One injury, dozens of suffocation cases, six detainees in Bil’in anti-wall march

[ 08/05/2010 - 08:12 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- One Palestinian citizen was injured, dozens suffered tear gas suffocation and six others were detained at noon Friday when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) attacked the weekly anti-wall protest at the village of Bil'in, central West Bank.

The villagers and international activists set off toward the wall carrying Palestinian flags and calling for national unity against the Israeli occupation and land confiscation. They also stated their refusal of all military measures to close the village and prevent citizens and activists from organizing protests.

When the protest reached the wall, IOF troops were seen stationed behind concrete blocks. The wall gate that leads to the usurped Palestinian lands was already closed and encircled by barbed wire.

The troops immediately fired teargas grenades which caused fire in the olive groves. A protester was shot by a teargas canister and he was transferred to Ramallah for medical treatment.

The anti-wall march took place for the second consecutive month despite the Israeli government’s decision to close the wall’s perimeter and the site of weekly protests, and declare them a closed military zone.

In the village of Ma’sarah near Bethlehem on the same day, the citizens and activists challenged the Israeli measures and went on two marches against the segregation wall.

Israeli troops installed a barbed wire checkpoint to stop villagers from reaching the stolen lands, but the villagers along with their supporters managed to pass the military checkpoint and reach the agricultural areas.

Soldiers tried to stop protesters by using batons but some, including a group from France, broke through and spent time in one of the fields.

A similar protest took place yesterday in the village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah, where the IOF troops reportedly used batons to beat the protestors and fired tear gas grenades and rubber bullets at them.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Cleaning Up

kenny's sideshow

Mayor Karl Dean of Nashville said the cost of damages from the weekend of record flooding will likely exceed $1 billion.

Nashville  drying out and cleaning up photos.

BP oil spill cost for the Deepwater Horizon clean-up could total at least $12.5 billion.

Meanwhile, the U.S.Congress is considering a bill to vote for it’s annual $3 Billion assistance to Israel’s IDF.

Money that doesn't exist except as forever debt to the Federal Reserve.

While tens of thousands of US citizens work to clean up the destruction that has and is occurring in our land and on our shores, Israel uses its influence to continue to clean out what is left in our pockets.

Isn't it time to take care of our own and force Israel pay for its own land theft and destruction of lives? Without our money perhaps it would stop.

Posted by kenny's sideshow at 9:05 AM

Masri: Shalit would not be the last Israeli captive

Masri: Shalit would not be the last Israeli captive

[ 08/05/2010 - 07:30 AM ]

RAFAH, (PIC)-- Secretary of Hamas's parliamentary bloc Mushir Al-Masri affirmed in Rafah on Friday night that the recent spate of punitive measures against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails would not influence Hamas's decision in the prisoners' exchange deal.

Masri, in a ceremony organized by the higher national committee to support prisoners for relatives of old-serving prisoners, said that Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit would never enjoy his freedom until all prisoners on the list tabled by Hamas were released from Israeli jails.

He said that Shalit would not be the last captive to be captured by Palestinian resistance, vowing that Hamas and its armed wing the Qassam Brigades would continue to seek the release of all Palestinian prisoners.

The MP criticized, in this respect, the security militias, loyal to former PA chief Mahmuod Abbas, for detaining tens of liberated prisoners who had sacrificed their freedom for the sake of the Palestinian people's cause.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Official sources: Egypt’s iron wall is not the only threat to tunnel trade

Official sources: Egypt’s iron wall is not the only threat to tunnel trade

[ 08/05/2010 - 10:12 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Different security and official sources stated that Egypt’s steel wall is not the most serious threat to the tunnel trade in the besieged Gaza Strip, but the other tight measures that target tunnels and workmen.

The sources told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the perforated pipes which Egypt had planted along the borderline near its iron wall and intends to pump sea water through it in order to cause cracks and landslides leading to the destruction of tunnels is the most dangerous threat not only to the tunnel trade, but also to the groundwater aquifer and the Palestinian ecology.

They affirmed that the pipes and other Egyptian measures such as pumping poisonous gas into the tunnels and detonating them are the real danger to the trade, especially since Gaza tunnel workmen had managed to breach the iron wall.

The sources stressed that the tunnels are a Palestinian innovation born out of the need that resulted from the blockade and will remain there as long as the besieging parties still refuse to open the crossings.

For his part, an official Egyptian source confirmed to the PIC what was reported by the BBC about the success of Gaza tunnel workmen in penetrating the iron wall.

The source explained that the workmen used thermal diggers to breach parts of the wall, but he said that the wall is not finished yet and it will be electrified and supported with a network of underground water pipes in order to make it difficult for them to penetrate the wall.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian medical source reported that paramedics saved the lives of eight Palestinian tunnel workmen who suffered breathing difficulty after their tunnel collapsed at dawn Saturday.

1.5 million people in impoverished Gaza largely rely on the network of tunnels on the border to secure their vital needs since Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza off after the Movement of Hamas won the elections.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Reproduction of failure

While the Palestinians and Israelis will soon engage in proximity talks, the preceding battle was won by Israel, with Palestinian leaders much weakened, writes Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank

At a time when the Obama administration is hailing the imminent resumption of indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a "notable achievement", very few observers in the region think that the upcoming talks will lead to any breakthrough or tangible progress.

Backed by major Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the PA agreed this week to start "indirect" or "proximity talks" with Israel for four months.

The PA had been refusing to resume stalled talks with Israel as long as Israel kept up expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Intensive pressure from Washington, coupled with "brotherly advice" from moderate Arab states, seems to have dislodged the Palestinian leadership from its earlier stance.

Some reports this week indicated that the Israeli government of Binyamin Netanyahu has given the Obama administration "implicit assurances" that Israel wouldn't indulge in fresh settlement expansion and home demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem at least for the duration of the talks. If true, this may have encouraged the PA to agree to restart talks. Netanyahu nonetheless vowed to keep up expanding settlements despite the upcoming resumption of talks. He told supporters this week that "building all over the land of Israel will continue irrespective of what you hear in the media."

The PA was reportedly asked not to publicise the Israeli "concession" of halting settlement expansion in order not to undercut Netanyahu vis-à-vis his extreme rightwing coalition partners who oppose any peace agreement with the Palestinians, especially if involving "territorial concessions".

For his part, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Ereikat warned that the talks would "stop the moment Israel starts building new settler units on occupied Palestinian territory".

The resumption of talks between Israel and the PA is no cause for euphoria. Palestinian officials in Ramallah have suggested that the Palestinian leadership opted to restart stalled talks "first and foremost in order to appease Washington and prove to the Obama administration that Israel, not the Palestinians, was the real impeder of peace." "I think President Abbas wanted to prove to the Americans that he is still the nice guy and that Netanyahu was the villain," said a PA operative close to Abbas's coterie of aides and advisors.

The operative, who was not authorised to speak to the press, added that, "Abbas and the entire Palestinian leadership knew quite well that there was zero per cent chance that the restarted talks would succeed." "We simply don't want to lose the public relations showdown with Israel because what is happening is a public relations battle, not real peace efforts."

From a different vantage, some stress that Washington's intentions are disingenuous and that the US is only utilising the issue in order to isolate Iran by depriving the Islamic republic of a valuable propaganda card in its showdown with the West over its nuclear programme. The US, especially the State Department, is convinced that the Arab-Israeli conflict is an effective "red herring" that enables Iran to escape accountability with regards to its emerging nuclear capability.

Hence, observers in the Arab region argue forcefully that the driving motive behind accelerated US efforts to get Israel and the PA to resume peace talks has more to do with building an Arab coalition against Iran and less to do with pushing towards a lasting solution to the enduring conflict in the Middle East. The huge and seemingly unbridgeable gaps between the PA and Israel -- especially the present hawkish government, arguably the most extreme in Israel's history -- are bound to make tangible progress unlikely.

Indeed, while ostensibly accepting Palestinian statehood in principle, Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed that Israel would never withdraw from the bulk of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Jordan Valley. Netanyahu has also said repeatedly that Israel would retain its current control of all border crossing to and from the West Bank, which means that any future Palestinian state would lack sovereignty and real authority and be subservient to and tightly controlled by Israel.

