'Don't mention occupation' by Khaled Amayreh...& more from IMEU

A Palestinian child eats some bread in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. (Naaman Omar, Apollo Images)

'Don't mention occupation'
Khaled Amayreh, Al-Ahram Weekly, Jul 21, 2007

This article was originally published by Al-Ahram Weekly and is republished with permission.

When Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the latter's official residence in West Jerusalem 16 July, Olmert delivered "glad tidings" to Abbas about his intention to free 250 Fatah prisoners and pardon some 180 Fatah militiamen on condition they hand over their weapons and formally pledge to abandon the armed struggle against Israel.

However, when Abbas requested that Israel restart the stalled final-status talks with the PA, a peremptory Olmert told Abbas "to stop talking about the occupation because now is not the right time to discuss a final settlement."

Instead, Olmert told the frustrated leader that his Ramallah-based government would have to get stronger in order to be able to defeat Hamas and consequently create "a suitable environment for peace."

Olmert didn't elaborate on what he meant by a "suitable environment," but one of his aides explained that if Abbas succeeded in eliminating or at least neutralising "the forces of extremism and terror," Israel and the PA could then reach a compromise.

Needless to say, in Israeli diplomatic jargon, a suitable environment denotes one thing, and that is a Palestinian willingness to give up on the right to East Jerusalem and the right of return. Additionally, Palestinians must acquiesce to accepting a truncated, Bantustan quasi-state on the remaining pieces of land in the West Bank, cut off from other Palestinian towns and surrounded by Jewish settlements.

Prior to the meeting in West Jerusalem, PA official Saeb Erekat vowed to make "the endgame" the sole and only subject of discussion between Abbas and Olmert.

However, when Olmert refused even to listen to requests pertaining to ending the occupation or even restarting a genuine political process, Erekat realised that Olmert was the master of the day and Abbas's weak position rested entirely on "Israeli goodwill."

Related stories Destroying a population Longing to go home What are the major Palestinian institutions of higher education? Who will save Palestine? Hollow gestures

This is probably what prompted Riyadh Al-Maliki, the minister of information in the Ramallah-based government, to comment that "we don't give much weight to these meetings."

Nonetheless, it was clear that Olmert didn't want Abbas to return to Ramallah completely empty-handed.

In addition to the slated release from Israeli custody of 250 Fatah prisoners, most of whom have almost completed their sentences and are due for release shortly, Olmert promised Abbas that he would also unfreeze an additional amount of Palestinian tax revenue, withheld by Israel.

Furthermore, Olmert promised Abbas that Israel would tighten its siege on the Gaza Strip, including keeping the Rafah border crossing closed for as long as deemed necessary to "strengthen Abbas" and weaken Hamas.

At one point during the meeting, Abbas appealed to Olmert to free imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, arguing that his release would bolster Fatah vis-à-vis Hamas.

Olmert responded by saying that he was not sure that the release of Barghouti would serve the interests of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

A few weeks ago, the Israeli internal security service, the Shin Bet pointed out in a report presented to the Israeli government that the release of Barghouti would actually weaken Abbas and strengthen the "Arafat camp". This is the group within Fatah which refuses to accept any settlement which does not include a full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories as well as a fair settlement of the refugee problem pursuant to UN Resolution 194.

The release of the Fatah prisoners is unlikely to be boost Abbas's popularity amongst Palestinians since it portrays him as president of only one faction (Fatah), not the entire Palestinian people.

Moreover, the decision by Israel to pardon Fatah-affiliated militiamen in the West Bank in return for giving up the armed struggle against Israel could prove an embarrassment for Abbas and his government since it doesn't include any commitment by Israel to stop its incursions and raids into Palestinian population centers.

However, the crux of the matter remains Israel's unwillingness to grant Abbas any political achievement with which he could face an increasingly frustrated and sceptical Palestinian public.

Indeed, the Israeli government continues to refuse repeated requests by Abbas to withdraw from the erstwhile (area-A), where according to the defunct Oslo Agreement, the PA is supposed to have full authority.

Moreover, the Israeli army is adamant about keeping some 600 roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the West Bank which effectively ensures daily life for Palestinians remains a recurring nightmare.

Recognising the deadlock with Israel, and the failure and/or inability of the international community, including the Bush administration, to pressure the Jewish state to stop the unrelenting carving up of the West Bank for more Jewish settlements thereby rendering any possibility of a two-state solution obsolete, Abbas continues to desperately attempt to make some political progress as he faces off with Hamas.

In this context, Abbas ordered the PLO Central Council (PLOCC) to convene in Ramallah later this month ostensibly in order to neutralise or possibly dissolve the Hamas-controlled Legislative Council, already paralysed by the Hamas-Fatah showdown as well as by the abduction and incarceration by Israel of more than 40 Palestinian lawmakers.

The embattled Palestinian leader hopes that the council will reassert the supremacy of the Fatah- dominated PLO over the PA, thus rendering the Gaza-based Hamas government as well as the legislative council itself practically irrelevant.

The PLOCC, however, is not an elected body and many of its members have either died of old age or are too old to fulfil their responsibilities.

Abbas hopes the councillors will strengthen his hand against Hamas and will lend another layer of legitimacy to the Salam Fayyad government.

Last week, Abbas asked Israel to allow a number of key PLO leaders, including Democratic Front leader, Nayef Hawatmeh and the head of the PLO's Political Department, Farouq Al-Qaddumi, to travel to Ramallah in order to take part in the PLOCC deliberations.

Israel agreed in principle, but insisted on several humiliating conditions including restricting the duration of the visits.

Eventually, both Hawatmeh and Al Qaddumi, opted not to attend, saving themselves the humiliation and embarrassment they would suffer at the hands of the Israeli occupiers.

This week, a number of Palestinian National Council (PNC) members based abroad made several proposals to reform the PLO, including organising elections in Palestine and the Diaspora for the various PLO bodies.

However, it is unlikely that Abbas and his Fatah Party will accept any far-reaching reform of the PLO, lest they lose their grip on it.

The Americans and Israelis are also unenthusiastic about empowering any Palestinian political institution which could place restrictions on the Palestinian leadership, especially with regard to negotiations with Israel.

