Hamas pledges Gaza ceasefire to end five days of bloodshed Group hopes temporary truce will stop escalating violence spiralling out of control

Hamas pledges Gaza ceasefire to end five days of bloodshed

Group hopes temporary truce will stop escalating violence spiralling out of control*

By Donald Macintyre in Gaza

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

Hamas has told Egypt it will enforce a ceasefire by militant factions in Gaza aimed at halting bloodshed which started with the killing of eight Israelis by gunmen last week.

The truce was finalised yesterday in Gaza after the Popular Resistance Committees, the faction blamed by Israel for last Thursday's lethal attack near the Red Sea resort of Eilat, finally agreed to what it called a "temporary" ceasefire.

Although Hamas was thought, along with Israel, to be anxious not to let the cycle of Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rocket attacks to spiral out of control, the agreement in Gaza appeared to be a success for Egyptian diplomacy, backed by the UN.

Around 15 rockets and mortars were fired by Gaza militants overnight, causing no injuries. Israel responded with an air strike which targeted a rocket launcher.

At least 15 Palestinians have been killed in the air strikes, mainly militants, but also including a doctor, and three children under the age of 14.

A 38-year old Israeli man was killed in a rocket attack on Beersheeva on Saturday night. The PRC claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israel has made clear that it has not made an agreement with the Palestinian factions but that it will respond in kind provided the rocket attacks stop. Israel's President Shimon Peres said while on a tour of the southern Israeli communities that are most affected by rocket attacks: "If they will cease fire, there will be a cease-fire."

However, an Israeli official warned that the military would reserve the right to attack those attempting to fire rockets, whether before or after the rockets had actually been fired, and to fire on those Palestinians who approach too close to the border fence with Israel.

The official declined to confirm that Israel had helped to pave the way for the factions' agreement to a ceasefire by making clear in advance to the Egyptians that it would respond positively if one was called. But an Israeli delegation was in Cairo on Sunday while its terms were being drawn up.

Israel has been anxious to maximise co-operation with the post-Mubarak authorities after a diplomatic row blew up at the weekend.

Egypt threatened to withdraw its ambassador from Tel Aviv over complaints that three of its security personnel had been killed by Israeli troops firing on gunmen as they retreated across the border after Thursday's attack along Route 12, which is 20km from Eilat.

In a rare statement issued during the Sabbath, Defence Minister Ehud Barak expressed Israel's "regret" for the deaths of the three security men and promised a joint investigation to be carried out by both the Israeli and Egyptian military authorities.

The air strikes on Gaza started within hours of Thursday's attack.

One of the strikes – believed to be by a drone – killed five prominent PRC members in the yard of a house in the southern town of Rafah. But the strike also killed the two-year-old son of one of the PRC members.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defence Force has not yet released any names of the seven gunmen that it says it hit. But it says that it killed at least four gunmen in the fierce exchanges of gunfire which followed on from Thursday's well-executed attack.

Israeli officials say they knew that the attack was the work of the PRC because of prior intelligence that the organisation planned an attack in the area – intelligence some Israeli critics have argued should have enabled security forces to prevent the attack. While the information was detailed this did not extend to the timing of the attack, an unexpectedly bold raid conducted in daylight.

Meanwhile a senior Israeli military officer, Colonel Zvika Haimovitch, acknowledged yesterday that the new "Iron Dome" rocket defence system did not offer full protection against all the salvos that had been fired from Gaza over the last few days.

It shot down four out of five Grad rockets fired by the PRC at Beersheeva, for example, but the fifth rocket killed an Israeli civilian. The man had left his car as the attack was underway.

*Url:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/hamas-pledges-gaza-ceasefire-to-end-five-days-of-bloodshed-2342169.html

Israeli Army Arrests over 50 Palestinians in Hebron

Israeli Army Arrests over 50 Palestinians in Hebron

Ramallah, Aug 21 (Prensa Latina) Israeli forces arrested over 50 Palestinians in Hebron on Sunday, in the biggest raid carried out in the last eight years in the city, announced Palestinian sources.

