Funeraks in Bethlehem/ Funerailles a Bethlehem

(c) Anne Paq/activestills.org, Bethlehem, 13 March 2008.

Des milliers de Palestiniens ont assisté aux funerailles des 4 militants tués la veille par les forces speciales israeliennes.


As Bethlehem mourns four resistance men, Barak says the army will continue to kill Palestinians
Thursday March 13, 2008 16:29 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News
At least ten thousand residents of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem took part in the funeral at midday on Thursday of the four Palestinian resistance fighters who were killed by the Israeli army late on Wednesday night.
Residents gathered at midday and held prayers before carrying the four men to a grave yard located in Obiyat village, two kilometres east of Bethlehem city.

Mohammad Shehada, Imad el-Kamel, Issa Marzouk and Ahmad el-Balboul, all from Bethlehem were ambushed by Israeli troops dressed in civilian clothes and driving a civilian car, in a Bethlehem suburb, killing them instantly. Israel claimed the four men were wanted.

As Bethlehem mourned the four men, the Israeli Defense minister, Ehod Barak, stated that the army will continue to hunt down Palestinian resistance fighters in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Commenting on Wednesday's Bethlehem attack, Barak told Israeli reporters "Yesterday in Bethlehem we demonstrated once again that the state of Israel will continue to pursue and strike all killers with Jewish blood on their hands,"

Barak's comments were made during a ceremony for the Israeli army in the occupied city of Jerusalem today.

4 militants killed in Bethlehem/ 4 militants tués à Bethlehem

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills; Bethlehem, 12/03/2008.

4 militants palestiniens, dont un leader du Jihad Islamique ont été assassinés de sang froid par les forces speciales israeliennes qui sont rentrées en plein milieu de Bethleem pour effectuer leur operation de liquidation. Aussitot des centaines de Palestiniens se sont rendus à l'hopital.
Aujourd'hui les funerailles ont reuni des milliers de personnes.
Faut-il encore le rappeler, les "assassinats ciblés" demeurent illegaux du point de vue du droit international, non seulement c'est illegal mais cela ne fait qu'envenimer la situation.




MAAN NEWS AGENCY
---------------------------


Israeli forces murder four Palestinians in Bethlehem shooting
Islamic Jihad leader Mohammad Shahada killed

Date: 12 / 03 / 2008 Time: 18:35

Bethlehem – Ma'an – Israeli special forces gunned down four Palestinians in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Wednesday evening, including a leader in Islamic Jihad, witnesses said.

Islamic Jihad leader Mohammad Shahada, Issa Marzouq, Imad Al-Kamel, and Ahmad Bilboul were killed in the attack.

Marzouq and Al-Kamel were also Islamic Jihad activists. Bilboul was an activist with the armed wing of Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Brigades.

The Israeli forces entered the area between the Cinema neighborhood and Duheisha refugee camp and opened fire on car from another civilian car. Shahada and Marzouk sat in the back seat of the car. Al-Kamel was in the driver's seat and Bilboul in the passenger's seat.

Witnesses confirmed that undercover Israeli forces sprayed the car with bullets once, then moved closer to the car and opened fire again, as if attempting to make sure the men were dead.

Passersby pulled the bodies of the four men from the small red car, which had been parked in front of a bakery when the Israelis opened fire. The men had been waiting for their dinner.

According to one witness, the car appeared to have been "showered with bullets."

Israeli occupation vehicles quickly appeared, to ferry the assassins out of Bethlehem.

The Palestinian security services said that they transferred the four dead bodies to Al-Hussein hospital in neighboring Beit Jala.

Hundreds of Palestinians converged on the hospital, expressing their deep anger

A life of resistance

Veteran activists in the armed Palestinian resistance movement, Shahada and his comrades had evaded the forces of the Israeli occupation for years.

On Wednesday the four activists were in Bethlehem meeting with other Fatah activists in preparation for Fatah's sixth movement conference.

The activists visited the offices of Ma'an News Agency earlier on Wednesday, saying: "The Israeli occupation doesn’t want to arrest us. Really, they want to assassinate us."

As if foreseeing his own death, Shahada repeated this sentence to Ma'an's chief editor, Nasser Lahham.

Israeli bulldozers destroyed Shahada's house last Thursday night, immediately following the deadly shooting attack at a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem.

Lahham interviewed Shahada at Bethlehem's Christmas Eve celebrations on Manger Square last December.

Shahada was smiling on Christmas Eve, radiating confidence: "The Palestinian people are capable of raising the flag of liberty and completing their mission. Israel has to realize that military occupation of Palestine does not solve its problems, either now or in the future."

Asked about the US-backed peace initiative, Shahada said, "The Annapolis conference did not reach a brave level of addressing the Palestinian rights. It instead took us back to the Road Map plan trying to vision that the Palestinian problem was only one of security chaos, which every body knows is incorrect."

Finally, asked why he rejected amnesty in favor of continuing with armed struggle, he said, "It is the revolutionaries who have the right to give amnesty to the occupation, and not the opposite."


***Updated at 10:30 Thursday Bethlehem time

the mega prison of Palestine

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills. Demonstration against Israeli military operation in Gaza, Bethlehem, March 2008.



Opinion/Editorial
The mega prison of Palestine
Ilan Pappe, The Electronic Intifada, 5 March 2008

In several articles published by The Electronic Intifada, I claimed that Israel is pursuing a genocidal policy against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, while continuing the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank. I asserted that the genocidal policies are a result of a lack of strategy. The argument was that since the Israeli political and military elites do not know how to deal with the Gaza Strip, they opted for a knee-jerk reaction in the form of massive killing of citizens whenever the Palestinians in the Strip dared to protest by force their strangulation and imprisonment. The end result so far is the escalation of the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians -- more than one hundred in the first days of March 2008, unfortunately validating the adjective "genocidal" I and others attached to these policies. But it was not yet a strategy.

