to appoint the Prime Minister and Ministers in consensus between them.

B. Functions of the Government:

1. Preparation of necessary condition for the conduction of Presidential, Legislative and the Palestinian National Council elections.

2. Supervising and addressing the prevalent issues regarding the internal Palestinian reconciliation resulting from the state of division.

3. Follow-up of the reconstruction operations in the Gaza Strip and the efforts to end the siege and blockade that is imposed on it.

4. Continuation of the implementation of the provisions of the Palestinian National Accord.

5. To resolve the civil and administrative problems that resulted from the division.

6. Unification of the Palestinian National Authority institutions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.

7. To fix the status of the associations, Non-Governmental Organizations and charities.

5. Legislative Council:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to reactivate the Palestinian Legislative Council in accordance to the Basic Law.


.......

www.rafahtoday.org/news/todaymain.htm

(many thanks to Mohammed Omer of RafahToday.org)

[ninathedog]

Palestinian Women
Smuggled into Israel for 6th Time

4 May 2011
Palestine Solidarity Project

Earlier this week, a group of 12 Israeli women smuggled 8 Palestinian women and 4 children into Israel, in defiance of Israeli law. The trip was an act of civil disobedience intended to spark debate about Israel’s system of segregation that denies Palestinians access to most of historic Palestine. This was the 6th trip the group has organized in the past year.

The group assembled in the West Bank, split into several cars, and drove to Jaffa. All vehicles passed through the Israeli checkpoints unhindered. The group enjoyed a pleasant afternoon along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and in a nearby park before returning home. In the past 9 months over 100 women have been smuggled into Israel in this fashion, defying Israel’s discriminatory checkpoint system that allows Israelis to travel freely throughout almost all of historical Palestine, while denying Palestinians this same right.

All of the women engaging in this act civil disobedience risk jail time if caught. In the spring of 2010 the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel filed a complaint demanding that the attorney general prosecute the woman for smuggling illegal residents into Israel. To date no charges have been filed.

palestinesolidarityproject.org/2011/05/04/palestinian-women-smuggled-into-israel-for-6th-time/

(Many thanks to Mary W and Tom V)

[ninathedog]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1sJAiIkUBk

(many thanks to Yousef Al-Helou)

May 4, 2011 2:55:18 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

Full text of the Agreement between
Fatah and Hamas in Cairo

RafahToday.org
3 May 2011

This document is currently in the process of being signed by all of Palestine's factions and parties.

.......

Under the auspices of Egypt, delegations from the Fatah and Hamas movements met in Cairo on April 27, 2011 to discuss the issues concerning ending the political division and the achievement of national unity.

On top of the issues were some reservations related to the Palestinian National Unity Accord made in 2009.

Both political parties mutually agreed that the basis of understanding made during the meeting are committing to both parties in the implementation of the Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement.

The basis of understanding agreed upon by Fatah and Hamas are as follows:

1. Elections

A. Election Committee:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to identify the names of the members of the Central Election Commission in agreement with the Palestinian factions. This list will then be submitted to the Palestinian President who will issue a decree of the reformation of the committee.

B. Electoral Court:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree on the nomination of no more than twelve judges to be members of the Electoral Court. This list will then be submitted to the Palestinian President in order to take the necessary legal actions to form the Electoral Court in agreement with the Palestinian factions.

C. Timing of Elections:

The Legislative, Presidential, and the Palestinian National Council elections will be conducted at the same time exactly one year after the signing of the Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement.

2. Palestine Liberation Organization

The political parties of both Fatah and Hamas agree that the tasks and decisions of the provisional interim leadership cannot be hindered or obstructed, but in a manner that is not conflicting with the authorities of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

3. Security

It was emphasized that the formation of the Higher Security Committee which will be formed by a decree of the Palestinian President and will consist of professional officers in consensus.

4. Government

A. Formation of the Government:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to form a Palestinian government and to appoint the Prime Minister and Ministers in consensus between them.

B. Functions of the Government:

1. Preparation of necessary condition for the conduction of Presidential, Legislative and the Palestinian National Council elections.

2. Supervising and addressing the prevalent issues regarding the internal Palestinian reconciliation resulting from the state of division.

3. Follow-up of the reconstruction operations in the Gaza Strip and the efforts to end the siege and blockade that is imposed on it.

4. Continuation of the implementation of the provisions of the Palestinian National Accord.

5. To resolve the civil and administrative problems that resulted from the division.

6. Unification of the Palestinian National Authority institutions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.

7. To fix the status of the associations, Non-Governmental Organizations and charities.

5. Legislative Council:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to reactivate the Palestinian Legislative Council in accordance to the Basic Law.


.......

www.rafahtoday.org/news/todaymain.htm

(many thanks to Mohammed Omer of RafahToday.org)

[ninathedog]

Children of Gaza

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgpivjfAL5Y


.....