Detained include various leaders and relatives linked to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), one of them legislator Mohamed Abu Dheishe and some children of the members of the organization, said deputy Samira Halaik, and Maan and Wafa news agencies.

The Israeli forces accompanied by more than 100 military vehicles invaded the city of Hebron, in the south of West Bank, Sunday at dawn, and in neighboring villages such as Dura, Surif, Beit Umma, Yatta, and Samua.

Official Wafa news agency of the Palestine National Authority reported 40 arrests, though the estimates are higher.

Qassam Brigades end truce with Israel

Qassam Brigades end truce with Israel*

Sat Aug 20, 2011

At least 16 Palestinians have been killed in two days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, has ended their two-year de facto ceasefire in response to two days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that killed at least 16 people.

“There is no longer any truce with the enemy,” the Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement broadcast over a Hamas radio station on Saturday.

At least sixteen Palestinians have been killed and dozens have been injured over the past two days by Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, which began on Thursday, shortly after eight Israelis were killed near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.

Medical sources said that children as young as three were among the Palestinian casualties in the attacks on Gaza.

Israeli officials have blamed a Gaza-based militant group called the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC) for Thursday's attack and have vowed a “full force” response targeting Gaza.

Israel said the attackers had infiltrated from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, although the PRC, which is not affiliated with Hamas, denied involvement in the incident.

Hamas has said that it had nothing to do with the assault and has warned against any act of aggression against the Gaza Strip.

PG/HGL

* Url:http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194767.html

Israeli Anarchists, Palestinians and International Activists protest theft of Bow Spring

Israeli Anarchists, Palestinians and International Activists

protest theft of Bow Spring

Last 12 Aug 2011, twenty Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall along with solidarity activists from Belgium, Netherlands, UK, US, Italy and Ireland joined Palestinians in protesting against the theft of village land and its spring for the expansion of the nearby colony of Halamish. As the demonstrators descended the hill leading to the Bow Spring occupation forces opened fire on them from behind and subsequently from three firing positions. Some three hours after the demonstration was suppressed with stun grenades and tear gas, motor vehicles were prevented from entering the village for a period by soldiers manning the permanent checkpoint outside Nabi Saleh – it was feared this was a prelude to the village, same as occurred last Friday, to being raided again but the terror raid failed to materialize.

* Url:http://info-wars.org/2011/08/13/israeli-anarchists-palestinians-and-international-activists-protest-theft-of-bow-spring

'IDF troops shot at journalists covering W. Bank protest'

'IDF troops shot at journalists covering W. Bank protest'

By BEN HARTMAN

05/08/2011

Photojournalist files complaint alleging IDF intentionally fired at him; IDF says it cannot investigate incident in depth without full details.

An American-Israeli photojournalist on Thursday lodged a complaint with the IDF Spokesman’s Office, the Government Press Office and the Foreign Press Association, alleging that IDF soldiers intentionally fired anti-riot projectiles at him and a fellow journalist while they were covering a protest in the West Bank village of Nabi Salih last Friday.

“At the start of the weekly Palestinian protest in Nabi Salih, Alexandroni Brigade reservists and Border Police officers opened fire with riot-control weapons on a group of some 10 press photographers,” Mati Milstein, 36, and originally from New Mexico, said in his complaint letter.

“At the time the attack took place, the troops had already repelled Palestinian protesters with tear gas canisters, and the only people left on the street in view of the Israeli force were accredited press photographers,” wrote Milstein.

“The photographers were clearly identified; carrying still and video cameras and tripods and wearing unique blue flak jackets and helmets marked with ‘PRESS’ or ‘TV.’ The distance between the journalists and soldiers was approximately 100m. and visibility was clear,” he wrote.

Milstein said that the tear gas canisters and rifle-fired gas grenades shot at the Israeli, Palestinian and foreign journalists were not fired in an arc, indicating to Milstein that the soldiers were not trying to fire over him and his colleagues, rather, directly at them.

He said the barrage lasted three to five minutes and included at least 12 rounds fired at the journalists, none of whom were wounded.