It is also clear that talks between the two sides over such cardinal final status issues as the refugee problem, which many experts consider the heart of the Palestinian cause, will go nowhere since Israel vehemently rejects repatriating Palestinian refugees to their original villages and homes in what is now Israel. For its part, the PA can't ignore the issue lest it loses legitimacy in the eyes of the Palestinian people.

President Abbas is thus resuming stalled talks with Israel from a position of considerable weakness. On numerous occasions, Abbas said he wouldn't return to the negotiating table with Israel unless the latter froze all settlement activities in the West Bank. His obvious retreat in this regard is bound to weaken his image both in the eyes of Israelis as well as the Palestinians.

Indeed, Abbas is likely to face mounting opposition from his own Fatah Party should he continue to disregard the party's institutions, such as the Revolutionary Council that recently reasserted its objection to the resumption of talks with Israel under the present circumstances (i.e. continued settlement expansion). Also, the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the umbrella organisation under whose rubric Abbas is resuming talks with Israel, is firmly opposed to the unconditional resumption of talks for the same reason.

Finally, Abbas's Palestinian arena is divided against itself, with the rift between Fatah and Hamas lingering if not deepening, and with no signs of a foreseeable breakthrough. For these and other reasons, it is expected that the Palestinian negotiators will be facing their Israeli counterparts from an inherently weak position.

With these hard realities, and frustrated by the rejectionist Israeli stance and also by the Obama administration's reluctance to pressure Israel, and still more by Arab states' chronic failure to help the Palestinians in any meaningful way behind paying rhetorical lip service to their cause, Abbas last week called on the US to impose a solution on the two sides. Observers have interpreted his call as an expression of exasperation, if not political depression.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Abbas's militia train to rescue possible Israeli captives

Abbas's militia train to rescue possible Israeli captives

[ 07/05/2010 - 04:35 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Mahmoud Abbas's militia on Thursday conducted manoeuvres in Jericho. The militia exercised on how to rescue Israeli soldiers captured by the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank.

Their exercises concentrated on confronting Palestinian resistance, including resistance fighters wearing explosive belts with the aim of carrying attacks against occupation targets.

Security sources connected with the Ramallah authority said in press statements that a group of "security men" carried out exercises at the governorate building in the centre of Jericho on how to "free hostages taken by an outlawed group," in reference to Palestinian resistance groups, while another group of defused an explosive belt that was on one of those arrested during the exercise.

These exercises come just one week after a thousand elements of the same militia carried out manoeuvres using live ammunitions in Ramallah suburbs to exercise fighting "terrorist" groups and defusing explosive devices.


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

On Goldstone's Bar Mitzvah and Finkelstein's Book

'The times they are a-changing,' wrote Finkelstein.

By Ramzy Baroud

In his report on Gaza issued late last year, prominent South African jurist Richard Goldstone accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes. His language also showed awareness of the fact that the former is an occupying power with most sophisticated weapon arsenal (as reflecting in the number of Palestinian victims), and the latter is a besieged, occupied faction in a state of self-defense. Although Goldstone must have been aware of the kind of hysteria such a report would generate, he still did not allow ideological or ethnic affiliation to stand between him and his moral convictions.

Despite some initial apprehension – owing to the fact that Goldstone is a self-declared Zionist with links to Israel - many justice and peace advocates were comforted by the man’s past record. He was a former judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

In April 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed Goldstone to lead the mission of investigating war crimes committed by Israel in the devastating war in Gaza between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009. Goldstone insisted that the mandate must also include alleged violations committed by Palestinians. At the end, he was asked to set his own mission’s mandate, a reflection of the level of trust placed in him by the UNHRC.

The report’s findings were published in September 2009, providing one of the most vivid, sober and unmistakable recommendations ever issued by a UN mission since Israel began its open-ended campaign of massacres and violations on the territorial sovereignty and human dignity of the Palestinian people and its Arab neighbors.

What has been shocking for Israel and its supporters is the nature of the report’s recommendations. It urges the international community to “start criminal investigation in national courts…where alleged perpetrators (of war crimes) should be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with internationally recognized standards of justice.” But more than this, the anger in Israelis and Zionists everywhere has largely been inspired by the fact that Goldstone is supposed to be ‘one of them’. He cannot be easily derided either as a ‘self-hating Jew,’ nor can he be accused of anti-Semitism, the ready-to-serve warrant of anyone who dares criticize Israel’s criminal conduct.

My own interest in Goldstone is motivated by three reasons. First, Gaza is still suffering under the very conditions that Judge Goldstone so aptly described in his report. Nothing has happened since then to ease the pain of the victims, nor to heed his call for justice.

Second, there is the ongoing ‘controversy’ over the man’s wish to take part in his grandson’s bar mitzvah in South Africa. He has now been forced to negotiate with a group of South African Jewish leaders in order to participate in this coming of age ceremony. South Africa’s chief rabbi, Warren Goldstein, accused Goldstone of being a liar whose report is ‘delegitimizing Israel’. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies accused Goldstone of ‘selling out’.

It behooves Rabbi Goldstein to remember that it is only the barbarous killing of thousands of innocent civilians that is ‘delegitimizing’ Israel. As for ‘selling out,’ Goldstone is indeed a ‘sell out’ as far as any blind tribal affiliations are concerned, affiliations that seem to matter more to the Jewish Board of Deputies than the cause of justice, fairness, equality and peace that are enshrined in all major world religions and philosophies, notwithstanding Judaism.

That leads to the third reason that compelled the revisiting of this subject - Norman Finkelstein’s most recent volume, ‘This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion.’

Finkelstein is not an ordinary author. His readers know well that one rarely finds so many strong qualities in a single writer: compelling academic research, unbending moral clarity, lucidity in style, and a refusal to dehumanize the subject and the victim. ‘This Time We Went Too Far’ will serve in academic and human rights circles – as Goldstone will serve a similar purpose in the legal arena – as the categorical indictment of Israel’s brutal policies in Gaza. More, it will forever shame those who have allowed titles, money, prestige and, again, blind tribal affiliation to prevent them from seeing the untold inhumanity that took place, and continues to take place in Gaza and the rest of Palestine. Sadly, as such cruelty perpetuates, so do the diatribes of Israel’s apologists. Finkelstein is no stranger to vile attacks from Israel’s diehard friends, and Goldstone will also eventually get used to it.

Finkelstein positions his book within proper historical contexts. He summons the events that lead to, coincided with and followed the Israeli war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006, which also killed and wounded thousands, and destroyed much of the country’s civilian infrastructure. The similarities are too stark, but are made much clearer by Finkelstein’s patient evaluation of both events. Moreover, he revisits the Israeli war and invasion of Lebanon of 1982, revealing much of Israel’s bizarre but predictable behavior.

Finkelstein provides lengthy and immaculate research that highlights the repellent propaganda which preceded and followed the massacre in Gaza. Although he makes various references to the Goldstone mission and report earlier in the book, he dedicates most of the book’s epilogue to the Goldstone report and its many consequences. His revelations and analysis are encouraging in that they suggest that things are in fact changing. Israel, a rouge state by any reasonable standards, will never reclaim its fictitious old status as a beacon of progress and democracy. No amount of lies, intimidation or blackmail could sell Israeli war crimes as self-defense, or smear Israeli critics as anti-Semites. The book makes a very convincing case to back up this assertion.

“The times they are a-changing,” wrote Finkelstein. True, and that is a most impressive achievement that was made possible by the likes of Jimmy Carter, John Mearsheimer, Stephen Walt, Richard Goldstone, Richard Falk, John Dugard, Finkelstein himself, and the innumerable authors, journalists and bloggers who tirelessly worked to document the truth.

But it is also the courage of the Palestinian people in Gaza and elsewhere that made it possible for us to take such stances. Our efforts dwarf in comparison to their courage, resilience and sacrifices.

Finkelstein’s book is a testimony to all of that, and much more.

- Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is "My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story" (Pluto Press, London), now available on Amazon.com.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Mural commemorating Nakba revealed in Gaza

PIC

[ 07/05/2010 - 10:52 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- In the presence of Minister of Culture Dr. Osama al-Issawi, the High Commission to Commemorate the 62nd Anniversary of the Nakba on Thursday unveiled a mural depicting the Nakba and the entrenched belief that return of refugees to their home towns is inevitable.

Fifteen artists participated in the painting of the mural on the northern wall of the Saraya government building in Gaza city.

For his part, Dr. Al-Issawi stressed "the importance of art [as a way of conveying] the message, and its role in reinforcing the steadfastness of the Palestinian people," noting that the participation of artists with their paintbrushes and colors and the presentation of their paintings is an expression of loyalty to Palestinian tenets, especially the right of return. He also stressed that Palestinian generations shoulder the burden and dream of liberation and return, God willing.

In response to a reporter's question that there is the argument which claims that the old will die and the young will forget; he said that the participation of young artists is a practical proof of the failure of such a claim, adding that the occupation seeks to promote such ideas through the rumors the propagate here and there.

For his part, the artist responsible for coordinating work on the mural, Haitham Eid, said: "This mural expresses the resilience and defiance shown by the Palestinian people in the face of occupation, as well as the amount of suffering experienced by the Palestinian people, and affirms that the Palestinian people are sticking to their rights despite all plots against them," .

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

A Cup of Tea with Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah…

A Cup of Tea with Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah…
Jassem Boudy - Al-Rai Kuwaiti daily (Translated) Readers

07/05/2010

When you shake hands with Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and see him smiling, you forget all the difficulties you faced to meet him. He hugs you asking about your personal state and your country's situation as if he didn't one detail or one word of our last meeting which took place four years ago.

He reviews with you the major changes and developments and hopes that you can be frank with him saying all what you think and see whether right or wrong.

This is the man who occupied all people, the man who militarily and morally defeated the Israelis. This is the man who changed the balances on the ground, starting with the victory on the panic, dismay, weakness and hesitation within us. This is the man whose tone implies that he wishes being exempted from fighting on the other political and security fronts, but at the same time who controls all his movements internally and externally according to the timing of the southern arena and who doesn't hesitate to withdraw or to calm down in order to safeguard the real front.

In an unknown place, I met him… He put his hand on my chest, asking: "How's the heart now?" His dignity and solemnity precedes his presence and his smile precedes his shaking and his man precedes his friendliness and sincere affection, spreading a comfort in the place and a confidence in the time. His mentality was stronger than ever and his activity better and his mood even greater… just as if the eternal and continuous and secret confrontations with Israel boost him more and more…

As far as the fence of his prohibited topic increases especially in the Israeli file to the degree of sanctities, he becomes more open to the other opinion and dialogue and criticism and review concerning all items… from Beirut to Cairo. You feel that he hates the necessity sometimes but resorts to it to protect the "path of the Mujahideen" or even under the umbrella of the "last medicament."

He feels pain to all those who fall in the wrong arena and in the wrong way, perceiving that infighting weakens weapons, internal strife paralyzes arms and internal fighting wipes out weapons.

He dreams that a confrontation scheme against Israel would be the national and confessional identity of Lebanon. He dreams that his scope becomes wider at the Lebanese and Arab levels, not that it decreases at the levels of the sects and regions.

He dreams… and knows that there are difficulties preventing it. What hinder it are the capabilities, differences, stances and principles. Yet, he doesn't retract and doesn't surrender to boredom. All sacrifices are easy for him vis-à-vis the land, dignity and religion given that he even offered his own son, Hadi, who was honored by martyrdom.

Talking about Hadi is something else. The eye shines with lightning of sadness combines with glory and pride, reflecting another picture of the Resistance and Liberation Sayyed… the picture of the horseman who bends the body of his martyr and washes him with tears of eagerness and then faces media with the stature of the victorious…

Yes, the Sayyed won't give Israeli a pictures that could raise the morale of its defeated soldiers…

He asks me about Kuwait and Kuwaitis from the perspective of the informed. His heart is with the special and exclusive experience and his eye on the sedition schemes. He calls on Shiites and Sunnis to look upon the state as their authority and to put the government scheme before them.

With his eminence, the cup of tea has a special taste and flavor. It's always filled with things, some of which can be published and the remaining remains secret. You feel how much he desires to make direct meetings with the people, more communication with his small family and his bigger one, how much he'd love to share moments with the Mujahideen and to pray in Al-Quds.

The cup of tea becomes empty because the Sayyed's preoccupations are too many. However, words are endless. Yet, the upcoming developments started to emerge as Abu Hadi is promising us with a lot… but this time in the battlefields!

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

New Israeli order allows for mass expulsion from West Bank

Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada, 7 May 2010

After finishing his prison sentence, Ahmed Sabah was deported to the Gaza Strip, away from his family in the West Bank. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Several Palestinians have set up a protest tent in no-man's land in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez border crossing into Israel, as they protest their deportation from the Israeli occupied West Bank into Gaza where Hamas authorities have refused them entry.

Tens of thousands of other Palestinians face a possibly similar predicament in the near future. This follows a sweeping new Israeli military order which allows for the expulsion of Palestinians or foreigners whom Israel considers to be in the West Bank illegally as "infiltrators."

Fadi Azameh, 19, from Hebron in the southern West Bank, was arrested at his place of employment by the Israeli military last week, held briefly at a military base before he was expelled to Gaza.

Azameh was born in Gaza but his family left the coastal territory and settled in the West Bank 12 years ago. He had not been back since.

Ahmed Sabah, a 40-year-old prisoner from the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem was also deported to Gaza after serving a lengthy prison sentence in an Israeli jail.

His wife and son, whom he had not seen since the boy was a baby, were informed that Sabah would not be attending a joyful reunion they had planned after he had already been released in Gaza.

The two Palestinians are refusing to leave the tent and have pleaded for international intervention in their case.

The Hamas authorities for their part have stated that they would not allow them into Gaza as this will encourage Israel to proceed with its policy.

The "infiltrator" order could affect thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who were born in Gaza -- or those who had their ID documents issued in Gaza -- but moved years ago to live in the West Bank where they now have families and where their employment and educational facilities are based.

Palestinian identification papers in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are formally issued by the Palestinian Authority (PA), but Israel controls the population registry and must approve most changes, including relocation from Gaza to the West Bank.

Thousands of other Palestinians from Jordan and abroad who have reunited with family members in the Israeli controlled territory could also be effected.

Many of those originating in Jordan married West Bank spouses and moved to the Palestinian territory where they subsequently started families.

Other Palestinians with foreign passports who have opened up businesses, creating work opportunities in an area where unemployment remains high, also risk deportation.

Foreign nationals not of Palestinian descent and without Israeli visas could also be targeted.

Israel has been trying to crack down on pro-Palestinian foreign activists and those working with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Several were deported earlier in the year when heavily armed Israeli troops raided their apartments at night.

Foreign NGO workers based in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have complained of difficulties in getting their work permits and residence visas renewed by the Israeli authorities.

Israel's new military order applies even to "Area C" of the West Bank which under the 1993 Oslo Accords falls under the full civil and military control of the PA.

Critics have argued that Israel is trying to solidify the geographical and political divide between the PA controlled West Bank and the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip. Others say this could be a precedent for ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.

Israeli extremists and right-wingers have long supported the expulsion of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to Jordan which they argue is the "real Palestinian State."

A number of Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations have written to the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, demanding the postponement of the order's implementation pending "a serious and comprehensive discussion on the matter."

The Israeli rights group HaMoked states that the new order is intended to serve as a "High Court bypass" mechanism, facilitating deportation in similar cases in the future.

"The army must bring candidates for deportation before the committee within eight days, while they can be deported without judicial review within 72 hours. At the same time, the candidates for deportation are not allowed to appeal to the committee, or to any court, during these eight days," says the organization.

The Fourth Geneva Convention imposes an absolute prohibition on the forced removal of civilians from their homes, the violation of which is deemed an especially grave breach of the Convention.

Meanwhile, in a continuing development Gazans challenging Israel's "no-go security zones" along Gaza's borders with Israel continue to be wounded and killed as they try to access their agricultural land, much of it situated in the fertile areas along the border.

