Israel extends curfew in Palestinian town
7/7/08
Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades on Monday to stifle protests against the West Bank barrier, declared illegal by the World Court four years ago this week. The army kept a curfew on the Palestinian town of Nilin for the fourth day, using force to keep a small group of protesters and journalists from approaching the cordoned-off town of 5,000. Ayman Nafi, the blockaded town’s mayor, said vegetables, dairy products and some medicines were in short supply and the local pharmacy had not been allowed to open. “They want to send a message: Resisting the construction of the wall will inflict suffering and damage upon you,” Nafi told Reuters by telephone. “Their policy will increase our determination to prevent them from erecting this racist wall.” The army imposed a curfew on Nilin, which lies in the West Bank some 20km east of Tel Aviv, on Friday after violence erupted during protests at a barrier construction site. An army spokesman said eight security personnel and two workers were hurt in protests in the area over the past month.
See: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=9164
Curfew in West Bank town of Nilin lifted; 8/7/08; http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10227111.html
Holy Land lost
James J. Zogby; 7/7/08
The very words “Holy Land” evoke powerful images. But the pictures that come to mind are rapidly disappearing from the landscape.The occupation of the West Bank, once a military and political reality that dominated the lives of Palestinians, has become concretised with massive housing projects connected by ribbons of highways; a wall and barbed wire barrier wending its way from north to south, cutting through villages, encapsulating others; and hundreds of checkpoints - all overtaking and transforming the once open terrain. Raja Shehadeh has described all this in vivid detail in his most recent book, “Palestinian Walks: Forays Into a Vanishing Landscape”.
See: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=9153
Syria should be wary of Israel’s overtures
Linda S. Heard; 7/7/08
An amicable relationship between neighbours has to be better than simmering enmity threatening to explode into bloodshed. So news that Turkey is attempting to broker a detente between Damascus and Tel Aviv allegedly at Israel’s behest is good news. Right? Not necessarily. For one thing any diehard sceptic who sniffs the air long enough will quickly realise there’s a stench around the timing. One must surely wonder why Israel is so keen to reel in Syria when for decades of successive governments have shown little appetite for exchanging the occupied Golan Heights for peace.
See: http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10226915.html
Israel to open Gaza border passages
7/7/08
Israel has agreed to an unusual request from Egypt to reopen border crossings with Gaza, officials say. The passages, which were closed after a mortar shell was fired on Monday, are expected to open around midday on Tuesday, Israeli military officials said. Egypt’s request appeared to be an attempt to prod forward a three-week-old cease-fire between Israel and Hamas-led Gaza. The truce was designed in part to ease Israel’s crushing blockade of the coastal strip.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/07/ 20087895858642878.html
EU, Blair: Checkpoints, Gaza blockade hindering Palestinian aid effort
The European Union, Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair and France on Tuesday criticized Israel’s checkpoints in the West Bank and blockade of Gaza as preventing an economic recovery there and limiting the impact of international aid. An international donors’ conference in December pledged more than $7 billion in aid to the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to try to reinforce its authority as it tries to negotiate a peace deal with Israel in U.S.-backed talks. After a regular follow-up meeting on Monday to monitor the aid effort, Blair, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the international effort’s impact would be limited if Israel’s roadblocks remained in place.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1000197.html
Tags: Egypt, Europe, Holy Land?, Israel, Syria, Terrorism, USA