West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli settlers armed with axes came after the students of the Qurtuba School for girls ...
Israeli settlers attack Palestinian schoolgirls with axes | Saed Bannoura - IMEMC |
November 26, 2007

In the West Bank city of Hebron Monday morning, Israeli settlers armed with axes came after the students of the Qurtuba School for girls. The settlers broke water pipes, menaced children, blocked the path to the school, and tried to set the school on fire.

The school's principal, Reem Ash-Shareef, reported that this is not the first time Israeli settlers have attacked the school. She stated that attacks are frequent, and students on their way to school are menaced by Israeli settlers on a daily basis. International human rights workers have had to accompany the schoolgirls, but they, too, have been attacked with regular frequency by Israeli settlers.

The settlers in the Hebron area, which number several thousand, are reputed to be the most violent and extreme of Israeli settlers. They colonized an area right in the middle of a Palestinian population center of 200,000 with several dozen settlers thirty years ago. Since that time, 5,000 Israeli soldiers have been stationed around them to 'protect’ the settlers from the Palestinians whose land they occupy. ...
- posted by Editor @ 8:09 PM

Gaza poer cuts: needed to power generators that provide drinking water to homes and pump sewage away from residential areas
Facts regarding Israel's Fuel and Electricity Cuts to the Gaza Strip | Gisha | November 23, 2007

On Sunday, October 28, Israel's military ordered the private fuel company, Dor Alon, to provide 15% - 20% less fuel than the quantity ordered for Gaza residents.Gaza residents purchase fuel from Dor Alon via an agreement with the Palestinian Authority, and the fuel is transferred through Nahal Oz, on the Gaza-Israel border. Israel does not permit fuel to enter Gaza via the sea, the airspace, or the border with Egypt.
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According to the deputy director of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), in the month of October 2007, the CMWU had a deficit of 40,000 liters of fuel, needed to power generators that provide drinking water to homes and pump sewage away from residential areas. Without sufficient fuel to power the generators, the CMWU has been forced to close wells that provide drinking water to tens of thousands of people. See the affidavit of the deputy director of Gaza's Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, submitted to Israel's Supreme Court on Nov. 6, 2007. ...
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Israel's claim that it can cut electricity without harming hospitals and other vital services is inconsistent with the facts on the ground. In Gaza, main lines of electricity serve hospitals, water wells, pumping stations, treatment plants, schools, pharmacies, and local clinics, as well as ordinary homes and buildings, without differentiation. As a result, when power is cut to the main lines, ensuing electricity outages also impact essential public services.

Since Israel bombed Gaza's power plant in June 2006, Gaza has suffered a deficit of electricity (currently about 18%), causing the distribution company to institute rolling blackouts. Those blackouts already affect hospitals and other vital services. ...
- posted by Editor @ 4:32 PM

we will merely be substituting a sophisticated form of apartheid for occupation
November 25, 2007 | WAWA Blog November 25, 2007: Apartheid in Israel Palestine! Viability in Annapolis?
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"In the end, the Palestinians may get 80-90% of the West Bank, but they do not get a viable state. They will have sterile swatches of territory whereas Israel retains control of the borders, movement of people and goods both within the Palestinian state and between it and the countries around, much of the country's arable land, almost all its water, the Palestinians' airspace and even control of their communications. The Palestinian state is deprived of a viable economy. Given that 60% of Palestinians are under the age of 18 and that mini-state must absorb hundreds of thousands of refugees, its prospects for being a viable, stable and truly independent state are nil given the unspoken parameters outlined in the Bush letter. [1] ...

