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NPK-info 13 juli 2006 - Nederlands Palestina Komitee / www.palestina-komitee.nl
Today in Palestine! http://www.theheadlines.org
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Zaterdag 15 juni van 13 tot 14 uur picketachtige demonstratie
"Stop de oorlog tegen de Palestijnen".
Den Haag, Buitenhof voor ingang Binnenhof bij het Dreesmonument.
Is tegenover de Israelische ambassade.
Organisatie: Palestijnse Gemeenschap Nederland en Nederlands Palestina
Komitee [*].
Er is een grote(re) demonstratie zaterdagmiddag 22 juni te Amsterdam.
Nadere informatie (flyer met o.a. tijd en plek) is op komst.
Organisatie door een brede initiatiefgroep.
Actueel
- RAFAH TODAY
http://rafah.virtualactivism.net/news/todaymain.htm
- Israeli air strikes close Beirut airport, 13 July 2006
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A67F0AD3-7964-41BC-98A9-CA752CA5B89F.htm
- STOP the Israeli Attacks against Lebanon [*], Urgent
Press Release, July 12, 2006
- Aggression Under False Pretenses [*], Ismail Haniyeh, Tuesday,
July 11, 2006
- Gilad Shalit and Illusions of Peace [*], Nizar Sakhnini, July
10, 2006
- SABC: “Apartheid Israel worse than SA apartheid: Cosatu”,
July 11th, 2006
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/07/11/worse-than-sa/
- Entry denied: Deporting witnesses of Israeli occupation
and unilateralism
Maureen Clare Murphy, 11 July 2006
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4859.shtml
Uit "beschietingstabel": Israel - Palestijnen: 4855
- 455 (plm. 10 - 1)
NPK/WL, 13-7-2006
[*] zie berichten hierna
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De Palestijnse Gemeenschap Nederland en het Nederlands Palestina
Komitee organiseren
een demonstratie tegen Israel's nieuwe agressie-oorlog.
Zaterdag 15 juli van 13 tot 14 uur
Den Haag, Buitenhof voor ingang Binnenhof bij het Dreesmonument.
Leuzen o.a.:
- Stop Israel's oorlog tegen de Palestijnen
- Stop Israelische invasies in Gaza, West-Bank, Libanon
- Stop staatsterreur Israel
- Israel weg uit Gaza
- No Justice no Peace
- Boycot Israel
- Freedom for Palestine
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Ismail Haniyeh in the Washington Post
Aggression Under False Pretenses
By Ismail Haniyeh
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
GAZA, Palestine -- As Americans commemorated their annual celebration
of
independence from colonial occupation, rejoicing in their democratic
institutions, we Palestinians were yet again besieged by our occupiers,
who
destroy our roads and buildings, our power stations and water
plants, and
who attack our very means of civil administration. Our homes and
government
offices are shelled, our parliamentarians taken prisoner and threatened
with
prosecution.
The current Gaza invasion is only the latest effort to destroy
the results of
fair and free elections held early this year. It is the explosive
follow-up
to a five-month campaign of economic and diplomatic warfare directed
by the
United States and Israel. The stated intention of that strategy
was to force
the average Palestinian to "reconsider" her vote when
faced with deepening
hardship; its failure was predictable, and the new overt military
aggression
and collective punishment are its logical fulfillment. The "kidnapped"
Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit is only a pretext for a job scheduled
months ago.
In addition to removing our democratically elected government,
Israel wants
to sow dissent among Palestinians by claiming that there is a
serious
leadership rivalry among us. I am compelled to dispel this notion
definitively. The Palestinian leadership is firmly embedded in
the concept
of Islamic shura , or mutual consultation; suffice it to say that
while we
may have differing opinions, we are united in mutual respect and
focused on
the goal of serving our people. Furthermore, the invasion of Gaza
and the
kidnapping of our leaders and government officials are meant to
undermine
the recent accords reached between the government party and our
brothers and
sisters in Fatah and other factions, on achieving consensus for
resolving
the conflict. Yet Israeli collective punishment only strengthens
our
collective resolve to work together.
