Tag Archive for Gaza

| July 17, 2012
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Christians from Gaza Protest ‘forcible conversions’

Christians from predominantly Muslim Gaza staged a demonstration claiming that two 25-year-old community members, were forcibly converted to Islam

By Associated Press

 

Dozens of Christians in predominantly Muslim Gaza have staged a rare protest, claiming two members of their community were forcibly converted to Islam and are being held against their will.

Gazans celebrate Islamist victory is Egypt Photo: AFP

Gazans celebrate Islamist victory is Egypt – Photo: AFP

Gaza police say the two are staying with a Muslim religious official at their request, because they fear retribution from their families for converting.

Christians are a minority of about 1,500 people in Gaza, a territory with 1.7 million Muslim residents. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| July 16, 2012
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PA Official Found Dead Charged with Selling Land to Jews

A senior Palestinian Authority official who had recently been arrested on suspicion of selling property to ethnic Jews, allegedly committed suicide in Ramallah on Sunday.

by Mahmoud Abu Ghosh

 

Osama Akel Hassan Mansour, 49, was killed when he fell from the third floor of a building that serves as headquarters of the Western-backed PA’s military intelligence force.

Palestinian Authority Crest

A PA security source said that Mansour was arrested on June 19 for involvement in land transactions with Israelis.

The source said that Mansour had been in charge of a department that was created by the PA to prevent Palestinians from selling property to Jews. Continue Reading »

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| July 14, 2012
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Hamas leader says Egypt will protect Gaza from Israeli attack

Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh says that the new Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, will fully open Egypt’s borders with Gaza.

By Reuters

 

The head of the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip said on Friday he was confident Egypt’s new president would shield the Palestinian enclave from Israeli attack and fully open its borders to end a trade blockade.

Mohamed Morsi, who won power in last month’s presidential election in Egypt, is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and ideologically close to Hamas.

The Gazan Islamists long complained that his predecessor Hosni Mubarak, ousted from power last year in a popular revolt, sided not just with Israel, but also with their political rival – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| July 11, 2012
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Gaza presents: ‘Prisoners’ summer camp’

Hamas movement offers children throughout Strip unique chance to experience suffering of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Activities include tour of mock interrogation room, walking on rusty nails

Elior Levy

 

Summer fun – Narrow hallways, interrogation rooms painted black, isolation cells and handcuffed mannequins – this is all part of the setting of a new summer camp operated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Taught about prisoners' suffering Photo: EPA

Taught about prisoners’ suffering – Photo: EPA

The Islamic group has been operating summer camps for children in all cities and refugee camps throughout the Strip. This year, the organizers came up with an original theme – “the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners” – allowing children to experience first hand the daily lives of prisoners held in Israel. Continue Reading »

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| July 9, 2012
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Hamas Destroys Arab Homes on ‘Gov’t Land;’ UN Silent

The headline “Government destroys Arab homes” normally would draw fire from media and the UN, but not if it the government is Hamas.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

The headline “Government destroys Arab homes on ‘government land’” normally would draw fire and brimstone from mainstream media and the United Nations if Israel were the subject, but not if the government is Hamas.

Armed Hamas army in Gaza

Armed Hamas army in Gaza – Reuters

The Hamas regime in Gaza began demolishing several homes on Sunday, according to the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency, closely aligned with the Palestinian Authority.

One resident told the news agency that more than 120 families live in a four-acre area that is now under the threat of destruction although they have been living there since 1948, when Gaza was part of Egypt. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| June 23, 2012
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Arab World: Siege mentality

The Hamas leadership in Gaza has been energized by its expectations that the Muslim Brotherhood will soon be in control in Egypt and sees itself as the vanguard of an anti-Israeli front.

By JONATHAN SPYER

 

This week, the Hamas rulers of Gaza chose to abruptly shatter the fragile framework of assumptions which have governed relations between Israel and Gaza since the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead in early 2009. By taking responsibility for the launch of a barrage of Kassam rockets into the Negev, Hamas essentially announced the birth of a new phase in its long war of attrition with Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| June 23, 2012
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Fayyad: Hamas losing support in Gaza, West Bank

PA PM says Gaza-based group avoiding elections because it is pessimistic about results; condemns Netanyahu over settlements.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Hamas has been avoiding elections because it is pessimistic about their outcome, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in an interview with The Washington Post published Friday.

“It is a well-known fact borne out by various opinion polls that there has been a steady erosion in Hamas’s standing, both in the West Bank and Gaza,” Fayyad said. “I believe that is why they have been dodging elections.”

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad - Photo: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Fayyad said that it was unacceptable that elections have not been held recently in the Palestinian Authority, calling a vote “overdue” and saying that it is “something I believe is going to happen, and I hope sooner rather than later.”

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| June 23, 2012
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The Gaza Strip – Will normality ever return?

The Islamists of Hamas are being squeezed towards pragmatism

from the print edition

 

 

OVERCOMING five years of punishing siege, bombardment and war should be a cause for celebration. But Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that rules the coastal enclave of Gaza, was not cheering the anniversary of its military takeover on June 14th. Its initial pride at imposing internal security, constructing an effective administration and rebuilding Gaza by burrowing tunnels into Egypt is turning to embarrassment. Hamas officials have grown fat on the proceeds. The movement seems increasingly confused and evasive about its political direction.