However, in recent weeks a clearer Israeli strategy towards the Gaza Strip's future has emerged and it is part of the overall new thinking about the fate of the occupied territories in general. It is in essence, a refinement of the unilateralism adopted by Israel ever since the collapse of the Camp David "peace talks" in the summer of 2000. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his party Kadima, and his successor Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, delineated very clearly what unilateralism entailed: Israel would annex about 50 percent of the West Bank, not as a homogeneous chunk of it, but as the total space of the settlement blocs, the apartheid roads, the military bases and the "national park reserves" (which are no-go areas for Palestinians). This was more or less implemented in the last eight years. These purely Jewish entities cut the West Bank into 11 small cantons and sub-cantons. They are all separated from each other by this complex colonial Jewish presence. The most important part of this encroachment is the greater Jerusalem wedge that divides the West Bank into two discrete regions with no land connection for the Palestinians.

The wall thus is stretched and reincarnated in various forms all over the West Bank, encircling at times individual villages, neighborhoods or towns. The cartographic picture of this new edifice gives a clue to the new strategy both towards the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The 21st century Jewish state is about to complete the construction of two mega prisons, the largest of their kind in human history.

They are different in shape: the West Bank is made of small ghettos and the one in Gaza is a huge mega ghetto of its own. There is another difference: the Gaza Strip is now, in the twisted perception of the Israelis, the ward where the "most dangerous inmates" are kept. The West Bank, on the other hand, is still run as a huge complex of open air prisons in the form of normal human habitations such as a village or a town interconnected and supervised by a prison authority of immense military and violent power.

As far as the Israelis are concerned, the mega prison of the West Bank can be called a state. Advisor to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Abed Rabbo, in the last days of February 2008, threatened the Israelis with a unilateral declaration of independence, inspired by recent events in Kosovo. However, it seemed that nobody on the Israeli side objected to the idea very much. This is more or less the message a bewildered Ahmed Qurei, the Abbas-appointed Palestinian negotiator, received from Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, when he phoned to assure her that Abed Rabbo was not speaking in the name of the PA. He got the impression that her main worry was is in fact quite the opposite: that the PA would not agree to call the mega prisons a state in the near future.

This unwillingness, together with Hamas' insistence of resisting the mega prison system by a war of liberation, forced the Israelis to rethink their strategy towards the Gaza Strip. It transpires that not even the most cooperative members of the PA are willing to accept the mega prison reality as "peace" or even as a "two state settlement." And Hamas and Islamic Jihad even translate this unwillingness into Qassam attacks on Israel. So the model of the most dangerous ward developed: the leading strategists in the army and the government embrace themselves for a very long-term "management" of the system they have built, while pledging commitment to a vacuous "peace process," with very little global interest in it, and a continued struggle from within, against it.

The Gaza Strip is now seen as the most dangerous ward in this complex and thus the one against which the most brutal punitive means have to be employed. Killing the "inmates" by aerial or artillery bombing, or by economic strangulation, are not just inevitable results of the punitive action chosen, but also desirable ones. The bombing of Sderot is also the inevitable and in a way desirable consequence of this strategy. Inevitable, as the punitive action cannot destroy the resistance and quite often generates a retaliation. The retaliation in its turn provides the logic and basis for the next punitive action, should someone in domestic public opinion doubt the wisdom of the new strategy.

In the near future, any similar resistance from parts of the West Bank mega prison would be dealt with in a similar way. And these actions are very likely to take place in the very near future. Indeed, the third intifada is on its way and the Israeli response would be a further elaboration of the mega prison system. Downsizing the number of "inmates" in both mega prisons would be still a very high priority in this strategy by means of ethnic cleansing, systematic killings and economic strangulation.

But there are wedges that prevent the destructive machine from rolling. It seems that a growing number of Jews in Israel (a majority according to a recent CNN poll) wish their government to begin negotiations with Hamas. A mega prison is fine, but if the wardens' residential areas are likely to come under fire in the future then the system fails. Alas, I doubt whether the CNN poll represents accurately the present Israeli mood; but it does indicate a hopeful trend that vindicates the Hamas insistence that Israel only understands the language of force. But it may not be enough and the perfection of the mega prison system in the meantime continues unabated and the punitive measures of its authority are claiming the lives of many more children, women and men in the Gaza Strip.

As always it is important to be reminded that the west can put an end to this unprecedented inhumanity and criminality, tomorrow. But so far this is not happening. Although the efforts to make Israel a pariah state continue with full force, they are still limited to civil society. Hopefully, this energy will one day be translated into governmental policies on the ground. We can only pray it will not be too late for the victims of this horrific Zionist invention: the mega prison of Palestine.

Ilan Pappe is chair in the Department of History at the University of Exeter.

Clashes in Bethlehem

(c) Anne Paq/activestills.org, bethlehem 3 march 2008.

Clashes in Bethlehem; Azza camp during protest against Israeli military operation in Gaza/ Clash à Bethlehem, camp de Azza pendant une manifestation contre l'operation militaire israélienne de Gaza.

Bloodshed in Gaza/ Massacre a Gaza

http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/campaigns/english/gaza_2008/images.html


Photo gallery by Palestinian center for Human rights.

No comments needed.

when the world is going to react?!!!

message from Gaza

Sunday, March 02, 2008
The Gaza Genocide

We celebrated Yousuf's fourth birthday today. We ate cake. And we counted the bodies. We sang happy birthday. And my mother sobbed. We watched the fighter jets roar voraciously on our television screen, pounding street after street; then heard a train screech outside, and shuddered. Yousuf tore open his presents, and asked my mother to make a paper zanana, a drone, for him with origami; And we were torn open from the inside, engulfed by a feeling of impotence and helplessness; fear and anger and grief; despondence and confusion.

