Remarks at the UN international meeting on Palestine in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

by Cynthia McKinney, source

My name is Cynthia McKinney and I served as a Member of the U.S. Congress for 12 years. During my time in Congress, I strove to make respect for human rights a central feature in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy. Amid minor successes, I have to say that my efforts while, broadly appreciated by many, failed miserably. That failure stems in part from the peculiarities of U.S. politics that allow policy formulation to deviate from and in many cases become diametrically opposed to the values of the people of the U.S. Sadly, what we in the U.S. call “special interests” are able to buy public policy by way of campaign contributions and misleading media campaigns. These “special interests” are aided and abetted in the U.S. by a concentrated media that has no obligation according to U.S. court decisions to tell the public the truth. In other words, U.S. media have won in U.S. court the right to knowingly lie to the people they ostensibly serve. I will briefly delve into this unusual and anti-”democratic” state of affairs now controlling in the U.S. once again before I conclude my remarks.

After my tenure in Congress, I became involved in international human rights activism. During Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (which was its war against Hamas and others), I joined with a group of human rights activists who tried to deliver medical supplies to the people of Gaza; the Israeli Military stopped us. While in international waters, an Israeli Defense Forces warship rammed the pleasure boat that I was on with the other volunteers, and totally destroyed our boat. Neither the medical supplies nor us volunteers reached Gaza.

Approximately six months later, we, the volunteers from the first thwarted effort, reassembled in order to make another attempt to reach Gaza by sea, traveling through international waters, with the hopes of entering into Palestine by way of Gaza’s territorial waters. By this time, Operation Cast Lead had ended, President Barack Obama had been sworn in, and he had appealed publicly for an easing of the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Gazans had made an appeal for school supplies for the children still reeling from the trauma of three weeks of what the United Nations called “one of the most violent episodes in the recent history of the Palestinian territory.” So, some of us answered that call with school supplies for the children and building supplies for the adults so that Gaza could rebuild from the devastation after Operation Cast Lead. On this effort to answer a humanitarian call for help, I, along with 20 other volunteers, was kidnapped by the Israeli military while in international waters, our boat was seized, we were taken by an extremely circuitous route to Israel where we never intended to go, and I was incarcerated in an Israeli prison for 7 days. Sadly, what I witnessed while in Israeli prison pointed to Israel as an apartheid state and the gross mistreatment of, particularly, Ethiopian women who had been lured to the “Holy Land” for job opportunities that vaporized because they were not of the correct religion. In addition to that, my observation at the time was that Ethiopian Jews are used as an important pillar–even enforcer, ironically, of Israeli apartheid. I can expand on this aspect of my observations later if there are specific questions or requests for more information from this body or from individuals in attendance at this Conference.

Needless to say, for a second time, I was prevented from entering Gaza. Upon hearing of my ordeal, Member of Parliament George Galloway who was in Cairo leading “Viva Palestina USA,” contacted me and invited me to come to Cairo and enter Gaza by land, which I did. Upon entering Gaza, I was able to see the destruction inflicted on the people by Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. I scooped up a bit of the soil and put it in this container. Sadly, as noted in the Goldstone Report and admitted by the Israeli Defense Forces, this Gaza soil is probably contaminated with whatever remains of the chemicals that were used by the Israelis against the people of Gaza: chemicals ranging from white phosphorus to inert metals. And while I unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation in Congress to end the use of depleted uranium in U.S. munitions because of the health effects, the Goldstone Report mentions that allegations were made that Israel used depleted uranium during Operation Cast Lead, which also might be in this soil. The United Nations Division for Palestinian Rights is also aware that civilian targets were bombed and totally destroyed. I visited a few of those targets.

One stop on my private tour of the destruction in Gaza was the American International School and amid the rubble I spotted a bright yellow something that I couldn’t quite make out what it was. So, I climbed through the jutted shards of concrete and exposed rebar to retrieve the object. This is that object: an English language children’s art book stamped with the initials of the American International School in Gaza, “AISG.” I was standing in what was left of the School’s library.

Another stop on my tour of the effects of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead was a neighborhood school, not nearly as big and grand as the American School. There, I could see the path of one missile that blew a hole clear through several walls of the school. There were markings on the chalkboard, including the Star of David. I saw several cans of peanuts on the floor. This is one of them. It is written in Hebrew. The Israeli soldiers blew up the school and then sat down in its ruins and enjoyed peanuts and drew religious and political markings on the chalkboard.

Both boats that I was on were seized by the Israelis and destroyed by them. The humanitarian aid on the boats did not reach Gaza and only token aid was delivered by the land convoy to the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, the bulk of it stranded in Egypt, not allowed into Gaza by the Egyptians or the Israelis.

What is amazing is not only that this happens over and over again, but that Israeli leaders who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, leave office, and are never held accountable for their policies., as was done by victims of Augusto Pinochet, and as is being done currently by the International Criminal Court. Another aspect of this impunity is that Israel continues to receive U.S. weapons and technology which it uses against civilians in contravention of U.S. law. As these weapons are used or become outdated, the U.S. replenishes Israel’s weapons stock every year.

One measure of this impunity is brought to bear by the pro-Israel Lobby that operates in the political sphere of the U.S. I am a former Member of Congress because pro-Israel sympathizers known as the “pro-Israel Lobby” ensured my ouster from Congress and that of many other Members of Congress who dared to try and draw attention to U.S. law, Israel’s human rights violations, Israel’s misuse of U.S. weapons, or any other inconvenient facts that were better buried and left unknown.

What many of you might not know, because these things just aren’t discussed as widely as they should be, is that many of those Members of Congress who were put out of office by the pro-Israel Lobby were the stolen children of Africa, descendants of Africans trafficked in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. I will call the names of a few and tell you where you can find information about them as they tell their own stories:

· Gus Savage, Member of Congress from Chicago, Illinois was targeted for defeat by the pro-Israel Lobby because he dared to engage in foreign relations within the purview of a Member of Congress on the African Continent, in Egypt among other places. He recounted his ordeal on the Floor of the House of Representatives and revealed the secrets of the pro-Israel Lobby on the Congressional Record where students and others interested in this topic can find his words today.

· Earl Hilliard, Member of Congress from Birmingham, Alabama was the first Black Member of Congress to serve the people of Alabama since the U.S. Civil War’s Reconstruction Era. He was ejected from the Congress by the pro-Israel Lobby because he, like Gus Savage, traveled to Africa, and in particular to Libya. He also traveled to Lebanon and learned of new weapons for that time, that had been used there by Israel. For this transgression, Earl Hilliard had to go. He is interviewed in a Dutch documentary that is available on youtube where he describes the vicious campaign that was run against him by the pro-Israel Lobby.

· And then, there’s me. Just this month, I published a book entitled Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom, in which I describe just a few of the tactics that were used against me by the pro-Israel Lobby to destroy my career in Congress.

· These three political “take-downs” were very publicly done in order to send a message to others who might also be inclined to speak up out of moral conviction, as Savage, Hilliard, and I did.

· This weeding out also occurs on the local level with state and local elected officials like my father and others targeted for defeat because of the potential threat to the interests of the pro-Israel Lobby that they pose.

· In addition, on a public and private level, targeted individuals have to endure soft repression that makes life difficult. All of this needs to be put on the record if one is to fully understand the power of the pro-Israel Lobby and the pall that it casts on the political process in the U.S. and from what I have been told, also in Europe.

· Finally, the political landscape for Blacks in the U.S. is negatively affected by this weeding out process, because their strongest and most outspoken authentic leaders are vulnerable to the challenges from candidates that are well funded by outside “special interests.”

In light of this, I would like to put this thought to you: can you even imagine what U.S. policy would be like at the United Nations if the will of the people were carried out without the interference of the pro-Israel Lobby? The Durban World Conference Against Racism was a watershed that could be revisited time and time again with U.S. support and participation, except that powerful Lobbies want otherwise. I know, it’s hard to imagine things differently. But it is not hard for me and that is one vision that keeps me going: U.S. policy made in the image of the values of the people of the U.S. At a Conference whose theme is African solidarity with the Palestinian people, I thought it was important to mention not only how the pro-Israel Lobby skews politics in the U.S. against the Palestinians, but also against African-descendants inside the U.S.