"There will be a Palestinian state. Israel has an urgent demographic need to get the almost four million Palestinians of the occupied territories off its hands. It might even attempt to "swap" a couple hundred thousand Israeli Arab citizens of the Galilee Triangle under the pretense of giving the Palestinians more land. The crucial question is: will it be a viable state? If it's true that Olmert intends that Israel permanently retain the settlement blocs, an Israeli "greater" Jerusalem and effective control of the entire country to the Jordan River, then we will merely be substituting a sophisticated form of apartheid for occupation. The devil is in the details.' [IBID]
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In Issue 46 of Naim Ateek's, CORNERSTONE, a quarterly publication of Sabeel Ecumenical liberation Theology Center, Ateek wrote, "Israel has effectively made Gaza a big prison [one and a half million people in] a Bantustan, in which it is systematically assassinating its leaders and reducing its people to abject misery and poverty. The firing of qassam rockets provides Israel with an excuse to keep oppressing the Palestinians in Gaza.

"In the West Bank, Israel still has two major objectives: The first is the confiscation of more Palestinian land and the completion of its Separation [Hebrew: Hafrada, in Afrikaan: Apartheid] Wall. Israel seeks not only separation but the dispossession [Hebrew: nishool] of Palestinians. These two Hebrew words are essential in describing Israel's goal of apartheid." [Page 2]
- posted by Editor @ 4:24 PM

Of the 40 years of occupation, only during three has construction been stopped despite all the agreements and promises to do so
What do you mean when you say 'no'? | By Gideon Levy | Nov 21, 2007, 22:01

A festive day for peace: Israel is planning to announce a freeze on construction in the settlements as compensation for refusing to discuss the core issues. The Palestinians are ecstatic at all the good-will gestures Israel is throwing their way. First came the release of prisoners, now a freeze on construction, and the prime minister has already spoken with the settler leaders and informed them of the decision. They said it was a "difficult meeting," as it always is, winking at each other deviously.

Undoubtedly, Israel wants peace. But a tiny detail seems to have been forgotten: Israel has signed a series of binding agreements to freeze settlement activity, which it never intended to fulfill. Of the 40 years of occupation, only during three has construction been stopped despite all the agreements and promises to do so. There is no reason to believe that Israel will behave differently this time.

Of all Israel's iniquities in the occupied territories - the brutality, the assassinations, the siege, the hunger, the blackouts, the checkpoints and the mass arrests - nothing serves as witness to its real intentions than the settlements. Certainly for the future. Every home built in the territories, every light pole and every road are like a thousand witnesses: Israel does not want peace; Israel wants occupation. Whoever is serious about peace and a Palestinian state does not put up even a shed.

From Oslo through Camp David and on to the road map, Israel has not put an end to the most criminal enterprise in its history. A short memory refresher: In article 7 of the Oslo Accords, Israel promised that "no party would undertake unilateral steps to alter the situation on the ground, prior to the completion of negotiations for the final status." That really made an impression on Israel. During the 10 years that followed, the number of settlers doubled. What about the heroic peace efforts of Ehud Barak as prime minister? During the 18 months of his government, Israel began the construction of 6,045 residential units in the territories.

And why did Israel sign up to the road map two years later? "The government of Israel will freeze all its settlement activities, in accordance with the Mitchell report, except for natural growth in the settlements." And what happened in practice? Accusations that the Palestinians are not implementing the agreements, and a boatload of new settlers. This was also the case in 2005, another major "year of peace": the disengagement. And what did Israel do in its own backyard? Another 12,000 new settlers. ...
- posted by Editor @ 3:20 PM

pretty quiet year: Only 457 Palestinians and 10 Israelis were killed ... including 92 Palestinian children ...a disproportionate number
Twilight Zone / The children of 5767 | By Gideon Levy

It was a pretty quiet year, relatively speaking. Only 457 Palestinians and 10 Israelis were killed, according to the B'Tselem human rights organization, including the victims of Qassam rockets. Fewer casualties than in many previous years. However, it was still a terrible year: 92 Palestinian children were killed (fortunately, not a single Israeli child was killed by Palestinians, despite the Qassams). One-fifth of the Palestinians killed were children and teens - a disproportionate, almost unprecedented number. The Jewish year of 5767. Almost 100 children, who were alive and playing last New Year, didn't survive to see this one. ...
- posted by Editor @ 3:11 PM

How can anyone expect the Palestinians to recognize such an Israeli state ?
How can anyone expect the Palestinians to recognize such an Israeli state ? By Dutch | Nov 21, 2007, 22:46

"The tragedy of the Palestinian people is that their country was 'given' by a foreign power to another people for the creation of a new state. The result was that many hundreds of thousands of innocent people were made permanently homeless. With each new conflict their numbers increase. How much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty?" Bertrand Russell, Cairo 1970.

