http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=16912
Renewed violence in Gaza raises serious concerns for children's safety, says UNICEF
Date: 08 / 11 / 2006 Time: 15:04

Palestinian children snatch a glimpse of a funeral
in Gaza (MaanImages)
Sabine Dolan, UNICEF, 7 November 2006

Renewed violence in Gaza is again raising serious concerns about the welfare of civilians, including children. Now in its sixth day, the armed conflict has claimed the lives of an estimated 50 Palestinians - half of them civilians, and 8 of them children.

"The situation in northern Gaza, and in particular in Beit Hanoun, is very serious and is getting worse," says UNICEF Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Dan Rohrmann. "We have seen an extraordinary number of children being killed just in the last five days. There are tanks everywhere, shelling, house demolitions and there is fighting in the streets. People are getting quite desperate.

"The children are terrified by everything going on, including seeing family members being taken away," adds Mr. Rohrmann.

More than 350 people have been wounded in the new violence in Gaza. Since the beginning of this year, over 100 children have died in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - more than twice the total killed in 2005.

Food, water, medicines run low

The town of Beit Hanoun, with a population of about 30,000, has been sealed off and remains under curfew. The western part of the city is without electricity and water service to some 10,000 people.

Food supplies are running out because markets and shops cannot renew their stocks. At the same time, aid organizations have been prevented access to some of the most deprived areas.

"Health is a major issue, and at the moment people do not have access to primary health care facilities due to the curfew, the lack of health staff and the lack of drugs. People fear leaving their homes to go to health clinics," explains Mr. Rohrmann.

Call for 'unhindered access'

To address this humanitarian crisis, UNICEF has been working closely with partners such as the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency, the World Food Programme and the International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent.

The partner agencies are providing food and water, and have helped repair water systems. UNICEF has been distributing family water kits as well as baby hygiene kits, which are especially needed by those who do not have access to safe water and by families with young, vulnerable children.

"The most important thing right now is to stop the violence and to guarantee that the UN and NGOs have got unhindered access to Beit Hanoun in order to deliver the critical assistance that is needed," asserts Mr. Rohrmann.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=16910
Israeli army continues to invade West Bank towns, 5 men detained in Bethlehem area, 6 in Qalqiliya
Date: 08 / 11 / 2006 Time: 14:31

Bethlehem - Qalqiliya - Ma'an - The Israeli occupation forces entered the villages of Tuqu' and Harmala south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Wednesday morning and seized five Palestinian citizens. On Tuesday night, Israeli Special Forces carried out an undercover incursion of Qalqiliya and detained six men. Another man was shot by an Israel bullet in his soldier.

Palestinian sources said that many Israeli military vehicles stormed Tuqu' and Harmala. The Israeli soldiers ransacked many houses and detained the twin brothers Mohammad and Yasser Mahmoud Sabbah, 23, and Mohammad Abdur-Rahman, 44.

In Tuqu' they took away Nidal Hassan Ahmad, 28, and Kamil Badan, 35.

While on Tuesday evening, Israeli Special Forces detained six Palestinians in the city of Qalqiliya, in the north of the occupied West Bank.

Our correspondent in Qalqiliya reported that Israeli Special Forces entered Qalqiliya in a Toyota car with a yellow registration plate. They dragged away Miqdam Ibrahim Jaber, an activist in the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades, while he was in the centre of the city in the market area. In addition, they detained Loay Hasayen, Samer Wahdan, Hashem Sabri, Mohamed Mara'beh, and Mahmoud Milhim.

The sources added that the forces opened fire on the local residents, injuring Walid 'Athbeh, a member of the Palestinian intelligence, with a bullet in his shoulder. His condition is described as moderate.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=16903
Fatah media office: Don't let Israel get away with murder!
Date: 08 / 11 / 2006 Time: 13:15

Ma'an - The media office of the Fatah movement has accused the Israeli army of bombarding Beit Hanoun while the Western media is focused on the US mid-term elections.

In a statement issued on Wednesday 8th November following the Beit Hanoun attack, Walid Awad of the Fatah media office says: "This morning while the western media is busy covering the mid term elections in the US, Israel's occupation army bombarded civilian homes in Biet Hanoun town [sic] in Gaza."

