President Carter: US Support of Unity can Help Palestinian Democracy and Establish a Unified State

Ex-Us president Jimmy Carter called for international support to the Palestinian national unity and reconciliation deal signed today in Cairo by Palestinian groups.

This is a decisive moment. Under the auspices of the Egyptian government, Palestine’s two major political movements — Fatah and Hamas — are signing a reconciliation agreement on Wednesday that will permit both to contest elections for the presidency and legislature within a year. “Carter wrote in an opinion article published on Wednesday by the Washington Post.

On the international support to the Palestinian unity deal Carter said” If the United States and the international community support this effort, they can help Palestinian democracy and establish the basis for a unified Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza that can make a secure peace with Israel. If they remain aloof or undermine the agreement, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory may deteriorate with a new round of violence against Israel. Support for the interim government is critical, and the United States needs to take the lead.”

Last week Hamas and Fatah leaders meet in Cairo and announced that they have reached a deal to end division. This week Palestinian factions joined Hamas-and Fatah officials and signed the deal on Tuesday and today announced the deal in a calibration that took place in Cairo.

The Islamic movement Hamas was at loggerheads with Fatah, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, since Hamas won the parliamentary elections in January of 2006.

Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip ending months of bloody conflict with Fatah allied security forces. Egypt and other Arab countries attempts of reaching a reconciliation deal between the two largest Palestinian factions have failed in the past four years.

http://www.imemc.org/article/61183

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Beit Hanoun invasion 01.11.2006 - 07.11.2006

Since the capture of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid by Palestinian militants on 25 June, Israel launched a major military operation that has gone on for more than four months and led to the death of around 350 Palestinians many of them civilians. During that time, three Israelis soldiers have died.

In one of Israel's biggest raids into Gaza in recent months, troops carried out three air strikes and moved to encircle the town of Beit Hanoun. The town in northern Gaza Strip was at the centre of a major, ongoing Israeli military operation during the week, Israeli army says its aim is to prevent groups like Islamic Jihad firing missiles across the nearby border into southern Israel. The rocket attacks are simply retaliation for daily Israeli raids and killings in Gaza, and over in the occupied West Bank. The crudely made rockets often cause panic and minor injury, but they very rarely kill.

The town of Beit Hanoun has been under the very tight control of a large force of tanks and troops who have ordered the tens of thousands of local people to stay off the streets for all but very brief periods. The Israelis destroyed Beit Hanoun, they destroyed the infrastructure, cut the water pipes and the telephone lines. Hundreds of men have been rounded up and questioned, and some have been taken away to Israel. The entire town of Beit Hanoun remains under Israeli control and troops have ordered residents to stay indoors.

More than 60 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in a week-long operation.

A senior United Nations official, John Ging, has described the atmosphere in Beit Hanoun as one of "death, destruction and despair". It is almost impossible for journalists to get into the town, but the World Food Programme spokeswoman, Kirstie Campbell, was among United Nations aid workers allowed to bring in emergency rations and medicines, "The atmosphere was extremely stressful," she said. "The people were asking for a lot of things. They were asking for food, for milk, and they were very worried about relatives that have been detained." "You could really see that the people are suffering."

A young Palestinian woman has blown herself up in a bomb attack on Israeli troops in northern Gaza, injuring one soldier but also wounding a number of civilians. The bombing came in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. Palestinians regard the attack as an act of desperate resistance.

Earlier, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy was killed in an air strike on the northern town of Jabaliya. During the Jabaliya air strike, at least four people were hurt in the attack near a school. The Israeli military said its aircraft had attacked a group of militants retrieving a device used to fire a missile. But the Palestinians said the plane missed its target and, instead, struck close to a school.

