http://www.imemc.org/article/46738

More People Killed and Wounded in Gaza Clashes
Monday January 29, 2007 10:03 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies rami at imemc dot org

As factional infighting in Gaza continues for the fifth day consecutively, more people have been killed and wounded.

An ambulance crew in Gaza City

Medical sources in Gaza said that a Palestinian national security member in the city and a resident from Khan Younis city were killed, while at least ten others wounded during clashes yesterday, rising death toll to approximately 30.

Witnesses said that an armed clash erupted on Monday morning between militants near the Rashad Al-shawa cultural center in Gaza city, killing a national security member and wounding two passersby.

In the Khan Younis city, south of Gaza, a 40-old resident died of wounds he sustained earlier yesterday during clashes between Fatah and Hamas supporters.

Ten others were reportedly wounded. A group of militants attacked today morning the house of Nedal Alharsh, an Al-Aqsa Brigades leader of Fatah, in northern Gaza, wounding Alharsh moderately.

In a similar shootout, the house of another Fatah leader, Jamal Abu Eljidyan, came under heavy fire, as a local internet café was grossly damaged by gunmen.

Early on monday morning gunmen fired a bomb shell at the office of Fatah movement in the Alzaytoun neighborhood in Gaza city, as others opened heavy fire on the house of the Fatah-linked Rasem Albayari, head of the laborers union.

In the meantime, the Palestinian Preventive Security body called on residents living nearby not to allow militants to take positions on roof tops of their houses, a statement read. Such a call came as severe factional infighting has been breaking out in the vicinity of the Preventive Security headquarters in the Tal-Alhawa neighborhood in Gaza for the fourth day in a row.

Violence has hampered likely Palestinian talks on a national unity government that would be able to end the internationally-imposed economic embargo since a Hamas –led government was installed in January 2006.

The International community has set to Hamas three conditions for end of aids cut; renouncing violence, recognizing Israel’s right to exist and accepting past signed peace agreements.

Palestinian Center for Human Rights Report: `Are We Proud of This?!`
Monday January 29, 2007 09:59 by Palestinian Center for Human Rights - Gaza saed at imemc dot org

Press release, Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR) – Gaza: 19 Palestinians, including two children killed and at least 70 others wounded in shameful bloody clashes between Hamas and Fatah movements

PCHR strongly condemns internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah movements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), especially the Gaza Strip, which has killed 19 persons, including 8 civilian bystanders, and wounded at least 70 others.

PCHR calls upon the leaders of the two movements and all other national and Islamic factions to make sincere efforts to contain and stop such regrettable and shameful fighting. They call upon them to revert back to dialogue and put higher national interests of the Palestinian people above all narrow partisan interests and political conflict over authority.

PCHR stresses that dialogue is the only option, and the current internal fighting is a prescription for self-destruction.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, bloody clashes have renewed between the two sides since Thursday evening, 25 January 2007. Unknown persons detonated an explosive device on the roadside when a vehicle of the Executive Force of the Ministry of Interior (EF)was passing in Jabalya town in the northern Gaza Strip. As a result of the attack, which occurred in a densely-populated area, the vehicle was destroyed and eight members of the EF and four passers-by, including two children, were wounded.

Later, Hussam ‘Abdul Malek Mtai, 36, a member of the EF from Jabalya who was wounded in the attack was pronounced dead. On Friday, 26 January 2007, another member of the EF, Mousa Taha ‘Asaliya, 18, was also pronounced dead.

At approximately 01:30 on Friday, 26 January 2007, a number of armed members of Hamas and the EF stormed a house belonging to Nabeel Hasan al-Jarjeer, 25, a member of Fatah movement in Jabalya town, accusing him of responsibility for the attack on the EF vehicle. They shot al-Jarjeer dead with a bullet to the head. They also violently beat his brother, 33-year-old Nahedh. He sustained bruises all over his body.

Soon after, clashes erupted near a house belonging to Sameeh al-Madhoun, a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (the armed wing of Fatah movement) in Beit Lahia town in the northern Gaza Strip. In a later development, al-Madhoun abducted a number of members of Hamas and held them inside his house, which he had already fortified and all roads leading to it blocked with cement blocks and sand barriers. As a result of the exchange of fire, two civilian bystanders, including a girl, were wounded:

1) Saleh Jameel Matar, 28, wounded by a live bullet to the abdomen; and

2) Fatema Nafez Qa’oud, 17, wounded by a live bullet to the left hand.