I focus on this important aspect of policy-making by focusing on who gets to make the policy because I believe that this is one key reason why Palestinians are forced to suffer while, at best platitudes and delay, serve as the effective policies of the US and European countries.

The short version of this tragic story is that pro-Israel forces inside the U.S. are willing to use their money to buy political influence and protection for Israel across the political spectrum while the same cannot be said of pro-peace, pro-justice forces. I liken the situation to game day when one team shows up in beautiful new uniforms with all of the latest and best equipment, primed and ready to execute its strategy in the game of play, while the other team doesn’t even show up on the pitch. I believe that one remaining untested justice frontier is the political battleground in U.S. and European capitals. It is inside these essential capitals that pro-Israel Lobbies have become comfortable operating with very little opposition from the other side.

I am tired of losing when, I believe, we really do not have to lose. I fundamentally believe that the people of this world are good and want peace. I have spoken to Afghanis and Pakistanis, to Yemenis and to Somalis, Palestinians and Americans, and I find them to be peace-loving peoples.

So, how do we move from where we are to where we need to be? That is the fundamental question. I focus on the political because the political creates the legal. And the political creates impunity.

Just in my personal experiences, I have outlined breaches of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, international law, and U.S. law by the occupying power: Israel.

I served as a juror on the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Palestine that recently concluded its Sessions with a finding that both the U.S. and Europe are guilty of contributing to the atmosphere of impunity with which apartheid Israel carries out its policies against Palestinians and anyone who stands in its way.

I also recently served as an Official Observer as the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission received testimony from Palestinians on their treatment inside Israel as well as in the Occupied Territories.

Through my service with both of these organizations, I have met too many courageous Palestinians and Israelis who want to live peacefully with each other and who put their lives and their livelihoods on the line every day for peace and the rule of law. I do believe that much of the suffering could be alleviated if we would put sufficient energy and resources behind putting out in public view how the pro-Israel Lobby misdirects U.S. and European policies and prevents pro-peace and justice politicians from ever having the opportunity to put those values, along with our basic human dignity, permanently on the table for public debate.

Finally, I am not Palestinian. I am not Arab. I am not Muslim. But I am human. And that is enough for me to acknowledge the dignity of others who are oppressed and to epitomize what this Conference is all about: African Solidarity with the Palestinian People for the Achievement of its inalienable rights, including the sovereignty and independence of the State of Palestine.

Thank you.

Palestine: Crossing closed & airstrikes on Gaza

IOA closes Karm Abu Salem crossing

GAZA, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) refused to open Karm Abu Salem commercial crossing with Gaza Strip on Sunday.

Palestinians sources said that the IOA informed the committee responsible for coordinating entry of goods into the Strip via Karm Abu Salem that the crossing would be closed on Sunday for “security reasons”.

The IOA closes the crossing on Friday and Saturday every week but it refused to re-open it on Sunday for commercial traffic.

The IOA closed Karm Abu Salem crossing for 30 days since the start of 2013, which amounts to 30% of operating days in that period.

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Israeli warplanes intensify flights over Gaza

GAZA, (PIC)– Israeli warplanes and Apache helicopter gunships continued to fly over Gaza Strip since the early morning hours on Sunday.

A field observer said that F-16s have been flying at low altitudes all day long while the apaches were seen flying along the eastern borders of the coastal enclave.

He pointed out that Israeli occupation forces in armored vehicles were seen moving along the buffer zone.

Israeli warplanes launched two air raids on southern Gaza at dawn today targeting an abandoned area and a training site with no casualties reported.

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“Israel” launches two air strikes last night on Gaza

GAZA, (PIC)– Israeli F16 warplanes bombed on Sunday night a Palestinian resistance site in Khan Younis and an empty piece of land west of Rafah area in the Gaza Strip.

Concurrently, Israeli drones and warplanes were reported overflying intensively different areas of the Gaza Strip.

The air raids took place a few hours after the Israeli army claimed that Palestinian homemade rockets landed in Netivot settlement and the Negev region.

The Palestinian information center (PIC) reporter in Gaza said that one of the Israeli aerial attacks caused material damage to a resistance training site west of Khan Younis, belonging to Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement.

He also said that another airstrike happened shortly after the first raid in an empty area west of Rafah.

Meanwhile, the medical authorities in Gaza did not report about any casualties among civilians or resistance fighters as a result of the attacks.

‘Brotherhood turns back on Gaza’

by Ramzy Baroud, source

On September 17, 2012, Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas government in Gaza, made another appeal to his Egyptian counterpart Hisham Kandil to consider setting up a free trade area between Gaza and Egypt.

The reasonable idea would allow Egypt to support Gaza’s ragged economy while sparing Cairo the political fallout from destroying hundreds of tunnels that provide 1.6 million Palestinians a lifeline under a continued Israeli siege. Palestinians in Gaza rely on goods smuggled through tunnels and to a lesser extent United Nations handouts to survive.

“We explained the concept in detail … the idea is to alleviate the economic hardship in Gaza,” Hamas official, Taher al-Nono was then quoted in Reuters. Kandil promised to look into the matter, indicating that it was too early for a response.

However this proposal was introduced before and repeatedly after the September meeting. It should have at least served as the basis for a serious platform of discussion regarding future cooperation between Gaza and Egypt on this urgent matter. But Cairo neither responded nor offered an alternative to end Gaza’s seemingly perpetual misery. Even worse, for several months now and notably since the deadly August 5 attack in Sinai by unknown assailants – which killed 16 Egyptian border guards – the Egyptian army has actively been destroying Gaza’s tunnels.

According to Gaza-based economist Maher al-Tabbaa, “30% of Gaza’s goods come from the tunnels.” But other estimates, cited by Reuters, place the food reliance on smuggling at 80%. Without tunnels, and no real, long-term alterative, Gaza will delve deeper into poverty and the crisis will likely reach unprecedented levels.

But why is post-revolution Egypt maintaining the very policy of isolating Gaza which was first espoused by former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak?

Despite grave humanitarian repercussions of the siege, the subject is essentially political. Following the demise of the Mubarak regime, a sense of euphoria was felt in Gaza and across the region that a revolutionary government – especially one headed by the Muslim Brotherhood – is likely to reverse an enriched legacy historically financed and guarded by American money and political leverage. The price of the Camp David treaty signed between Egypt and Israel in 1978-79 was meant to turn Egypt into a permanent political asset for Washington and Tel Aviv in exchange for a fixed amount of money which arrives mostly in the form of military aid. Mubarak had indeed delivered and the late Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was the personification of that American success.

When Israel imposed a siege on Gaza following Hamas’ election victory in 2006, it mattered little that Egypt and Gaza had a shared border. Israel seemed entirely comfortable that the Mubarak regime was on board, while Palestinians in the Strip subsisted between occasional war and economic hardship.

To suggest that Hamas orchestrated the murder of Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai – which served as the army’s cue to further cut off Gaza – is to have no understanding whatsoever of the collective psychology of Palestinians in the Strip who continue to see Egypt as an oasis of political hope and economic salvation. Moreover, the cultural and religious rapports between Gaza and Egypt – which administrated the Strip for decades between 1948 and 1967 – is easily discounted.

Overwhelmed by the persisting attempts at its removal from power, the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohammed Morsi continue to approach matters concerning Palestinians with utmost caution. Their detractors have dedicated much energy and time to smear Palestinians, Hamas and Gaza in much of Egypt’s privately owned media. Bizarre propaganda of completely besieged Palestinians in Gaza smuggling weapons and drugs to the Sinai is creating a state of confusion among many Egyptians regarding Gaza and its role in Egyptian security chaos.

Too timid to challenge the many forces at play in Egypt, Morsi’s government is offering little by way of helping Gaza overcome its isolation. This hesitance has proven costly. Using the pretense of protecting Egypt’s national security, the army is actively destroying the tunnels under the leadership of defense minister Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Reporting in Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz on April 6, Zvi Bar’el estimated that 250 tunnels were destroyed in March, while 76 were flooded with sewage, “after locating them by means of satellite information, probably in cooperation with the United States”.

