Tag Archive for hamas

| April 20, 2012
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UN Rights Office: Hamas Executions ‘Unlawful’

Hamas has violated the rights of three executed men, as well as PA law, human rights officials say.

The UN human rights office on Friday charged that three men sentenced to death in Hamas-run Gaza were executed unlawfully.

Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights -Photo Reuters

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s spokesman, Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva that the death sentences carried out by hanging on April 7 weren’t approved by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as required by law.
He also said the men didn’t have regular access to lawyers and were tried by a military court despite being civilians.
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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| April 20, 2012
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Senior Hamas official: No Israel-PA deal will be permanent

Moussa Abu Marzouk’s statements reflect a harder line than the stance of the group’s political leader, Khaled Meshal,

 

Any agreement the Palestinian Authority might reach with Israel would be subject to significant changes, a senior Hamas official has told the American newspaper The Forward.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, left, shaking hands with the imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, left, shaking hands with the imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque, on a recent visit to Egypt - Photo by AP

Moussa Abu Marzouk said in an interview to be published next Friday that if Hamas came to power, any treaty would be an interim truce, a hudna, not a permanent accord. This would be the case even if a referendum ratified the deal.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| April 7, 2012
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World Bank to donate $55 m. to West Bank, Gaza

Money transfer will “continue to focus on strengthening the institutions of a future Palestinian state,” organization says.

 

The World Bank will donate $55 million to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the international organization announced Friday.

“The Bank’s support will continue to focus on strengthening the institutions of a future Palestinian state,” the organizations stated.

World Bank building entrance

World Bank building entrance- By Wikimedia Commons

The $55 million will be transferred to the Trust Fund for Gaza and the West Bank, pending approval from the Board of Governors. It will be invested in promoting private-sector growth and strengthening public institutions, in line with the Palestinian National Development Plan for 2011-2013, the Bank stated.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| April 7, 2012
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Hamas executes 3 in Gaza, including Israel ‘collaborator’

Islamist group Hamas executed three men on Saturday, hanging two convicted murderers and a Gazan found guilty of collaborating with Israel, the Hamas-run ministry of interior said.

Khaled Meshal

Khaled Meshal - Photo by: AP

It did not name the men and gave few details of the allegations against them, but said one of trio was convicted of kidnapping a boy, raping him and then killing him.

It denounced the man who helped Israel as a “traitor.”

The ministry said in a statement the families of the murder victims had refused to offer an amnesty to the killers.

The executions were carried out “in accordance with our religion, rulings of the Palestinian law and in preserving the rights of citizens and achieving the security of the community”, the statement said. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| April 4, 2012
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PA, Hamas reach deal to end power crisis in Gaza

Israeli firm to supply Gaza with fuel; Palestinian Authority to act as middleman for Hamas’ bill payments

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas government and the rival Palestinian Authority (PA) agreed to an Egyptian-brokered deal on Tuesday to end a fuel crisis that has caused daily power cuts in the territory, officials said.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas Photo: EPA

PA President Mahmoud Abbas - Photo: EPA

Under the agreement, an Israeli company will supply industrial diesel for the Gaza Strip’s only power plant and a temporary mechanism will be put in place whereby Hamas can pay the bill without dealing directly with its enemy, Israel.

“The Hamas authorities in Gaza will pay the money … to the PA and the PA will take care of the payment to the Israeli side,” said the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the deal. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 31, 2012
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Report: Iran Supplying Weapons to Gaza, but Not to Hamas

Iran is still supplying weapons to Gaza, but they are intended for groups other than Hamas, according to the Israel Defense website.

The affair between the Hamas terror group and Iran may be over, but the Islamic Republic is still supplying weapons to Gaza, according to Amir Rapaport of the Israel Defense website.

In a report Friday, Rapaport noted that the root of the conflict between the terror group and Iran lies with Syria.

“Iran and Hamas reached a point of conflict following Hamas’ unwillingness to support Bashar al-Assad’s actions against his own people,” wrote Rapaport, also noting how Hamas has even begun to fold in on itself in Syria. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 27, 2012
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Report: Hamas holds dozens of drivers in Gaza power crisis

Dozens of taxi drivers apprehended for allegedly spreading ‘rumors’ about the territory’s worst power crisis in years, officials say.

Police in Hamas-ruled Gaza have detained dozens of taxi drivers for allegedly spreading “rumors” about the territory’s worst power crisis in years, officials said Monday.

The detentions, which began over the weekend, signaled that the Islamic
militant Hamas is increasingly concerned about the political fallout from
crippling shortages of fuel and electricity.

Authorities did not explain what got the drivers in trouble, beyond saying
the “rumors” had to do with the energy crisis.

However, residents say there’s growing talk among Gazans that Hamas is
keeping separate supplies of fuel for its government and loyalists, a claim
Hamas denies.

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| March 26, 2012
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Poll: Gazans Blame Hamas, Not Israel for Fuel Crisis

Poll conducted among PA Arabs finds that most blame Hamas for Gaza fuel crisis. Abbas enjoying increased popularity.

A recent poll conducted among Palestinian Authority Arabs has found that a majority of residents of Hamas-controlled Gaza blame their leaders, not Israel, for the fuel crisis in the region.

