CLiFF HANLEY

 

 

10 Jordan Valley families given

24 hours to leave homes

28 June Ma'an Agency-

 

Ten families in the Jordan Valley were handed home demolition orders on Sunday 27th June and given 24 hours to evacuate their lands.

 

Most of the homes to be demolished belong to the Daraghmah and Al-Makahmreh families, who say they have documents proving their ownership of the land filed with Israel's Land Registry.

 

The families said they had been issued demolition orders before, however this was the first time they had been given a 24-hour notice.

 

A spokesman from the Israeli Civil Administration office said the orders were given because the homes are in a "fire zone", putting the residents "at risk."

 

The homes slated for demolition are in Al-Farsieyah in the Tubas municipality, all in “Area C”, under zoning regulations established under the Oslo Accords, putting them under Israeli civil and military control.

 

Several villages in Tubas have been targeted by home demolition orders in recent days. Six families in the villages of Al-Hadidiya and Khirbet Humsa were given 10 days to evacuate their land on 21 June, a move which would see 50 Palestinians homeless and without their livelihoods.

 

So far this year, 125 Palestinians have been displaced by home demolitions in “Area C”, which encompasses 60 percent of the West Bank and is under full Israeli military and administrative control, according to UN reports.

 

Palestinians can only build within boundaries specified by the Israeli Civil Administration, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has noted, an area that constitutes less than one percent of “Area C”, and much of this is already built up.

 

Effectively, "in almost the entirety of the Jordan Valley, Palestinian construction is prohibited,” a UN office reported in December 2009.

 

In a recent report, Amnesty International's deputy director, Philip Luther, remarked that "Demolition and eviction orders do not just destroy people's homes. They also take away their possessions and their hopes for a secure future."

 

Last year, at least 600 Palestinians, half of them children, were made homeless by home demolition orders, the report added.

 

 

 

 

Intruders acquitted for 'preventing

war crimes in Gaza'

 

2nd July

 

Israeli ambassador angry after court clears five activists who caused £180,000 damage to Brighton arms factory, ruling they committed offence to prevent more serious crime

                          Picture: Iqbal Tamimi

Bristol Palestine and anti-war activists were out on the street celebrating on Friday 2nd after the EDO 5 were acquitted. In Brighton, too, where the action was carried out.

 

Judge George Bathurst-Norman had suggested to the jury, "You may well think that hell on earth would not be an understatement of what the Gazans suffered in that time," the Guardian newspaper reported.

Zionist ambassador Ron Prosor responded to the remark on Thursday night, saying  "after reading the judge's statement, there is no doubt that this is not a great era of the British justice system. I assume that Sderot's children, who have lived under thousands [sic] of missiles, for years, will be able to enlighten the judge as to the meaning of 'hell on earth’. I am convinced that his honour would have ruled differently had he been sitting in the Sderot youth cultural center, rather than on Brighton's sunny shores."

According to the report which angered the Israeli ambassador, the five were acquitted despite causing £180,000  damage to the arms factory shortly after Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

 

 The five freely admitted they had broken in and sabotaged the factory on the outskirts of Brighton, but argued they were legally justified in doing so, and that  they were seeking to prevent war crimes in Gaza.

 

They said they believed that EDO MBM, the firm that owns the factory, was breaking export regulations by manufacturing and selling to the Israelis military equipment which would be used by the Israeli army against those living in the “territories”. They added that they wanted to slow down the manufacture of these components, and impede what they believed were war crimes being committed by Israel against the Palestinians.

 

One of the defendants, Robert Nicholls, told the Guardian after being acquitted: "I'm joyful really, at being a free man. The action was impulsive really, we just wanted to do something that would make a real difference to the people of Palestine."

 

Another, Ornella Saibene, said: "I've felt very peaceful all the way through the trial because I'm proud of what I've done. It was the right thing to do

According to the Guardian, the group used the "lawful excuse" defence – committing an offence to prevent a more serious crime – as a tactic in their campaigns. Four of the activists, aged 25 to 52, are from Bristol. The fifth lives in Brighton.

 

 The Guardian also mentions the Goldstone Report, which ruled that Israel had committed war crimes during the Gaza offensive.

Ambassador Prosor, who has been dealing with ‘serious’ incidents of delegitimization – in universities, economic organizations and the British press – on a daily basis, has decided not to keep silent. Nevertheless, he is unlikely to be able to haul back the plummeting reputation of the Zionist regime in Britain.

 

 

 

 

Westminster seeks war crimes law change

 

22 July

The British coalition government on Thursday submitted a proposal calling to amend its universal jurisdiction law, which will effectively prevent private individuals from filing lawsuits against foreign leaders.

If it passes into law, this will spare Israeli politicians and high-ranking IDF officers war crimes arrest warrants on their arrival in the UK.

 

"Our commitment to our international obligations and to ensuring that there is no impunity for those accused of crimes of universal jurisdiction is unwavering, "Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said  on Thursday 22nd June.

 

"It is important, however, that universal jurisdiction cases should be proceeded with in this country only on the basis of solid evidence that is likely to lead to a successful prosecution, otherwise there is a risk of damaging our ability to help in conflict resolution or to pursue a coherent foreign policy," he said.