Not so nice facts about Israel

The Palestinian children prisoners of war

Palestinian children under attack from Israel i Army at the border:

A Palestinian girl cries for help:

The war on Gaza's Children

Twilight Zone / The children of 5767 By Gideon Levy

The suffering in numbers

Three governments and one closed crossing

A pattern of closure (Made in Gaza )

Realizing God's Dream for the Holy Land, Desmond Tutu
- posted by Editor @ 3:07 PM

Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them
Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them | By Amiram Barkat

A few weeks ago, a senior Greek Orthodox clergyman in Israel attended a meeting at a government office in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul quarter. When he returned to his car, an elderly man wearing a skullcap came and knocked on the window. When the clergyman let the window down, the passerby spat in his face.

The clergyman prefered not to lodge a complaint with the police and told an acquaintance that he was used to being spat at by Jews. Many Jerusalem clergy have been subjected to abuse of this kind. For the most part, they ignore it but sometimes they cannot.

On Sunday, a fracas developed when a yeshiva student spat at the cross being carried by the Armenian Archbishop during a procession near the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The archbishop's 17th-century cross was broken during the brawl and he slapped the yeshiva student.

Both were questioned by police and the yeshiva student will be brought to trial. The Jerusalem District Court has meanwhile banned the student from approaching the Old City for 75 days. ...
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Former adviser to the mayor on Christian affairs, Shmuel Evyatar, describes the situation as "a huge disgrace." He says most of the instigators are yeshiva students studying in the Old City who view the Christian religion with disdain.

"I'm sure the phenomenon would end as soon as rabbis and well-known educators denounce it. In practice, rabbis of yeshivas ignore or even encourage it," he says.

Evyatar says he himself was spat at while walking with a Serbian bishop in the Jewish quarter, near his home. "A group of yeshiva students spat at us and their teacher just stood by and watched." ...
- posted by Editor @ 6:55 PM

This is not water that is fit for drinking. And this is the water that reaches most of the taps in the Gaza Strip.
Friday, November 09, 2007 | DON'T GO NEAR THE WATER (IN GAZA) |

Continuing Israeli sanctions are killing the residents of Gaza. The lights are out, the pumps aren't working, the people are dying.... and literally, 'there isn't a light at the end of the tunnel' yet.

A moment before the lights go out By Amira Hass

Alan Johnston, the BBC corresponded kidnapped in Gaza, related in an interview that at a relatively early stage, he started suffering from all kinds of aches because of the water he drank. This was the same water that the kidnappers drank, but Johnston's unaccustomed body sent warning signals: This is not water that is fit for drinking. And this is the water that reaches most of the taps in the Gaza Strip. Salty, in a few places brackish to contaminated, with an oily consistency. That is clearly felt when bathing.

The reason is an ancient one: overpumping because Gaza must make do with the waters from its aquifer alone. It is as if we were to say to the residents of Be'er Sheva: make do with the water that flows nearby. The water sources in the rest of the country are not for you. ...
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The electricity and fuel supply to Gaza has already been reduced to below the level of basic human needs. An additional reduction will affect the above solutions to the water problem, and beyond. "To darken Gaza," as some of the security experts among us have recently proposed, does not end merely with darkened homes at night. You don't have to be an expert in public health to realize that it would create an endless chain reaction of public health problems and environmental blights. ...
- posted by Editor @ 7:23 PM

Israel confiscates Palestinian land to build Jewish-only settlements ... obstructing ... access employment, education and medical care
Op-Ed: Israeli occupation: Injustice in our name | November 5, 2007 | By Amanda Gelender