As I inspect the ruins of our infrastructure -- the largess of
donor nations
and international efforts all turned to rubble once more by F-16s
and
American-made missiles -- my thoughts again turn to the minds
of Americans.
What do they think of this?
They think, doubtless, of the hostage soldier, taken in battle
-- yet
thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of women and children,
remain
in Israeli jails for resisting the illegal, ongoing occupation
that is
condemned by international law. They think of the pluck and "toughness"
of
Israel, "standing up" to "terrorists." Yet
a nuclear Israel possesses the
13th-largest military force on the planet, one that is used to
rule an area
about the size of New Jersey and whose adversaries there have
no
conventional armed forces. Who is the underdog, supposedly America's
traditional favorite, in this case?
I hope that Americans will give careful and well-informed thought
to root
causes and historical realities, in which case I think they will
question
why a supposedly "legitimate" state such as Israel has
had to conduct
decades of war against a subject refugee population without ever
achieving
its goals.
Israel's unilateral movements of the past year will not lead
to peace. These
acts -- the temporary withdrawal of forces from Gaza, the walling
off of the
West Bank -- are not strides toward resolution but empty, symbolic
acts that
fail to address the underlying conflict. Israel's nearly complete
control
over the lives of Palestinians is never in doubt, as confirmed
by the
humanitarian and economic suffering of the Palestinians since
the January
elections. Israel's ongoing policies of expansion, military control
and
assassination mock any notion of sovereignty or bilateralism.
Its
"separation barrier," running across our land, is hardly
a good-faith
gesture toward future coexistence.
But there is a remedy, and while it is not easy it is consistent
with our
long-held beliefs. Palestinian priorities include recognition
of the core
dispute over the land of historical Palestine and the rights of
all its
people; resolution of the refugee issue from 1948; reclaiming
all lands
occupied in 1967; and stopping Israeli attacks, assassinations
and military
expansion. Contrary to popular depictions of the crisis in the
American
media, the dispute is not only about Gaza and the West Bank; it
is a wider
national conflict that can be resolved only by addressing the
full
dimensions of Palestinian national rights in an integrated manner.
This
means statehood for the West Bank and Gaza, a capital in Arab
East
Jerusalem, and resolving the 1948 Palestinian refugee issue fairly,
on the
basis of international legitimacy and established law. Meaningful
negotiations with a non-expansionist, law-abiding Israel can proceed
only
after this tremendous labor has begun.
Surely the American people grow weary of this folly, after 50
years and $160
billion in taxpayer support for Israel's war-making capacity --
its
"defense." Some Americans, I believe, must be asking
themselves if all this
blood and treasure could not have bought more tangible results
for Palestine
if only U.S. policies had been predicated from the start on historical
truth, equity and justice.
However, we do not want to live on international welfare and
American
handouts. We want what Americans enjoy -- democratic rights, economic
sovereignty and justice. We thought our pride in conducting the
fairest
elections in the Arab world might resonate with the United States
and its
citizens. Instead, our new government was met from the very beginning
by
acts of explicit, declared sabotage by the White House. Now this
aggression
continues against 3.9 million civilians living in the world's
largest prison
camps. America's complacency in the face of these war crimes is,
as usual,
embedded in the coded rhetorical green light: "Israel has
a right to defend
itself." Was Israel defending itself when it killed eight
family members on
a Gaza beach last month or three members of the Hajjaj family
on Saturday,
among them 6-year-old Rawan? I refuse to believe that such inhumanity
sits
well with the American public.
We present this clear message: If Israel will not allow Palestinians
to live
in peace, dignity and national integrity, Israelis themselves
will not be
able to enjoy those same rights. Meanwhile, our right to defend
ourselves
from occupying soldiers and aggression is a matter of law, as
settled in the
Fourth Geneva Convention. If Israel is prepared to negotiate seriously
and
fairly, and resolve the core 1948 issues, rather than the secondary
ones
from 1967, a fair and permanent peace is possible. Based on a
hudna
(comprehensive cessation of hostilities for an agreed time), the
Holy Land
still has an opportunity to be a peaceful and stable economic
powerhouse for
all the Semitic people of the region. If Americans only knew the
truth,
possibility might become reality.
