Week of actions against Israeli siege on Gaza

A Palestinian man sits next to closed shops during a one-day general strike on February 23, 2008 in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. The strike called by the Peoples Committee in the World Day Against The Gaza Siege. (Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images)

23 February 2008

Gaza / Popular Committee Against Siege (PCAS) - The 23rd of February 2008, Saturday, is the Global day of Actions to end the inhuman Siege imposed on 1.5 million civilians in Gaza Strip.

Around 30 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the two Americas will be taking part in the protest actions. Tonight throughout the world the lights will go off for half an hour in solidarity with the people of Gaza.


The participating Countries are as follows:

France, UK, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, Canada, USA, Russia, Romania, Scotland, Iralnd, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Morocco, Mauritania, South Africa, Algeria, Libya, Turkey, Norway, the Sudan, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Israel, West Bank, Gaza strip.

-There are several short actions such as protests, songs, workshops and conferences. All these actions will be done in the capitals and some other vital cities.

-On Saturday evening the participating countries will be switching the lights off for 30 minutes in solidarity and sympathy of smashed people of Gaza.

-A letter submitted by PCAS on behalf of besieged Gazans is being handed out to the American and Israeli embassies and European Union in the participating countries.

Actions of Gaza Strip:

Commercial Strike from 9- 11 Am (Gaza time).
launching a memorial for Siege victims west of Gaza City, 11 am to
Protests from Al Katiba Square to the United Nation. (UNSCO Office, Western of Gaza City)- 10-30 to 11 AM
Protests and Actions in some Gazan universities and Colleges (the Central meeting will be in the Community College for Technology and Applied Science, 11-30 to 12
PCAS's delegation will be visiting families of Siege victims and patients in Gaza's hospitals.

Actions of the West Bank:

Protests will be in Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus where a letter from Gaza will be handed to American embassy, United Nation and European Union.
Actions of Israel:
Telavaiv , Neqav and some other Arab Cities
---------------------------------------------------------------

The Participating Countries
1-France
BORDEAUX
Place St Projet
De 15h à 17h
_______________________________________
LYON
Place Bellecourt à Lyon 2ème
Rassemblement pour la levée du siège de Gaza à 14h30
_______________________________________
NANTES
Manifestation à 16h Place Royale
Day fundraising for Gaza organized by the Islamic Relief at Bellevue
Salle de la Maison du Citoyen
Place des Lauriers - (Arrêt Tram Les Lauriers)
De 10h30 à 12h = collecte des dons en nature
De 14 à 17 h : collecte des dons en liquide (entre autres)
________________________________________
PARIS
Place Denfert Rochereau à 15h
_________________________________________
POITIERS
Face à l'église Notre Dame (place du Marché)
samedi à 11 heures
________________________________________
VILLENEUVE D'ASCQ
Lieu et heure à venir
Ceal City

2- Netherlands:
HAGUE
In front of the Dutch government building.
________________________________________
3-Italy
BIELLA
Garden of the Main Square
Melano
ROMA

_________________________________________
4-Greece
ATHENS,
Metro station
_________________________________________
5- Egypt
CAIRO,
Near The Arab League,
Al Tahreer Square
Laywers Syndicate
________________________________________
6-United Kingdom:
LONDON
Opposite No10 Downing Street
5-7pm
_______________________________________

7- Lebanon:
BEIRUT
Al Hamra Street
_______________________________________
8- SWIZERLAND
Geneva
NEUCHATEL:
Place de la Fontaine de la Justice,
de 10h00 à 16h00
_______________________________________
9- South Africa:
Johannesburg
CAPE TOWN
Outside Egypt Air at 10am.
_______________________________________
10- Sweden:
ROTENBERG
MALMO
_______________________________________
11- Belgium
BRUXELLES
_______________________________________
12-Turkey
ISTAMBUL
El Fatih Square
_______________________________________
13- Syria
DAMASCUS
Alebo
Palestinian camps
_______________________________________
14-Algeria

Workshops and lectures about Palestine in local universities, clubs and colleges
_______________________________________
15-Morroco:

CASABLANCA

RABAT
_______________________________________
16- Norway:
OSLO
_______________________________________
17- Germany
BochumCity
_______________________________________
18-Scotland
Fundraiser for the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
with music by Freeloadb in Frank,
Tommy MacKay
Hugh Man
Susanna Orr Holland
Wise L. Leathermonk

at the CannonsGait Pub on the Royal Mile

at 8pm - 1am on 23rd Febuary

Tickets £3/£2cons.
_______________________________________
19-Ireland
Dublin
Goloway
_______________________________________
20- Canada
A picket will be in
downtown Montreal, Canada
at the intersection of Saint Catherine st. and McGill Collage st.
1:00 to 3:00 PM Saturday Feb. 23
Vancouver City
________________________________________
21-Romani
Boukarist
________________________________________
22-Russia
Moscow
________________________________________
23-Bulgaria
Midday

________________________________________
24-Ukrain
Keive, Midday
________________________________________
25-Serbia,
________________________________________
26-Polland
Warso, Midday
________________________________________
27 Bahrain
Bahrain City - Midday
________________________________________
28-Kuwait
The Capital, down town Kuwait. Midday
________________________________________
29- Qater
Midday
30- Israel- Occupied Palestine
Telaviv, Neqive
________________________________________

32- West Bank
Ramallah, Candles at 8 pm
Hebron protest 11 am

On the Murder of Sheikh Majed Barghouti

23 February 2008

"Abbas gives his orders to the security forces to kill any imam or people with specific political affiliations."

On the torture death of 42-year-old Majed Barghouti, through torture in the West Bank city of Ramallah, by Fatah forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas.

The following is an account by four men that was held at the same time as Sheikh Barghouti:

Barghouti's cousin, Seif Barghouti, said Saturday the family learned of the mistreatment from four men who had been arrested along with Barghouti and were released after his death.

The four told the family that they and Barghouti had been tied up in painful positions during interrogation and that intelligence officers demanded to know where the detainees had hidden weapons.

One of the released detainees, Azzam Sahel, showed a reporter his bruised, purple wrists, which he said he sustained while being tied up in painful positions, including being forced to stand on his toes for extended periods.

Sahel said he was forced to sleep on cardboard on a wet floor, dressed only in a T-shirt and underwear. He said Barghouti was in a nearby cell, and that he could hear him shouting for help repeatedly, but that he did not witness actual mistreatment of Barghouti.

Halima Barghouthi, the mother of Majed al-Barghouthi, shows his picture after his death [AFP]

Barghouti's wife, Fawziyeh, said her husband was in good health when he was arrested.

Barghouti the father of eight was a mosque Sheikh in the West Bank village of Kobar.