The poll, which was conducted by Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD), was released on Saturday.

When asked ‘Who do you blame the most for the fuel crisis in Gaza?’ 48.4 percent of respondents said Hamas and its government in Gaza were responsible for the crisis. 21.1 percent blamed Israel, which last week transferred diesel to Gaza, and 11.6 percent said the PA leadership under Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was responsible. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 26, 2012
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AP Retracts Story Because of Hamas Lie

 

In yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream, I noted an AP dispatch (subsequently updated) reporting the first Palestinian fatality attributed to the Gaza crisis.

A five-month old baby, said the wire service, died when the generator running Mohammed Helou’s respirator, ran out of fuel.

Who wouldn’t be moved by such a tragedy?

Turns out the story was based on a lie. AP issued this retraction (via our colleagues at CAMERA) explaining:

The timing and reason for the death were confirmed to the AP by a man identified as the baby’s father and a Gaza health official, but the report has been called into question after it was learned that a local newspaper carried news of the baby’s death on March 4.
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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| March 25, 2012
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‘Hamas, Hezbollah helping Iran in Yemen’

US envoy to Sanaa tells ‘al-Hayat’ that Washington believes Tehran working with Shi’ite Muslim rebels in northern Yemen.

 

Washington believes that Hezbollah and Hamas are helping their backers in Iran to expand its influence in Yemen at the expense of Yemen’s Gulf neighbors, the US envoy to Sanaa told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

In a London interview, Gerald Feierstein was quoted as accusing Hezbollah and Hamas of helping their backers in Shi’ite Iran at the expense of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a bloc in which Sunni-led oil giant Saudi Arabia’s influence is dominant.
Iran is working with Shi’ite Muslim rebels in northern Yemen and secessionists in the country’s south to expand its influence, Feierstein said.

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| March 25, 2012
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Hamas: PA using Gaza fuel crisis to incite

PA denies charges that West Bank leadership had asked the Egyptians to cut off fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip.

 

The Palestinian Authority is exploiting the severe fuel crisis in the Gaza Strip to incite Palestinians against Hamas, the Islamist movement charged Saturday.

The allegation is a sign of renewed tensions between the two Palestinian parties in light of their failure to implement the recent Qatari-brokered reconciliation agreement that was signed between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.

The fuel crisis has forced the only power plant in the Gaza Strip to cut off electricity for several hours every day. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 23, 2012
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Fuel crosses from Israel to ease Gaza fuel crisis

Delivery of around 450,000 liters of diesel is the first to Gaza’s only power station coming via Israel in almost a year, due to Hamas resistance; energy crisis triggered by Hamas-Egypt dispute.

 

Israel allowed nine fuel tankers to cross into the Gaza Strip on Friday to ease a severe power shortage triggered by a dispute over supplies between Egypt and Hamas.

Electric Powerlines [file]
The delivery of around 450,000 liters of industrial diesel was the first to Gaza’s only power station coming via Israel in almost a year after Hamas softened on its resistance to accepting supplies from its Jewish neighbor.
The fuel is enough to power the plant, which serves two thirds of Gaza’s population, for one day, an official from Gaza’s energy authority said.
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Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 23, 2012
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Israel to Transfer Diesel to Gaza

Gaza energy crisis over? Israel to transfer 450 thousand liters of industrial diesel for the Gaza power station.

 

Israel will transfer 450 thousand liters of industrial diesel to Gaza on Friday for the Gaza power station.

The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah has reportedly purchased the fuel from the Israeli Dor Alon company and it will enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. The Coordinator of Government Activities in Yesha, Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, has agreed to open the crossing on Friday, when it is normally closed, for the purpose of transferring the diesel.

The shortage of fuel in Gaza caused a power crisis that triggered lengthy blackouts in Hamas-run Gaza last month. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 21, 2012
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‘Real relief for Gaza energy crisis within 5 months’

Egypt envoy to Palestinian territories downplays tensions between Hamas, Cairo, says “our relations are strong.”

 

Egyptian Ambassador to the Palestinian territories Yasser Othman said Wednesday that the Gaza Strip will be connected to Egypt’s power grid within four to five months in a development that will alleviate an energy crisis that has plagued the Strip for the last three months.

Speaking with Saudi Arabian newspaper Al-Sharq, Othman said that Egypt and Gaza would begin work on connecting their power grids within the next few weeks.

“This will lead to a real relief for the deepening crisis in the Gaza Strip,” Othman said. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 21, 2012
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Hamas Blockades Itself

Hamas has refused to accept fuel from Israel and now is coping with a deepening economic crisis by offering free lifts to workers.

Hamas has refused to accept fuel from Israel and now is coping with a deepening economic crisis by offering free lifts to workers.

The de facto Hamas government in Gaza ordered civil servants to offer rides to people during daytime work hours in order to survive the self-imposed lack of fuel.

In addition, Hamas cut in half the fuel allowances for its 1,800 official cars, according to the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency.

Hamas ministers said the lack of fuel is due to the alleged Israeli blockade, which has in effect been lifted on all materials not used for terrorist activities, but the local administration has refused Israel’s offers to continue fuel shipments. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
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