07.08.2006

Emily — Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians

Topic(s): Palestine / Israel | Comments Off on Emily — Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians

friends…
the Israeli war machine has stepped up it’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people on every front including incursions and shelling in Gaza, land confiscations throughout the West Bank, incursions in the West Bank, arrests and detentions and kidnappings throughout the territories, and the denial of entry of Palestinians returning home at all border crossings, destruction of farmland, property…….
there is so much to report on (and as you know whenever there is a war spectacle for the media to focus on that is when they really go full force with crimes against humanity in all other areas as well because nobody is “watching”) so I compiled a small list of what the media is not telling you.
1. Israeli Attack on Gaza
30 dead and over 90 injured and counting….
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4926.shtml
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4EBC6739-C909-45FF-827A-7AC49447D68E.htm
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19821&Itemid=1
Israel’s Appalling Bombing in Gaza
Starving in the Dark
And what says noble Europe, proud font of human rights conventions, architects of the misi?n civilizatrice? “The EU remains deeply concerned,” mumbles the mighty defenders of humanitarian law, “about the worsening security and humanitarian developments.” Seemingly soggy phrases like “deeply concerned” are diplomatic code for “We are seriously unhappy.” But under these circumstances, “remains deeply concerned” suggests that this staggering crime is just one more sobering moment in the failed “road map.”
Diplomatic bubbles of unreality in the Middle East are the norm rather than the exception, but at some point the international community must face the very unwelcome fact that it needs to change gear. A country that claims kinship among the western democracies of Europe is behaving like a murderous rogue regime, using any excuse to reduce over a million people to utter human misery and even mass death.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/updates_news/news/Israel’s_Appalling_Bombing_in_Gaza.h
3. Land confiscation in Bayt Jalla/Bethlehem area
Cremisan area has the only remaining forest in the city, and the most fertilized agricultural land, which is the main source of income to many farmers in the city. Cremisan area is also one of the very few recreational sites in the city where many citizens used to go during weekends or holidays. In addition, the area hosts the only winery in Palestine, two monasteries and a kindergarten.
http://www.openbethlehem.org/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=62
4. Israeli Army Closes Down Northern West Bank
International Womens’ Peace Service 7/5/2006
About 20 Palestinian men were handcuffed and detained, and many made to strip down to their underwear, for more than two hours at a flying checkpoint near the roadblock at Brukin while Israeli soldiers threatened to blow up a taxi cab they thought might contain a bomb. The explosion did not materialize, however. Checkpoints across the northern West Bank were closed this morning, as was confirmed to IWPS by members of Israeli human rights group Machsom Watch. The checkpoints were subsequently reopened. A soldier told an IWPS member at Huwara checkpoint, where people were being allowed through by around 11 a. m. , that someone wearing a bomb belt had been apprehended in the West Bank. Villages in the Salfit area were closed down by the Israeli army throughout the morning.
http://www.iwps-pal.org/en/articles/article.php?id=922
5. Palestinians with East Jerusalem I.D. cards and are now forbidden entry into the Bethlehem area
For years, Bethlehem’s residents have been forbidden from accessing Jerusalem without special permission from the Israeli army. The communities of the two towns are intimately connected through family, work, education and religion, but are forced to live divided by a wall, unable to visit their friends and families, or go to their universities and places of worship.
http://www.openbethlehem.org/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=64
6. Israeli forces invade northwestern West Bank village, arrest 9 including 5 brothers
Palestine News Network 7/6/2006
Before dawn today Israeli forces stormed ‘Atil Village, north of Tulkarem in the northwestern West Bank District. Reports indicate that some 17 Israeli military vehicles invaded the town while opening heavy random fire. Israeli soldiers broke into several homes, conducting lengthy and invasive searches. Residents told PNN that soldiers destroyed a great deal of their personal belongings in the process. Israeli soldiers began arresting Palestinians, including five brothers. Four other people were blindfolded and handcuffed before being put in the back of military jeeps. Israeli forces imposed barriers at the entrances of the village during the invasion, which did not end until after 5:00 am Thursday.