When he went to the soldiers to complain, officers from the Alexandroni Brigade threatened him with arrest and demanded that he stand against a wall, which prevented him from performing his job, Milstein said.

“Other television and still photographers in the area were also sequestered – under threat of arrest – to a location behind military lines from which it was virtually impossible to photograph the events,” he said.

Milstein, who first reported the incident in a post he wrote for the blog “972mag,” told The Jerusalem Post by e-mail on Thursday that in the years that he has worked at the protests, “previous Israeli military commanders serving in this sector had generally taken a more tolerant and sophisticated approach to dealing with the weekly protests, not infrequently seeking negotiation or coordination with Palestinian village leaders aimed at diffusing potentially violent situations. However, since early 2001, army and Border Police units operating in Nabi Salih have taken an increasingly heavy-handed approach to the protests.”

He said a similar escalation has been carried out toward the press, an escalation he says is “the product of a military environment that increasingly sees the media as an enemy or a fifth column rather than as one of the key elements required for the maintenance of a democratic, transparent state.”

Milstein said that he knows of other journalists who have suffered abuse from one side or another in covering the conflict, but have kept quiet to avoid damaging their credibility or out of professional interests.

He said that he is seeking no personal damages following the incident, and that he decided to file the complaint because of a situation in the West Bank where “abuse of journalists and draconian limitations on press freedoms are now largely seen as acceptable. And perhaps, in some cases and in some units, are even encouraged.”

None of the other journalists filed a complaint with the Foreign Press Association, but the FPA referred the case to the International News Safety Institute and forwarded his entry on “972mag” to Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, Milstein said.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office responded that “the IDF respects journalistic freedom of expression and understands its importance. As proof of this, every week there are dozens of journalists present covering the disturbances [in the West Bank] in a free manner, as long as they do not interfere with the work of [IDF] forces.

“Every complaint that is issued will be thoroughly examined by the IDF and any deviation from command, if discovered, will be dealt with accordingly. It should be noted that journalists who enter territories in which there are disturbances and illegal activities on a regular basis – such as Nabi Salih – do bear responsibility. Since full information on this incident was not submitted, it will not be possible to examine it in depth,” the IDF spokesman said.

* Url:http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=232556

Israeli Soldiers Shoot, Severely Beat Palestinian

Israeli Soldiers Shoot, Severely Beat Palestinian*

Date : 23/6/2011

JERUSALEM, June 23,2011 (WAFA)- Israeli police are detaining Palestinian man Ahmed Ali Mahmoud, 36, in Shaare Zedek hospital west of Jerusalem, despite his injury with live bullets and bruises to his head after an assault by Israeli soldiers yesterday in Al-Issawiya town in Jerusalem.

Mahmoud’s family said his condition is stable after he was shot with a live bullet in his leg, and that he is suffering from wounds and bruises to his face, yet Israeli police continue to bind his hands and feet.

Mahmoud was hit during an Israeli raid on Al-Issawiya yesterday in which soldiers arrested his 10 year old nephew Mohamed Mahmoud Ali. His uncle, Ahmed, rushed to the scene and was shot by Israeli soldiers in his leg at close range. He was then taken away by car and beaten severely, without treatment for his leg. He finally collapsed and was taken to hospital.

* Url:http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16523

IOA orders destruction of Jerusalemite home

IOA orders destruction of Jerusalemite home*

23/06/2011

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- An Israeli court issued a ruling Wednesday in favor of destroying the home of Wael al-Razem in the Wadi Yasul neighborhood of Jerusalem’s Silwan district, claiming the home was built without license.

The family of eight, most of whom are children, was given until the middle of July to evacuate.

The Razems began building in September 2010 and went to reside in their home after a month, Um Mohammed al-Razem said, adding that in November officials from Israel’s Jerusalem municipality came and handed the family a demolition notice.

She said more officers came later to inform them that they were not allowed to make reparations to the home.

She went on to say that the family appointed a lawyer to help fight the demolition decree and tried to get a license to build issued.