“Probably” is an understatement, as the US government – and other Western powers – invested much funds and expertise in ensuring that Gaza is fully quarantined. Throughout most of 2011, it was simply unthinkable in Gaza that Egypt would continue actively cooperating with western intelligence to keep Hamas isolated. In 2012 and especially after the August attack in the Sinai, it became clear that whatever forces that were yielded by the January 2011 revolution, were simply too weak to impact reality on the ground. According to Ha’aretz, “Egypt’s political (and) military leadership (is) divided over support for Hamas.” The longer that division persists, the deeper Gaza sinks into despair. Naturally, some regional and international forces are actively investing in the Egyptian division, wishing to tame Hamas’ political independence.

And indeed there are signs that Hamas is now catering to outside powers in an attempt to preserve itself and withstand the pressures that preceded and followed its exit from Damascus as a result of the uprising-turned-civil war in Syria. Some media report that Khaled Meshaal’s reinstatement as the Hamas political chief would not have been possible without heavy pressure from the head of Egyptian intelligence General Raafat Shehata. With Meshaal at the helm, the normalization between Hamas and Jordan and Qatar (a major Hamas funder), among other regional powers, is likely to continue. Moreover, according to Adel Zaanoun, reporting for Agence France Presse on April 3, based on regional experts’ opinions, Meshaal’s re-elections “may better Hamas ties with (the) West”. The fact that the Hamas elections, took place in Cairo, one analyst suggested “is proof that Egypt will support the movement in opening it up to the West”.

It is possible that the price to be exacted from the Brotherhood to end regional and Western interference in Egyptian affairs will also include bringing Hamas inline. While Hamas’ Gaza leadership are being denied access to any possible economic independence, some Hamas leaders outside are being propped up as suitable “moderate” candidates in any possible Hamas-Western normalization in the future.

That dependency is being slowly but cleverly crafted, as it’s aimed at exacting political “compromises” from Hamas in the long run. And as if the Israeli siege and the destruction of tunnels are not enough, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) recently announced a distribution cutoff of basic aid to 25,000 Gaza refugees, a decision that “could exacerbate hardship caused by Israeli and Egyptian controls on the isolated enclave’s borders,” reported Al Jazeera on April 5.

Without alternative economic venues in the face of Israel’s land and sea blockade, Egypt’s crackdown on the tunnels and UNRWA’s budget cuts, the Hamas Gaza leadership is likely to seek alternatives in the form of handouts which will come at a political price. In the long run, Hamas will face difficult options, including splitting up or following the same detrimental path on which Fatah and the PLO found themselves, leading up to the Oslo ‘peace’ fiasco starting in 1993. Only a constructive end to the Egyptian political deadlock could offer Hamas in Gaza a third, more dignified alternative and that is to be seen.

Palestine: Israeli plan to expand the Buraq Wall plaza, land seized & houses to be demolished

Israeli plan to expand the Buraq Wall plaza

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Hebrew newspaper Yediot Ahronot revealed on Wednesday a new scheme that aims to expand the area of the Buraq Wall, adjacent to Al-Aqsa mosque.

The Israeli plan aims to resolve the dispute between ultra-Orthodox Jews and American Jews regarding mixing between women and men in the place.

The newspaper said the scheme will divide the place into three sections: one for men, the second for women and the third for the mixed public.

The plan was suggested by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, who will present his recommendations to the Israeli Prime Minister within days. It received initial approval by the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem and the American Jews abroad.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalemites warned of the Israeli persistent excavations in the Buraq Square, carried out in preparations for the construction of the religious center of Beit Strauss.

For his part, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, warned of the seriousness of the excavation work in the Buraq Square.

He added in a press statement that the Buraq Square is part of the Islamic Endowments, which the Israeli occupation authorities have been repeatedly trying to seize.

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IOF kidnap Thaer Halahela once again

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at dawn Wednesday re-kidnapped ex-detainee Thaer Halahela from his home in Ramallah city after beating him severely.

The IOF had released Halahela along with his fellow hunger striker Bilal Diyab from administrative detention last June after a deal that ended their hunger strike.

According to eyewitnesses, the IOF violently broke into and ransacked the houses of Halahela and his neighbors.

The troops also brutally beat him in front of his wife and children, and confiscated his cellphone.

Halahela moved to live in Ramallah three months ago and was an active participant in all events held lately in support of the Palestinian prisoners, and he might be kidnapped this time because of his solidarity activities.

His wife was reportedly rushed to hospital after she lost her consciousness as the troops were beating and humiliating her husband.

Halahela, aged 33, has been detained administratively based on an Israeli secret file eight times before.

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IOA prevents the entry of 1000 trucks carrying goods into Gaza

GAZA, (PIC)– Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) continued to close Karm Abu Salem crossing for the third day in a row, preventing the entry of nearly one thousand trucks carrying goods into Gaza Strip, the Popular Committee Against the Siege said.

The Palestinian follow-up committee of crossings reported that Karm Abu Salem, located south east of the Gaza Strip, is closed for the third consecutive day, pointing out that the crossing was closed 43 days since the beginning of the year under various pretexts.

The committee clarified that the mentioned 1000 trucks were carrying agricultural and commercial products, aid supplies to UNRWA agency, and building materials for some international projects, in addition to cooking gas.

The Israeli policy of closing crossings leads to huge losses to the Palestinian traders and businessmen in Gaza, the committee added.

The committee stressed the need to fully open Gaza crossings, increase the number of trucks allowed into Gaza to meet the people’s needs, and to stop limiting the fishing area to three miles.

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Settlers seize Palestinian land in al-Khalil

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– A group of Jewish settlers seized by force Palestinian agricultural land in Tel Armidah area in the city of al-Khalil south of the West Bank.

The settlers seized an agricultural land owned by Abu Haikel family and began to farm it after linking it to a water network in a neighboring settlement, the Rehabilitation Committee in al-Khalil said on Tuesday.

Abu Haikel family pointed out that their land, about five dunums, has been subjected to several previous settlers’ attacks during the past ten years.

The family called on local and international human rights organizations to back Tel Armidah’s residents who are constantly exposed to the Jewish settlers’ attacks that aim to deport them and confiscate their lands.

In the same context, Israeli bulldozers demolished on Tuesday water wells in Khirbet Alderat, east of the town of Yatta southern al-Khalil, under the pretext of being established without permit, the coordinator of Committee Against Settlement revealed.

The committee’s coordinator added that the Israeli occupation forces had served demolition notices to more than 60 facilities in the region.

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IOF to demolish 8 houses in the Northern Jordan Valley

NABLUS, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces notified on Tuesday afternoon 8 citizens from Ain al-Hilweh in Wadi al-Maleh in the Northern Jordan Valley to evacuate the region, claiming it is a military zone where construction is prohibited.

Aref Daraghmeh, head of Wadi al-Maleh village council, said in a press statement that the occupation authorities ordered the families who live in tin huts in the village to leave before the next month.

He added that these notifications come in the context of the continuous Israeli attempts to evacuate the region from its inhabitants.

Ali Daraghmeh, a resident in Ain al-Hilweh, stressed that these military decisions had a negative impact on the residents of the area whose number began to decrease as a result of the practices of the IOF soldiers and settlers in the region.

The IOF turned 70% of Wadi al-Maleh’s lands to military training areas and areas planted with landmines.

Palestine: Marmara victims to pursue case despite apology & bulldozers ruin cultivated land lot in preparation for annexing it

Marmara Victims to Pursue Zionist Entity despite Apology

Al Manar

Turkish pro-Palestinian activists said on Monday they would not withdraw a lawsuit against the Zionist commanders for a fatal 2010 raid on their Gaza-bound flotilla, ahead of official compensation talks between Turkey and the Jewish entity this week.

“We will not discuss compensation or give up on the trials until the blockade over Gaza is removed,” said Musa Cogas, one of the activists who was on board the Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in the flotilla aimed at breaking Zionist Gaza blockade.

His comments came ahead of official compensation talks between Turkey and the entity of occupation on Thursday.

The talks follow a breakthrough apology from Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month for the deaths of nine Turks during the raid.

The US-brokered apology ended a three-year diplomatic crisis between the entity and Turkey, which asked for a formal apology and compensation for the families of the victim to fully normalize ties.