At least two women died when an Israeli shell struck the home of Jamila Shanti, an MP from the ruling Palestinian party Hamas. Ms Shanti has been identified as the organiser of a women's protest on Friday to free militants sheltering in a mosque, that was fired on by Israeli troops killing two unarmed protesters.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya have called the operation a "massacre" and urged the UN Security Council to convene to discuss the issue. Pope Benedict XVI said he was very worried about the situation in Gaza, and called on all sides to work to stop the bloodshed and to immediately resume direct and concrete negotiations. The European Union presidency, currently held by Finland, has issued a statement deploring "the growing number of civilian casualties the Israeli military operation has caused". The Red Cross has criticised the killing by Israeli force of paramedics. The International Red Cross also criticised Israel for the killing of two medical workers, saying that the paramedics and their vehicle were clearly marked.

http://www.palestinehistory.com/issues/gaza2006/beithanoun.htm


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March 30th Day of the Land Listen to Palestine

On Land Day, listen to Palestine. Listen to Palestine tell you about a people steadfast in their land. Listen to Palestine tell you of a people carrying the keys to their homes in their hearts. Listen to Palestine tell you of young people dancing the dabkeh in Yafa, Haifa, and Bethlehem, joining hands from Jerusalem to Bisan and singing of Gaza and Al-Jalil. Listen to Palestine tell you of a people determined to resist the occupier, never to tire, never to rest, never to give up, never to allow the flame of resistance to fade, always to keep it burning until total liberation. On Land Day, listen to Palestine tell you of land that was and forever will be Palestinian from the River to the Sea and from Ras In-Naqoura to Im Ir-Rishrash.
On Land Day listen to Jerusalem tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Yafa tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Bethlehem tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Haifa tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Gaza tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Acca tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Nablus tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Nazareth tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Deir Al-Balah tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Um Il-Fahim tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Jenin tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Tarshiha tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Ramallah tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Beir Is-Sabi’ tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Hebron tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Bisan tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Rafah tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Arraba tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Tulkarim tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Safad tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Qalqilia tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Al-Lyd tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Jericho tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Ar-Ramleh tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Salfit tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Sakhnin tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Khan Younis tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Tabaria tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Toubas tell you: I am Palestinian.
Listen to Kufr Kanna tell you: I am Palestinian.
On Land Day, listen to every inch of the land between the Jordan River
and the Mediterranean Sea tell the whole world: This land is Palestine.
http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/on-land-day-listen-to-the-land/
March 31

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A Beautiful Day of Worship For Palestinians

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Israeli navy shells Palestinian fishing boat in Gaza

Gaza Strip, (Pal Telegraph)-As occupation military offensive continues, Israeli gunboats near the shore of Rafah city in the south part of Gaza Strip targeted Tuesday evening a Palestinian fishing boat causing damage with one boat.

Local sources reported that Israeli navy opened massive fire at Palestinian fishermen, while they were practicing their job.

Israeli gunboats regularly attack Palestinian fishing boats leaving many families without support since more than 3500 residents of Gaza Strip depend on fishing as a source of their income.

On 17th February, three Palestinian fishermen were killed by Israeli shells fired from the northern coast .

Source




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West Bank Bedouins worse off than Gazans

AL HADIDIYA, WEST BANK, 28 July 2010 (IRIN) - The road to al-Hadidiya village in the northeastern West Bank district of Tubas is dotted with boulders etched with a warning in Hebrew, Arabic and English: "Danger - Open Fire Area".

The boulders arrived about six months ago, and are positioned at the entrance to Palestinian villages, indicating that chunks of the Jordan Valley have become a closed military zone claimed by the Israeli army. They signal a further squeeze on the Bedouin communities here.

Shepherd Abdul Rahim Bsharat, 59, and his family have lived and farmed in al-Hadidiya since the 1960s. At that time, he said, there were 400-500 families there. Now, there are 17, who stay on despite having no access to water or electricity. Every building in the village has an Israeli demolition order on it.

On 21 June, the Israeli military gave Bsharat notice that his house and animal shelters could be destroyed at any time. When Bsharat’s house was previously demolished in 2002, his water tank was confiscated too. "If they destroy my property again, I’ll come back and rebuild it again. This is my land," he told IRIN.