"We are dying like chickens" said Yassine last night as we contemplated the media's coverage of the events of the past few days.

Even the Guardian, in a wire-based piece, mentioned the Palestinian dead, including the children, in the forth to last paragraph.

In fact, a study by If Americans Knew found that the Associated Press Newswire coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict significantly distorts reality, essentially over-reporting the number of Israelis killed in the conflict and underreporting the number of Palestinians killed. The study found that AP reported on Israeli children’s deaths more often than the deaths occurred, but failed to cover 85 percent of Palestinian children killed. A few years ago, they found that the NY Times was seven times more likely to comment on an Israeli child's death than a Palestinian one's.

Is it only when Israeli deputy minister Matan Vilnai used "shoa" to describe what will come to Gaza that some media outlets took note. Here was an Israeli government official himself invoking the Holocaust, of his people's most horrific massacre, in reference to the fate of Gaza. But it was not necessarily because Gazans may suffer the same fate that they were perturbed, but rather that this event, this phrase-genocide or Holocaust- could be used with such seeming levity; that using such a loaded term may somehow lessen the true horror of the original act.

It is as though what has been happening in Gaza-what continues to happen, whether by way of the deliberate and sustained siege and blockade, or the mounting civlian death toll, is acceptable, and even encouraged
Illan Pappe has said that Genocide “is the only appropriate way to describe what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip” after much thought and deliberation.

But the real genocide in Gaza cannot or will not be assessed through sheer numbers. It is not a massacre of gas chambers. No.

It is a slow and calculated genocide-a Genocide through more calibrated, long-term means. And if the term is used in any context, it should be this. In many ways, this is a more sinister genocide, because it tends to be overlooked: All is ok in Gaza, the wasteland, the hostile territory that is accustomed to slaughter and survival; Gaza, who's people are somehow less human; we should not take note; need not take note; unless there is a mass killing; or starvation.

As though what is happening now was not a slow, purposeful killing; a mass strangulation; But the governments and presidents of the civilized world, even our own "president" (president of what?) are hungry for peace deals and accords; summits and states; so they say, “let them eat cake!” And we do.

posted by Laila @ Sunday, March 02, 2008 0 comments links to this

"the most moral army in the world"

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 09:02 24/02/2008
IDF downplays allegations West Bank troops abuse Palestinians
By Yuval Azoulay

Shooting Palestinian bystanders; illegally commandeering cars and going on joyrides; torturing a youth by pressing a heater to his face and beating cuffed prisoners on their way to custody. These are only some of the reported cases of abuse for which Israel Defense Forces soldiers serving in the West Bank are currently on trial.

"We've been hit by a tsunami," said the commander of the Kfir Brigade, members of which were recently implicated in a rampage through a West Bank town that left two Palestinians wounded, one of them seriously. Kfir is the largest IDF unit in the West Bank. "I suppose every brigade goes through low and high periods, and right now we're in a low one."

Another officer in the GOC Central Command admitted that "the brigade is in a rough patch." But some officers say that the incident, while lamentable, is not unusual; what is different about this case, they say, is that most units involved in such incidents sweep them under the carpet. In any case, Kfir officials are careful not to call the incident a "moral crisis." They do concede, however, that had they reorganized their unit and made changes to the decision-making process than perhaps the headlines would have been different.

Last July, soldiers from the brigade commandeered a local taxi, forcibly removing its passengers. The driver, Mohammed Issa Mahrazeh, was also removed, tied up and blindfolded and returned to the vehicle, where he was held for the duration of the incident. He sustained bruises.

While driving through the town of Dahariya, the soldiers noticed a young man approaching the vehicle. According to the indictment, the officer ordered one of the soldiers to "distance" Badham Samamra, 18, from the car with his weapon. The soldier pointed his weapon out the window of the taxi and shot Samamra. The bullet entered Samara's left shoulder and exited through his chest, causing moderate to serious injuries.

During the trial of the commander of the force during the Dahariya incident, First Lieutenant Ya'akov Gigi, his lawyers argued that his actions were part of a pattern of inappropriate behavior within the brigade that had filtered down to the junior officer corps and the combat troops.

Other soldiers from the Kfir Brigade are currently being tried separately for allegedly taunting Palestinians by exposing themselves. Meanwhile, soldiers from another infantry unit are suspected of applying an electric heater to the face of a Palestinian youth. According to Israel Radio, IDF soldiers used the cameras on their mobile phones to record themselves abusing detained Palestinians. Some of the soldiers allegedly beat the detainees while one of the soldiers is accused of exposing himself.

Channel 2 television's "Fact" investigative program recently aired additional alleged incidents of abuse by soldiers in the Kfir Brigade. "We'd go on a patrol," one soldier told Channel 2. "If even one kid looked at us the wrong way, he'd be slapped. Rocks were thrown at us during one patrol, and we caught one of the kids who knew the perpetrators. We beat the crap out of him until he told us who did it." The soldier said that he and other soldiers tracked down a boy said to be involved, aged 14, and placed the tips of their rifles in his mouth. "We said, 'You want to die? Just say when and where,'" the soldier recalled.

In another instance, soldiers at roadblocks choked 10-year-old Palestinians with their bare hands until the children passed out. "Hebron is like the Wild West and the army is the law," a soldier said. "We would see who could go without breathing the longest."