http://www.pnn.ps/english/archive2006/jul/week1/060706/report3.htm
7. Gaza: “They are killing us inside our homes”
Rafah Today 7/6/2006
Photos: Gaza civilians targeted by Israeli shelling / Gaza under attack / Palestinians carrying the body of a wounded civilian / A wounded civilian in Northern Gaza / A child crying at the funeral of Rami Abu Hashem in Northern Gaza / Palestinian woman running away from her home as shelling began / Survivors of the Israeli attack — On Thursday, Israeli Bulldozers devastated vast areas of arable lands in Beit Lahia and Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. The war is still going on, and the Israeli Army is bombing everywhere in the Gaza Strip. This aims only to terrify the children, women and old men sleeping in their houses. A Palestinian woman, 56, told me “I don’t know why the world is still silent. Until when?… For the sake of God and all our children, please intervene and stop killing us in Gaza. ”
http://rafah.virtualactivism.net/news/todaymain.htm
8. Army invade Jenin, kills one, wounds 11 arrests 11 Palestinians
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19825&Itemid=1
International Middle East Media Center 7/6/2006
One Palestinian was killed and at least 11 were wounded, six of them were arrested in an Israeli invasion to the West Bank city of Jenin, following a failed assassination attempt by an Israeli undercover army unit. The unit stormed a mourning house, in the city, in an attempt to assassinate leaders of Al-Aqsa brigade in the city. Israeli sources said that Zakaria Al-Zubeidi, leader of the Aqsa Brigade in Jenin area, was killed in the attack, however local sources said that Zubeidi, who was at the mourning house, noticed some foreign people entering the mourning house, who turned to be an Israeli under cover special unit. According to Maan news agency, al-Zubeidi started to shoot in the air which distracted the under cover soldiers allowing him to escape.
9. DENIED ENTRY – Palestinians not allowed into their own country
There are many thousands of Palestinians, or their spouses and members of their families, who hold foreign passports. The Israeli authorities would of course know their numbers exactly.This policy especially targets Palestinian Americans as well as well as foreign spouses of Palestinian ID holders alike. Many were denied obtaining ‘Palestinian’ IDs which are actually issued by the Israeli Occupation authorities. The latter control birth, death, marriage, visits, visas, permits and all personal and civil matters in the Occupied Territories, even in Gaza after the ‘disengagement’. And since the Netanyahu government in the late nineties, no new ‘Palestinian’ IDs were issued to all those who applied for them, in spite of the formal agreements with the Palestinians. It is not only military occupation of the land, but of the people also.
This policy of denying people visas, visits and return has accelerated in the last few weeks and it is affecting wives, daughters, sons, husbands, grandchildren and, in short, tearing up families. It also affects lecturers at universities, students, researchers and peace and solidarity activists, and sometimes even plain tourists. Upon arrival at Tel Aviv airport they are forced to return and pay the fare back to where they took off from.
http://www.inbaa.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=13663
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/June/21%20o/Denial%20of%20Entry%20by%20Israel%20to%20Foreign%20Nationals%20into%20Palestinian%20Territory%20By%20Noura%20Khouri.htm
10. Women calling for steadfastness as conditions worsen under Israeli attacks and closures
Palestine News Network 7/6/2006
Women’s groups in the Nablus District are speaking out against the Israeli military actions that continue to suffocate the citizens of Nablus and the Palestinian people as a whole. Condemnations against the forced closure of a health center in the city and an aluminium factory in Askar Refugee Camp came Thursday. The women are pointing out that these closures will affect hundreds of working families and the overall access to healthcare by the people of Nablus. The groups further noted that as the health center and the factory are large service providers and as such integral parts of the community, the closures will negatively impact the northern West Bank. In addition, the groups are denouncing the recent Israeli storming of a television station in the city, accusing the Israeli government of violating freedoms of both opinion and of the press.