Bsharat’s home is a canopy of sewn-together sacks propped up over bare ground. It can easily be rebuilt. His other problems are more difficult to solve.


Photo: Phoebe Greenwood/IRIN
Bsharat in front of his home, which has an Israeli demolition order against it
Al-Hadidiya is in a part of the West Bank under complete Israeli control, known as Area C. The estimated 40,000 Palestinians living there are unable to build or repair their homes, schools, hospitals or sewage systems under Israel’s strict permit system, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In a region where almost all families are herders, Israel’s restrictions on Palestinian access to and development of agricultural land mean thousands are going hungry, aid agencies say.

A report published recently by Save the Children UK entitled Life on the Edge, warns that many parts of Area C have plummeted into a humanitarian crisis more acute than in Gaza.

Israeli townships

Al-Hadidiya is surrounded by three expanding Israeli townships, Ro’i, Beka’ot and Hemdat. Its land is directly adjacent to Ro’i and the community collects any over-flow from the water pumps irrigating the settlers’ crops in rusting tins.

Despite a lengthy petition from Bsharat, Israeli authorities have not permitted al-Hadidiya to be connected to the main water network. There is no health centre and no permit to build one. The nearest hospital is several hours away in Jericho.

Israeli roadblocks and checkpoints mean that reaching a doctor can take hours. In 2002, Bsharat’s then two-and-a-half-year-old son was hospitalized for 16 days when a common cold turned into pneumonia. In the same year, his eight-year-old son was badly injured falling off a tractor. It was six hours before a car could get through to al-Hadidiya to get him to hospital. He died from blood loss.

Israel has suffered deadly suicide bombings launched from the West Bank in the past and says strict rules on Palestinian movement enforced through checkpoints and roadblocks are necessary for its security.

According to the Israeli military, homes in al-Hadidiya and much of the Jordan Valley are being demolished because they have either been built illegally, without an Israeli building permit, or are located in "closed military areas". Around 18 percent of the West Bank is now a closed military zone.

Stunting


Photo: Phoebe Greenwood/IRIN
Bedouin children wander away from their home in al-Hadidiya village, which is now within a closed military zone claimed by the Israeli army
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) found that in Bedouin communities like al-Hadidiya, rates of stunting are more than double those in Gaza. Almost half the children have diarrhoea, one of the biggest killers of children under five in the world, and three quarters of families do not have enough nutritious food.

Save the Children works with local NGO Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) to help families in al-Hadidiya repair damaged buildings and farmland, when possible. But the strict restrictions on building and access mean that the Palestinian Authority and aid agencies are limited in the help they can offer families anywhere in Area C.

"In recent weeks the international community has rightly focused on the suffering of families in Gaza but the plight of children in Area C must not be overlooked. Many families, particularly in Bedouin and herder communities, suffer significantly higher levels of malnutrition and poverty," Salam Kanaan, Save the Children UK’s country director, said. Source -

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UN chief 'shocked' by Gaza aid flotilla raid

KAMPALA — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he was "shocked" by a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and demanded a full investigation.

"I am shocked by reports of killings and injuries of people on boats carrying supplies for Gaza," the UN chief said at a press conference following the opening in Uganda of a key conference on the International Criminal Court.

"I condemn this violence," Ban added, as an Israeli television channel reported that as many as 19 pro-Palestinian activists may have been killed in the Israeli military raid.

"It is vital that there is a full investigation to determine exactly how this bloodshed took place," Ban said.

"I believe Israel must urgently provide a full explanation," he added, moments after delivering a speech hailing the "new age of accountability" heralded by the creation of the ICC in 2002.

The Hague-based tribunal, of which Israel is not a member, is the world's first permanent court mandated to bring perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide to justice.