In the final analysis, Abbas and his government are expected to face a real predicament sooner or later due to Israel's intransigence in ending its 40-year-old occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

This week, the noted Israeli journalist Danny Rubenstein pointed out that despite all the fanfare surrounding Abbas and the wholesome praise and support he is receiving from the West, the Palestinian leader has actually nothing to offer the Palestinian people.

Writing in Ha'aretz, Rubenstein argued that Abbas's strategy of creating a viable Palestinian state was reaching a dead end.

"Abu Mazen and Fatah have nothing to sell the Palestinian public. The vision of an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, gradually dissipated during the Oslo Peace process."

Rubenstein added that "it was not corruption and an absence of leadership that brought down the Fatah movement (in the last elections) but rather the fact that the political path of Abbas and his friends had reached a dead end, and could not be resurrected.

"And all of this is leading to one result, namely the death of the two-state solution and the inevitability of the one-state solution."

Longing to go home Mona El-Farra, IMEU

Vertical disintegration James Ron, The Nation

FAQ on developments in the PA IMEU

Prisoner release must be followed quickly by bold steps
The Daily Star (Jul 21, 2007)

Parents held in Israel, 6 kids left alone
Ynet News (Jul 21, 2007)

Israel to annex thousand of dunams from Arab villages
IMEMC (Jul 20, 2007)

Israel starts Palestinian release
BBC (Jul 20, 2007)

Mixed reaction in Middle East as Blair makes debut as envoy
The Guardian (Jul 20, 2007)

Israel contemplating offensive against Hamas
Maan News (Jul 19, 2007)

Palestinians in Gaza appeal for more aid
Reuters (Jul 19, 2007)

Egypt opens shelters in Sinai to house stranded Palestinians
Haaretz (Jul 19, 2007)

A Lebanese Red Cross personnel attends to a camel at the outskirts of the bombarded Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in north Lebanon July 20, 2007. Many of the 32,000 Palestinian refugees who have fled fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants will need temporary homes while their devastated camp is rebuilt, a U.N. official said on Friday. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim (LEBANON)

Released Palestinian prisoners lean out of bus windows, as they are greeted by relatives shortly after their release at the Beituniya checkpoint on their way to the West Bank city of Ramallah, Friday, July 20, 2007. Israel released more than 250 Palestinian prisoners Friday, in an attempt to bolster moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A released Palestinian female prisoner Faten Daraghmeh hugs her daughter after her arrival at the West Bank village of Alloban near of Nablus, July 20, 2007. Israel released more than 250 Palestinian prisoners on Friday as part of a U.S.-backed deal to bolster Abbas after Hamas Islamists took over the Gaza Strip last month. The prisoners, who were mostly members of Abbas's secular Fatah faction, arrived in Ramallah where they were greeted by Abbas and reunited with family members. REUTERS/Eliana Aponte (WEST BANK)

Two Israeli journalists scrap ethics for scoop

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=83870

Two Israeli journalists scrap ethics for scoop
Jewish reporters endanger lives of lebanese citizens interviewed under false pretenses
By Nour Samaha
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, July 17, 2007

BEIRUT: When two Israeli re-porters entered Lebanon under false pretenses last week to conduct reports on Lebanese life a year after the summer 2006 war with Israel, they not only broke Lebanese law, but also violated codes of ethics in journalism and endangered the lives of those they interviewed, according to professors and residents who spoke to The Daily Star Monday.

Lisa Goldman and Rinat Malkes flew into Lebanon from Amman on their respective Canadian and Brazilian passports. Both Israeli citizens, both working on reports to be published in Israel - a country officially in a state of war with Lebanon - they embarked on deceiving Lebanese officials and the general public in order to get their exclusive scoops.

"The word Israel must not be mentioned in Lebanon," said Malkes in her article in the right-wing Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, describing how the two journalists cut out the labels from their clothes before arriving in Beirut to hide any Hebrew inscription that may reveal their true identities.

Once in Lebanon, the two went their separate ways - Malkes traveled to the South, while Goldman remained in Beirut.

In footage aired on Israel's Channel 10 news, Goldman showed snippets of interviews she conducted with local residents and misinformed viewers that only one small section of the southern suburbs was hit by Israel. "I particularly remember the BBC's hourly reports during the war, each one beginning with the following [paraphrased] sentence: 'As Israel continues its relentless pounding of southern Beirut ...' But according to several residents ... the Israeli air strikes were actually very much pinpointed on an area in the center of the Dahiyeh called the 'security square' - the area where senior Hizbullah leaders lived," she said on Pajamas Media.

Yet Goldman, who admitted that she never went to the southern suburbs of Beirut, failed to mention the surrounding areas that were affected, such as the bridges in the Dahiyeh that are still being repaired, local media stations, Chiyah and other neighborhoods further away from the "security square" - areas that are not known to host Hizbullah leaders.

One Lebanese who grew up in Dahiyeh and was interviewed by Goldman stated that she not only misquoted him, but deceived him from the start, supplying him with a false name and misinforming him that she was writing for a European paper as a Canadian. "She completely hid her Israeli nationality, saying she was from Vancouver, and gave me a different name from Lisa Goldman ... she also said she was writing for a European paper," he said on Monday.

The Beirut resident, who asked to remain anonymous, added: "When she wrote about me she said I had told her Israel only bombed the security square, which is wrong - I said they were hitting everything ... She also gave the impression that I talked of Israel in a good light, which is certainly not the case."

"If I'd known she was Israeli, I would've had her arrested," he added. "What she did was extremely wrong, and it could get me into a lot of trouble - she has me doing an interview on camera ... my family are extremely worried about repercussions from officials for talking to her ... But I didn't know she was Israeli."

According to Magda Abu-Fadil, the director of the journalism training program at the American University of Beirut, the mere fact that a journalist would misidentify herself or conduct an interview under false pretenses, is in itself unethical.

"In general terms, I don't think you should assume a false identity unless something like national security is involved or the public good is at stake, like saving someone's life," she said. "But this is not the case here - this situation does not fall under the category."

This point was also reiterated by Ramez Maluf, a professor of journalism at the Lebanese American University. "It is common practice for standards of journalism, where they exist, to state that reporters should not obtain information under false pretense," he said. "But that rule is broken all the time, often by invoking some higher moral objective."

"If you believe that your job is to inform your public about vital issues of interest and importance to them as best you can, then you may excuse yourself from breaking any rules," he continued. "The important issue then is whether you can actually report fairly when you do so under false pretense."

