Israeli gunfire wounds four in Gaza
DEC 23,10 10:30AM
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Four Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire in northern Gaza on Thursday, including a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the head, Palestinian medical sources said.The Israeli military confirmed that soldiers opened fire on several people who entered a security zone along Gaza's northern border with Israel.
A military spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said soldiers began shooting after firing warning shots, but that he was aware only that two Palestinians were wounded, both being hit in their lower bodies.Adham Abu Selmiya, spokesman for the Hamas-run medical services in the Gaza Strip, told AFP that two people were seriously wounded by gunfire, and another two were lightly wounded.
Four workers were injured as they searched for aggregate (gravel) in the northern Gaza Strip, two of them seriously, including a 14-year-old child who was hit in the head, Abu Selmiya said.The other wounded were a 17-year-old shot in the back, who was in serious condition, an 18-year-old shot in the hand, classed as lightly wounded, and a 22-year-old also shot in the back whose injuries were light, he said.
Soldiers regularly open fire on Palestinians collecting building material from the rubble of destroyed buildings close to the border between the coastal enclave and Israel.The border area has been deemed a no-go zone by Israeli soldiers who fear infiltration and kidnapping attempts.Between March 26 and December 10 this year, Israeli troops have shot at least 19 Palestinian children as they collected gravel in northern Gaza, charity group Defence for Children International said this month.
I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW BUILDING ON YOUR OWN LAND LIKE ISRAEL IS IS ILLEGEL.THIS BUILDING FREEZE TO SAVE THE PEACE PROCESS IS JUST ONE BIG HOAX.THIS IS ISRAELS PROPERTY,THEY CAN BUILD ON IT IF AND WHENEVER THEY WANT TO.WHAT AN ARAB,MUSLIM SCAM TO STEAL ISRAELS LAND.
Israeli settlers building 100 illegal homes: NGO
– Thu Dec 23, 7:08 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli settlers have illegally begun work on at least 100 homes in the occupied West Bank since the end of a freeze on settlement construction, Israel's Peace Now movement said on Thursday.Since the end of the settlement freeze at the end of September, at least 100 buildings are now under construction in the West Bank, Peace Now's secretary general Yariv Oppenheimer told AFP.In November 2009, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implemented a freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, but he refused to renew the ban after it expired on September 26, despite intense international pressure.The illegal building being carried out without the necessary permits from the authorities is taking place both in existing settlements and outposts, Oppenheimer said.If an Israeli built under the same circumstances in Tel Aviv for example, it would all be destroyed on the spot and he would brought to justice.A military spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, refused to comment on Peace's Now's figures.We have applied the law against illegal building in Judea and Samaria all year, and we will continue to do so, he told AFP, using the biblical name for the West Bank.Danny Dayan, head of the Yesha Council, a leading settler organisation, told military radio he could neither confirm nor deny Peace Now's figures.But we have to keep the big picture in mind, because the real scandal is the failure of the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, since he took office in March 2009, to issue a single call for tenders for legal construction of houses in Judea and Samaria, he said.The government is strangling the settlements, he added, pointing out that Netanyahu approved at least 4,600 tenders for West Bank settlements during his last term between 1996 and 1999.
And in the two-year government headed by Labour politician Ehud Barak, from 1999 to 2001, some 4,900 homes were approved for construction in West Bank settlements, Dayan said.But Oppenheimer said the lack of new tender offers was not holding back the expansion of settlements because there were at least 1,700 outstanding building permits for areas where construction has not yet started.The settlers who are boosting outpost construction want to benefit from the end of the settlement freeze to expand the facts on the ground, said Hagit Ofran, the director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project.They think that the government won't actually do anything to stop them, she told AFP, adding Peace Now had submitted documents on the illegal building to the attorney general's office, seeking a legal investigation.Settlement construction on occupied land in the West Bank and Jerusalem remains one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and sunk the last round of direct talks between the two sides.The negotiations, the first direct talks in nearly two years, began September 2 in Washington but ground to a halt after Netanyahu's partial settlement freeze expired on September 26.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has said he will not return to talks unless Israel reimposes a building ban, and extends it to east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want for the capital of their future state.Netanyahu resisted strong international pressure to renew the freeze, including a generous US package of incentives, forcing the United States to admit it had failed to secure a new ban.More than 300,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, and another 200,000 live across east Jerusalem along with some 270,000 Palestinians.
Bolivia sends formal letter recognizing Palestine
– Wed Dec 22, 6:54 pm ET
LA PAZ, Bolivia – Bolivia has formally declared its recognition of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine.President Evo Morales says his government could not continue waiting with its arms crossed given the problems of human rights, territory and sovereignty.A Foreign Ministry official later confirmed that Bolivia sent a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday declaring its support.
