30/4/09; (3 Items)
A Palestinian man has been sentenced to death by hanging for selling land in the West Bank to Israelis. Prosecutors at the Palestinian court in Hebron said on Wednesday the man had sold land that did not belong to him in the village of Beit Omar, a move regarded as treason by the Palestinian Authority. Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the West Bank, said: “The reason why this transaction is considered an act of treason is because it is being sold to Israeli settlers who are literally taking up Palestinian land that does not belong to them. “They are settling in the West Bank against international law, and in effect, undermining Palestinian aspirations for statehood.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/04/2009429105147715724.html
For the sake of Gaza’s ‘desperate 1.5 million citizens’
Michael Jansen;30/4/09
During his first 100 days in office, US President Barack Obama has demonstrated that his administration is determined to break out of long-set policies followed by previous administrations. He took on Republican laisser-faire conservatives by boosting government intervention in the US financial sector and the economy. He set a timetable for withdrawing US forces from Iraq. He called for the reduction of nuclear weapons stockpiles and ordered the Pentagon to stop buying inappropriate weapons and equipment. He sacked the head of General Motors and set conditions for bailout payments to the failing US car industry. He overturned George W. Bush’s ban on public funding for stem cell research and called for “green” policies to reduce global warming. He prohibited torture and abuse of prisoners and pledged to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention centre. He eased the US boycott and embargo on Cuba. He proposed dialogue to Iran, shunned by the US since 1979. He is trying to improve US relations with Europe, Latin America, and the Muslim and Arab worlds. His initiatives are both fresh and driven by necessity. He cannot carry on with either domestic or foreign policies followed by the disastrous Bush administration, which produced the global economic meltdown as well as deep antagonism towards the US and its citizens.
See: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=16277
Arab Israelis march for right of return
30/4/09
As Israel celebrated its 61st anniversary, some 2,000 people demonstrated on Wednesday for Arab-Israelis’ right of return to the lands from which they were chased in 1948. The protest took place on the site of Al Kafrayn, an Arab village among the more than 500 that were razed by Israeli forces at the time of the creation of the Jewish state in 1948 on the Palestinian land. Waving Palestinian flags and banners proclaiming “Right of Return”, the demonstrators marched through a small pine forest and the ruins of the village that was torn to the ground on April 19, 1948. Some of the families who were forced to abandon their homes at the time.
See: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=16293
Tags: Capital Punishment, Human Rights, Israel, USA