The Kfir Brigade was created in December 2005. In consists of six battalions whose soldiers man 30 percent of the roadblocks in the West Bank and are responsible for 60 percent of arrests. They have succeeded in decreasing the number of terrorist attacks in the West Bank.

But the drudgery of working opposite an often hostile civilian population is far from glamorous. Furthermore, as a new unit Kfir lacks the sense of history of the Paratroopers or the Golani Brigade; they have no heroes to look up to. "They are trying to instill a sense of pride in the unit, but so far they have failed. The [color] of the beret is ugly - like that of Hezbollah. If you look at its lining you might expect to find a 'Made in Syria' label," a soldier who only recently finished advanced training joked.

"Our legacy is the present and the future and there's nothing that can be done about that. The legacy is being slowly built through traumatic events," a senior officer in the unit said. "Low morale is an explanation but it's not an excuse. It shouldn't happen at all."

finally the food arrived to Gaza

Coalition against the Gaza Siege

Press Release February 18, 2008


At noon today in the Sufa Border Crossing, donated foodstuffs and water filters at last reached their destination in Gaza



At Noon today, there at last arrived in their Gaza destination the goods carried in the supply convoy of the Israeli Peace and Human Rights organizations, two and a half weeks ago. After the authorization was given after long negotiations with the military authorities, some fifteen activists arrived this morning at the warehouses in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom and the Bedouin town of Rahat, where the goods had been stored, loaded them and decorated the cargo with enormous banners reading End the Blockade of Gaza!



The Israeli activists accompanied the cargo until the entrance of the Sufa Compound on the Gaza Strip border, where it was unloaded and transferred to Palestinian trucks and delivered to members of the Palestinian-International Campaign to End the Siege, based at Gaza City. The cargo consisted of five tons of basic foodstuffs purchased by the organizers from donations collected from Israel and all over the world, as well as water purification filters for the highly polluted water in the Strip. To these were added two tons of personal aid packages, prepared by many Israeli families as a a goodwill gesture to the Gaza inhabitants.



Members of the Palestinian Campaign intend to give the highest priority in distribution of the water filters received today to the Gaza Strip hospitals, where the need for clean water is particularly acute. The entry of water filters today follows many months when the Israeli siege caused a severe shortage of this item, indispensable for basic health, as of many other vital goods. The organizers hope that from now on, inhabitants of the Gaza Strip would be able to use the precedent created and import as many water filters as needed, without restrictions.



“Under conditions of the strangling siege of Gaza, the simple act of transporting a few tons of cargo some dozens of kilometres required two months of intensive effort by dozens of people in Israel and the Gaza Strip, with considerable help from peace seekers all over the world. This siege should be terminated forthwith. It is a manifestly immoral, gross violation of International Law which causes Israel nothing but damage. The suffering caused to the inhabitants of Gaza in no way benefits the inhabitants of Sderot. There is only one way to bring about the end of the shooting of Quassam Missiles at Israeli communities: a positive response to the many offers by Hamas leaders, to a complete and mutual ceasefire on both sides of the Gaza Strip border" said former Knesset Member Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom, who was among the activists accompanying the aid cargo to the Sufa Crossing. Dr. Eyad Sarraj of the Palestinian campaign spoke with the Israeli organizers on the phone and warmly thanked them. He told that the stores of goods brought into the Gaza Strip during the two weeks when the Egyptian border was open are in the process of running out, and that the feeling of siege and suffocation is reasserting itself. "We in Gaza greatly appreciate the manifestation of solidarity in the convoy of today. We hope that this is the start of a common struggle by the two peoples, to ensure peace and liberty to both."


Contact: Adam Keller 0506-709603, Ya’akov Manor 09-7670801 or
050-5733276, Dr. Eyad Sarraj 0599-408438, Marwan Diab 0599-462037
Stills of the action available from AP and Reuters. Video footage from AP as well as from Natalio Cohen 050-8102366 or Sergio Yahni 052-6375032.


Participating organizations: Gush Shalom, Combatants for Peace, Coalition of Women for Peace, ICAHD – The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Bat Shalom, Bat Tzafon for Peace and Equality, Balad, Hadash, Adalah, Tarabut- Hithabrut, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, AIC – The Alternative Information Center, Psychoactive – Mental Health Workers for Human Rights, ActiveStills, The Students Coalition (Tel Aviv University), New Profile, MachsomWatch, PCATI – The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Yesh Gvul, Gisha, Local Television on the Internet, Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue, “On the Left Side”, and Faculty for Palestinian-Israeli Peace (Israel).

how the EU helps Israel to strangle Gaza

Opinion/Editorial
How the EU helps Israel to strangle Gaza
David Morrison, The Electronic Intifada, 14 February 2008



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How is Israel able to strangle the Gaza Strip when there is supposed to be an international crossing between Gaza and Egypt not controlled by Israelis?

Certainly, free movement was the promise held out in the comprehensive Agreement on Movement and Access, signed more than two years ago by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). The first of the six components of this agreement was that there would be a crossing between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah, controlled by the PA and Egypt. At the time, this was hailed as an historic step on the road to a Palestinian state -- for the first time, it was said, Palestinians would have access to the outside world free from Israeli control.

So, how was Israel still able to impose a suffocating blockade on the Strip, home to almost 1.5 million Palestinians, eighty percent of them refugees? After Palestinian forces opened the border wall on 23 January, breaking the siege, many Palestinians blamed Egypt for not doing the same much earlier to relieve the suffering and deprivation that had brought Gaza to within days of running out of food and medicine. But however complicit Egypt may have been it was not alone.

It was primarily through the good offices of the European Union (EU), which had a formal role in managing the Rafah crossing, that Israel always had a veto on the opening of the crossing. In practice, whenever Israel didn't want the crossing open, the EU obligingly kept it shut.