Yet the deception may have serious repercussions on those who were unwittingly taken in under false pretenses by the two Israeli journalists. "You have to ask, how did they represent themselves, and did they endanger anyone locally?" Abu-Fadil asked. "Suspicions may arise and people may not want to deal with those that were interviewed if they think they are in contact with Israelis."

Malkes' report on the South of the country painted an image of a Hizbullah-controlled area that has achieved little in terms of reconstruction since the end of the war. She begins by incorrectly stating that Hizbullah's approval was necessary to visit villages in the South, when in fact approval to visit areas in the South is not obtained through Hizbullah, but through the Lebanese Army, who have maintained control of the area since the end of the war last August.

In addition, Malkes gave the false impression that Hizbullah is in charge of the reconstruction effort in the South, citing Bint Jbeil as an example of how little had been done over the past year. "Life has not yet returned to normal," she wrote. But the Qatari mission in Lebanon is tasked with the reconstruction effort in Bint Jbeil.

"The power supply is also interrupted," she added, apparently unaware that the power cuts in the South are unrelated to the war, and have long plagued that part of the country.

The question on everybody's lips now, however, is what can be done to ensure this does not happen again? Abu-Fadil suggested a system for monitoring foreign journalists who enter Lebanon to check their backgrounds. "We don't want a police state, but by the same token, is there anything than can keep track of who these people are?" she asked. "It is much harder to do these days with new technology, but we need to be more vigilant and organized on how to deal with journalists."

Maluf added that monitoring all foreign journalists may not be necessary, but because Lebanon is currently in a state of war with Israel, there should be a monitoring system of "any and all Israeli incursions of any kind into our country," he said.

"Let them rely on the wire services" to get news from Lebanon, he added.

Stranded at the border : Rami Almeghari writing from Al-Arish, Egypt

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article7119.shtml

Stranded at the border
Rami Almeghari writing from Al-Arish, Egypt, Live from Palestine, 20 July 2007

Palestinians demonstrate near Rafah crossing during a protest against the closure of the border at the southern Gaza Strip, 19 July 2007. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages)

My wife and myself, like thousands of other Palestinians, are currently stranded in Egypt since the Rafah crossing to Gaza was closed in mid-June.

We are now staying closer to our home of Gaza. The destination this time is not Cairo. Rather, it's the coastal town of al-Arish now that my wife has completed her medical treatment in the Egyptian capital.

In the evening of 7 July, we cheerfully smiled for the first time since my wife was hospitalized in a Cairo hospital a month ago, after the doctor assured us she could leave the hospital.

The first thing I thought of was, of course, heading back to Gaza, where our beloved four children, along with the rest of our family, have been anxiously awaiting our return.

For an ordinary traveler, all he or she needs to do is to book tickets. But for us as two Gazan Palestinians, it is not that simple, because Israel has banned our airport from operating since 2000, and since been destroyed by Israeli tanks.

At any rate, we have another means of entering, which is the Rafah crossing terminal. However, Israel has ordered the closure of this crossing for the past five weeks, preventing me from moving, thinking or even fully enjoying that happy moment with my wife.

I had an idea by then -- moving towards the closet destination to our home of Gaza. So we moved to al-Arish, about 45 km away from Gaza, hoping we could get to the border as soon as possible so we could resume our lives.

We have been here for two weeks; however, al-Arish's golden sandy beach, palm trees or even its lit streets haven't and could never compensate for a single moment with our kids.

Aseel, my ten-year-old daughter, asked us over the phone, "Dad, when you are coming? We are fed up, we want you back."

I told her very quietly, "Aseel, my darling, we are coming soon, just take care of your brothers and sister, especially Mohammad as you are the eldest, and wish for your mom a speedy recovery." Mohammad is our eight-month-old baby.

The coastal Gaza Strip, 40 km long and about 10 km wide, is home to 1.4 million people, including my family. We have but one outlet to the outside world -- the Rafah crossing terminal, to the south of Gaza.

Despite the fact that Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and despite the US-brokered arrangements for running the crossing with the help of European observers, Israel frequently closes the passage to the extent that in 2006 alone, the terminal was only opened for a fifth of the time.

Recently, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to reopen all Palestinian crossings in order to avert a humanitarian crisis.

Unfortunately, the crisis has already begun as the Egyptian Red Crescent Society has provided blankets, food stuffs and medication to hundreds of stranded Palestinians who have run out of money and personal affects -- and their patience has run out as well.

Along with these border-bound people in al-Arish, there are about 5,000 Palestinians, 20 percent of whom are medical patients, who staying in other Egyptian border towns like Sheikh Zweaiyed and Egyptian Rafah.

Twenty-eight medical patients have lost their lives at the border since the crisis began in June, according to Palestinian health ministry.

The Rafah crossing terminal is situated on the borderline between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. When exactly my wife and I will be able to cross that line to reunite with our family is left to Israel's whim.

Rami Almeghari is currently contributor to several media outlets including the Palestine Chronicle, aljazeerah.info, IMEMC, The Electronic Intifada and Free Speech Radio News. Rami is also a former senior English translator at and editor in chief of the international press center of the Gaza-based Palestinian Information Service. He can be contacted at rami_almeghari at hotmail.com.

A Palestinian Adventure in Israel's Largest Airport: Is This Ben Gurion or Hell? By REMI KANAZI

http://www.counterpunch.org/kanazi07192007.html

July 19, 2007

A Palestinian Adventure in Israel's Largest Airport

Is This Ben Gurion or Hell?

By REMI KANAZI

Anyone who has traveled through Ben Gurion airport in Israel knows that it is a unique experience. For most Israeli Jews, the experience is comforting, a quick and accommodating entry into a nation created and developed for the Jewish people. For Palestinian-Americans and many activists working in occupied Palestine it is quite a different experience. Most of these travelers are held for hours and questioned repeatedly; some of who are stripped naked and in some cases (especially in the last two years) denied entry.

As I write from Ramallah, I recall my and my brother's experience in Ben Gurion just one week ago... [more]

Regarding NYTimes 7-19-2007 Forced to Get Along By Mark Helprin

RE: Forced to Get Along By Mark Helprin
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/opinion/19helprin.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Dear Editor,

How much ink and blood has already been spilled- wasted- for Israel and its ongoing war on the people of historic Palestine?