As the torture allegations spread, Barghouti's relatives blocked a main road near Kobar with rocks and burning tires Friday night and Saturday morning, demanding that his interrogators be put on trial.

In Friday's protest, Fatah security forces fired in the air to disperse the crowd.

Bush No to Criminal Games

23 February 2008

by HRM Deborah

U. S. President George W. Bush offer’s money for relief to the Palestinians under the shadow’s of humanitarian aid.

The catcher is, only if his peace plan is allowed to go through, at the cost of genocide to all Palestinian citizens, for the sake of the Zionist state.

As the head of the legal government of Palestine, I say no still to Bush’s peace plan towards the genocide of all Palestinian’s and as for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visiting Palestine, she can just stay in the United States.

As for Palestinian’s, we are tired of Bush's threat’s, genocide by Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert and intimidations against Palestinian lives’.

Furthermore, for Bush to actually be behind the humanitarian crisis to begin with, just show’s where he actually stands on the issue of peace in the region.

Finally, as to where I stand on the issue of peace in Palestine, I wish for real freedom and lasting peace for all citizens in Palestine regardless of their religion and I firmly believe in accomplishing this in an honorable way, not by criminal activity.

Bush Two Face and Standing on One Foot

For Immediate Release
February 23, 2008

Audio

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This Thursday, Laura and I returned from an inspiring visit to Africa. In Benin and Tanzania, we met leaders who are fighting HIV/AIDS and malaria -- and people whose lives have been saved by the generosity of the American people. In Rwanda, we saw a nation overcoming the pain of genocide with courage and grace and hope. In Ghana, we met entrepreneurs who are exporting their products and building a more prosperous future. And in Liberia, we saw a nation that is recovering from civil war, led by the first democratically elected woman President on the continent. Laura and I returned to Washington impressed by the energy, optimism, and potential of the African people.

Members of Congress will soon be returning to Washington, as well, and they have urgent business to attend to. They left town on a 10-day recess without passing vital legislation giving our intelligence professionals the tools they need to quickly and effectively monitor foreign terrorist communications. Congress' failure to pass this legislation was irresponsible. It will leave our Nation increasingly vulnerable to attack. And Congress must fix this damage to our national security immediately.

The way ahead is clear. The Senate has already passed a good bill by an overwhelming bipartisan majority. This bill has strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives, and would pass if given an up or down vote. But House leaders are blocking this legislation, and the reason can be summed up in three words: class action lawsuits.

The Senate bill would prevent plaintiffs' attorneys from suing companies believed to have helped defend America after the 9/11 attacks. More than 40 of these lawsuits have been filed, seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in damages from these companies. It is unfair and unjust to threaten these companies with financial ruin only because they are believed to have done the right thing and helped their country.

But the highest cost of all is to our national security. Without protection from lawsuits, private companies will be increasingly unwilling to take the risk of helping us with vital intelligence activities. After the Congress failed to act last week, one telecommunications company executive was asked by the Wall Street Journal how his company would respond to a request for help. He answered that because of the threat of lawsuits, quote, "I'm not doing it ...I'm not going to do something voluntarily." In other words, the House's refusal to act is undermining our ability to get cooperation from private companies. And that undermines our efforts to protect us from terrorist attack.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell recently explained that the vast majority of the communications infrastructure we rely on in the United States is owned and operated by the private sector. Because of the failure to provide liability protection, he says private companies who have "willingly helped us in the past, are now saying, 'You can't protect me. Why should I help you?'" Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, puts it this way: "The fact is, if we lose cooperation from these or other private companies, our national security will suffer."

When Congress reconvenes on Monday, Members of the House have a choice to make: They can empower the trial bar -- or they can empower the intelligence community. They can help class action trial lawyers sue for billions of dollars -- or they can help our intelligence officials protect millions of lives. They can put our national security in the hands of plaintiffs' lawyers -- or they can entrust it to the men and women of our government who work day and night to keep us safe. As they make their choice, Members of Congress must never forget: Somewhere in the world, at this very moment, terrorists are planning the next attack on America. And to protect America from such attacks, we must protect our telecommunications companies from abusive lawsuits.

Thank you for listening.

On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

14 - 20 February 2008

The Injured Tamer Abu Sha'ar (10) before his death by IOF fire east of Deir El-Balah on 19 February 2008

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

6 Palestinians, including a child, were killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip.

2 Palestinians died from previous injuries in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

13 Palestinians, including a woman and a journalist, were injured by IOF gunfire.

IOF conducted 23 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and another 2 incursions into the Gaza Strip.

IOF arrested 48 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT.

One patient died because IOF obstructed her access to medical treatment in the West Bank.

IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attacks Palestinian civilians and property.


Summary

Zionist forces invaded Nablus & Rafah, and seized 25 citizens

21 February, 2008

Zionist forces on Thursday morning apprehended 23 Palestinians from different West Bank districts, claiming they were 'wanted members.'

Eyewitnesses in Nablus said that Zionist forces raided the northern West bank town of Beita south of Nablus, imposing a curfew and ransacking several homes before arresting 18 Palestinians.

Fierce clashes erupted between Palestinian citizens and the invading Zionist forces who fired gunshots, sonic bombs and tear gas canisters injuring 17-year-old Hussain Sabri. He was shot in the shoulder and was taken to hospital.

Zionist media sources said the army arrested 23 Palestinians in the West Bank overnight.

Two days ago, gunmen opened fire on an Zionist bus at the main crossroads near Beita. Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

Incursion in Rafah

Several Zionist military vehicles conducted a limited incursion in the Al-Shouka area in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amidst heavy gunfire and artillery shelling on Thursday. No casualties have been reported.

Eyewitnesses said that Palestinian resistance groups confronted the invading forces, firing several mortar shells.

Meanwhile, Zionist forces stationed near the Yasser Arafat International airport in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip opened fire on the nearby Ash-Shouka school on Thursday morning.

Eyewitnesses said that all students and faculty were detained in the school yard.

Separately, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National resistance Brigades, and Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for launching two rocket-propelled grenades at two Zionist military jeeps in Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

They said the shelling came in retaliation for the ongoing Zionist aggression against the Palestinian people.

We Will Never Forget Palestine

Palestinians commemorate May 15, 1948, the day after the creation of the occupation State of Israel as their Nakba, or catastrophe.

Palestinians Killed in Israeli Raid

22 February, 2008

Gaza-An Israeli air attack has killed two Palestinians and wounded a third in the central Gaza Strip.

Palestinian medical sources and witnesses said Israel launched at least one missile during the attack near Bureij early on Friday morning.

The attack killed two 20-year-old members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, Ayman Abu Said and Mohammed al-Hazin, the medics said.