http://www.pnn.ps/english/archive2006/jul/week1/060706/report7.htm
11. Israeli incursion in Al Farahein region destroys agricultural land
Ma’an News 7/6/2006
Khan Younis –Israeli tanks and bulldozers penetrated the Al Farahein region east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Thursday morning. The incursion took place under heavy cover by Israeli artillery bombardment and helicopter strikes using heavy machine guns. No casualties were reported. Palestinian security sources said that seven Israeli bulldozer penetrated at least 600m and razed the land causing great losses to Palestinian agriculture in the area. This area of Al Farahein was consistently targeted by the Israeli forces in the past. Civilians in the region are worried that the Israeli forces are going to expand their operation to resemble developments in the north of the Strip; they called for the international community to intervene and put an end to the Israeli attack.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=12820
12. Hamas calls Gaza to arms
AlJazeera 7/7/2006
Thursday was the bloodiest day in Gaza in nearly a year — The Palestinian government has urged security forces to fight Israeli troops in Gaza after the most violent day since Israel withdrew from the territory last year. Saeed Seyam, the interior minister, declared a state of emergency on Thursday, according to a spokesman after fighting killed 19 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier. Khalid Abu Hilal, a Hamas minister, told a news conference: “Because of the continuation of bloodshed and Israel’s crimes, the minister of interior a few hours ago declared a full state of emergency in the homeland. “He (Seyam) called on all Palestinian security and military services to participate in the moral, national and religious duty to defend our people… and to confront this incursion and cowardly Zionist aggression. ”
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0B494E13-13C7-4FCD-BD51-016CC8F896AD.htm
13. Israeli forces raid Nablus arrest policemen and others
Ma’an News 7/6/2006
Nablus –Dozens of Israeli military vehicles raided the city of Nablus early on Thursday morning. Israeli forces arrested five Palestinian citizens including two Palestinian policemen, during the raid. Palestinian security sources reported that the Israeli Forcse arrested the Palestinian policemen, Farouq Eishah, 27, and Muhammad Qa’ais, 26, while they were guarding the correction of diploma examinations in a school in the east of the city of Nablus. Another three citizens were arrested after the Israeli forces broke into several homes. Israeli bulldozers razed the tomb of the Raed Tbilah in the Sufyan Street in the city.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=12811
14. Army vehicles bulldoze farmlands in Khan Younis area
International Middle East Media Center 7/6/2006
Israeli military bulldozers started to level wide areas of lands owned by the residents of Al faraheen area east of Khan Younis south of Gaza Strip on Thursday. Local eyewitnesses reported that three military bulldozers backed by seven tanks and an air cover intercepted in the area for 600 meters away from the eastern borders of the Strip and started bulldozing farmlands planted with olive trees. According to Jaber Abu Rajeelah, a resident from the area, these farmlands belong the Gazan families of Abu A’nza and Abu Rajeelah families. Al Faraheen area had been invaded repeatedly by the army during the years of the Intefada during which several houses were demolished and farmlands were bulldozed.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19804&Itemid=1
15. Army invades an NGO headquarters in Tubass and confiscates its belongings
International Middle East Media Center 7/6/2006
The Israeli forces broke into the headquarters of Juthour Culture and Arts center in the West Bank city of Tubass, Thursday morning. More than 8 army vehicles surrounded the building. Troops broke the door and soldiers went in the center ransacked the place the confiscated files and computers and left, no arrests were made, local sources reported.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19808&Itemid=1
16. Army invades Al Nabi Elias and Azon villages east of Qalqilia and arrests several residents
International Middle East Media Center 7/6/2006
Several residents were injured after Israeli army troops invaded Al Nabi Elias and Azon villages east of the West Bank city Qalqilia and searched several houses, Thursday at dawn. Troops also arrested several residents, including Nimer Hanon, 29, Ghareeb Hanon, 27, Theeb Hanon, 25, Ameen Abu Halema, 26, Yasser Saleem, 22, all were taken to unknown locations, local sources reported.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19805&Itemid=1
17. Professionals, students and trade unions in Nablus call for release and nonviolent resistance against arrest of government officials
Palestine News Network 7/6/2006
Professional associations, trade unions, and students in Nablus City in the northern West Bank are calling for the release of Palestinian Legislative Council members and Palestinian Authority Ministers from Israeli jails. Last Israeli forces arrested 38 Palestinian elected officials in the West Bank for belonging to the democratically elected Hamas party. The groups are also publicly condemning the continued Israeli military aggression against unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The unions, students and professionals released a statement condemning arresting Palestinian elected officials, noting that these officials are political representatives of the Palestinian people.
