15 feb 2015
Israeli forces injured 36 Palestinians, including nine children, in various clashes throughout the West Bank from 3-9 February. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that of these, six were injured with live ammunition, including four children.
On 4 February, Israeli forces raided the Nablus-area As Sawiya Al Lubban Secondary School for Boys while students were in class, and fired sound bombs in the school premises, disrupting classes and forcing all the students to leave the school.
The incident occurred after Israeli settlers alleged that they had been hit by stones thrown from the school premises. According to initial information provided by the UN Working Group on Grave Violations, a steep increase was observed in incidents affecting students and/or disrupting schooling in the West Bank, with 152 such incidents recorded in 2014 compared to 46 in 2013.
Out of the total number of such incidents in 2014, eight involved As Sawiya Al Lubban Secondary School.
On 6 February, in the South Hebron Hills, near the settlement of Ma’on, Israeli forces beat and detained two 15-year-old children over night, following complaints by the settlement head that they were grazing their sheep on land planned for the expansion of the settlement.
Overall, Israeli forces conducted 96 search and arrest operations during the week, compared to a weekly average of 87 during 2014. One third were carried out in the Jerusalem governorate, and three triggered clashes resulting in five injuries, including two children, injured by live ammunition.
On 4 February, Israeli forces raided the Nablus-area As Sawiya Al Lubban Secondary School for Boys while students were in class, and fired sound bombs in the school premises, disrupting classes and forcing all the students to leave the school.
The incident occurred after Israeli settlers alleged that they had been hit by stones thrown from the school premises. According to initial information provided by the UN Working Group on Grave Violations, a steep increase was observed in incidents affecting students and/or disrupting schooling in the West Bank, with 152 such incidents recorded in 2014 compared to 46 in 2013.
Out of the total number of such incidents in 2014, eight involved As Sawiya Al Lubban Secondary School.
On 6 February, in the South Hebron Hills, near the settlement of Ma’on, Israeli forces beat and detained two 15-year-old children over night, following complaints by the settlement head that they were grazing their sheep on land planned for the expansion of the settlement.
Overall, Israeli forces conducted 96 search and arrest operations during the week, compared to a weekly average of 87 during 2014. One third were carried out in the Jerusalem governorate, and three triggered clashes resulting in five injuries, including two children, injured by live ammunition.
A number of Israeli extremists attacked, on Saturday at night, a Palestinian cab driver in an area in Jerusalem, causing several cuts and bruises that required hospitalization. Soldiers kidnap a Palestinian near Jerusalem, surround ‘Anata town.
Eyewitnesses said the driver was near in the western part of Jerusalem, when a number of extremists started shouting at him before physically assaulting him.
The WAFA News Agency said the wounded Palestinian man has been identified as Ibrahim Bader.
In addition, undercover soldiers of the Israeli army kidnapped a young Palestinian man, driving near the Maale Adumim junction, near the al-‘Ezariyya town, southeast of occupied Jerusalem.
The soldiers violently assaulted the man, before kidnapping him, and confiscated his car.
In addition, Israeli soldiers surrounded, on Sunday at dawn, the eastern part of ‘Anata town, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, and installed a roadblock.
Media sources said the soldiers stopped and searched dozens of Palestinian cars, and investigated the ID cards of the residents while interrogating them.
Hundreds of Palestinians, including schoolchildren, workers and employees, were trying to cross but the soldiers delayed them for several hours.
Eyewitnesses said the driver was near in the western part of Jerusalem, when a number of extremists started shouting at him before physically assaulting him.
The WAFA News Agency said the wounded Palestinian man has been identified as Ibrahim Bader.
In addition, undercover soldiers of the Israeli army kidnapped a young Palestinian man, driving near the Maale Adumim junction, near the al-‘Ezariyya town, southeast of occupied Jerusalem.
The soldiers violently assaulted the man, before kidnapping him, and confiscated his car.
In addition, Israeli soldiers surrounded, on Sunday at dawn, the eastern part of ‘Anata town, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, and installed a roadblock.
Media sources said the soldiers stopped and searched dozens of Palestinian cars, and investigated the ID cards of the residents while interrogating them.
Hundreds of Palestinians, including schoolchildren, workers and employees, were trying to cross but the soldiers delayed them for several hours.
Heavy smoke billows following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City on July 29, 2014
By BRETT REDMAYNE-TITLEY
Israeli atrocity and imposed misery continues unchecked in Gaza. This summer’s wholesale slaughter did nothing to improve the lives of Palestinians. In Gaza, it’s much worse.
As explored in last week’s Press TV article, an examination of the list of crimes committed against the Gaza population, just since the advent of this New Year, shows clearly six obvious conclusions. 1) Horrific Israeli aggression against Gazans continues daily, 2) Israel has no intention of honoring the terms of the August, 2014 ceasefire agreement, 3) At the peace table, neither Israel, Egypt, nor the Palestinian Authority, is actually pursuing peace for Gaza, 4) Politicians across the globe continue to submit to Israeli pressure, not to their conscience, 5) Gazans are, this moment, suffering terribly and, 6) The world, comprised of something better: a sense of justice, a sense of right and wrong, one with actual morals, guts and true courage, has had enough of Israel’s excuses for embracing and promoting pure evil.
All these details lead ultimately to the two most important conclusions; by necessity Hamas is back; stronger than ever and, because all these first six have been deliberately and maliciously perpetrated by Israel: there will be war, again, in Gaza!
A bully such as Israel, filled only with the artificial bluster of unjustified, free stocks of US weapons and unfettered US support, understands only one message, a bare knuckled punch to the head, shocking the bully to his own single, shocking awakening: his opponent is now willing to fight back!
The bully, once defeated, rarely comes back for more.
A recent working example of this simple socio-military principle exploded only weeks ago. After an Israeli helicopter gun-ship massacred six Hezbollah fighters, including two of their commanders and an Iranian general, in the Golan Heights on Jan. 18, 2015, everyone knew that Hezbollah, as the only army to defeat (in the 2006 Lebanon war) the Israeli military, was certainly going to get even.