Officials from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, confirmed the men were members of Islamic Jihad, who had been on foot close to the fence with Israel.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed an air assault had been carried out.

Israel frequently launches missiles on the Gaza Strip in what it says is an effort to stop armed groups fighting the Israeli occupation from launching rockets into southern Israeli towns and planting bombs along the border that target its soldiers.

Friday's attack brings to 6,151 the number of people killed since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, the vast majority of them Palestinians, according to an AFP tally.

Stop the Killing of Innocent

Blood cover the face of a wounded palestinian boy as he waits to get treatment at the hospital, 15 February, 2008.

Stop the killing of innocent
Uploaded by sa-ha-ra

Protests to be held on Saturday in 30 countries against the siege of Gaza

22 February, 2008

GAZA, (PIC) Lawmaker Jamal al-Khudari, President of the Popular Committee Against Siege (PCAS) said that Saturday will be an International day of protest against the oppressive siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.

Khudari said in a press conference he held at the Ramattan news agency on Friday that protests will be held on Saturday in 70 cities in 30 different countries around the world to show solidarity with the people of Gaza "who are living extremely harsh conditions, getting worse by the day [as a result of the siege which] constitutes collective punishment and genocide."

He added that some people may think that the siege was broken by the brief breach of the Gaza-Egypt border, but this is wrong and the fact is that the siege continues and it is getting even harsher and effecting everyone and everything.

He also said that PCAS sent letters to all countries, and all levels, formal and popular to rally support for its campaign.

Khudari also welcomed the call by the European Parliament for ending the siege of Gaza and called upon the European Union and the International Community to take binding decisions in this regard.

Khudari said the day will be marked in the Gaza Strip by a general strike, laying a foundation stone for a monument to the victims of the siege and a march to the United Nations Office were a letter will be handed to the UN representative.

Protests will be held in many European capitals and cities according to Amin Abu Rashed, the President of the European Committee Against the Siege, who told PIC that his committee coordinated with PCAS to make Saturday 23 February 2008 a day of solidarity with the people in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas’s Mukhabarat tortures Palestinian man to death on Israel’s behalf

File picture of Hamas supporter Hasan al-Bazm, tortured by Abbas's Presidential Guard

22 February, 2008
By Yasser al Rimawi

Occupied Ramallah- A middle-aged Palestinian man from a village near Ramallah has died, apparently of severe bodily torture at the hands of the PA Mukhabarat or General Intelligence.

According to family sources, Majd Abdul Aziz al Barghouthi, 42, died Friday after he was subjected for seven days to severe physical torture at the Mukhabarat dungeons in Ramallah.

A relative told this reporter that Barghouthi, an imam at the local Mosque of the village of Kobar, near Ramallah, was rushed to hospital Friday afternoon after he lost consciousness.

“He was in a critical condition as a result of harsh beating, burns, and other forms of torture,” said Muhammed al Barghouthi.

“Signs of torture and burns were all over his body.”

Al-Barghouthi’s body was transferred to the Abu Dis forensic institute for an autopsy to determine the exact causes of death.

Back in the village of Kobar, mosques began reciting Quranic verses through loudspeakers as locals expressed their indignation with the PA.

One villager contacted by telephone described the Abbas’ government as “slaves of Israel and the CIA.”

“They are murdering their own people in order to please America and Israel,” said Hassan al Barghouthi, a distant relative of the deceased.

Majd al Barghouthi was arrested at his home last week, and has ever since been subjected to severe torture until his death Friday evening.

Al-Barghouthi is a relative of Marwan Barghouthi, the imprisoned Fatah leader.

It is not clear if Israeli torturers or Shin Beth agents took part in the torture. Since the summer of 2006, when Hamas carried out a countercoup against CIA-backed Fatah forces, headed by former Fatah Gaza strongman Muhammed Dahlan, there has been a close cooperation and coordination between Israel and PA security agencies.

The cooperation is supervised by an American Lieutenant General by the name of Keith Dayton.

Israel is Lying to the World About Gaza

Palestinian child shot dead by IOF troops during an incursion into Deir al-Balah on 19 Feb. 2008

22 February 2008

Comment by Khalid Amayreh in Occupied E. Jerusalem

For the past few weeks, I made strenuous efforts to reach a dignified ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in coordination with some peace-minded Jews. Our goal was to save lives and prevent further escalation, and give the starved and thoroughly-tormented people of Gaza a respite from daily killings and bombings by the Israeli occupation army.

Our efforts bore some fruit, and the Palestinian authorities in Gaza assured us of their willingness to reciprocate any genuine Israeli measure toward lifting the harsh blockade and putting an end to daily Israeli atrocities which have killed and maimed thousands of Palestinians, the vast bulk of whom are innocent civilians.

Even the western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) regime in Ramallah voiced a certain readiness to get involved and accept a prospective balanced agreement that would restore a semblance of calm and normality of life to the Gaza Strip.

Some PA officials expressed a few reservations about our proposed truce in Gaza, which can and should be extended to the West Bank. However, these reservations stemmed not from any real objections to the draft ceasefire agreement itself but rather from a certain feeling that the draft agreement didn’t accord the Ramallah leadership a prominent role.

Well, I have no objection to according PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas a leading role in negotiating a balanced ceasefire that would save lives.

Non the less, what I have seen is that the ball is not in the Palestinian court, but squarely in the Israeli court.

Again the Palestinian authorities, in both Gaza and Ramallah, are willing and ready to stop, even immediately, all attacks on Israel provided Israeli reciprocity.

Last week, I personally challenged the Israeli government to prove to Israeli public and to the world at large that the problem lied in the firing of the Qassam projectiles, not in the criminal blockade and daily hideous crimes perpetrated by a nuclear power against a tormented and helpless people who can hardly find the means to feed their starving children.

I still challenge the Israeli government to accept a truce in Gaza. The ball is in your court.

Yes, I understand that Israel is worried that a ceasefire with Hamas would imply a certain recognition of the Islamic movement. Well, Hamas is not really begging for an Israeli recognition. It is Israel that needs Muslims’ recognition, and as long as it behaves in manifestly criminal manner, it won’t get it.

Israel is a huge military power and what the Israeli army has been doing is similar to what the Gestapo was doing in Europe during WWII. I am saying this because when the Israeli army kills a hundred or two hundred Palestinians for each and every Israeli killed by Palestinians, one can’t really speak of clashes and war. In plain English, this is a massacre.

In light, Israel could easily stop the killings and relax the harsh siege for one or two weeks in order to test Palestinian compliance.

Today, Israeli leaders are running out of pretexts and excuses and lies and red herring.

On Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni claimed during a joint press conference with her visiting Romanian counterpart, Adrian Cioroianu., that Israeli atrocities and sanctions were a reaction to the firing of the Qassam projectiles by Palestinians onto Israel.