Last week Ahmed Deeb, 21, from Gaza bled to death after Israeli soldiers shot him in the leg, rupturing his femoral artery, with a "dum dum" bullet which fragments inside the targeted area upon impact.

The week before, Maltese national Bianca Zammit, 28, was also shot in the leg as she filmed one of the growingly frequent non-violent protests against Israel's self-declared buffer zones.

In another incident of Gazans dying to live, four tunnel workers were killed, and several hospitalized in a serious condition, in southern Gaza after Egyptian security forces threw explosives into several smuggling tunnels linking Gaza with the Sinai Peninsula.

Due to Israel's crippling economic blockade of the coastal territory -- in conjunction with the Egyptians -- the tunnels represent a vital supply line for desperately needed daily goods for the impoverished territory.

Working in the tunnels also provides Gaza's poor with a means of income in an area where unemployment is rife.

All rights reserved, IPS -- Inter Press Service (2010). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.

Israel Says Iran Choppers Launched in Navy Drill Better than US Cobra

Batoul Wehbe

07/05/2010 Israeli military sources have said that the Iranian Toufan (storm) chopper launched during the Iranian 8-days navy drill was heavily upgraded and much better than the US Cobra.

Iranian made Cobra choppers took off and landed on Iran’s army naval force battleships during this phase of the war game in the Straight of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, successfully carrying out tactical operations. They attacked and shot down surface and sub-surface mock enemy targets during the second day of naval drill dubbed (Velayat-89) on Thursday.

Iran's helicopter gunships were also dispatched to the area to act as covers for Cobra choppers during the tactical operation in Iranian territorial waters.

Debkafile's website quoted Israeli military sources as saying that if Iran has indeed designed a weapon of this type and quality (Toufan), it has come up with a powerful answer to US and Israeli cruise missiles, which pose the “biggest threat” to Iran's nuclear facilities in a military strike.

The Iranian Air force have received 10 new "Toufan" attack helicopters based on the Bell AH-1K Sea Cobra design. After studying photographs, Western military sources reported the Iranian version has been heavily upgraded compared with the original.

Debkafile's intelligence sources also note that the Iranian Air Force's Badr Base for light aircraft and helicopters in Esfahan, central Iran, accommodates 1,000 aerial military vehicles of different types, and is the biggest air base of its kind in the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

Iran has also successfully conducted interception operations by drones on Thursday. Flying surveillance drones could gather information about hypothetical enemy forces.

Iran's defense minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi had also announced on Wednesday the development of the "Mesbah 1" (Lantern), the new air defense system for countering aircraft, cruise missiles, choppers and other low-altitude threats. He said the new system, which is capable of firing “four thousand rounds per minute,” has unique features that differentiate it from other similar air defense systems.

The new system is equipped with a three-dimensional interception radar and an optical guidance system, he added.

In the meantime and according to Fars news agency, Iranian Navy destroyers accompanied by frigates and submarines carried out reconnaissance missions during Thursday's maneuvers.

Admiral Qassem Rostam Abadi, the maneuvers' spokesperson, said the reconnaissance missions were aimed at securing Iran's shipping routes in the Sea of Oman. The Iranian army is scheduled to carry out electronic and anti-electronic warfare and gather radar information in the region, the military official added.

Meanwhile, Brigadier General Kiumars Ahadi -- another commander with Iran's Military -- said troops and military hardware will be dispatched to the area during the drill through special operations.

Iranian Navy commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said earlier that by holding the maneuver, Tehran sought to send out a message of "peace and friendship" to regional states.

Late last month, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) staged four days of maneuvers in Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, testing missiles and a new speedboat capable of destroying enemy ships.


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

A new Surprise, Another slap on Pharoah's Face: Ganzan's Cut through the Wall of Shame

Gazans cut through Egypt's border barrier


Some 80% of imports into Gaza come through the tunnels, the UN says

By Jon Donnison
BBC News, Gaza



"Every problem has a solution. The Egyptian steel barrier was a problem but we found a solution," says Mohammed, a grimy-faced Gazan tunnel digger who didn't want to give his real name.

Mohammed, covered in dust and dirt, is in the process of digging a 750m (2,460ft) smuggling tunnel from Gaza into Egypt. He says he's been digging it for 18 months.

As he hauls up a plastic container of sand with an electric winch from the metre-wide tunnel shaft, he says the new underground Egyptian barrier aimed at stopping smuggling is a "joke."

"We just cut through it using high-powered oxygen fuelled blow torches," he says.

The Egyptian government says it began constructing the barrier along the Gaza-Egypt border last year. When finished it is meant to be 11km-long (seven miles), stretching down 18m (59ft) underground.
According to Egypt it is made of bomb-proof, super-strength steel and is costing millions of dollars to build.

'Embarrassing'

Mohammed smiles when he hears this.

"We pay around a $1,000 (£665) for a man with an oxygen-fuelled cutter to come and break through it. It takes up to three weeks to cut through but we get there in the end," he says.

If they [Egypt] opened the border, we wouldn't need to dig tunnels. But until they do, we'll keep digging, whatever they do to try and stop us

Mohammed, tunnel digger

Mohammed says the steel barrier is 5-10cm (2-4in) thick.

The BBC spoke to one man in Gaza employed to cut through the barrier. He said he could cut a metre-square hole through it in less than a day.

This news will be embarrassing for Egypt's government.

Encouraged by the United States which gives millions of dollars in military aid to Egypt every year, it says it is trying to crack down on smuggling into Gaza.

The BBC asked the Egyptian government to comment on the fact that Gazans were already cutting through the barrier. The government has not yet responded.

Sheep and shampoo

The Palestinian territory has been under a tightened Israeli and Egyptian economic blockade since 2007 when the Hamas Islamist movement took over the territory.

The blockade was enforced to put pressure on Hamas and to stop weapons being smuggled in.

Little attempt is made to keep the tunnels secret

Egypt's secular government is opposed to Hamas, which has historical ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition movement in Egypt which is illegal but largely tolerated.

Many Gazans are angry with the Egyptian government, which - they say - is increasing their suffering.
The blockade has meant that Gaza is to a great extent dependent on the smuggling tunnels from Egypt. Millions of dollars worth of goods are smuggled in every month.

Everything from fridges to fans, sheep to shampoo comes through the tunnels. The BBC even obtained video footage this year of whole brand-new cars being dragged through tunnels from Egypt.
The UN estimates that as much as 80% of imports into Gaza come through the tunnels.
Big business

The tunnels are not at all hard to find. In the southern Gazan town of Rafah, right on the border, there are lines of them covered by white tents.

Details of Gaza blockade revealed

Little attempt is made to keep them secret. They are surrounded by huge mounds of sandy earth which have been dug out of the ground.

The air is thick with diesel fuel from the trucks that transport the goods across the Gaza strip.
The openness of the smuggling operation suggests that if Israel and Egypt really wanted to stop the tunnels they could easily do so.

Israel has at times bombed some of the tunnels, but has stopped short of totally shutting them down.
Aid agencies in Gaza say that if Israel or Egypt really forced the smuggling to stop, it would lead to an even more desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza which would be damaging to Israel's and Egypt's international reputations.

Diplomats in the region also believe that so much money is being made in Egypt from the trade through the tunnels that much of the smuggling is likely to continue.

But the head of operations in Gaza for the UN relief agency Unrwa, John Ging, says that ordinary people in Gaza are losing out.

"Everything is expensive because people are hostage to the dynamics of a black market."

Mr Ging stressed that it was the Israeli-Egyptian blockade that was allowing that black market to thrive.
The UN does not use illegal goods and building materials smuggled in through from Egypt.

If the blockade remains in place it seems the tunnel industry will continue to thrive, underground steel barrier or not.

"If they opened the border, we wouldn't need to dig tunnels," says Mohammed peering into the shaft of his tunnel in Rafah. "But until they do, we'll keep digging, whatever they do to try and stop us."
"Every problem has a solution," he smiles.

في مفاجأة من العيار الثقيل.. فلسطينيو غزة ينجحون في اختراق الجدار الفولاذي

	أحد الانفاق على حدود مصر وغزة

عواصم: فجر حفارو الانفاق الغزاويين مفاجاة من العيار الثقيل، بكشفهم أنهم قد تمكنوا من اختراق ما يعتقد انه الجدار الفولاذي المقاوم للقنابل الذي قيل ان السلطات المصرية بنته للحد من عمليات التهريب على الحدود المصرية مع قطاع غزة.