At approximately 10:30 also on Friday, a number of gunmen opened fire at a vehicle belonging to Hamas, which was calling through loudspeakers for organizing a demonstration in Jabalya town. The driver, Ra’ed Rjab Subeh, 27, from Beit Lahia, who is a member of Hamas, was seriously wounded by a live bullet to the chest. He was later pronounced dead. Another person who was traveling in the vehicle, 23-year-old Younis Rabee’ Abu Jabal, sustained injuries and bruises throughout the body as the vehicle turned over when it was fired at.

Clashes and mutual kidnappings between members of Hamas and Fatah movements continued. An armed group of Hamas chased a member of Fatah movement, 20-year-old Shadi Saleh Quddas, in Beit Lahia town and he fled to a police station. The armed group attempted to kidnap him from the police station, but things were settled. A police officer, 30-year-old Yousef Ahmed Hawila, was wounded by a bullet to the left foot unleashed unintentionally from his colleague’s gun.

At approximately 13:50 also on Friday, armed members of ‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas) and the EF, besieged the house of Mansour Shalayel, a member of Fatah movement, in Jabalya refugee camp, accusing him of responsibility for the aforementioned attack on the vehicle that was calling for organizing a demonstration for Hamas. Violent clashes took place between dozens of gunmen who deployed around the house on one side and Shalayel and some gunmen who were inside the house on the other side. As a result of those clashes, two civilian bystanders were killed:

1) Fu’ad ‘Abdul Mahdi al-Khaldi, 17, hit by several live bullets to the head and the chest; and

2) Ziad Isma’il Abi Zaid, 25, hit by a live bullet to the chest.

At approximately 21:30 on Friday, the bodies of 3 persons who were killed in clashes near Shalayel’s house were brought to Kamal ‘Edwan Hospital in Beit Lahia town. Two of them were identified as Ahmed Saleh Salah, 20, and Sharaf Salama Abu Wadi, 22, both are members of the EF. They were hit by several gunshots throughout the body. The third person has not been identified.

At approximately 22:00, several units of the Palestinian National Security Forces and the Naval Police moved from the site of the Third Brigade, east of Jabalya refugee camp, towards the area of clashes near Shalayel’s house and were able to lift the siege imposed on the house. They were also able to take shalayel and his family out of the house, which had been under heavy gunfire.

At approximately 00:30 on Saturday, 27 January 2007, Mohammed Ghaleb al-Skani, 25, a member of the National Security Forces from Gaza City, was killed by live bullet to the back from an unknown source, when he was on duty at the southern entrance of Beit Hanoun town. Several areas in the Gaza Strip witnessed armed clashes at the time.

The number of persons wounded in the bloody clashes in the northern Gaza Strip was 57, including a number of bystanders.

The clashes in the northern Gaza Strip extended to Gaza City. At approximately 15:00 on Friday, Brigadier Jihad ‘Abdul Ra’ouf Srhan, 58, of the National Security Forces, was wounded by a bullet to the right leg. Sarhan told PCHR that he was traveling in his car with his bodyguard on Salah al-Din road, east of Gaza City, when a number of masked gunmen intercepted the car and fired at him as he refused to obey their order for him to get out of the car.

At approximately 18:20 also on Friday, a number of unknown gunmen broke into al-Hedaya Hospital in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in the southwest of Gaza City, and opened fire at all those who were in the mosque listening to a preach. Three persons were killed:

1) Eihab Suleiman Hammouda, 22;
2) Mas’oud Jamal Shamallakh, 22; and
3) Zuhair Mahmoud al-Mansi, 40, a prominent leader of Hamas.

Four other persons were wounded:

1) Sa’id Jamal Shamallakh, 20, wounded by several bullets to the legs;
2) Muneer Qassem al-Meenawi, 27, wounded by a bullet to the right side;
3) Mo’taz Jamal Jamal Abu Ras, 20, wounded by two bullets to the right leg and the left thigh; and
4) Mohammed Mansour Sa’da, 17, wounded by several bullets to the legs.

The gunmen also kidnapped Mohammed al-Hussein al-Berniya, 24.

At approximately 21:30, armed clashes erupted between members of the Preventive Security Service (PSS) and those of the EF near the headquarters of the PSS in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood. A civilian bystander, 20-year-old Ra’fat Daoud Toutah, was killed by a gunshot to the head.

At approximately 22:00 on the same day, unknown persons fired a projectile at the house of Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahhar, Palestinian Foreign Minister, in al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City. At approximately 22:20, unknown persons fired two projectiles at the house of Rasheed Abu Shibak, Director-General of the Internal Security Service and former commander of the PSS, in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood. Approximately 10 minutes later, unknown persons launched 3 mortars at the headquarters of the PSS in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood. No casualties were reported as a result of the three attacks.

