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Israeli-Palestinian truce put to test

Laila El-Haddad 17 July 2005


After a bloody day that saw 10 Palestinians killed, the fragile five-month Israeli-Palestinian truce seems to be in danger of unraveling. But analysts on both sides say this is simply a game of chicken weeks before Israel’s planned Gaza disengagement. Analysts say the violence is only intended to test the limits of the fragile truce. Sharon does not want to be seen as evacuating under fire, and Palestinian factions want the disengagement to appear as a victory. In the end, analysts say, it is in neither side’s interest to officially abandon the ceasefire before disengagement. Both sides are pushing it to the very edge. Israel’s mass of forces will not lightly decide to go in.” 

Israeli government proposes blocking Palestinian compensation suits

18 July 2005


Today, Palestinians are not able to sue the state for damages caused by combatant activity, broadly defined as, “…any action of combating terror, hostile actions, or insurrection, and action intended to prevent terror and hostile acts and insurrection committed in circumstances of danger to life or limb.” If the Knesset passes the new amendment to the Civil Wrongs Law, intended to excempt Israel from paying compensation to Palestinians injured by the security forces, it will almost completely block the ability of Palestinians to file for compensation, even for damage caused by illegal shooting, looting, negligence on training grounds, abuse and degrading treatment at checkpoints, or physical violence. 

Israeli army hides M16 in Palestinian ambulance

16 July 2005


A PRCS ambulance was stopped at Howwara checkpoint on route to Nablus. One of the soldiers opened the rear door of the vehicle aand ordered the team to step out. The soldiers asked if the car contained any weapons and the ambulance crew responded “no”. The soldiers then started searching the ambulance. The soldiers ordered the team to lift the seat opposite the patient’s bed, the team obeyed and were surprised to find an Israeli army M16 weapon in the seat. The soldiers immediately stepped back and pointed their weapons at the medical team. The soldiers questioned the crew about the source of the weapon. The soldiers then laughed and mocked the team as the soldiers removed the weapon. 

Israel launches air strikes in Gaza City

16 July 2005


The Israeli occupying forces increased their offensive as ten air strikes left four Palestinians dead and five others injured. Israeli forces also severely impeded Gazans’ movement by effectively dividing the Gaza Strip into three parts. On July 16, Israeli attack helicopters fired missiles at metal workshops, a medical center and an Islamic association in Gaza City, Khan Yunis, Al-Shati’, Deir al-Balah. Al Mezan emphasizes that the excessive use of force, killing of Palestinian civilians, extra judicial assassinations of Palestinians, tightening of control and infringements on peoples’ freedom of movement constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention. 

Israel threatens to invade Gaza, assassinates Hamas activist

16 July 2005


Israeli military extra-judicially executes a member of Hamas while standing near his home, this is the fifth death resulting from Israel’s policy of extra-judicial executions in the recent days. At 9.00 on Sunday, an Israeli sniper, positioned inside the military site located on the eastern edge of the settlement of Gani Tal, north-west of Khan Yunis, fired one bullet at Sa’id Aissa Siam, a Hamas member, 32 years old from al Amal neighbourhood in Khan Yunis. At the time of the shooting he was standing close to the door of his house, 150 metres away from the Israeli watchtower. The bullet hit him in the neck and exited from the other side, hitting the wall and shrapnel wounded his 60 year old father. 

With Middle East violence rising, Annan calls for efforts to negotiate settlement

16 July 2005


Voicing alarm at the renewed violence between Israel and the Palestinians in recent weeks, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on both sides to work for a negotiated settlement. In a statement released by his spokesman, the Secretary-General said the recent suicide bombing in Netanya and rockets fired from Gaza killing innocent Israeli civilians “are shocking and condemnable.” He also welcomed efforts by the Palestinian Authority security forces to prevent them. Mr. Annan noted that Israel “has resumed forceful action in the face of the serious deterioration that has shattered the lull in violence of the past few months.” 

How do you like your blue-eyed boy: The Rally in Bil'in

Zachary Wales Birzeit 17 July 2005


The demonstration in Bil’in against Israel’s illegal Annexation Wall has developed an almost ritualistic pattern that’s very typical of peaceful protests in Occupied Palestine, where Israeli soldiers tolerate passive resistance for so long before they fire tear gas or rubber-coated bullets — which break the skin and often kill — into the crowd. Doing this invokes stone throwing from local youths, who weather a day-to-day narrative of harassment, beatings and arrests, quite apart from what the internationals experience. If one believes in the adage that “the powerless don’t choose violence, violence chooses them,” then it could be applied here. 

International Campaign to Free Tali Fahima

16 July 2005


On Sunday, July 17, Tali Fahima’s trial sessions will be continued. On this occasion, we are calling on all solidarity movements around the world to join us and let the people of the world and the State of Israel know that the persecution and unjust incarceration of the woman who represents hope for a future of friendship and commonality between Palestinians and Israelis will not pass unnoted. Tali Fahima, a Jewish Israeli woman, has been harassed by the Israeli General Security Services for over a year for defying the apartheid logic set by the occupation forces and showing public solidarity with the people of the Jenin refugee camp in their daily efforts to stay alive and resist their oppressors. 

Israel escalates attack on Palestinian towns

16 July 2005


Since Wednesday, Palestinians have witnessed a severe escalation in violations committed by Israeli occupying forces. Israeli forces have resumed their use of helicopter gunships to attack civilian and residential areas and continued with their state-sanctioned policy of committing extra-judicial executions. To date this escalation in attacks has resulted in the killing of four Palestinians, in the West Bank, while the fate of a 5th is still unknown. Further to this, across the Gaza Strip, attacks by the IOF have resulted in extensive damage to civilian property. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls on the international community to immediately intervene to “ensure respect” for international humanitarian law. 

Hamas: "We are committed to ceasefire"

Khalid Amayreh 16 July 2005


The Palestinian Islamic Resistance group, Hamas, says it remains committed to observing the ceasefire, despite the assassination by Israel of at least eight of its resistance cadres. Israeli warplanes on Friday carried out two pinpoint missile attacks on two Palestinian vehicles in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, killing at least eight Hamas resistance activists. “We are still committed to the ceasefire. We are not interested in any escalation. However, if Israel continues these acts of extrajudicial executions of our people, then we will most certainly defend ourselves,” said Hasan Yousuf, Hamas’s spokesman in the West Bank.