وكانت السلطات المصرية قد بدأت العام الماضي في بناء جدار حاجز تحت الارض لمنع التهريب والتجارة غير الشرعية ببضائع تقدر بملايين الدولارات تدخل الى الاراضي الفلسطينية عبر الحدود المصرية مع قطاع غزة.

ونقلت هيئة الاذاعة البريطانية "بي بي سي" عن أحد حفارى الأنفاق فى قطاع غزة قوله: "أن لكل مشكلة حلا"، واضاف إن الغزاويين يستخدمون آلات (مشاعل) حرارية فائقة القوة لإحداث ثقوب فى الجدار الفولاذى، بينما قال آخر: "إن اختراق الجدار يمكن أن يستغرق ثلاثة أسابيع من العمل غير أنهم نجحوا فى ذلك فى نهاية المطاف".

وزعمت الهيئة ان هذه أنباء محرجة للحكومة المصرية التى انفقت ملايين الدولارات لبناء هذا الحاجز وكانت قد قالت أخيرا إن العمل بالجدار الممتد لأحد عشر كيلومتر وبعمق نحو عشرين مترا تحت الأرض قد شارف على الانتهاء، وقالت الحكومة المصرية إنه مصنوع على ما يبدو من فولاذ فائق القوة لا يمكن اختراقه.

وتمثل عمليات تهريب البضائع عبر الأنفاق من مصر إلى قطاع غزة تجارة كبيرة تقدر بملايين الدولارات.. ومن بين تلك البضائع السيارات الجديدة التى يجرى تهريبها كل شهر.

وازدهرت تلك التجارة بعد فرض سلطات الاحتلال الاسرائيلي حصارها الاقتصادي على قطاع غزة، في محاولة للضغط على حركة حماس التي تتولى ادارة القطاع .

كانت تقارير صحفية كشفت في وقت سابق أن السلطات المصرية رفعت من وتيرة العمل في بناء "الجدار الفولاذي" على الحدود مع قطاع غزة لمنع عمليات التهريب عبر الأنفاق الأرضية ، حيث اقتربت أعمال البناء من منطقة صلاح الدين ذات الكثافة السكانية العالية والتي خضعت لعمليات مسح سكاني وحصر للمباني ، تمهيدا لإجلاء الأهالي من المساكن المتاخمة للشريط الحدودي وتعويضهم بأراضي بديلة .

ونقلت صحيفة "الشروق" المصرية المستقلة عن مصادر مطلعة القول إن الشركة المنفذة لأعمال الجدار أوشكت علي الانتهاء من عمليات حفر الخنادق وتثبيت الألواح الحديدية علي أعماق كبيرة ، كما تواصل 6 معدات عملاقة عمليات الحفر ويتواصل تدفق الستائر الحديدية علي مواقع العمل.

وأضافت المصادر ذاتها " منازل منطقة صلاح الدين معرضة للخطر بسبب كثرة الأنفاق والتي تنذر بالانهيار في أي لحظة وهو ما يتطلب إعادة تخطيط المنطقة بالكامل".

يذكر أن إسرائيل تمارس ضغوطا كبيرة على مصر منذ فترة طويلة لكي تتصدي للتهريب عبر هذه الانفاق تحت الأرض بين غزة وسيناء المصرية.وتقول ان الفلسطينيين يستخدمونها لتهريب الاسلحة والذخيرة الى جانب السلع التجارية التي يتم تهريبها الى غزة.

وكان ناشطون مصريون قد رفعوا دعوى على الدولة المصرية بسبب قرارها بناء الجدار على حدودها مع قطاع قائلين بأنه ينتهك التزامات مصر إزاء جيرانها العرب. وحدد القضاء الإداري المصري موعد جلسة النطق بالحكم في دعوى وقف بناء الجدار الفولاذي بين مصر وقطاع غزة يوم 29 يونيو/يونيو المقبل.

"جدار الموت"

كان الكشف عن بناء السلطات المصرية لحدار حديدي على حدودها مع قطاع غزة قد أثار جدلا واسعا حيث اعتبره فلسطينيو غزة تديدا جديا لحصارهم المستمر منذ منتصف يونيو/حزيران عام 2007، بينما اعتبر مسئولون مصريون أن من حق بلادهم الحفاظ على أمنها ولديها مطلق الحرية في أن تفعل داخل أراضيها ما يؤمن سلامتها، ولا يمكن أن يزعم ولا يحق لعربي مهما كان، وباسم أي قضية مهما كانت أن يقول لمصر افعلي هذا أو لا تفعلي ذاك على أراضيك.

كانت تقارير صحفية ذكرت في وقت سابق أن مصر بدأت مؤخرا بناء جدار فولاذي بعمق من 20 إلى 30 مترا تحت الأرض، بطول عشرة كيلومترات تمثل الحدود مع غزة، في محاولة للقضاء على ظاهرة الأنفاق التي تُستخدم في تهريب البضائع من سيناء إلى القطاع المحاصَر.

وأدى الكشف عن بناء الجدار الفولاذي والذي وصفه الفلسطينيون بـ "جدار الموت"، إلى تصاعد ردود الأفعال العربية والدولية المنددة بالخطوة التي اتخذتها القيادة المصرية، وتمحورت ردود الأفعال حول استنكار هذه الخطوة التي اعتبر عددٌ كبيرٌ من المتابعين والمحللين أنها تأتي كخطوةٍ إضافيةٍ تهدف إلى تشديد الحصار على أكثر من مليون ونصف المليون فلسطيني مُحاصَرين في قطاع غزة منذ أكثر من ثلاثة أعوام متواصلة.

وفيما يخص مواصفات الجدار، ذكر موقع "الشبكة الفلسطينية الإخبارية" على الإنترنت، نقلا عن مصادر وصفها بالموثوقة، أن آلية للحفر يتراوح طولها بين 7 إلى 8 أمتار تقوم بعمل ثقوب فى الأرض بشكل لولبى، ومن ثم تقوم رافعة بإنزال ماسورة مثقبة باتجاه الجانب الفلسطينى بعمق ما بين 20 و30 متر.

وأضافت الشبكة فى تقرير مرفق برسم كروكى لقطاع من الجدار، أن العمل على الآليات الموجودة هناك يتولاه عمال مصريون فى أغلبهم يتبعون شركة "عثمان أحمد عثمان"، بالإضافة إلى وجود أجانب بسيارات جى أم سى فى المكان.

ووفقا للمصادر فإن ماسورة رئيسية ضخمة تمتد من البحر غربا بطول 10 كيلومترات باتجاه الشرق يتفرع منها مواسير فى باطن الأرض مثقبة باتجاه الجانب الفلسطينى من الحدود يفصل بين الماسورة والأخرى 30 أو 40 متر.

وأوضحت أنه سيتم ضخ المياه فى الماسورة الرئيسية من البحر مباشرة، ومن ثم إلى المواسير الفرعية فى باطن الأرض، مضيفة أنه بما أن المواسير مثقبة باتجاه الجانب الفلسطينى فإن المطلوب من هذه المواسير الفرعية هو إحداث تصدعات وانهيارات تؤثر على عمل الأنفاق على طول الحدود من خلال تسريب المياه.

ولفتت إلى أنه خلف شبكة المواسير هذه يتمدد فى باطن الأرض جدران فولاذية بعمق يتراوح بين 30ــ35 متر فى باطن الأرض، وعلاوة على وظيفة هذا الجدار المصمم لكبح جماح الأنفاق إلى جانب أنابيب المياه، فإنه يحافظ على تماسك التربة على الجانب المصرى، فى حين تكون الأضرار البيئية والانهيارات فى الجانب الفلسطينى، على حد قول هذه المصادر.