The writer is prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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From: "Khiam Center - KRC" <khiam_center@hotmail.com>
Subject: STOP the Israeli Attacks against Lebanon
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:28:14 +0000
Urgent Press Release
July 12, 2006
STOP the Israeli Attacks against Lebanon
Since the morning of July 12, 2006 and Lebanon is being subjected
to a wide
Israeli attack similar to what is going on in Gazza.
Israel started from the morning to destroy the infrastructure
of the South;
bridges, power stations, civilian cars, press cars, social institutions,
Red
Cross cars, etc..which lead to the fled of the Southern citizens
from their
villages as well as a number of injured and killed people. All
this and in
the same time, the Israeli Prime Minister threatens to return
Lebanon in
time back to 20 years ago !!!
Of course their vivid reason for this violence is the detention
of the two
Israeli soldiers, but the Lebanese Resistance detained them so
that they can
free the rest of the Lebanese Detainees in the Israeli Prisons.
And what the resistance have done was due to the insisting of
the Israeli to
keep the rest of the Lebanese Detainees in its prisons and their
refusal to
uncover the fate of the disappearance and the missing Lebanese
people in
spite of their withdrawal in the year 2000.
Israel refused to respond to all the International Resolutions
and was the
reason for the failure of the German Exchange Process and thus
kept the
Lebanese Detainees as bargain chips to keep pressure over Lebanon.
All this
pushed the resistance -as a result of the weakness of the International
community- to use the power to free the Lebanese Detainees.
Khiam Center urges the whole world to stop the Israeli attacks
over the
civilians and the infrastructure in Lebanon.
Khiam Center urges all the International community to pressure
Israel
demanding the urgent termination of its attacks against Lebanon.
Khiam Center also condemns the bias to Israel and giving up all
the
principles of Human Rights by demanding the release of the 2 Israeli
soldiers or the Gazza detained Israeli soldier and ignoring, in
the same
time, the presence of Lebanese detainees in the Israeli Prisons;
of whom one
of them is completing his 28th year in the dungeons (Samir Al
Kantar), as
well as 10,000 Palestinian and Arab detainees inside Israel having
no one to
demand their release.
Human Rights is to demand the release of ALL detainees, ignoring
one side is
a violation for human rights although we cannot put the victim
and the
torturers in the same balance.
Khiam Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (KRC)
Beirut - Lebanon
P.O. Box: 14-5843
Tel: +961 3 379612
Fax: +961 1 701692
www.khiamcenter.org
E-mail: krc@khiamcenter.org
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----- Original Message -----
From: Nizar Sakhnini
To: Al-Awda-News
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 6:18 PM
Subject: [AL-AWDA-News] Gilad Shalit and Illusions of
Peace
PROLOGUE:
Escalation of the atrocities against the Palestinian people had
nothing to do with freeing a war prisoner. Gilad Shalit is used
as a pretext to justify an all out war aiming at pushing the Palestinian
people into submission to the Zionist diktat. This all out war
started in April 1948 and never stopped ever since. It aims at
creating a Jewish State that is cleansed from its Palestinian
owners.
Destruction of the infrastructure and killing of innocent civilians,
including children and women, are part and parcel of the pre-meditated
and pre-planned designs to ethnically cleanse the country of its
indigenous population. It is a replicate and a continuation of
all the massacres committed in cold blood since Deir Yassin, which
are part and parcel of the combined Zionist-Imperialist designs
for hegemony and control since the beginning of the Nineteenth
Century.
DER JUDENSTAAT:
The first call for the creation of a Jewish State did not come
from the Jews. It was initiated by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799.
Bonaparte realized the value of the services such a state would
provide to help his imperialist designs.
In 1862 Moses Hess published Rome and Jerusalem, which called
for a Jewish state that would serve Western imperial interests
and bring “Western civilization to the backward East”.
Hovevei Zion societies, the precursor of the World Zionist Organization,
were developed in Russia in the early 1880’s to promote
Jewish colonial settlement in Palestine.