Zionists have consistently rejected the idea that the native non-Jewish residents of historic Palestine are human beings who have rights- and a just cause for complaint... Rejecting Israeli racism and apartheid is a healthy wholesome response to an increasingly dangerous and dire situation.

Most Palestinians have no real freedom or security anywhere, while most Israeli Jews have full freedoms and economic opportunities in more than one sovereign wealthy nation- and yet Israelis insist on stealing more and more and more Palestinian land, rights and peace on that little patch of ground deemed holy by the three Abrahamic faiths.

Don't be too distracted by the Abbas/HAMAS split: The Palestinians have always been divided with every weakness intentionally exasperated by idiots for that is how Israel's racist war works... Divide conquer and destroy... but despite the superficial bickerings the Palestinian cause lives on and grows more strong and sure.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES 7-20-2007

the keychain

Regarding LA Times Editorial "Giving peace a chance" 7-20-2007

RE: Giving peace a chance
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-mideast20jul20,0,645099.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail

Dear Editor,

The basic apartheid formula thanks to political Zionism, is that Jewish immigrants get freedom, jobs and security (plus a plethora of positive PR) while the native non-Jewish Palestinians get pushed into prison camps and despair... Gaza's economy is barely alive and everyone is supposed to make more peace with racist Israel as if that will stop a totally toxic status quo that has already been in place for more than 59 years.

How can we call this cruel farce "peace negotiations" when an entire population is under duress ?

This Israeli made mess already is one country with a chosen few free to flourish while an abused many are insulted, harassed, harshly oppressed and tortured at every turn, no matter what they do or say.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES 7-20-2007

Regarding Chic Trib 7-20-2007 Abbas wants talks to hit core issues: Israel's preference for slower approach puts sides at odds

RE: Abbas wants talks to hit core issues: Israel's preference for slower approach puts sides at odds
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-mideast2_greenbergjul20,1,5406591.story

Dear Editor,

59 years after Israel officially began its sovereign refusal to respect the native non-Jewish Palestinians- and the Palestinian refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands: I can not help but look at the headline "Abbas wants talks to hit core issues: Israel's preference for slower approach puts sides at odds" and know that

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied

Talks about talks about talks- and fact is it has all been said before and fact is we the world need a rights based solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict- and we need it fast for everything keeps going from bad to worse for everyone except the war mongers who profit from other people's pain.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES 7-20-2007

NOTES 7-20-2007

NOTES:

• 7.5 million Palestinian refugees and IDPs - In need of a rights based solution
• Palestinian refugees determined to rebuild Nahr al...
• The Humanitarian and Political Impact of the Segregation and Annexation Wall
• Destroying a population by Richard Falk ...& more from IMEU
• Israel to annex thousand of dunams from Arab villages
• Palestinians in Gaza appeal for more aid
• Beware of Oslo's destructive route
  
• Fury over Israeli bill to limit some land sales to Jews
  
• UN officials issued warnings yesterday about the dire collapse of Gaza's economy
• Mona El-Farra's Longing to go home ...
• Width Matters: Displacement and Israel's Wall by Susan Miller
• Eurodeputies denounce Iraqi stance on refugees
• Iraqis dying to tell the story
• A New Nakaba in Jaffa City
• Number of West Bank settlers increases...
• One of the 13 bullets fired at Wael Zuaiter hit volume two of One Thousand and One Nights
• Wael Zuaiter was the first victim in Europe in a series of assassinations of Palestinian artists, intellectuals and diplomats perpetrated by Israel...
• Cracks in Zionism by Charley Reese
• Wiping whom off the Map??? By Dr. Elias Akleh
• The Palestinian Refugees Right of Return- & Zionist tricks
• Zionism Is The Problem....
• Recognising Israel’s past record and current policy by Michael Jansen
• Michigan's vigilant outcasts: BREAK THE SILENCE

Weekly Report on Israeli human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory 05 - 11 Jul 2007

FACTSHEET The Right To Return, a Basic Right Still Denied

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html
Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

"The humanitarian aid and assistance that UNRWA provides to the Palestine refugees can never be enough. But it will be required as long as the issues of statelessness, prolonged military occupation, economic marginalization and vulnerability characteristic of the Palestinian refugee crisis are not addressed." http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/publ/opendoc.htm?tbl=PUBL&id=4444d3c92f

Al Nakba 1948
The largest planned ethnic cleansing operation in modern history	530 depopulated towns and villages 85% of the Palestinians in the land that became Israel are refugees today Their land is 92% of Israel’s area

http://www.plands.org/power/1.htm

The State of the World's Refugees 2006 - Chapter 5 Protracted refugee situations: Box 5.1 Palestinian refugees .....

By far the most protracted and largest of all refugee problems in the world today is that of the Palestine refugees, whose plight dates back 57 years.
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/publ/opendoc.htm?tbl=PUBL&id=4444d3c92f

& Forced Migration Review's (FMR) recent edition on Palestinian refugees
http://www.forcedmigration.org/

& more on the Palestinian Refugees....
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/israel/return/
http://www.badil.org/index.html
http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/index.html
http://imeu.net/news/background-briefings.shtml
http://www.rorcongress.com/
http://www.al-awda.org/facts.html
http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Right-Of-Return/
http://www.p4pd.org/refugees.html
http://www.plomission.us/links.php
http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/115746336017.htm
http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/refugees.shtml
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_mamboezine&Itemid=182
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=10241&CategoryId=4
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/israel-palestine/returnindex.htm
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/israel-palestine/return/2004/0927necessary.htm
http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/MEPP/PRRN/papers/abusitta.html
http://www.world-crisis.com/analysis_comments/A147_0_15_0_C
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/687/region_ror.htm
http://www.al-awda.org/abusitta.html
http://www.afsc.org/pwork/0102/010220a.htm
http://www.fmreview.org/palestine.htm
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

7.5 million Palestinian refugees and IDPs - In need of a rights-based solution

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/SBOI-74BR45?OpenDocument

Source: BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights

Date: 20 Jun 2007

OPT: 7.5 million Palestinian refugees and IDPs - In need of a rights-based solution

At the end of 2006, the Palestinian population worldwide was estimated to be over 10.1 million. 70% of them (nearly 7.5 million) were refugees and internally displaced persons. Six million Palestinians have been refugees since 1948, and approximately one million since 1967. Approximately 450,000 Palestinians are internally displaced persons in Israel and the OPT, while the legal status of some 400,000 additional Palestinians is unclear. The majority of the latter have likely been forcibly displaced from or within the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967 as a result of Israeli policies. More than two thirds of the Palestinian refugees live in exile, in particular in Arab countries surrounding Palestine (Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), and approximately 20% of them live in UNRWA-serviced refugee camps.