The UN chief said that a detailed account of the incident was needed before the international community could coordinate its response.

http://islamicscholars.newsvine.com/_news/2010/05/31/4442389-afp-un-chief-shocked-by-gaza-aid-flotilla-raid?threadId=969074&commentId=14504515#c14504515

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UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza

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Israel closes Gaza's commercial crossings

Gaza, April 18, (Pal Telegraph) The Israeli occupation authorities announced the closure of Gaza’s commercial crossings today and tomorrow because of Jewish holidays.

Raed Fattouh, Chairman of goods entry to Gaza Committee, said that the Israeli occupation forces closed the Kerem Abu Salem and Carney commercial crossings today and tomorrow due to jewish holidays, to be re-opened on next Wednesday’s morning.

Fattouh, added that the Israeli occupation authorities allowed the introduction of 69 trucks through the Kerem Abu Salem crossing, including two trucks of aid, in addition to pumping 223,437 liters of gasoline for power plant and 111,300 liters of cooking gas, and exported one truck loaded with flowers.



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The Dangers and Difficulties of Reporting from Gaza: Two Journalists Recount Their Experiences

We speak with two journalists who have covered Gaza extensively about the dangers and difficulties of reporting from the Occupied Territories: Mohammed Omer, an award-winning Palestinian journalist who was interrogated and beaten by armed Israeli security guards on his way back home to Gaza after receiving the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in London in July of 2008, and Ayman Mohyeldin, the Gaza correspondent for Al Jazeera English, who was one of the only international journalists reporting from inside Gaza during the twenty-two-day Israeli assault last year.

Watch Videos here at Democracy Now

Part two




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Your Tax Dollars at Work: Israel to deport...well...just about the entire West Bank, apparently

In the most recent round of Kafka-esque absurdity from the U.S.-funded Israeli military, new military orders would allow the occupying army to deport anyone in the West Bank without an army-granted permit--which could include just about anyone


According to an editorial in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, "The order's vague language will allow army officers to exploit it arbitrarily to carry out mass expulsions, in accordance with military orders which were issued under unclear circumstances....This would be a grave and dangerous move, unprecedented during the Israeli occupation."

And The Guardian reports on efforts by Israeli human rights groups to combat this order:

"Israel's leading human rights groups are trying to stop two new Israeli military orders which will make any resident of the occupied West Bank who does not have an Israeli-issued permit liable for deportation or jail.
The new Order Regarding Prevention of Infiltration and Order Regarding Security Provisions, which comes into force on Tuesday have "severe ramifications," the rights groups say. Palestinians, and any foreigners living in the West Bank, could be labelled infiltrators and deported within 72 hours or jailed for seven years if they are found without the correct permit. It does not define what Israel considers a valid permit.

"The orders … are worded so broadly such as theoretically allowing the military to empty the West Bank of almost all its Palestinian inhabitants," said the 10 rights groups, which include Ha-Moked, B'Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and Rabbis for Human Rights. Until now the vast majority of Palestinians in the West Bank have not been required to hold a permit just to be present in their homes, the groups say."


Meanwhile, deported American journalist Jared Malsin writes at Huffington Post that the recent Anat Kam/Uri Blau cover-up scandal, which involves an expose of Israeli assassination orders that violated even the country's own laws (much less international law regarding extrajudicial assassination), is the latest front in Israel's "crisis of legitimacy."

Crisis of legitimacy, indeed. Racist permit systems. Arbitrary deportation. Extrajudicial assassinations. There is nothing legitimate about any of it.

Find out how much money you and your community are spending to support this sort of absurdity, and what you can do to stop it, at AidtoIsrael.org

http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/your-tax-dollars-at-work-israel-to.html



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An open letter to Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations

Gaza

March 21, 2010

Your Excellency:

You are already well aware of the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza consequent on Israel’s devastating military attacks and its siege. As recently as December 27of 2009, you called the blockade of Gaza “unacceptable.” While this statement is certainly valid, it constitutes a gross understatement of the actual situation which amounts to slow genocide. Such understatement suggests that you are trimming your language to accommodate US pro-Israeli policy. We live an ongoing, illegal, crippling Israeli siege that has shattered all spheres of life, prompting the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Richard Falk, to describe it as “a prelude to genocide”. Your own UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, headed by the highly respected South African judge, Richard Goldstone, found Israel guilty of “war crimes and possible crimes against humanity,” as did major international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The Goldstone report concludes that Israel’s war on Gaza was “designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.”