Last week, Livni organized a PR tour for dozens of foreign diplomats to the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, ostensibly in preparation of another Nazi-like blitz into Gaza that could leave hundreds or thousands of mostly innocent Palestinians dead and maimed.

There, Livni asked the diplomats in typical Israeli prevarication : “would you tolerate a situation where your population centers are bombarded with rockets on a daily basis.”

Of course, Livni wouldn’t tell the diplomats why the Palestinians were firing these mostly innocuous projectiles onto Israel.

She wouldn’t tell them that Israel was carrying out a virtual genocide against these helpless Gazans, forcing some desperate Palestinians to resort to some desperate measures aimed at deterring Israel from exceeding the monthly quota of deaths the only “democracy in the Middle East” is inflicting on these helpless Palestinians.

Finally, the EU and other countries, should watch Israeli behavior very closely. The reason for that is that Israel is awaiting impatiently the opportune time to gang up on Gaza and commit crimes against humanity there.

Stopping the Qassams would be the declared pretext, but And the real goal is to give the Israeli army and public a psychological rehabilitation from the botched war with Hizbullah 20 months ago. Well, can’t Israelis get rehabilitated without shedding Palestinian blood?

Another possible motive is to try to decapitate Hamas in one full swoop in order to eliminate the last-remaining credible opposition to the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.

In any case, this would be wishful thinking. Assassinations, after all, have always failed to coerce a people into submission.

Overwhelming Amount of American’s Embracing Islam

22 February 2008

Introduction by HRM Deborah

Especially since 9/11 occurred, Islam did not just became the Islamophobia that some people in the United States confessed to people they believed, but as it has been over seven years since that tragic day; a greater boom has been occurring.

I am speaking of the overwhelming amount of people reverting to Islam and while some of the stories are unique because people are such, there is an overwhelming amount of people that their stories are similar.

Below is one such case that is familiar, because this same story can be found repeatedly among reverts who did not like the immorality in today’s American society or they was not finding what they apparently was looking for within the religions they grew up in.

Personally, I will admit that I am happy that they wished to revert to Islam, but I am also sad, that they were in a situation before, that they were living lives’ that seemed too had made them so unhappy or unfulfilled.

Furthermore, just because someone is Muslim, is not a reason to revert to Islam just to be with them especially in regard’s to a marriage situation for example, because Islam is a religion of the heart and one's relationship to Allah; not something more superficial, for this type of situation never last’s.

Nicole Queen: Converts after seeing Youtube videos on Islam

Officer in Clinton Motorcade Killed in Accident

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton approaches a group of police officers in Fort Worth, Texas February 22, 2008. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi )

22 February, 2008

DALLAS (Reuters) - A Dallas motorcycle police officer in Hillary Clinton's motorcade was killed in a road accident on Friday while escorting the Democratic presidential contender to a rally ahead of the March 4 Texas primary.

"I have just learned of the death of a Dallas police officer in a devastating accident that occurred as the motorcycle officers were leading our cars to this site," Clinton, a New York senator, told reporters.

Dallas police identified the officer as Senior Corporal Victor Lozada-Tirado, a father of two boys and two girls who had been on the force since December 1988. A police statement said Lozada-Tirado struck a curb, lost control of his motorcycle and went down at 9:15 a.m.

Reporters in a bus following Clinton's car saw the officer shortly after the accident, lying in a pool of blood on the highway some distance from a crashed motorbike. It was not clear what caused the accident on a viaduct in central Dallas.

'We are just heartsick over this loss of life in the line of duty,' Clinton said.

Clinton, who is vying with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, said she expressed her deepest condolences to the family and police department.

Clinton made only a brief appearance at a rally she had planned in nearby Fort Worth, cutting it short to visit the dead officer's family before boarding a flight to Ohio, which also holds its primary on March. 4."

Israeli Military Mounts Another Attack in Gaza

A Palestinian man carries a demonstator after Israeli soldiers fired tear gas during a protest against the construction of the controversial separation barrier in the village of al-Khader near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, on February 22, 2008. The barrier runs more than 650 kms (400 miles) north to south and according to Israel is necessary to protect itself from Palestinian militants while Palestinians call it a land grab as large sections encroach on West Bank land. (MUSA AL-SHAER/AFP/Getty Images)

22 February 2008

by Hisham Abu Taha

GAZA CITY — The Israeli tanks backed by drones rolled into southern Gaza Strip yesterday amid intensive use of machine gunfire. Witnesses said that the Palestinian resistance confronted the invading troops but no casualties were reported. They added that several Israeli military vehicles, bulldozers and tanks moved into Al-Shuwka village near the Gaza International Airport southeast of Rafah city in the southern of the Gaza Strip but the troops were confronted by stiff resistance, forcing it to retreat and to centralize around the Gaza airport.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas movement, said in a statement sent to the press that its fighters targeted the Israeli tanks in the area with five mortar shells. During the military operation, Al-Shuwka children’s school was exposed to the Israeli gunfire but no casualties have been reported.

Five Palestinians, including two civilians, were killed and 14 others were wounded in a similar invasion by Israeli troops at the same area on Monday. The Rafah city has been recently exposed to a series of attacks by Israeli Army attacks, with the Gaza International Airport, having been further devastated and vast areas of arable Palestinian lands having been razed.

Israeli military has recently threatened to wage a large-scale offensive on the Gaza Strip, within what Israel says “an attempt to stop Palestinian homemade shells-fire” onto nearby Israeli towns.

Separately, the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility yesterday for launching two rocket-propelled grenades at two Israeli military jeeps in Al-Maghazi refuge camp in the central Gaza Strip. They said the shelling came in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.

Also in Gaza, witnesses and local sources said that Israeli tanks entered Joher Al-Deek town eastern Gaza city and destroyed vast agricultural area in the town.

Meanwhile, the European Union is increasing pressure on Israel to end its nine-month-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to prevent a humanitarian crisis there, an official said in Jerusalem yesterday. “EU ministers are expressing growing concern over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the lack of progress in the peace talks” with the Palestinians, he told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Our embassies in Europe report increasing pressure to try to end the blockade.”

But Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at a meeting with her Romanian counterpart Adrian Cioroianu that any talk about ending the blockade only weakens Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with whom Israel renewed peace talks in November. “Any indirect support of Hamas, even if it is done through discussions on the crossings or the humanitarian situation, weakens those interested in reaching an agreement,” Livni’s office quoted her as saying. “The Palestinian people has no future with Hamas and we will continue to fight its terrorism,” she added.