At approximately 23:15 on Friday, unknown gunmen shot dead Lieutenant Colonel, Kamal Hasan Khalil, for the Special Security Bureau, when was traveling in his car near al-Samer intersection in the center of Gaza City.

At approximately 00:30 on Saturday, 27 January 2007, armed clashes erupted again between members of the PSS and those of the EF in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood. A member of the EF, 22-year-old Hammam Taha al-Sha’er, was killed, and 3 members of the PSS were wounded.

At approximately 11:00 also on Saturday, medical sources at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, declared that Mahmoud Khalil al-Khattat, 18, died from a wound he had sustained at 08:30. Al-Khattat was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the head during armed clashes between members of the National Security Force and those of Hamas in al-Shojaeya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City.

Clashes in the Gaza Strip had their echo in the West Bank. At approximately 15:30 on Friday, an armed group of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (the armed wing of Fatah movement), kidnapped 7 children and their teacher of al-Qastal Scout in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, when they were in Kufor Qallil village, southeast of the city. Members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade declared in a media release that the abducted persons are members of the EF and threatened to kill them if the siege imposed on Shalayel’s house in the Gaza Strip was not lifted. The abducted persons were released on Saturday morning. At approximately 22:30 on Friday, a number of masked gunmen stormed a house belonging to ‘Aamer ‘Omar Sha’bello, 24, in al-Dahia area in Nablus. They asked him about his brother, who studies abroad. They then kidnapped him.

In Khan Yunis, at approximately 16:30 on Friday, 2.5-year-old Yahia Ibrahim Madhi, was killed by mistake by a bullet to the head. According to his father, the child was playing near the family home when members of the Popular Army, who guard areas on which Israeli settlement had stood in the past, fired at 4 vehicles of security forces, thinking that the vehicles were belonging to the EF.

PCHR strongly condemns bloody internal fighting, and:

1. Reminds all nationalist and Islamic factions of their role and duty to serve the interests of the Palestinian people and protect civilians, rather than being a burden that threatens the safety and security of people.

2. Calls upon the two fighting parties to stop fighting and immediately go back to dialogue to reach a national agreement, and believes that such shameful fighting emphasizes the urgent need for dialogue.

3. Expresses regret for the current Palestinian internal situation, one year following the parliamentary election which were highly praised by the world and constituted a positive step in the process of peaceful transition of authority in the past two years.

4. Calls for the establishment of a judicial investigation committee to investigate all incidents in the past weeks and bring all those engaged in them to justice.

5. Calls for reform in Palestinian security services and restructure them on professional foundations to serve as law enforcement forces that have the duty of protecting the safety and security of people, and to ensure that they will never be politicized or engage in any partisan conflicts.

6. Reminds that the only party interested in the continuation of lawlessness and internal fighting in the OPT is Israel, which persistently continues to reinforce its occupation of the OPT through settlement expansion, land confiscation, the construction of the Annexation Wall and create irreversible facts on the ground that will ensure the annexation of most of the OPT and undermine any possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state.

From: enrique.ferro@mailshell.com
Terrified Palestinians flee Baghdad for Syrian border

"Of all the groups being targeted in Iraq, the Palestinians are the most
vulnerable as they literally have nowhere else to flee, and in many cases
have been denied travel documents,"

Terrified Palestinians flee Baghdad for Syrian border
Wednesday, 24 January 2007
http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/45b7856c4.html

GENEVA - A group of up to 90 terrified Palestinian men, women and children
fled Baghdad in two rented buses early Wednesday morning, a day after some
30 Palestinian men were taken from their apartments by unidentified
uniformed men who later released them.

The Palestinians were reportedly headed toward the Syrian border, where more
than 500 Palestinians have been stranded for months.

Seventeen Palestinian men from Baghdad's Hay El Nidal neighbourhood were
forcibly taken from their homes early Tuesday morning and released seven
hours later. Another 13 were reportedly detained in the Al Amin area near
Baladiyat and released shortly thereafter. What happened to the men during
their abduction remains unclear. But the men and their families were clearly
traumatized by the ordeal and afraid to provide any details. All Palestinian
families living in a Hay El Nidal apartment building rented by UNHCR had
abandoned their homes by Wednesday. Some fled to other parts of the city,
while others joined the group headed toward Syria.

The abductions caused great panic among the Palestinian community. Some
Palestinians told UNHCR they "feared the attack of militias at any time."
Many other Palestinians told UNHCR that they wanted to leave as well, but
couldn't because they lacked proper documents, or because they still have
family members in Baghdad who cannot go.