She spoke on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to talk to the news media.Bolivia joins the governments of Argentina, Cuba, Brazil and Venezuela in supporting a sovereign state of Palestine with borders recognized prior to the 1967 Mideast war.
Israel complains to UN over Gaza rockets
by Jean-Luc Renaudie – Wed Dec 22, 2:58 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel and Hamas looked to the United Nations on Wednesday as tensions rose along the volatile Gaza border after a series of Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire from the strip.Israel urged the UN Security Council on Tuesday to issue a clear and resolute message to Palestinian militants against firing rockets into its territory from Gaza, in a letter made public on Wednesday.
And Hamas said it would appeal to the international body to act against the threat of further aggression against the Palestinians.The tit-for-tat appeals to the UN come after exchanges of fire along the Gaza border.The Israeli army said militants in Gaza have fired 25 rockets or mortar rounds into Israel since Sunday, and Israel has responded with air strikes against what it said were tunnels, militant training sites and weapons facilities in Gaza.One rocket struck just metres (yards) from a kindergarten in a southern Israeli kibbutz, wounding a teenage girl.Just Wednesday evening, the Israeli military said a projectile was fired from Gaza and hit southern Israel. There there were no immediate reports of casualties.The incidents of the past several days are part of an escalation of terrorist attacks emanating from Gaza that target Israeli civilians, towns and military personnel, Israel's UN ambassador, Meron Reuben, said in the letter.Israel holds the de facto authority in the Gaza Strip completely responsible for all of these incidents, which are carried out in clear violation of international law.In response to such attacks, Israel has exercised and will continue to exercise its right to self-defence.The letter is addressed to the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who currently chairs the Security Council, and to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.Predating the latest army figures, it said three rockets and 18 mortars had been fired into parts of southern Israel from Gaza since Sunday.The Security Council, the secretary general and the international community must send a clear and resolute message that these attacks are unacceptable, Israel said in the letter signed by Reuben.
Hamas said Israel was to blame.
We will be in contact with several countries to explain the aggressive behaviour of the occupation forces and have been in touch with Egyptian officials to discuss these threats,Hamas government spokesman Taher al-Nunu told reporters.Also on Wednesday, the UN Middle East envoy issued a statement to condemn the firing of indiscriminate mortars and rockets by militant groups in Gaza at Israel, which has escalated in recent days.These attacks are in clear violation of international humanitarian law and endanger civilians in Israel, said Robert Serry, while also calling on Israel to measure its military response.Israel has a right to self-defence, consistent with international humanitarian law. I urge Israel to exercise maximum restraint and take every precaution to ensure that its forces do not endanger civilians in Gaza, who all too often bear the brunt of escalations in violence.Hamas lashed out at Serry, saying his statement was one sided and that they would seek clarification from the UN to see if Serry's comments represent them or not.We deplore this statement, which justifies the aggressive behaviour of the Israeli occupation and mixes the facts on the ground, said Nunu. On Tuesday, Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi warned that the relative calm since Israel's devastating Gaza offensive at the end of 2008 could quickly come to an end.
And military radio reported on Wednesday that the army is to deploy a tank battalion equipped with a new anti-rocket system along the Gaza border after a tank was hit by an advanced missile allegedly supplied by Iran.The radar-guided system has sensors attached to the sides of vehicles that detect and track incoming rockets and fire off countermeasures to destroy them before they can hit the tank, manufacturer Rafael says.Between December 2008 and January 2009, Israel waged war on Gaza in response to hundreds of rockets fired into the Jewish state. Operation Cast Lead killed 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Thirteen Israelis, 10 of them soldiers, also died.The number of rocket attacks has since plunged but the army says more than 200 rockets or shells have been fired this year.
US lawmaker urges France not sell Lebanon arms
– Wed Dec 22, 2:02 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – France should scrap its planned sale to Lebanon of 100 anti-tank missiles because they could end up being used by the powerful militant group Hezbollah against Israel, a US lawmaker said Wednesday.Democratic Representative Steve Rothman urged French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a letter to find other ways to help Lebanon's armed forces.The stakes are too high, and the danger this would pose to Israel is far too real. I therefore respectfully request that you reconsider this arms deal of anti-tank missiles and seek to aid the LAF in other ways, wrote Rothman.Rothman noted that France was expected to deliver the weapons before March 2011 but warned Lebanon is in a precarious situation whereby Hezbollah is in a powerful position to usurp the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).If this were to occur, Israel would be in grave danger of having your anti-tank missiles used against her, he added.I agree in principle that strengthening the LAF against Hezbollah is an important goal, but I believe that providing the LAF with anti-tank missiles is neither helpful nor necessary in that regard,said Rothman.Israel which fought a devastating war with Hezbollah in 2006, has also reportedly expressed concerns.