These data are released on World Refugee Day by BADIL Resource Center based on systematic review and analysis of available sources, including the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). Since 1948, no agency has comprehensively registered displaced Palestinians. However, data provided are considered the best estimates as indicative figures.

As the largest and longest unresolved refugee case in the world approaches its 60th year, Badil calls upon all parties to the conflict to adopt a rights-based approach to the search for durable solutions. In particular, Badil calls upon Israel, the United States and the European Union to recognize the rights of Palestinian refugees and IDPs to return to their homes of origin, property restitution and compensation for losses and damages incurred.

Since 1948, negotiations over the Palestinian refugee issue have failed to put international law at the center of the search for durable solutions. So-called “practical and realistic” solutions based on the unequal balance of power between the parties has instead been the chosen framework, leaving little space for respect for the rights of refugees and IDPs. Addressing and resolving the issue of Palestinian refugees and IDPs in accordance with international law is, however, central to building a just and lasting peace.

The lack of a rights-based approach has left Palestinian refugees and IDPs particularly vulnerable to renewed displacement and has created a climate of impunity. In the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT) and Israel, displacement of Palestinians continues as a result of Israel's quest for control over a maximum amount of land with a minimum number of Palestinian people. The lack of effective protection leaves Palestinian refugees vulnerable to discrimination, persecution and renewed forced displacement also in their current host countries. In Iraq, for instance, many are stranded on border areas or live without access to protection. Thousands more have been displaced during Israel's war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and the current conflict in the Nahr el Bared camp.

Despite ongoing displacement, no national and international response has been developed to prevent, protect from and respond to the forced displacement of Palestinians. Badil believes that international organizations, in particular the United Nations, need to urgently develop a response to the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel's government and officials responsible for population transfers (ethnic cleansing) must be held accountable.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LRON-74CBNA?OpenDocument

Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Date: 20 Jun 2007

Palestinian refugees determined to rebuild Nahr al-Bared lives

by Michel Moutot

BEDDAWI, Lebanon, June 20, 2007 (AFP) - The thousands of Palestinians of Nahr al-Bared in north Lebanon, refugees in the nearby camp of Beddawi, dream only of returning to their battered homes and rebuilding their lives.

For the past month the army has been besieging the Islamist fighters of Fatah al-Islam in Nahr al-Bared camp near the port city of Tripoli, pounding the refugee camp with high-explosive shells in a bid to root out the militants.

As ever in such a conflict, it is the civilians who suffer most. Of the camp's estimated 31,000 inhabitants before the conflict erupted on May 20, only about 2,000 have stayed put. Their fate remains unknown.

Most of the thousands who fled during a lull in the early stages of the battle now find themselves in Beddawi, another of 12 registered camps that house around half of Lebanon's estimated 400,000 Palestinians.

Even though their homes may have been reduced to piles of rubble, the Nahr al-Bared displaced now packed into every available space in schools and mosques in Beddawi insist they will return.

Ahmed al-Hajj, a stonemason lying on a foam mattress at a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) at Beddawi, told AFP he had received news about his house at Nahr al-Bared from a neighbour.

"The top floor has caved in -- that's where one of my sons lived with his family -- and the rest of the place is damaged," the 57-year-old father of 10 said.

"It's not too bad. We can fix it. We Palestinians are like ants -- we build all the time, we work without end. Our homes don't cost much. Mine was about 200 dollars a floor," he said.

"It's because we know they could be destroyed, by nature in an earthquake or by man. The 12 of us will live on the ground floor, in one room if we have to," the white-bearded Hajj said.

"We'll see what we can do to fix the rest, bit by bit," he added. "Maybe relatives abroad will send some money. Rebuilding three floors, if we have the materials, should take six weeks. Another two months to finish it off...

"I think it will cost me about 2,000 dollars to rebuild. I just need the first dollar."Pledges of funds to aid in reconstruction, from the government in Beirut and oil-rich Arab monarchies in the Gulf, do not impress those refugees who spoke to AFP.

"If the Arab states send money, half of it will disappear as usual to buy Range Rovers for government ministers," 45-year-old mother of eight Amal Ibrahim said ruefully.

"All of our men are builders in one way or another. They can rebuild for very little money," she said, adjusting the veil of one of her four girls.

"We'll go back home, no matter what. We'll sleep on the beach if everything is destroyed. It would be better than here, packed like chickens inside this school with nothing but rice to eat for a month."

The Nahr al-Bared refugees in Beddawi all point to the example of the Shiite Hezbollah group, which handed out envelopes containing a crisp 10,000 dollars to each family whose home was destroyed in last year's summer war with Israel.

"The Shiites in the south got aid from (Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan) Nasrallah" but "nothing from the government," sighed public works driver Ahmed Mohammed Hussein, 41.

"They had Hezbollah. What do we have? UNRWA. We had to flee in such a hurry that all we've got now is the clothes we stand up in. My whole working life was in the house I left behind."

Hajj, who was born in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, expects nothing from the Arab states. "Since we were chased out of Palestine they have always betrayed us. The only people who help are the Europeans, especially France.

"For us Palestinians the most important thing is to educate our children. If the UNRWA schools reopen in September it'll be fine."

