http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22871/1/
Resident dies of wounds suffered three weeks ago, three injured in Jabalia, two in Beit Lahia
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Saturday, 25 November 2006, 00:26

Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip, reported on Friday evening that one resident died of wounds sustained three weeks ago in Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Five residents were injured in tow separate attacks, during evening Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Resident Ala' Al Omary, died of his wounds at an Israeli hospital on Friday evening. He was seriously injured three weeks ago when the Israeli army shelled an area in Beit Lahia town; four residents, including two medics, were killed in the attack.

In a separate incident on Friday evening, at least three residents were injured in an Israeli shelling to Tal Qleibo area, east of Jabalia, in the norther part of the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources reported that one of the three injured residents is in a critical condition.

Also on Friday evening, two residents were injured in an Israeli military shelling to Skeikh Zayid residential area in Beit Lahia.

Dr. Muawiya Hassanen, head of the Emergency Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, reported that the two are in moderate conditions after being hit by don-dom bullets that explode inside the victim's body causing severe harm and tissue damage.

Dom-dom bullets are international banned ammunition, but are used by the Israeli military against the Palestinians.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22867/1/
Illegal settlers in Gaza were also paid millions to evacuate
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Friday, 24 November 2006, 17:31

Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that the Israeli government's Disengagement Administration (Sela) has paid millions of shekels in compensation to dozens of settlers families who were evacuated from illegal settlement outposts in the Gaza Strip during the August 2005 Disengagement Plan.

The Israeli law only entitles settlers of “legal settlements” to receive compensation for their evacuation. But Sela compensated settlers who were living in five illegal settlement outposts in the Gaza Strip. The outposts are Tel Katifa, Shalev, Kfar Yam, Shirat Hayam and Kerem Atzmona, Haaretz added.

Each family received an amount of NIS 600.000 in order to evacuate from the illegal outposts.

Some Sela officials are concerned that these payments could be set as precedents that would oblige Israel to pay the same amounts when evacuating illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank, especially since settlers have already began asking for those amounts in order to evacuate.

But the officials also argued that there is a difference between settlers who were evacuated under an official government plan, and those who will be evacuated because there are living in illegal outposts.

The officials added that the payments are “beyond the letter of the law”, therefore they do not constitute a precedent.

Another issue Sela did not follow was that it did not keep track of where the Gaza settlers were evacuated to, therefore, some of them have moved to illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank.

Also, Sela does not have a clear record on the number of families who lived in these outposts, but so far 64 settler families have filed for compensation.

41 of the 64 settler families received advances that totals to thousands of shekels for each family, and 23 did not receive any compensation yet.

Moreover, all settlers of illegal outposts will receive lower compensation that settlers living in “legal settlements”, but the degree of the reduction will depend on how many of Sela's four criteria for legal settlements the outposts met, Haaretz added.

These criteria, as published by Haaretz, are as follows; the government decided to establish it; its municipal borders were defined; it had an approved master plan under which construction permits were issued; and residents had property rights in their dwellings.

Two weeks from now, the special compensation committee will publish a decision in principle of the compensation amount each of the five illegal outposts will receive.

After the level of compensation is set, the committee will start deliberation on how much each family will receive based on the number of family members and length of time they lived in the illegal outposts.
Yet, the Israeli law does not entitle the residents of illegal settlement outposts to receive any compensation, but Sela officials said that “the justification for compensating residents of the unrecognized settlements lies in the special circumstances of the evacuation of the Gaza Strip and the desire to enable these residents to rehabilitate their lives following the evacuation”, Haaretz reported.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17459
180 tons of rice from the UN enter the Gaza Strip
Date: 24 / 11 / 2006 Time: 16:54

Rafah - Ma'an - Ten trucks loaded with about 180 tons of rice have been allowed to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday. This food aid is for the international nutrition program of the United Nations. The trucks entered through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing south of Rafah between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

On the other hand, Israel continues to prevent medical aid from Tunisia, Yemen and Algeria from passing into Gaza Strip. The aid has been waiting to cross for about 2 months.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/22867/1/
Illegal settlers in Gaza were also paid millions to evacuate
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Friday, 24 November 2006, 17:31

Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that the Israeli government's Disengagement Administration (Sela) has paid millions of shekels in compensation to dozens of settlers families who were evacuated from illegal settlement outposts in the Gaza Strip during the August 2005 Disengagement Plan.

The Israeli law only entitles settlers of “legal settlements” to receive compensation for their evacuation. But Sela compensated settlers who were living in five illegal settlement outposts in the Gaza Strip. The outposts are Tel Katifa, Shalev, Kfar Yam, Shirat Hayam and Kerem Atzmona, Haaretz added.

Each family received an amount of NIS 600.000 in order to evacuate from the illegal outposts.

Some Sela officials are concerned that these payments could be set as precedents that would oblige Israel to pay the same amounts when evacuating illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank, especially since settlers have already began asking for those amounts in order to evacuate.

But the officials also argued that there is a difference between settlers who were evacuated under an official government plan, and those who will be evacuated because there are living in illegal outposts.