Israel moves to counter Gaza militants' new weapon
By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press – Wed Dec 22, 10:46 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel will deploy tanks equipped with a new defense system along the Gaza border after Palestinian militants for the first time used a sophisticated, tank-piercing missile believed to be the most advanced weapon in their arsenal.
Israeli defense officials said the laser-guided Kornet came from Iran, the top backer of Gaza's Hamas rulers. Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah guerrillas, also backed by Iran, used the Russian-made Kornets in their 2006 war against Israel, destroying or damaging several dozen Israeli tanks.The Palestinian use of Kornet missiles, confirmed by Israel's military chief on Tuesday, marks a new milestone for Gaza militants, who have steadily built up their arsenal from a collection of crude, homemade rockets to include more menacing imported weapons.Israel's answer is called Trophy, a first-of-its-kind Israeli-made system carried by tanks that is designed to shoot down missiles like the Kornet. The system, mounted on the side of a tank, detects an incoming missile and fires a projectile at it, destroying it, according to video of a test provided by the developer.Violence has been escalating along the Gaza border in recent weeks. In his parliamentary testimony Tuesday, Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, confirmed militants fired a Kornet missile for the first time earlier this month, and it penetrated an Israeli tank.He called the missile "one of the most dangerous in the battlefield. Ashkenazi said. He said the missile did not explode inside the tank, and no one was hurt.The Israeli defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss such matters publicly, provided no proof to support their claim that the laser-guided missile came from Iran. Also, it was not clear how it was delivered. Hamas controls a network of smuggling tunnels along Gaza's southern border with Egypt, though Egypt has pledged to crack down on smuggling.
Hamas has not confirmed or denied possessing the missiles.
In the wake of the recent attack, the military decided to move to the Gaza border dozens of tanks equipped with the Israel-developed Trophy system, which detects incoming projectiles and shoots them down before they reach armored vehicles. Production of the Trophy was stepped after the 2006 war against Hezbollah.The Trophy has not yet been tried on the battlefield, though the Defense Ministry says it has been tested successfully against a variety of weapons, including Kornets.Israel's volatile front with Gaza has been relatively quiet since an overwhelming military offensive against Palestinian militants two years ago. But there has been a surge in violence in recent weeks, with militants firing rockets and mortars into Israel and Israel responding with airstrikes.Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Meron Reuben, filed a complaint to the Security Council and to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday, calling the rocket attacks a violation of international law and warning that Israel will continue to exercise its right to self-defense.He urged the international community to send a clear and resolute message against the militant attacks and to give appropriate attention to the smuggling of arms into Gaza.Ban's U.N. representative, Robert Serry, condemned indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks and acknowledged Israel's right to self defense. He also urged Israel to exercise maximum restraint to prevent civilian casualties.The Kornet — made in Russia and sold widely overseas — is the most advanced weapon believed to be in the hands of Gaza militants.In use since the mid-1990s, the Kornet is capable of penetrating armor up to four feet (1,200 mm) thick and has a range of about almost four miles (5.5 kilometers). It carries a warhead of 22 pounds (10 kilograms).
Armed groups also possess rockets capable of traveling up to 70 kilometers (40 miles), putting the Tel Aviv metropolitan area in their range.The U.S. and Russia are developing similar systems, but the Israeli one is believed to be the first to be deployed on the battlefield.
EU signs off 100 mln euros of Palestinian aid
– Wed Dec 22, 8:48 am ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) – European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton announced Wednesday a first, 100-million-euro (131.5 million dollars) tranche of aid to the Palestinian people for 2011.This decision is a sign of the strong political and financial commitment of the European Union to the Palestinian Authority and to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's leadership in building a democratic and viable Palestinian state, Ashton said in a statement following approval by the European Union's executive commission.Palestinian statehood is critical for any peaceful, workable and lasting solution to the conflict, she reiterated after Brussels and the United States last week issued a new plea to speed up progress towards a two-state solution encompassing a viable Palestine alongside a secure Israel.The first 60 million euros will enable the Palestinian Authority to cover wages and pensions for essential civilian workers, particularly medical and teaching staff, with the remainder channeled through United Nations relief programmes.That comes on top of 696 million in EU support already paid to the authority, and a further 265 million from EU member states nationally.