Indeed. On Jan. 28, Hezbollah scored a crushing victory while sending Israel an effective message in the only language this world-wide bully truly understands: Israeli army body bags, including that of a high ranking general.
In a single demonstrative act of revenge, Hezbollah fighters attacked, from their side of the Lebanon border, an Israeli military convoy destroying it and killing or injuring its passengers which included senior officials. The damage inflicted by Hezbollah was actually worse.
The Israeli Mossad-linked, DEBKA files, in a blistering commentary, summed up the disastrous the Israeli military’s security failure as merely threefold, stating, “One: [Hezbollah] agents were able to cross the border unnoticed; Two: they moved anti-tank rocket launchers right up to the border fence - undetected. And, three, astonishingly, they did not find it hard to strike and blow up the two command vehicles and inflict Israeli losses.” However, DebkaFiles left out the two, far more important conclusions: all the Hezbollah fighters disappeared unscathed, sight unseen, after taking pictures of their victory and, somehow, Hezbollah obtained detailed inside information about the arrival of the convoy and that it carried senior battalion commander major Yuhay Klinger, who was killed.
This means the worst of all results: Hezbollah sympathizers inside the Israeli military. Israelis with a conscience.
Following their victory, Hezbollah sent to the Israelis, via UN channels another equally simple message, this one on paper, meant to say, “enough is enough! Or else?” Israel, suddenly awakened, apparently did understand both of Hezbollah’s messages. Considering the pure statistics of the previous Lebanon war that left Israeli bodies and gutted, burned-out US military hardware all over northern Lebanon, Israel has shown repeatedly that its foreign policy of terror is indeed, as described by US Secretary of State John Kerry “chickenshit.”
As proof: to date, Israel has, again, left Hezbollah alone.
This example of success was also understood in Gaza where Gazans die daily from malnutrition, dehydration and hypothermia as they suffer through a bitterly cold winter huddled in the remains of Israeli created concrete rubble that once were their 90,000 homes.
On Thursday Jan. 22, invisible Hamas supreme commander Mohammad Deif sent a personal letter of condolence to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. A recent article in Press TV showcased Deif, his tactics, his successes, and why Mohammad Deif is Gaza personified. Acknowledging Hezbollah’s intent and message, Deif suggested unity between Hamas and Hezbollah while apprising his mentor, “[The] duty of all the living resistance forces, which reject the slavery to the Zionist project, [need] to be united together in one project against... the Zionist enemy and its collaborators. It is either a jihad, victory, or martyrdom.” Any living Gazan would agree.
Now, any Gazan “yearning to be free...” is joining Hamas.
On Sunday, Feb 1, 2015, University students from the Gaza Strip decided to throw symbolic diplomas into the sea in protest against the jointly enforced Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza. One protestor said he had “lost confidence in the humanity of the world and its human rights councils.”
Indeed.
A senior UN official has expressed concern over the possibility of the start of a new conflict by the Israeli regime against the besieged Gaza Strip. “Right now, things are not going well, and we’re very concerned about the possibility of a further conflict,” James Rawley, the United Nations’ humanitarian chief for the Palestinian territories, said at a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday Feb 12.
Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara said on Wednesday that Israel’s freeze on Palestinian tax revenue was costing the Palestinian Authority seventy percent of its budget, a toll he said could not be sustained by any economy in the world.
So, Israel has offered all of Gaza only two choices: suffer, or die. Predictably, Gazans have decided on their own alternative: resistance.
Hamas has been operating training camps almost daily. Relations with Hezbollah are strong and senior Hamas leadership has been cultivating stronger relations with Iran, whose President Hassan Rouhani, after a meeting last month said, “We believe that the root cause of problems in the region is the usurping occupation of Palestinian territories.”
Hamas recruitment is at the highest levels ever. Recently, Hamas began offering training for Gazan males aged 14-21. Of course, response to this call-to-order was dramatic. With many schools being used to shelter the displaced, and unemployment standing at forty-five percent, it was not difficult to attract youngsters to join the camps. “The Israelis killed my niece last summer. Now I want to kill them,” said a young recruit to Ma’an News Agency.
Understandable.
Hamas has reportedly trained over 17,000 young Gaza resistance fighters in the past five months to augment over ten thousand new adult recruits. The first garrison will likely be the Gaza seaport which Hamas has vowed to open. Reportedly, Hamas has previously offered training sessions to young Gazans for years, but the recent week-long camps were far more serious. Run for the first time by militants from the Qassam Brigades, there were no “fun” sessions.” They were trained intensively in “using light and heavy weaponry and were taught how to ambush, so they can lead the next battle for liberation,” the Brigades said on its website.
Predictably, human rights groups are accusing Hamas of exploiting children for political purposes.”We are not disputing the right of an occupied people to resist, but it must be done by adults, not children,” one human rights activist told AFP news service, speaking on condition of anonymity. Really? Well, you can grow up pretty damn quick when an Israeli tank shell turns your family into cement compost. “The camps are making young people aggressive instead of educating them and teaching them to abide by the law,” the activist continued to whine, reserving any comment on Israel’s lack of adherence to law. He added, “But the priority today should be to take care of their social and physical well-being.” Sure. Who, in the world, is going to provide this for Gazans? Only one challenger, the people’s army of Gaza: Hamas.
The dramatic increase in Hamas recruitment is, of course, not surprising since, literally, every single recruit knows at the least one Gazan killed by Israeli atrocity. For many it was a niece, maybe a cousin, a little brother, their mother or father, their wife, their grandparents, other family members. Some saw their entire families disappear forever, the instant the Israeli military deliberately turned their homes into piles of metal re-bar and concrete dust. A man will never forget such injustice. A man; picks up a gun.
Hamas has made it clear that they are training “resistance fighters.” Their purpose, as has always been the mission of Hamas, is purely defensive.