Brussels does not recognize Hamas’ government in Gaza and considers the Islamist group a terror organization, but it has repeatedly opposed Israel’s blockade, urging it to allow supply shipments into the impoverished territory. “We’re in favor of opening up crossing into Gaza, particularly Rafah (with Egypt) and Karni,” an EU official told AFP.

“We’ve expressed our concern about the limitation of fuel and electricity supplies, which we don’t think is helpful and could compound the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” Israel closed vital border crossings and restricted supplies to Gaza after Hamas seized control of the strip in June.

Israeli soldiers take up their position during a military operation in the West Bank village of Beita near Nablus on Thursday. (Reuters)

The Humiliated Demon

Resisting the Power of Satan

Narrated Abu Rafi: Abu Hurayra said, "A man or a woman used to clean the mosque." (A sub-narrator said, 'Most probably a woman..') Then he narrated the Hadith of the Prophet:

Narrated Abu Hurayra: "The Prophet said, "Last night a big demon (afreet) from the Jinns came to me and wanted to interrupt my prayers (or said something similar) but Allah enabled me to overpower him. I wanted to fasten him to one of the pillars of the mosque so that all of you could see him in the morning but I remembered the statement of my brother Solomon (as stated in the Quran): My Lord! Forgive me and bestow on me a kingdom* such as shall not belong to anybody after me (38.35)." The sub narrator Rauh said, "He (the demon) was dismissed humiliated."

-Sahih Bukhari 8: 450-450m

*The kingdom, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was speaking of was his place in Paradise. The Prophet was the only one to reach the highest level in Paradise, where his palace is even unto today.

Hamas Welcomes European Parliament initiative to end Gaza Siege

22 February 2008

Gaza – Ma'an - Hamas on Friday welcomed a European Parliament initiative to end Israel's crippling blockade on the 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip, most of whom are dependent on aid.

Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri said he welcomed the resolution, adding that Hamas is ready to study any initiative that will contribute to stopping Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.

Abu Zuhri told Ma'an that the main problem lies in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, along with the siege imposed on the people of the Gaza Strip and the ongoing Israeli attacks on the sector.

'We in Hamas appreciate the call by the European Union to end the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and their invitation to the Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas for the resumption of dialogue with the Hamas movement,' he said.

On Thursday European Parliament members voted for the resolution, saying 'the policy of isolation of the Gaza Strip has failed at both the political and humanitarian level.'

The MEPs also called for a halt to Israeli military actions that kill or endanger Palestinian civilians, as well as an end to extrajudicial targeted killings.

Israel closed the vital border crossings into the Strip, restricting supplies, after the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Since January Israel has been reducing fuel and electricity supplies, pushing the impoverished coastal sector to the brink of a humanitarian disaster. Israel says this is a legitimate response to rocket fire by Palestinian resistance factions into Israeli border towns."

Abbas to meet with Egyptian President on Tuesday

22 February 2007

Bethlehem – Ma'an - agencies - Munthir Ad-Dajani the Palestinian Ambassador in Cairo announced on Friday that the summit meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the latest situation in the Palestinian territories will be held in Cairo next Tuesday morning.

" Abbas will brief President Mubarak on the results of his recent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and will look into the conduct of negotiations with the Israeli side," Ad-Dajani said in a press statement.

He added that Abbas' visit to Egypt comes within the framework of continuous and permanent coordination between the Palestinian president and President Mubarak on the overall situation of Palestinian internal and external. He expressed his deep appreciation at the role of Egypt and President Hosni Mubarak's efforts to support the Palestinian cause.

For his part, Hussein Abdul Khaliq, Palestinian delegate to the Arab League, said: 'During his visit to Cairo, Mahmoud Abbas will attend a ceremony to establish an 'Arafat foundation' to be held at the headquarters of the Arab League on Tuesday evening."

Israel Renews Order to keep Iconic Arab Buildings Under Lock and Key

22 February, 2008

Occupied Jerusalem: Israel is keeping Palestinian institutions in occupied east Jerusalem shut tight, despite its pledge to reopen them under a recently revived peace blueprint, Palestinian officials said yesterday.

This month, the officials said, Israel renewed its order to close the Orient House, the city's Arab Chamber of Commerce and other heavily symbolic buildings that are a rallying point for the Palestinians' claims to occupied Jerusalem's eastern sector as capital of a future state.

Israeli police shut down the institutions in 2001, shortly after the relaunch of the Palestinian uprising against Israel, and has since issued orders every six months renewing the closure.

Azzam Abu Saoud, director of the 72-year-old Chamber of Commerce, said the closure order was extended on February 7 despite the renewal of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel's commitment to implement the internationally endorsed 'road map' peace plan.

At an international peace gathering in Annapolis in November, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to 'immediately implement their respective obligations under the performance-based road map'.

Initial obligations require Israel to 'reopen the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce and other Palestinian institutions in [occupied] east Jerusalem'.

Orient House

'Despite all the expectations the closure order was renewed for another six months,' Abu Saoud told The Associated Press. The US consular officials asked for copies of the order, which he provided, he said.

An adviser to Salam Fayyad said the 2001 closure order on another prominent Palestinian institution, the PLO think-tank known as Orient House, was also renewed a few days ago.

US spends $80m on troops every month

Bush playing Cricket at the U. S. Embassy in Islamabad, on his trip to Pakistan, 4 March 2006.

By Robin Wright
22 February,2008

Washngton: Once a month, Pakistan's Defence Ministry delivers 15 to 20 pages of spreadsheets to the US embassy in Islamabad.

They list costs for feeding, clothing, billeting and maintaining 80,000 to 100,000 Pakistani troops in the volatile tribal area along the Afghan border, in support of US counterterrorism efforts.

No receipts are attached.

In response, the Defence Department has disbursed about $80 million (Dh294 million) monthly, or roughly $1 billion a year for the past six years, in one of the most generous US military support programmes worldwide.

The US aim has been to ensure that Pakistan remains the leading ally in combating extremism in South Asia.

But vague accounting, disputed expenses and suspicions about overbilling have recently made these payments to Pakistan highly controversial - even within the US government.

The poor showing in Monday's parliamentary election by the party of President Pervez Musharraf, whose government has overseen local disbursement of the money, may make Congress look closer at all US financial assistance to the country.

Questions have already been raised about where the money went and what the Bush administration got in return, given that pro-American sentiment in Pakistan is extremely low and Al Qaida's presence is growing steadily stronger.

In perhaps the most disputed series of payments, Pakistan received about $80 million a month in 2006 and 2007 for military operations during cease-fires with pro-Taliban tribal elders along the border, including one that lasted 10 months in which troops returned to their barracks.

The Bush administration has acknowledged some problems, but still says that the programme - part of a costly military programme known as the Coalition Support Fund - is worth every penny.