 

"The Government has concluded, after careful consideration, that it would be appropriate to require the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions before an arrest warrant can be issued to a private prosecutor in respect of an offence of universal jurisdiction. Britain is unable to play a leading role in the diplomatic world if foreign politicians cannot visit this country without fear of arrest."

                             

This news has been welcomed by Zionist Opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who was among a number of hard-line Zionists who were forced to cancel their scheduled visits to the UK due to arrest warrants issued against them over war crimes committed during the war in Gaza, saying, "The British justice system has been abused by cynical elements."

While enjoying a brief gasp of the oxygen of publicity, she publicised her own definition of anti-Zionists as terrorists:

"This amendment will bring an end to the horrible and twisted [law] that allows individual political activists to cynically take advantage of the legal system to fight the international struggle against terror."

 

Looking further back,  people like Henry Kissinger and Jimmy Carter (Pol Pot’s champion) will find it easier to holiday in Blighty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oxfam calls for compensation from Israel

25th July Ma'an News Agency

 

                                      

The international aid agency Oxfam demanded on Monday that Israel compensate Palestinians in a northern Jordan Valley village after soldiers destroyed at least $29,000 of aid.

 

In a statement, the charity said villagers in Al-Farisiya were forced into poverty when soldiers demolished 79 structures in the village, including homes, stables, sheds, water tanks, two tons of animal fodder, fertilizer and wheat.

            Israeli soldiers (archive)

 

An initial assessment by Oxfam and other NGOs in the area calculated that the demolitions affected 113 Palestinians, half of them children and identified as some of the poorest in the area. Water tanks and irrigation pipes provided by Oxfam were among the damaged goods.

 

Oxfam’s advocacy officer, Cara Flowers, said the area looked "a natural disaster had taken place,” adding that “With no access to shelter, water or fodder for their goat and sheep herds, an entire community is being forced to leave their land.”

 

Under zoning regulations established under the 1994 Oslo Accords, Al-Farisiya falls in “Area C,” the 60 percent of the West Bank which is under full Israeli administrative and military control.

 

Last year, Israeli authorities declared village land a “military zone,” and some residents who have lived in the village for decades were issued eviction notices in June.

 

The UN has reported an increase in demolitions across Area C, and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions recently reported that Israel has “returned with a vengeance” to its policy of demolishing Palestinian homes.

 

Flowers said “The Israeli authorities are obliged to protect the lives, property and livelihoods of civilians under their occupation. The authorities should now offer alternative accommodation and compensation for damage done, some of it to internationally donated material, but more importantly, to the lives of Al-Farisiya’s residents.”

 

 

 

 

Bedouin village razed in Negev as

Israelis cheer on
 

Early morning on 27 July, Israeli bulldozers, flanked by helicopters and throngs of police, demolished the entire Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the northern Negev desert. Despite their land rights cases still pending in the court system, hundreds of al-Araqib villagers were instantly made homeless a month after Israeli police posted demolition orders.
 

 

 

 

A family looks on as Israeli forces raze al-Araqib village, 27 July (ActiveStills)  

 

Eyewitness reports say the police were accompanied by several busloads of right-wing Israeli civilians who cheered during the demolitions.

The Electronic Intifada spoke with Dr. Yeela Ranaan of the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages (RCUV) in the Negev, who was in al-Araqib all day long during the demolitions.

"Approximately 1,500 Israeli police came at 5:30 in the morning and evacuated everyone from their beds," Ranaan said. "They brought tear gas and water cannons, but didn't use them. There was a handful of Israeli peace activists who had come the night before to stay with the villagers, and the police beat them up and detained them. Once they evacuated everyone in the village, they started to demolish it. It took three hours to flatten the village. For the people of al-Araqib, it was a nightmare to see their village destroyed."

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, al-Araqib villagers have been fighting for recognition in the courts. Ranaan told The Electronic Intifada that in the early 1950s, after they were forcefully expelled from their land by Israeli forces, villagers were fined for "trespassing" in their own homes by the Israeli government. Israel has refused to acknowledge al-Araqib villagers' land deeds and receipts of land taxes paid to the Ottoman authorities well before Israel's establishment.

"As we speak, the fate of al-Araqib hasn't been decided in a court," Ranaan said. "Despite this, Israel came and demolished the homes. Israel is not just changing the facts on the ground, it's erasing them."

More than 110,000 Palestinian Bedouin live in dozens of so-called "unrecognized villages" throughout the State of Israel, and nearly 80 percent live in the Negev. Since 1948, Israel has refused to acknowledge the villages, and therefore deny basic services such as water, electricity, roads, schools and waste management.

During the demolitions yesterday, Sulaiman abu Mdian, a 29-year-old father of four who works as a chicken farmer, told CNN that "the State of Israel is treating us like cockroaches."

In an emailed press release following the destruction of al-Araqib, RCUV admonished the Israeli government's policies of accelerating home demolitions against Palestinian Bedouin communities across the state.