“The Western media accuse Hamas of militarizing society with their training camps, but what has the West done to stop the enemy from carrying out its crimes?” senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said.”What have we gained from 20 years of futile negotiations?”
Indeed. The day Israel abides by any treaty, honors any international law, or respects any of the true tenants of humanity and human decency, will be the day Gaza finally has a real chance for peace.
Hamas, during this summer’s war, showed that it was the only side that respected innocent civilian lives. Israel killed thousands of innocent Gazans in deliberately targeted killings, yet Hamas, despite crossing the Gazan border and inflicting heavy losses on their soldiers in Israel, did not at any time attack civilian Israelis in retaliation for the slaughter continuing on the other side of the wall. It is little wonder that Hamas waves the white hat to a civilized world; attracting thousands of those who still believe in a proper definition of humanity and freedom.
Here, the chance to stop the next episode of destruction and killing in Gaza lays open and obvious for all the world to see. Proponents of humanity have had all we can take of Israeli excuses for war crimes. We are sick of the lack of prosecution and of the Israeli controlled media trying to cover-up their endemic sociopathic behavior. As evidence, this week more than seven hundred international artists have announced a cultural boycott of Israel over what they call, the inhuman actions of Tel Aviv against the Palestinian people. Additionally, the Israeli military formally dismissed 43 members (ten officers and 33 soldiers) from the elite intelligence 8200 unit. In September, they wrote an open letter protesting the 2014 military operation in Gaza Strip, stating that they all, “refused to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to continue serving as tools in deepening the military control over the occupied territories.”
An example for this world to follow.
But Israeli actions clearly show that Hamas must follow another example, the one set last month by Hezbollah: it must blacken the bully’s eye so that forever Israel leaves Gaza alone and finally allows it to flourish. To the antiquated mind-set of Zion that would have the world collectively live and/or die by only Israel’s sword, it is not surprising that this bully only understands one single language. The language of war.
This must stop now. Israel is again forcing war upon Hamas. Only this world can stop it before it begins. How many more times will we allow Israel to destroy the lives and future of Gaza? When will enough of us realize our own understanding of another historic message, and stop this?
“From the language of war, comes the true meaning of peace.”
It is time. What, world, say you now?
Je suis Gaza? Je suis Hamas?
BRETT REDMAYNE-TITLEY Analyst Brett Redmayne-Titley spent his formative years with his family in Queensland, Australia, Ghana, West Africa, and the Bahamas. Visiting over fifty counties over four decades he has seen the world slowly destroyed by greed, capitalism and empire. Not content to watch from the side lines, Brett has taken up his pen to tell the truth about important stories. On-scene reporting is his specialty. Traveling to the story he has written in-depth, multi-part articles about the Keystone XL Pipeline, Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, the 2012 Democratic National Convention, the police killing of Evan Kwik and many more. His articles have been published by dozens of on-line news services.
By BRETT REDMAYNE-TITLEY
Israeli atrocity and imposed misery continues unchecked in Gaza. This summer’s wholesale slaughter did nothing to improve the lives of Palestinians. In Gaza, it’s much worse.
As explored in last week’s Press TV article, an examination of the list of crimes committed against the Gaza population, just since the advent of this New Year, shows clearly six obvious conclusions. 1) Horrific Israeli aggression against Gazans continues daily, 2) Israel has no intention of honoring the terms of the August, 2014 ceasefire agreement, 3) At the peace table, neither Israel, Egypt, nor the Palestinian Authority, is actually pursuing peace for Gaza, 4) Politicians across the globe continue to submit to Israeli pressure, not to their conscience, 5) Gazans are, this moment, suffering terribly and, 6) The world, comprised of something better: a sense of justice, a sense of right and wrong, one with actual morals, guts and true courage, has had enough of Israel’s excuses for embracing and promoting pure evil.
All these details lead ultimately to the two most important conclusions; by necessity Hamas is back; stronger than ever and, because all these first six have been deliberately and maliciously perpetrated by Israel: there will be war, again, in Gaza!
A bully such as Israel, filled only with the artificial bluster of unjustified, free stocks of US weapons and unfettered US support, understands only one message, a bare knuckled punch to the head, shocking the bully to his own single, shocking awakening: his opponent is now willing to fight back!
The bully, once defeated, rarely comes back for more.
A recent working example of this simple socio-military principle exploded only weeks ago. After an Israeli helicopter gun-ship massacred six Hezbollah fighters, including two of their commanders and an Iranian general, in the Golan Heights on Jan. 18, 2015, everyone knew that Hezbollah, as the only army to defeat (in the 2006 Lebanon war) the Israeli military, was certainly going to get even.
Indeed. On Jan. 28, Hezbollah scored a crushing victory while sending Israel an effective message in the only language this world-wide bully truly understands: Israeli army body bags, including that of a high ranking general.
In a single demonstrative act of revenge, Hezbollah fighters attacked, from their side of the Lebanon border, an Israeli military convoy destroying it and killing or injuring its passengers which included senior officials. The damage inflicted by Hezbollah was actually worse.
The Israeli Mossad-linked, DEBKA files, in a blistering commentary, summed up the disastrous the Israeli military’s security failure as merely threefold, stating, “One: [Hezbollah] agents were able to cross the border unnoticed; Two: they moved anti-tank rocket launchers right up to the border fence - undetected. And, three, astonishingly, they did not find it hard to strike and blow up the two command vehicles and inflict Israeli losses.” However, DebkaFiles left out the two, far more important conclusions: all the Hezbollah fighters disappeared unscathed, sight unseen, after taking pictures of their victory and, somehow, Hezbollah obtained detailed inside information about the arrival of the convoy and that it carried senior battalion commander major Yuhay Klinger, who was killed.
This means the worst of all results: Hezbollah sympathizers inside the Israeli military. Israelis with a conscience.