Hamas says arrests sabotaging reconciliation moves
– Tue Dec 21, 1:33 pm ET
DAMASCUS (AFP) – The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Tuesday accused its rivals in the Fatah party of president Mahmud Abbas of undermining reconciliation efforts with a wave of arrests in the West Bank.The continuing campaign of arrests and torture against members of Hamas in the West Bank proves that the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah ignore reconciliation, said Izzat al-Rishq, a Hamas politburo member.Speaking at a news conference in Damascus, where Hamas has its leadership in exile, Rishq held Abbas responsible for hindering reconciliation efforts, and accused Fatah and the Palestinian Authority of putting Israeli conditions above any national interest.The security services of Abbas and (Palestinian prime minister Salam) Fayyad hunt down the resistance at Israel's request, Rishq said, charging that they were morally and politically bankrupt.US diplomatic cables leaked by whistleblower website WikiLeaks show that Israel said it had received a request from Fatah leaders to attack Hamas in 2007.We will never accept in any way that the reconciliation meetings are used as a cover for the campaigns of arrests and repression, Rishq said.Hamas and Fatah held two rounds of fruitless reconciliation talks in Damascus in September and November.The two factions have been fiercely divided since Hamas seized power in Gaza in a bloody rout of Abbas's forces in 2007.Rishq claimed that arrests had expanded in recent months to include hundreds of Hamas members, including women.
He called on Abbas and his security services to immediately release all political prisoners,including six Hamas members detained in Jericho for nearly two years.He said those detainees had been tortured by Fayyad's security services and had been on hunger strike for nearly a month.Hamas and Fatah have repeatedly accused each other of undermining trust by persecuting political rivals in the territory under its control.
US hits Iran with new sanctions over terror, nukes
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press – Tue Dec 21, 12:24 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Tuesday expanded punitive sanctions against Iran over its nuclear and missile programs and support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.The Treasury Department added five Iranian companies to its financial blacklist, including two banks, an insurance company, a freight forwarder and the state-owned shipper, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. The sanctions bar the firms, all linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, from the U.S. financial system and freeze any assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions.Both the IRGC and IRISL are major institutional participants in Iran's illicit conduct and in its attempts to evade sanctions, said Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey. We will therefore continue to target and expose their networks.The sanctions target the Moallem Insurance Company for providing marine insurance to IRISL vessels, and the Ansar Bank and Mehr Bank for providing financial services to the IRGC.Also affected is Bonyad Taavon Sepah, a quasi-governmental financial services firm that handles investments for the Revolutionary Guard. Bonyad Taavon Sepah's executive director, Parviz Fattah, was also blacklisted.The forwarder, Liner Transport Kish, was added to the blacklist for providing material support, including weapons to Hezbollah on behalf of the Revolutionary Guard.In addition, Treasury identified an Iranian energy concern, Pars Oil and Gas Company, as being owned or controlled by the government, hitting it with sanctions under new U.S. legislation aimed at choking off financing for illicit activity.
The Revolutionary Guard and the state-run shipping line are subject to existing U.S. sanctions designed to compel the country to come clear about its nuclear intentions, stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles and end support for terrorist groups.American officials say the sanctions are having an effect and have forced the Guard Corp and shipping line to set up front companies and take other steps to evade the penalties.
Israel army chief warns of tensions on Gaza border
by Gavin Rabinowitz – Tue Dec 21, 11:51 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's border with the Gaza Strip is tense and the situation there could easily deteriorate, Israel's army chief warned on Tuesday, after a rocket struck near a kindergarten and wounded a young woman.Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi's comments before a parliamentary committee came as Israel launched a string of air strikes on the coastal enclave in response to a salvo of mortar shells and rocket fire over the past 24 hours.Ashkenazi warned that the relative calm that has prevailed since Israel's devastating Gaza offensive at the end of 2008 could quickly end.The situation is tense and fragile and could easily deteriorate, particularly if a rocket lands in a populated area.On Tuesday afternoon, Israeli warplanes launched two raids against a training site west of Rafah used by the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing.Adham Abu Selmiya, a spokesman for the Hamas-run medical services in the Gaza Strip, said two people were wounded and taken to a nearby hospital. Palestinian sources said the men were Brigades members.