* Url:http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7

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Israel calls demolition report 'incorrect'

Israel calls demolition report 'incorrect'*

Published Thursday 23/06/2011

Their homes demolished by the CA on Tuesday, Ahmed Abdullah Harfi and his

family stand in front of the ruins. [MaanImages/Hilary Minch, EAPPI]

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel's Civil Administration lashed out Wednesday night, calling a rights group report "incorrect and misleading," in its claim that home demolitions had spiked alarmingly in 2011.

Israeli rights group B'Tselem, had published a document saying more homes had been demolished in the first six months of 2011 than in the 12 months of the year before.

"Last week alone, 33 residential structures were demolished in the Jordan Valley and southern Hebron hills," the report said, cataloging the displacement of 706 individuals, including 341 minors.

A representative of the Civil Administration could not be reached for a follow-up comment to specify what in the B'Tselem report was identified as inaccurate or misleading.

"The Civil Administration has not put numbers or explanations to back up their criticisms," B'Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli told Ma'an, saying the group welcomed any investigation into the findings.

"In order to get the numbers, we corroborated with other rights groups and OCHA, all of our numbers are cross referenced with theirs, and are based on independent field work," Michaeli said, noting that B'Tselem's numbers did not include the demolition of animal shelters and storage containers which are included in reports from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The Bt'Tselem report also accused the Civil Administration of failing to include Palestinian communities into planning, and wrote that the body does "not enable any construction or development beyond what already exists, making it impossible for Palestinians to build legally in these areas."

In response, the CA said it "has recently formulated new criteria designed to aid in the process of approval of Palestinian urban master plans."

The statement also said it sought to "put things into context and clarify that enforcement [of demolition orders] carried out against the illegal Israeli and Palestinian construction is done due to the authorities' duty to uphold planning and construction law. This activity is carried out according to priorities that have been presented tens of times before the High Court of Justice.

"Among other things, priority is given to buildings that are located in fire zones, thus putting the lives of the residents in danger."

According to the latest report from OCHA, 18 percent of the West Bank has been designated as a "firing zone," a 2009 report notes that much of the land also "overlaps with that which falls under the jurisdiction of Israeli [settlement] regional councils."

Speaking for B'Tselem, Michaeli said the report did not dispute that the structures were illegal under Israeli law, saying "that's the problem."

The report called for "plans for Palestinian communities there that will reflect the needs of the population and enable these communities to develop."

* Url:http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=399120

Occupation bulldozers demolish Palestinian homes in Negev

Occupation bulldozers demolish Palestinian homes in Negev*

NEGEV (PIC) 17 June -- Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished three residential structures in the villages of Karnab and Faraa, two unrecognised villages of Negev in southern occupied Palestine, as part of the occupation efforts to cleanse the Negev of Palestinian Bedouins. Head of the regional council of unrecognised villages, Ibrahim al-Waqili, said ... "For the Zionist Ministry of Interior to choose this this time for the demolition is an indication that they aim to destroy man not walls,"... pointing out that the occupation authorities chose the time of final secondary exams to carry out such demolitions to demolish the hopes of affected students of passing their final exams.

* Url:http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc

Cabinet expected to curtail Barak's power to veto West Bank settlement construction

Cabinet expected to curtail Barak's power

to veto West Bank settlement construction*

Haaretz 17 June

Anticipated decision would move control of World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division from Agriculture Ministry to Prime Minister's Office -- The cabinet is expected to vote on Sunday to curtail Defense Minister Ehud Barak's authority to supervise construction in West Bank settlements. The proposal would revoke Barak's right to veto West Bank construction by the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division. The division budgets NIS 25 million a year for this purpose.

* Url:http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
cabinet-expected-to-curtail-barak-s-power-to-veto-west-bank-settlement-construction-1.368137

State moves to expand settlement on Palestinian land confiscated by Jorda

State moves to expand settlement on Palestinian land confiscated by Jordan*

Haaretz 17 June

Israel is pushing ahead with a plan that would legitimize construction on land near the settlement of Ofra in the West Bank. The Supreme Court ruled as early as 1979 that settlements may not be built on confiscated private Palestinian land. The move's legal foundation appears to hinge on the fact that it was the Jordanians, not the Israelis, who confiscated the land - before Israel took over the West Bank during the Six-Day War in 1967. Jordan had confiscated land from the villages of Ein Yabrud and Silwad to build a military camp.