"Yes, we may have overpaid, but it's still a good deal," said a senior administration official involved in Pakistan policy, noting that more than 1,000 Pakistani troops have been killed while assisting Operation Enduring Freedom, an unpopular effort among Pakistanis.

Life of the Martyr’s

(AFP PHOTO/SAID KHATIB /Getty Images)

A Palestinian mother mourns over the body of her son killed during an Zionist army operation in the southern Gaza Strip, on February 17, 2008 in Khan Yunis. Zionist troops killed four Palestinians, three of them resistance fighter‘s, in the latest Zionist assault on the Gaza Strip.

And say not of those who are killed in the Way of Allah, "They are dead." Nay, they are living, but you perceive (it) not. (Al-Baqara 2:154)

And those who believe in (the Oneness of) Allah and His Messengers, they are the Siddiqoon (i.e. those followers of the Prophets who were first and foremost to believe in them), and the Martyrs with their Lord, they shall have their reward and their light. But those who disbelieve (in the Oneness of Allah) and deny Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), they shall be the dwellers of the blazing Fire. ( Al-Hadid, Chapter 57: 19)

The shining Light of Gratitude

Say thank you, until you mean it. Thank God for everyone and everything sent your way.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. It can turn existence into a real life, and disconnected situations into important and beneficial lessons.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Gratitude makes things right. Gratitude turns negative energy into positive. There is no situation or circumstance so small or large that it is not susceptible to gratitude's power. We can start with who we are and what we have today, apply gratitude, then let it work its magic.

Say thank you, until you mean it. If you say it long enough, you will believe it. Try to shine the transforming light of gratitude on all the circumstances of your life.

Equality for All?

All people are created equal in this life, not matter where they are in the world.

US Say’s No to Unilateral Palestinian Declaration of Independence

US rejects call for unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence if peace talks fail

21 February, 2008

Bethlehem ( Ma'an )- The United States on Wednesday rejected the comments made by senior aide to Mahmoud Abbas that Palestinians should follow the example of Kosovo and unilaterally declare independence if Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations fail.

Following Tuesday's meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team, said, 'If things are not going in the direction of actually halting settlement activities, if things are not going in the direction of continuous and serious negotiations, then we should take the step and announce our independence unilaterally,' adding, 'Kosovo is not better than us. We deserve independence even before Kosovo, and we ask for the backing of the United States and the European Union for our independence.'

US State Department spokesman Shawn McCormack said there was still room for a positive outcome in the Isareli-Palestinian peace negotiations, while in Kosovo there is no hopes of negotiation.

He added that Kosovo was a unique case, reiterating that the US recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence. Several other western countries, including the UK, Germany and Italy, have also recognised the world's latest independent state.

When asked why Kosovo waited only nine years under the command of the UN while the Palestinians have been waiting for independence since 1948, McCormack said, 'It has become impossible to work out a political compromise in Kosovo, while in the Middle East there is still an opportunity for a compromise.'"

Report: Israel Denies Palestinians Permits

It has been estimated that eighteen thousand Palestinian homes, have been demolished since 1967.

21 February, 2008

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel denied 94% of the building permit requests West Bank Palestinians submitted over the past seven years, the anti-settlement Peace Now group reported Thursday.

In all, 91 of 1,624 requested permits were approved, Peace Now said. By contrast, 18,472 apartments and homes were built between 2000 and September 2007 in Jewish West Bank settlements, the group said, citing Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics.

Military officials in the West Bank responsible for construction said the figures were distorted.

Peace Now also said the army demolished 33% of the 4,993 cases of illegal Palestinian construction against which it issued demolition orders. By contrast, 7% of the 2,900 cases of illegal settler construction that drew demolition orders were torn down, the group said.

The data demonstrate "clear and conspicuous discrimination against the Palestinian population," Peace Now said.

The report applied only to the 60% of the West Bank that Israel fully controls.

Peace Now's assertions on the denial of building requests were based on data that a left-wing lawmaker, Chaim Oron, received in response to a query to Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Information on demolitions were drawn from military data Peace Now obtained.

Capt. Zidki Maman, spokesman for the military unit that oversees civil affairs in the West Bank, accused Peace Now of skewing data to fit its political agenda.

The number of building permits was low because Palestinians rarely submit requests, and then, generally after they receive demolition orders, Maman said. "If Palestinians would submit request for building permits, there could be thousands more approvals," he said.

He would not speculate on why Palestinians did not submit more requests. Palestinians have long complained that Israeli officials reject their building requests.

Maman said the data on demolitions were distorted because the number of settler demolitions did not include construction the settlers themselves tore down after receiving demolition orders. The data on Palestinian demolitions did include self-demolition, inflating the numbers, Maman said.

On Wednesday, AP reported that settlers in the West Bank settlement of Eli were building 27 unauthorized mobile homes, with the government's knowledge. Additionally, settlers have erected more that 100 unauthorized settlement outposts since the early 1990s, and the government has taken little action against them.

The Shrinking American Dollar?

Hamas Rejects any Plan to Deploy International Forces in WB

21 February 2008

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement has expressed its utter rejection of any plan to deploy international forces in the West Bank, charging that the plan aimed at replacing the Israeli occupation with another one.

In an exclusive statement to the PIC on Wednesday evening, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, stated that what was published by Israeli newspapers about an American proposal to dispatch NATO forces to the West Bank after the withdrawal of the IOF troops are intended for giving the impression that there is a solution in sight, while on the ground no solution has been achieved.

Dr. Abu Zuhri underlined that the Palestinian people want to end the occupation and to exercise their right to self-determination rather than replacing Zionist occupation with another.

The Israeli daily, Jerusalem Post, reported that General James Jones, the American security envoy to the region, raised this idea during his recent talks with Israeli officials.

For its part, the Islamic Jihad Movement also rejected the idea of deploying NATO forces that would be led by the US, highlighting that the American administration seeks after invading Iraq and Afghanistan to complete its hegemony on the region.

In a press release received by the PIC, the movement warned that this plan is dangerous for the Palestinian cause and the future of the Palestinian people because it is intended to save the Israeli occupation from its internal impasse, providing it and its settlers with protection and security and relieving it of its responsibility as an entity occupying the Palestinian lands.

The movement renewed its adherence to the option of resistance against the Israeli occupation and any new occupation, underscoring that the only solution is the unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian lands and the recognition of the inalienable Palestinian rights.

Think Again

If you think, I will ever abdicate,
Think Again!

A Graffiti Wall That Said it All

Silwad, a History of Revolts

On the outskirts of the village of Silwad an old man is busy hoeing his field -- a small field, barely a hectare in size. Just behind, the mountain rises sharply. There are several stone-built houses at the bottom of the cliff, and the soft light in the last days of winter gives a special colour to the freshly turned earth.

