"Treating these Palestinians as foreigners who entered Israel is astonishing since it was Israel that entered east Jerusalem in 1967."
Monday, June 25, 2007 | Massive increase in Israeli ethnic cleansing | Israel expels record number of east Jerusalem Arabs

Israel cancelled the east Jerusalem residence permits of a record number of Palestinians in 2006, effectively expelling them from the city, the human rights groups B'Tselem said on Sunday.

A total of 1,363 Palestinians had their residence permits withdrawn last year compared with just 222 in 2005, the watchdog said, basing its figures on interior ministry statistics.

The figure exceeded even the 1997 total of 1,067, the previous highest since Israel occupied Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and then unilaterally annexed it.

Palestinians in east Jerusalem have the status of permanent residents of Israel, the same status granted to foreigners who settle in the Jewish state.

"Israel treats Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem as immigrants, who live in their homes at the benificence of the authorities and not by right," B'Tselem said.

"Treating these Palestinians as foreigners who entered Israel is astonishing since it was Israel that entered east Jerusalem in 1967." ...
- posted by Editor @ 8:24 AM

Rights group: Israel [blockade] ruining economy in Gaza Strip ... Seventy-five percent of Gaza's factories have shut down
Jul. 4, 2007 21:39 Updated Jul. 6, 2007 11:30 Rights group: Israel ruining economy in Gaza Strip By DAN IZENBERG

The virtually total closure imposed on the Gaza Strip since Hamas's takeover in June has almost destroyed the Palestinian economy and threatens to turn its 1.4 million residents into charity cases, Gisha, the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, charged in a report released Wednesday.

Israel has completely shut down the Karni crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which was the primary artery for the import and export of almost all commercial items including goods and raw materials.

Since the closure, import of humanitarian goods has been allowed through the Kerem Shalom, Sufa and Erez crossings, but their capacities are highly limited, according to the report.

The new policy, which, according to Gisha, is aimed at bringing the Hamas government to its knees, has exacerbated the already dire economic plight of the population.

Seventy-five percent of Gaza's factories have shut down because of the closure. The rest are operating on borrowed time, until the stocks of raw materials are exhausted.

Eighty-five percent of the population is already dependent on food aid from international organizations and the number is growing. ...
- posted by Editor @ 12:55 PM

thousands of refugees across Gaza will face imminent cuts in water and sewage services if more fuel is not provided in the coming days and weeks ...
GAZA REFUGEES FACING MASSIVE WATER CUTS, DISEASE 6 July 2007 For Immediate Release: 6 July 2007

International humanitarian agency Oxfam today warned that thousands of refugees across Gaza will face imminent cuts in water and sewage services if more fuel is not provided in the coming days and weeks.

Due to widespread fuel shortages, the Coastal Municipality Water Utility (CMWU) in Gaza was forced to halve the water supply on Wednesday from eight hours a day to four, affecting roughly 65,000 people in Gaza's biggest refugee camp. Oxfam rushed to purchase emergency fuel that yesterday reinstated the crucial water flow into homes in the Shnti, Anan and Nezla neighbourhoods of Jaballia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The fuel has also fed generators running sewage drainage pumps in the nearby Saflawi neighbourhood. Without the fuel, sewage could have spilled into the streets in a matter of days, contaminating the remaining water supply, and as a result, spreading life-threatening disease in the densely-populated camp.

Despite the lifeline, the 40,000 litres of Oxfam-donated fuel will run out within 10 days. Also, other areas of Gaza are confronting similar fuel shortages, endangering water supplies, sewage drainage systems and threatening tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of people. ...
- posted by Editor @ 11:35 AM

Israeli government declaring the areas 'closed military zones' ... then Settlements
Report: 90 Pct Of Israel's West Bank Settlements Built Outside Israel's Jurisdictional Boundaries July 6, 2007 2:33 p.m. EST Linda Young - AHN News Writer

Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - According to a new report with facts that were obtained in a court fight under a Freedom of Information request, one-third of the land Israel uses for its settlements in the West Bank is outside of its borders, the Israeli Peace Now movement said Friday. Inexplicably, 90 percent of Israel's West Bank settlements were built outside the boundaries of Israeli jurisdiction, while only 12 percent of land within its jurisdiction was actually used for settlements.

The report also found that the Israeli government has cooperated in the land grab of annexing Palestinian lands for Israeli settlements by declaring the areas 'closed military zones' and then barring Palestinians from returning home to those areas which are actually still owned by Palestinians.

Peace Now obtained the information on the borders of Palestinian land that Israel annexed in this way by filing a Freedom of Information Act in the courts last year. That request won the release of information on borders. The information is from official figures published by the Israeli "Civil Administration Office," according to a statement on the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) Web site released on Friday.

According to the statement, Peace Now reported that in the past Israel had concealed the settlement borders. Moreover, the Civil Administration aided the government in doing this by refusing to give the information on borders to any nongovernmental organizations or to the media. ...
- posted by Editor @ 11:26 AM