I am Jewish. I state that at the beginning of this op-ed so that when you read it, you will not immediately discount me as anti-Semitic. For those of you unfamiliar with the rhetoric of Middle Eastern affairs, this frightening and overtly racist phenomenon occurs whenever human rights activists like myself hold Israel to the same international standards as we hold all other nations; non-Jews are delegitimized as having an innate prejudice against Jewish people. But you don’t have to worry about that, because, as I previously stated, I am Jewish.
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Some of you may wonder, “Why do you focus on Israel? Aren’t there lots of human rights abuses that deserve our attention?” ... We single out Israel for the same reason that others single out Darfur or Burma: because there are atrocious human rights abuses occurring in a specific socio-political context. But more importantly, we focus on Israel because it is the number one recipient of US foreign aid, most of which is in the form of military grants. As American citizens and taxpayers, a better question might be: “Why not focus on Israel?”

Americans have a unique culpability for Israeli injustices, as the U.S. supports Israel’s occupation of Palestine with more than $7 million in foreign aid per day, totaling $108 billion over the last 50 years (Source: “Washington Report on Middle East Affairs,” 2006). While Israel comprises one tenth of one percent of the world’s population, the U.S. gives Israel approximately one-third of our foreign aid budget, totaling more aid for Israel than Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean combined if aid to Egypt and Colombia is extracted from the total (Source: “Washington Report on Middle East Affairs,” 2002).

Given this tremendous sum of U.S. aid coupled with its appalling human rights record, Israel deserves our criticism and consideration just as much as other nations; ...

But what is Israel doing that is so wrong?” you may wonder. According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, since September 2000 the Israeli military has killed 4,267 Palestinians (861 of whom were children) and demolished 4,170 Palestinian homes. The Israeli military subjects Palestinians to hundreds of military checkpoints within the Palestinian territories, effectively obstructing their ability to access employment, education and medical care. Israel has detained more than 15 percent of the total Palestinian population in the territories since 1967 (Source: Palestine Monitor). Israel confiscates Palestinian land to build Jewish-only settlements which strategically annex agricultural and water resources from Palestinian civilians.

As Shulamit Aloni, the former Israeli Minister of Education, stated, “...through its army, the government of Israel practices a brutal form of apartheid in the territory it occupies. Its army has turned every Palestinian village and town into a fenced-in, or blocked-in, detention camp.” ...
- posted by Editor @ 4:27 PM

Gazan cancer patient dies after being delayed entry into Israel for 10 days
29 October 2007: Gazan cancer patient dies after being delayed entry into Israel for 10 days | B'Tselem | October 30, 2007

In August 2007, Mahmoud Abu Taha, 21, was diagnosed with cancer of the small intestine. He underwent surgery at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, but the operation failed. After receiving chemotherapy at the European Hospital in Gaza , physicians found that his intestines were blocked and that he required emergency surgery in Israel . While at the hospital, Abu Taha was intravenously fed a vitamin solution. The hospital had a shortage of the solution because of the siege on Gaza and was forced to drop Abu Taha's feeding from four to two portions of the solution a day. As a result, he lost an appreciable amount of weight.

On 18 October, Abu Taha's family managed to get him a permit to enter Israel so that he could undergo surgery at Tel Hashomer Hospital . That same day, he was taken by ambulance to Erez Checkpoint, his father accompanying him. When the father went to arrange the crossing, Shabak agents detained him and ordered the ambulance to return to the hospital in Gaza . The father remained in detention for 11 days.

Only yesterday, 10 days later, was Abu Taha's entry to Israel arranged. The Palestinian ambulance carrying him waited at the checkpoint for five hours before being allowed to cross. Today, the family was informed that Abu Taha died a few hours after he crossed into Israel , although they have not yet received any specific details on his death. The father was released from detention following his son's death. ...
- posted by Editor @ 9:10 AM