* Url:http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
state-moves-to-expand-settlement-on-palestinian-land-confiscated-by-jordan-1.368136

IDF soldiers destroy Bedouin tents

IDF soldiers destroy Bedouin tents*

JORDAN VALLEY (PIC) 14 June -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) tore down Bedouin tents and tin homes in Fasayel Al-Wusta area in the Jordan Valley on Tuesday morning rendering ten families homeless. Safa news agency ... said that the IOF demolition displaced more than 120 individuals including women, children, and old people. Bedouins in Fasayel Al-Tihta opened their homes for the displaced families. Locals said that the soldiers confiscated small electricity generators used by those Bedouins. The sources noted that the IOF soldiers recently discovered relics in the area and demolished the Bedouin homes in a bid to turn the area into a tourist attraction.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7H7Gtp

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Home demolitions in Fasayel

Home demolitions in Fasayel*

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

On the 14.06.2011, the colonialist forces demolished 21 structures in Fasayel, Southern Palestinian Jordan Valley.

At 6 o'clock this morning, about 10 military jeeps, one civil administratiion car and 3 bulldozers entered Fasayel Wasta and Foqa, turning the area into a 'closed military area', preventing anybody to enter the village for more than 3 hours.

The army demolished 18 homes and 3 animal shelters, leaving 103 homeless and destroying the means of production of 3 families.

The owners of those structures are the following :

Qaïd Atallah Salame

Uhsein Yassin Mossa Rosheide

Khader Yassin Mossa Rosheide

Abed Yassin Mossa Rosheide

Khaled Abdallah Ali Ghazal

Ammar Mossa Ali Odeh

Nasser Mossa Ali Odeh

Sami Mossa Ali Odeh

Ali Uhsein Hassan Zaïd

Najih Ali Uhsein Zaïd

Omar Mohammad Khalil Taamri

All of them but Omar Taamri had got a demolition order 3 months ago.

Soldiers attacked Taamri's wife and daughter, hitting both of them.

Moreover, the army cut electrical lines that provides electricity to Fasayel Wusta area. At now residents don't have any access to electricity.

Fasayel Wusta 2 weeks before the demolitions, Tomer settlement in the background (photo AFPS 44)

http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=289

IOF serves notice for demolition of village mosque

IOF serves notice for demolition of village mosque*

15/06/2011

BETHLEHEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday stormed the village of Ma’sara south of Bethlehem and told the inhabitants that their village mosque would be knocked down for unlicensed construction.

Spokesman of the popular anti-wall committee in Bethlehem Mohammed Brejiah said in a press release that the notice gave the inhabitants 13 days to contest the decision at the civil administration’s office in Etzion south of the city or else the demolition would take place after this period.

He pointed out that the village is the target of intensive settlement activity, noting that it witnesses weekly anti wall and anti settlement rallies.

The IOF troops earlier Tuesday destroyed five water wells south of Al-Khalil, local sources said, adding that clashes erupted between the soldiers and owners of the water wells. Soldiers beat the citizens and fired gas bombs at them, they said.

* Url:http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b

Israeli soldiers reveal army brutalities

Israeli soldiers reveal army brutalities*

Mon Jun 13, 2011

Interview with Richard Morris, playwright, London

A number of Israeli soldiers have revealed the brutalities they witnessed during the army's attacks on Palestinian territories.

Press TV interviewed Richard Morris Richard Morris, a playwright in London, to give a sneak peek on his latest work which is based on the testimonials of former Israel soldiers.

Press TV: Can you give us a flavor of the change that the soldiers went through that brought them out as they were?