Awad points out that this carnage came one day after the Israeli government announced it had withdrawn from Beit Hanoun.

The statement emphasizes the "strange phenomenon" by which "Israel is killing Palestinian men, women and children at will, with hardly any one attempting to lift a finger to try to stop or prevent Israel from carrying out its horrendous attacks on Palestinian civilians."

Israel continues to "confiscate Palestinian land, destroy homes, place checkpoints, build walls, and arrest people at will … without any trace of world condemnation!"

"The killings that occurred this morning," the statement says, "are a deliberate Israeli attempt to foil the expected formation of a Palestinian national unity government. It is a devastating blow to president Abbas and to the Palestinian peace camp, and will have significant ramifications on the region's immediate future. "

Awad accused the Israeli leaders of "pushing the whole area slowly but surely into the abyss". He said that the Israeli leaders "are providing extremists with much needed ammunition to strengthen themselves, and to enforce their agenda. They are depriving the voices of reason in the Palestinian and Arab peace camps from any opportunity to assert themselves, and bring about much needed good news capable of adjusting the balance in favor of a just comprehensive peace."

In addition, Awad says that "the EU and the US are letting the Palestinian and Israeli people down. Encouraging Israel to launch inappropriate and disproportionate attacks on Palestinian cities towns and villages, while at the same time imposing severe sanctions and boycotts on the Palestinian population, is no less than a stamp of shame on European and American so called norms and values."

The statement says that through the "stupid actions such as the killing that took place this morning in Biet Hanoun, Israel is enabling anti western forces to get stronger."

Awad concludes in his statement, "Israel can not be allowed to get away with murder."

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=16902
PLO issues urgent appeal for an end to the massacre of innocent civilian Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
Date: 08 / 11 / 2006 Time: 12:53

Ma'an - The Palestinian Liberation Organization has issued an urgent appeal calling for an immediate end to the bloody massacres against innocent civilian Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Their appeal reads: "Israeli extremist government supported by the United States of America still practice [sic] avowed organized terrorism against the unarmed Palestinian people. It perpetrated this morning one of the most bloody horrified massacres in Beit Hanon town against the sleeping safe women and children after claming [sic] its withdrawal yesterday. The occupied Israeli forces came back with intensive tanks’ shelling slaughtered 20 civilians at least, heavily injured hundreds of people and destroyed what left live [sic] there."

In their statement, the department of Arab and international relations for the PLO strongly condemns "these criminal actions". The PLO appeals to the Security Council, the Quartet, the whole international community, the "loving peace forces" and "all the free people all around the world" to call for an urgent and immediate intervention to put an end to the "continuous series of the Israeli assaults and aggression".

The statement says that the Palestinian people look at the "international shameful silence" with anger. The PLO says that such ehavior "encourages Israel to achieve its goal of eliminating thePalestinian cause from the World scene which will lead … to more violence and counter violence in the region".

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=16902
PLO issues urgent appeal for an end to the massacre of innocent civilian Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
Date: 08 / 11 / 2006 Time: 12:53

Ma'an - The Palestinian Liberation Organization has issued an urgent appeal calling for an immediate end to the bloody massacres against innocent civilian Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Their appeal reads: "Israeli extremist government supported by the United States of America still practice [sic] avowed organized terrorism against the unarmed Palestinian people. It perpetrated this morning one of the most bloody horrified massacres in Beit Hanon town against the sleeping safe women and children after claming [sic] its withdrawal yesterday. The occupied Israeli forces came back with intensive tanks’ shelling slaughtered 20 civilians at least, heavily injured hundreds of people and destroyed what left live [sic] there."

In their statement, the department of Arab and international relations for the PLO strongly condemns "these criminal actions". The PLO appeals to the Security Council, the Quartet, the whole international community, the "loving peace forces" and "all the free people all around the world" to call for an urgent and immediate intervention to put an end to the "continuous series of the Israeli assaults and aggression".

The statement says that the Palestinian people look at the "international shameful silence" with anger. The PLO says that such ehavior "encourages Israel to achieve its goal of eliminating thePalestinian cause from the World scene which will lead … to more violence and counter violence in the region".