http://www.pnn.ps/english/archive2006/jul/week1/060706/report5.htm
18. 5 more senior Hamas members arrested in J’lem
YNet News 7/6/2006
According to police, helped Hamas parliament members carry out activities in the capital. Additionally, extended remand for 35 Hamas members arrested last week — Security forces’ battle with Hamas continues: Wednesday night, five senior members of the organization were arrested for questioning by the Police Investigations Unit of the Jerusalem district, in conjunction with Border Guard Police. According to the police, the five new arrestees worked from their north Jerusalem-based offices to help Hamas parliament members carry out operations in the capital. The arrests are part of the effort to combat Hamas activities in Jerusalem, and follows on the heels of the citizenship revocation for the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and other members of the legislative council, who live in Jerusalem and are currently being held.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3272117,00.html
19. Palestinians use World Cup to reclaim their occupied house
Ma’an News 7/6/2006
Ramallah — Palestinian citizens Abdullah Rahmah, Muhammad Al Kateeb and Abdulfattah Burnat from Bil’in, a village west of Ramallah in the West Bank, returned to their home on Thursday after their house was occupied by Israeli settlers who claimed that it was theirs. Their house is located at the edge of the illegal Israeli settlement of Modi’in Illit, west of Ramallah. While the Israeli settlers were busy watching the World Cup, the Palestinians took the opportunity to return to their house. However, a huge contingent of police and border guards soon arrived on the scene and attempted to forcibly evict the Palestinians. The Palestinians presented their property papers and the Israelis are now investigating if these papers are genuine or not. In the meantime, the Palestinians have been forced out of their house until the investigation is completed.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3272117,00.html
20. Two farmers were prevented from working on their land by Israeli army
International Womens’ Peace Service 7/5/2006
On Tuesday, July 4th, two farmers from Deir Istiya were prevented from working on their land by the Israeli army. A farmer irrigating his olive trees was ordered off his property by four soldiers in an army jeep, who told him he was not allowed to be there. The soldiers insisted he leave immediately and waited until he left. This was the first time that soldiers had ordered him off his land. Two winters ago settlers from nearby Ravava uprooted some of his trees, which he had planted about 15 years ago. The olive harvest is coming up in October and this is an important time for caring for the trees and ploughing the land. On the same day a goat herder, while grazing his goats on common Deir Istiya land, was also ordered off by the Israeli army.
http://www.iwps-pal.org/en/articles/article.php?id=923
21. Look who’s been kidnapped!
Hundreds of Palestinian ‘suspects’ have been kidnapped from their homes and will never stand trial
Arik Diamant
It’s the wee hours of the morning, still dark outside. A guerilla force comes out of nowhere to kidnap a soldier. After hours of careful movement, the force reaches its target, and the ambush is on! In seconds, the soldier finds himself looking down the barrel of a rifle.
A smash in the face with the butt of the gun and the soldier falls to the ground, bleeding. The kidnappers pick him up, quickly tie his hands and blindfold him, and disappear into the night.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3271505,00.html