“The apology means Israel is confessing to its crime… and has a diplomatic significance but that means nothing to us,” said Ahmet Varol, a columnist for the Turkish Islamist daily Akit and another of the activists on board the flotilla.
“The flotilla set sail to get the embargo lifted over Gaza and the blockade removed and we are clearly not there yet,” Varol said.

Prosecutors at the high-profile Istanbul trial that opened in November are seeking life sentences for four top Zionist military chiefs over the deadly maritime assault. The next hearing is scheduled for May 20.

From a legal perspective, payment of compensation would not lead to the withdrawal of a “public lawsuit” seeking criminal action, a plaintiff lawyer told Agence France Presse.

All in all, the total compensation sought by the plaintiffs at courts across Turkey reaches 10 million Turkish lira.

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Israeli bulldozers ruin cultivated land lot in preparation for annexing it

NABLUS, (PIC)– Israeli bulldozers ruined vast tracts of Palestinian land owned by inhabitants of Deir Al-Hattab village, east of Nablus city, on Sunday.

Abdulkarim Hussein, the head of the village’s municipal council, said that the Israeli bulldozers have been working on the destruction of olive and almond trees over dozens of dunums for the past couple of days.

He said that the Israeli occupation authorities want to expand the nearby Elon Moreh settlement, which was established on land owned by people of Deir Al-Hattab, Azmut, and Salem villages, or maybe establish a new settlement outpost.

Hussein appealed for international pressures on the IOA to stop such practices.

Palestine: 35 children arrested in al-Khalil last month, building materials restricted from entering Gaza & soldiers fire at fishermen

IOF soldiers arrested 35 children in al-Khalil last month

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– Human rights data showed that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested more than 130 Palestinians, including 35 children, in March in the city of al-Khalil.

According to the monthly statistics of Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS); the occupation arrested 35 children between the ages of 13 and 17 years, in addition to 40 other students.

11 sick Palestinians have also been detained in al-Khalil in the past month by the occupation forces, which did not take into account their health conditions and abused them in the interrogation centers.

PPS pointed to the policy of “stealing the prisoners’ money” by imposing on them financial penalties ranging between 1000 and 6000 shekels, as “a punitive procedure”.

The Israeli military court in Ofer has imposed on the prisoners fines to the tune of 50 thousand shekels (about 13 thousand dollars) during last March.

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“Israel” restricts entry of building materials to Gaza

GAZA, (PIC)– The Popular Committee Against the Siege has charged that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) was deceiving the world into believing that Gaza commercial crossings were open before traffic of goods.

The committee said in a statement that the IOA was in fact restricting the entry of the needed materials and reducing its quantities at the same time, where Gaza markets still suffer severe shortages in some supplies.

The committee refused the IOA reduction in quantity of building materials allowed into Gaza Strip through Karem Abu Salem crossing.

The IOA has allowed the entry of 33 trucks over the past two days carrying cement and iron for UNRWA construction projects and some international projects, the Palestinian follow-up committee of crossings confirmed.

Meanwhile, the IOA refused the entry of cement and iron trucks for the private sector despite the daily need for hundreds of trucks.

The committee pointed out that the IOA allowed during the past two days the entry of 480 commercial and agricultural trucks and 17 trucks carrying aid supplies, in addition to limited quantities of cooking gas, while allowing the export of one truck of flowers while the Gaza Strip can export 100 trucks per day.

The Follow-up Committee confirmed that the IOA still bans some materials from entering the coastal enclave including raw material for local industries.

Karem Abu Salem crossing was closed for 38 days since the beginning of the year, including 17 days during March under various pretexts.

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Israeli gunboats fire at Palestinian fishermen

GAZA, (PIC)– Israeli navy gunboats opened heavy machine gunfire at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Gaza at dawn Thursday.

A field observer told the Quds Press that the Israeli gunboats targeted Palestinian fishing boats and fired flare bombs, but no casualties were reported.

Israeli navy routinely targets Palestinian fishermen in line with its siege on the Gaza Strip and in violation of the calm agreement concluded with Palestinian resistance factions under Egyptian patronage last November.

Around 3,500 Palestinian fishermen work on more than a thousand fishing boats as their sole source of living for their families that number around 50,000 individuals.

Palestine: Israeli warplanes bomb Gaza, strikes in W. Bank and J’lem & 22 children arrested in 2 weeks

Israeli warplanes bomb the Gaza Strip

GAZA, (PIC)– Israeli warplanes bombed on Tuesday night two areas in the east and north of the Gaza Strip, causing damage but no injuries.

The raids were the first since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire under Egyptian auspices on November 21 to end an 8-day aggression on the Gaza Strip.

PIC’s correspondent said that two airstrikes hit Tuffah area in the eastern Gaza Strip, and farm land near the Bedouin village north of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.

He pointed out that the shelling caused no casualties, and added that the Israeli warplanes have continued to fly over Gaza, in a new breach of November truce.

The bombing took place hours after the Hebrew media announced that two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli targets in the western Negev in southern 1948-occupied territories, following the announcement of the death of prisoner Maysara Abu Hamdiya.

The Israeli army said the two attacks were in response to rocket fire from the Strip.

None of the Palestinian factions claimed responsibility for the bombing.

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Strikes in W. Bank and J’lem in mourning for Abu Hamdiya’s death

WEST BANK, (PIC)– Palestinian storeowners decided to participate in commercial strikes in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Wednesday in morning for prisoner Maisara Abu Hamdiya who died yesterday in an Israeli jail.

A general strike started in the morning today in occupied Jerusalem following a violent day of repression by the Israeli police forces that attacked a peaceful rally organized in Bab Al-Amoud district in protest at Abu Hamdiya’s death.

Most of the Jerusalemite storekeepers refrained from opening their businesses in response to strike calls.

The Palestinian natives of Jerusalem also decided to stage a protest outside the Israeli magistrates’ court to demand the release of 11 Palestinians who were detained in the police attack on the rally of Bab Al-Amoud.

For its part, the coordination committee of factions in Nablus city also called today for a strike in mourning for Abu Hamdiya.

Other West Bank cities have also seen today morning similar one-day strikes, except for Al-Khalil city, the hometown of Abu Hamdiya, which declared a strike for three days.

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IOF arrests 22 Palestinian children within two weeks

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– A Palestinian official report said that the Israeli occupation forces and settlers have continued their attacks against Palestinian children.

The report pointed out on Monday, that during the second half of last March, 24 Palestinian children were arrested by Israeli forces, while dozens of others were wounded in separate attacks by the soldiers and settlers.

It stated that settlers from the Talmudic religious school have attacked a Jerusalemite 7-year-old child by throwing empty bottles at him. The boy was then taken to the hospital for treatment.

4-year old boy Mohammed Qafisha was also transferred to the hospital after being run over by a settler’s vehicle in the city of al-Khalil in the southern West Bank.

Israeli soldiers harshly beat another Palestinian boy from al-Khalil causing him fracture in his right arm.

Youssef Abu Eishe, 12, was also injured in the head by a rubber bullet, during clashes between the Israeli occupation forces and citizens in Bab al-Zawiya in the center of al-Khalil, while another child from the village of Nabi Saleh northwest of Ramallah sprained his foot during an anti-settlement march in the town.

Israeli military jeep ran over an 11-year-old boy during clashes in al-Khader village south of Bethlehem, which has caused him serious bruises and wounds.

Meanwhile; Seven Palestinian children were injured during settlers’ attacks near the crossroads of the settlement of Yitzhar near the city of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank.

Palestine: Israelis attack Palestinian citizens and cars eastern Qalqilya & arrests

Maan Images

Settlers attack Palestinian citizens and cars eastern Qalqilya

NABLUS, (PIC)– Jewish settlers attacked vehicles of Palestinian citizens on the Nablus – Qalqilya road, near the settlement of Qadumim built on the lands of Kafr Qaddum village eastern Qalqilya, in the northern West Bank.

Informed local sources and eyewitnesses confirmed to PIC that groups of settlers from the Qadumim settlement and the adjacent settlements attacked the passing vehicles and broke windows of some cars.

Meanwhile, settlers from the outpost of Havad Gilad set up on the lands of Sarra village, western of Nablus, have also attacked and vandalized Palestinians vehicles.

These settlers’ attacks came after the Palestinian marches organized in various towns and villages in the West Bank, including the town of Kafr Qaddum, in rejection of the continued Israeli settlement policies.