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The Humanitarian and Political Impact of the Segregation and Annexation Wall

http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=14329&CategoryId=21

The Humanitarian and Political Impact of the Segregation and Annexation Wall Date posted: July 19, 2007 By MIFTAH
Introduction: With the onset of a peace process in the early 1990s, Palestinians hoped that the Two-State Solution would come to fruition and an autonomous, independent Palestine would emerge, forging forward into the new millennium with the enthusiasm and hopefulness that marked the beginning of the Oslo Process and the return of many of the exiles, including late President Yasser Arafat. As time went by the euphoric prospect of peace turned into disillusionment. The beginning of another Intifada in September 2000 was not unexpected but those who failed to read the clear signs that the political situation was headed that way only rode the wave of renewed violence to justify their own ends. The Segregation and Annexation Wall was one outcome of Israel’s continued aggression towards the Palestinians. It has been documented that the Wall was being planned in the early years of the peace process. Under the guise of security it was actually a deliberate attempt to solidify Israel’s hold on the most fertile lands, the aquifers and other resources in the West Bank. The Wall cuts deeply into the West Bank and only 20 percent of it is being built on the Green Line. It is therefore a clear attempt to include major West Bank settlement clusters in Israeli territory. In some places the Wall encircles entire towns, such as Qalqiliya, only allowing passage to inhabitants arbitrarily and haphazardly. Much of the Wall has encroached on fertile village land and aquifers necessary for Palestinian sustenance and wellbeing. The barrier route has had adverse effects on a largely agrarian society, pushing it towards non-traditional labor, such as construction. The loss of land is also a loss of livelihood for many families and has drastically reduced families’ self-sustainability, especially in light of the dire economic conditions in the Palestinian Territories. Beyond the security/terrorism rhetoric, the route of the Wall proves a statement made by Haim Ramon, the Israeli Minister of Justice, in July 2006 when he said that the Wall had political implications. This was corroborated by a comment issued from the State Attorney’s Office in the lawsuit Dr. Ahamad Bader Miselmani made against the State of Israel. “Unlike the other sections of the barrier, Israel admitted that, regarding the Jerusalem Envelope, the route was not based solely on security considerations, but also, in the words of the State Attorney’s Office, in a way that ‘considers Israel’s political interests.’ Accordingly, the route was set to run along Jerusalem’s post-annexation municipal border.”I Beginnings: Actual plans for the wall’s construction began in November 2000, when Ehud Barak, the then Israeli PM approved a plan to establish the Wall in the northern and central West Bank. There are those who consider that the Wall project started with the construction around Gaza in 1994, just as the Oslo Agreements were kicking off and “peace” was on the horizon. Under the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the opportunity to go ahead with the plans for the Wall came in April 2002 when a series of suicide attacks occurred inside Israel. The Israeli cabinet called for a barrier and fences around major Palestinian towns, ostensibly to curb these attacks. In June 2002 Phase I of the Wall begins to include sections of Jerusalem. Originally the route of the Wall was supposed to be around 670km, but was extended to 703km in its current form. According to the latest statistics 51 percent of the construction has been finished, with 13 percent still under construction while 36 percent remains in the planning phase.II Despite the fact that the International Court of Justice gave an advisory ruling in July 2004 stating that the Wall is against international law and called for its dismantlement, it did not happen and construction continued unabated, especially since the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled in September 2005 that it was not in contravention to International Law. Some minor victories were scored by Palestinian families affected by the wall and in very few cases, the route was changed in consideration of the humanitarian impact of the Wall on these areas. However, the major battle for the dismantlement of the Wall continues to this day, as the Wall reaches almost full completion. Humanitarian Impact: West Bank: Although the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled in June 2004 that the route of the Wall must ensure that humanitarian considerations on the Palestinian communities along this route are not affected, it has in fact had adverse consequences on these communities, especially since the most fertile land lies between the Wall and the Green Line. Largely agrarian, tilling and living off the land for generations, many families have lost not only their livelihood, but also centuries-old traditions. One example is the olive harvest. An annual ritual every October, it has now become a bitter harvest, one where families are subjected to the violence of Jewish settlers, who often physically assault olive pickers, even if they are accompanied by foreign and Israeli peace activists. An average tree is said to bear the equivalent of 9kgs of fruit and because it is able to live in arid conditions and can survive in soil of poor quality, it is the perfect crop to grow in the Palestinian climate. III . Settlers have been known to steal the fruit of the trees under the cover of darkness, thereby robbing families of a major source of income. All this occurs under the watch of Israeli soldiers, who either stand idly by or actually aid the settlers in their assaults. Once planted, olive trees can survive for centuries, but it can take a few years for the tree to become productive. The fact that over 450,000 trees IV have been uprooted is a cultural, ecological and economic calamity. Forty-two villages and towns in the West Bank, where approximately 60,500 people live, will be directly affected by the Wall if it continues to be built as planned and will be sandwiched between it and the Green Line. Around 31,400 Palestinian inhabitants residing in 12 villages in the West Bank will be completely encircled by the Wall. This will make it extremely difficult for residents of these areas to access medical facilities, education services, jobs and markets. All affected sectors will need to apply for Israeli-issued permits in order to access most of the major facilities that offer these basic services. Families, whose farmland lies on the western side of the wall, are cut off from it, unless they are able to get the necessary permits to get to their fields. The permits system installed for the farmers is a major obstacle towards them reaching their land. In the Qalqiliya governorate for example, 38% of permit requests were rejected by July 2005.V Some of the permits are only granted to the immediate land owner, if he is indeed able to prove ownership, but the workers and other extended family members, who help work the land, are unable to get the necessary permits. The gates in the Wall are often open for short periods, but if there is a security threat, the gates may be closed for extended periods. They are usually only open at set times of the day and only for a short time. To make matters more challenging for the farmers, they are not allowed to cross with any vehicles or other farming equipment. The more farmers are discouraged from reaching their land, the less likely they will be able to make use of it and maintain proof of ownership. According to an old Ottoman law that still applies, if the land is not cultivated three years in a row, it can be declared as state property and thus confiscated.VI In Qalqiliya and Tulkarem, two of the more fertile areas of the West Bank, over 85,000 dunums are in the closed off areas beyond the Wall. Nearly 8,400 dunums have been confiscated for the construction of the Wall and land immediately affected by the Wall, which includes the buffer zone areas, totals almost 31,000 dunums. VII The social fabric of these communities has also been torn, with many unable to maintain normal family and social relations because of the access restrictions that the Wall imposes. Jerusalem: The Wall around Jerusalem, which is 162km in length and sometimes up to 25ft high, will cut off around 25 percent of Palestinians holding Jerusalem residency and put them on the West Bank side of the barrier. These inhabitants will find it harder to access some of the services they are entitled to as Jerusalem residents, and may also find their residency rights jeopardized in the future if they are unable to prove residency inside the Israeli self-proclaimed Jerusalem municipality borders. Specifically, the West Bank residents of Biddu (around 32,500) and of Bir Nabala (approximately 20,000) VIII are now completely cut off from Jerusalem Residents of Biddu will only be able to access Jerusalem through the Qalandia checkpoint, but they will have to travel north in order to go southward to Jerusalem, significantly lengthening their journey to more than an hour, whereas their previous travel time was significantly less. Additionally, these residents must first obtain permits to enter Jerusalem since they hold West Bank IDs. Though Israel continuously uses the pretext of security as the major reason for the construction of the Wall, it is obvious in Jerusalem that the barrier has political motivations, as it follows the municipal boundaries that the Israeli Authorities have modified and expanded constantly since the 1967 war and since the illegal Israeli annexation of the city. “A substantial part of the route of the Jerusalem Envelope indeed runs more of less along the municipal border. As a result, it leaves 200,000 Palestinian residents of the East Jerusalem on the ‘Israel’ side of the barrier. In some sections though, the route veers sharply from the municipal border, at times leaving out areas within Jerusalem’s jurisdictional area in which Palestinian live, thus separating the residents from the rest of the city. This is the case with the neighborhoods Kafr ‘Aqeb, ‘Anata Hahadash, Wallaja, and the Shu’afat refugee camp, which are home to at least 30,000 Palestinians. In other sections, the route veers from the municipal boundary in the opposite direction, and ‘annexes’ additional areas in of the city’s jurisdictional area.” IX The Wall eliminates a large portion of Palestinian Jerusalemites in order to ensure that the demographic balance remains in favor of a Jewish majority. Many of these Palestinian residents will be cut off from basic health services, as Jerusalem has a number of Palestinian-run hospitals that cares for the population, as well as many residents of the West Bank. In order to access these services, jobs, family and friends, social and cultural events, shopping and normal aspects of every day life, the people who are now on the West Bank side of the Wall are only allowed through an elaborate system of checkpoints and terminals, where heavily armed security personnel, sniffer-dogs, and metal detecting machinery are in place, searching the bags of every woman, man and child. The Wall & Prospects for a Palestinian State: The Wall is in part an extension to Israel’s settlement project. At its completion, the Wall will have effectively annexed 56 settlements in the West Bank to Israel. Seventy-five percent of the 170,123 settlers living in these settlements will end up residing between the Wall and the Green Line, making any final status negotiations on settlements impossible, as new facts on the ground are not only created, but concretely drawn into the area of what was supposed to be part of the future Palestinian State. The settlement project, including the wall, blocks any potential for growth of Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. It also obstructs the contiguity of major West Bank cities, further preventing the possibility of a future Palestinian State. Most specifically, the wall around the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, built on expropriated private Palestinian land, digs into the West Bank. It swallows a total of 70 square kilometers, an area fifteen times bigger than the settlement itself. The E1 Plan, as it is more generally known, will envelope Jerusalem and block access between the northern governorates of Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Nablus and Ramallah and the southern governorates of Bethlehem and Hebron, thus shattering any contiguity between these regions. Other settlements in the West Bank such as the Ariel and Emmanuel settlements and the Gush Etzion settlement bloc encroach on Palestinian land in order to extend the land for these settlements for future development. X The Wall in those areas has made sure that Palestinians are contained into a limited space with limited resources. ----------------------------------------------- References and more information: Preliminary Analysis of the Humanitarian Implications of the April 2006 Barrier Projections, Update 5, OCHA Territorial Fragmentation of the West Bank, OCHA, May 2006 Separation Barrier Statistics,www.btselem.org, April 2006. Crossing the Barrier: Palestinian Access to Agricultural Land, UN, Update 6, January 2006 Separation Barrier, Route of the barrier around East Jerusalem, www.btselem.org/english/Separation_Barrier/Jerusalem.asp A Wall In Jerusalem: Obstacles to Human Rights in the Holy City, Btselem, Summer 2006 Timeline of the Apartheid Wall and the Resistance Against, it, www.stopthewall.org, June, 2005 ----------------------------------------------- I - Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable the Expansion of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank, B’Tselem, Bimkom, December 2005, pg. 49 II - Preliminary Analysis of the Humanitarian Implications of the April 2006 Barrier Projections, Update 5, OCHA III - Olive Tree Campaing keeps hope alive I Palestine, Lewis Turner, 22 November 2005 www.ycareinternational.org/?lid=2176 IV - Ibid. V - Crossing the Barrier: Palestinian Access to Agricultural Land, UN, Update 6, January 2006 VI - Ibid VII - Ibid VIII - Territorial Fragmentation of the West Bank, OCHA, May 2006 IX - Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable the Expansion of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank, B’Tselem, Bimkom, December 2005, pg. 49 X - Crossing the Barrier: Palestinian Access to Agricultural Land, UN, Update 6, January 2006
Source: MIFTAH