Mr. Ban,

The 1948 Genocide Convention clearly says that one instance of genocide is "the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a people in whole or in part.'' That is what has been done to Gaza since the imposition of the blockade by a UN member state, namely Israel, and the massacre of 1434 Palestinians, 90 per cent of whom were civilians, including 434 children.

On your second short visit to Gaza since the end of the Israeli onslaught in 2008-09, you will find what Professor Sara Roy, an expert on Gaza, describes as “a land ripped apart and scarred, the lives of its people blighted. Gaza is decaying under the weight of continued devastation, unable to function normally…” Professor Roy concludes that “[T]he decline and disablement of Gaza's economy and society have been deliberate, the result of state policy--consciously planned, implemented and enforced... And just as Gaza's demise has been consciously orchestrated, so have the obstacles preventing its recovery." Israel is intent on destroying Gaza e because World official bodies and leaders choose to say and do nothing.

As civil society organizations based in Gaza, we call on you to use your position as Secretary General of the UN, the world body responsible for holding all governments accountable for the safeguarding of the human rights of all peoples under International Law to bring to bear on Israel the full force of your mandate to open the borders of Gaza to allow the import of building materials as well as all the other requirements for decent living conditions for us, the besieged Palestinians of Gaza.

We understand you are coming to Khan Younis to inspect an UNRWA housing project designed to provide housing for Palestinians whose homes were demolished by Israel’s war machine and who have been waiting for over five years for replacement. Of course the building project will not have been completed because of the blockade, even though it is an UNRWA project. The brazen refusal of Israel to cooperate with the decision of the International Community to re-construct Gaza, for which several billions of Euros were pledged, should not be tolerated. Israel’s attacks have damaged or completely destroyed many public buildings and have according to the UN’s own OCHA report as of April 30, 2009, severely damaged or completely destroyed some 21,000 family dwellings. Many other Palestinians who have spent the past several winters in flimsy tents have also been promised the means to rebuild homes and schools, though to date nothing has been done to alleviate their suffering.

In addition to the very visible lack of shelter, we, in Gaza, also suffer from the contamination of water, air and soil, since the sewage system is unable to function due to power cuts necessitated by lack of fuel to the main generators of the Gaza power grid. Medical conditions due to injuries from phosphorous bombs and other illegal Israeli weapons as well as from water contamination cannot be treated because of the siege. In addition to the ban on building materials, Israel also prevents many other necessities from being imported: lights bulbs, candles, matches, books, refrigerators, shoes, clothing, mattresses, sheets, blankets, tea, coffee, sausages, flour, cows, pasta, cigarettes, fuel, pencils, pens, paper... etc.

Mr. Secretary General,

When you visit Khan Younis, keep in mind that a huge UN storage depot was directly targeted by Israeli phosphorus bombs only last year destroying tons of badly needed food and other essentials. At that time your UNRWA chief John Ging spoke of massive obstacles preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the civilian population of Gaza: those obstacles must be removed. The Red Cross called the Israeli assault “completely and utterly unacceptable based on every known standard of international humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles and values.”
We sincerely hope you will live up to your responsibility and speak for the suffering people of Gaza to those who hold the keys that could easily end the barbaric blockade, as the first step towards the implementation of all UN resolutions in Palestine.