"Of all the groups being targeted in Iraq, the Palestinians are the most
vulnerable as they literally have nowhere else to flee, and in many cases
have been denied travel documents," said Andrew Harper, the Geneva-based
senior Iraq operations manager. "The international community must act now to
help these people. A safe haven needs to be found immediately, outside
Iraq."

UNHCR is extremely concerned by the latest developments and has taken up the
issue with the Iraqi authorities. In the meantime, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), with UNHCR support, is preparing the
delivery of relief items, including tents, blankets, mattresses, lanterns,
kitchen sets, stoves and plastic sheets, to the Syria-Iraq border in
preparation for new arrivals. Water, kerosene and food are already
available.

Last April, Syria allowed a group of 287 Palestinians from Iraq into the
country. Since then, entry into Syria has been denied to more than 500 other
Palestinians who fled Baghdad because of increasing harassment and attacks,
or after relatives had been killed. Despite assistance from UNHCR, ICRC and
local NGOs, the Palestinians have been living in extremely difficult
conditions at the border sites, with nowhere to go and too frightened to
return to Baghdad.

There are still an estimated 15,000 Palestinians remaining in Iraq - less
than half of the estimated figure in 2003. UNHCR has repeatedly called for
international support but with few results.

Story date: 24 January 2007
UNHCR Press Releases

http://www.imemc.org/article/46736
Electronic Intifada website leaks internal Israeli presentation documenting apartheid plan
Monday January 29, 2007 09:49 by Jenka Soderberg - 1 of IMEMC Editorial Group jenka at imemc dot org

The following is an article by the founder of the 'Electronic Intifada' website, Ali Abunimah, in which he presents the content of an internal Israeli government document that was leaked to the website. The document shows a detailed plan to disenfranchise Palestinians and control internal Palestinian politics, and is available on the group's website, electronicintifada.net.

President Jimmy Carter angered Israel and its friends by describing "the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank."

Now, The Electronic Intifada has obtained an Israeli Ministry of Defense Powerpoint presentation which provides a frightening glimpse into the mindset of the bureaucracy of apartheid.

The first page of the document bears the name "Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories" as well as the acronym "COGAT" at the bottom of each page. These appear to refer to the unit of the Israeli army that enforces the occupation against the Palestinian civilian population.

The top of the first slide also bears the names and insignia of the "State of Israel" and the "Ministry of Defense."

Dated January 12, the presentation is titled "Key Measures for easing the daily lives of the Palestinian Population." Far from that, the document provides detail of the regime of severe movement restrictions, bureaucratic ethnic cleansing and political manipulation and fostering of collaborators that Israel operates in the the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The document, in English, appears to be genuine. While its exact purpose or audience is not known, it may have been designed to impress foreign diplomats with Israel's generosity to the Palestinians.

In the fourth page of the presentation, among the policies the document outlines are:

-Efforts to "empower Abu-Mazen" (Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas) by facilitating entry of "security equipment for the Presidential Guard" donated by foreign countries. (The United States recently announced that it would provide millions of dollars of weapons and equipment to this unit which serves as a personal militia for Abbas and his Fatah faction who seek to overthrow the democratically-elected Hamas government).

-Providing special privileges for "the movement of VIPs and senior Palestinians" and others allies of Abbas, including "facilitating movement without security checks." These special privileges, not available to millions of Palestinians are intended for "Strengthening Abu-Mazen," presumably at the expense of the democratically-elected Hamas-led cabinet and legislative council dozens of whose members, far from enjoying VIP treatment, have been kidnapped and are being held without charge or trial by Israeli occupation forces.

-Special permits for 505 Palestinian "businessmen," allowing them to be exempt from the pass laws that forbid overnight stays by Palestinians in Israel. They will also be subject to fewer security checks. This privileged class may also benefit from the "Possible return of $60 Million from the frozen tax money to the private sector, subject to identification of the businessman, and the formation of a working mechanism." This could possibly indicate that Israel, in collusion with Abbas, seeks to misappropriate Palestinian public assets it has illegally seized, bypassing the Palestinian Authority Finance Ministry and redistributing them to Abbas cronies.

-With frightening precision, allowing "42,899" Palestinian laborers to work "in Israel and the settlements" and exempting 2,000 Palestinian agricultural laborers from the pass laws so that "overnight stay in Israel" is "permitted." Of these workers, a mere 1,600 would be permitted to enter occupied East Jerusalem, the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank.



In the eighth page of the presentation millions of Palestinians around the world are forbidden from visiting or living in their country due to Israeli restrictions and laws that discriminate against non-Jews.