Destroying a population by Richard Falk ...& more from IMEU

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Destroying a population
Richard Falk, IMEU, Jul 20, 2007

A Palestinian child peers through the window of the morgue at the hospital in Deir Al-Balah in Gaza. (Hatem Omar, Maan Images)

Recent developments in Gaza should be troubling to anyone with a common sense of humanity. It is particularly anguishing to me as an American Jew that the prolonged, systematic, and cruel abuse of Palestinians in Gaza risks becoming the world’s latest holocaust.

I say this with an awareness of the deservedly special status that the Nazi Holocaust has in our moral imagination, due to its unconcealed genocidal intent, systematic and sustained cruelty, as well as its reliance on the mentality and instruments of modernity.

Recent developments in Gaza vividly express Israel's deliberate intention to subject an entire captive population to life endangering conditions. I do not make this comparison lightly, but as an appeal to the international community to act urgently to halt an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.

There were strong advance signals in 1994 of a genocide-to-come in Rwanda; yet nothing was done to stop it. The world watched while the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims took place. There have been repeated allegations of genocidal conduct in Darfur, and hardly an international finger has been raised.

Why should we single out Gaza when mass death on this scale has not yet resulted? The international community is not merely watching this tragic spectacle unfold. Some of its influential members are actively assisting Israel’s continuing collective punishment of Gaza as a whole.

