http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17612
Israeli forces shell northern Gaza Strip Wednesday
Date: 29 / 11 / 2006 Time: 13:25

Gaza - Ma'an - The Israeli forces shelled an open area in the north of the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported.

Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli tanks located on the northern borders of the Gaza Strip fired several shells into open areas of Beit Lahiya, causing panic amongst the local Palestinian citizens.

This shelling is considered a violation of the truce agreement that was reached on the weekend between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17635
Al-Aqsa Institution for Reconstructing Islamic Sanctities condemns violation of Islamic cemetary in Tiberias
Date: 29 / 11 / 2006 Time: 18:06

Jerusalem - Ma'an – The al-Aqsa Institution for Reconstructing Islamic Sanctities has reported that the municipality of Tiberias has attacked the Islamic cemetery in Tiberias, sweeping away a number of graves, and dumping rubbish on a 100 m2 area of the cemetery. The al-Aqsa Institution has seriously condemned this aggression.

A crew from the Al-Aqsa Institution responded to a call from a member of the community, and went to examine the cemetery. The land has already been bulldozed and a new landfill site had been established on the northern side.

In a statement, the al-Aqsa Institute condemned this "sinful" attack on the cemetery, and demanded to be allowed to clean and maintain the cemetery, where the threat of repeated aggression continues to exist.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17633
Let our people move - By Daoud Kuttab
Date: 29 / 11 / 2006 Time: 17:54

This article was first published on The Electronic Intifada, 28 November 2006

A little over a year ago, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn, Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz, the PA's Muhammad Dahlan and the EU reached an agreement to allow Palestinians free movement in and out of the Gaza Strip.

The Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) signed on November 15, 2005 promised Palestinians freedom of movement of people and goods. A detailed fact sheet published by the Palestinian Monitoring Group shows that since last year, none of the agreement's provisions have been fully implemented by Israel.

The AMA sought to facilitate the movement of Palestinian people and goods between Gaza and Israel (through crossing points between the two areas); between Gaza and the West Bank (through bus and truck convoys running between the two parts of the occupied Palestinian territory); within Palestinian communities in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem (by working to dismantle the internal closure regime, which consists of hundreds of checkpoints and fixed obstacles to movement between Palestinian communities in the West Bank); between Gaza and the West Bank; and to third countries (by opening the Rafah crossing point between Gaza and Egypt, allowing Palestinians to build a seaport in Gaza, and allowing Gaza's airport to reopen).

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Rafah crossing point has been open, since June 28, 2006, on only 13% of the days it was scheduled to be open. The UN office has also stated that since June 25, Israel has frequently prevented EU monitors from reaching the site, thereby forcing Rafah's closure.

In July, seven Palestinians waiting to be let into Gaza from Egypt died as a result of heat and the absence of shelter. Under the AMA, Palestinian customs officials were supposed to inspect imports through Kerem Shalom. To date, Rafah is still closed to imports and Israel has not permitted Palestinian customs officials at Kerem Shalom.

As to the Crossing Points Between Gaza and Israel, the AMA committed that Israel will "allow the number of trucks per day processed [for export] through Karni to reach 150 [by December 31 2005], and 400 by end-2006."

In 2005, 90% of all Palestinian trade was with Israel, or through Israel, to markets in third countries. But since the signing of the AMA, according to the the Palestine Trade Center, Karni has been completely closed for export for over 155 of approximately 310 working days, or roughly 50% of the time. And since the signing of the AMA, an average of 18 trucks per day have been processed through Karni for export.

Agricultural products from Gaza during the 2005 harvest season (which were sold in winter 2006) rotted in Gaza as they were stuck on the border. According to estimates by Paltrade and the United States Agency for International Development, the losses resulting from Karni's closure during the 2005 harvest season were estimated at $600,000 per day, of which agricultural losses stood at $400,000 per day.

A link between Gaza and the West Bank is vital for the Palestinian economy. Neither area alone possesses the characteristics to be economically and independently viable. Together, however, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank economically complement one other: Gaza has an airport, access to the sea, and natural gas reserves, while the West Bank has water resources, room for development, and the international market of east Jerusalem.