The Israeli army declined comment on the reported strike.The strikes came after a rocket fired from inside Gaza on Tuesday morning hit a nearby Israeli kibbutz, exploding near a kindergarten as the children were arriving, police and witnesses said.It fell within 50 metres (yards) of the kindergarten, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. A young woman was admitted to hospital lightly injured by shrapnel.Ronit Gil, who works at the kindergarten on the Kibbutz Zikkim collective village, said she was just getting out her car when she heard the sirens of the missile attack alarm, followed by an explosion.I saw that it was next to the kindergarten. I quickly went in, she told army radio.We're under stress here ... the children are forbidden to leave the kindergarten.Gil said the kindergarten had suffered a near miss in the past and had been partially blast-proofed since.In separate statements, both the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group affiliated with Fatah, and Jaish al-Islam, a jihadist group operating in Gaza, claimed responsibility for the rocket.The attack was the latest over the past several days and followed a night of Israeli air strikes into Hamas-run Gaza, in which two Palestinian fighters were reported wounded.
Ashkenazi said even though other groups were behind most of the recent attacks, Israel would continue to retaliate against Hamas.The army sees Hamas as responsible for what is happening in the strip and so attacks were aimed at Hamas targets, he said.Earlier the military said warplanes hit several Hamas-operated tunnels and a weapons manufacturing facility and a terror activity centre.The statement said the Hamas-operated tunnels are intended for infiltrating into Israel and executing terror attacks against ... soldiers and Israeli civilians.Thirteen projectiles fired from Gaza have hit Israel since Sunday, according to the military. On Saturday night, Israeli warplanes night hit central Gaza, killing five militants as they were about to launch a rocket attack, according to the army and witnesses.The raid was one of the deadliest since Israel's December 2008-January 2009 war on Gaza's Hamas rulers, codenamed Operation Cast Lead, which cost the lives of 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.Since Operation Cast Lead, the number of rocket attacks has dropped considerably, but the army says more than 200 rockets or shells have been fired this year.
Israeli warplanes raid Gaza
– Mon Dec 20, 10:07 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Israeli warplanes staged eight attacks in Gaza overnight, wounding two Palestinian fighters, a Palestinian medical source and witnesses said Tuesday.The raids came after Palestinian militants on Monday fired nine mortar shells into southern Israel that fell on open ground and caused no casualties, the Israeli army said.Three raids targeted the town of Khan Younes in the south of the territory controlled by Hamas, wounding two fighters of the Ezzedin al Kassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, one of them seriously, the sources said.
The Israeli planes also attacked a tunnel between the Gaza Strip and Egypt near the southern town of Rafah, without causing any injuries.Four other attacks were carried out in the north of the Palestinian territory targeting the Jabailya refugee camp and the towns of Beit Lahya, Beit Hanoun and Zeitoun, with no casualties reported.
An Israeli military spokeswoman, questioned by AFP, spoke of seven air raids against tunnels used for smuggling weapons and arms dumps used for terrorist attacks.She described the raids as reprisals for attacks on Israeli territory.Nine mortar rounds were fired at southern Israel from Gaza on Monday, without hurting anyone, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.Israeli warplanes on Saturday night hit central Gaza, killing five militants as they were about to launch a rocket attack, according to the army and witnesses.The raid was one of the deadliest since Israel's December 2008-January 2009 war on Gaza's Hamas rulers, codenamed Operation Cast Lead, which cost the lives of 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.Since Operation Cast Lead, the number of rocket attacks has dropped considerably but the Israeli army says more than 200 rockets or shells have been fired this year.
Israel and PA worked closely against Hamas: cable
– Mon Dec 20, 1:12 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A U.S. cable leaked on Monday said Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas's forces worked closely together against Hamas as it took over Gaza in 2007, a potentially embarrassing revelation for the Palestinian leader.Israel has acknowledged working with Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces loyal to the Western-backed Abbas, but the diplomatic memo leaked by WikiLeaks describes a level of cooperation that could fuel criticism of Abbas by his Islamist rivals.The 2007 cable quoted Yuval Diskin, the head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service, as saying the PA security apparatus shares with Israel almost all the intelligence that it collects.They understand that Israel's security is central to their survival in the struggle with Hamas in the West Bank, the cable said.The cable, dated June 13, 2007, was sent from the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv as Hamas forces were routing Abbas's security forces to take over the Gaza Strip. Abbas has since ruled only in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Diskin is quoted as calling Abbas' forces in Gaza as desperate, disorganized, and demoralized.
They are approaching a zero-sum situation, and yet they ask us to attack Hamas. This is a new development. We have never seen this before. They are desperate, Diskin said.A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the comments were based on an assessment and evaluation rather than solid information.Hamas has accused Abbas, who has held numerous rounds of peace negotiations with Israel, of plotting with Israel against it. Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi, Writing by Ari Rabinovitch, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