Gaza,

2010-03-21

Signed by:

University Teachers’ Association in Palestine

General Union for Health Services Workers

General Union for Public Services Workers

General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers

General Union for Agricultural Workers

Union of Women’s Work Committees

Union of Synergies—Women Unit

Union of Palestinian Women Committees

Women’s Studies Society

Working Woman’s Society

Arab Cultural Forum

Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel

One Democratic State Group

Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information Society




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Khaled Meshaal -Speaks about Palestine and Victory over Israel, MUST WATCH

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Hamas Chief Khaled Mashal - 1st Anniversary Gaza War - Speech Summary

Hamas bureau chief, Khaled Mashal gave a speech in Damascus today at an event marking the first anniversary of the 22 day Israeli war on Gaza. Mashal says that Hamas will never give up it's right to make resistance against the illegal Zionist Occupation, he also stated that Netanyahu and Tel Aviv are hampering prisoner swaps, and vowed the Gilad Shalit will not be freed until Palestinian prisoners are freed. Recorded on January 22, 2010 @ 2300gmt




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Israel indicts soldiers over Gaza

The Israeli military has indicted two of its soldiers for endangering the life of a Palestinian boy during the three-week war in Gaza more than a year ago.

The soldiers face charges for instructing the boy to open several bags suspected of being booby-trapped while searching a building in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza, the military said in a statement on Thursday.

The bags turned out to be harmless.

An Israeli military official said the soldiers could face up to three years in prison.

'Unrelated' to Goldstone

The army said it opened the investigation after the incident was brought to its attention by the United Nations, but emphasised it was "completely unrelated" to a report issued by UN investigator Richard Goldstone.

A team of UN investigators led by Goldstone said it found evidence that Israel and Hamas fighters committed war crimes during the conflict.

The two sides deny the accusations.

The UN General Assembly ordered Israel and Hamas to carry out investigations or face possible action from the US Security Council.

Israel has rejected the report and insists it is capable of investigating itself - a claim international human rights groups dismiss.

EU backs Goldstone

On Wednesday, the European Parliament backed the findings of the Goldstone report and urged its 27-member states to monitor Israeli and Palestinian probes into war crimes in Gaza.

It also urged Israel to immediately open its border crossing with the Gaza Strip to alleviate the worsening humanitarian crisis there.

The assembly is the second institution after the United Nations to back the report, with just over 50 per cent of politicians passing the resolution.

But the move was sharply criticised by Israel, which says it has opened 36 criminal investigations into complaints of improper conduct by its troops during the fighting in Gaza, much of which occurred in residential areas.

Last month a senior Israeli field officer involved in the war in Gaza was reprimanded over artillery shelling in a heavily populated area that hit a United Nations compound.

Some 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, and 13 Israelis, were killed in the offensive Israel launched in December 2008

Source aljazeera



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Building a Dream home in Gaza has turned attention of the simple old fashioned Mud homes

How to Build the Home of Your Dreams in Gaza

Building the “perfect home” is a dream shared by many people, especially if you are one of the tenants of the 3,500 homes that were destroyed or of the 56,000 homes that were damaged in last year’s military operation in the Gaza Strip. This week, we’ve pulled together some instructions to help you build your dream house in Gaza. Make sure to keep these useful tips handy!

First of all, because of Israel’s prohibition on the entry of building materials to the Strip since the June 2007 start of the closure, we will need to use locally available materials. Mud will be used to build the foundation and the walls of the house, easily found during the wintertime in Gaza’s natural surroundings. Make sure to avoid collecting mud from areas where raw sewage flows. Have patience, once the ban on the entry of spare parts, equipment and fuel is lifted, the water and sewage systems will operate at better capacity.

We’ll need to mix the mud with gravel. Due to Israel’s ban on the entry of this material, we will use limestone instead. To the limestone-mud mixture, add rocks found scattered around the area and mix for a long time until a thick mass is formed. In order to hasten the hardening of the mud, approach the nearest wheat field, cut off some shafts of wheat, and add them to the mixture. Place the mud into a baking dish, wait until it dries and presto — you now have material to make bricks and begin construction!