Following their victory, Hezbollah sent to the Israelis, via UN channels another equally simple message, this one on paper, meant to say, “enough is enough! Or else?” Israel, suddenly awakened, apparently did understand both of Hezbollah’s messages. Considering the pure statistics of the previous Lebanon war that left Israeli bodies and gutted, burned-out US military hardware all over northern Lebanon, Israel has shown repeatedly that its foreign policy of terror is indeed, as described by US Secretary of State John Kerry “chickenshit.”
As proof: to date, Israel has, again, left Hezbollah alone.
This example of success was also understood in Gaza where Gazans die daily from malnutrition, dehydration and hypothermia as they suffer through a bitterly cold winter huddled in the remains of Israeli created concrete rubble that once were their 90,000 homes.
On Thursday Jan. 22, invisible Hamas supreme commander Mohammad Deif sent a personal letter of condolence to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. A recent article in Press TV showcased Deif, his tactics, his successes, and why Mohammad Deif is Gaza personified. Acknowledging Hezbollah’s intent and message, Deif suggested unity between Hamas and Hezbollah while apprising his mentor, “[The] duty of all the living resistance forces, which reject the slavery to the Zionist project, [need] to be united together in one project against... the Zionist enemy and its collaborators. It is either a jihad, victory, or martyrdom.” Any living Gazan would agree.
Now, any Gazan “yearning to be free...” is joining Hamas.
On Sunday, Feb 1, 2015, University students from the Gaza Strip decided to throw symbolic diplomas into the sea in protest against the jointly enforced Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza. One protestor said he had “lost confidence in the humanity of the world and its human rights councils.”
Indeed.
A senior UN official has expressed concern over the possibility of the start of a new conflict by the Israeli regime against the besieged Gaza Strip. “Right now, things are not going well, and we’re very concerned about the possibility of a further conflict,” James Rawley, the United Nations’ humanitarian chief for the Palestinian territories, said at a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday Feb 12.
Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara said on Wednesday that Israel’s freeze on Palestinian tax revenue was costing the Palestinian Authority seventy percent of its budget, a toll he said could not be sustained by any economy in the world.
So, Israel has offered all of Gaza only two choices: suffer, or die. Predictably, Gazans have decided on their own alternative: resistance.
Hamas has been operating training camps almost daily. Relations with Hezbollah are strong and senior Hamas leadership has been cultivating stronger relations with Iran, whose President Hassan Rouhani, after a meeting last month said, “We believe that the root cause of problems in the region is the usurping occupation of Palestinian territories.”
Hamas recruitment is at the highest levels ever. Recently, Hamas began offering training for Gazan males aged 14-21. Of course, response to this call-to-order was dramatic. With many schools being used to shelter the displaced, and unemployment standing at forty-five percent, it was not difficult to attract youngsters to join the camps. “The Israelis killed my niece last summer. Now I want to kill them,” said a young recruit to Ma’an News Agency.
Understandable.
Hamas has reportedly trained over 17,000 young Gaza resistance fighters in the past five months to augment over ten thousand new adult recruits. The first garrison will likely be the Gaza seaport which Hamas has vowed to open. Reportedly, Hamas has previously offered training sessions to young Gazans for years, but the recent week-long camps were far more serious. Run for the first time by militants from the Qassam Brigades, there were no “fun” sessions.” They were trained intensively in “using light and heavy weaponry and were taught how to ambush, so they can lead the next battle for liberation,” the Brigades said on its website.
Predictably, human rights groups are accusing Hamas of exploiting children for political purposes.”We are not disputing the right of an occupied people to resist, but it must be done by adults, not children,” one human rights activist told AFP news service, speaking on condition of anonymity. Really? Well, you can grow up pretty damn quick when an Israeli tank shell turns your family into cement compost. “The camps are making young people aggressive instead of educating them and teaching them to abide by the law,” the activist continued to whine, reserving any comment on Israel’s lack of adherence to law. He added, “But the priority today should be to take care of their social and physical well-being.” Sure. Who, in the world, is going to provide this for Gazans? Only one challenger, the people’s army of Gaza: Hamas.
The dramatic increase in Hamas recruitment is, of course, not surprising since, literally, every single recruit knows at the least one Gazan killed by Israeli atrocity. For many it was a niece, maybe a cousin, a little brother, their mother or father, their wife, their grandparents, other family members. Some saw their entire families disappear forever, the instant the Israeli military deliberately turned their homes into piles of metal re-bar and concrete dust. A man will never forget such injustice. A man; picks up a gun.
Hamas has made it clear that they are training “resistance fighters.” Their purpose, as has always been the mission of Hamas, is purely defensive.
“The Western media accuse Hamas of militarizing society with their training camps, but what has the West done to stop the enemy from carrying out its crimes?” senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said.”What have we gained from 20 years of futile negotiations?”
Indeed. The day Israel abides by any treaty, honors any international law, or respects any of the true tenants of humanity and human decency, will be the day Gaza finally has a real chance for peace.
Hamas, during this summer’s war, showed that it was the only side that respected innocent civilian lives. Israel killed thousands of innocent Gazans in deliberately targeted killings, yet Hamas, despite crossing the Gazan border and inflicting heavy losses on their soldiers in Israel, did not at any time attack civilian Israelis in retaliation for the slaughter continuing on the other side of the wall. It is little wonder that Hamas waves the white hat to a civilized world; attracting thousands of those who still believe in a proper definition of humanity and freedom.
Here, the chance to stop the next episode of destruction and killing in Gaza lays open and obvious for all the world to see. Proponents of humanity have had all we can take of Israeli excuses for war crimes. We are sick of the lack of prosecution and of the Israeli controlled media trying to cover-up their endemic sociopathic behavior. As evidence, this week more than seven hundred international artists have announced a cultural boycott of Israel over what they call, the inhuman actions of Tel Aviv against the Palestinian people. Additionally, the Israeli military formally dismissed 43 members (ten officers and 33 soldiers) from the elite intelligence 8200 unit. In September, they wrote an open letter protesting the 2014 military operation in Gaza Strip, stating that they all, “refused to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to continue serving as tools in deepening the military control over the occupied territories.”