Israel had agreed to implement a more robust convoy provision under the Oslo Accords. But Israel called off discussions regarding implementation of the convoy provision shortly after the AMA was concluded, and refused to recommence discussions. As a result, and in direct violation of the AMA, no truck or bus convoys between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have operated. Israel also refuses to discuss the establishment of a permanent road link between the West Bank and Gaza.

In the occupied West Bank, millions of Palestinians are restricted in their movement - entirely within Palestinian territory - for the benefit of 430,000 Israeli settlers illegally residing on Palestinian land. Restrictions on movement include a stringent permit regime, roadblocks, checkpoints, and Israel's Wall - built primarily inside the occupied West Bank.

Finally, according to the AMA agreement worked out by Rice and her Quartet partners, "The parties agree on the importance of the airport." Again on this issue Israel has refused to discuss the reopening of Gaza's airport since the signing of the agreement.

While Israel has used the capture of one of its soldiers as an excuse for the continuous disruption of Palestinian movement, there is no doubt that what Israel has been doing is a collective punishment and therefore a war crime according to international humanitarian law.

It is not surprising, then, to hear people like United Nations official John Dugard saying: "Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to have thrown away the key."

In a November 14 press release issued by senior PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat, he made the connection between the current crisis and the restriction on the movement of Palestinians. "We would not be in the intense crisis we are in today had the [Agreement on Movement and Access] been implemented," he said.

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Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah. His website is www.daoudkuttab.com.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22967/1/
Desmond Tutu appointed by UN as head of Beit Hanoun inquiry
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 21:19

United Nations officials reported Wednesday that Nobel Laureate, Bishop Desmond Tutu, has been named to head a UN fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun town, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army killed 19 civilians, earlier this month, after shelling their houses as they were sleeping.

Tutu, a South African anti-apartheid campaigner and the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town will be heading to Gaza to asses the situation and meet with survivors of the Israeli military attack in addition to making recommendations and finding means that would ensure the protection of Palestinian civilians.

Tutu also chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is south Africa after the end of the apartheid system there.

He won the Nobel Peace Prize om 1984, and is considered one of the prominent activists against discrimination and apartheid.

Tutu previously said that the Israeli occupation to Palestine is similar to the apartheid regime that dominated south Africa.

Moreover, Tutu demanded the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the US president, George Bush, to apologize for the “immoral war” they carried in Iraq.

Two weeks ago, the General Assembly of the UN decided to send a fact-finding commission to Beit Hanoun. The decision was approved by 156 countries, while seven countries objected and six abstained.

The United States, Australia, Canada were among the countries who voted against the resolution that also called on Israel to immediately withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22959/1/
Rice to ask Abbas to “impose order”, pledge aid to strengthen his position
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 15:15

American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who plans to meet Thursday with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to tell him that me must increase his efforts to impose order in the Palestinian areas to avoid “missing the opportunity to resume negotiations with Israel”. Rice is expected to pledge U.S aid to strengthen Abbas position, but expects results in return.

Meanwhile, senior Israeli officials said that Washington knows that any development in the region depends on the success of cease-fire.

The visit of Rice in the region comes as the Egyptian Intelligence Chief, Omar Suleiman, arrived in Israel on Wednesday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

On Wednesday afternoon Suleiman met Amir Peretz and discussed the issued of prisoner swap combined with a diplomatic process, Israel's Ynetnews reported.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who met with Tuesday with King Abdullah of Jordan, said following the meeting that he is encouraged by the recent statements of Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, regarding a final-status agreement with the Palestinians, and his “positive reference to the Arab peace initiative proposed in 2002 by the Arab League.

In spite of the seemingly positive but small developments, senior members of Olmert's staff stated that he opposes initiating final status talks with Abbas as long as the Palestinian government, headed by Hamas, recognizes Israel, renounces violence, and accepts previous peace agreements between the two sides.

The three conditions were set by the Quartet committee composed on the United States, United Nations, European Union, and Russia.

Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that Israeli government officials expressed satisfaction with a report they received Tuesday from Elliot Abram, White House envoy, after he carried a tour in Europe.

Abrams met with Olmert and informed him the the EU promised him that any peace initiative would be first coordinated with the US, and that the recent plan for reviving the Israeli-Palestinian talks, which was presented by Spain, Italy and France would not be promoted without an American consent, Haaretz added.