Palestine News Reports

Palestine News Reports
October 20, 2004 Susan Brannon
Below are links to news reports regarding Palestine.
A schoolgirl riddled with bullets. And no one is to blame The schoolgirl kept on walking toward the tower but was still several hundred metres away when two shots caught her in the leg. She dropped her bag, turned, tried to hobble away, and fell. Four or five soldiers emerged from the army post and shot at her from a distance. Palestinian witnesses and some Israeli soldiers say that the platoon commander moved in closer to put two bullets in the child's head. (This Action is clearly not Anti-Semite, looking at the silence...!) http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1332219,00.html Action Alert: Release Non-Violent Activist Ahmad Hassan Khalil Awad! Ahmad works closely with Abu Ahmad in organizing non-violent civil resistance to the Wall in Budrus and is an active member of the Committee Against the Separation Wall in the Northwest Jerusalem Region. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palsolidarity/message/1079 Palestinians challenge fence route in Hebron Hills The petition claims the fence's route will damage the residents' lives and their livelihood. The petitioners are claiming that land-seizure warrants recently issued by the government are illegal. According to Israel Radio, the petition also claims the maps attached to the warrants are unclear.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/491865.html Internationals Beaten in Village of Al-Hatab Near Nablus Violence escalates as Israeli soldier puts gun to head of Swedish national and threatens to pull the trigger... At approximately 9:00AM, 18 internationals accompanied Palestinian farmers to their olive groves to harvest their olives near the village of Al-Hatab, East of Nablus. PalSolidarity Holocaust survivor protests wall So I did not imagine that the Israeli security force that guards Ben-Gurion Airport would abuse a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor, holding me for five hours and performing a completely unnecessary strip search of every part of my naked body. http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=14946&repository=0001_article Palestine: the assault on health and other war crimes The coherence of the Palestinian health system is being destroyed. The wall will isolate 97 primary health clinics and 11 hospitals from the populations they serve. Qalqilya hospital, which primarily serves refugees, has seen a 40% fall in follow up appointments because patients cannot enter the city.http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3247.shtml Media Pro Greta Berlin Will Show Her Power Point Presentation Anywhere in U.S. “Now these same children's eyes look out in TV footage from Rafah as they witness Israeli bulldozers demolish their homes and see American-made Apache helicopters fire missiles on them. How will they ever see a better world,” Berlin asked, “when the Israeli military forces this deliberate carnage on their families?  http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Oct_2004/0410062.html PPS: Israeli Prison Services Further Humiliate Palestinian Prisoners According to testimonies gathered from several prisoners like N'aeema Nakhla (needing special care) from the West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Abeer Amro (backbone problems) from Hebron and Maha Alka'ek (mentally ill), the prison's service offer pain killers for most cases only.http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=622 IDF soldier killed in blast on Philadelphi Route in Gaza In a leaflet that was distributed, Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast that killed First Sergeant Major Moshe Elimelech, from the Engineering Corps, saying militants had attacked soldiers and civilian contractors in the area. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/491750.html Emergency Aid to Gaza! The Middle East Children's Alliance will send your contribution to purchase emergency food and medical aid for children in the Gaza Strip. https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=2236&cmid=8515:2097447 Armed wings issue joint statement over deaths of 2 Palestinians The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, armed wing of the mainstream Fatah movement, and Saraya al Quds, armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, issued a joint statement on Thursday, asserting that the Israeli army killed two militants in Gaza. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-10/21/content_2122948.htm UNRWA Gaza Field assessment of IDF Operation Days of Penitence During the operation, approximately 36,000 Palestinians in different locations, including Beit Hanoun (22,000 persons), Izbet Beit Hanoun (5,000 persons), the areas east of Sikka St. and Salah Eddin St (2,500 persons), Nada and Awda towers (2,500 persons) and parts of Jabalia camp (4,000 persons) were under siege. October 2004 has been the deadliest month so far, with 112 killed  Domino UN. Org UN: Gaza offensive left 675 homeless In its assessment of Operation Days of Penitence, which began late last month and was wrapped up over the weekend, the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) said 91 buildings, home to 143 families, had been destroyed. "Over 90 percent of those affected were refugees.  http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/palestine/?id=11644 Israeli Arabs slam policeman's promotion The families of Israeli Arabs who were killed in the October 2000 riots expressed outrage on Wednesday over the promotion of police Brigadier General Bentzi Sau, who was the commander of the Border Police in the north during the clashes. During the riots, 12 Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian were killed  click here... After talks with PM, Shas leader says no to backing pullout Shas Chairman Eli Yishai said afternoon that the ultra-Orthodox party will not back Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan when it comes to a vote in the Knesset next week, Israel Radio reported. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/491503.html Sharon removes disengagement funding from state budget bill Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided Thursday to separate funding for the disengagement plan from the 2005 state budget bill. The decision followed a request Monday by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Haaretz Some Arab lawmakers oppose Gaza pullout Arab legislators said they struggled over their position on the evacuation of Jewish settlements in Gaza and removal of Israeli troops. But many ultimately concluded the "disengagement plan" would not bring Israeli-Palestinian peace closer.  http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L17389411.htm European delegation to meet Arafat over Mideast peace process A senior Palestinian official saidon Thursday that an European ministerial delegation would meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat before holding a conference on thestalled Mideast peace process in Britain.  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-10/21/content_2122611.htm Egyptian FM, intelligence chief to visit Israel in November The visitors will meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to discuss the disengagement plan and security cooperation to prevent smuggling across the Egyptian border.  Haaretz Pre-army academies join call for soldiers to obey orders These recent letters come in reaction to a petition by some 60 rabbis, including heads of hesder yeshivas - which combine Torah study and army service - calling on religious soldiers to refuse to evacuate settlements.  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/491436.html Israel denies pullout will crush Palestinian economy Tel Aviv hit back at criticism on Wednesday that an Israeli pullout would cause economic isolation and an increase in poverty in the Gaza Strip. According to Israel-based experts, the pullout next year could revive the local economy if Palestinian goods and laborers can freely move in and out of the territory.  http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=9441 A message from the Arab citizens And now, out of the blue, a survey has cropped up in which more than 77 percent of those questioned said they would "support" or "definitely support" the establishment of a constitution that defines Israel as a Jewish and democratic state that ensures full equality to Arabs.  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/491475.html Noam Chomsky on the State of the Nation, Iraq and the Election The latest polls about a week ago, 17%. Now, a majority of the population thinks that we ought to equalize aid to Israel and Palestine, and we should deny aid to either one that refuses negotiations, which would entail denying it to Israel. That's the majority of the population. Those results are so unacceptable, the press won't report them.  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/21/1441204 In Gaza, Debate Over Pullout Plan Pits Settler Against Settler She has been threatened with eviction from her home, her 2-year-old son was denied entry to the settlement's pre-kindergarten, and she has been ostracized by her neighbors -- all for supporting the disengagement plan, Cohen said.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49659-2004Oct20.html Arabs in US elections Any objective attempt to explain the deterioration of Arab-American relations must include a process of sober introspection and self-criticism. Intractable underdevelopment and relentless despotism and marginalisation have systematically decimated Arab civil and cultural society over the past 50 years, destroying, in turn, the bridges of unofficial dialogue. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/713/ed.htm Sharon or disaster From the left's perspective, the matter is very simple: only Sharon can do it. If Sharon will not be able to evacuate settlements in 2005, no one can. The occupation would become a permanent state of affairs. Yet even from the right's perspective, the matter is not especially complicated: Sharon is the last defender of most of the settlements.  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/491476.html IPI Intifada Report Says Press Freedom Deteriorating: Heavy Media Casualties, Perpetrators Go Unpunished The International Press Institute (IPI) today published the IPI Intifada Report, a chronicle and statistical analysis of 562 press freedom violations during the first four years of the Palestinian Uprising. At least 478 press freedom violations were carried out by the Israeli state, including the government, the judiciary, and even the legislators.http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3245.shtml Joint Irish-Palestinian appeal for release of kidnapped aid chief Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern and his Palestinian counterpart Nabil Shaath called in a joint written statement for her release for the "sake of humanity, compassion and the people of Iraq". Ahern and Shaath said they were making the appeal in their own names and "on behalf of the Irish and Palestinian peoples".  http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=31279 James Zogby: Why I'll Vote for Kerry While President Bush has been praised for projecting a vision of a Palestinian state, every step taken by his administration has made a realization of that vision impossible. During the past four years the administration has failed to support even its own initiatives, from the ill-fated “Mitchell, Tenet, Zinni” plans to the now dead “road map.” http://ummahnews.com/story.php?sid=20041021094341737 France expels two more students for defying headscarf ban France has quietly begun expelling Muslim girls for wearing head scarves to public schools in defiance of a new law banning conspicuous religious attire. Seven girls have been forced to leave school so far this week after two more were expelled Thursday. Haaretz Britain agrees to send 850 troops into US-controlled zone in Iraq Britain agreed to an unprecedented US request to redeploy 850 crack troops to a volatile area to the west of Baghdad, freeing up US soldiers for an expected assault on the "insurgent" stronghold of Fallujah. "The government has decided that we should accept the US request for assistance,"... click here...