An example for this world to follow.
But Israeli actions clearly show that Hamas must follow another example, the one set last month by Hezbollah: it must blacken the bully’s eye so that forever Israel leaves Gaza alone and finally allows it to flourish. To the antiquated mind-set of Zion that would have the world collectively live and/or die by only Israel’s sword, it is not surprising that this bully only understands one single language. The language of war.
This must stop now. Israel is again forcing war upon Hamas. Only this world can stop it before it begins. How many more times will we allow Israel to destroy the lives and future of Gaza? When will enough of us realize our own understanding of another historic message, and stop this?
“From the language of war, comes the true meaning of peace.”
It is time. What, world, say you now?
Je suis Gaza? Je suis Hamas?
BRETT REDMAYNE-TITLEY Analyst Brett Redmayne-Titley spent his formative years with his family in Queensland, Australia, Ghana, West Africa, and the Bahamas. Visiting over fifty counties over four decades he has seen the world slowly destroyed by greed, capitalism and empire. Not content to watch from the side lines, Brett has taken up his pen to tell the truth about important stories. On-scene reporting is his specialty. Traveling to the story he has written in-depth, multi-part articles about the Keystone XL Pipeline, Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, the 2012 Democratic National Convention, the police killing of Evan Kwik and many more. His articles have been published by dozens of on-line news services.
MK Ahmed Tibi
A coalition of political parties in Israel that includes the two Arab parties and a left-wing Jewish party launched a campaign Saturday to call for unity and demand an end to the racist attacks against Palestinians that have plagued Israel for the past year.
The three parties involved in the effort are Hadash (a Jewish party), and the two Palestinian parties in the Israeli Knesset: Balad and Ta'al (United Arab List).
Some of the incidents of racism over the past year include the burning to death of a Palestinian teenager by right-wing Israeli extremists, multiple beatings, shootings and stonings of Palestinian youth by Israeli settlers, and demonstrations by right-wing Israelis calling for the expulsion of both Palestinians in Israel and Africans who came to Israel seeking refuge from the wars in their countries.
At the event to launch the campaign, Jewish Israeli Knesset Member Dov Khenin stated, " Jews and Arabs must stand together against the ugly wave of hatred and racism. Anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to feel what happened here last summer should stand by us".
He continued, “Every person with a conscience in this country should ask himself at this time: Does he stand with the forces of war and hatred and death, or with the forces of justice and equality and peace and life. There will be no peace here and no life here until we free ourselves of the occupation, because a nation that subjugates another nation cannot be free. Peace will only come with a solution of independence and justice for both nations in this land."
Khenin also called for equality for all Israeli citizens. Currently, there are more than 50 laws on the books in Israel that discriminate against non-Jews, and hundreds of policies and procedures that are discriminatory as well.
Also speaking at the event was MK Ahmed Tibi, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship and longtime member of the Israeli parliament. He said, "Lieberman said that the aim of the list is to destroy Israel and we say to him: We are not involved in that because you are doing it very well. We are involved in building the individual, and destroying the occupation and racism.
Tibi added, "You [Lieberman] gambled that we would not unite, but we overcame competitiveness in order to send a message of a united, strong minority. When we will be 15 MKs in a large faction and opposite us will sit representatives of the right they will be embarrassed … their blood pressure will rise and the Knesset doctor will work overtime."
In his address, Tibi also urged Arab youth to stand strong against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, known by its Arabic acronym Da'esh, saying that the group warps Islam, and is doing more harm to Islam than Western Islamophobia does.
A coalition of political parties in Israel that includes the two Arab parties and a left-wing Jewish party launched a campaign Saturday to call for unity and demand an end to the racist attacks against Palestinians that have plagued Israel for the past year.
The three parties involved in the effort are Hadash (a Jewish party), and the two Palestinian parties in the Israeli Knesset: Balad and Ta'al (United Arab List).
Some of the incidents of racism over the past year include the burning to death of a Palestinian teenager by right-wing Israeli extremists, multiple beatings, shootings and stonings of Palestinian youth by Israeli settlers, and demonstrations by right-wing Israelis calling for the expulsion of both Palestinians in Israel and Africans who came to Israel seeking refuge from the wars in their countries.
At the event to launch the campaign, Jewish Israeli Knesset Member Dov Khenin stated, " Jews and Arabs must stand together against the ugly wave of hatred and racism. Anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to feel what happened here last summer should stand by us".
He continued, “Every person with a conscience in this country should ask himself at this time: Does he stand with the forces of war and hatred and death, or with the forces of justice and equality and peace and life. There will be no peace here and no life here until we free ourselves of the occupation, because a nation that subjugates another nation cannot be free. Peace will only come with a solution of independence and justice for both nations in this land."
Khenin also called for equality for all Israeli citizens. Currently, there are more than 50 laws on the books in Israel that discriminate against non-Jews, and hundreds of policies and procedures that are discriminatory as well.
Also speaking at the event was MK Ahmed Tibi, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship and longtime member of the Israeli parliament. He said, "Lieberman said that the aim of the list is to destroy Israel and we say to him: We are not involved in that because you are doing it very well. We are involved in building the individual, and destroying the occupation and racism.
Tibi added, "You [Lieberman] gambled that we would not unite, but we overcame competitiveness in order to send a message of a united, strong minority. When we will be 15 MKs in a large faction and opposite us will sit representatives of the right they will be embarrassed … their blood pressure will rise and the Knesset doctor will work overtime."
In his address, Tibi also urged Arab youth to stand strong against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, known by its Arabic acronym Da'esh, saying that the group warps Islam, and is doing more harm to Islam than Western Islamophobia does.
14 feb 2015
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has threatened that Israel might launch a new aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip.
Speaking at a cultural event in Beer Sheva on Saturday, Lieberman said, "Another round of fighting against Hamas in Gaza is a matter of time; changing the current reality and living peacefully need changing the balance of terror with enemies”.