Theodor Herzl published his Der Judenstaat in 1896 stressing that
the Jewish State would, “form a portion of the rampart of
Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilisation as opposed to
barbarism. We should, as a Neutral State, remain in contact with
all Europe, which would have to guarantee our existence…”
The Balfour Declaration, which was a result of discussions between
the Zionist Organization and the Western Imperialist powers led
by the British, was declared in 1917 and opened the doors of Palestine
for Jewish emigration.
LAND GRAB AND ETHNIC CLEANSING:
The ‘Jewish State’ proclaimed in 1948 controlled about
77 % of Palestine. This was a first step, a starting point that
had to be followed by other steps aiming at more ethnic cleansing
and land grab.
In 1967, Israel occupied the remaining parts of Palestine that
were not occupied in 1948 in addition to Sinai and the Golan Heights.
Building of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian areas occupied
in 1967 started in 1970 when Gush Emunim built Kiryat Arba near
Hebron. Ever since, more settlements and bypass roads connecting
these settlements with Israel proper were built in the newly occupied
Palestinian territories.
The Likud party was victorious in the elections held for the 9th
Israeli Knesset on 17 May 1977. Its leader, Menachem Begin, became
the Prime Minister. In a press conference early in the morning
of 18 May, Begin announced that he would invite President Sadat
of Egypt, Assad of Syria and King Hussein to “come and start
with us together...face-to-face, direct negotiations to sign peace
treaties between their states and Israel without any prior conditions”.
When asked about the Occupied Palestinian Territories, he snapped
at a journalist: “What occupied territories? If you mean
Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, they are liberated territories.
They are part, an integral part, of the Land of Israel”.
CONFRONTING THE ‘DEMOGRAPHIC THREAT’:
On 11 May 1986, the Israeli government devoted a special session
to the ‘demographic problems’ of Jews in Israel. Shortly
after, the government established a working group formed by representatives
of various ministries and the Jewish Agency and coordinated by
the Demographic Center to prepare a program for demographic policies.
(Nur Masalha, A Land Without a People: Israel, Transfer and the
Palestinians 1949 - 96. London: Faber and Faber ltd., 1997, p.
150)
Annual conferences were held in the Institute of Policy and Strategy
at the Interdisciplinary Center – Herzliya to discuss and
confront this basic and strategic threat to the ‘Jewish
State’. The first conference was held on 19-21 December
2000. (Journal of Palestine Studies 121, Volume XXXI, No. 1, Autumn
2001, pp. 50-61)
In his speech at the Herzliya Conference on 24 January 2006, Ehud
Olmert stated, “…Two years ago, at this Conference,
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon delivered his speech later known as
‘the Herzliya Speech’, the speech in which he announced
the Disengagement Plan… That speech, and the Disengagement
Plan which followed, are milestones in the history of the State
of Israel… He [Sharon] knew it was better for Israel to
initiate political steps, and not be dragged into dangerous moves
forced on it by others… that the most important and dramatic
step we face is the determination of permanent borders of the
State of Israel, to ensure the Jewish majority in the country…”
Olmert added, “Zeev Jabotinsky defined the importance of
a Jewish majority in his insightful and keen way: The term ‘Jewish
nation’ is absolutely clear: it means a Jewish majority.
With this, Zionism began, and it is the basis of its existence,
it will continue to work towards its fulfillment or it will be
lost...”
Sharon came to power on 7 February 2001 with a publicly stated
goal: to end the Intifada within 100 days. On the other hand,
he made it clear, although in an indirect way, that he wants to
end the job that was left incomplete in 1948. (Interview with
Ari Shavit published in Ha’aretz on 12 April 2001)
ILLUSIONS OF PEACE:
Peace requires recognition of the other, respecting the other,
living with the other as an equal human being with equal human
rights. Zionism is based on rejecting the other, disrespecting
the other and exclusion of the other. Accordingly, calls for peace
with Zionism are a mere illusion. This was proven by the failure
of all the efforts for peace that started with Folke Bernadotte
in 1948.
Nizar Sakhnini, 10 July 2006
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