	بناء الجدار الفولاذي

وكان وزير الخارجية المصري أحمد أبو الغيط، قد أكد في تصريحات سابقة له "أن مصر ليست علي استعداد لأن تتوقف عن حماية شعبها وحدودها، وأن أحداً لا يمكنه أن يدفع بلاده لأن تخشي أمراً يحمي أمنها القومي،

مشيرا إلى أن الأهداف التي دعت مصر إلي إنشاء الجدار المصري هي تحطيم جدار مماثل كانت مصر قد أقامته منذ سنوات علي حدودها مع إسرائيل عندما كانت تحتل قطاع غزة،

وأن فلسطينيين قاموا بتحطيمه في يناير 2008 وهو ما دفع مصر إلي إعادة إنشائه حماية للأراضي المصرية من الاعتداء عليها ومنع من وصفهم بـ «هؤلاء الذين يقتحمون ويتسربون إلي الأراضي المصرية".

إلا أن مصادر أمنية مصرية أكدت أن قيام القاهرة بعمليات إحكام الحدود مع قطاع غزة فى الوقت الحالى عبر بناء سياج حدودى تقنى محكم جاء لدواعى السيادة والأمن القومى المصرى، ولا يعنى أبدا تشديد الحصار على قطاع غزة مشيرا إلى أن معبر رفح يظل مفتوحا معظم الوقت.

وقالت المصادر إن تهريب السلاح عبر الأنفاق "هو اعتداء مباشر على سيادة الدولة المصرية وشرعيتها كدولة، ولا يمكن السماح باستمراره عبر شبكة الأنفاق المنتشرة على تلك الحدود"، مضيفا أن من يستخدم الأنفاق لتهريب السلاح من سيناء فى اتجاه الجانب الآخر يمكنه استخدامها للتهريب فى الاتجاه المعاكس ليس فقط لتهريب السلاح ولكن المخدرات والأفراد أيضا.

وشددت المصادر على أنه "من حق مصر أن تهتم بسيادتها على حدودها وأن تطور الجدار الفاصل بينها وبين قطاع غزة ومن حقها أن يكون الجدار قويا لا تسقطه بلدوزات تحركها قلة غير مسئولة على الجانب الآخر من الحدود كما حدث فى يناير 2008 ويكون نقطة ضعف يستخدمها أعداء السلام".

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

A new Surprise, Another slap on Pharoah's Face: Ganzan's Cut through the Wall of Shame

 

Gazans cut through Egypt's border barrier


Some 80% of imports into Gaza come through the tunnels, the UN says

By Jon Donnison
BBC News, Gaza






"Every problem has a solution. The Egyptian steel barrier was a problem but we found a solution," says Mohammed, a grimy-faced Gazan tunnel digger who didn't want to give his real name.

Mohammed, covered in dust and dirt, is in the process of digging a 750m (2,460ft) smuggling tunnel from Gaza into Egypt. He says he's been digging it for 18 months.

As he hauls up a plastic container of sand with an electric winch from the metre-wide tunnel shaft, he says the new underground Egyptian barrier aimed at stopping smuggling is a "joke."

"We just cut through it using high-powered oxygen fuelled blow torches," he says.

The Egyptian government says it began constructing the barrier along the Gaza-Egypt border last year. When finished it is meant to be 11km-long (seven miles), stretching down 18m (59ft) underground.
According to Egypt it is made of bomb-proof, super-strength steel and is costing millions of dollars to build.

'Embarrassing'

Mohammed smiles when he hears this.

"We pay around a $1,000 (£665) for a man with an oxygen-fuelled cutter to come and break through it. It takes up to three weeks to cut through but we get there in the end," he says.

If they [Egypt] opened the border, we wouldn't need to dig tunnels. But until they do, we'll keep digging, whatever they do to try and stop us

Mohammed, tunnel digger

Mohammed says the steel barrier is 5-10cm (2-4in) thick.

The BBC spoke to one man in Gaza employed to cut through the barrier. He said he could cut a metre-square hole through it in less than a day.

This news will be embarrassing for Egypt's government.

Encouraged by the United States which gives millions of dollars in military aid to Egypt every year, it says it is trying to crack down on smuggling into Gaza.

The BBC asked the Egyptian government to comment on the fact that Gazans were already cutting through the barrier. The government has not yet responded.

Sheep and shampoo

The Palestinian territory has been under a tightened Israeli and Egyptian economic blockade since 2007 when the Hamas Islamist movement took over the territory.

The blockade was enforced to put pressure on Hamas and to stop weapons being smuggled in.

Little attempt is made to keep the tunnels secret

Egypt's secular government is opposed to Hamas, which has historical ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition movement in Egypt which is illegal but largely tolerated.

Many Gazans are angry with the Egyptian government, which - they say - is increasing their suffering.
The blockade has meant that Gaza is to a great extent dependent on the smuggling tunnels from Egypt. Millions of dollars worth of goods are smuggled in every month.

Everything from fridges to fans, sheep to shampoo comes through the tunnels. The BBC even obtained video footage this year of whole brand-new cars being dragged through tunnels from Egypt.
The UN estimates that as much as 80% of imports into Gaza come through the tunnels.
Big business

The tunnels are not at all hard to find. In the southern Gazan town of Rafah, right on the border, there are lines of them covered by white tents.

Details of Gaza blockade revealed

<>Little attempt is made to keep them secret. They are surrounded by huge mounds of sandy earth which have been dug out of the ground.

The air is thick with diesel fuel from the trucks that transport the goods across the Gaza strip.
The openness of the smuggling operation suggests that if Israel and Egypt really wanted to stop the tunnels they could easily do so.

Israel has at times bombed some of the tunnels, but has stopped short of totally shutting them down.
Aid agencies in Gaza say that if Israel or Egypt really forced the smuggling to stop, it would lead to an even more desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza which would be damaging to Israel's and Egypt's international reputations.

Diplomats in the region also believe that so much money is being made in Egypt from the trade through the tunnels that much of the smuggling is likely to continue.

But the head of operations in Gaza for the UN relief agency Unrwa, John Ging, says that ordinary people in Gaza are losing out.

"Everything is expensive because people are hostage to the dynamics of a black market."

Mr Ging stressed that it was the Israeli-Egyptian blockade that was allowing that black market to thrive.
The UN does not use illegal goods and building materials smuggled in through from Egypt.

If the blockade remains in place it seems the tunnel industry will continue to thrive, underground steel barrier or not.

"If they opened the border, we wouldn't need to dig tunnels," says Mohammed peering into the shaft of his tunnel in Rafah. "But until they do, we'll keep digging, whatever they do to try and stop us."
"Every problem has a solution," he smiles.

في مفاجأة من العيار الثقيل.. فلسطينيو غزة ينجحون في اختراق الجدار الفولاذي

<><>

	أحد الانفاق على حدود مصر وغزة

عواصم: فجر حفارو الانفاق الغزاويين مفاجاة من العيار الثقيل، بكشفهم أنهم قد تمكنوا من اختراق ما يعتقد انه الجدار الفولاذي المقاوم للقنابل الذي قيل ان السلطات المصرية بنته للحد من عمليات التهريب على الحدود المصرية مع قطاع غزة.

وكانت السلطات المصرية قد بدأت العام الماضي في بناء جدار حاجز تحت الارض لمنع التهريب والتجارة غير الشرعية ببضائع تقدر بملايين الدولارات تدخل الى الاراضي الفلسطينية عبر الحدود المصرية مع قطاع غزة.

ونقلت هيئة الاذاعة البريطانية "بي بي سي" عن أحد حفارى الأنفاق فى قطاع غزة قوله: "أن لكل مشكلة حلا"، واضاف إن الغزاويين يستخدمون آلات (مشاعل) حرارية فائقة القوة لإحداث ثقوب فى الجدار الفولاذى، بينما قال آخر: "إن اختراق الجدار يمكن أن يستغرق ثلاثة أسابيع من العمل غير أنهم نجحوا فى ذلك فى نهاية المطاف".

وزعمت الهيئة ان هذه أنباء محرجة للحكومة المصرية التى انفقت ملايين الدولارات لبناء هذا الحاجز وكانت قد قالت أخيرا إن العمل بالجدار الممتد لأحد عشر كيلومتر وبعمق نحو عشرين مترا تحت الأرض قد شارف على الانتهاء، وقالت الحكومة المصرية إنه مصنوع على ما يبدو من فولاذ فائق القوة لا يمكن اختراقه.