Lieberman renewed his castigation of the Israeli leadership’s performance during last summer’s aggression on Gaza, including both war minister Moshe Yaalon and premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the same context, Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman condemned the Israeli leadership for refraining from responding violently to Hezbollah rocket attack against an Israeli military force in southern Lebanon a few weeks ago, similar to the Jordanian severe response to the burning alive of the Jordanian captive pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh by Islamic State.
Speaking at a cultural event in Beer Sheva on Saturday, Lieberman said, "Another round of fighting against Hamas in Gaza is a matter of time; changing the current reality and living peacefully need changing the balance of terror with enemies”.
Lieberman renewed his castigation of the Israeli leadership’s performance during last summer’s aggression on Gaza, including both war minister Moshe Yaalon and premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the same context, Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman condemned the Israeli leadership for refraining from responding violently to Hezbollah rocket attack against an Israeli military force in southern Lebanon a few weeks ago, similar to the Jordanian severe response to the burning alive of the Jordanian captive pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh by Islamic State.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) stormed on Saturday Bab al-Zawiyah area in Central al-Khalil and broke into Palestinian houses and occupied their rooftops.
Local sources told the PIC reporter that IOF soldiers stormed the area and buildings’ roofs carrying sniper rifles for unrevealed reasons. The incursions included the Old City and Bab al-Zawiyah area in addition to houses and buildings overlooking the main road and shopping lots.
Eyewitnesses mentioned that dozens of the Israeli forces were seen in the streets and on tops of buildings.
On the other hand, the IOF blocked traffic on the main road to the west of al-Khalil in favor of Jewish settlers.
“The IOF closed two gates in al-Khalil claiming security measures to protect settlers of Njihut colony which is constructed on Palestinians’ land in the area”, said the sources.
The Israeli occupation deliberately closes the gates on Saturdays which obstructs the daily traffic west of al-Khalil.
Local sources told the PIC reporter that IOF soldiers stormed the area and buildings’ roofs carrying sniper rifles for unrevealed reasons. The incursions included the Old City and Bab al-Zawiyah area in addition to houses and buildings overlooking the main road and shopping lots.
Eyewitnesses mentioned that dozens of the Israeli forces were seen in the streets and on tops of buildings.
On the other hand, the IOF blocked traffic on the main road to the west of al-Khalil in favor of Jewish settlers.
“The IOF closed two gates in al-Khalil claiming security measures to protect settlers of Njihut colony which is constructed on Palestinians’ land in the area”, said the sources.
The Israeli occupation deliberately closes the gates on Saturdays which obstructs the daily traffic west of al-Khalil.
A 20-year-old Palestinian was injured Saturday after Israeli soldiers shot him in the head with a live bullet as he was taking part in a march in the Qalqiliya-area village of Azzun in the northern West Bank.
The victim of the Israeli attack was identified as Imad Suleiman al-Khawli, and he was taken to the Qalqiliya Governmental Hospital for treatment where his injuries were described as critical.
Al-Khawli was one of many taking part in a rally demanding Israeli authorities lift restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinian residents of Azzun.
The march set off from the center of Azzun towards the eastern entrance of the town, which according to Israeli rights monitor B'tselem has been closed since 1990.
As marchers gathered in the area, Israeli soldiers shot tear-gas canisters and live fire at the crowds.
Al-Khawli was left injured along with dozens more who suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation, including the governor of Qalqiliya region.
An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.
Azzun's approximately 10,000 residents have long been subject to Israeli military restrictions, and for a number of years in the 2000s all entrances to the town were blocked except a tunnel into neighboring villages. The tunnel was sometimes blocked as well, forcing locals to travel on foot.
In the last decade most restrictions on movement have been lifted, but the eastern entrance remains blocked by Israeli military order.
Azzun is surrounded on all sides by areas under Israeli military control and an Israeli settlement bloc sits directly to the south.
It has one of the highest rates of detainees per capita of all villages in the occupied West Bank, including many children.
Palestinian Critically Injured by Live Israeli Fire in Azzun
A 20-year-old Palestinian was injured Saturday, after Israeli soldiers shot him in the head with a live bullet as he was taking part in a march in the Qalqiliya-area village of Azzun, in the northern West Bank.
A 20-year-old Palestinian was injured Saturday, after Israeli soldiers shot him in the head with a live bullet as he was taking part in a march in the Qalqiliya-area village of Azzun, in the northern West Bank. The victim of the attack, according to Ma'an, was identified as Imad Suleiman al-Khawli, and he was taken to the Qalqiliya Governmental Hospital for treatment, where his injuries were described as critical.
Al-Khawli was one of many taking part in a rally demanding Israeli authorities lift restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinian residents of Azzun.
The march began at the center of Azzun, towards the eastern entrance of the town, which, according to Israeli rights monitor B'tselem, has been closed since 1990.
As marchers gathered in the area, Israeli soldiers shot tear-gas canisters and live fire at the crowds.
Al-Khawli was left injured, along with dozens of others who suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation, including the governor of the Qalqiliya region.
An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.
Azzun's approximately 10,000 residents have long been subject to Israeli military restrictions, Ma'an further reports, and, for a number of years, in the 2000s, all entrances to the town were blocked except for a tunnel leading into neighboring villages. The tunnel was sometimes blocked, as well, forcing locals to travel on foot.
In the last decade, most restrictions on movement have been lifted, but the eastern entrance remains blocked by Israeli military order.
Azzun is surrounded on all sides by areas under Israeli military control, and an Israeli settlement bloc sits directly to the south.
It has one of the highest rates of detainees per capita out of all villages in the occupied West Bank, including many children.
The victim of the Israeli attack was identified as Imad Suleiman al-Khawli, and he was taken to the Qalqiliya Governmental Hospital for treatment where his injuries were described as critical.
Al-Khawli was one of many taking part in a rally demanding Israeli authorities lift restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinian residents of Azzun.
The march set off from the center of Azzun towards the eastern entrance of the town, which according to Israeli rights monitor B'tselem has been closed since 1990.