Jan 22, 2011 18:48:18 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

Gaza on the Ground:
Operation Cast Lead Is Over,
But the Nightmare Continues

By Mohammed Omer
December 2010, Pages 18-19
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs


Abdullah (in red shirt) and his little brother (r) play “Arabs and Israelis”
with their friends in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. (Photo M. Omer)

The Sept. 6, 2010 issue of the leading German newspaper Der Spiegel included the article "Studies Show Nurture at Least as Important as Nature" by Joerge Blech on the findings of a groundbreaking study on intelligence. Researchers found that prolonged poverty, stress and other environmental factors—including war and the deprivation of basic needs—directly affect a child's intelligence and, therefore, his or her life prospects.

Previously it was believed that intelligence was 80 percent genetic. These latest findings, however, show that at least 50 percent of an individual's intelligence is actually determined by environmental factors. More specifically: the more stress, the more arrested mental development. As one of the researchers, Richard Nisbett, a psychologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, noted: "During World War II, some children in Holland started school late because of the Nazi occupation—with momentous consequences. The average IQ for these children was seven points lower than for children who came of school age after the siege."

The Nazi persecution and World War II in Europe, which lasted from 1933 to 1945, affected an entire generation of children. By contrast, Israel's dispossession and occupation of Palestine has lasted some six decades—and counting. Generations of Palestinian children have been affected physically, psychologically and materially. Since Ariel Sharon instigated the al-Aqsa intifada in late 2000, Israeli repression has been most restrictive, and most steadily escalated, in Gaza. According to "Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion," a 16-page BBC report released in March 2008: "In September 2007, an UNRWA survey in the Gaza Strip revealed that there was a nearly 80 percent failure rate in schools grades four to nine, with up to 90 percent failure rates in Mathematics. In January 2008, UNICEF reported that schools in Gaza had been cancelling classes that were high on energy consumption, such as IT, science labs and extra curricular activities."

The report adds that "The number of people living in absolute poverty in Gaza has increased sharply. Today, 80 percent of families in Gaza currently rely on humanitarian aid, compared to 63 percent in 2006. This decline exposes unprecedented levels of poverty and the inability of a large majority of the population to afford basic food."

War, poverty, stress caused by financial and personal insecurity due to living under occupation, the constant scarcity of basic necessities including food, sewer treatment, water and medical care, the threat of constant attack by military forces, forced imprisonment, lack of movement, lack of rights—these are the daily realities of children in Gaza, realities they, their parents and their grandparents have known their whole lives.

This is the recurring nightmare that is Gaza.

A Child's Life

At first glance, 13-year-old Khalil seems like your average teenager. His young body is just beginning to mature, and he is curious, easily distracted and slightly mischievous. A closer inspection, however, reveals a vacant look in his eyes more associated with age. In fact, if one saw only his eyes, one would guess Khalil is close to 50, not 13. What's missing is that sense of invincibility and heightened optimism common among youth his age elsewhere in the world. Where American and European children talk about the latest rap band, their school vacation or their latest crush, Khalil simply shrugs apathetically.

"Excuse me, but the war has wiped blank all my beautiful memories," he says somewhat sarcastically. "The front half of my house was damaged, so that I am transferred to a life-situation that I never dreamed I would be experiencing. After years of living in a large house," he explains, "I now live at Al Zahra city."

Khalil's home was destroyed in January 2009, during Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" assault, plunging his middle-class family into homelessness in an instant. Unlike in a natural disaster, insurance funds and global assistance were not available. His situation was man-made—and Khalil is far from alone.

Still traumatized, he remembers a friend of his being blown to pieces when an Israeli missile struck his neighborhood.

Understandably, these are things he would rather forget—but can't. Because of Israel's siege, few resources are available to help him cope with his trauma and move on with his life.

The children's stories are difficult to hear, of course. But as any parent knows, the pain of their children is felt two-fold by those responsible for care giving. Love, after all, can go only so far.
A Parent's Frustration

Abu Abdullah of Rafah expresses the pain of most parents in Gaza: the inability to protect his children. His wife frets because she cannot comfort them. The younger children, aged 10, 7 and 4, wet their beds and she feels helpless to quell their fears. "It's like a cancer you can't control or stop," Umm Abdullah says.

Nodding, Abu Abdullah sits on the stoop of his house watching his children play "Arabs and Israelis," the occupied territory's version of "Cowboys and Indians" or "Cops and Robbers." In the role of a soldier, his oldest son, Abdullah, aims a plastic Chinese toy gun at his brother's head. "I am going to kill you right now," the teenager says.

The game is popular among children who've had few outlets to channel their emotions since Operation Cast Lead. Abu Abdullah would rather they play soccer, but this game reflects the reality of their lives and gives his children some sense of control.

Even when he's awake Abu Abdullah's 12-year-old son suffers from nightmares about Israeli F-16s bombing his neighborhood. In his dreams, all the children are running away from home or school. Some of his friends are injured, others dead, and ambulance sirens scream incessantly in his head. But it's more than a dream: it's what he actually witnessed, and it replays in his mind ad nauseam, rarely giving him peace.

Nor are Abdullah's fears imaginary. When his mother sent him to buy lentils from the nearby grocery store less than three minutes away, the boy returned home with no lentils and his pants soaked in urine. Asked about the lentils, Abdullah began crying and told his mother in a voice quaking with fear that "the drones are bombing."

