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HRW: US should cut off cluster-bomb sales to Israel

30 January 2007


Preliminary US government findings that Israel violated agreements with the United States by its use of cluster munitions in Lebanon last summer should lead to an immediate cutoff of all US cluster munitions sales to Israel, Human Rights Watch said today.The Bush administration is expected to report to Congress today on a State Department investigation into the use of US-made cluster munitions by Israel. Demining groups estimate that Israel used cluster munitions containing some 2.6 to 4 million submunitions in Lebanon, the majority of which were produced in the United States. 

Civilians caught in the crossfire

30 January 2007


Palestinians in Gaza say they have been trapped in their homes as deadly fighting between rival Palestinian militia groups had taken over the streets. Residents are hopeful that a truce on Tuesday morning between Hamas and Fatah would bring some form of normality back to their lives. At least nine civilians, including three children, are believed to have been killed during battles between supporters of these two main Palestinian factions, which have claimed 32 lives since Thursday and left more than 110 wounded. 

Pro-Israel Censorship Hurts Us All

George Bisharat 30 January 2007


One day in 1981, my late father, Maurice Hanna Bisharat, returned from a long day at his Sacramento, Calif., medical office with an extra bounce in his step, his eyes dancing with excitement. His friend, Michael Himovitz, the young owner of a local art gallery, had called, offering to hold a one-person show of my father’s paintings - mostly California landscapes. My father had taken up painting after immigrating to this country from Palestine in the late 1940s, and although an amateur, had won a national art award within two years. 

Students Under Occupation Take a Stand

30 January 2007


In 2005, student photographers from Birzeit University and Al-Najah University in the West Bank came together to document student life and the obstruction of Palestinian education under military occupation, through the artistic expression of their own ideas and experiences. Their photographs have now become an exhibition and a book, launched at Birzeit University in 2006 and currently touring Palestine and the US. Friends of Birzeit University and Foyles will host the first UK view of the exhibition at Foyles’ landmark Charing Cross bookshop. 

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.