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IOF soldiers detain three minors, set up roadblocks

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained three minors in Hares village, north of Salfit, on Saturday and installed roadblocks at various West Bank areas.

Locals said that the three detained children were 13, 15, and 17 years respectively, two of them brothers.

IOF soldiers installed roadblocks in a number of West Bank areas for surprise search of vehicles and IDs.

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IOA reduces area of fishing in violation of calm agreement

GAZA, (PIC)– Hamas movement lashed out at the Israeli occupation authorities for reducing the area of fishing off the coast of Gaza Strip to three nautical miles.

Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, urged the Egyptian leadership to assume its responsibility vis-à-vis that violation in its capacity as the patron of the calm agreement.

Abu Zuhri held the IOA fully responsible for that decision and its repercussions after the calm agreement had allowed fisherman in Gaza to fish in an area of six nautical miles off the coasts of the enclave.

The IOA decided to reduce the area of fishing and to close Karm Abu Salem commercial crossing in response to the alleged firing of two local rockets from Gaza into 1948 occupied Palestinian land.

Of hope and pain: Rachel Corrie’s Rafah legacy

Rachel Corrie, right, and other members of the International Solidarity Movement. Rafah. March 14, 2003. (Photo: Via MIFTAH)

 by Ramzy Baroud, source

‘Hi Papa .. Don’t worry about me too much, right now I am most concerned that we are not being effective. I still don’t feel particularly at risk. Rafah has seemed calmer lately,’ Rachel Corrie wrote to her father, Craig, from Rafah, a town located at the southern end of the Gaza Strip.

‘Rachel’s last email’ was not dated on the Rachel Corrie Foundation website. It must have been written soon after her last email to her mother, Cindy, on Feb 28. She was killed by an Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003.

Immediately after her painful death, crushed beneath an Israeli army bulldozer, Rafah embraced her legacy as another ‘martyr’ for Palestine. It was a befitting tribute to Rachel, who was born to a progressive family in the town of Olympia, itself a hub for anti-war and social justice activism. But Olympia is also the capital of Washington State. Politicians here can be as callous, morally flexible and pro-Israel as any other seats of government in the US, where sharply dressed men and women jockey for power and influence. Ten years after Rachel’s death, the US government is yet to hold Israel to account. Neither is justice expected anytime soon.

Bordering Egyptian and Israeli fences, and ringed by some of the poorest refugee camps anywhere, Rafah has never ceased being a news topic in years. The town’s gallantry of the First Palestinian Uprising (Intifada) in 1987 was the stuff of legends among other resisting towns, villages and refugee camps in Gaza and the rest of Palestine. The Israeli army used Rafah as a testing ground for a lesson to be taught to the rest of Palestinians. Thus, its list of ‘martyrs’ is one of the longest, and it is unlikely to stop growing anytime soon. Many of Rafah’s finest perished digging tunnels into Egypt to break the Israeli economic blockade that followed Palestine’s democratic elections in 2006. Buried under heaps of mud, drowning in Egyptian sewage water, or pulverized by Israeli missiles, some of Rafah’s men are yet to be located for proper burial.

Rafah agonized for many years, not least because it was partially encircled by a cluster of illegal Jewish settlements – Slav, Atzmona, Pe’at Sadeh, Gan Or and others. The residents of Rafah were deprived of security, freedom, and even for extended periods of time, access to the adjacent sea, so that the illegal colonies could enjoy security, freedom and private beaches. Even when the settlements were dismantled in 2005, Rafah became largely entrapped between the Israeli military border, incursions, Egyptian restrictions and an unforgiving siege. True to form, Rafah continues to resist.

Rachel and her International Solidarity Movement (ISM) friends must have appreciated the challenge at hand and the brutality by which the Israeli army conducted its business. Reporting for the British Independent newspaper from Rafah, Justin Huggler wrote on Dec. 23, 2003: “Stories of civilians being killed pour out of Rafah, turning up on the news wires in Jerusalem almost every week. The latest, an 11-year-old girl shot as she walked home from school on Saturday.” His article was entitled: “In Rafah, the children have grown so used to the sound of gunfire they can’t sleep without it.” He too “fell asleep to the sound of the guns.”

Rafah was affiliated with other ominous realities, one being house demolitions. In its report, Razing Rafah, published Oct 18, 2004, Human Rights Watch mentioned some very disturbing numbers. Of the 2,500 houses demolished by Israel in Gaza between 2000-04, “nearly two-thirds of these homes were in Rafah… Sixteen thousand people, more than ten percent of Rafah’s population, have lost their homes, most of them refugees, many of whom were dispossessed for a second or third time.” Much of the destructions occurred so that alleyways could be widened to secure Israeli army operations. Israel’s weapon of choice was the Caterpillar D9 bulldozer, which often arrived late at night.

Rachel Corrie was also crushed by the same type of US manufactured and supplied bulldozer that terrorized Rafah for years. It is no wonder that Rachel’s photos and various graffiti paintings adorn many walls of Rafah streets. Commemorating Rachel’s death anniversary for the tenth time, activists in Rafah gathered on March 16. They spoke passionately of the American girl who challenged an Israeli bulldozer so that a Rafah home could remain standing. A 12-year-old girl thanked Rachel for her courage and asked the US government to stop supplying Israel with weapons that are often used against civilians.

While Rafah carried much of the occupation brunt and the vengeance of the Israeli army, its story and that of Rachel’s was merely symbolic of the greater tragedy which has been unfolding in Palestine for many years. Here is a quick summary of the house demolition practice of recent years, according to the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, also published in Al Jazeera August 2012:

The Israeli government destroyed 22 homes in East Jerusalem and 222 homes in West Bank in 2011, leaving nearly 1,200 people homeless. During the war on Gaza (Dec 2008 – Jan 2009), it destroyed 4,455 homes, leaving 20,000 Palestinians displaced and unable to rebuild due to the restrictions imposed by the siege. (Other reports give much higher estimates.) Since 1967, the Israeli government destroyed 25,000 homes in the occupied territories, rendered 160,000 Palestinians homeless. Numbers can be even grimmer if one is to take into account those who were killed and wounded during clashes linked to the destructions of these homes.

So, when Rachel Corrie stood with a megaphone and an orange high-visibility jacket trying to dissuade an Israeli bulldozer driver from demolishing yet another Palestinian home, the stakes were already high. And despite the inhumane caricaturing of her act by pro-Israeli US and other western media, and the expected Israeli court ruling last August, Rachel’s brave act and her subsequent murder stand at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It highlighted the ruthlessness of the Israeli army, put to shame Tel Aviv’s judicial system, confronted the international community with its utter failure to provide protection for Palestinian civilians and raised the bar even higher for the international solidarity movement.

The Israel court verdict last August was particularly sobering and should bring to an end any wishful thinking that Israel’s self-tailored judicial system is capable of achieving justice, neither for a Palestinian, nor an American. “I reached the conclusion that there was no negligence on the part of the bulldozer driver,” Judge Oded Gershon said as he read out his verdict in a Haifa District Court in northern Israel. Rachel’s parents had filed a law suit, requesting a symbolic $1 in damages and legal expenses. Gershon rejected the suit, delineated that Rachel was not a ‘reasonable person’ and, once more blamed the victim, as has been the case with thousands of Palestinians for many years. “Her death is the result of an accident she brought upon herself,” he said. It all sounded that demolishing homes as a form of collective punishment was just another ‘reasonable’ act, deserving of legal protection. In fact, per Israeli occupation rules, it is.

Rachel’s legacy will survive even Gershon’s charade court proceeding and much more. Her sacrifice is now etched into a much larger landscape of Palestinian heroism and pain.

“I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world,” she wrote to her mother nearly two weeks before her death. “I think it could also be an incredible inspiration to Arab people in the Middle East, who are struggling under undemocratic regimes which the US supports.”

Gaza women suffer on ‘their’ day

by Carlos Latuff

by Eva Bartlett, source

GAZA CITY, Mar 7 2013 (IPS) - “In Gaza we don’t lead normal lives, we just cope, and adapt to our abnormal lives under siege and occupation,” says Dr. Mona El-Farra, a physician and a long-time human rights and women’s rights activist in the Gaza Strip. On International Women’s Day, when many of the world’s women are fighting for workplace equality and an end to domestic violence, Farra and the majority of Gaza’s women fight for the most basic of rights.