وتمثل عمليات تهريب البضائع عبر الأنفاق من مصر إلى قطاع غزة تجارة كبيرة تقدر بملايين الدولارات.. ومن بين تلك البضائع السيارات الجديدة التى يجرى تهريبها كل شهر.

وازدهرت تلك التجارة بعد فرض سلطات الاحتلال الاسرائيلي حصارها الاقتصادي على قطاع غزة، في محاولة للضغط على حركة حماس التي تتولى ادارة القطاع .

كانت تقارير صحفية كشفت في وقت سابق أن السلطات المصرية رفعت من وتيرة العمل في بناء "الجدار الفولاذي" على الحدود مع قطاع غزة لمنع عمليات التهريب عبر الأنفاق الأرضية ، حيث اقتربت أعمال البناء من منطقة صلاح الدين ذات الكثافة السكانية العالية والتي خضعت لعمليات مسح سكاني وحصر للمباني ، تمهيدا لإجلاء الأهالي من المساكن المتاخمة للشريط الحدودي وتعويضهم بأراضي بديلة .

ونقلت صحيفة "الشروق" المصرية المستقلة عن مصادر مطلعة القول إن الشركة المنفذة لأعمال الجدار أوشكت علي الانتهاء من عمليات حفر الخنادق وتثبيت الألواح الحديدية علي أعماق كبيرة ، كما تواصل 6 معدات عملاقة عمليات الحفر ويتواصل تدفق الستائر الحديدية علي مواقع العمل.

وأضافت المصادر ذاتها " منازل منطقة صلاح الدين معرضة للخطر بسبب كثرة الأنفاق والتي تنذر بالانهيار في أي لحظة وهو ما يتطلب إعادة تخطيط المنطقة بالكامل".

يذكر أن إسرائيل تمارس ضغوطا كبيرة على مصر منذ فترة طويلة لكي تتصدي للتهريب عبر هذه الانفاق تحت الأرض بين غزة وسيناء المصرية.وتقول ان الفلسطينيين يستخدمونها لتهريب الاسلحة والذخيرة الى جانب السلع التجارية التي يتم تهريبها الى غزة.

وكان ناشطون مصريون قد رفعوا دعوى على الدولة المصرية بسبب قرارها بناء الجدار على حدودها مع قطاع قائلين بأنه ينتهك التزامات مصر إزاء جيرانها العرب. وحدد القضاء الإداري المصري موعد جلسة النطق بالحكم في دعوى وقف بناء الجدار الفولاذي بين مصر وقطاع غزة يوم 29 يونيو/يونيو المقبل.

"جدار الموت"

كان الكشف عن بناء السلطات المصرية لحدار حديدي على حدودها مع قطاع غزة قد أثار جدلا واسعا حيث اعتبره فلسطينيو غزة تديدا جديا لحصارهم المستمر منذ منتصف يونيو/حزيران عام 2007، بينما اعتبر مسئولون مصريون أن من حق بلادهم الحفاظ على أمنها ولديها مطلق الحرية في أن تفعل داخل أراضيها ما يؤمن سلامتها، ولا يمكن أن يزعم ولا يحق لعربي مهما كان، وباسم أي قضية مهما كانت أن يقول لمصر افعلي هذا أو لا تفعلي ذاك على أراضيك.

كانت تقارير صحفية ذكرت في وقت سابق أن مصر بدأت مؤخرا بناء جدار فولاذي بعمق من 20 إلى 30 مترا تحت الأرض، بطول عشرة كيلومترات تمثل الحدود مع غزة، في محاولة للقضاء على ظاهرة الأنفاق التي تُستخدم في تهريب البضائع من سيناء إلى القطاع المحاصَر.

وأدى الكشف عن بناء الجدار الفولاذي والذي وصفه الفلسطينيون بـ "جدار الموت"، إلى تصاعد ردود الأفعال العربية والدولية المنددة بالخطوة التي اتخذتها القيادة المصرية، وتمحورت ردود الأفعال حول استنكار هذه الخطوة التي اعتبر عددٌ كبيرٌ من المتابعين والمحللين أنها تأتي كخطوةٍ إضافيةٍ تهدف إلى تشديد الحصار على أكثر من مليون ونصف المليون فلسطيني مُحاصَرين في قطاع غزة منذ أكثر من ثلاثة أعوام متواصلة.

وفيما يخص مواصفات الجدار، ذكر موقع "الشبكة الفلسطينية الإخبارية" على الإنترنت، نقلا عن مصادر وصفها بالموثوقة، أن آلية للحفر يتراوح طولها بين 7 إلى 8 أمتار تقوم بعمل ثقوب فى الأرض بشكل لولبى، ومن ثم تقوم رافعة بإنزال ماسورة مثقبة باتجاه الجانب الفلسطينى بعمق ما بين 20 و30 متر.

وأضافت الشبكة فى تقرير مرفق برسم كروكى لقطاع من الجدار، أن العمل على الآليات الموجودة هناك يتولاه عمال مصريون فى أغلبهم يتبعون شركة "عثمان أحمد عثمان"، بالإضافة إلى وجود أجانب بسيارات جى أم سى فى المكان.

ووفقا للمصادر فإن ماسورة رئيسية ضخمة تمتد من البحر غربا بطول 10 كيلومترات باتجاه الشرق يتفرع منها مواسير فى باطن الأرض مثقبة باتجاه الجانب الفلسطينى من الحدود يفصل بين الماسورة والأخرى 30 أو 40 متر.

وأوضحت أنه سيتم ضخ المياه فى الماسورة الرئيسية من البحر مباشرة، ومن ثم إلى المواسير الفرعية فى باطن الأرض، مضيفة أنه بما أن المواسير مثقبة باتجاه الجانب الفلسطينى فإن المطلوب من هذه المواسير الفرعية هو إحداث تصدعات وانهيارات تؤثر على عمل الأنفاق على طول الحدود من خلال تسريب المياه.

ولفتت إلى أنه خلف شبكة المواسير هذه يتمدد فى باطن الأرض جدران فولاذية بعمق يتراوح بين 30ــ35 متر فى باطن الأرض، وعلاوة على وظيفة هذا الجدار المصمم لكبح جماح الأنفاق إلى جانب أنابيب المياه، فإنه يحافظ على تماسك التربة على الجانب المصرى، فى حين تكون الأضرار البيئية والانهيارات فى الجانب الفلسطينى، على حد قول هذه المصادر.

	بناء الجدار الفولاذي

وكان وزير الخارجية المصري أحمد أبو الغيط، قد أكد في تصريحات سابقة له "أن مصر ليست علي استعداد لأن تتوقف عن حماية شعبها وحدودها، وأن أحداً لا يمكنه أن يدفع بلاده لأن تخشي أمراً يحمي أمنها القومي،

مشيرا إلى أن الأهداف التي دعت مصر إلي إنشاء الجدار المصري هي تحطيم جدار مماثل كانت مصر قد أقامته منذ سنوات علي حدودها مع إسرائيل عندما كانت تحتل قطاع غزة،

وأن فلسطينيين قاموا بتحطيمه في يناير 2008 وهو ما دفع مصر إلي إعادة إنشائه حماية للأراضي المصرية من الاعتداء عليها ومنع من وصفهم بـ «هؤلاء الذين يقتحمون ويتسربون إلي الأراضي المصرية".

إلا أن مصادر أمنية مصرية أكدت أن قيام القاهرة بعمليات إحكام الحدود مع قطاع غزة فى الوقت الحالى عبر بناء سياج حدودى تقنى محكم جاء لدواعى السيادة والأمن القومى المصرى، ولا يعنى أبدا تشديد الحصار على قطاع غزة مشيرا إلى أن معبر رفح يظل مفتوحا معظم الوقت.

وقالت المصادر إن تهريب السلاح عبر الأنفاق "هو اعتداء مباشر على سيادة الدولة المصرية وشرعيتها كدولة، ولا يمكن السماح باستمراره عبر شبكة الأنفاق المنتشرة على تلك الحدود"، مضيفا أن من يستخدم الأنفاق لتهريب السلاح من سيناء فى اتجاه الجانب الآخر يمكنه استخدامها للتهريب فى الاتجاه المعاكس ليس فقط لتهريب السلاح ولكن المخدرات والأفراد أيضا.

