http://www.imemc.org/article/46606
Soldiers hit 10 year old in the head at Jerusalem school, Director: soldiers throw grenades at kids
Thursday January 18, 2007 03:13 by Palestine News Network

Abeer was carrying a book, a notebook and some pens in her 10 year old hands. She has yet to participate in a demonstration or a march protesting occupation, but that did not stop Israeli soldiers from hitting her.

Abeer Aramin was only injured by the gas bomb that was shot at the back of her head. She had just stepped out of the Anata School for Girls after taking a test when the gas canister hit her and she was knocked to the ground.

Israeli forces in Jerusalem had penetrated the town and began indiscriminately opening fire while detonating gas and sound bombs. Some young people responded with stones.

Abeer was the victime of the war game that the Israeli soldiers play daily when they enter the town during school hours and begin shooting near the Anata schools. These children are under 13 years of age, and do not fall prey to the taunting.

Abeer's father, Bassam Aramin, said, “I contacted the school administration while I was on my way to work and they told me that my daughter had been knocked to the ground and suffered a head injury. I thought it was just something simple. I contacted her mother and asked if she could go to the school and check it.

But over the telephone I learned that the soldiers had done it and that Abeer had been rushed to Makassed Hospital.”During her first examination we learned that her skull had been fractured and that she had bleeding in her brain. She was initially treated and then we rushed her to Hadassah Hospital, Ein Karim Branch, in order to follow up the situation which was described in both hospitals as serious.

Abeer was lying in intensive care and in critical condition. She underwent brain surgery at 9:00 pm as her health deteriorated.Abeer's father works for the Jerusalem Society for Democracy and Dialogue and said, “I work in peace organizations and want to appeal to the entire work that what we want is a just and honorable peace.

That is what is not wanted by the Israeli leadership.”Bassam Aramin had some words for the Israeli government. “The victims among the Palestinian people are no less important than Israeli people. We are all human beings.”

He called on Israeli mothers to not be “tools of the occupation by sending their children to the battlefield without reason.” Aramin explained, “My daughter is a victim of a systematic oppressive policy and the Israelis must end the occupation and say yes to peace.”

The Director of the Anata School for Girls said Wednesday that she regrets what happened to Abeer Aramin. “What happened yesterday is a deliberate and provocative exercise practiced by border guards since the beginning of exams at the end of the first quarter at students in all of the Anata Secondary schools.” She added, “The border guards are present daily at the doors of the Anata School for Boys and that for girls, and around Saladin Street where they know the kids must pass to reach buses or to walk home.

They provoke the students by throwing grenades at them.”The school director appealed for international protection for Palestinian school students.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/17230
Land of Enchantment and Impeachment
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-01-12 12:35. Impeachment
By David Swanson

There is a decent chance that within the next month or two the New Mexico State Legislature will ask the U.S. House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney. And there is the definite possibility that a Congress Member from New Mexico will take up the matter when it gets to Washington. The Jefferson Manual, rules used by the U.S. House, allows for impeachment to be begun in this manner. It only takes one state legislature. No governor is needed. One Congress Member, from the same state or any other, is needed to essentially acknowledge receipt of the state's petition. Then impeachment begins.

Last year the state legislatures of California, Minnesota, Illinois, and Vermont introduced but did not pass resolutions to send impeachment to the U.S. House. The State Senator who introduced the bill in Minnesota is now a member of Congress, Keith Ellison. He is one of many Congress Members waiting for the right moment to impeach Bush and Cheney. The state of New Jersey has a strong activist movement working to introduce and pass impeachment this year. There's a race now to see which state can do it first, which state can redeem these United States in the eyes of the world. New Mexico is jumping into the contest in a big way, with a terrific leading sponsor of the bill, strong Democatic majorities in both houses, and a citizens' movement ready to hold its government to account.