“It is difficult to live in this small piece of land, where basic needs like clean water, regular electricity, proper sanitation and means of recreation are not met. Women in Gaza are particularly traumatised by the continuous Israeli military attacks,” says Farra.

A 2009 Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) report highlights the suffering of Palestinian women under the illegal Israeli-led siege imposed on Gaza for the past seven years, and under the 23 days of Israeli attacks in 2008-2009 which killed over 1,400 Palestinians, including 112 women.

The report, ‘Through Women’s Eyes’, notes Gazan women’s continued struggle “as they attempt to come to terms with their grief and their injuries; with the loss of their children, their husbands, their relatives, their homes, and their livelihoods.”

For Hiba an-Nabaheen, 24, a media studies graduate from Gaza’s Palestine University, the biggest issues facing women in Gaza are the poverty and unemployment that result from the siege.

“How can a woman whose husband has died or been imprisoned continue to take care of her children? The deadly Israeli wars we endure don’t compare to the growing poverty we face. I’m a university graduate and can’t find work, and many graduates like me face the same problem, including those with exceptionally high marks.”

From a family of ten, Nabaheen is the only child to have yet gotten a degree. “My father is disabled and cannot work, and my siblings are younger than me. Even my sister who has a 98 percent average in high school won’t find any work when she finishes university.”

Um Oday, 30, would love to work. “I have three young children to care for, but my husband is very supportive of me working, if I found work. In addition to my university education, I’ve taken different training courses in the hope that I’ll find work. But in Gaza, there is none.”

Tagreed Jummah, director of Gaza City’s Union of Palestinian Women Committees (UPWC), agrees that the siege is the main oppressor.

“The siege affects us all, but it especially affects women,” says Jummah. “In recent years, more women have been forced to become heads of the family because their husbands have been killed, are in Israeli prisons, or are unemployed as a result of the siege. But the majority of these women have no means of earning money.”

An August 2012 United Nations (UN) report, Gaza in 2020: A liveable place? cites unemployment as “higher than in the late 1990s.” The report highlights the impact on women, whose unemployment rate in early 2012 was 47 percent.

For Malaka Mohammed, 22, an English Literature graduate from Gaza’s Islamic University, and now employed at the university, higher education is both her greatest ambition and greatest obstacle.

“In Gaza, whether you are a woman or a man, you face the same consequences under the siege and the occupation. I’d like to do a Masters degree, but there is no English Masters programme here.”

For the past over ten years, Israel has banned Gazan Palestinians from studying at universities in the occupied West Bank.

“Studying abroad is very expensive, so I am searching for a scholarship, but even then I will be among thousands of people applying.”

Egypt under the Mubarak regime was complicit in preventing hundreds of Palestinian students holding places and scholarships in foreign universities from leaving the Strip.

Rana Baker, studying business administration at the Islamic University, and a freelance journalist, is active on numerous political issues facing Palestinians.

“To be honest, when it comes to the impact of Israel’s siege and colonial policies on the people of Gaza, indeed all of Palestine, I do not think that the experiences of men and women differ from each other,” says Baker.

“When Israel deliberately bombards schools, both males and females are affected. When talking about the limits Israel forces upon our aspirations, both genders share the same suffering. The Israeli government acts with indifference to the Palestinian population. The same lethal policies are applied to men, women and children in an indiscriminate manner.”

But women do have particular problems. The siege-manufactured poverty leading 80 percent of Gaza’s 1.7 million Palestinians to be food-aid dependent has caused increasing rates of malnutrition and anaemia in women.

A June 2012 joint report by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and Save the Children notes that anaemia affects 36.8 percent of pregnant women in Gaza and that anaemia can result in “poor pregnancy outcome, reduced work productivity in adults,” and “contributes to 20 percent of all maternal deaths.”

For UPWC’s Tagreed Jummah, the Palestinian woman “represents Palestinian resilience, resistance, is strong, and is a mirror of the Palestinian struggle and steadfastness. We’ve lost families, children, and suffer under the closures and Israeli army attacks. We carry all of the suffering of our people, but we continue living and continue resisting.”

In its report on the suffering of Gazan women, PCHR highlights that prospects will not improve until the siege on Gaza is lifted and normal economic activity allowed.

“The dire economic situation means that many women and their families are sliding deeper and deeper into abject poverty. They have suffered the horrors of an illegal war, and now are struggling just to survive.”

Palestine: Cancer cases on rise after Israeli 22-day war on Gaza, six wounded & 382 arrested during Feb.

Cancer cases on rise after Israeli 22-day war on Gaza

Press TV

Gaza has witnessed a surge in the number of cancer patients as the Israeli regime’s use of banned weapons during the 22-day war in 2008-2009 continues to take its toll on the coastal enclave, Press TV reports.

“We have noticed an increase in the number of deformed babies after the war as well as a sharp increase in the number of cancer patients, especially among children and women,” Ayman Sahabani, a doctor at al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, told Press TV.

“The types of injuries during the Israeli bombings all showed that the weapons used were internationally banned and unconventional,” he added.

Norwegian doctors who volunteered in hospitals during the Israeli onslaught said some victims had traces of depleted uranium in their bodies.

According to reports, cancer cases usually emerge among the Gazans who lived in the areas that were heavily bombarded by the Israeli military during the deadly war.

“The area where I used to live was heavily bombarded in the war. About two years later, I started to have headaches and partially lost my eyesight. I was diagnosed with cancer,” said Samaher Ehlayer, a cancer patient.

Reports further indicated that nearly 30 percent of the agricultural land located in the eastern Gaza Strip also sustained heavy bombings during the Israeli war.

The 22-day Israeli war on Gaza took the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, in the populated coastal strip and left thousands more injured. It also inflicted over USD 1.6 billion in damages on the territory’s economy.

Human rights groups have accused the Israeli regime of using Gaza as a testing ground for their weapons.

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Six Palestinians wounded in Gaza in IOF fire

GAZA, (PIC)– Three Palestinian people were wounded Friday morning, in the central Gaza Strip, as a result of IOF artillery fire while three others were wounded in the evening, in the northern Gaza Strip when IOF troops opened fire at them.

Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman of the Health Ministry in Gaza, told PIC that IOF fired a number of artillery shells at farmers east of al-Buraij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, wounding three of them.

He said that the wounded were taken to Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah and described their condition as moderate.

Dr. Qudra told PIC that three others were wounded Friday evening to the east of Abu Safeya neighbourhood near Beit Lahya in the northern Gaza Strip when IOF troops opened fire at them.

He added that the wounded were taken to Kamal Odwan hospital.

The IOF continues to breach the ceasefire agreed last November which was brokered by Egypt, wounding at least 80 Palestinians and killing four others.

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IOF arrests 382 Palestinians during February

GAZA, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation Forces (IOF) arrested during February 382 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Palestinian human rights sources revealed.

Ahrar Center for Prisoners’ Studies and Human Rights reported, on Thursday, that the IOF arrested 382 Palestinians, including 10 women who were released earlier, in different parts of the occupied West Bank, and the Gaza Strip during February.

The center pointed out that 6 Palestinians from the Gaza strip were among the detainees, while the rest were arrested in the West Bank.

Ahrar Center also reported that 38 arrests took place at military roadblocks in different parts of the West Bank, two of them were arrested at the Beit Hanoun (Erez) checkpoint during their way for treatment.

Three other Palestinians were arrested at the Al-karama checkpoint, including the cartoonist Mohammad Saba’na.

The IOF have also launched a political arrest campaign against political leaders and figures in Hamas movement, including three elected MPs Ahmed Attoun, Hatem Qafisha, and Mohammed al-Tal.

The Ahrar Center pointed out that February has witnessed a sharp increase concerning arrest cases compared with the previous month, where 350 Palestinians were arrested in January.

Palestine: A 9-year old boy used as a human shield, olive trees destroyed, school stormed, prisoners tortured & woman attacked

(File photo)

DCI: Israeli troops used a 9-year old boy as a human shield in Ofer jail events

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation forces on February 17 forced a young Palestinian boy at gunpoint to walk among them as they were attacking Palestinian protestors outside Ofer prison in Ramallah, according to a report issued by defense for children international (DCI).