Israel's 38-year military occupation turned Gaza into a cauldron of pain for the entire population. With great fanfare, Israel supposedly "left" Gaza in 2005. Yet Israel continues to maintain full control over Gaza's borders, air space and offshore seas, caging in the people in oppressive conditions, and frequently intervening with lethal force.

Related stories A declaration of independence from Israel Finding lessons in Gaza's bloodshed Gaza: from economic to humanitarian disaster Who will save Palestine? Israel's hollow declarations

When Hamas prevailed in the January 2006 Palestinian elections, the civilian population was subjected to a brutal economic boycott. Indeed, Sharon and Olmert advisor Dov Weisglass summarized Israel's chilling plans for Palestinian children, women and men with the euphemistic: "The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet."

Hamas had been encouraged, including by the Bush Administration, to participate in elections - only to be punished later for winning. Rather then respecting the Palestinians' democratic choice, Hamas was castigated as a terrorist organization.

Almost immediately after forming a government, Hamas indicated its desire to work with other Palestinian groups, like Fatah. Hamas declared a willingness to recognize Israel within its pre-1967 borders. Hamas proposed a ten-year truce with Israel, and upheld a unilateral ceasefire for eighteen months, broken only infrequently in response to frequent Israeli military attacks.

Instead of using diplomacy, Israel and its supporters were determined to make Hamas fail. The U.S. appointed a special envoy, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, to work with Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas and his forces, unlawfully channeling $40 million to Abbas' Presidential Guard.

After more than a year, the Israel/US game succeeded. Hamas and Fatah forces fought each other. Hamas now controls Gaza and Fatah the West Bank. Despite Hamas' renewed call for a unity government, Israel seems determined to foment civil war, to make Gazans suffer, and to separate Gaza and the West Bank permanently.

Why would Israel instigate such suffering, while simultaneously insisting that it desires peace, if only it had a "reasonable Palestinian negotiating partner"? Sharon humiliated and discredited Arafat as incapable of negotiating. Later, Abbas was dismissed as too weak to negotiate.

Perhaps this disparity between Israel's words and its actions is explained by the fact that peace would depend on compromises Israel is unwilling to make. There is widespread recognition that peace would require Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders, to establish a Palestinian state with full sovereignty on the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as capital, and to ensure sufficient financial assistance to achieve economic viability for a sovereign Palestine.

Israel instead appears intent on isolating Gaza and cantonizing the West Bank, leaving Jewish settlements intact, and appropriating all of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Even during the Oslo peace years, the number of Israeli settlers on the West Bank doubled, huge sums were invested in Jewish-only settlement roads linked to Israel, and Palestinians from East Jerusalem were steadily replaced with Jews.

In addition, Israel has built an illegal wall on Palestinian land and stiffened the economic boycott that is bringing Gaza's 1.4 million people to the brink of collective starvation.

Dare we compare gas chambers to the four decades of oppressive occupation? The measures and scale differ, as do the justifications and cover-up tactics. But both are deliberate in their attempt to punish and destroy an "unwanted" population.

Should crimes against humanity even be compared? When does criminality cross the line and become genocidal? For Israel to persist with its policies risks the material and psychological destruction of an entire Palestinian community that is an integral part of an ethnic whole. It is this growing danger that makes it responsible to warn of a uniquely Palestinian holocaust-in-the-making. It has become urgent to heed to post-Nazi pledge of 'never again.'

Richard Falk is Professor Emeritus of International Law and Practice at Princeton University and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Longing to go home Mona El-Farra, IMEU

Vertical disintegration James Ron, The Nation

FAQ on developments in the PA IMEU

Palestinians construct new houses as part of a UN project for refugees whose homes have been demolished by Israel in Gaza. (Maan Images)


Israel to annex thousand of dunams from Arab villages
IMEMC (Jul 20, 2007)

....The plan includes grabbing lands that belong to several Arab villages, such as Kisra, Al Bqei'a, Kufur Samee', and Yanouh, which are all known for their green landscape and fertile agricultural lands. The project was approved by the Israeli Interior Ministry....

Israel starts Palestinian release
BBC (Jul 20, 2007)

...Many Palestinians are saying that freeing only 256 Palestinian prisoners out of some 10,000 is not enough, our correspondent in the West Bank says......

Mixed reaction in Middle East as Blair makes debut as envoy
The Guardian (Jul 20, 2007)

...Columnist Rami Khouri wrote in Beirut's Daily Star: "If there is an award for the combined negative credibility of an institution plus an individual, the Quartet and Blair should be its first recipients. Appointing Tony Blair as special envoy for Arab-Israeli peace is something like appointing the Emperor Nero to be the chief fireman of Rome."....

Israel contemplating offensive against Hamas
Maan News (Jul 19, 2007)

Palestinians in Gaza appeal for more aid
Reuters (Jul 19, 2007)

..."We now have only God and then UNRWA," said Ahmed al-Jammal, a father of five, inside an aid centre in Gaza City. "We have no other source of income," he said as he received sacks of flour and rice and bottles of cooking oil.....

Egypt opens shelters in Sinai to house stranded Palestinians
Haaretz (Jul 19, 2007)

...About 6,000 Palestinians are waiting on the Egyptian side of the crossing, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Information. Most are staying with relatives, in mosques, at an airport or in rented houses. Some 30,000 others are waiting elsewhere in Egypt, the ministry said....

European and Palestinian volunteers build houses, friendships in Taybeh
Maan News (Jul 19, 2007)

...Dr. Jubeh continued: "On TV Palestinians are either portrayed as fighters or terrorists. Here, these young people have the opportunity to meet another kind of Palestinian: the kind who is educated, cultured, and who aspires most of all to lead a normal life."....

Beware of Oslo's destructive route
Meron Benvenisti, Haaretz (Jul 19, 2007)

...Israeli construction on the West Bank continues at a rapid pace and infrastructure networks are covering the entire area; a regime that is severing and crushing the Palestinian community is taking root; the separation fence is being built; the isolation of the West Bank from the Gaza Strip is taking on the character of a quasi-permanent geopolitical separation; and the chances that Abu Mazen will succeed in establishing a stable government in the West Bank seem distant...

Palestinians walk through the rubble of Nedal Hussein Kamel's family home in the West Bank village of Harmaleh after it was demolished Thursday morning by Israeli bulldozers (AFP photo by Musa Shaer)