Tag Archive for Palestinians

| June 17, 2014
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IDF arrests 41 Palestinians in last-night’s West Bank raids

Monday night IDF ground forces arrested 41 Palestinians in Hebron & Jenin area as the search for 3 kidnapped teenagers continued.

In Gaza, Israel Air Force bombed 4 strategic terrorist sites in response to yesterdays rocket attacks.

 

The Israel Defense Forces arrested 41 Palestinians overnight Monday in the West Bank, as the search for three kidnapped teenagers continued. Approximately half of the arrests took place in the Nablus region.

idf search

Israeli Defense Forces raiding Hebron and Jenin – Screenshot: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

The operation involved about 1,000 soldiers from the Nahal infantry brigade, who raided, among other locations, the Balata refugee camp and the nearby town of Awarta. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| June 13, 2014
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Hijab ban causes protests at East Jerusalem’s Christian schools

Christian schools’ refusal to allow its Muslim  students wear a hijab on school grounds has begun to test the institutions’ famed openness.

 

The church-run schools in East Jerusalem are considered the best schools in that part of the city — some would say in the entire city. Their Christian administrators are proud of the religious tolerance and openness that typifies their institutions, where a majority of the students are Muslim.

Women have made the hijab into a symbol of Islamic feminism and empowerment.

Women have made the hijab into a symbol of Islamic feminism and empowerment. – Photo: Reuters

But in recent years, these schools’ adamant refusal to let female students wear a hijab on school grounds has threatened to disrupt this openness.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| June 9, 2014
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Israel seeks dismantling of Hamas military arm forces with PA’s return to Gaza

 

Israel launched diplomatic campaign last week in effort to pressure Abbas to assert PA control over Gaza, following his formation of a Hamas-Fatah unity government .

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Israel launched an international diplomatic campaign last week aimed at putting pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the new Palestinian government to assert its control over the Gaza Strip and take security responsibility for what happens there.

Palestinian unity government

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah (6th L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (5th L) with ministers at the unity government’s swearing-in ceremony, Ramallah, West Bank, June 2, 2014.- Photo: Reuters

On Thursday, June 5, the Foreign Ministry issued an order to Israel’s diplomatic missions worldwide, regarding diplomatic activity following the wave of international recognition for the new Palestinian unity government.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , ,
| June 1, 2014
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Palestinians: Israel Threatens to Sever Ties With Hamas-Fatah Unity Gov’t

 

According to PA official at President Mahmoud Abbas’ office, only security related matters will continue when Hamas sworn in with Fatah government.

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Israel has informed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas directly that all contact with the Palestinian Authority will be severed the moment the new Palestinian unity government is sworn in, a senior figure in the Palestinian president’s office has told Haaretz.

Abbas, Hamdallah, Ramallah, May 29, 2014

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (R) meeting with Palestinian premier Rami Hamdallah to hand over an agreement for Hamdallah to head the unity government, Ramallah, May 29, 2014 – Photo: AFP

Despite the warning, Abbas has confirmed that the cabinet will be sworn in Monday at the Muqata government compound in Ramallah.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| May 18, 2014
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Former Palestinian Intelligence Chief: Only solution now is single Palestinian state

The ex-chief of Palestinian intelligence Tawfik Tirawi suggests the president of Palestine will be a Palestinian Muslim & the vice president can be a Palestinian Jew, adding that those are just details.

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Israel ruined the two-state solution, says Tawfik Tirawi, who headed the Palestinian General Intelligence Service for 14 years.

Tawfik Tirawi, chief Palestinian investigator into the 2004 death of Yasser Arafat

Tawfik Tirawi – Photo: AP

Tirawi does not miss being the head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service in the West Bank (from 1994 until late 2008). He says he prefers not issuing orders and instructions. The only orders that bind him, he says, are the feelings and desires of the Palestinian people. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| May 9, 2014
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Danish Lawmaker Demands Palestine Participation at Anual Eurovision Song Contest

 

Citing IDF’s mistreatment of Palestinians, Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen says having Palestine invited to song contest would send strong message to Israel.

By Gil Naveh

 

Every year, and this year’s event in Copenhagen is no exception, geopolitics play out in some way at the Eurovision Song Contest. This time, it’s the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, a member of the Danish parliament, attacked the organizers of the competition at the opening ceremony for not inviting the Palestinian Authority to participate even though Israel is, Turkish newspaper the Daily Sabah reported.

Suzy representing Portugal performs during the first semi-final at Eurovision, 2014.

Suzy representing Portugal performs during the first semi-final at Eurovision, 2014.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| April 24, 2014
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Analysis – Abbas sends message to US & Israel: ‘Meet my demands, or else…’

 

Just a week before the Israel-PA peace talks deadline of April 29, PA president Abbas has clearly tried every possible maneuver to exert pressure on the US & Israel to get what he wants.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
 

 

Wednesday’s “historic” agreement between Hamas and Fatah should be seen in the context of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s efforts to send a message to Israel and the US concerning the crisis in the peace talks.

Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh - Photo: REUTERS

Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh – Photo: REUTERS

Abbas’s message: Look what I’m capable of doing if you don’t comply with my demands.