Mustafa Wahdan, a nine-year old boy, told DCI that he was on his way home from his elder brother’s car wash service, about 300 meters from Ofer jail, when the clashes heated up, forcing him to take shelter in a nearby store as result of the intensity of tear gas.

Some Israeli soldiers, who saw him enter the store, went to detain him and ordered him to raise his hands behind his back, exploiting him as a human shield for several hours as they were firing tear gas grenades and rubber bullets at stone-throwing protestors.

“Whenever they wanted to fire tear gas or bullets at the protesters, they would take me with them. I was very scared that I could be hit with stones or anything else,” Wahdan elaborated.

“At home, Mustafa still feel very scared because of the experience he underwent,” the father of the boy Mohamad Wahdan said.

“He was silent and did not have his dinner that day. In the morning, my wife told me that Mustafa was shaking while he was asleep,” the father added.

The DCI stated that the use of human shields is prohibited by the international humanitarian law, and involves the forced presence of civilians to shield an area or soldiers from harm or forcing civilians to directly assist in military operations.

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Israeli nighttime overflights in Gaza panic civilians

GAZA, (PIC)– Israeli warplanes on Tuesday night overflew intensively the densely-populated Gaza Strip causing panic among the civilians.

Local sources reported that some F-16 jet fighters flew at high altitudes over Gaza late on Tuesday night, causing loud sonic booms.

These Israeli overflights took place after Israeli sources claimed that a grad rocket fell in Ashkelon city. However, the Hamas-affiliated government in Gaza categorically denied that any resistance faction had launched any rocket attack on Israeli targets.

Civilians in Gaza had expressed fears that these overflights would be the start for a new spate of deadly aerial raids on their populated areas.

Apart from the claims about the rocket attack on Ashkelon, Israel has violated several times its truce agreement with the Palestinian factions in Gaza, killing four Gazans and wounded about 80 others in gunfire incidents since an Egypt-brokered armistice took effect on November 21, 2011.

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IOA chops down olive trees in Shufat

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) chopped down olive trees in Shufat land threatened with confiscation north of occupied Jerusalem.

The IOA-controlled municipality of Jerusalem cut off those trees on Tuesday in preparation for constructing road 21.

The Israeli antiquities authority launched a campaign of digging in the area to make sure that no ancient relics were underground before starting the infrastructure building.

The targeted land lot is 8.5 dunums in area and is owned by Abu Nee Hamdan family that has documents to prove its grandparent’s legal ownership of the land.

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IOF soldiers try to storm Silwan school

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) tried to storm Silwan intermediate school for boys in Ras Al-Amud suburb on Wednesday morning.

Issam Al-Abbasi, the secretary of the school’s parents council, said in a press statement that the school administration refused to allow the soldiers, who barged into its yard in big numbers, to enter the buildings.

He said that 1000 students study in the school in the seventh to the ninth grade.

He urged human rights groups to intervene and prevent the repeated storming of schools at the hands of those forces.

Abbasi said that undercover agents and soldiers routinely attack students while on their way to school in Silwan, noting that a teacher was arrested last year for trying to prevent soldiers from arresting a student.

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Three Palestinian prisoners transferred to hospital

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– The Palestinian prisoner’s society said that three Palestinian prisoners were taken from the Israeli Raymond jail to Soroka hospital on Tuesday after deterioration in their health condition.

The society said that the prisoner Maysara Abu Hamdiya, who suffers from throat inflammation, weight loss, and swelling in the glands, was rushed to hospital along with Nahed Khamash, who suffered a stroke, and Issa Jabarin, who suffers kidney diseases.

Tension is running high in all Israeli jails after Palestinian detainee Arafat Jaradat died under cruel interrogation last Saturday.

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Occupation re-arrests ex-prisoner liberated under exchange deal

GAZA, (PIC)– Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies confirmed that the occupation ruled that ex-captive Mahmoud Taym from Nablus, liberated under Wafa al-Ahrar deal, will be jailed for 10 months, to complete his previous prison term.

Lawyer Mustafa Azmouty told PIC that Salem Military Court has sentenced yesterday the captive Taym to 11 months of imprisonment. He was sentenced to 10 months as completion of his previous sentence, before his release under the exchange deal, in addition to one month for entering the 1948-occupied territories without the occupation permit.

Mahmoud Taym was serving a prison term of 34 months, before being released under Wafa al-Ahrar deal after 24 months of imprisonment. The occupation re-kidnapped him 3 months ago, and imposed on him to serve the rest of his prison sentence.

Director of the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies, researcher Riyad al-Ashqar, said in a press statement on Tuesday that Taym was not the only liberated prisoner who was re-arrested by the occupation.

Ashqar warned of this dangerous procedure, which aims to re-arrest the ex-prisoners who had been liberated under the prisoners exchange deal, and stressed that the silence and inaction regarding these Israeli abuses encourage the occupation to continue its criminal policies against the liberated captives.

At least 14 other prisoners exchanged for Shalit were rearrested, Ashqar revealed, demanding the Egyptian sponsor to intervene for their release.

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Ex-prisoners assert they were tortured in Israeli interrogation centers

NABLUS, (PIC)– Palestinian liberated prisoners asserted that the Israeli authorities have been practicing brutal torture and tyranny against them during interrogation.

MP Sheikh Mohammed Jamal Natsheh, a leading figure in Hamas movement from al-Khalil who was arrested in December 1990, told PIC that he had been subjected to different forms of torture in the Moscobiya interrogation center in Jerusalem.

He said that among the methods of torture used by the Shin Bet is to deprive the prisoner from sleeping, noting that he had been deprived of sleeping during the interrogation for nearly three weeks.

The liberated captive Dr. Adnan Abu Tabana, 50 from al-Khalil, was also subjected to interrogation during his arrest in 2002 in the Jalama interrogation center, as he confirmed that the interrogators tortured him during the interrogation.

He stated that one of the forms of torture used at the Jalama center is that a burly investigator comes in during the investigation and begins to violently shake captive until he loses consciousness. Dr. Abu Tabana noted that this form of torture affects the spinal cord and may lead to death.

Dr. Abu Tabana added: “Due to this kind of torture the prisoner Abdul Samad Ehrizat, from al-Khalil, and many other captives died”.

Following the international protests that condemned the occupation because of this torture; the Shin Bet started in March using another form of torture, which is psychological torture, under which the Shin Bet holds the Palestinian prisoner in a very small closed cell (of 80 cm × 150 cm) for three continuous months, isolated from the rest of world, without even being able to see the sun.

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners have been subjected to this form psychological pressure, which enabled the Israeli interrogators to forcibly extract confessions.

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Fundamentalist Jewish Women Attack Palestinian Woman In Jerusalem

by IMEMC & Agencies

Tuesday February 26, 2013, A Palestinian woman from occupied Jerusalem was attacked, on Monday afternoon, by a number of extremist Jewish women who tried to remove her hijab, as she was waiting at the Train Station in Jerusalem.
Israeli Hebrew-language daily, Maariv, published pictures of the women as they assaulted the Arab woman and tried to remove her hijab covering her hair.

The attack took place at the light rail station in Kiryat Moshe in Jerusalem, the Arab woman tried to defend herself, but the Israeli women kept attacking her and managed to remove her veil.

Maariv said that an ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman walked by the Palestinian woman and punched her, before some of her friends participated in the attack, and started beating the woman. Eyewitnesses took pictures the attack.

Maariv also reported that, after it published the news about the attack, the Israeli Police opened an investigation into the issue.

Dorit Dotan, an Israeli peace activist who witnessed the attack, stated that a security officer working for the Jerusalem Municipality just watched the assault and smiled.

Palestine: Take over WB, Jersualem continues & Israeli court acquits army, justifies its killing of Gazan family

Report: expanding settlements in WB aims at changing reality

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Islamic-Christian commission for the support of Jerusalem and holy sites warned against the increase in settlers’ number in West Bank, where the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank grew by 4.7% in 2012, according to Yesha Council.