The photographer could not resist taking a picture. The old man protested and shouted something in Arabic. The interpreter translated: “Take this as well. It is all I have left. After that it is all gone”. He was convinced that we were Israeli surveyors making a search before confiscating his land. Our interpreter, a student from Bir Zeit University had a hard time convincing him that we were not Israelis but European journalists.

8.000 Palestinians from Silwad in Kuwait

Silwad is a Palestinian village like the others. Since 1967 through emigration it has lost 14.000 of its 19.000 inhabitants. There are about 8.000 Palestinians from Silwad in Kuwait alone, and there are also some in South America, especially Brazil. Even here, with a bit of luck, one can drink Brazilian or Colombian coffee served by a waiter in traditional dress who will trade a few words of Spanish or Portuguese.

The 18.000 dunums of land belonging to the village extends from the djebel Ashour (the tallest mountain in the West Bank) through the narrow neighbouring terraced valleys to the Ramalla road and the plain where the farmers of Silwad till the fields with ancient wooden horse-drawn ploughs. There used to be about one dunum per person, but since the Israeli occupation in 1967 land seizures have considerably reduced the area.

In 1972, the Israelis took between 4.000 and 5.000 dunums (more than 500 hectares) beneath djebel Ashour to put up a military camp. Then in 1974, there was another seizure for the establishment of the Israeli settlement of Ophra. “Before 1967”, Moussa Mahmoud Hamed, the Mayor of Silwad, explained, “the Jordanian Government confiscated a hundred dunums to build a camp. Then in 1974, the Israelis established the settlement on this “government” land, taking an additional 2.000 dunums from the villagers”.

Not long ago, the Mayor received notification from the Military Governor of the West Bank forbidding the villagers to construct new buildings in a 2.000 dunum zone between the village and the Ramalla road and comprising most of the flat cultivable land. To the Mayor, it is obvious the Israelis intend to double the size of Ophra.

Like other Palestinian villages, having already lost many of its inhabitants and most of its land, Silwad resisted the Israeli occupation. “In 1968”, the Mayor recalled “a curfew was imposed twice a week, Thursdays and Sundays, and the men of the village were confined for hours in the sun in the school yard”.

The first revolt in 1972

The first “revolt” came in 1972 with the first land confiscation, when the Mayor and his friends organised a demonstration in cooperation with the mayors of neighbouring communities. There were more demonstrations in 1974 with the establishment of the Ophra settlement.

And the result of these 10 years of occupation and repression? “You can safely assume that there is not a single inhabitant who has not been arrested at least once”. At the end of December 1978 the toll was 20 people in prison, some still awaiting trial. Five had been sentenced to prison for life, nine had been exiled, and 10 houses had been destroyed either by dynamite or by bulldozers.

To understand the effect this repression has had on the inhabitants, one has only to listen to women and the children. Even though for the most part they do not know how to read, they have a level of political awareness worthy of any student from Bir Zeit, the nearby Palestinian university.

Aisha is the wife of the “dean” of prisoners from Silwad. Her husband, Zaineddin, will be 80 next August. She received us, sitting on a mat on the ground near the door of the one room that comprises her home. Aisha, aged about 60, is still a strong woman. Almost without emotion, even smiling occasionally, she recalled the tragedy which befell her family when the Israelis arrested her husband.

“On 12 August, 1969 the Israelis arrived at 4.00 in the morning. They asked for my husband. he had half-opened the door, they pushed it and came in, then grabbed the old man, pinned him to the ground and hit him with their rifle butts. They said that they had found arms hidden in the mountain that he had hidden, and they took him away. The next morning they brought him back and went up to the mountain to look for the arms. He wanted something to drink but they forbade us to give him water”. At that time two of their three daughters, one of their four sons, and Zaineddin’s old mother, were living with them.

Later the Israeli soldiers came back and blew up the house and now Aisha lives in one room with her 13-year-old son, Jemal. “Rent? The owners do not ask for money. They feel sorry for me. My other sons are in Kuwait but they cannot help me. They all have children”.

Zaineddin was first taken to the prison in Ramalla, and tried to escape by jumping over a wall. One of his friends managed to get away, but Zaineddin broke his leg. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison and was taken to Nablus. He is now in prison in Ashkelon. “It will be 10 years next August since he went to prison”, Aisha explained. “He will be 80”. Their son Jemal can only remember his father in prison.

Aisha sees her husband once a month, “thanks to the red Cross, because we do not have any money”. She said that on the first Friday of each month a Red Cross car took them to Ashkelon. “It takes us the whole day from 6 am to 6pm, just to see him for half an hour”.

Her husband sits on one side of a barrier and she sits on the other. It is forbidden to take fruits, clothes, or anything except money. She takes whatever she can afford, usually 30 to 100 Israeli pounds.

She described a typical visit: “When I sit down with my husband the soldiers are seated on either side of us. With one soldier for each prisoner, we cannot say anything. He says to me, “How are you”? I tell him, “I hope you are well. Your sons send their regards”. Aisha said he was very courageous but that he did nothing because he is very old. “he lives in one room with dozens of prisoners. If he wants to go out into the sunshine he does a little work, like sticking stamps on envelopes”.

She was uncertain what effect the negotiations for autonomy might have. “The prisoners hope to be freed but they are not sure. All I can say is God will help us”.

All this time a neighbour who was sitting on a mat beside Aisha listened without saying anything. Her face was a picture of indescribable sadness, and we learned her story first from another neighbour. Her two sons had been arrested in September and she had not had any news from them since.

“The first time”, Amina explained later, “they came at 4pm. My son Muhammad, aged 15, was playing. They took him saying, “we are investigating him”. He was accused of being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Eleven days later they arrested the second son Abdel-Hamid.

“This time it was 11.00 at night. Tanks surrounded the house. The Israelis knocked at the door and saw my two daughters and my son sleeping. They asked, “How many sons do you have”? I told them, “You have taken Muhammad, there is Abdel-Hamid”. They woke him up, took his Jordanian passport, and his identity card. They searched the house but did not find anything”.

Abdel-Hamid was accused of being a member of a group which had assassinated Jenho, a “collaborator” from Ramalla, who was killed in his shop on the main street on the night of the Good Friday. A few days after the arrest, Israeli soldiers came to measure the house to blow it up. But Israeli lawyer Felicia Langer, who, with Lea Tsemel defends Palestinian political prisoners, managed to stop it.

Halima’s luck has been no better. Her house was one of the first to be destroyed by the Israelis, on 13 June, 1968. Six days before the Israelis had surrounded the house at midnight and had arrested her husband, Hussain Ibrahim, a stone-cutter. “Five days later they came back and measured the house”. She thought they were making another search, but the next day they returned and told her, “You had better be out in 20 minutes”. “I asked them”, “are you going to blow up my house”? They said “yes”. I told them, “but you have searched the house and found nothing”. Then I started to cry. The children helped me take out a few things. The first explosion was not enough, they had to go back to Ramalla for more explosives”.