The Rafah crossing was open almost every day from 25 November 2005 to 24 June 2006, though not for 24 hours a day as intended. However, after 24 June 2006, when an Israeli soldier was captured by Palestinians, the EU, at Israel's insistence, prevented it from opening regularly and then kept it closed completely since 9 June 2007, after Hamas took control of Gaza.

Quartet midwife

The so-called Middle East Quartet (the US, the EU, Russia and the UN) was the midwife of the agreement, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Javier Solana (EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy) were in Jerusalem on 15 November 2005 to launch it.

Rice said that the agreement "is intended to give the Palestinian people freedom to move, to trade, to live ordinary lives." She added that "for the first time since 1967, Palestinians will gain control over entry and exit from their territory. This will be through an international crossing at Rafah."

Solana also hailed the arrangements: "This is the first time that a border is opened and not controlled by the Israelis. ... So as you can imagine, this is a very important step that is the first time that takes place."

One could be forgiven for thinking that the US and the EU had made arrangements for a border crossing between Gaza and Egypt that was "not controlled by the Israelis" and that from then on Gaza couldn't be strangled by Israel.

EU third party

But reality fell far short of Rice and Solana's claims. The agreement did not provide for commercial goods traffic through the Rafah crossing into Gaza, so it did not facilitate trade. And despite the cosmetics, the crossing has always been controlled by the Israelis. Even though Israel has no personnel, military or otherwise, physically present at the crossing, it has been able to close the crossing at will, just as it can close the crossings between Gaza and Israel itself.

This came about because, under the agreement, a third party must have personnel present at the Rafah crossing before it is allowed to open. The third party is the EU -- and the EU has always refused to man the crossing when Israel didn't want the crossing open. In effect, the EU has acted as a proxy for Israel.

The agreement gives EU personnel at the crossing the authority "to ensure that the PA complies with all applicable rules and regulations concerning the Rafah crossing point and the terms of this agreement" and in the event of perceived non-compliance "to order the re-examination and reassessment of any passenger, luggage, vehicle or goods."

For this purpose, the EU established the grandly titled EU Border Assistance Mission for the Rafah Crossing Point, or EUBAM Rafah. This is a force of less than a hundred, mostly policemen, which is based in Ashkelon in Israel.

In addition to the EU monitors, who are physically present at the crossing, Israeli security forces are able to monitor activity at the crossing remotely, via closed circuit TV and other data links, and can make a record of the individuals crossing. The Israeli monitors are based in Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza, where a liaison office (for liaison between Israel and the PA) is located. One of the duties of the EU, as the third party to the agreement, is to "lead" this office:

"A liaison office, led by the third party, will receive real-time video and data feed of the activities at Rafah and will meet regularly to review implementation of this agreement, resolve any disputes arising from this agreement, and perform other tasks specified in this agreement."

Israeli veto

Ridiculous as it may seem, the EU takes the view that the opening of the crossing is a matter that may be disputed by Israeli representatives in the liaison office. And if they don't agree to it opening, the EU doesn't send its monitors to the crossing, as required for its opening under the terms of the agreement. So, Israel has a veto over the opening of the crossing, even though, according to Rice and Solana, it is "not controlled by the Israelis."

But on the EUBAM website, the answer given to the question "Can EUBAM open the crossing point?" is:

"RCP [Rafah Crossing Point] can only be opened by agreement between the Parties. EUBAM cannot itself open the crossing point."

That is as plain as a pikestaff: in the opinion of the EU, the agreement gives Israel a veto on whether the crossing should open. There is nothing in the agreement to warrant such an interpretation -- and it is in flat contradiction to the words of Rice and Solana that the crossing would "not be controlled by Israelis."

What is more, in the opinion of the EU, the agreement gives Israel the right to close the crossing when it is open. According to a press statement on 14 December 2006, after the crossing opened that day, "the Government of Israel had requested that the crossing be closed due to the expected arrival of Prime Minister Haniyeh, who was reportedly carrying a large sum of money." After consultations with Brussels, the EU closed the crossing.

Since the Israeli-built Gaza-Egypt border wall was torn down, Israel, the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Egypt and the EU have met to try to restore the arrangements under the agreement. Hamas, excluded from these meetings, has stated that it will not allow a return to the situation of de facto Israeli control through the "third party" proxy and has demanded a role in managing the crossing.

If Gaza is to be immune from strangulation by Israel in future, then the Israeli veto over the opening of the Rafah crossing will have to be ended. In addition, the crossing must cater for commercial traffic into Gaza, which is not provided for under the present agreement.

David Morrison writes for the Labour & Trade Union Review (www.ltureview.com), where a longer version of this article appeared. He lives in Belfast and his website is www.david-morrison.org.uk.

Another house demolition in Jerusalem/ Une autre demolition de maison dans la vieille ville de jerusalem

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Jerusalem, 6 Feb 2008.


une demolition de maison dans la vieille ville de Jerusalem, juste devant une colonie. la famille est installée là depuis des génerations

AAN NEWS AGENCY
---------------------------


Israeli bulldozers demolish Palestinian house in Jerusalem

Date: 06 / 02 / 2008 Time: 13:12

Jerusalem – Ma'an – Israeli military forces demolished a Palestinian house in the Old City of Jerusalem on Wednesday on the pretext that the house was built without a permit.

The two-story home on Al-Buraq Street, belonging to the Isma'il Al-Masri family, housed 30 people. Israeli bulldozers began to destroy the house at 10am local time, the family said.

The family said that they had received warning that the house would be demolished. Israeli authorities told the family that if they did not destroy the house by itself, they would have to pay the costs of demolishing it by force.

