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The Façade of the Israeli Cease-fire

Danny Felsteiner the Netherlands 30 January 2007


This morning I opened the Haaretz Internet website to read the following headline: “Olmert decided: we will retain cease-fire; IDF has bombed a tunnel in northern Gaza Strip.” An inevitable coffee stain appeared on my shirt. Although this headline screams absurdity, it constitutes the essence of Israel’s propaganda, and many an Israeli will not find it ambivalent. I have to admit that a year ago, I would have found it reasonable as well. The logic is simple: army officials say that the IDF has a perpetual green light to operate against terrorist groups on their way to commit their suicidal operations inside Israel. 

Palestinians in Iraq: More fleeing

30 January 2007


Another 50 Palestinians have fled to the Iraq-Syrian border following a traumatic week in Baghdad, bringing the total number stranded at the frontier to about 700. The 50 made the hazardous journey from Baghdad to the border four days after 73 Palestinians traveled the same road following the temporary detentions of 30 Palestinian men by militia in the capital last Tuesday. UNHCR also received information that two buses carrying some 75 Palestinians left Baghdad Monday morning, but at least one of them was unable to make it to the border. The bus was reportedly forced to return to Baghad because roads were blocked by crowds during the religious celebrations for Muharram. 

PCHR: National Unity Essential

30 January 2007


PCHR welcomes the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Fatah, which was reached under Egyptian sponsorship in the early morning hours of Tuesday, 30 January 2007. After announcing the agreement, the OPT in general and the Gaza Strip in particular have been calm. However, some forms of militancy and the deployment of gunmen remained in some neighborhoods. The Centre calls for the immediate return to political dialogue between both sides as the only option out of the current impasse. However, prior to this agreement, incidents of internal fighting continued. 

Abbas: Far from 'the right and moral point'

Rima Merriman 30 January 2007


At the Davos World Economic Forum recently, the Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas accurately summarized the terrible state of the Palestinians in the occupied territories, the economic siege and resulting deprivation inflicted upon them, the segmentation, the Israeli theft of Palestinian land and resources, and the daily humiliations they must endure. Nevertheless, he avowed that he was optimistic, based, apparently, on the strength of his last meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister: “I have recently had a good conference with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, during which we talked very frankly about several issues, and it was agreed that Israel will carry on certain procedures that will alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.” 

Don't take right to education for granted

Sobhi Samour 29 January 2007

In your article “A model for EU-Israel integration” published in the English online version of Haaretz (17 January 2007), you argue that a closer relationship between the EU and Israel in the field of scientific and academic exchange would be of mutual interest for EU and Israeli citizens, as well as for its research communities and consumers. Building on the successful European experience of encouraging research collaboration and financially supporting those who want to study or research abroad, you are inviting Israeli researchers to apply for and participate in the new Seventh Framework Programme that will be funded with 55 billion Euros. 

Hope is a scarce commodity

Eóin Murray Gaza Strip, Palestine 29 January 2007


It is an all too familiar sound. Gunfire and explosions echo accross the night in Gaza City. Yet, this evening, once again the sounds are not caused by fighting between the Israeli military and the Palestinian militants. Instead it is Hamas and elements from Fateh and some of the associated criminal fraternity who are fighting. Tonight all of Gaza is in flames. Every street, every area, is consummed in what can only be described as a civil war between the main two factions here. At eight-thirty we leave a friend’s house to return to the area where I am staying, Tel al Howa in Gaza City. 

The Answers Have Changed

Miko Peled 29 January 2007


It is said of Albert Einstein that he gave a particular exam to a class that had already been given that exam. Alarmed at what he saw and thinking it to be the result of the professor’s absent-mindedness, an assistant warned Einstein of what he was about to do. The Professor just smiled and said: It’s alright the answers have changed. The same thing goes for the Israeli Palestinian conflict, the questions remain the same but now sixty years after the establishment of the Jewish State, the answers have changed. 

Seven killed, 14 kidnapped in continued armed clashes

29 January 2007


Internal fighting continues to spread and escalate throughout the OPT. Over the past 24 hours, seven people were killed, one by mistake, and 26 others were injured, including two inside their homes. More than 14 people were kidnapped as well. PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 12:50 on Monday, 29 january 2007, Mustafa Talal Kardash 921) was killed by a bullet to the chest while he was near his house in Tal El-Hawa Quarter in Gaza City. The area is the scene of continuous clashes between members of the Preventive Security Apparatus and Executive Force. 

International NGOs call on UN to reassess the 'Register of Damage'

26 January 2007


Eighteen international non-governmental organisations and humanitarian agencies have come together to jointly call on the United Nations to reassess its so-called ‘Register of Damage’. On 15 December 2006, the United Nations General Assembly voted by overwhelming majority to adopt a resolution establishing a United Nations Register of Damage caused by the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This ‘Register of Damage’ is intended to work as a mechanism for paying out damages to Palestinians whose lives and livelihoods have been affected by Israel’s ongoing, illegal construction of its separation wall in West Bank land. 

Children without a Country: Maryam Remains in Texas Jail

Greg Moses 28 January 2007


“A man without a country,” is what Judge Maryanne Trump Barry called the hapless stowaway, Salim Yassir, who was born in Palestine, exiled to Libya, and jailed in the USA. Four years after foiling Yassir’s 2000 attempt to enter the USA, immigration authorities were still claiming they should keep him in jail while they looked for a country that would take him. But Judge Barry (Donald Trump’s older sister) put an end to that legal purgatory in 2004 when she ruled that a man without a country has rights, too. Yassir could just as easily live outside jail while authorities pursued their executive agendas.