Morris: Yea, well, the first thing, I congratulate them for their bravery, I mean it is an extraordinary doing in the militaristic society. But what it has been, it permeates my life now, because the more you read, the more you go through them. Like I said, I am trying to turn it into something that can be presented on the stage, but there are 414 pages and there are hundreds of soldiers. So I have picked out 30, and even now I'm irksome before I came in here today. I'm still shocked at the depravity and disorganization of the Israeli army.

The commanding officer, so often, sort of wink at anything they think is bad and a young soldier will say we shouldn't be doing this. I mean an example of that is a man on a roof top and the news comes through that he is unarmed and the commanding officer says, oh, but he's a spy, and the soldier says well how do you know, he says well I don't, shoot him, and the soldier says but he is unarmed, he says I don't care, shoot him.

And he knows it's wrong, the soldier, but he does it and time and time again these young soldiers come through, I presume they are nearly all young because it's a conscript army in a way, [and] they seem to be saying that I can't be doing anything about this, this is shocking.

I mean, there is one terrifying scene where a mother won't come out of the house, and they put what they call a FOX[-7] which is an explosive next to the door, she opens the door and she is blown up, and she is smeared, literally, her body against the wall, and her children are crying and everything. And the soldiers go back to the base and they find it funny, they discuss it as an amusing incident in their day's work.

Press TV: These young soldiers have to go through deprogramming almost. So they are told one set of truths from Israeli media perhaps or their commanding officers and when they go through the towns and villages they see people behaving differently. Tell me is that the sort of thing that comes through the report?

Morris: Very much so. I mean the settlers, especially, are a menace. The settlers have no respect for the soldiers whatsoever, the whole section where they discussed this aspect of the war, and the settlers say to a commanding officer [or] anyone, you can't tell me what to do, and they go in and they hit young kids, they hit people, they beat them.

I mean there is one example of a 70-year-old man who is tied up and left in the shop, and the soldiers say I know he hasn't done anything wrong, but we don't know what to do with him. Yes a Palestinian man, they left him in there for four hours.

I just say, you could go incident after incident, but some are particularly shocking, where even a soldier admits, he says when we go into the houses and we start to smash it up, [but] there is no reason for them to smash the house but they do, and they say the girls in the house are peeing themselves.

And there is a another shocking example of a soldier being told that they can shoot these stone throwers, these young kids, but not above the knees, but of course they can make mistakes as they keep saying. And then the officer might get fined, whoever shoots them, 100 shekels. So, it's ILS 100 for the price of a dead 15-year-old.

I mean it so inhumane that it's hard to believe and the more I read and the more I think it should really be out there in the mass media.

Press TV: And you say that there are hundreds of testimonies now out there?

Morris: On the site, yes, there are more than a hundred on the breakingthesilence site. On my blog I have chosen to have 30 soldiers.

* Url:http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184513.html

From the Fatah-Hamas Accord to UN Recognition of the Palestinian State

From the Fatah-Hamas Accord to UN Recognition of the Palestinian State

Statement of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Israel

28, April 2011

The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) welcomes the accord initialed by representatives of the Fatah and Hamas movements, concerning the establishment of an interim unity government, and preparations for elections for the Presidency, the Parliament, and the Palestinian National Council within eight months.

An accord between Fatah and Hamas regarding political cooperation is an important contribution toward the efforts by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority to achieve the support of a majority of UN assembly members next September in favor of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside Israel.

The CPI stresses that the UN assembly’s upcoming vote regarding a Palestinian State within the lines of June 4, 1967 serves the basic interests of both Israeli and Palestinian peoples in achieving a just and stable peace, based on the end of occupation, evacuation of settlements, and a solution to the refugee problem in accordance with UN resolutions.

CPI’s Political Bureau condemns the impassioned reaction by Prime Minister Netanyahu, according to which Fatah must make a choice between peace with Israel and peace with Hamas. It is important to note that Netanyahu and his cabinet are the ones who have argued repeatedly that signing an agreement with the Palestinians would be impossible, because the Chairman Abu-Mazen does not represent the government in Gaza. Now, as a Fatah-Hamas accord is in the making, it is once again revealed that the only thing that interests this dangerous obstructionist government is the continuation of occupation and settlement, while risking the possibility of new wars.

CPI calls upon its partners in Hadash (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) and on all supporters of peace in Israel, Jews and Arab alike, to intensify the struggle to end the occupation and to join forces in an effort to garner as broad public support as possible for the coming declaration of the UN Assembly in favor of establishing an independent Palestine alongside Israel. The chance to achieve a permanent peace, based on the principle of two independent states, in lines of June 4 1967, is more tangible today than ever before.

Let us not allow this historical opportunity escape us! Let us save our two peoples from further war and bloodshed!

An independent Palestine is also in the interest of the masses of the Israeli people!

Tel Aviv, 28, April 2011


* Url:http://21stcenturymanifesto.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/from-the-fatah-hamas-accord-to-un-recognition-of-the-palestinian-state/

'Mediator' Inciting Conflict-KCNA

'Mediator' Inciting Conflict

Pyongyang, April 29 (KCNA) -- Recently the United States has openly supported Israel's anti-peace moves, revealing its true colors as wrecker of peace.

The world community unanimously condemns Israel's building of Jewish settlements and "security walls", but only the U.S. acts contrary to this trend, though styling itself a mediator of peace in the Middle East.

On February 18 the UNSC conducted a voting on an anti-Israel resolution, which rejects the persistent expansion of Jewish settlements in West Bank and East Kuds. This resolution, submitted by Arab countries, was voted by 14 member nations of the UNSC but vetoed only by the U.S.

On April 18 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed "deep thanks" to the U.S. for having financed the "Iron Dome" missile defense system and the mortar defense system aimed to contain Palestine.

Under the active patronage of the U.S., Israel is getting more hell-bent on Jewish settlements construction while committing brutal atrocities against Palestinians almost every day.

It is reported to have prepared massive armed attack on Palestine. The prime minister, the defense minister and other high-ranking officials of Israel would bluster that they are ready to go over into action with strong armed forces. Under this situation the "Iron Dome" system and military units in combat readiness are being deployed in the areas adjacent to West Bank.

The U.S. protection of Israel is an intentional deed of bringing the Mideast peace process to rupture as it is designed to escalate antagonism between Palestine and Israel and tighten its intervention and domination over this region.

The ultimate purpose of the U.S. is to make Israel invariably serve as an agent for implementing its aggressive strategy in the Middle East, a region rich in natural resources and a point of strategic importance, and secure its strategic interests in this region.

Nevertheless, the U.S. is styling itself a coordinator and mediator for the Mideast peace. This is a mockery of the world community and shows moral vulgarity of the U.S.

HANDS OFF LIBYA!

HANDS OFF LIBYA!

(A statement from the All-Union Communist Party Bolsheviks)

18.03.2011

All-Union Communist Party Bolsheviks strongly opposes the impending aggression of NATO forces led by the USA against sovereign Libya.

We fully agree with the people of Libya and its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, fully support their just struggle for freedom and independence of their country! We demand an end to the inhumane training of international imperialism, headed by the U.S. to new aggression against Libya now!

Hands Off Libya! We urge the international community, not wishing to burn in the hell of a third world war, to stand in the way of imperialist madmen, trying to rekindle the fires of war in North Africa!

HANDS OFF LIBYA!

AUCPB

Perspective on the People's Uprisings against autocratic regimes in North Africa & Middle East

Perspective on the People's Uprisings

against autocratic regimes in North Africa & Middle East

Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson,
International Coordinating Committee
International League of People's Struggles
February 27, 2011

The International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) steadfastly stands in solidarity with and supports the peoples of the North African and Middle East countries in their mass uprisings and revolutionary struggles for national liberation and democracy against the autocratic regimes long maintained by imperialist powers and local reactionary classes.

At the same time, the ILPS is keenly aware that the overthrow of a dictator by a rapid spontaneous surge of the masses does not necessarily result in the revolutionary overthrow of the ruling system. In the absence of a strong revolutionary party of the proletariat and revolutionary mass organizations, the imperialist powers and its puppets among the competing political and military factions of the local exploiting classes can arrange a new regime that pretends to be better than the previous one.

Are peoples perpetually and hopelessly trapped in ruling systems controlled and manipulated by the imperialists and their reactionary agents? No. The crisis of each ruling system and the mass uprisings can result not only in the overthrow of the autocratic regime but also in the further development of revolutionary parties, mass organizations and alliances for the continuous advance of the people's cause for national and social liberation.

The peoples' uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East are not the deliberate creation of the imperialists, their mass media and smart political agents. They are the people's resistance to the oppression and exploitation that they have long suffered. Their suffering has been made more than ever intolerable by the crisis of the world capitalist system and domestic ruling systems under the bankrupt US-imposed policy of neoliberal globalization and the US global war of terror characterized by state terrorism and aggression.

While the revolutionary strength of the people in a country is not yet sufficient to overthrow the ruling system, the US and its puppets deck themselves out as democrats by trying to forge new constitutions and instituting periodic elections and term limits for elective officials even as variable balances of political and military factions continue to make the ruling system apparently stable but really more unstable, remaining ripe for the next corrupt autocratic regime or servile to monarchies most favored by the US as in Saudi Arabia and the emirates.

The big prize for the US and its imperialist allies and its biggest local puppets in North Africa and the Middle East is the stepped-up superprofit-taking from the cheap labor of the working people, exploitation of oil and other natural resources, the huge sales of armaments to the oil producing countries and many other kinds of businesses.

The imperialist powers headed by the US are hell-bent on tightening their control over all the major sources of oil and gas and cannot tolerate the degree of national independence or anti-imperialism that Iraq and Libya exercised in extended periods in the past and that Iran is striving hard to maintain. The US is now flagrantly seeking to grab and tighten its control over the oil resources of Libya as in Iraq. It is taking the lead in applying sanctions and threatening to unleash the aggression and atrocities that it used to take over the oil resources of Iraq.

Once more, the irony of autocrats subservient or pliant to US imperialism but eventually junked by it is being demonstrated in North Africa and the Middle East. New sets of puppets are being arranged to further exploit and oppress the people. But through perseverance in revolutionary struggle in the long course of history, the people can develop their own strength to realize their national and social liberation.

On the scale of North Africa and the Middle East and particular countries, the course and outcomes of the peoples' uprisings follow the law of uneven development. Under any circumstances, the ILPS stands in solidarity with and supports the broad masses of the people and the anti-imperialist and democratic forces, and encourage them to be vigilant and militant against machinations to maintain and prolong imperialist domination and subservience by the local reactionary forces.

The International League of Peoples' Struggle looks forward to far greater revolutionary struggles now and in the future. Whatever are the temporary arrangements that can be made by the imperialists and their reactionary agents, the revolutionary energy and forces already released by the peoples' uprisings will find fertile ground to grow in strength and advance against the crisis-stricken world capitalist system and the local ruling systems.

Motive of Jewish Settlement Expansion-KCNA

Motive of Jewish Settlement Expansion

By Ri Kyong

Pyongyang, February 8 (KCNA) -- Israel has persistently expanded Jewish settlements.

After deciding in last October to build some 200 blocks in East Kuds, Israel in early November announced a plan for another 1 300 blocks.

Some time ago, Israeli troops destroyed the Shepherd Hotel belonging to Palestinians in East Kuds with bulldozers to build Jewish settlements.

Israel′s expansion of Jewish settlements is aimed to prevent the Palestinians from founding a sovereign state and keep the illegally occupied Palestinian territory under its ownership.

The Israeli authorities describe the Gaza Strip as a source of threat to Israel. They also openly show antipathy to Latin American countries for their decision to recognize a sovereign state of Palestine.

Israel′s reckless policy of settlement expansion has rendered the situation more complicated in the Middle East, leaving the prospect of the Palestinian issue gloomy.

It is the view of the international community that Israel should stop pursuing the expansion policy and take substantial measures to promote the process of peace with Palestine.