Now, to build the house. For the support structures we will need iron. However, as you can already guess, since June 2007, Israel has prevented the entry of iron to the Gaza Strip. If you can afford to pay for the iron available in Gaza coming in via the tunnels at 4000 shekels ($1,060) a ton compared to only 2600 ($690) before the closure, fantastic! If not, you will need to mix sand, straw and glue and then roll the mixture into long beams.

Next, we will use the most basic building material, which we have avoided using so far: cement. Cement, the entry of which is also banned by Israel, will be purchased from the tunnel operators. Due to the fact that cement is extremely expensive — 900 shekels ($238) a ton, compared with about 450 shekels ($119) before the closure — we will only use it to build the bathroom, though we’re itching to use it for the rest of the house!

We’re almost finished. All that’s left to build is the roof and for this we will use plates of glass. Finally, something that is found in Gaza! Despite the prohibition on the transfer of glass to Gaza for two and a half years, since the end of December 2009, glass is no longer considered a security threat, and so far about 100 trucks of glass have entered the Strip.

Now, after all your hard work, turn on the light switch that you’ve just installed and look around at the fruits of your labor. Oh, is there a blackout in the area again? At least you can enjoy the magnificent view of the sky and the light of the stars shining through the glass ceiling of your cozy, little house.

This Article was written by brothers @ Gaza Gateway



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Gaza : The Killing Zone

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PCHR Condemns Israeli Attempts to Legitimize Crimes in Gaza and Sheild Perpetrators from Justice

On 22 April 2009, Israeli Military Authorities announced the conclusion of five internal investigations examining the conduct of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) during the recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The investigations, supervised by IOF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, claimed that investigations found a very small number of incidents involving intelligence or operational errors, but that "throughout the fighting in the Gaza Strip" IOF "operated in accordance with international law".

Deputy IOF chief of staff, Major General Dan Harel, claimed that 1,166 Palestinians were killed in the offensive of which 295 were civilians, and 709 were combatants. 162 victims have not been classified.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly contest these figures and the results of the investigations, which constitute an attempt to legitimise crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, and to shield perpetrators from justice. PCHR's investigations indicate that 1,417 Palestinians were killed in the offensive, of which 1,181 (83%) were non-combatants. Civilian property in the Gaza Strip was also extensively targeted and destroyed: PCHR have found that, inter alia, approximately 20,000 homes and 1,500 factories and workshops were completely destroyed or damaged, and that 6,636 dunums of agricultural land were razed. Source



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Tell Congress to help humanitarian workers get into Gaza and to suspend all transfers of weapons to Israel

20 days into the Gaza crisis and the humanitarian crisis there gets worse each day. 398 women and children are dead, another 4700 injured, 750,000 lack access to water and one million are without electricity. Each day that passes guarantees more innocent civilians will suffer. Tell Congress to act swiftly to help humanitarian workers get into Gaza and to suspend all transfers of weapons to Israel.

Tell Congress to help humanitarian workers get into Gaza and to suspend all transfers of weapons to Israel



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Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against
Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
(OPT) and Continue to Impose a Total Siege on the Gaza Strip

• IOF killed two activists of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip and one civilian in the West Bank.

• 16 Palestinian civilians, including two children and two journalists, were
wounded by IOF gunfire in the West Bank.

• 9 of these civilians were wounded by IOF and Israeli settlers in Kherbat Safa area, north of Hebron.

• IOF conducted 26 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

• IOF arrested 52 Palestinian civilians, including 8 children, in the West Bank and 10 fishers in the Gaza Strip.

• IOF conducted a wide scale incursion into Kherbat Safa area, north of Hebron.

• IOF occupied 8 Palestinian houses, and reclassified them as military sites.

• IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.

• IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested 9 Palestinian civilians.

• IOF have continued measures aimed at the creating of a majority Jewish
demographic in East Jerusalem.

• IOF demolished two Palestinian houses in Jerusalem.

• A Palestinian house in the old town of Jerusalem was seized.

• IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.

• IOF ordered the demolition of a number of houses in Hebron.

• Israeli settlers seized 4 shops in the old town of Hebron.

Story




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