As marchers gathered in the area, Israeli soldiers shot tear-gas canisters and live fire at the crowds.
Al-Khawli was left injured along with dozens more who suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation, including the governor of Qalqiliya region.
An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.
Azzun's approximately 10,000 residents have long been subject to Israeli military restrictions, and for a number of years in the 2000s all entrances to the town were blocked except a tunnel into neighboring villages. The tunnel was sometimes blocked as well, forcing locals to travel on foot.
In the last decade most restrictions on movement have been lifted, but the eastern entrance remains blocked by Israeli military order.
Azzun is surrounded on all sides by areas under Israeli military control and an Israeli settlement bloc sits directly to the south.
It has one of the highest rates of detainees per capita of all villages in the occupied West Bank, including many children.
Palestinian Critically Injured by Live Israeli Fire in Azzun
A 20-year-old Palestinian was injured Saturday, after Israeli soldiers shot him in the head with a live bullet as he was taking part in a march in the Qalqiliya-area village of Azzun, in the northern West Bank.
A 20-year-old Palestinian was injured Saturday, after Israeli soldiers shot him in the head with a live bullet as he was taking part in a march in the Qalqiliya-area village of Azzun, in the northern West Bank. The victim of the attack, according to Ma'an, was identified as Imad Suleiman al-Khawli, and he was taken to the Qalqiliya Governmental Hospital for treatment, where his injuries were described as critical.
Al-Khawli was one of many taking part in a rally demanding Israeli authorities lift restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinian residents of Azzun.
The march began at the center of Azzun, towards the eastern entrance of the town, which, according to Israeli rights monitor B'tselem, has been closed since 1990.
As marchers gathered in the area, Israeli soldiers shot tear-gas canisters and live fire at the crowds.
Al-Khawli was left injured, along with dozens of others who suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation, including the governor of the Qalqiliya region.
An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.
Azzun's approximately 10,000 residents have long been subject to Israeli military restrictions, Ma'an further reports, and, for a number of years, in the 2000s, all entrances to the town were blocked except for a tunnel leading into neighboring villages. The tunnel was sometimes blocked, as well, forcing locals to travel on foot.
In the last decade, most restrictions on movement have been lifted, but the eastern entrance remains blocked by Israeli military order.
Azzun is surrounded on all sides by areas under Israeli military control, and an Israeli settlement bloc sits directly to the south.
It has one of the highest rates of detainees per capita out of all villages in the occupied West Bank, including many children.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Friday evening opened fire at different populated areas to the east of the Gaza Strip, and luckily no Palestinian citizen was injured in the attacks.
Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli troops behind the security fence east of Gaza City opened fire at shepherds grazing their cattle in areas to the east of Azzeitoun and Shujaiya neighborhoods.
They added that other soldiers in a military post east of Khan Younis, south of the Strip, opened fire at agricultural lands in Abasan and Qarara neighborhoods.
A group of Gazan young men also said they survived an Israeli gunfire attack during their presence in an area east of Jabaliya district, north of the Strip.
Almost on a daily basis, the Israeli occupation army opens fire either at citizens along the borderline with Gaza or fishermen at sea in violation of its ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian resistance, which was brokered by Egypt in August last year.
Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli troops behind the security fence east of Gaza City opened fire at shepherds grazing their cattle in areas to the east of Azzeitoun and Shujaiya neighborhoods.
They added that other soldiers in a military post east of Khan Younis, south of the Strip, opened fire at agricultural lands in Abasan and Qarara neighborhoods.
A group of Gazan young men also said they survived an Israeli gunfire attack during their presence in an area east of Jabaliya district, north of the Strip.
Almost on a daily basis, the Israeli occupation army opens fire either at citizens along the borderline with Gaza or fishermen at sea in violation of its ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian resistance, which was brokered by Egypt in August last year.
The Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Kufur Qaddoum, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, said Israel soldiers invaded the village to suppress its weekly nonviolent protest leading to clashes with local youths; one teen was shot by a live round, while dozens suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.
The protesters marched demanding the army to open the main road leading to their village that the soldiers closed 13 years ago.
Murad Shteiwy, media coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committee said a large military force invaded the village, since morning hours Friday, accompanied by armored bulldozers and vehicles, while the soldiers fired dozens of gas bombs, rounds of live ammunition and rubber-coated metal bullets.
He added that the soldiers shot and injured Jamil Shteiwy, 17 years of age, with a live round in his leg, and that local medics moved him to the Rafidia governmental hospital in Nablus.
Scores of residents, including international peace activists suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Local youths burnt tires and blocked the main village road with rocks, in an attempt to prevent the soldiers from invaded it. The army used its bulldozers to remove the rocks and burning tires.
In addition, an army bulldozer driver dumped the burning tires in the yard of the home of resident Adnan Ali, the Popular Committee said.
It added that dozens of residents, along with Israel and international peace activists marched despite the pouring rain, and chanted against the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine, Israel’s colonies and its apartheid wall.
The protesters marched demanding the army to open the main road leading to their village that the soldiers closed 13 years ago.
Murad Shteiwy, media coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committee said a large military force invaded the village, since morning hours Friday, accompanied by armored bulldozers and vehicles, while the soldiers fired dozens of gas bombs, rounds of live ammunition and rubber-coated metal bullets.
He added that the soldiers shot and injured Jamil Shteiwy, 17 years of age, with a live round in his leg, and that local medics moved him to the Rafidia governmental hospital in Nablus.
Scores of residents, including international peace activists suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation.
Local youths burnt tires and blocked the main village road with rocks, in an attempt to prevent the soldiers from invaded it. The army used its bulldozers to remove the rocks and burning tires.
In addition, an army bulldozer driver dumped the burning tires in the yard of the home of resident Adnan Ali, the Popular Committee said.
It added that dozens of residents, along with Israel and international peace activists marched despite the pouring rain, and chanted against the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine, Israel’s colonies and its apartheid wall.
