On Tuesday, 16 December 2008, the Palestinian High Military Court in Gaza headed by Military Judge Mohammed Nofal sentenced Mohammed Ali Hassan Saidam, 34, from Rafah, to death by hanging. The court convicted the defendant of treason, spying and conspiracy in violation of the Revolutionary Penal Code of the Palestine Liberation Organization of 1979. The sentence, that had been issued in the presence of the defendant, was unanimously issued by the court. It can be appealed. Read more about Rights org: Abbas, overturn death penalty
An Israeli military court sentenced Dr. Aziz Dweik, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Speaker, to three years in prison, two years of suspended imprisonment, and a New Israel Shekel 6,000 (USD 1,500) bail. Israeli Occupation Forces arrested Dr. Dweik on Saturday 6 August 2006 in the midst of a campaign of arrests that targeted dozens of ministers and elected officials. On 29 June 2006 alone, IOF arrested eight ministers and 21 PLC members. Read more about Israel sentences Palestinian political prisoner
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli jails in a “goodwill gesture” Monday. This followed the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha and was an attempt to boost the waning popularity of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Several prisoners spoke to the assembled local and international media about their time in detention. They accused the Israelis of maltreating and physically abusing detainees. Read more about Israelis continue to abuse Palestinian prisoners
At the entrance of the Tovlan landfill, located beside the Jordan River in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), three flags fly proudly: those of Israel, France and the European company, Veolia. Through its Onyx subsidiary, Veolia, which is also constructing the Jerusalem light rail project on occupied Palestinian land, is managing the Tovlan landfill. In a 2004 year report on sustainable development, Veolia announced that its subsidiary Onyx brought “the new Tovlan landfill into service in Israel.” Read more about Veolia involved in Israel's waste dumping in West Bank
At the order of Israel’s ministry of the interior, Israeli border police denied Prof. Falk entry into Israel on 14 December 2008, on his way to the West Bank to carry out his official functions. He was deported from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on 15 December 2008. In March 2008, the UN Human Rights Council voted to appoint Prof. Falk to this position as UN Special Rapporteur for a six-year term. Prof. Falk’s duties include preparing reports on human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Read more about Israel denies entry to UN rights reporter
My husband and I live with our five children in Wadi al-Hussein. My brother-in-law Husni al-Matariyeh and his family live in the same building. He has 10 children. The building is located about 20 meters from the fence of the Kiryat Arba settlement and two 200 meters from the house that the settlers invaded about a year and a half ago [“the House in Dispute”]. Settlers have been assaulting us almost every day for a long time. Read more about Testimony: Jewish settlers assault family in Hebron
Today marks the 60th anniversary of International Human Rights Day. It is the day the United Nations declared the issuance of the International Declarations of Human Rights to put new international foundations for enforcing and respecting the sacred life and dignity of all human beings. It is a noteworthy coincidence that the birth of this declaration shares the anniversary of the Palestinian uprooting in 1948, still experienced by Palestinians up until today. Read more about On int'l human rights day, Palestinians traumatized
Extremist settler groups currently involved in violent confrontations with Palestinians in the center of Hebron have chosen their next battleground, this time outside the West Bank. A far-right group know as the Jewish National Front, closely associated with the Hebron settlers, is preparing to march through one of the main Arab towns in northern Israel. Jonathan Cook reports from Nazareth. Read more about Hebron settlers take their fight into Israel
According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, at approximately 2:25pm, on Tuesday, 2 December 2008, an Israeli scouting drone fired a missile towards a group of children who were playing near their houses, which are located north to the Gaza International Airport in al-Shouka area, east of Rafah. As a result, two boys were killed: 16-year-old Ramzi Ibrahim al-Dehini and 15-year-old Omar Mosa Abu Udeh. Read more about Israeli forces kill two children in Gaza air strike
On the 27th consecutive day of closure, the Gaza power plant has been forced to shut down due to lack of fuel, and Gazans are now totally dependent on electricity generated from Israel, and to a lesser extent, Egypt. There are also chronic severe shortages of domestic cooking gas. Regarding essential food items, IOF have not permitted any consignments of flour to enter the Gaza Strip for one week, and current stocks are sufficient for just less than three days. Read more about Rights org: Gaza flour stocks sufficent for less than three more days