Her husband was in prison for six months without trial. She could not attend the trial because she did not have an identity card. Normally a wife appears on her husband’s card, and when the Israelis took her husband’s papers they had left her without any.

Hussain Ibrahim was sentenced to five years in prison for membership of Fateh. “He spent two years there and was exiled to Jordan at the beginning of the civil war (September 1970) on the assumption that the Jordanians would kill him. It was the Mayor of Silwad who told me that they had released him, he saw it in the newspaper”.

Halima’s third son Abdel-Rahim was arrested one year after his father, and he too was accused of being a member of Fateh: he was imprisoned for 13 months and was exiled to Jordan with his father. And just six months ago, her 22-year-old son Hassan was arrested. “Nobody has seen him since”, she said, then corrected herself, “his lawyer, that woman (Lea Tsemel), she saw him, she said he was OK”.

Asked about plans for autonomy, Halima answered simply, “Anything as long as I see my sons again”.

Adnan, aged 19-and-a-half, was arrested on 11 July 1977, accused of being a member of Fateh. He was beaten up for 12 days until he signed a confession in Hebrew which he did not understand, admitting membership of a secret organisation.

He was brought to trial about six months later and sentenced to a year in prison. The year ended a few months ago, and his identity card now has a special stamp. Any Israeli patrol checking him knows immediately he was a member of a secret organisation and he must not leave the West Bank.

His brother, Mahmoud, was arrested in 1968 when he was 22, accused of being a member of Fateh. The Israelis blew up his house soon afterwards.

On 4 December 1978, at 4am, an Israeli Army bulldozer demolished the house of Abdel-Rahman Abdel-Fattah, although Felicia Langer had obtained a stay of execution for a tribunal of three judges to hear her plea. The soldiers pretended that they had not received the counter-order in time.

Abdel-Rahman was not guilty of anything, but his 16-year-old son, Akram, had been accused of being involved with the Palestinian cell which assassinated Jenho, the “collaborator”. But the Jerusalem Post reporting the incident, continued to insist that the house belonged to Akram, whose age it did not mention and described its demolition as “a measure of dissuasion”.

Rima, a tiny, thin woman of 71, as gnarled as olive bark, told how her daughter, Fatma, a nurse, had been arrested twice. In 1970 she spent eight months in prison and in 1971 she spent another six months in prison awaiting trial on charges of carrying arms”.

“They arrested my daughter, and the next day they measured the house”, Amina said, “Eighteen days passed and I thought they were not going to blow it up, but they did. I shouted at the soldiers, “kill me first”. But they pushed me and told me to get out. I tried to kill myself with a big stone but some friends stopped me. Since then I often have had headaches”.

She also told of her own imprisonment. “I was the first to go to prison, before my daughter. I spent three days there and paid a fine 10 Jordanian dinars”. Then she added, “When they came to blow up the house they told the Mayor they were teaching the village a lesson. But we did not learn anything, we are still revolutionaries”.

(The Middle East magazine, June 1979)



Eid Prayer in Silwad

Tough Peace Negotiations?

by Ben Heine

A Taste of Waterboarding

The Zionist army intend to Kill thousands of Palestinian civilians in a major incursion to Gaza strip

17 February 2008

The Zionist sources reported that A group of the Zionist ministers, who are party to the Major Gaza incursion decision, the Zionist army and Shin Bet, required more time in order not lose soldiers and killing as much as possible of the Palestinian civilians.

The sources claimed that the wide operation couldn’t prevent launching the Qassam rockets but it may reduce the launching. Abu Obaida said on his comment on these news "we hear a lot about these operation and we prepared ourselves to defend our civilians and children". " the Zionist army tried to prevent launching Qassam rockets but it failed,

"The Zionist army raided north of the Gaza strip many times and killed hundreds of the Palestinian civilians but the launching didn’t stop, and in a previous invasion to the north of Gaza strip, the Zionist army killed more than 150 Palestinian civilians under claim of stop launching the rockets at the Zionist military outposts and sites, despite that the resistance continued in launching the rockets", he added.

The most recent example for these preparations are the massacre in Al Bureij camp. The Zionist army killed 9 Palestinian civilians. The Zionist war planes shelled a house was full of civilians, the Palestinian witnesses said they found a woman under the house rubbles, she was trying to protect her two children. The Palestinian medical sources identified the woman as Marwa Azzam Zaied.

The medical sources added that Marwa was killed along with her two children. Palestinian eyewitnesses said that one of her children Ayub, 5 years old, was found as fragments under the rubbles and her daughter Busaena, 12 years old was found under her mother. The sources added that her husband Ayman, was martyred in the bombardment. The Palestinian medical sources added that 44 Palestinian civilians were injured, 10 of them are in serious condition. The Palestinian sources assured that more than 40 was completely damaged.

On the other side, the eternal front in the Zionist side is not hard, Olmert and Barak refuse to share with the Zionist cabinet the details of the plans. They claimed that they are afraid of the leaking to the media and this leaking will damage the planes.

However, the Zionist public didn’t realize what it will faces, the number of Zionist soldiers who will be killed during the operation and the economic price of an ongoing campaign. The hardest thing is that the public didn’t know that he will lose these things for nothing. The Palestinian resistance will not stop the resistance or even any kind of it like what had happened in Dimona before days.

Clear objectives of the Zionist invasion
The Zionists have already been defined their targets, and they are clear. Some of them are very bloody objectives, some Zionist electronic newspapers assured that the Zionist army will target a lot of families houses under claiming that their sons are wanted, so a huge number of the civilians will be killed. Some of the targets are for keeping Gaza strip under the Zionist Custodianship as blocking the Philadelphia Route.

In regarding to the strategic objectives, the main object is removing Hamas from power and establishing a Palestinian regime in the Gaza Strip have the ability to protect the Zionist entity from the Palestinian resistance.

Zionist objectives against civilians
In order to address all the Zionist objectives, the Zionist media said that the Zionist army prepared a large forces, including reservists and police, Plenty of diverse equipment, tanks, war planes, …etc. The Zionist media reported that the Zionist army will use a huge quantities of explosives at its operations like what had in Al Buriej Massacre.

Other face

The Zionist entity also had a plan on the diplomatic side, the Zionist newspaper "Yidiot Ahronot" said "the diplomatic campaign is being undertaken thoroughly and secretly". This campaign is to face the international public, humanitarian associations and the European states when the Zionist army committing massacres against the civilians in Gaza strip.