13 feb 2015
The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, has reported that Israeli soldiers assaulted the weekly nonviolent protest wounding at least ten Palestinians, and kidnapped two.
The Committee said the soldiers sprayed the protesters with gas wounding its deputy head Jamal al-Barghouthi, in addition to the head of the Popular Resistance Coordination Committee in Palestine, Monther ‘Amira, Abdullah ‘Oleyyan, Kifah Mansour, Mohammad al-Khatib, a photojournalist working for al-Hayat newspaper, Issam Rimawi, two Israeli peace activities, and two activists from Denmark and Holland.
Soldiers also assaulted and kidnapped Mohammad al-Khatib, member of the Popular Committee, and an Irish activist, and took them to an unknown destination after violently cuffing and blindfolding them.
The protest stated following noon prayers in the village, and the protesters marched carrying Palestinian flags, and pictures of Kayla Mueller, who was killed by ISIS in Syria.
The protesters also carried pictures of Yusor Abu Salha and Razan Abu Salha, who were killed along with Deah Shaddy Barakat, who were all killed in North Carolina by Craig Stephen Hicks.
They raised signs and chanted against terrorism in every part of the world, and for true justice, liberation, peace and equality.
Coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlement, Abdullah Abu Rahma, delivered a speech condemning the murder of innocent persons.
“Terrorism that killed Rachel Corrie is the same terror that killed Kayla Mueller, Yusor and Deah,” Abu Rahma said, “The attacks we faced today while marching against terrorism, are part of this extremism and violence.”
Abu Rahma also stated that the Palestinians, their Israeli and international supporter, will continue their activities against the illegal Israeli occupation, and its colonies in Palestine, adding that next week’s protest, on February 20, will be marking 10 days since the beginning of popular resistance against the wall and settlements in Bil’in.
Arab American Students Killed by Violent Terrorist in North Carolina
The Committee said the soldiers sprayed the protesters with gas wounding its deputy head Jamal al-Barghouthi, in addition to the head of the Popular Resistance Coordination Committee in Palestine, Monther ‘Amira, Abdullah ‘Oleyyan, Kifah Mansour, Mohammad al-Khatib, a photojournalist working for al-Hayat newspaper, Issam Rimawi, two Israeli peace activities, and two activists from Denmark and Holland.
Soldiers also assaulted and kidnapped Mohammad al-Khatib, member of the Popular Committee, and an Irish activist, and took them to an unknown destination after violently cuffing and blindfolding them.
The protest stated following noon prayers in the village, and the protesters marched carrying Palestinian flags, and pictures of Kayla Mueller, who was killed by ISIS in Syria.
The protesters also carried pictures of Yusor Abu Salha and Razan Abu Salha, who were killed along with Deah Shaddy Barakat, who were all killed in North Carolina by Craig Stephen Hicks.
They raised signs and chanted against terrorism in every part of the world, and for true justice, liberation, peace and equality.
Coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlement, Abdullah Abu Rahma, delivered a speech condemning the murder of innocent persons.
“Terrorism that killed Rachel Corrie is the same terror that killed Kayla Mueller, Yusor and Deah,” Abu Rahma said, “The attacks we faced today while marching against terrorism, are part of this extremism and violence.”
Abu Rahma also stated that the Palestinians, their Israeli and international supporter, will continue their activities against the illegal Israeli occupation, and its colonies in Palestine, adding that next week’s protest, on February 20, will be marking 10 days since the beginning of popular resistance against the wall and settlements in Bil’in.
Arab American Students Killed by Violent Terrorist in North Carolina
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Friday at dawn, a number of Palestinian villages and towns, in the northern West Bank district of Jenin, stormed homes and a local club, and violently searched them.
Several military vehicles invaded the at-Tayba village, west of Jenin, stormed a local club before holding dozens of residents for several hours, and searched the place while inspecting the ID cards of the residents and interrogating them.
Soldiers also invaded Rommana and Zabbouba nearby towns, and fired concussion grenades. Clashes took place between the invading soldiers and local youths who threw stones at them.
In addition, soldiers invaded Ta’nak town, and installed a roadblock on its main entrances, before stopping and searching dozens of cars.
On Thursday at dawn, many residents suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation during clashes with Israeli soldiers invading Zabbouba town, near Jenin.
Several military vehicles invaded the at-Tayba village, west of Jenin, stormed a local club before holding dozens of residents for several hours, and searched the place while inspecting the ID cards of the residents and interrogating them.
Soldiers also invaded Rommana and Zabbouba nearby towns, and fired concussion grenades. Clashes took place between the invading soldiers and local youths who threw stones at them.
In addition, soldiers invaded Ta’nak town, and installed a roadblock on its main entrances, before stopping and searching dozens of cars.
On Thursday at dawn, many residents suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation during clashes with Israeli soldiers invading Zabbouba town, near Jenin.
Israeli soldiers opened fire, on Friday morning, on a number of Palestinian homes, east of Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) said the soldiers, stationed on military towers across the border fence, fired dozens of rounds targeting homes and lands, east of Khan Younis.
The shooting did not cause injuries, but caused damages to a number of homes, while local farmers had to leave their farmlands, fearing additional Israeli military escalation.
The soldiers frequently open fire on homes and agricultural lands, mainly in areas close to the border fence in the northern and eastern parts of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Navy also conducts frequent attacks against Palestinian fishermen in Gaza territorial waters, and even on the shore, in direct violation of all ceasefire agreements.
The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) said the soldiers, stationed on military towers across the border fence, fired dozens of rounds targeting homes and lands, east of Khan Younis.
The shooting did not cause injuries, but caused damages to a number of homes, while local farmers had to leave their farmlands, fearing additional Israeli military escalation.
The soldiers frequently open fire on homes and agricultural lands, mainly in areas close to the border fence in the northern and eastern parts of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Navy also conducts frequent attacks against Palestinian fishermen in Gaza territorial waters, and even on the shore, in direct violation of all ceasefire agreements.
