http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23116/1/

Saed Bannoura - IMEMC - Friday, 08 December 2006, 17:32

Dozens of Palestinian residents, Israeli and International peace activists held their weekly protest in Bil'in village, West of Ramallah, against the Israeli Annexation Wall. Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International visited the village and the construction site of the Wall.

Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall told the IMEMC that Khan visited the house of resident Mahmoud Samara, and witnesses how the army was occupying the house and holding him and his family inside it.

She also held a press conference and said that she came to the village to witness the Israeli violations against the residents.

Abu Rahma added children gave Khan roses and listened to several residents and peace activists talking about the settlements, Wall and the Israeli annexation policies.

Also, today's procession marks the first Intifada, known as the Intifada of stones, that inflamed in December 1987.

The protesters carried posters and chanted slogans calling for unity among the Palestinians, and called for the reactivation of the popular Intifada and the public activities against the occupation.

Several protesters remained near houses that were occupied by the soldiers, while the rest marched towards the Wall.

One resident, identified as Ahmad Mohammad Hasan, 35, a father to five children, was taken prisoner by the army near the Wall gate.

Meanwhile, an international peace activist told the IMEMC that the soldiers were “less violent” this Friday as a result of the presence of Amnesty, and added that the presence of Amnesty staff was “an observation in role, more than taking part in the protest”.

Yet, the soldiers declared the area as a closed military zone, pulled a woman from her hair as she attempted to protect a local resident being attacked by the soldiers.

After the protest, soldiers clashes with local youths and fired teargas at them before pulling back from the area.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23115/1/
PPS: “Detainees in Al Jalama are facing very harsh conditions”
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Friday, 08 December 2006, 16:03

The Tulkarem office of the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) reported that the detainee in Al Jalama Israeli detention and interrogation facility are facing very bad conditions and harsh treatment as the Israeli Prison Authorities (IPS) continued its attacks and violations against them.

In a press release, the PPS stated that the facility lacks the basic requirements that could fulfil the minimum needs and rights of the detainees.

The IPS controls the quantities of food and clothes, and even controls when the detainees are allowed to go to the toilet or have a shower.

The facility is overcrowded especially after Israel recently transferred eighty additional detainees to it.

The PPS also said that the detainees are subjected to torture and repeated physical attacks in addition to being repeatedly confined to solitary without any apparent reason.

It is statement, the PPS reported that Israeli interrogators are practicing psychological pressures on the detainees by attacking them physically and emotionally.

The society added that 85% of the detainees have been tortured by the interrogators, and that several detainees became sick but were not provided with the needed medical treatment.

Several PPS lawyers who managed to visit some detainees in Al Jalama said that the conditions are continuously deteriorating there and that the detainees are barred from their basic rights guaranteed by the international law.

The PPS appealed human rights organizations and the red Cross to visit Al Jalama and have a close look on the conditions of the detainees, and the brutal treatment they are subjected to.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23111/1/
Prime Minister Haniyya gains promise for release of prisoners in Syria
Palestine News Network - Friday, 08 December 2006, 14:00

Official sources in the Hamas party told PNN Friday that Prime Minister Haniyya's visit to Damascus may result in the release of Palestinian political prisoners from Syrian prisons.

During two days in the capital, talks were described as “sensitive,” and Ismail Haniyya was able to obtain a promise from the Syrian leadership. Palestinians should be released within a short time frame, as soon as names and locations can be inventoried and processed.

Sources in the Prime Minister's office did not reveal the exact number of detainees, but human rights sources say that there are at least one thousand. Among them are Palestinians who have spent decades in Syrian prisons, but no one was certain what had happened to them. Their whereabouts remained unaccounted for according to relatives, as was the case of the Nablus man who reappeared two days ago.

For 37 years Ahmed Mahmoud Shayeb of Nablus had been gone, only to reemerge after decades spent in a Syrian prison. Sources indicate that there are many more soon to be like him.

The Hamas party has already achieved what no other has been able to; obtain a promise. No other Palestinian politician has been able to do what Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya accomplished over the last two days. Hundreds of families are talking about this “sensitive and painful” issue and the “longstanding dream of closure.” Hundreds of Palestinians have been released from Syrian prisons in the past, including senior officials in the Palestinian Authority and women, one of whom was held for 17 years and has now returned home to Jerusalem. But never has a promise been made to release all of them.

Prime Minister Haniya began his Damascus meetings two days ago as part of his tour of the Middle East. The Prime Minister met with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and his deputy Farouk Al Shara, among many others in the Syrian leadership.

Hamas is roundly describing the visit as successful, having achieved all of its goals, and the party is praising the Syrian leadership for its continued support of the Palestinian cause.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23110/1/
Haniyya in Tehran, will return to Gaza next week
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Friday, 08 December 2006, 13:55

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya arrived on Thursday noon in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and was received by the Iranian vice-president. On Friday Haniyya said that his government will not recognize Israel since it occupies Palestine. Talking to worshiper in a Tehran mosque, Haniyya said that the government “will continue its struggle to liberate Jerusalem”.

On Thursday Haniyya was received by the Iranian Vice president Parviz Davoodi and is slated to meet with the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the current Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Haniyya will meet on Friday with Hamas leaders stationed in Tehran.

On Friday, Haniyya said that Tehran is the “a strategic depth, and a “longtime ally” of Hamas movement.

Haniyya will cut his visit to Iran and return to the Gaza Strip next week as a result of the conflicts on the formation of a National Unity Government, and the recent differences regarding the continuation of truce with Israel as a result of the continuous military offensives.

Recently, several Israeli officials demanded the Israeli government not to allow Haniyya back into the Gaza Strip.

Moreover, the Sudan president Omar Al Basheer is expected to attempt mediation between Fateh and Hamas in order to resolve their differences and form the National Unity Government, the Ramattan News Agency reported.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23109/1/
PCHR weekly report: “4 Palestinians killed, 13 injured and 117 taken prisoner”
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC - Friday, 08 December 2006, 12:54

The Palestinian center For Human Rights, in Gaza, published its weekly report on the Israeli violations and illegal activities in the occupied territories in the period between 30 Nov – Sep 6. The center reported that four Palestinians, including two children, were killed, and thirteen, including 7 children, were injured.

Also the center added than one Palestinian child died of earlier wounds sustained in an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The center also reported that soldiers carried 37 military invasion in several Palestinian areas in the occupied West Bank. During these military offensives, Israeli soldiers took prisoner 117 Palestinians including five children and one woman.

Eight Palestinian civilians were taken prisoner at Israeli checkpoints installed in several areas in the occupied West Bank.

Also, four Palestinian houses and four civilian establishments were demolished in Qalqilia and Bethlehem.

All border crossings in the Gaza Strip remained closed, but were partially opened it certain cases to allow the entry of food, medical supplies and other medications. The movement of the residents remained restricted.

Israeli continued the construction of the illegal Annexation Wall in the West Bank, demolished a house and informed five Palestinian families that their house would be demolished.

Settlers in the occupied West Bank continued their attacks against the Palestinian residents and their property especially in Hebron and Qalqilia.

A Palestinian house in a village, south of Hebron, was fired at by setters driving on bypass road Nr. 60, and one resident was injured by a round of live ammunition in his shoulder. One Palestinian child was also seriously injured in Hebron.