A privileged few Palestinians have been able to do so, however, by virtue of their citizenship in the United States or European countries, whose citizens are generally allowed to enter Israel without visas as tourists. Even this precarious existence has recently been threatened by the new Israeli practice of denying them re-entry if they leave the country for any reason. While the document claims these restrictions will be eased, it also confirms the policy of prohibiting ordinary family life for Palestinians.

Palestinians (always referred to as "foreign nationals") with foreign passports, even those with spouses and families are not recognmised by Israel as residents and will be limited to a total cumulative stay not exceeding 27 months in their country. No other country calling itself a democracy systematically treats indigenous people as foreigners and deports them in this manner breaking apart families in the process.

Finally, the document lists a number of catergories of "humanitarian" workers who will be given some leeway from the strict pass laws. These include 1,450 religious personnel, 1,300 hospital employees, 300 hotel workers, and lawyers, teachers and residents of an enclave in occupied East Jerusalem that has been besieged by settlers and the apartheid wall.

Amidst a system of ruthless and obsessive control such as the one Israel operates against Palestinians, not even this token 'easing' designed purely for public relations can be taken for granted; Israel routinely lies about what it does.

For example, during a summit meeting with Mahmoud Abbas in December, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert promised to remove dozens of checkpoints and obstacles impeding the movement of Palestinians inside the occupied West Bank. The Israeli occupation forces later claimed to have removed 44 of the hundreds of obstacles in fulfillment of Olmert's pledge. In fact, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported on January 22, the Israeli army "admitted on Sunday that the 44 dirt obstacles it said had been removed from around West Bank villages did not actually exist."

What does exist, and is plain for all the world to see, is a horrifying regime of totalitarian control of millions of Palestinians who remain prisoners of Israel's racist system and the army and settler militias that enforce it.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-28-US-israel-lebanon_x.htm?csp=24
State Dept. to report on whether Israel misused U.S.-made cluster bombs against Lebanon
Posted 1/28/2007 10:11 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this


Enlarge By Ramzi Haidar, AFP

A Chinese UNIFIL peacekeeper searches for cluster bombs and unexploded ammunitions in a field in the southern village of Qlaileh, Lebanon in November 2006.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has completed a preliminary report on whether Israel misused American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon.
State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said Saturday the report will be forwarded to Congress on Monday, but declined to disclose the findings, emphasizing that they are preliminary.

"We take our obligations under the Arms Control Act seriously," said Cooper. "Our forwarding to Congress of a preliminary assessment is an indication of that.

"The Israeli government is also taking quite seriously their responsibility in providing information," Cooper said. "We are not making a final judgment."

The State Department is required to notify Congress of even preliminary findings of possible violations of the act cited by Cooper.

The New York Times reported on its Internet site Saturday evening that the report will say Israel may have violated agreements with the United States by its use of American-supplied cluster munitions during last year's war.

The paper described disagreement among midlevel officials at the Defense Department and the State Department, with some in both departments arguing that Israel violated U.S. prohibitions on using cluster munitions against population areas. Others in both departments argued that the weapons were used in self-defense to stop Hezbollah rocket attacks and that, at worst, only a technical violation may have occurred.

A congressional investigation found Israel improperly used U.S.-made cluster bombs during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. The Reagan administration then imposed a six-year ban on further sales of the weapons to Israel.

Such sanctions are largely symbolic, however, since Israel also makes its own cluster munitions.

The United Nations said unexploded cluster bombs — anti-personnel weapons that spray bomblets over a wide area — litter homes, gardens and highways in south Lebanon.

Relief organizations and the U.N. mine office have reported finding evidence that Israel used three types of U.S.-made cluster bombs during the 34-day war with Hezbollah militants, during which both sides fired rockets into populated areas.

The U.N. mine office has said it had found hundreds of bomblets of the types made by the United States among unexploded ordnance recovered in nearly 250 locations in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army has said all weapons it uses "are legal under international law and their use conforms with international standards."

Cluster bombs are typically used against tanks and explode upon impact with steel. In the conflict in Lebanon, the shells were fired into urban and rural areas where Israel thought Hezbollah guerrillas might be hiding. Many hit the ground or pavement and did not explode.

Israel said it was forced to hit civilian targets in Lebanon because Hezbollah fighters were using villages as bases for rocket launchers aimed at Israel. At least 850 Lebanese and 157 Israelis died in the fighting.

The Bush administration repeatedly warned Israel to avoid civilian casualties during the cross-border war, but refrained from direct criticism of Israeli tactics.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.