Of course, it is cities, not states, that have really taken the lead on impeachment, as on ending the war. Dozens of cities have already passed resolutions for impeachment. Dozens more have introduced them, and they are pending. [ http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/resourcecenter ] A handful have introduced them and voted them down. On March 6th about 100 towns in Vermont will vote at public meetings for impeachment. But by March 6th, impeachment may already be underway.

There is a conflict brewing between Congress and the White House over the war and over the division of powers created by the U.S. Constitution and eliminated by this administration. If Bush attacks Iran and/or Syria without approval from Congress, or escalates the war in Iraq without approval from Congress, we may finally see Congress fight back. This President has rendered Congress almost meaningless. He reverses laws with "signing statements." He disregards laws at his whim, openly bragging about doing so. And he makes many operations secret, hidden even from Congress, refusing requests for information, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act. When this President does communicate with Congress, he often provides false or misleading information, most notably in making the case for the current war.

Vice President Cheney has already said that he will likely refuse to appear before Congress if subpoenaed. The White House will likely refuse subpoenas of any sort, and openly professes to believe the President is a "unitary executive." White House spokesperson Tony Snow said on January 8th:

"The President has the ability to exercise his own authority if he thinks Congress has voted the wrong way."

Americans voted in November for Congress to stand up to this assault on our democracy. We voted against the war, but we even voted out Republicans who were opposing the war. We threw out candidates who allowed Bush to campaign for them, and left in office those who refused.

While it is public knowledge that Bush launched the opening stages of the Iraq War in secret, without Congress's approval or awareness, illegally using funds appropriated for Afghanistan and elsewhere, it has not always been as clear as it is at this moment that Bush will not end the war even if required by Congress to do so. Growing awareness of this fact is leading the peace movement to join the impeachment movement.

Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers so many years ago, recently argued that it was only the pressure of the peace movement that allowed the impeachment of President Nixon to proceed, and that it was only the exposures and threat of impeachment that persuaded Nixon not to veto the bill that finally cut off the funding for the Vietnam War. As Congress exposes the crimes of Bush and Cheney to public view, it will move us closer to impeachment. As Congress Members begin to object to their powerless role of court jesters, they will move us closer to impeachment and also to bringing our troops home.

We should be encouraging our Congress Members to proceed immediately with key investigations [ http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/investigations ] and to not be afraid to use subpoenas. We should also be encouraging state legislators in our own and other states who take up the cause of democracy. We need them to do so from their positions as elected officials closer to the people and further from the big dollars.

In New Mexico, a leading light of that state's politics, State Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque, will be leading the way on impeachment. He deserves the support of all the world, and you can thank him at jortizyp@aol.com or 505-986-4380. Let's help him make New Mexico the land of enchantment and impeachment.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=18654
63 residences and 18 gas stations demolished in East Jerusalem in 2006, more expected in 2007
Date: 15 / 01 / 2007 Time: 13:53

Palestinians next to the rubble of their
demolished home (MaanImages Archive)
Ma'an - 63 residential buildings and 18 pirate gas stations were demolished in East Jerusalem in 2006, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)'s annual report. This is 13 structures less than the number demolished in 2005, according to ICAHD's data.

The amount of square metres demolished during the year in fact halved from 12,000 square metres to 6,000 square metres.

ICAHD believes that the reason for this reduction was that three high-ranking officials in the Jerusalem municipality, who had been responsible for much of 2005's demolitions, were "neutralized" for various reasons.

ICAHD, however, expresses its concern for 2007 in regards to house demolitions. For example, ICAHD states, "we are extremely troubled by the proposed Eastern Ring Road route through Wadi Kadoum, Silwan, which is due to cause the demolition of tens of homes."

Commenting on the discrepancy between the demolition of houses in east and west Jerusalem, ICAHD quotes the Israeli lawyer, Adv. Shlomit Rubin, as saying that the use demolition orders “are not always equal”. To leave no doubt, Rubin adds “the number of orders signed and implemented in East Jerusalem are far more than in the west of the city and the number of orders which remain unsigned, and which it is therefore unfeasible to implement, is far greater in the east than the west of the city.”

In addition, according to the statistics in the 2006 Annual Report of the Jerusalem Municipal Comptroller , ICAHD reveals that the years 2004 and 2005 prove that of 85 signed demolition orders delivered in the west of the city, 39 were implemented (45%), whereas in the east, out of 233 signed demolition orders, 191 were implemented (82%).

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=18663
As Israel's law on segregated travel comes into effect, activists call for a "freedom ride"
Date: 15 / 01 / 2007 Time: 15:47

Ma'an - A so-called 'Freedom Ride' will take place on Friday 19th January in protest against the new Israeli military law making it illegal for Israelis and foreigners to take Palestinians in their cars in the occupied West Bank.

A number of activist groups including 'The Popular Committees against the Wall and Settlements in the Ramallah region' and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) are calling for Israelis and foreigners to drive Palestinians on a settler-only road on Friday. ISM says that this move is inspired by the freedom rides of the early 1960s which helped end segregation in the American south.

On November 19th, the Israeli Commanding General for the Central-Region command, Ya'ir Naveh, issued an unprecedented decree forbidding Israelis and foreign nationals from driving Palestinians in the West Bank. The decree implements the Israeli policy of racial separation in the boldest possible manner. As ISM makes clear in their press release, for the first time ever, it imposes legal penalties on members of different nations meeting each other in the private realm. It has also been pointed out that even during the Apartheid regime in South Africa, no such ban was implemented.

So, on Friday 19 November, international and Israeli activists will gather at the El-Al terminal at the Northern railway station in Tel Aviv and leave in a caravan of vehicles, gathering Palestinians from the Ramallah area and driving them to the weekly demonstration in Bil'in, a village in the occupied West Bank located west of Ramallah and close to the route of Israel's illegal separation wall. The Israeli and foreign drivers will transport Palestinians in their cars on a settler-only road, risking arrest and punishment in defiance of this racist law.

So far, this action has gained the support of the following Israeli groups: Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush, Sons of Abraham, Olive Tree Movement, Balad, Anarchists Against the Wall, Yesh Din, Yesh Gvul, Coalition of Women for Peace, Hadash, Maki and Banki. The organisers are still appealing for further help, including legal support. In Israel, interested parties are asked to contact Jonathan Pollack on 054 6327736. In the occupied Palestinian territories, interested parties are asked to contact Hisham Jamjum on 052 224 4983.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/37DA6EF6-54DF-4268-9846-5DF38D8EB408.htm
NEWS MIDDLE EAST
Israeli action in Gaza 'inevitable'

An Israeli cabinet minister has said that a military operation in the Gaza Strip is "inevitable" and called for tens of thousands of Nato troops to be deployed there afterwards.

Avigdor Lieberman, the minister for strategic affairs, raised the issue with Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, during her visit to Israel on Saturday.

Irena Etinger, Lieberman's spokeswoman, said "he said a military confrontation in Gaza is inevitable" to fight Palestinian militants smuggling weapons from neighbouring Egypt and firing rockets at southern Israel.

She said he added that "the results of such a [military] action should be the entry of 30,000 Nato forces to deploy in Gaza" so as to prevent any further armed build-up.

Military occupation
Etinger would not say what Rice said in response.

The controversial leader of Yisrael Beiteinu became minister for strategic affairs after Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, signed a coaltion deal with the party last October.

"[Nato troops in Gaza] wouldn't provide a solution but rather worsen the problem."

On being named to the cabinet in November he called for Israel to recapture part of Gaza.

Israeli forces left the Palestinian territory in 2005 after 38 years of military occupation.

Israel has generally objected to proposals to deploy foreign forces in Gaza or the West Bank, out of concern such a presence would limit its ability to pursue Palestinian fighters.

Efraim Sneh, the deputy defence minister from the left-wing Labour party, rejected Lieberman's idea.

Nato troops in Gaza "wouldn't provide a solution but rather worsen the problem" because Palestinian fighters would probably regard them as an enemy, just as they do Israel, Sneh told Israel Radio.