وشددت المصادر على أنه "من حق مصر أن تهتم بسيادتها على حدودها وأن تطور الجدار الفاصل بينها وبين قطاع غزة ومن حقها أن يكون الجدار قويا لا تسقطه بلدوزات تحركها قلة غير مسئولة على الجانب الآخر من الحدود كما حدث فى يناير 2008 ويكون نقطة ضعف يستخدمها أعداء السلام".

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Mazin Qumsiyeh: Mazin, George, Dia’, Nafez arrested in Al-Walaja

Published by Diane Warth on 6 May 2010

Mazin Qumsiyeh
6 May 2010

Thank you to all who inquired, made phone calls, and had us in his/her thoughts and prayers while we were arrested.  This youtube shows our arrest as we blocked bulldozers in Al-Walaja Thursday 6 May 2010



And below is description of what happened to us.


Our ten hour ordeal with the occupation forces started at 8:30 AM as we gathered in the small village of Al-Wallaja. A tiny store with an elderly women who insisted on making me coffee and not charging me.   Idyllic setting except for the heavy bulldozers now carving the hills to separate the remaining people from their lands via an apartheid wall that is planned to completely ring the village.    This village that already lost much of its lands is in the unfortunate position of being near the Green line sitting on rich agricultural lands and the Israelis want the land but do not want the people that come with the land.   Israeli military has already demolished homes in eth village (most were rebuilt) and fined others for building without permits (which are not issued in this village).  The heroic villagers inspired so many including Internationals and Israelis to join them in their popular resistance.  Earlier, I shared with you many videos of the actions.  Today’s even started as we came through the woods and sat in front of the bulldozer.

As the soldiers gathered their forces around us, you could feel the soldiers preparing themselves for attack.  We remained calm and peaceful.  They dragged us one by one forcefully from the bulldozed lands.  They picked the four of us for arrest for no obvious reason.  George from Canada, me from Beit Sahour, and two brothers from Al-Walaja (Dia’ and Nafez).  They were particularly brutal with the two brothers using pepper spray repeatedly, hits with clubs (twice), and once with the rifle butt especially on Dia’. Dia’ could not see for a long time.  They took us down the hill with full military escort and demanded our ID cards on the way (I and Nafez had them, Dia’ and George did not carry them).  At the bottom of the hill sits a checkpoint for cars (mostly settlers) crossing into Jerusalem (from the illegal settlements of Har Gilo, Gilo, and Gush Etzion complex of settlements).  There we were told to sit and wait as two private security guards were brought to supplement the four soldiers guarding us.  Half an hour, an hour, two hours passed by. We spend time talking to soldiers explaining why they are wrong to punish people trying to defend their lands.  I finally asked to go to the bathroom.  They refused.  I insisted and finally they escorted me to an outhouse (portable type).  Other followed.  Time passed. Officers came and said for us to sign a paper claiming all it said was that in our detention we were not beaten or mistreated.  We refuse to sign. Finally, they receive the green light to arrest us officially so we are driven  through Jerusalem and on to the investigation offices near Qubbit Raheel (Rachel’s tomb).  Along the way, Dia’a nd Nafez comment that this is unusual for them to enter Jerusalem (forbidden to them since the Oslo accords).  Al-Walaja is in the area of the area that they consider Israeli territory (the Gush Etzion complex of colonial settlements). Al-Walaja sits even partially on land annexed to Jerusalem, yet its residents are given Greed ID cards like me meaning West Bank Palestinians not allowed into Jerusalem.

We arrive at our destination and are locked up in a metal container.  Two more hours pass by.  Only some time soldiers come in and we talk to them.  In all three we talk to three Arab soldiers including Marzouq and Madi (I nicknamed them M&M of the Israeli occupation army), three Ashkenazis, one Sephardic women who never smiled and seemed out of place, and one Ethiopian.  Some are cold and distant, others argumentative but not knowing much, and yet others slightly more open and listen to what we had to tell them.  I was proud of the Al-Walaja brothers using calm logic to explain: what would you do if some came and uprooted trees that your grandparents planted for you?  How would you react if your source of life and livelihood is taken?  But most of the nearly 40 soldiers and police officers we encountered along the way only uttered few words of orders and refused to engage with us.  To them it seemed like a routine job.  As they hauled us from one place to another, they would be chatting or texting on their mobile phones or joking with each other about things (I really have to take Hebrew classes).

The “investigator” finally arrives.  We are finally allowed to make the call to a lawyer.  The lawyer advises and we follow his advise.  Each individually is taken to see the investigator. We are asked to sign other papers and again we refuse (in Hebrew).  They force us to put our thumb on a separate form that merely has our names, ID numbers etc on it.  Handcuffs are added and mobile phones are taken from us.  As each one is returned to the container, we brief each other.  We wait.  The handcuffs are hurting.  I notice it says on mine ‘Hiatt-Made in England’.  I think to myself this whole mess was made in England (Balfour declaration and all that).  An hour later, we are told they will take us to court and that each of us is to call a relative or friend to bring NIS 2500 (about $750) to the court in Jerusalem to use as bail.  The phones are returned to us to make the calls.  We are then ordered to get on the van to go (we presume to court). But then they change their minds.  We don’t know what is going on.  We are told not to use the mobile phones but we do when we are alone.   My family manages to gather the money and as my wife is on the way nearly an hour later, the lawyer sends a message that we need to wait as they are negotiating with the judge.  Yet another hour. We are then ordered on the van.  They take us to Talpiot police station where they fingerprint and photograph us.  Dragged like criminals with handcuffs in this now rich neighborhood.  Old Jewish woman stares at me on the way out and I wish I am allowed to speak to her to tell her our stories.   On the way in the back of the van, I tell the fellow inmates that this was an Arab neighborhood before the ethnic cleansing of 1948.  Many Arab houses still stand taken over and converted into everything from residential villas to bars.  We go back to the container holding pen.  The handcuffs still hurting.

It was now nearly 5:30 and we were starving (no food and many of us have left home without breakfast and held since about 9 AM).  We had asked for food on occasions.  Finally they bring us some bread, each a slice of cheese and a small packets of jam (I guess because we have been in handcuffs for four hours at least and that is formal arrest).  We devour it quickly and wonder whether this is a sign of us staying longer or that we would be released soon.  Another half an hour and we are dragged (this time together) in front of a new investigator who asked us to sign a release form that says that we are told to stay away from the wall (yes it says the wall on official Israeli documents) for 15 days and if we don’t we will be have to pay each NIS5000 (about $1200).  A friend from Al-Walaja was kind enough to come and cosign to ensure that we will follow the stated orders.

George’s situation was not clear.  They insisted on seeing his passport.  A friend finally brought it after George was threatened with immediate deportation if he did not get the passport.  The lawyer andus tried to persuade them to let him go.  They asked me to translate for him at first that he must reappear at the same place Sunday and we thought they were releasing him with us.  But alas, it was not to be.  I hope he will not be deported anyway (their words are always not to be trusted).

The three of us were released but the soldiers did not give us our ID cards.  In our jubilation at being released, we also had forgotten to ask about them (they had them for the 10 hour ordeal). So I came back with my wife and she was allowed into the checkpoint and an hour later, I had the ID cards.  We had visitors from Jenin staying overnight with us and I was supposed to work with my technologist at the University today.  But here I am way past midnight still writing this note and uploading a video.  Tomorrow (Friday) there will be a demonstration in Al-Masara and  the lettuce festival in Artas and other work to do.  Life goes on in the land of Apartheid.  La luta continua.  Stay tuned.

PS Here is a video of me from last week in the same village of Al-Walaja explaining to soldiers a bit of the reality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGQYz9vz8V8

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
Chairman of the Board
Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People http://www.pcr.ps/
Professor, Bethlehem University
Author, Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle
http://qumsiyeh.org
Phone calls can be made from the US using this US number 937-558-5535
Otherwise dial 011-972-2277-3446 (Note time difference: add 7 hour from EST)

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian