by David Bedein
Jerusalem - At a time when Israel continues to come under scathing criticism for the deaths of 22 children during Israel’s three week counter attack in Gaza last winter, the Gaza regime has been training teenagers as young as 14 in military camps throughout Gaza p.
This summer, Hamas and several other Palestinian militias have recruited high school students for military training. Gaza teenagers are being taught basic combat skills as well as the use of explosive belts for suicide missions.
“In the war against Israel, there were more than 100 children trained to attack Israeli forces in Gaza,” a Gaza source told the Middle East Newsline., adding that “Some of them ran away and many of them were killed.”
Most recently. the Saudi-owned news agency Elaph ran a news feature about the recruitment of teenagers by Islamic militias in the Gaza Strip and other parts of the Arab world. Elaph, based in Beirut, visited military training camps in the Gaza Strip that included teenagers.
“Several minors who trained in Palestinian military camps confirmed that they were there of their own free will,” Elaph reported.
Correspondents toured several youth military training camps in Gaza.
One teenage fighter, who identified himself as Mohammed, an 11th grader, said that he underwent weapons training in Gaza's Futuh district. The recruitment was said to have begun with Islamic sermons at mosques controlled by Hamas or Palestinian militias. Teenage recruits represented the youth wing of the militias at their school and eventually were invited to training camp.
“A year ago, he [Mohammed] underwent training in carrying weapons, and received permission to aid resistance fighters in night reconnaissance of advancing Israeli military vehicles,” Elaph reported. “He was also trained to [aid the fighters] from a distance in armed clashes. Mohammed hopes to die defending the homeland for the sake of Allah, and follow his comrades who have already reached paradise.”
“There are institutions belonging to organizations dealing with educating children and deepening their awareness by means of summer camps” said Abu Mohammed, a senior agent in the Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad, based in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Gaza regime now employs thousands of children to construct and operate the tunnel network between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
The youngsters help dig tunnels to smuggle weapons from Egypt to Gaza.
A Palestinian report asserted that 16,000 people have been working in an estimated 800 tunnels that span the city of Rafah, which remains artificially divided between Egypt and Gaza... The report by the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, estimated that half of the employees were under age 18.
The report said about 25 percent of the Palestinian victims of tunnel collapses were teenagers. The center said 30 of the 115 casualties since 2007 were below age 18.
In early July four Palestinian children suffocated to death in the tunnel network.
On late July five Palestinians teenagers were killed in a fire in a tunnel.
The teenagers were said to earn less than $30 per day, spending more than 10 hours underground.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Monday, August 10, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Jerusalem Thinktank Attacks Obama for Failing to Name Anti-Semitism Envoy
by David Bedein
Jerusalem, Israel - A monograph published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, run by Dr. Dore Gold, a close advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, entitled "The Politics of the American Response to Global Anti-Semitism." has leveled stinging criticism of the Obama administration for failing to to name an envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism around the world. This position is mandated by US law. Since President Obama assumed his position on Jan. 20, the position has not been filled.
Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of the Washington DC-based David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, who wrote the monograph for the Jerusalem think tank, said that
"Foot-dragging on the selection sends a message that anti-Semitism is not of great importance to the United States," said Medoff.
According to Medoff, "At a time when anti-Semitism remains a staple of government propaganda in the Middle East, when violent anti-Semitic incidents are reported almost daily throughout Europe, and when even the streets of Washington are not untouched by anti-Semitism's violent potential, that is the wrong message to send."
The State Department's Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, which was established by a Congressional initiative in 2004, advocates American policy on anti-Semitism both in the US and internationally.
The proposal to establish such an office was initially opposed by the Bush administration, which took 18 months to appoint an envoy to head the office, Medoff said.
"On the one hand, it is understandable that at a time of multiple domestic and foreign crises, the Obama administration does not see this position as a top-tier concern," Medoff wrote. "Yet it is nevertheless surprising how far down anti-Semitism appears to have slid on the new administration's list of priorities, particularly when it was the Democrats themselves who fought so hard to create the position over the vehement opposition of the Bush administration.”
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem, Israel - A monograph published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, run by Dr. Dore Gold, a close advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, entitled "The Politics of the American Response to Global Anti-Semitism." has leveled stinging criticism of the Obama administration for failing to to name an envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism around the world. This position is mandated by US law. Since President Obama assumed his position on Jan. 20, the position has not been filled.
Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of the Washington DC-based David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, who wrote the monograph for the Jerusalem think tank, said that
"Foot-dragging on the selection sends a message that anti-Semitism is not of great importance to the United States," said Medoff.
According to Medoff, "At a time when anti-Semitism remains a staple of government propaganda in the Middle East, when violent anti-Semitic incidents are reported almost daily throughout Europe, and when even the streets of Washington are not untouched by anti-Semitism's violent potential, that is the wrong message to send."
The State Department's Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, which was established by a Congressional initiative in 2004, advocates American policy on anti-Semitism both in the US and internationally.
The proposal to establish such an office was initially opposed by the Bush administration, which took 18 months to appoint an envoy to head the office, Medoff said.
"On the one hand, it is understandable that at a time of multiple domestic and foreign crises, the Obama administration does not see this position as a top-tier concern," Medoff wrote. "Yet it is nevertheless surprising how far down anti-Semitism appears to have slid on the new administration's list of priorities, particularly when it was the Democrats themselves who fought so hard to create the position over the vehement opposition of the Bush administration.”
View this story at Israel Behind the News
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Israel Renews Construction Supply Sale to Gaza
by David Bedein
Fourth Anniversary Of Explusions Marked: What Do The Katif Communities Look Like Now
An area where Israel continues to cope with is the world wide campaign against Israel’s restrictions of potentially lethal exports into Gaza.
Since the Hamas terror takeover of Gaza in June 2007, Israel did halt the sale of iron, cement and other building materials into Gaza to prevent the construction of fortifications such as underground bunkers and the use iron to manufacture weapons and rockets
On July 16, a group of Philadelphia Rabbis, led by Rabbi Arthur Waskow of Germantown’s Shalom Center, organized Rabbis from all over the United States to conduct an international day of fasting to protest the Israeli “blockade” of humanitarian and medical supplies into gaza.
Due to such pressure, Israel on Thursday allowed renewed export of 300 tons of cement, steel pipes and construction materials into Gaza, for the first time since its military offensive last January.
Rabbi Waskow would not return phone calls to explain why he spread the false rumor that Israel had blocked humanitarian and medical supplies into Gaza.
Mr. Raed Fattouh, an official in the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy, confirmed in an interview with the Palestinian Ma'an news agency that cement would be shipped through UNRWA, the United Nation's relief agency for Palestinian refugees. The Israeli government also approved the transfer of 25 million dollars in cash into Gaza each month, earmarked to pay the salaries of the Palestinian Authority workers and UNRWA workers-
An Israeli security establishment spokesman stressed that "We will carry out all the necessary examinations to ensure that the cement does not fall into the wrong hands-to Hamas,"
However, since Hamas terrorists won an overwhelming victory in the March 2009 UNRWA workers election, with Hamas winning more than 80% of the vote, UNRWA facilities are solidly in the hands of the Hamas terror personnel. This was the third straigt election which affirms the dominant Hamas role in UNRWA.
Israel Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, would not respond to a Bulletin query as to how Israel could avoid cement and cash payments from falling into the hands of Hamas, since Hamas personnel dominate UNRWA facilities in Gaza.
Fourth Anniversary Of Explusions Marked
This week, more than 2,000 people took part yesterday in a rally to mark the fourth anniversary of Israel’s expulsion of 21 Jewish communities from the Katif district of Gaza.
The rally, held near the Kissufim border crossing to the east of Gaza was attended by expelled residents from various Katif communities, including hundreds of teenagers and young children.
"I am a refugee in my own land and am trying to rehabilitate myself,"
said Mr. Avi Farhan, who was evicted from Yamit in the Sinai in April 1982 after the Camp David Accord and then from Elei Sinai in northern Gaza in August 2005. "You need to understand that it is going to take seven years of living out of boxes, moving from one rented apartment to another, until we move into our own house."
At this point in time, 8 out of the 23 permanent communities earmarked for the Katif evictees are still under construction.
In 11 of the communities, preliminary infrastructure work has yet to be begun. Unemployment among the evictees is 21%, as opposed to the 5% unemployment rate that existed when the Katif communities were thriving.
What Do The Katif Communities Look Like Now?
Four years after the destruction of the 21 Katif Jewish communities, several Israeli journalists hired Palestinian cameramen to take pictures of the destroyed Jewish communities, to see what Palestinians had done there since taking over the area.
What Israelis want to know is whether overcrowded UNRWA refugee camps had moved into the abandoned Jewish communities of Katif.
Polls show that Israeli and international public opinion supported the eviction of the Jewish communities from Katif in order to enable a better life for thousands of Palestinian families who have been confined to teeming tenements of UNRWA refugee camps since 1948.
However, pictures taken by a Palestinian photographer show that contrary to what Israelis believed would happen, Palestinians have not built a single new house in the
any Katif community, four years after the destruction of these Jewish communities, where public buildings were allowed to remain..
The photographs indicate that the Palestinians completely destroyed anything that was left standing following the evacuation process, including synagogues and buildings that remained standing.
More than 100 photographs were taken in the framework of the project.
"What is sad is that it's very hard to identify the buildings that are documented in the photographs," said one Israeli journalist who had covered Katif for the international media.
Why have Palestinians from overcrowded UNRWA camps not moved into the abandoned Katif communities?
An UNRWA camp committee spokesman explained that, “These were not our homes - we want to move back to the homes that we left after we were expelled in 1948 - from places like Beer Sheva and Ashkelon”
Obama To Achieve Normalization Gestures From Arab World?
After several days of consultations with Israeli government officials, US Presidential Middle East envoy George Mitchell left his Israeli interlocutors with an assurance that President Obama would be able to extract some normalization gestures towards Israel from the Arab world within a month, following White House confirmation that Preisdent Obama had indeed sent letters leaders of Morrocco, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, asking them for confidence-building measures toward Israel.
However, Saudi Arabia, the kingpin of the Arab League of Nations which has been in a formal, full scale war with Israel since 1948, immediately responded with a full rejection of any gesture of normalization with Israel, so long as Israel does not relinquishsovereignty over Jerusalem, allow recognition of the right of return of Palestinian refugees from 1948, and stop the development of any Jewish community that lies in areas acquired by Israel in 1967.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Fourth Anniversary Of Explusions Marked: What Do The Katif Communities Look Like Now
An area where Israel continues to cope with is the world wide campaign against Israel’s restrictions of potentially lethal exports into Gaza.
Since the Hamas terror takeover of Gaza in June 2007, Israel did halt the sale of iron, cement and other building materials into Gaza to prevent the construction of fortifications such as underground bunkers and the use iron to manufacture weapons and rockets
On July 16, a group of Philadelphia Rabbis, led by Rabbi Arthur Waskow of Germantown’s Shalom Center, organized Rabbis from all over the United States to conduct an international day of fasting to protest the Israeli “blockade” of humanitarian and medical supplies into gaza.
Due to such pressure, Israel on Thursday allowed renewed export of 300 tons of cement, steel pipes and construction materials into Gaza, for the first time since its military offensive last January.
Rabbi Waskow would not return phone calls to explain why he spread the false rumor that Israel had blocked humanitarian and medical supplies into Gaza.
Mr. Raed Fattouh, an official in the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy, confirmed in an interview with the Palestinian Ma'an news agency that cement would be shipped through UNRWA, the United Nation's relief agency for Palestinian refugees. The Israeli government also approved the transfer of 25 million dollars in cash into Gaza each month, earmarked to pay the salaries of the Palestinian Authority workers and UNRWA workers-
An Israeli security establishment spokesman stressed that "We will carry out all the necessary examinations to ensure that the cement does not fall into the wrong hands-to Hamas,"
However, since Hamas terrorists won an overwhelming victory in the March 2009 UNRWA workers election, with Hamas winning more than 80% of the vote, UNRWA facilities are solidly in the hands of the Hamas terror personnel. This was the third straigt election which affirms the dominant Hamas role in UNRWA.
Israel Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, would not respond to a Bulletin query as to how Israel could avoid cement and cash payments from falling into the hands of Hamas, since Hamas personnel dominate UNRWA facilities in Gaza.
Fourth Anniversary Of Explusions Marked
This week, more than 2,000 people took part yesterday in a rally to mark the fourth anniversary of Israel’s expulsion of 21 Jewish communities from the Katif district of Gaza.
The rally, held near the Kissufim border crossing to the east of Gaza was attended by expelled residents from various Katif communities, including hundreds of teenagers and young children.
"I am a refugee in my own land and am trying to rehabilitate myself,"
said Mr. Avi Farhan, who was evicted from Yamit in the Sinai in April 1982 after the Camp David Accord and then from Elei Sinai in northern Gaza in August 2005. "You need to understand that it is going to take seven years of living out of boxes, moving from one rented apartment to another, until we move into our own house."
At this point in time, 8 out of the 23 permanent communities earmarked for the Katif evictees are still under construction.
In 11 of the communities, preliminary infrastructure work has yet to be begun. Unemployment among the evictees is 21%, as opposed to the 5% unemployment rate that existed when the Katif communities were thriving.
What Do The Katif Communities Look Like Now?
Four years after the destruction of the 21 Katif Jewish communities, several Israeli journalists hired Palestinian cameramen to take pictures of the destroyed Jewish communities, to see what Palestinians had done there since taking over the area.
What Israelis want to know is whether overcrowded UNRWA refugee camps had moved into the abandoned Jewish communities of Katif.
Polls show that Israeli and international public opinion supported the eviction of the Jewish communities from Katif in order to enable a better life for thousands of Palestinian families who have been confined to teeming tenements of UNRWA refugee camps since 1948.
However, pictures taken by a Palestinian photographer show that contrary to what Israelis believed would happen, Palestinians have not built a single new house in the
any Katif community, four years after the destruction of these Jewish communities, where public buildings were allowed to remain..
The photographs indicate that the Palestinians completely destroyed anything that was left standing following the evacuation process, including synagogues and buildings that remained standing.
More than 100 photographs were taken in the framework of the project.
"What is sad is that it's very hard to identify the buildings that are documented in the photographs," said one Israeli journalist who had covered Katif for the international media.
Why have Palestinians from overcrowded UNRWA camps not moved into the abandoned Katif communities?
An UNRWA camp committee spokesman explained that, “These were not our homes - we want to move back to the homes that we left after we were expelled in 1948 - from places like Beer Sheva and Ashkelon”
Obama To Achieve Normalization Gestures From Arab World?
After several days of consultations with Israeli government officials, US Presidential Middle East envoy George Mitchell left his Israeli interlocutors with an assurance that President Obama would be able to extract some normalization gestures towards Israel from the Arab world within a month, following White House confirmation that Preisdent Obama had indeed sent letters leaders of Morrocco, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, asking them for confidence-building measures toward Israel.
However, Saudi Arabia, the kingpin of the Arab League of Nations which has been in a formal, full scale war with Israel since 1948, immediately responded with a full rejection of any gesture of normalization with Israel, so long as Israel does not relinquishsovereignty over Jerusalem, allow recognition of the right of return of Palestinian refugees from 1948, and stop the development of any Jewish community that lies in areas acquired by Israel in 1967.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Israeli Government Accuses Rights Group of Fraud
by David Bedein
Jerusalem, Israel - Over the past few weeks, the Israeli government has gone on the offensive against human rights groups who have publicized allegations against Israel for many months, without any concerted Israeli response.
One of these rights groups which gained attention of late has been “Breaking the Silence”.
This Israeli group held a press conference on April 1, 2009 in Sderot, one mile from Gaza, in which they announced that the British government had financed them to survey more than 1000 Israeli soldiers who had taken part in last December/January Israeli military incursion into Gaza, in order to “find evidence of Israeli war crimes against Gaza civilians”
An organization known as the Rabbis for Human Rights facilitated funding from the Spanish government to hold a conference this past Wednesday in which the Breaking the Silence organization promised to bring about thirty testimonies of Israeli soldiers who had witnesses crimes against Gazan civilians.
Rabbis for Human Rights had claimed that it had brought such testimonies to the attention of the Israeli army. However, the Israeli army spokes man issued a strong statement, saying that “testimonies were never presented” to the Israeli army from Rabbis for Human Rights or from “Breaking the silence:”
Neither were testimonies brought to the Wednesday conference - only anonyms statements by Israeli soldiers that they had heard of abuse of Palestinian civilians by Israeli soldiers.
However, the damage was done, and the impression left by the Rabbis for Human Rights in the world media is that Israel must have conducted atrocities against civilians in Gaza.
Most importantly, some board members of the Rabbis for Human Rights have reacted with disappointment that the “Breaking the Silence” group, after all of its publicity, could not and would not provide even one affidavit from an Israeli soldier who witnessed any atrocity by an Israeli soldier.
At the same time, the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the British Ambassador to Israel to express Israel’s “outrage” at the UK sponsorship for the “Breaking the Silence:” campaign.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has issued an internet accessible 164 page report, "The Operation in Gaza: Factual and Legal Aspects", which examines the biases of non-government organizations that have been issuing reports against Israel since the recent conflict.
On the central issue of how Palestinians used civilians as human shields, this Israeli government report noted that prominent human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, claimed to have no evidence of Hamas' utilization of this practice.
The Israeli report also quoted Hamas operatives who openly bragged that they had launched rocket attacks from schools.
The report also described incidents "in which Hamas activists requested children to wheel carts laden with rockets, in case IDF forces noticed them."
Numerous examples are provided, including televised speeches of a Hamas legislator who encouraged women, children and the elderly to use their bodies to protect Hamas military sites against Israeli attack.
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem, Israel - Over the past few weeks, the Israeli government has gone on the offensive against human rights groups who have publicized allegations against Israel for many months, without any concerted Israeli response.
One of these rights groups which gained attention of late has been “Breaking the Silence”.
This Israeli group held a press conference on April 1, 2009 in Sderot, one mile from Gaza, in which they announced that the British government had financed them to survey more than 1000 Israeli soldiers who had taken part in last December/January Israeli military incursion into Gaza, in order to “find evidence of Israeli war crimes against Gaza civilians”
An organization known as the Rabbis for Human Rights facilitated funding from the Spanish government to hold a conference this past Wednesday in which the Breaking the Silence organization promised to bring about thirty testimonies of Israeli soldiers who had witnesses crimes against Gazan civilians.
Rabbis for Human Rights had claimed that it had brought such testimonies to the attention of the Israeli army. However, the Israeli army spokes man issued a strong statement, saying that “testimonies were never presented” to the Israeli army from Rabbis for Human Rights or from “Breaking the silence:”
Neither were testimonies brought to the Wednesday conference - only anonyms statements by Israeli soldiers that they had heard of abuse of Palestinian civilians by Israeli soldiers.
However, the damage was done, and the impression left by the Rabbis for Human Rights in the world media is that Israel must have conducted atrocities against civilians in Gaza.
Most importantly, some board members of the Rabbis for Human Rights have reacted with disappointment that the “Breaking the Silence” group, after all of its publicity, could not and would not provide even one affidavit from an Israeli soldier who witnessed any atrocity by an Israeli soldier.
At the same time, the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the British Ambassador to Israel to express Israel’s “outrage” at the UK sponsorship for the “Breaking the Silence:” campaign.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has issued an internet accessible 164 page report, "The Operation in Gaza: Factual and Legal Aspects", which examines the biases of non-government organizations that have been issuing reports against Israel since the recent conflict.
On the central issue of how Palestinians used civilians as human shields, this Israeli government report noted that prominent human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, claimed to have no evidence of Hamas' utilization of this practice.
The Israeli report also quoted Hamas operatives who openly bragged that they had launched rocket attacks from schools.
The report also described incidents "in which Hamas activists requested children to wheel carts laden with rockets, in case IDF forces noticed them."
Numerous examples are provided, including televised speeches of a Hamas legislator who encouraged women, children and the elderly to use their bodies to protect Hamas military sites against Israeli attack.
View this story at Israel Behind the News
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Historic Fatah Conference to Convene in Bethlehem
by David Bedein
Jerusalem, Israel - For the first time in more than 20 years, Fatah (Arabic for “conquest”), the dominant ruling power of the Palestinian Authority, will gather next week for a conference in Bethlehem, with than 1,7,50 of its active members expected to attend. This is the first since the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accords, which the Fatah never ratified.
Israel has decided not to not keep any delegate to the Fatah convention from being able to attend the parley next week in Bethlehem, including those coming from Syria and Lebanon.
A senior Fatah official Muhammad "Abu Maher" Ghneim returned to Palestinian territory on Wednesday from in Tunisia ahead of the movement's general conference, which opens next week in Bethlehem. Palestinian news sources reported that President Mahmoud Abbas convinced Israeli authorities to allow Ghneim to attend the conference.
After crossing the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge border crossing from Jordan on Wednesday, Ghneim was whisked to the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters in Ramallah in a presidential car, accompanied by top negotiator Saeb Erekat. In Ramallah, the Fatah official was welcomed by Abbas in an official ceremony.
Ghneim's return also marks a reversal in Palestinian politics. Ghneimopposed the Oslo peace agreements, and at first refused to return to Palestine until all of its territory was "liberated
On the eve of the conference, the Middle East Newsline broke the story that Israel's military has determined that the ruling Fatah movement continues to engage in weapons smuggling, after capturing Fatah militia commanders who admitted to
smuggling weapons acquired weapons from such sources as Israeli organized crime, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority itself.
"The weapons are sold for profit, mostly to Israeli and Palestinian criminals, some of them who engage in terrorism," a military source said.
Fatah weapons smugglers were operating in Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah and Tulkarm, in coordination with the Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad. Israeli military sources also confirm that Fatah weapons smugglers have also sold weapons to the opposition Hamas.
On July 24, the Israel Army arrested a suspected Fatah weapons smuggler in Nablus named as Nasser Mahmoud Abu Kishk, a 34-year-old Fatah militia operative from Nablus Abu Kishk, wanted by Israel for several years, was also said to have supplied weapons to Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is identified by both Israel and by the United States intelligence agencies as a terrorist organization.
Israeli army spokesmen also said that Kishk has participated in shooting attacks against Israelis.
Policy Issues On The Agenda
An organization known as www.palwatch.org has put forward four policy issues for the Fatah to reconsider, if Fatah is to be seen as a real party to peace talks in the future.
1. Fatah does not recognize Israel's right to exist. Fatah leaders emphasize that this ideology is current and not merely an oversight
2. Fatah continues to use maps that don't acknowledge Israel's existence
3. Fatah charter still calls for Israel's destruction
4. Fatah continues to support the cease fire, only in terms of the continued armed struggle against Israel
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem, Israel - For the first time in more than 20 years, Fatah (Arabic for “conquest”), the dominant ruling power of the Palestinian Authority, will gather next week for a conference in Bethlehem, with than 1,7,50 of its active members expected to attend. This is the first since the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accords, which the Fatah never ratified.
Israel has decided not to not keep any delegate to the Fatah convention from being able to attend the parley next week in Bethlehem, including those coming from Syria and Lebanon.
A senior Fatah official Muhammad "Abu Maher" Ghneim returned to Palestinian territory on Wednesday from in Tunisia ahead of the movement's general conference, which opens next week in Bethlehem. Palestinian news sources reported that President Mahmoud Abbas convinced Israeli authorities to allow Ghneim to attend the conference.
After crossing the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge border crossing from Jordan on Wednesday, Ghneim was whisked to the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters in Ramallah in a presidential car, accompanied by top negotiator Saeb Erekat. In Ramallah, the Fatah official was welcomed by Abbas in an official ceremony.
Ghneim's return also marks a reversal in Palestinian politics. Ghneimopposed the Oslo peace agreements, and at first refused to return to Palestine until all of its territory was "liberated
On the eve of the conference, the Middle East Newsline broke the story that Israel's military has determined that the ruling Fatah movement continues to engage in weapons smuggling, after capturing Fatah militia commanders who admitted to
smuggling weapons acquired weapons from such sources as Israeli organized crime, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority itself.
"The weapons are sold for profit, mostly to Israeli and Palestinian criminals, some of them who engage in terrorism," a military source said.
Fatah weapons smugglers were operating in Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah and Tulkarm, in coordination with the Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad. Israeli military sources also confirm that Fatah weapons smugglers have also sold weapons to the opposition Hamas.
On July 24, the Israel Army arrested a suspected Fatah weapons smuggler in Nablus named as Nasser Mahmoud Abu Kishk, a 34-year-old Fatah militia operative from Nablus Abu Kishk, wanted by Israel for several years, was also said to have supplied weapons to Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is identified by both Israel and by the United States intelligence agencies as a terrorist organization.
Israeli army spokesmen also said that Kishk has participated in shooting attacks against Israelis.
Policy Issues On The Agenda
An organization known as www.palwatch.org has put forward four policy issues for the Fatah to reconsider, if Fatah is to be seen as a real party to peace talks in the future.
1. Fatah does not recognize Israel's right to exist. Fatah leaders emphasize that this ideology is current and not merely an oversight
2. Fatah continues to use maps that don't acknowledge Israel's existence
3. Fatah charter still calls for Israel's destruction
4. Fatah continues to support the cease fire, only in terms of the continued armed struggle against Israel
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
The Philadelphia Bulletin: 1,800-Year-Old Roman Building Discovered in Jerusalem
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - A spacious edifice from the 3rd Century was recently exposed in the excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority that is carrying out a major excavation in the 'City of David', located in the heart of Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
“Although we do not have the complete dimensions of the structure, we can cautiously estimate that the building covered an area of approximately 1,000 square meters,” said Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, the excavation director. “In the center of it was a large open courtyard surrounded by columns. Galleries were spread out between the rows of columns and the rooms that flanked the courtyard. The wings of the building rose to a height of two stories and were covered with tile roofs.”
A large quantity of fresco fragments was discovered in the collapsed ruins from which the excavators deduced that some of the walls of the rooms were treated with plaster and decorated with colorful paintings. The painted designs that adorned the plastered walls consisted mostly of geometric and floral motifs. Its architectural richness, plan and particularly the artifacts that were discovered among its ruins bear witness to the unequivocal Roman character of the building. The most outstanding of these finds are a marble figurine in the image of a boxer and a gold earring inlaid with precious stones.
The building was likely shaken by a tremor in the 4th Century, the results of which are clearly apparently in the excavation area: the walls of the rooms caved-in and their stone collapse, which was piled high, covered the walls of the bottom floor, some of which still stand to a considerable height. Architectural elements such as columns and capitals, as well as mosaics and the large amount of fresco fragments that were used in the rooms of the second story were discovered inside the collapsed ruins. The coins that were discovered among the collapse and on the floors indicated the building’s ruins should be dated to circa 360 AD. The structure appears to be archaeological evidence of the an earthquake that struck the Middle East in 363 AD.
“We know of no other buildings from the Roman period that were discovered in Israel which have a similar plan to that of the building from the City of David,” said Dr. Ben-Ami. “The closest contemporary parallels to this structure are located in sites of the second to fourth century that were excavated in Syria. Edifices such as these are 'urban mansions' from the Roman period that were discovered in Antioch, Apamea and Palmyra. If this parallel is correct, then in spite of its size and opulence, it seems that this building was used originally as a private residence.”
The exposure of the Roman building in the City of David is a significant contribution to understanding the extent of the construction in the Roman city in the 3rd to 4th Centuries AD. It constitutes extremely important archaeological evidence regarding the growth of the settlement at the end of the Roman period into the southern precincts of the city, and it shows that the prevailing supposition among scholars that the City of David remained outside the area of Roman settlement is no longer valid.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem - A spacious edifice from the 3rd Century was recently exposed in the excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority that is carrying out a major excavation in the 'City of David', located in the heart of Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
“Although we do not have the complete dimensions of the structure, we can cautiously estimate that the building covered an area of approximately 1,000 square meters,” said Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, the excavation director. “In the center of it was a large open courtyard surrounded by columns. Galleries were spread out between the rows of columns and the rooms that flanked the courtyard. The wings of the building rose to a height of two stories and were covered with tile roofs.”
A large quantity of fresco fragments was discovered in the collapsed ruins from which the excavators deduced that some of the walls of the rooms were treated with plaster and decorated with colorful paintings. The painted designs that adorned the plastered walls consisted mostly of geometric and floral motifs. Its architectural richness, plan and particularly the artifacts that were discovered among its ruins bear witness to the unequivocal Roman character of the building. The most outstanding of these finds are a marble figurine in the image of a boxer and a gold earring inlaid with precious stones.
The building was likely shaken by a tremor in the 4th Century, the results of which are clearly apparently in the excavation area: the walls of the rooms caved-in and their stone collapse, which was piled high, covered the walls of the bottom floor, some of which still stand to a considerable height. Architectural elements such as columns and capitals, as well as mosaics and the large amount of fresco fragments that were used in the rooms of the second story were discovered inside the collapsed ruins. The coins that were discovered among the collapse and on the floors indicated the building’s ruins should be dated to circa 360 AD. The structure appears to be archaeological evidence of the an earthquake that struck the Middle East in 363 AD.
“We know of no other buildings from the Roman period that were discovered in Israel which have a similar plan to that of the building from the City of David,” said Dr. Ben-Ami. “The closest contemporary parallels to this structure are located in sites of the second to fourth century that were excavated in Syria. Edifices such as these are 'urban mansions' from the Roman period that were discovered in Antioch, Apamea and Palmyra. If this parallel is correct, then in spite of its size and opulence, it seems that this building was used originally as a private residence.”
The exposure of the Roman building in the City of David is a significant contribution to understanding the extent of the construction in the Roman city in the 3rd to 4th Centuries AD. It constitutes extremely important archaeological evidence regarding the growth of the settlement at the end of the Roman period into the southern precincts of the city, and it shows that the prevailing supposition among scholars that the City of David remained outside the area of Roman settlement is no longer valid.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Terrorist murderer whom Israel allowed to attend Bethlehem Fatah conference hopes Fatah returns to terror
Originally published by the Ma'an News Agency
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an Exclusive) - “I have waited 30 years to come back to
Palestine, and I won’t leave. I will wait until I get a Palestinian ID card
so I can bring back my wife and children,” said Khalid Abu Isba, one of two
Palestinian fighters who survived the famous attack on a beach in north of
Tel Aviv on 11 March 1978.
In the city for Fatah’s upcoming convention, Abu Isba was speaking during an
interview at Ma’an’s Bethlehem office.
The operation that made him famous was led by the legendary female fighter
Dalal Al-Mughrabi. Al-Mughrabi’s name is synonymous with the 1978 attack,
which is today a symbol of an earlier era when the Palestinian movement was
led by refugees living in Lebanon and other places of exile, struggling to
retrieve the homeland they lost in 1948.
The Palestinians who carried it out called the attack the “Martyr Kamal
Udwan operation,” after the PLO chief of operations killed in an Israeli
commando raid on Beirut in April 1973. The Israelis called it “Coastal Road
Massacre.”
Palestine, Abu Isba says, is the homeland for which he sacrificed in the
1978 operation that saw him injured and detained. During that operation, 13
Palestinian fighters hijacked an Israeli bus, and fierce battle erupted
between them and Israeli forces. Thirty five Israelis were killed as well as
all the Palestinian fighters except Abu Isba and another named Hussein
Fayyad.
Both were injured and detained by Israeli forces. After spending seven years
in prison, both were released in a prisoner exchange deal in 1985 between
Israel and The Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine- General
Command led then by Ahmad Jibreel.
Abu Isba says he was worried Israel would not allow him to come to Palestine
to partake in sixth Fatah conference in Bethlehem. For reasons that may
never be known, Israeli authorities allowed the former guerilla leader to
cross into the West Bank this weekend.
Yet Abu Isba is returning to a Palestine, and a Fatah, that have changed
dramatically in the three decades since the raid on the coast road. Inside
the occupied territories, his movement has become closely identified with
the Oslo peace accords and its offspring, the hapless bureaucracy of the
Palestinian Authority. A weak Palestinian “sovereignty” has returned to a
few square kilometers of the homeland, but the rest has been annexed,
splintered, and subdivided over the Olso years. Fatah is embroiled in a
bitter power struggle with Hamas. It is a movement also seeking to reconcile
its past as a resistance movement with its present state.
While visiting Ma’an, however, Abu Isba seemed happy to be back in one
corner of Palestine. He says he is happy with the young Palestinian
generation. “For your sake, young people, we sacrificed, and we will
continue to,” he said.
”Bring back the Fatah of the revolution”
Asked about his expectations for the Fatah conference, he said, “After the
conference is finished, Fatah should continue with change, close the ranks,
and restore Fatah’s dignity.”
The veteran fighter said he hoped his movement would return to a program of
popular resistance.
“We hope the conference will bring back the Fatah of the revolution, the
Fatah of Abu Ammar [Yasser Arafat] and the Fatah of sacrifices after waiting
20 years since the fifth conference,” he added.
Abu Isba applauded the decision to increase the number of delegates to the
conference to 2,260 highlighting that more delegates are still needed in
order to cover all the regions where Fatah is active. He pointed out that
Fatah in Jordan and Lebanon need to have more representatives in the
conference. He mentioned that late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat had
increased the number of delegates to the fifth conference 20 years ago.
With regards to Hamas’ refusal to allow Fatah delegates from Gaza to leave
to Bethlehem, Abu Isba said, “Hamas plans to thwart Fatah conference to tell
the world that Fatah is unable to lead the Palestinian people.”
“They [Hamas] try to impose religion by force, thus, the Palestinian people
in the beloved Gaza Strip will rebel. If Hamas was confident about its
strength, and popularity, they would have accepted president Abbas’ call for
elections,” he added.
Commenting on the Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip last
winter, he said, “Hamas did not achieve anything in that war. They continued
to slam Egypt for refusing to open the Rafah crossing during the war without
considering that Egypt wanted to avoid displacing the Palestinian people....
Hamas is not ready to stage a coup in the West Bank, and if they stage a
coup, they will then start criticizing Jordan for not opening the Allenby
Bridge,” he added.
He said that Hamas lauds Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi, who is in prison in
Israel for his actions during the Second Intifada, “But once the man is
released and starts playing a role in PA [Palestinian Authority] politics,
Hamas will have prepared accusations [against him] in advance.”
With regards to Fatah leader Farouq Qaddoumi’s recent accusations that
President Mahmoud Abbas was being involved in an assassination of Yasser
Arafat, he said, “If he [Qaddoumi] had such information, why did he remain
silent for five years? His silence is complicity. There must be
international sides who planned these accusations with Qaddoumi.”
View this article at Israel Behind the News
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an Exclusive) - “I have waited 30 years to come back to
Palestine, and I won’t leave. I will wait until I get a Palestinian ID card
so I can bring back my wife and children,” said Khalid Abu Isba, one of two
Palestinian fighters who survived the famous attack on a beach in north of
Tel Aviv on 11 March 1978.
In the city for Fatah’s upcoming convention, Abu Isba was speaking during an
interview at Ma’an’s Bethlehem office.
The operation that made him famous was led by the legendary female fighter
Dalal Al-Mughrabi. Al-Mughrabi’s name is synonymous with the 1978 attack,
which is today a symbol of an earlier era when the Palestinian movement was
led by refugees living in Lebanon and other places of exile, struggling to
retrieve the homeland they lost in 1948.
The Palestinians who carried it out called the attack the “Martyr Kamal
Udwan operation,” after the PLO chief of operations killed in an Israeli
commando raid on Beirut in April 1973. The Israelis called it “Coastal Road
Massacre.”
Palestine, Abu Isba says, is the homeland for which he sacrificed in the
1978 operation that saw him injured and detained. During that operation, 13
Palestinian fighters hijacked an Israeli bus, and fierce battle erupted
between them and Israeli forces. Thirty five Israelis were killed as well as
all the Palestinian fighters except Abu Isba and another named Hussein
Fayyad.
Both were injured and detained by Israeli forces. After spending seven years
in prison, both were released in a prisoner exchange deal in 1985 between
Israel and The Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine- General
Command led then by Ahmad Jibreel.
Abu Isba says he was worried Israel would not allow him to come to Palestine
to partake in sixth Fatah conference in Bethlehem. For reasons that may
never be known, Israeli authorities allowed the former guerilla leader to
cross into the West Bank this weekend.
Yet Abu Isba is returning to a Palestine, and a Fatah, that have changed
dramatically in the three decades since the raid on the coast road. Inside
the occupied territories, his movement has become closely identified with
the Oslo peace accords and its offspring, the hapless bureaucracy of the
Palestinian Authority. A weak Palestinian “sovereignty” has returned to a
few square kilometers of the homeland, but the rest has been annexed,
splintered, and subdivided over the Olso years. Fatah is embroiled in a
bitter power struggle with Hamas. It is a movement also seeking to reconcile
its past as a resistance movement with its present state.
While visiting Ma’an, however, Abu Isba seemed happy to be back in one
corner of Palestine. He says he is happy with the young Palestinian
generation. “For your sake, young people, we sacrificed, and we will
continue to,” he said.
”Bring back the Fatah of the revolution”
Asked about his expectations for the Fatah conference, he said, “After the
conference is finished, Fatah should continue with change, close the ranks,
and restore Fatah’s dignity.”
The veteran fighter said he hoped his movement would return to a program of
popular resistance.
“We hope the conference will bring back the Fatah of the revolution, the
Fatah of Abu Ammar [Yasser Arafat] and the Fatah of sacrifices after waiting
20 years since the fifth conference,” he added.
Abu Isba applauded the decision to increase the number of delegates to the
conference to 2,260 highlighting that more delegates are still needed in
order to cover all the regions where Fatah is active. He pointed out that
Fatah in Jordan and Lebanon need to have more representatives in the
conference. He mentioned that late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat had
increased the number of delegates to the fifth conference 20 years ago.
With regards to Hamas’ refusal to allow Fatah delegates from Gaza to leave
to Bethlehem, Abu Isba said, “Hamas plans to thwart Fatah conference to tell
the world that Fatah is unable to lead the Palestinian people.”
“They [Hamas] try to impose religion by force, thus, the Palestinian people
in the beloved Gaza Strip will rebel. If Hamas was confident about its
strength, and popularity, they would have accepted president Abbas’ call for
elections,” he added.
Commenting on the Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip last
winter, he said, “Hamas did not achieve anything in that war. They continued
to slam Egypt for refusing to open the Rafah crossing during the war without
considering that Egypt wanted to avoid displacing the Palestinian people....
Hamas is not ready to stage a coup in the West Bank, and if they stage a
coup, they will then start criticizing Jordan for not opening the Allenby
Bridge,” he added.
He said that Hamas lauds Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi, who is in prison in
Israel for his actions during the Second Intifada, “But once the man is
released and starts playing a role in PA [Palestinian Authority] politics,
Hamas will have prepared accusations [against him] in advance.”
With regards to Fatah leader Farouq Qaddoumi’s recent accusations that
President Mahmoud Abbas was being involved in an assassination of Yasser
Arafat, he said, “If he [Qaddoumi] had such information, why did he remain
silent for five years? His silence is complicity. There must be
international sides who planned these accusations with Qaddoumi.”
View this article at Israel Behind the News
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Special Report: UNRWA - Its Role in Gaza (The Center for Near East Policy Research)
UNRWA: Its Role in Gaza
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
It is less than a year since the last report on UNRWA by this author was released. (1)
However, the current critical political/security situation in the Gaza Strip requires a new analysis of UNRWA’s various roles in this specific locale.
Background
In December 2008, after seven years of Hamas and other terrorist groups launching
rockets and mortar shells from Gaza at civilians in the south of Israel, Hamas announced that a six-month temporary ceasefire—during which 538 rockets had been fired (2) at Israel—would not be renewed. In the days that followed, rocket firings averaged 40 per day, with over one million Israeli citizens within range.
On December 27, 2009, Israel began a major military operation — Operation “Cast
Lead”—against Hamas in Gaza. As Hamas operated within densely populated civilian
areas, Israel utilized pinpoint strikes and unprecedented efforts to warn the civilian population; nonetheless Israeli operations were unable to avoid collateral damage. As international critics were quick to blame Israel, often without an accurate assessment of the situation, Israel opened a second, information and public relations, front.
Operation “Cast Lead” ended on January 18, 2009, with a ceasefire unilaterally declared by Israel, followed by a similar ceasefire announcement from Hamas. In the course of the Operation, Hamas was disabled but not defeated; it is still in control in Gaza, and still smuggling in weaponry. From the time the war ended through July 20, 2009, 144 rockets, 79 mortars and 6 Grad Katyushas3 have been fired into Israel.
With some specific exceptions,4 crossings today are open for commercial5 and
humanitarian materials. By March 2009, $4.5 billion, including $900 million from the
US, had been pledged by the international community for humanitarian relief and
reconstruction. There is considerable unease, however, about how to proceed with the
major reconstruction that is required but at the same time prevent money and supplies
from falling into hands of Hamas.
Consideration is being given within the international community to utilizing UNRWA—
which is broadly viewed as a purely humanitarian organization—as a major conduit of
these funds and supplies.
The UNRWA role in Gaza
UNRWA involvement in Gaza is greater than in any of the other regions in which it
operates, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Judea & Samaria (West Bank). (4)
This is a function of demographics: 70% of Gaza’s population, estimated at 1.5 million, consists of persons registered with UNRWA as refugees (6) — thus UNRWA maintains a significant presence in the region. There are 10,000 UNRWA workers in Gaza, who are almost all Palestinian Arab refugees themselves; this means roughly one out of every 150 persons resident in Gaza is an UNRWA employee.
A strong connection between UNRWA in Gaza and Hamas has been previously
documented (7) and evidence that this continues is provided later in this report. Of
particular significance are the recently held elections within the teachers’ sector of the UNRWA union in Gaza,. Candidates associated with the Islamic Bloc, an affiliate of Hamas, won all 11 seats for the executive council8— granting Hamas an enormous influence within the UNRWA schools.
The Islamic Bloc (known in Arabic as Al-Kutla Al-Islamiah) maintains broad programs in these UNRWA schools, beginning as early as junior high school, which promote radical incitement for jihad and opposition to Israel. Its goal is winning the hearts and minds of students so they can be recruited into the Hamas military wing during high school or after graduation.(9)
UNRWA positions during “Cast Lead”
During “Cast Lead,” statements of a political nature and accusations leveled at Israel were repeatedly made by key UNRWA personnel, even though this is highly
inappropriate from individuals who represent an organization the official mandate of
which is purely humanitarian.10 What is more, these statements indicated an anti-Israel bias and frequently a misrepresentation of facts.
UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness —in a radio interview11—began talking about
“proportionality” on January 5, 2009, without reflecting what international law actually says12 on this subject:
Gunness also took it upon himself to explain Hamas’s rocket attacks:
Gunness is saying here precisely what Hamas says for PR purposes: That it launches
rockets because of “the occupation,” where military occupation of Gaza and the West
Bank is implied. Gunness, who is speaking for an ostensibly humanitarian agency, has no business explaining why Hamas launches rockets in any case. It is wrong from a
humanitarian perspective; from the perspective of international law, it is forbidden.
What Gunness does is to offer a sort of justification, totally disregarding Hamas’s
insistence on the illegitimacy of Israel and its call for Israel’s destruction via jihad. (13)
Perhaps most egregious of all, however, was a statement (14) made by Commission-General of UNRWA, Karen AbuZayd:
To have destroyed “every single factory and workshop,” Israel would have had to carpet bomb all of Gaza, and this was not remotely the case. In fact, Israeli attacks were pinpoint — done to hit specific identified targets. What is more, one must ask how AbuZayd determined such a thing: how could she know that there was not a single
workshop left standing?
This is not a case of expressing an empathy for the residents of Gaza that engenders a tendency to exaggerate. In this instance one is led irrevocably to the conclusion that AbuZayd willfully and maliciously misrepresented.
Instances are also documented in which UNRWA representatives made fallacious
charges against the IDF—or leveled charges before facts were checked—with regard to
damage done to UNRWA buildings or personnel during the conflict.
The incident that received the most press was the one in which it was either claimed or strongly implied that the IDF hit an UNRWA school in Jabaliya that was sheltering
civilians, thereby killing 40 people.16 An IDF investigation, however, indicated that eight to ten Hamas gunmen were killed near the school, which was never hit, after the terrorists had fired mortar shells at IDF troops. (17)
Precipitous charges were made—before facts were confirmed —that the IDF had killed
an UNRWA driver in a convoy. An IDF investigation later found this was not true. (18)
Other charges included the claim made by UNRWA that the IDF had made illegal use of
white phosphorus (19), which was later refuted by the IDF. (20)
Click here for the full report: UNRWA: Its Role in Gaza
===
Citations
1 “UNRWA Overview and Critique.” See:
http://www.israelbehindthenews.com/library/pdfs/UNRWAOverviewAndCritique.pdf
2 Sderot Media Center
3 IDF spokesman’s office.
4 Items not let in are those that have a “double use.” This includes, broadly, materials that could be utilized
for manufacturing munitions — fertilizer, which can become an explosive and items made of heavy metals, or for building bunkers for the storage of munitions — concrete, etc. Additionally, luxury items such as gourmet foods — that would go primarily to the wealthy elite of Gaza, which is primarily Hamas-associated, are not permitted in.
Source: Guy Inbar, spokesman for the IDF Gaza Administration in telephone interview July 20, 2009.
5 According to the Israel-Palestine Chamber of Commerce, it is expected that by the end of 2009, there will be 2 billion shekels in Israeli exports into Gaza.
6 This is a considerably higher ratio of refugees to general population than is the case in the other areas served by UNRWA.
7 “UNRWA Overview and Critique.” See:
http://www.israelbehindthenews.com/library/pdfs/UNRWAOverviewAndCritique.pdf
8 Khaled Abu Toameh, “Hamas wins teachers union elections for UN schools in Gaza,” The Jerusalem Post, March 29, 2009.
9 Lt. Col. (res.).Yoni Dahoah Halevy, in direct communication with the author. Arabic-speaking, he provided information based on his research, on request.
10 When founded by UN Resolution 302 (IV), UNRWA was charged with providing “direct relief and work programmes” for the Palestinian refugees.
According to its website (http://www.un.org/unrwa/overview/index.html) UNRWA later “adjusted” its programs, so that now it is” the main provider of basic services - education, health, relief and social services.” UNRWA’s role is exclusively humanitarian.
This contrasts strikingly with the mandate of the UN High Commission for refugees, a second refugee agency founded by the UN, which is instructed to “lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and wellbeing of refugees.” See http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c2.html.
When the two mandates are considered in juxtaposition, it becomes imminently clear that UNRWA’s role is restricted to the non-political. When its representatives step make political declarations, they are stepping beyond the purview and the mandate of the agency they represent.
11 A radio news show for Democracy Now! hosted by Ami Goodman, January 5, 2009.
12 President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, Rosalyn Higgens, has noted, proportionality “cannot be in relation to any specific prior injury — it has to be in relation to the overall legitimate objective of ending the aggression.” That is, Israel was not required to limit attacks in Gaza to
force commensurate to the force of attacks from Kassams that hit southern Israel. It is, rather, legitimate for Israel to use whatever force is necessary to stop the Kassams.
See a full discussion of this issue at:
http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=3
78&PID=0&IID=2808&TTL=Did_Israel_Use_“Disproportionate_Force”_in_Gaza?
13 According to the Hamas Covenant:
“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [trust] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.” (Article 11)
“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas]… There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.” (Article 13)
“The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.” (Article 15)
14 In the course of a talk delivered at DePauw University (her alma mater) on March 12, 2009.
15 http://www.depauw.edu/news/?id=23119
16 From Herb Keinon and Tovah Lazaroff, “UNRWA offers political cover to Hamas,” The Jerusalem Post,
February 25, 2009, which cited an interview Guiness gave with “Democracy Now!” radio.
17 http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/09/4/2201.htm
18 Amir Mizroch, “IDF: Army didn’t fire on UN truck,” The Jerusalem Post, January 10,2009.
19 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21776.htm
20 http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/Press+Releases/09/4/2202.htm
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
It is less than a year since the last report on UNRWA by this author was released. (1)
However, the current critical political/security situation in the Gaza Strip requires a new analysis of UNRWA’s various roles in this specific locale.
Background
In December 2008, after seven years of Hamas and other terrorist groups launching
rockets and mortar shells from Gaza at civilians in the south of Israel, Hamas announced that a six-month temporary ceasefire—during which 538 rockets had been fired (2) at Israel—would not be renewed. In the days that followed, rocket firings averaged 40 per day, with over one million Israeli citizens within range.
On December 27, 2009, Israel began a major military operation — Operation “Cast
Lead”—against Hamas in Gaza. As Hamas operated within densely populated civilian
areas, Israel utilized pinpoint strikes and unprecedented efforts to warn the civilian population; nonetheless Israeli operations were unable to avoid collateral damage. As international critics were quick to blame Israel, often without an accurate assessment of the situation, Israel opened a second, information and public relations, front.
Operation “Cast Lead” ended on January 18, 2009, with a ceasefire unilaterally declared by Israel, followed by a similar ceasefire announcement from Hamas. In the course of the Operation, Hamas was disabled but not defeated; it is still in control in Gaza, and still smuggling in weaponry. From the time the war ended through July 20, 2009, 144 rockets, 79 mortars and 6 Grad Katyushas3 have been fired into Israel.
With some specific exceptions,4 crossings today are open for commercial5 and
humanitarian materials. By March 2009, $4.5 billion, including $900 million from the
US, had been pledged by the international community for humanitarian relief and
reconstruction. There is considerable unease, however, about how to proceed with the
major reconstruction that is required but at the same time prevent money and supplies
from falling into hands of Hamas.
Consideration is being given within the international community to utilizing UNRWA—
which is broadly viewed as a purely humanitarian organization—as a major conduit of
these funds and supplies.
The UNRWA role in Gaza
UNRWA involvement in Gaza is greater than in any of the other regions in which it
operates, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Judea & Samaria (West Bank). (4)
This is a function of demographics: 70% of Gaza’s population, estimated at 1.5 million, consists of persons registered with UNRWA as refugees (6) — thus UNRWA maintains a significant presence in the region. There are 10,000 UNRWA workers in Gaza, who are almost all Palestinian Arab refugees themselves; this means roughly one out of every 150 persons resident in Gaza is an UNRWA employee.
A strong connection between UNRWA in Gaza and Hamas has been previously
documented (7) and evidence that this continues is provided later in this report. Of
particular significance are the recently held elections within the teachers’ sector of the UNRWA union in Gaza,. Candidates associated with the Islamic Bloc, an affiliate of Hamas, won all 11 seats for the executive council8— granting Hamas an enormous influence within the UNRWA schools.
The Islamic Bloc (known in Arabic as Al-Kutla Al-Islamiah) maintains broad programs in these UNRWA schools, beginning as early as junior high school, which promote radical incitement for jihad and opposition to Israel. Its goal is winning the hearts and minds of students so they can be recruited into the Hamas military wing during high school or after graduation.(9)
UNRWA positions during “Cast Lead”
During “Cast Lead,” statements of a political nature and accusations leveled at Israel were repeatedly made by key UNRWA personnel, even though this is highly
inappropriate from individuals who represent an organization the official mandate of
which is purely humanitarian.10 What is more, these statements indicated an anti-Israel bias and frequently a misrepresentation of facts.
UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness —in a radio interview11—began talking about
“proportionality” on January 5, 2009, without reflecting what international law actually says12 on this subject:
“This is not proportionate. And what is happening in Sderot [in Israel, where Hamas rockets hit], which is utterly condemnable, I don’t think justifies this level of disproportionality…This degree of killing of innocent women and children and babies is not justified.”
Gunness also took it upon himself to explain Hamas’s rocket attacks:
“But let me also say that the root of the rockets – and people in Gaza tell you this…They will tell you that the occupation is being resisted. That’s the reason for the rockets…”(5)
Gunness is saying here precisely what Hamas says for PR purposes: That it launches
rockets because of “the occupation,” where military occupation of Gaza and the West
Bank is implied. Gunness, who is speaking for an ostensibly humanitarian agency, has no business explaining why Hamas launches rockets in any case. It is wrong from a
humanitarian perspective; from the perspective of international law, it is forbidden.
What Gunness does is to offer a sort of justification, totally disregarding Hamas’s
insistence on the illegitimacy of Israel and its call for Israel’s destruction via jihad. (13)
Perhaps most egregious of all, however, was a statement (14) made by Commission-General of UNRWA, Karen AbuZayd:
“The saddest thing,” she intoned, “is that all of the private sector – every single factory and workshop – was destroyed. Anybody who was working has to start all over.” (15)
To have destroyed “every single factory and workshop,” Israel would have had to carpet bomb all of Gaza, and this was not remotely the case. In fact, Israeli attacks were pinpoint — done to hit specific identified targets. What is more, one must ask how AbuZayd determined such a thing: how could she know that there was not a single
workshop left standing?
This is not a case of expressing an empathy for the residents of Gaza that engenders a tendency to exaggerate. In this instance one is led irrevocably to the conclusion that AbuZayd willfully and maliciously misrepresented.
Instances are also documented in which UNRWA representatives made fallacious
charges against the IDF—or leveled charges before facts were checked—with regard to
damage done to UNRWA buildings or personnel during the conflict.
The incident that received the most press was the one in which it was either claimed or strongly implied that the IDF hit an UNRWA school in Jabaliya that was sheltering
civilians, thereby killing 40 people.16 An IDF investigation, however, indicated that eight to ten Hamas gunmen were killed near the school, which was never hit, after the terrorists had fired mortar shells at IDF troops. (17)
Precipitous charges were made—before facts were confirmed —that the IDF had killed
an UNRWA driver in a convoy. An IDF investigation later found this was not true. (18)
Other charges included the claim made by UNRWA that the IDF had made illegal use of
white phosphorus (19), which was later refuted by the IDF. (20)
Click here for the full report: UNRWA: Its Role in Gaza
===
Citations
1 “UNRWA Overview and Critique.” See:
http://www.israelbehindthenews.com/library/pdfs/UNRWAOverviewAndCritique.pdf
2 Sderot Media Center
3 IDF spokesman’s office.
4 Items not let in are those that have a “double use.” This includes, broadly, materials that could be utilized
for manufacturing munitions — fertilizer, which can become an explosive and items made of heavy metals, or for building bunkers for the storage of munitions — concrete, etc. Additionally, luxury items such as gourmet foods — that would go primarily to the wealthy elite of Gaza, which is primarily Hamas-associated, are not permitted in.
Source: Guy Inbar, spokesman for the IDF Gaza Administration in telephone interview July 20, 2009.
5 According to the Israel-Palestine Chamber of Commerce, it is expected that by the end of 2009, there will be 2 billion shekels in Israeli exports into Gaza.
6 This is a considerably higher ratio of refugees to general population than is the case in the other areas served by UNRWA.
7 “UNRWA Overview and Critique.” See:
http://www.israelbehindthenews.com/library/pdfs/UNRWAOverviewAndCritique.pdf
8 Khaled Abu Toameh, “Hamas wins teachers union elections for UN schools in Gaza,” The Jerusalem Post, March 29, 2009.
9 Lt. Col. (res.).Yoni Dahoah Halevy, in direct communication with the author. Arabic-speaking, he provided information based on his research, on request.
10 When founded by UN Resolution 302 (IV), UNRWA was charged with providing “direct relief and work programmes” for the Palestinian refugees.
According to its website (http://www.un.org/unrwa/overview/index.html) UNRWA later “adjusted” its programs, so that now it is” the main provider of basic services - education, health, relief and social services.” UNRWA’s role is exclusively humanitarian.
This contrasts strikingly with the mandate of the UN High Commission for refugees, a second refugee agency founded by the UN, which is instructed to “lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and wellbeing of refugees.” See http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c2.html.
When the two mandates are considered in juxtaposition, it becomes imminently clear that UNRWA’s role is restricted to the non-political. When its representatives step make political declarations, they are stepping beyond the purview and the mandate of the agency they represent.
11 A radio news show for Democracy Now! hosted by Ami Goodman, January 5, 2009.
12 President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, Rosalyn Higgens, has noted, proportionality “cannot be in relation to any specific prior injury — it has to be in relation to the overall legitimate objective of ending the aggression.” That is, Israel was not required to limit attacks in Gaza to
force commensurate to the force of attacks from Kassams that hit southern Israel. It is, rather, legitimate for Israel to use whatever force is necessary to stop the Kassams.
See a full discussion of this issue at:
http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=3
78&PID=0&IID=2808&TTL=Did_Israel_Use_“Disproportionate_Force”_in_Gaza?
13 According to the Hamas Covenant:
“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [trust] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.” (Article 11)
“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas]… There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.” (Article 13)
“The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.” (Article 15)
14 In the course of a talk delivered at DePauw University (her alma mater) on March 12, 2009.
15 http://www.depauw.edu/news/?id=23119
16 From Herb Keinon and Tovah Lazaroff, “UNRWA offers political cover to Hamas,” The Jerusalem Post,
February 25, 2009, which cited an interview Guiness gave with “Democracy Now!” radio.
17 http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/09/4/2201.htm
18 Amir Mizroch, “IDF: Army didn’t fire on UN truck,” The Jerusalem Post, January 10,2009.
19 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21776.htm
20 http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/Press+Releases/09/4/2202.htm
Thursday, July 9, 2009
"Unity Talks"
Egypt Fosters Palestinian Terror Regime
BETHLEHEM - Ma'an News Agency
An Egyptian security delegation arrived in Ramallah Thursday charged with pushing forward unity talks in a fortified effort that began five days ago.
The Egyptian security delegation, headed by Deputy to the Egyptian Intelligence Chief Mohammad Ibrahim will hold three full days of meetings with figures in the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Fatah and leaders of PLO factions, informed sources said.
The first meeting will be held with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Fatah's delegation to the Cairo talks...
BETHLEHEM - Ma'an News Agency
An Egyptian security delegation arrived in Ramallah Thursday charged with pushing forward unity talks in a fortified effort that began five days ago.
The Egyptian security delegation, headed by Deputy to the Egyptian Intelligence Chief Mohammad Ibrahim will hold three full days of meetings with figures in the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Fatah and leaders of PLO factions, informed sources said.
The first meeting will be held with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Fatah's delegation to the Cairo talks...
Greed Wins: Israeli Profits Override Protection of its Citizens
Greed Wins: Israeli Profits Override Protection of its Citizens
by David Bedein
Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and a slew of Israeli officials who promote trade relations with the Palestinian Arab population conducted a press briefing on Wednesday, July 8, 2009.
Israeli government officials explained why it is that Israel now lifts security measures over the Palestinian Arab population - despite the refusal of the ruling Palestinian Authority to dismantle or to disband the well organized terror groups that operate under the direct command of that same Palestinian Authority:
Israeli civil administration officials proudly proclaimed that the Palestinian Authority is now Israel's largest trading partner.
Israel currently exports 13 billion shekels of products to the Arab population in Judea and Samaria. and another 2 billion shekels of products to Gaza.
There are very few imports from the PA into Israel.
From the transcript of Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's briefing:
Question from David Bedein:
"Is there any understanding, from Israel’s point of view, that Abbas has taken any measures to disarm or to disband the El Aqsa Martyrs Brigade or any other terrorist groups under him. Or, the last three nights on Palestinian television they are celebrating Fatah, past Fatah murders of Israelis, any commitment in Israel over the frequencies of Palestinian television....
Answer from Mr. Daniel Ayalon:
In other words, profits for Israeli companies override security considerations.
Israel's interest in the profits of Israeli companies from the Palestinian Authority trumps the responsibility of Israel to protect its citizens.
At the funerals of the next victims of the PLO, keep in mind that "greed wins".
by David Bedein
Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and a slew of Israeli officials who promote trade relations with the Palestinian Arab population conducted a press briefing on Wednesday, July 8, 2009.
Israeli government officials explained why it is that Israel now lifts security measures over the Palestinian Arab population - despite the refusal of the ruling Palestinian Authority to dismantle or to disband the well organized terror groups that operate under the direct command of that same Palestinian Authority:
Israeli civil administration officials proudly proclaimed that the Palestinian Authority is now Israel's largest trading partner.
Israel currently exports 13 billion shekels of products to the Arab population in Judea and Samaria. and another 2 billion shekels of products to Gaza.
There are very few imports from the PA into Israel.
From the transcript of Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's briefing:
Question from David Bedein:
"Is there any understanding, from Israel’s point of view, that Abbas has taken any measures to disarm or to disband the El Aqsa Martyrs Brigade or any other terrorist groups under him. Or, the last three nights on Palestinian television they are celebrating Fatah, past Fatah murders of Israelis, any commitment in Israel over the frequencies of Palestinian television....
Answer from Mr. Daniel Ayalon:
No, we are still expecting to see a real move over there, and as I mentioned, of course we do appreciate General Dayton’s work to build capacity over there. But of course much more, a lot more, substantially a lot more can be done by the Palestinians to dismantle the infrastructure - that is to collect illegal arms, to disband and outlaw all the terror organizations. Nothing has been done in this area, not to mention of course, the incitement, the curriculum and all that...."
In other words, profits for Israeli companies override security considerations.
Israel's interest in the profits of Israeli companies from the Palestinian Authority trumps the responsibility of Israel to protect its citizens.
At the funerals of the next victims of the PLO, keep in mind that "greed wins".
Monday, June 1, 2009
Special Report: Inside I'lam - Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel (The Center for Near East Policy Research)
Inside I'lam - Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel
by Samuel Sokol and David Bedein
I’lam (pronounced E’e’lam): Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel is a non-profit, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO number 580355600.i) based in Nazareth, Israel. Its aim is to promote civic equality within the public domain and to advocate for the benefit of Arab media interlocutors and Arab institutions. I’lam’s stated mission is “promoting media rights and empowermentii.” At the same time, I’lam focuses much of its efforts towards the de-legitimization of Israel as a Jewish state and its defamation abroad.
I’lam and its staff members have promoted…
• The notion of a massacre in Jenin during Israeli anti-terror operations in 2002.
• The calumny that the recent incursion in Gaza was a massacre.
• Comparisons between Nazis and IDF service personnel.
• Unsubstantiated accusations of cold-blooded murder of journalists.
• Accusations of Israeli security personnel acting as death squads while enforcing the law with the Israeli-Arab public.
• The Palestinian “Right of Return”.
• Jerusalem’s status as an Arab cultural capital as well as a soon to be political capital by right as opposed to a Jewish capital.
• The Palestinian identity of Israeli-Arabs and the solidarity between Israeli-Arabs and the Hamas led Arabs of Gaza.
• The ideology that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 was a disaster (Nakba)
• The very idea of a Jewish state is racist.
• The position that national service is illegitimate for Arab citizens of the state of Israel.
• Hamas as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
• The replacement of Israel with a Palestinian state
I’lam engages in media analysis which is highly tendentious, accusing the Israeli press ofwanton distortion and even of inciting the murder of innocent civilians. While engaging in such behavior, I’lam has worked to defend Israeli-Arabs who have violated the state’s incitement laws. In fact, I’lam board member Anton Shalhat was himself prevented from leaving the country by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon because of the risk that he posed to state security.
I’lam is funded by, among others, the New Israel Fund (NIF). The NIF receives donations from many Jewish Federations and organizations in the United States. Many American Jews may not be fully aware of I'lam's activities.
See the full report: Inside I'lam - Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel
by Samuel Sokol and David Bedein
I’lam (pronounced E’e’lam): Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel is a non-profit, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO number 580355600.i) based in Nazareth, Israel. Its aim is to promote civic equality within the public domain and to advocate for the benefit of Arab media interlocutors and Arab institutions. I’lam’s stated mission is “promoting media rights and empowermentii.” At the same time, I’lam focuses much of its efforts towards the de-legitimization of Israel as a Jewish state and its defamation abroad.
I’lam and its staff members have promoted…
• The notion of a massacre in Jenin during Israeli anti-terror operations in 2002.
• The calumny that the recent incursion in Gaza was a massacre.
• Comparisons between Nazis and IDF service personnel.
• Unsubstantiated accusations of cold-blooded murder of journalists.
• Accusations of Israeli security personnel acting as death squads while enforcing the law with the Israeli-Arab public.
• The Palestinian “Right of Return”.
• Jerusalem’s status as an Arab cultural capital as well as a soon to be political capital by right as opposed to a Jewish capital.
• The Palestinian identity of Israeli-Arabs and the solidarity between Israeli-Arabs and the Hamas led Arabs of Gaza.
• The ideology that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 was a disaster (Nakba)
• The very idea of a Jewish state is racist.
• The position that national service is illegitimate for Arab citizens of the state of Israel.
• Hamas as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
• The replacement of Israel with a Palestinian state
I’lam engages in media analysis which is highly tendentious, accusing the Israeli press ofwanton distortion and even of inciting the murder of innocent civilians. While engaging in such behavior, I’lam has worked to defend Israeli-Arabs who have violated the state’s incitement laws. In fact, I’lam board member Anton Shalhat was himself prevented from leaving the country by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon because of the risk that he posed to state security.
I’lam is funded by, among others, the New Israel Fund (NIF). The NIF receives donations from many Jewish Federations and organizations in the United States. Many American Jews may not be fully aware of I'lam's activities.
See the full report: Inside I'lam - Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Israeli SWAT Team Kills Wanted Hamas Murderer
by David Bedein
Bringing an end to a manhunt that lasted more than 14 years, Israeli commandos killed senior Hamas terror leader Abed Majid Dudin in the southern Hebron hills on Thursday.
He planned at least two multiple suicide bombings in Jerusalem and outside Tel Aviv in 1995.
Five Israelis were murdered, and another 32 were killed in the bombing of Bus No. 20 in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan on July 24, 1995.
Another five Israelis were murdered, and another 107 were injured in the bombing of Bus No. 26 in front of Rene Cassin High School in Jerusalem’s Ramat Eshkol neighborhood on Aug. 21, 1995.
In each of these bombing attacks, the perpetrator of these killings blew himself up together with his victims.
Dudin, 45, recruited the two bombers who perpetrated these attacks.
Shortly after the attacks, Palestinian Authority (PA) security officials arrested Dudin at the Israeli government’s insistence, and the Israelis formally asked for his extradition after his capture.
In order to block the extradition, the PA tried Dudin and sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment. However, he never went to prison and continued working unhindered as a Hamas operative.
Dudin returned to prison under the framework of the 1998 Wye Memorandum, which was signed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President Yasser Arafat. He was imprisoned in Hebron, but was released in 2001 in the early stages of the al-Aqsa intifada, which was coordinated by the Fatah and the Hamas, working under the direction of the PA security forces.
Dudin had been on Israel’s most wanted list ever since and served, until his death, as the commander of Hamas’ military wing in the southern Hebron hills area.
The Israeli security forces tried capturing Dudin on a number of occasions following his release from Palestinian prison. The Israel Police’s SWAT team reached Dudin in his hideout in the village Dura in the southern Hebron hills, killing him following an exchange of gunfire.
Hamas has accused the PA of assisting Israel locating Dudin and has threatened to carry out revenge attacks. The PA denies that it assisted Israel in locating and killing Dudin.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Bringing an end to a manhunt that lasted more than 14 years, Israeli commandos killed senior Hamas terror leader Abed Majid Dudin in the southern Hebron hills on Thursday.
He planned at least two multiple suicide bombings in Jerusalem and outside Tel Aviv in 1995.
Five Israelis were murdered, and another 32 were killed in the bombing of Bus No. 20 in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan on July 24, 1995.
Another five Israelis were murdered, and another 107 were injured in the bombing of Bus No. 26 in front of Rene Cassin High School in Jerusalem’s Ramat Eshkol neighborhood on Aug. 21, 1995.
In each of these bombing attacks, the perpetrator of these killings blew himself up together with his victims.
Dudin, 45, recruited the two bombers who perpetrated these attacks.
Shortly after the attacks, Palestinian Authority (PA) security officials arrested Dudin at the Israeli government’s insistence, and the Israelis formally asked for his extradition after his capture.
In order to block the extradition, the PA tried Dudin and sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment. However, he never went to prison and continued working unhindered as a Hamas operative.
Dudin returned to prison under the framework of the 1998 Wye Memorandum, which was signed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President Yasser Arafat. He was imprisoned in Hebron, but was released in 2001 in the early stages of the al-Aqsa intifada, which was coordinated by the Fatah and the Hamas, working under the direction of the PA security forces.
Dudin had been on Israel’s most wanted list ever since and served, until his death, as the commander of Hamas’ military wing in the southern Hebron hills area.
The Israeli security forces tried capturing Dudin on a number of occasions following his release from Palestinian prison. The Israel Police’s SWAT team reached Dudin in his hideout in the village Dura in the southern Hebron hills, killing him following an exchange of gunfire.
Hamas has accused the PA of assisting Israel locating Dudin and has threatened to carry out revenge attacks. The PA denies that it assisted Israel in locating and killing Dudin.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
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