The timing of the Fatah-Hamas accord is not coincidental. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , , ,
| April 22, 2014
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US to Abbas: Dissolving the PA may end financial assistance

 

State Department spokeswoman Psaki warns Abbas that ‘dissolving the PA is not in interest of Palestinians’ and his proposal would have implications for US relations & US aid.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

WASHINGTON – The US administration warned the Palestinian leadership Monday night not to proceed with a proposal to dismantle the Palestinian Authority – or risk damaging their ties to Washington.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki (Photo: AFP)

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki – Photo: AFP

“Those kinds of extreme measures would have grave implications,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. The harsh American threat to the PA followed Yedioth Ahronoth’s report that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was considering shuttering the PA’s government if the peace process did not yield results. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| April 13, 2014
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Liberman: 3rd time Palestinians derail impending agreement at last minute

 

Foreign Minister Liberman points out Palestinian request to join 15 int’l treaties to Arafat’s sneaking out at Camp David in 2002 (during Ehud Barak’s term) and Abbas not signing deal at Annapolis Conference in 2008 (during Ehud Olmert’s term).

By HERB KEINON
 

 

The Palestinians are repeating a pattern they have demonstrated in the past of getting cold feet at the last minute before an agreement is about to be signed, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman told foreign ambassadors on Sunday.

Avigdor Lieberman.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman – Photo: Olivier Fitoussi

“What happened last week, is that we were very close to accomplish the package deal with the Palestinians,” Liberman said, referring to the deal on the table — that included the US release of Jonathan Pollard — that was designed to keep the negotiations going past the April 29 deadline. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| April 12, 2014
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So, What’s the latest Palestinian joke?…Check it out!

Jewish & Palestinian humor are similar according to a psychology professor, because both cultures are defined by hardship & struggle, and they turn to humor as a psychological salve.

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Two Americans, a journalist and a psychology professor, set out in search of humor in the West Bank – and they found it, according to the Washington Post.

Adi Khalefa

Comedian Adi Khalefa. – Photo: Screenshot

“Everyone thought we were crazy when we said we were going to the Palestinian territories in search of comedy,” wrote Joel Warner and Peter McGraw. “You mean the war-torn region that’s been under Israeli occupation for decades? Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags:
| April 11, 2014
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Fleeing Palestinians from Syria seek refugee status in Thailand

 

A year after hundreds of Palestinians fled Syria for Thailand, the UNHCR has yet to grant refugee status. Too busy investigating Israel, perhaps?

By DPA

 

 

Dozens of Palestinians stranded in Thailand after fleeing war-torn Syria a year ago on Thursday petitioned the United Nations to speed up the process of granting them refugee status.

Civilians clean a street from rubble of damaged buildings at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk

Civilians clean a street from rubble of damaged buildings at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, south of Damascus, February 12, 2014. – Photo: Reuters

The Palestinian petitioners, most of them children, gathered outside the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok in a bid to draw attention to their increasingly desperate plight in the kingdom.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| April 8, 2014
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Palestinian Ambassador in Prague likely killed by book-bomb

 

In contradiction to initial Palestinian claims, evidence suggests plastic explosive laden book caused blast that killed PA envoy in January.

By Reuters

 

The Palestinian ambassador to Prague who died in a blast in January was most likely killed by a decades-old charge of Semtex plastic explosive concealed in a book, a newspaper reported on Tuesday citing a police investigator.

Jamal al-Jamal - Photo: Michal Krumphanzl/AP

Jamal al-Jamal – Photo: Michal Krumphanzl/AP

Police had decided Jamal al-Jamal was not assassinated, but had simply unwittingly opening a book booby-trapped years earlier, the source told daily newspaper Mlada Fronta Dnes.

“It was an unfortunate accident. The ambassador was a thorough man who wanted to put some old things in order, and among them there were two books with explosives,” the paper quoted the source as saying. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , ,
| April 7, 2014
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Anonymous cyber-warriors attack Israeli websites

 

One year after its last major cyber attack on Israel, AnonymousOpIsrael goes after Israeli websites again.

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Exactly one year after its last major cyber attack, AnonymousOpIsrael hacked Israeli websites on Monday.

Cyber attack

Members of ‘team Red’ work on laptop computers during a mock cyberattack scenario with teams of amateur computer experts taking part and trying to fight this simulated attack in London, Friday, March, – Photo: AP

The pro-Palestinian “hacktivist’ collective broke into the Education Ministry’s website, as well as the websites of the Israel Postal Service and the Central Bureau of Statistics, Ynet reported.

Anonymous struck first in November 2012 after Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense assault on Gaza, and again on April 7, 2013.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| April 3, 2014
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IDF Aids Palestinian Traffic Accident Victims Until Red Crescent Arrives

 

Israel’s soldiers regularly go out of their way to help Palestinians, but unfortunately, the media often portrays them as heartless oppressors.

By Israel Today Staff

 

The Israeli army is regularly painted as a heartless oppressor of Palestinian Arabs. But the reality on the ground more often then not simply does not support that view.

Israeli Army and Red Cresent Helps Palestinian Traffic Accident Victims Together

Cpt. Yamin’s team and Red Crescent Helps Palestinian Traffic Accident Victims – Photo courtesy: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

For instance, on Tuesday a Palestinian minibus was involved in a traffic accident in central Judea (the southern part of the so-called “West Bank”). Israeli army forces stationed in the area were notified, and did not hesitate to dispatch a medical team to the scene. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| April 3, 2014
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Palestinian Authority negotiating deal to pay Israel its electricity bill

Negotiations with the Palestinians over its ballooning debt to the Israel Electric Corp are making process, even as peace negotiations unravel.

By Avi Bar-Eli

 

 

Even as United States-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians unravel, quiet negotiations over 1.4 billion shekels ($402 million) in unpaid electricity bills owed by the Palestinians are making progress.

A camel

The Israel Electric Corporation provides the Palestinians about 7% of its total production via high-voltage electricity lines. – Photo: Reuters

The debt, which has been run up by the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to pay the Israel Electric Corporation for power supplied in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, has almost doubled in the past year.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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