The officials added that the payments are “beyond the letter of the law”, therefore they do not constitute a precedent.

Another issue Sela did not follow was that it did not keep track of where the Gaza settlers were evacuated to, therefore, some of them have moved to illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank.

Also, Sela does not have a clear record on the number of families who lived in these outposts, but so far 64 settler families have filed for compensation.

41 of the 64 settler families received advances that totals to thousands of shekels for each family, and 23 did not receive any compensation yet.

Moreover, all settlers of illegal outposts will receive lower compensation that settlers living in “legal settlements”, but the degree of the reduction will depend on how many of Sela's four criteria for legal settlements the outposts met, Haaretz added.

These criteria, as published by Haaretz, are as follows; the government decided to establish it; its municipal borders were defined; it had an approved master plan under which construction permits were issued; and residents had property rights in their dwellings.

Two weeks from now, the special compensation committee will publish a decision in principle of the compensation amount each of the five illegal outposts will receive.

After the level of compensation is set, the committee will start deliberation on how much each family will receive based on the number of family members and length of time they lived in the illegal outposts.
Yet, the Israeli law does not entitle the residents of illegal settlement outposts to receive any compensation, but Sela officials said that “the justification for compensating residents of the unrecognized settlements lies in the special circumstances of the evacuation of the Gaza Strip and the desire to enable these residents to rehabilitate their lives following the evacuation”, Haaretz reported.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17423
Israeli activists plan a large anti-war, pro-negotiations demo for 2 December
Date: 23 / 11 / 2006 Time: 13:25

Ma'an - A coalition of Israeli peace organizations are preparing to stage a large demonstration and march on Saturday 2 December in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. This demo, which will mark the culminating point of a month of protests, will call for the Israeli government to end its siege on the Gaza Strip and to resume talks with the Palestinian Authority.

The coalition, which comprises of the Coalition of Women for Peace, Anarchists against the Wall, Gush Shalom, Hadash, Balad, High School Seniors Letter, Rabbis for Human Rights, University Student Coalition – Tel Aviv, Yesh Gvul, Ta`ayush, Maki, Banki and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, has been coordinating a global month of protests from November 4 to December 2, 2006.

On 18 November, a convoy of some 40 cars carrying Israeli activists, displaying anti-war and pro-negotiations slogans on their cars, drove to the Erez crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip. The protest organisers had requested a permit for Sufian Abu Zeida, a former Palestinian minister, to join them on the Israeli side of the crossing, but his application was denied.

Instead, he spoke to the protesters through a mobile phone and a loudspeaker. "Hello, my friends. I am sorry I can't address you face to face. I want to thank you for caring for the suffering of the people here in Gaza, for seeking to make real peace. I want to say something to the other kind of Israelis, those who want a giant new military operation in Gaza, those who want to fight and conquer and kill us: you don't learn from your own failures, if you try this you will have another bloody failure. There is no military solution, nothing but two states and a fair solution for the refugees. This is the only way: sit together, make our two states live together!"

In a report by one of the Gush Shalom organisers, Adam Keller quotes the Israeli journalist, Gideon Levy: "I, unlike most of you, was able to cross to the other side here. I saw Beit Hanoun destroyed and ruined, destroyed streets with every house showing signs of damage, many completely ruined. I saw wounded people dying slowly because they are dependant on respirators and electricity is erratic since our air force bombed their only electric generator. Five minutes' drive from here, across this crossing point, a terrible humanitarian crisis is developing. Everyone who stands complacently aside, which means most people in Israel, shares in the guilt. And I want to say: everybody is talking about the terrible suffering of the Sderot people. They suffer, true, but you can't compare it to Beit Hanoun. Sderot is mourning one victim this week, in Beit Hanoun they mourn more than eighty!" As if on cue, at the exact end of Levy's speech there was again a prolonged machine-gun burst, and we could see a helicopter flying very fast over the fields of the North Gaza Strip."

On the same day, a group from the Anarchists against the Wall took over some Israeli tanks stationed nearby and scattered dummies to represent body parts.

the coalition states that actions have been planned, or carried out, in the following cities around the world already: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Armidale, Northern NSW, Australia; Barcelona, Spain; Berkeley, CA, US; Bergamo, Italy; Boston, MA, US; Cambridge, MA, US; Canberra, Australia; Cape Town, South Africa; Chicago, IL, US; Cologne, Germany; Como, Italy; Des Moines, Iowa, US; Dunedin, New Zealand; Everett, WA, US; Keswick, UK; Leuven, Belgium; Marseille, France; Milano, Italy; Montreal, Canada; Muenster, Germany; New York, NY, US; Oakland, CA, US; Oslo, Norway; Padua, Italy; Parksville/Qualicum, BC, Canada; Philadelphia, PA, US; Ravenna, Italy; Rome, Italy; San Francisco, CA, US; San Luis Obispo, CA, US; Schio, Italy; Strasbourg, France; Toronto, Canada; Udine, Italy; Verona, Italy; Vienna, Austria; Washington, DC, US.

Further details are available at: http://gazasiege.net
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