"The destruction's declared aim is to facilitate plans by the Jewish National Fund to plant a [forest] on the site," the release stated. "We regard this demolition as a criminal act. Bedouin citizens of Israel are not enemies, and forestation of the Negev is not a reasonable pretext for destroying a community which is more than 60 years old, dispossessing its residents and violating the basic rights of hundreds of Israeli civilians, men, women and children."

"This act by the state authorities is no 'law enforcement' -- it is an act of war, such as is undertaken against an enemy," RCUV added. "This act cannot be dissociated from yesterday's statement by Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, who at the cabinet meeting sounded a warning about 'a situation in which a demand for national rights will be made from some quarters inside Israel, for example in the Negev, should the area be left without a Jewish majority. Such things happened in the Balkans, and it is a real threat.' Presenting the Bedouin citizens of Israel as 'a real threat' gives legitimacy to the expulsion of Israel's Bedouin citizens from the Negev in order to 'Judaize' it. We call on all who care for democracy to give their support to this threatened community."
 

 

 

Bil’in demo joined by rappers from

Britain and the US

Today 30 July 2010 the people of Bil'in were joined by several groups of internationals, including a group of rappers from Britain and the US. A large group of the demonstrators managed to approach the soldiers who had already entered the gate. Two people were detained for a while, following large amounts of tear gas, eventually forcing the protestors back towards the village.

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Israeli protestor was hit painfully by a tear gas canister on his leg, while a British citizen was dragged several metres by a soldier, causing bruising and bleeding to his back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z29697harl0
 

 

 

Six homes flattened, 300 others damaged in Israeli bombing of Deir Al-Balah

03 August

 

A preliminary report issued by the Palestinian ministry of public works and housing stated that the Israeli random shelling of Deir Al-Balah town in central Gaza at an early hour on Monday caused damage to more than 300 homes and destroyed six others.

           

The ministry noted that at the first moment of the Israeli military aggression on the area, it sent its crews and vehicles to assist the civil defence workers and paramedics to save the wounded citizens.

The ministry added that it listed all homes that were damaged or destroyed and promised to work on strengthening the pillars and foundations of some houses.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, for its part affirmed on Tuesday that the explosion that took place in Deir Al-Balah town was a cowardly act aimed at assassinating some of its field commanders.

In another context, Palestinian minister of agriculture Mohamed Al-Agha stressed on Sunday that the farmers' right to compensation cannot be dropped by prescription, noting that the kind of assistance provided by the government in Gaza is not more than relief aid.

This came during his visit along with a number of Palestinian lawmakers, heads of municipal councils and dignitaries to Al-Shawka border area in Rafah city to participate in a campaign to plant 1,000,000 olive trees.

Agha also promised to plant all agricultural lands which were bulldozed or destroyed by Israel during its repeated attacks on Gaza with almond and olive trees, saying this is the least the government can do compared to the steadfastness of Gaza farmers.

 

The Voice of Palestine  palestine-info.co.uk

 

 

IOF demolishes seven graves in Jerusalem

 

Jerusalem, August 4, (Pal Telegraph) Bulldozers of the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem demolished today morning seven graves in the cemetery of "Ma’man allah”. According to eyewitnesses, that the Israeli bulldozers started demolishing the graves under police protection and under the pretext of not obtaining a licence by The Islamic Movement to restore them.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68 57

 

 

 

British delegation in Gaza

 

 

07/08/2010

A British delegation bringing aid arrived in Gaza on Friday via the Rafah crossing on Egypt’s border.

 

Ahmad Yousef, speaking for the committee to end the siege, said the group of 60 included two MPs and two members of the House of Lords and the head of the British charity Interpal.

 

Yousef, Undersecretary of the Gaza government, said the rest of the delegation will enter the Strip tomorrow, once arrangements to transfer the aid are finalized. The group is part of the “Miles of Smiles 2” convoy which includes politicians, and legal and civil society leaders from across Europe.

 

The delegation  met with Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and deputized PLC speaker Ahmad Bahar on Saturday to survey the damage caused by the Israel assault Operation Cast Lead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The same day, Gaza was again without electricity as its one and only generator broke down, denying power to all homes, businesses and the few functioning hospitals.

 

 

 

 

Village flattened for third time

This is the reality of living in Palestine under the Israeli occupation. There are no rights, other than the ‘right’ to leave or the ‘right’ to die. Zionist troops and Caterpillar bulldozers destroy the Bedouin village Al-Arakib for the third time in two weeks:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rud19ytcPS8&feature=player_embedded

 

 

 

 

Israeli army shuts down anti-wall rallies

but Clinton tells Netanyahu to extend ‘settlement’ freeze

 

3rd September

Israeli forces fired tear-gas canisters, rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs to shut down non-violent weekly protests across the West Bank on Friday.  In Al Ma'sara, near Bethlehem, around 50 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals marched to the village entrance to protest against the separation wall, which cuts villagers off from their land, and the illegal construction of settlements on 3,500 dunums of village land.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=312953

 

                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a slightly more positive note: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that he must extend the settlement "freeze" until the end of the year otherwise peace talks would collapse, according to Israeli press.  Clinton reportedly made the request during a meeting with the Zionist leader held on the first day of re-launched negotiations in Washington, the Hebrew-language daily Ma’ariv said.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=312912