The commission said in a press statement on Sunday that the Israeli policy aims at increasing the settlers’ number in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in order to undermine any attempt to remove them during any Israeli-Palestinian peace process, where the occupation authorities work to impose a new bitter reality in the occupied West Bank.

The commission confirmed in its statement that Israel exceeded all red lines in its settlement policy in the occupied West Bank, noting that the Israeli settlement expansion in eastern Jerusalem and West Bank is illegal according to the International Court of Justice.

Yesha council attributed the growth spurt to the fact that more people are moving to existing settlements and to a high birth rate among religious settlers.

The two largest settlements are Modiin Ilit, a community of ultra-Orthodox Jews west of the West Bank city of Ramallah, with 58,000 inhabitants, and Beitar Ilit, an ultra-Orthodox settlement west of Bethlehem, with 44,000. Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, is in third position with 39,000 inhabitants.

The Secretary-General of the Commission, Dr. Hanna Issa, pointed out that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank are covering 12 million square meters of roads, houses and factories, at a cost of $17 billion, denying the possibility of talking about an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

The Islamic-Christian commission for the support of Jerusalem and holy sites confirmed that the settlement expansion is an Israeli policy to confiscate more Palestinian lands.

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Israeli court acquits army, justifies its killing of Gazan family

GAZA, (PIC)– An Israeli court rejected a Palestinian lawsuit filed against the Israeli army regarding its killing of civilians and children from one family in an aerial attack on their house during the 2009 war on the Gaza Strip, and also fined the plaintiffs.

The Israeli central court in Beersheba two weeks ago refused the complaint that was filed by Al-Mizan center for human rights against the Israeli army about its bombing of a civilian house belonging to Fayez Saleha on January 9, 2009.

The court also decided to fine the plaintiffs 20,000 shekels as expenses for its adjudication.

The court acquitted the Israeli army and claimed that despite the proved failure of the army to give the residents the chance to leave their house, the Israeli aerial attack happened during wartime.

According to a probe into the attack conducted by Al-Mizan center, an Israeli drone had fired one missile at the house, which is located in Beit Lahia north of Gaza, before another Israeli warplane hastened to drop a heavy bomb on it.

The bombing led to the killing of Saleha’s wife, all her four children and her young sister.

The victims are Randa Fayez, the mother and her kids, Diauddin, aged 14, Bahauddin, four years, Rana, 12, and Rula, one year as well as her sister Fatima, 22.

Al-Mizan center had filed a request in November 2009 with the Israeli military prosecutor demanding him to open an investigation into the incident, but he closed the probe quickly and did not make any indictments.

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Abu Sisi’s health condition worsening

NABLUS, (PIC)– A lawyer for the Palestinian prisoner’s association said after visiting prisoner Dirar Abu Sisi in his isolation jail in Askalan that his health condition was very bad.

He quoted Abu Sisi as saying that he was finding difficulty in speaking and remembering words as he was held in complete isolation.

The lawyer said that Abu Sisi was suffering from a number of health problems including heart ailment, hypertension, high cholesterol, and anemia in addition to pain in his kidney, stomach and back. Abu Sisi takes nine kinds of medicine, he added.

The lawyer said that Abu Sisi complained of the food quantity and quality, adding that on one occasion the prison administration served him rotten vegetables.

He added that the prison guards launch night raids on his cell and take away his belongings the latest was a small memorandum in which he used to write down his thoughts, adding that he has nothing left with him.

Abu Sisi was kidnapped by Israeli agents in the Ukraine on 18/2/2010 and is being held since then in solitary confinement without trial.

Palestine: Israeli plan to establish an Educational Complex in the village of Anata & 7 killed, 300 arrested during January

Israeli plan to establish an Educational Complex in the village of Anata

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The so-called regional council of Kfar Adumim settlement approved the construction of an educational complex on 218 dunums of the land of Anata town northeast of Jerusalem, Haaretz revealed on Thursday.

The Hebrew newspaper stated that the Israeli Civil Administration approved the maps for the establishment of the complex, “about a kilometer outside the settlement’s built-up area,” pointing out that a school for Bedouins will be demolished for the implementation of the scheme.

The implementation of the scheme came after settlers’ pressures on the civil administration, where they presented a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court to demolish the school, buildings, and tents in the area, and to deport the villagers by force, but the court rejected the petition, the newspaper explained.

For their part, the lawyers of Anata villagers stated that the establishment of the Educational Complex aims at confiscating Palestinian territories.

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IOF kill 7 Palestinians, arrest 300 others during January

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– A Palestinian human rights report confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed 7 Palestinians, and arrested more than 300 others during the month of January 2013.

Tadamun Foundation for Human Rights stated, in its monthly report released on Thursday, that four Palestinians, including two children and a woman were killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank, while 3 other citizens were killed in the Gaza Strip, including a child.

Regarding arrests, the report pointed out that the occupation forces arrested more than 300 Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza, including more than 60 children and 5 women.

The report noted that the arrest number does not include those detained during the clashes that erupted during the storming of Bab al-Shams village, built on Palestinian land slated for confiscation, near the city of Jerusalem.

The report added that the highest number of detention cases were in al-Khalil city, in the southern occupied West Bank, 80 arrests, and in occupied Jerusalem, 70 arrests.

The Foundation explained that a number of liberated prisoners, who have spent several years in Israeli jails, were among those arrested, such as Sheikh Jamal Tawil, Bajes al-Nakhla, and Fadi Sadak from Ramallah.

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6 Family members died in Gaza due to the siege

GAZA, (PIC)– Six family members died in a house fire early Thursday in al-Shijaia neighborhood in Gaza in light of the continuing Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza strip since 2006.

A large house fire at al-Shijaia neighborhood caused the death of Hazem Mahmoud Dhuheir, 32, and his wife Samar, 30, in addition to their four children, Mahmoud, 7, Nabil, 5, Farah, 3, and Qamar, 5 months, medical sources told PIC reporter.

The police opened an investigation into the incident, where local residents confirmed that the fire was caused by a candle used by the family in light of the power crisis as a result of the Israeli siege on Gaza.

A large number of citizens died in Gaza in similar fire accidents in light of the use of unsafe alternatives for electricity.

Electricity is out for more than eight hours a day in the Gaza strip due to the continuing Israeli unfair siege imposed on the people of the strip.

Palestine: Five houses in Jordan Valley & 7 injured in Gaza by Israeli fire

IOF soldiers demolish five houses in Jordan Valley

JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) razed five Palestinian homes in the northern Jordan Valley at the pretext of lack of construction permit.

Eyewitnesses told the PIC reporter that two military bulldozers escorted by seven army vehicles knocked down three houses and cattle corrals in Jaftalk and two other houses and a sheep pen in the northern Jordan Valley on Thursday.

They said that the soldiers evacuated the houses by force rendering the inhabitants homeless, and blocked other citizens from approaching the demolition sites.

The Israeli occupation authorities have been intensifying demolition of houses in various areas of the Jordan Valley in line with a plan aimed at expelling the inhabitants without any consideration to international law and human rights.

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7 Palestinians injured in Gaza by Israeli fire

GAZA, (PIC)– Seven Palestinians were wounded on Friday evening when Israeli occupation soldiers opened at Palestinians in two different areas in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources.

A local journalist said that the IOF opened machinegun fire at farmers in two different areas in the northern Gaza Strip. The first was to the east of Martyrs Cemetery east of Jabalya, resulting in the injury of five Palestinians. The other area in which Palestinian farmers came under IOF fire was east of Beit Hanoun, where two people were wounded.

Dr. Ashraf Qudra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, told PIC reporter that the five citizens wounded east of Martyrs Cemetery sustained moderate injuries.

These incident are added to numerous IOF breaches of the truce agreement reached between Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation late November last year. These breaches resulted in the killing of 4 Palestinians and the injury of dozens.

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IOF deploys soldiers in Jenin to foil attempt to build new protest village

JENIN, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) were deployed in Anin village to the west of Jenin on Saturday to foil the declared activists’ attempt to build a new protest village.

Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers set up roadblocks at the entrance to the villages of Anin and Teyba and harassed passing citizens and threatened inhabitants that they would not allow the building of the protest village.

IOF command dispatched patrols to Anin village since Friday afternoon as soon as the first batch of activists arrived to build the village that was planned in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners under the name of “breaking the shackles”.