The Economist

In recent months Hamas has dithered and bickered about whether it should seek reconciliation with Fatah, the secular-minded party that runs the bigger bit of the would-be Palestinian state on the West Bank, or preserve its near-monopoly on power in the isolated Gaza Strip.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| June 18, 2012
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IDF tanks move closer to Egypt border

 Military issues unusual order, deploys Armored force closer to border following terror attack on civilian crews building fence

By Yoav Zitun

 

 

The IDF has deployed Armored forces near the Israel-Egypt border, moving tanks closer to the fence, Ynet has learned. The unusual move followed Monday’s terror attack on defense contractor crews building the new security fence.

The attack claimed the life of Said Phashpashe, 36, from Haifa. Golani soldiers who were scrambled to the area killed two terrorists.

Ynet was able to document the presence of Israeli tanks in close proximity to the border – maneuvers which are barred by Jerusalem’s peace treaty with Cairo. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| June 15, 2012
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PMW’s ‘Puppet Show’ Report Shuts Down PA Website

APalestinian Media Watch (PMW) report on a PA puppet show encouraging children to replace cigarettes with guns led to one PA website shutdown and a probe of an NGO.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

One non-governmental organization website has been shut down, and a second NGO is under investigation by funding agency “Save the Children UK” following an article published by Arutz Sheva quoting a report by media watchdog agency the Palestinian Media Watch.

כל אחד רוצה להיות שאהיד. ילדים במסיבת הסיום

'Until I die as a shahid.' Gaza kids during party

Earlier this week, the PMW had reported on two Palestinian Authority NGOs that were spreading hate speech and promoting violence against Jews and Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| June 15, 2012
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Violence erupts on Gaza border

Palestinian snipers open fire at farmers near Gaza fence, open fire at firefighters extinguishing blaze.

 

 

IDF troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Thursday night.

A Palestinian sniper in southern Gaza fired at a tractor traveling on a road in Kibbutz Nir Oz close to the border fence. The driver of the tractor was not injured, but the sniper’s fire shattered the vehicle’s windshield.

Palestinian terrorists fire a mortar shell in Gaza - Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters
Palestinian terrorists fire a mortar shell in Gaza – Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

IDF soldiers arrived at the scene, evacuating the man to safety.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| June 14, 2012
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Jihad: Rabbis teach racism to Israeli kids

Top Islamic Jihad operative accuses rabbis of treating Palestinians like ‘snakes, bugs,’ says Palestinians have right to teach about ‘thieving Israeli enemy’

Elior Levy

 

 

A top Islamic Jihad operative on Wednesday accused Israeli rabbis of teaching hatred and racist values to children, a statement made in response to a recent report that Gaza kindergartens indoctrinate students into becoming terrorists.

Palestinian boy dressed as IDF soldier

Palestinian boy dressed as IDF soldier

“(Rabbis) treat Palestinian children and women as if they were snakes and bugs,” Khader Habib, a leader of the Gaza group told Ynet. “They don’t see them as normal people.”

Photographs released earlier this week showed a graduation ceremony celebrated at a Gaza preschool, during which the children donned army uniforms, carried rifles and staged scenes of torture purportedly inflicted on Palestinian prisoners by Israeli troops. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| June 14, 2012
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Int’l Aid Groups Blame Israel That Gaza Water Unfit to Drink

Two international aid organizations claim that Gaza’s water is unfit to drink, but they blame Israel for the problem.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

 

Two international aid organizations claim that Gaza’s water is unfit to drink. But instead of blaming the Hamas terrorist rulers who have maintained a choke hold on the region since June 2007, the groups claim Israel is responsible for the contamination.

The “Save the Children” foundation and “Medical Aid for Palestinians” charity insist that Israel’s blockade of Gaza prevents “crucial sanitation equipment from getting in,” the BBC reported Thursday. “The blockade must be lifted ‘in its entirety,’” wrote the BBC, quoting a report by the charities, “Gaza’s Children: Falling Behind.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| June 14, 2012
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Gaza sniper fires at farmer near border fence

Farmer working in field in Eshkol Regional Council area hides behind tractor until IDF soldiers arrive to evacuate him.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

A Palestinian sniper in the southern Gaza Strip fired at an Israeli farmer working in a field near Kibbutz Nir Oz in the Eshkol Regional Council area on Thursday.

 

IDF soldiers near the Gaza border
Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

 

The man was not injured, hiding behind a tractor until IDF soldiers arrived and evacuated him to safety. IDF soldiers returned fire toward the Palestinian sniper.

The tractor’s  windshield was shattered by the Palestinian sniper’s fire.

Last month, a palestinian snipper in the central-Gaza area shot and wounded two IDF soldiers.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| June 12, 2012
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Gaza kindergartners want to ‘blow up Zionists’

Kids at Islamic Jihad kindergarten celebrate end of year by demonstrating how Palestinian prisoners are ‘tortured’ in Israel. Teacher: We educate them to love resistance, Palestine

By Elior Levy

 

 

Children attending a kindergarten in Gaza that is run by Islamic Jihad celebrated their graduation by dressing up in army attire, waving toy rifles and chanting anti-Israel slogans.

“It is our obligation to educate the children to love the resistance, Palestine and Jerusalem, so they will recognize the importance of Palestine and who its enemy is,” the kindergarten’s director said.

 

מדמים חייל שמטביע עצור פלסטיני

'Palestinian prisoner tortured.'

 

The children were dressed up in uniforms of Jihad’s armed-wing, the al-Quds Brigades, and each of them received a toy rifle. Continue Reading »

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