The family claimed that they had in fact begun to dismantle the house, and were surprised to find Israeli bulldozers toppling their home this morning.

Building permits are often extremely hard for Palestinians to obtain, and are therefore used as a pretext for house demolition.

Snow party in Palestine/ De la neige en Palestine

c) Anne Paq/Activestills. org. Snow Party in Bethlehem; Jerusalem and Ramallah,31 January 2008.

Vendredi 1er Fevrier.

Petit grain de folie en Palestine, la neige est ,arrivée ! Les Palestiniens en parlent depuis une semaine. Ici quand il y a trois flocons de neige, personne ne va au travail. C’est un jour de fete pour les gosses. Les rues s’etaient transformées une nouvelle fois en champs de bataille, mais cette fois pour le grand plaisir des enfants. ça fait du bien.


There was a sense of exultation the last two days in Palestine ; the snow has arrived! Palestinians had been talking about it the last week. Here when there is even a ridiculous amount of snow falling from the sky, Palestinians stopped everything and they certainly do not want to go to work. It is a snow party day fornthe kids and it is so enjoyable to see and participate. The streets turned themselves again in battlefiels, but this time for fun! it just felt so good

Snow party in Palestine/ De la neige en Palestine

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org
Snow Party in Bethlehem; Jerusalem and Ramallah,31 January 2008.

Snow party in Palestine/ De la neige en Palestine

Snow party in Palestine/ De la neige en Palestine

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills. org. Snow Party in Bethlehem; Jerusalem and Ramallah,31 January 2008.

Another day in Palestine/ Un autre jour en Palestine

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org. Demolition of a building in Shufat and funerals after the military invasion of Bethlehem, 28 and 29 January 2008.


Une journee en Palestine/ A day in Palestine.

Dans la meme journee, demolition de maison le matin a Shufat et invasion militaire de Bethlehem l'apres midi.

Here I am back home and I am still trying to make a sense of this day but I definitly cannot.
A typical day in Palestine. Soldiers, demolitions; checkpoints; military invasions, clashes; bullets, sound bombs; stones throwing; death; new demolitions. And in between some joke,s laughs; good food and small talks. At the end of the day, you feel reckless and confused because you had been through so many emotions. I have too many pictures, mud on my pants and I cannot focus on any thought. How did it start? My day started as usual until I got a message on my phone warning me about a house demolition in Shufat, next to Jerusalem. It is something I document so I went and dropped all other plans. As I reached the site there were many soldiers around and they prevented me to go close without any justification. I managed to go around and ended up in somebody’s appartement with a perfect view on the spot to see the monsterous Caterpillar mouth eating another Palestinian building, one of its favourites. It felt awful to watch that show for three hours, and it was not over when I left. That building is the home of five families. Two floors will be destroyed. People were gathering around and watched, including kids and against witnessing another brutal act of the occupyier.
I went back to Bethlehem; and I thought I took enough photographs for the day. But there is always more here. And it is draining. As I passed the checkpoint, I saw five military jeeps entering Bethlehem; which is quite unusual in the middle of the day so I knew something was up. I went to work anyway, and then after one hour I was interrupted by a phone call of a journalist friend telling me that the Israeli army was actually in the middle of Bethlehem with a bulldozer. They wanted to arrest somebody, a militant from Islamic Jihad. It was obvious that some clashes would occur with the young Palestinians from the city. I had to take another card as mine was full with the ones of the house demolition from the morning. I jumped into a taxi and went to the street where the army was in position. There was one jeep blocking the street and a truck with the Israeli flag. I went around and found the young Palestinians throwing stones; doing all over again the same deadly game with the soldiers. The soldiers are far, they are all fully protected and still they may shoot live bullets to the teenagers throwing stones. They know that if a kid fell and died they would never be punished by law. I moved to another part of the city where there were even more clashes, the Palestinians were throwing stones behind a trash bin that had been put on fire. There were shootings; at one point it was non-stop for 5 minutes and everybody ran away. One of my friends who was there told me earlier that he saw one kid falling down, full of blood. I stayed for a while; protected against a wall. I was not risking anything but still my heart was beating fast. I will never get used to the sound of live bullets.
Then we went up to a building to look at where the army was and we saw a bulldozer moving towards houses but it was too dark to see anything. A cameraman next to me received a phone call and he said “Shaeed”; the Arabic word for martyr. A teenager, aged 17; has been killed from Deheishe camp. His name was Qusai. I went to the hospital. A lot of people were there already from the camp; many of them were hugging, in tears. As I walked inside the room where the body was rested, I saw a boy crying. He was Qusai’s brother. I did not stay long.
Once at home, I tried to organize my thoughts but I could not. I think I still cannot. Just another exhausting day in Palestine.

Military invasion in Bethlehem/ Invasion militaire à Bethlehem.

(c) Anne Paq/ activestills.org, Bethlehem, 28 January 2008.
Military invasion of bethlehem. Time of mourning for the brother and family of
17-year old called Qusai al-Afandi killed by live bullet.

Invasion militaire de Bethlehem. Temps de deuil pour le frere et la famille de Qusai al-Afandi, agé de 17 ans tué par balles reélles lors de l'invasion.



Army ends its invasion into Bethlehem after killing one reisdent and injuring seven
author Monday January 28, 2008 22:15author by Ghassan Bannoura & George Reshmawi - IMEMC N

The Israeli army left the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday evening, leaving one civilian dead and seven others injured. One resistance fighter was also kidnapped.

Medical sources at Beit Jala hospital told IMEMC that Qusai al-Afandi, 17, from Bethlehem was killed by Israeli gunfire. On Monday afternoon Israeli troops invaded Bethlehem and surrounded a house located in the southern part of the city in an attempt to kidnap what the army calls "wanted Palestinians".

Eyewitnesses told IMEMC that the Israeli troops forced journalists into a nearby house, belonging to Mohammad Abdeh, preventing them to document the attack. They added that the troops attacked residents' homes and searched them.

Six civilians were injured during several hours of clashes between locals youth and the invading troops.

Medical sources reported that Abdulkareem al-Atrash, 19, from Deheishe refugee camp, was wounded in his head with a rubber-coated steel bullet causing a moderate injury. The source added that Yousef Abu Srour, from Aida refugee camp was wounded in his leg, in addition to Salem Al-'Orouj, 29, from the nearby Tiqua village who was wounded by live ammunition that penetrated his knee as he was walking home from work.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Za'areer 13, was hit with a live bullet in his head and a rubber-coated steel bullet in his arm. His condition was described as serious but stable after surgery in Beit Jala hospital, according to the medical source.

During the five hour attack the Israeli army used bulldozers to demolish part of Mohammad Abdeh’s home. He was kidnapped by the troops before they left Bethlehem.

A Palestinian security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told IMEMC that he believes Israeli troops were chasing three Palestinians, claiming they are wanted by the Israeli authorities. The three were identified as Ahmad Al-Balboul from the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, and Mohammad Shihade and Mohammad Abdeh of the Islamic Jihad movement.

The Israelis say Mohammad Shihade has been on the ‘wanted’ list for almost 7 years. He ran for the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006, as an independent candidate, yet he failed to make it to the parliament.

Update from
One Palestinian killed, four wounded as Israeli troops invade Bethlehem
Time 20:20

One Palestinian young man was killed and two others were injured as Israeli soldiers invade the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday afternoon.

Medical sources at Beit Jala hospital told IMEMC that Qusai al-Afandi, 17 from Bethlehem was killed by Israeli soldiers' gun fire.

Local sources told IMEMC that Israeli troops surrounded a house located in the southern part of Bethlehem city in an attempt to kidnap what the army calls "wanted Palestinians".

Eyewitnesses told IMEMC that the Israeli troops forced journalists into a nearby house, which belongs to Mohammad Abdeh and did not allow them to document the attack; they added that the troops are attacking residents' homes and searching them.

Palestinian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity told IMEMC that he believes Israeli troops are after three Palestinians claimed to be wanted by the Israeli army. The three were identified as, Ahmad Al-Balboul from Al-Aqsa Brigade, the armed wing of Fatah, and Mohammad Shihade and Mohammad Abdeh of the Islamic Jihad movement.

Mohammad Shihade has been claimed wanted since almost 7 years and has ran for the Palestinian legislative council elections in January 2006, as an independent candidate, yet he failed to make it to the parliament.

The witnesses added that invading Israeli troops brought army bulldozers into the area an indication that the house being surrounded will be demolished by the army.

Local youths that are throwing stones are still clashing with invading troops; medical sources reported at least four injuries.

Medical source reported that Abdulkareem al-Atrash 19 from Deheishe refugee camp, was wounded in his head with a rubber-coated steel bullet causing a moderate injury. The source added that Yousef Abu Srour, from Aida refugee camp was wounded in his leg, in additino to Salem Al-'Orouj 29, from the nearby Tiqua village was wounded by live ammunition that penetrated his knee as he was walking home from his work.

Meanwhile, young boy, Mohammad Za'areer 13, was hit with a live bullet to his head and rubber-coated steel bullet to his arm. His condition was described as serious, but stabel after he was operated on in Beit Jala hospital, according to the medical source.

As of the time of writing this report Israeli troops are still in Bethlehem, sinpers has taken position on roof-tops and others prevent vehicles to move in the area including ambulances.

Military invasion in Bethlehem/ Invasion militaire à Bethlehem.

(c) Anne Paq/ activestills.org, Bethlehem, 28 January 2008.
Military invasion of bethlehem. Several were injured and one 17-year old called Qusai al-Afandi was killed. The army fired live bullets to the kids throwing stones some hundreds meters away.

Invasion militaire de Bethlehem/ Plusieurs ont été blessés et un jeune, Qusai al-Afandi, agé de 17 ans a tué par balles. L'armée israélienne a tiré à balles reelles contre les jeunes jetant des pierres a plusieurs centaines de metres.

For Gaza demo at Erez Crossing / Pour Gaza, manifestaition au checkpoint de Erez

c) Anne Paq/activestills.org; Eretz Crossing between Israel and Gaza, 26/01/2006.
Checkpoint de Erez a l'entree de Gaza, 26/01/2008.

For Gaza demo at Erez Crossing / Pour Gaza, manifestaition au checkpoint de Erez

(c) Anne Paq/activestills.org; Eretz Crossing between Israel and Gaza, 26/01/2006.
Checkpoint de Erez a l'entree de Gaza, 26/01/2008.

Protest against Israel's blockade of Gaza, at the Erez crossing just outside the northern Gaza Strip, Israel, 26/1/2008.

Plus de 1000 personnes ont protesté contre le blocus de Gaza au checkpoint de Erez.
Le convoi comprenait des voitures et bus provenant de plusieurs villes d’Israel. De la nourriture de base a été rassemblée et apres de longues negociations l’armée a accepté de laisser rentrer les denrées à Gaza le lundi suivant.

More than 1000 activists took part in a protest on the Israeli side of Erez Crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, calling the Israeli government to stop the siege of Gaza. 26/1/2008.

Convoy to Gaza

Press release 25/1/2008



Army closes down hilltop site of planned Saturday rally at the conclusion of Gaza supply convoy; rally will take place instead outside Erez Checkpoint, after car convoy and protest march by foot
Parallel Palestinian demonstration due inside Strip



This morning police suddenly informed organizers of the countrywide Gaza Supply Convoy, due tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 26) that the army has forbidden the holding of the concluding rally on a hilltop overlooking the Gaza Strip (to which no objection was made earlier). The army even intends to surround the site with barbed wire to prevent access. There is no time to lodge a Supreme Court appeal, and organizers decided to have the rally at Erez Checkpoint, use of which is denied to Gazans.



The authorities’ move makes it impossible to have direct eye contact between the simultaneous Israeli and Palestinian rallies tomorrow, but there will still be phone contact and exchange of a message of peace and solidarity across the sealed border.



As noted in earlier messages, the humanitarian supply convoy will set out tomorrow morning, Saturday, 26 January 2008, from Nazareth , Haifa , Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beer Sheva and meet up at 12.00 noon at Yad Mordechai Junction. From Yad Mordechai the protest convoy will go southwards, a long line of trucks, buses and private cars all decked with “Lift the Blockade!”signs. About half a kilometre ahead of the checkpoint, participants will march on foot, carrying signs and personal packages of supplies prepared by Israeli families for the Gazans. At 13:00 the rally will take place outside the locked gates of Erez Checkpoint. Speakers will include Shulamit Aloni, Uri Avnery, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Issam Makhoul, Fatmeh el-Ajou, Rana Nashashibi, Suliman Al-Hatib and Jeff Halper. The convoy and rally will take place under all weather conditions.



As noted, there will be a phone link with the parallel demonstration due at the same hour in Gaza City at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the keynote speaker will psychiatrist and human rights activist Dr. Eyad Sarraj. A parallel Palestinian demonstration is also expected in Ramallah. Simultaneous demonstrations will take place in Rome, Modena, Bologna, Grosseto, Naples, Milan, Paris, Poitiers, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Nantes, Orleans, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, London, Montreal, Los Angeles, Chicago, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sydney, New York, Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego, Toronto, Cape Town and elsewhere across the globe – with a considerable participation of Jewish groups opposed to the policies of the Government of Israel.



You may go with us at 8.30 am from Reading Terminal in Tel Aviv, 8.45 a.m. from Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem , or go independently to be at 12 noon to Yad Mordechai Junction, where the convoy will set out.



For further details: Adam Keller, Gush Shalom (0506-709603), Adi Dagan, Coalition of Women for Peace (0508-575730), Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, ICAHD (0547- 366393). Dr. Eyad Sarraj ( Gaza ), End the Siege on Gaza campaign, (0599-408438), Marwan Diab ( Gaza ), End the Siege on Gaza campaign, (0599-462037).



Participating organisations: Gush Shalom, Combatants for Peace, Coalition of Women for Peace, ICAHD – The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Bat Shalom, Bat Tzafon for Peace and Equality, Balad, Hadash, Adalah, Tarabut- Hithabrut, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, AIC – The Alternative Information Center, Psychoactive – Mental Health Workers for Human Rights, ActiveStills, The Students Coalition (Tel Aviv University), New Profile, MachsomWatch, PCATI – The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Yesh Gvul, Gisha, Local Television on the Internet, Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue, “On the Left Side”, and Faculty for Palestinian-Israeli Peace (Israel).

For Gaza/ Pour Gaza

(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Bethlehem; 22 January 2008
Veillee a la bougie a Bethlehem en protestation du bouclage de Gaza. Les punitions collectives sont interdites par le droit international.
Candles Vigil in Bethlehem in protest against the siege of Gaza. Collective punishment is illegal according to international law/

Scores of Palestinians and internationals protest in Bethlehem against the Siege imposed on Gaza
author Tuesday January 22, 2008 19:46author by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC Newsauthor email ghassanb at imemc dot org Report this post to the editors

About 150 Palestinians and internationals gathered on Tuesday evening in front of the Nativity church located in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem in protest of the Israeli imposed Siege of the Gaza Strip.

Protesters in Bethlehem Today – Photo by IMEMC's Ghassan Bannoura
Protesters in Bethlehem Today – Photo by IMEMC's Ghassan Bannoura

The event was organized by local NGOs including Al Ruwwad cultural center in Aida Refugee Camp, Al Khader Popular Committee, Mithaq center, the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People, the mother organization of IMEMC, Al Fineeq Center, and Sirage center.

Protesters held banners calling for the end of the Israeli Siege of Gaza, after Short Speeches were delivered in Both Arabic and English, the participants chanted slogans calling for the end of the Israeli Siege and attacks against Palestinians in Gaza.

Hussam Jubaran, one of the Organizers of the event told IMEMC that this protest is a symbolic action to show support for the people in the Coastal Region, " our hearts are with our brothers in Gaza, we demand an immediate halt to this illegal Siege and the violent attacks Israeli is doing in the Gaza strip." Jubaran said

On Thursday last week, the Israeli government decided to keep up the pressure on the Gaza Strip by further attacking Palestinian resistance groups. On Friday Israel declared all Gaza's border crossings completely closed, with a total ban of the delivery of fuel and supplies to the coastal region. By Sunday Gaza had no electricity as the only power plant in Gaza depends entirely upon Israeli Fuel.

After a widespread international outcry following Israel cutting off of all fuel into Gaza, the Israeli authorities agreed to allow fuel and medicine into the Palestinian coastal region on Tuesday for one day only.

Israeli government sources stated on Tuesday that the latest fuel shipment Israel allowed into the Gaza strip is an attempt to sabotage any Security Council condemnation of the siege imposed on the Gaza strip by Israel. Arab states that have representation in the UN Security Council called of an emergency session on Tuesday in an attempt to win UN Security Council condemnation of the Israeli siege of the Gaza strip.