Teachers who work with at risk students in inner-city neighborhoods around the world can attest to the effect poverty, violence, guns and fear have on the children forced by circumstance to live in these situations. Gaza is the inner city on steroids. Its children deal not only with gangs in the form of resistance, but they also must endure the assaults—usually in the middle of the night—of the world's fourth most powerful military. The effects on the children are predictable: Fights and violent behavior, in schools and on the streets, have escalated in frequency and intensity, according to psychologists who visit Gaza's schools.

Psychologist Zahia Al Qarra with the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) says that 79.9 percent of the children she sees feel they are in a big prison. Another 79.3 percent say that they cannot afford to buy what they need or want.

According to a recent GCMHP study, 20 percent of Gaza's children suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD], and another 13 percent are diagnosed with depression. In Gaza's UNRWA-run schools, where literacy and academic standards are usually high, 9,000 primary students failed their school work and exams last academic year.

Another GCMHP psychiatrist confirms that cases of disease, behavioral problems and psychological traumas have multiplied among Gaza's children, citing increases in autistic behavior, bedwetting, thumb-sucking, nail biting, anger, slow-motion flashbacks, reliving war scenes in familiar neighborhoods, fear of the dark, agoraphobia, panic at the sound of planes overhead, and disinterest in taking part in social and group activities—all symptoms of PTSD and depression.

"It's not just the children" says Abu Diaa, a father of seven. "It's also we adults who need psychological counseling."

Like most parents in Gaza, Abu Diaa, whose only income is a disability pension from a 2003 injury, worries constantly about finding food and clothing for his children.

"It is two different types of traumas," Abu Diaa explains, "living in fear of attacks and worrying about not having a job to protect one's family."

Psychiatrists and general practitioners in Gaza observe that parents often do not realize the extent to which their children are traumatized. Many are trying to deal with their own pain and stress and often neglect or delay their own treatment. Add to this the stigma about seeking psychological treatment for themselves or their children. Palestinian and Arab society does not embrace victimhood, and seeking help is often equated with admitting one is powerless and therefore a victim. GCMHP director Dr. Ahmed Abu Tawahinah notes that when a patient visits a doctor, he "never says I am depressed or I have PTSD." Rather he'll say something like, "I have a headache."

A Society Under Stress

The physical and psychological effects of Gaza's plight are pervasive. According to the GCMHP's Al Qarra, divorces have increased, often due to poverty. When parents are unable to fully care for their children due to their own trauma, she adds, increasing numbers of children are forced to leave home or run away. They find themselves on the streets, digging through garbage containers for a few things to sell to make a bit of money or eat. Incidents of sexual abuse, previously unheard of in Gaza, also are being reported.

This past September, 20 months after Israel's war on Gaza, Dr. Jamil Al Tahrawi, a university lecturer in social psychology, decided to analyze the art work of children in Gaza to try and assess the depth of their psychological trauma. He asked 455 children to draw whatever they wanted. More than 82.3 percent drew images directly related to Israeli attacks on Gaza. Some of these drawings show Palestinian resistance fighters, Israeli soldiers, tanks, bulldozers, ambulances, helicopters, F-16s, and pilotless Israeli drones.

The children mainly used light colors in their drawings, avoiding dark colors as if they were afraid of them. Dr. Al Tahrawi and other doctors in Gaza saw a clear indication in the drawings of trauma following war crimes similar to those mentioned in Judge Richard Goldstone's report for the U.N. Human Rights Council. Indeed, Dr. Al Tawahiha confides, all 1.6 million residents of Gaza are traumatized to some extent—"including myself."

As Israel continues its attacks on Gaza, the nightmare continues for Abdullah and all residents of Gaza. Nearly two years after Operation Cast Lead, Abdullah still is afraid to sleep, afraid to play and afraid to walk to school in the daytime, even with his father by his side. One can only guess at the long-term physical, emotional and intellectual effects Israel's continued occupation and siege will have on his life and millions of other Palestinians. One thing is certain, however: It is affecting everyone.

Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports on the Gaza Strip, and maintains the Web site RafahToday.org . He can be reached at <[e-mail]>.

www.washington-report.org/component/content/article/362/10215-gaza-on-the-ground-operation-cast-lead-is-over-but-the-nightmare-continues.html

(many thanks to Mohammed Omer)
............

For a list of names, circumstances of their deaths, and a tally of the child-victims in the
last decade of this ongoing crisis between Palestine and Israel, visit
RememberTheseChildren.org

Jan 9, 2011 5:59:05 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

Clicking image (above) will take you to a blog post about the video, with the video at the end of the entry. I'll keep it in mind to post the video here when it's available on Youtube.

The video includes an interview with the mother and father of a family in Gaza. The couple speak about the family's horrific experience during Operation Cast Lead and the emotional scars that their young children bear. They are beautiful people...my heart goes out to this family and to all who suffer under Israel's illegal and seemingly eternal occupation of what little is left of Palestine.

There is nothing in the video that is visually graphic, so on that count I have no warnings. However, it may cause emotional discomfort due to what they describe.



www.gilad.co.uk/writings/jen-marlowe-one-family-in-gaza-video.html