NOVANEWS
Dear All,
The 4 items below begin with what we learned yesterday: the Palestinian 20 year old killed by IOF soldiers yesterday at a checkpoint was unarmed. What I was not aware of is that not one but three soldiers participated in the act! As if one was insufficient to kill!
The 2nd item reports that the unification law has been extended another 6 months, meaning that unlike Jews who may wed whomever they want and live with them, Palestinian citizens are not allowed to wed Palestinians of the West Bank or Gaza and live with them in Israel! Democracy? No indeed.
The 3rd item is a revelation from Wikileaks. I usually refrain from passing on info from Wikileaks, but Israeli newspapers have a couple of weeks ago published the Israeli Chief of Staff’s (Gabi Ashkenazi’s) opinion that it’s not if but when the next attack on Gaza will be. So here it is. Keeping Israelis fearful of the next war helps keep them toeing the line. I really don’t want another war, more dead, more injured, more house-less, especially in Gaza and Lebanon. But one thing is certain. If there is another war with missiles flying all over Israel, many Israelis will hoof it for safer climes.
The 4th item was forwarded to me. It is an interesting opinion piece. I wish that I were as convinced as the author that change is around the corner. May he be right.
All the best,
Dorothy
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1. Ynet,
January 03, 2011
IDF: Palestinian killed at checkpoint was unarmed
Soldier who fired at Palestinian man says he acted suspiciously, but inquiry into incident yields uncertainty as army discovers two other soldiers fired despite not being in danger. ‘We must take all measures to avoid pulling trigger,’ IDF source says
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4008043,00.html
Hanan Greenberg
An IDF soldier guarding the West Bank checkpoint of Bekaot shot and killed a Palestinian man despite observing that he was unarmed, an initial investigation of Sunday’s incident showed.
It appears that eight bullets were fired at the 20-year-old Tubas resident, Mohammad Dragma, when more soldiers rushed to help the first soldier in the shooting.
The Habikaa Bridgade, headed by Colonel Yohai Ben Yishai, was appointed to investigate the incident. The Duchifat Battalion, which was securing the northern Jordan Valley area, was debriefed, but questions surrounding the event continued to mount.
Dragma reportedly acted suspiciously when he bypassed the line of people waiting at the checkpoint and arrived at a spot that was closed for traffic; he did not respond when the soldiers ordered him to stop. Even after being shot in the leg, he did not lie down as he was ordered.
Soldier shot at debilitated Palestinian
The initial inquiry also shows that the first soldier that reached Dragma saw that he was not carrying a gun, but only glass bottle. Regardless of this observation the soldier chose to shoot at the man’s upper body. During the questioning the soldier said that he felt his life was in danger when he decided to fire his weapon. Two of his battalion companions, who joined him in the shooting, admitted that they were not in the danger zone, but just wished to aid their friend.
Several violent events have taken place at the Bekaot checkpoint in recent months, mainly attempted smuggling of explosives. However, IDF officials acknowledge that the tension warrants the soldiers to be especially careful to distinguish between real danger and a false alarm, based on a suspect’s behavior, his distance and the items he is carrying.
“Even a stone can be a lethal weapon if it is pelted from a short distance, but obviously if a Palestinian is located a few dozen meters away and the danger is not real, every other measure should be taken to avoid pulling the trigger,” one official said.
The investigation is expected to be completed within a few days, and its findings are to be presented to the 162nd Division commander, Brigadier General Agai Yehezkel, and Central Command Chief Major-General Avi Mizrahi.
===============================
2, Maan News Agency
Published today 23:18
https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/01/02/maan-news-agency-israel-extends-family-reunification-ban/
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel on Sunday extended for six months a ban preventing Palestinians married to Israelis immigrating to the state, the premier’s office said in a statement.
“The ministerial committee for security affairs decided tonight [Sunday] to extend for six months a text on family unification, which expired December 31,” said a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
That extension until June 30 denies Palestinians the right to acquire Israeli citizenship or resident status through marriage.
The so-called Family Unification provision has been the subject of an outcry from leftist movements and groups representing the country’s Palestinian minority, who charge the ban is “inhumane” and “racist.”
The ministerial committee also asked the justice minister “to work towards early finalisation of a law on family unification, which will meet the national security and long-term interests of the government of Israel,” the statement added.
The Israeli government is concerned that uncontrolled immigration could slowly erode the state’s Jewish identity.
Palestinians in Israel currently number some 1.4 million, or 20 percent of the population.
Maan News Agency: Israel extends family reunification ban.
======================
3. Wikileaks: Israel Plans Total War on Lebanon, Gaza
by Juan Cole
Informed Comment
01/02/2011
http://www.juancole.com/
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has summarized an
Israeli military briefing by Israeli Chief of Staff Gen.
Gabi Ashkenazi of a US congressional delegation a little
over a year ago and concludes that
` The memo on the talks between Ashkenazi and
[Congressman Ike] Skelton, as well as numerous other
documents from the same period of time, to which
Aftenposten has gained access, leave a clear
message: The Israeli military is forging ahead at
full speed with preparations for a new war in the
Middle East.
The paper says that US cables quote Ashkenazi telling
the US congressmen, “I’m preparing the Israeli army for
a major war, since it is easier to scale down to a
smaller operation than to do the opposite.”
The general’s plans are driven by fear of growing
stockpiles of rockets in Hamas-controlled Gaza and in
Hizbullah-controlled Southern Lebanon, the likely
theaters of the planned major new war. Ashkenazi does
not seem capable of considering that, given a number of
Israeli invasions and occupations of those regions, the
rockets may be primarily defensive.
Ashkenazi told the visiting delegation that Israeli
unmanned drones had had great success in identifying
rocket emplacements in southern Lebanon, and that it had
been aided in this endeavor by the US National Security
Agency,which spies on communications.
The new, major war will be a total war on civilians,
Ashkenazi boasted: “In the next war Israel cannot accept
any restrictions on warfare in urban areas.” (I den
neste krigen kan Israel ikke godta noen restriksjoner på
krigforing i byområder in Norwegian, or let us just
translate it into the original German: In den nächsten
Krieg, den Israel kann keine Beschränkungen
Kriegsführung in städtischen Gebieten.) Mind you, the
civilian deaths deriving from this massive and
unrestricted bombing campaign on targets in the midst of
civilian urban populations will be “unintentional.”
Planning to bomb civilian areas with foreknowledge that
you will thereby kill large numbers of civilians is a
war crime.
Ashkenazi also admitted to then Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand
(D-NY) that Hamas is not in control of even more radical
groups, which had infiltrated cells into Hamas itself,
and which had rocket-making capabilities. In public,
Israeli officials routinely demonize Hamas for every
rocket fired from the lawless, besieged territory of
Gaza, but here in private Ashkenazi was admitting the
opposite. He even admitted that Israeli intelligence had
no means to distinguish the even-more-radical from the
merely Hamas.
====================
4. [forwarded by Paul]
— On Wed, 12/29/10
arabjournl@aol.com arabjournl@aol.com
wrote:
From: arabjournl@aol.com
arabjournl@aol.com
Subject: [AL-AWDA] The Swastika and the Star of David
To: al-awda@yahoogroups.com
