Habib Toumi

Israel has for the last 15 years illegally seized hundreds of millions of dollars meant for Palestinian services, an Israeli newspaper has said.  

The money was collected in the West Bank and channeled into Israel’s state coffers even though international law prohibits an occupying power from appropriating the fruit of economic activity in an occupied territory, Haaretz reported on Wednesday.

Pressed by military lawyers, the Israeli deputy attorney general has ruled that the practice should be stopped and ordered an inquiry into whether the Civil Administration in the West Bank should be compensated retroactively.

The funds include fees and levies for various activities such as royalties from quarries and levies on public auctions. The sums are estimated to reach as much as $22 million a year. continue reading…

A football match between Bahrain and Palestine in Jerusalem has sparked furore in Bahrain with several players refusing to take part and MPs calling for its cancellation.

On Sunday, Al Asala, the Salafi formation with eight lawmakers in the 40-seat lower chamber, said that it “totally rejected” the game as “a form of normalization with the Zionist entity.”

“Even though the football federation said that the game is being organized in coordination with the ministry of foreign affairs, we totally refuse it since it will be held in occupied Palestinian lands,” Abdul Halim Murad, MP representing Al Asala, said. “The Bahraini players will need visas from the Zionist government to enter and that is a form of normalization that the national team and the people of Bahrain vehemently oppose,” he said.

Last week, the federation announced that the football match would be held on May 28 to support the Palestinians. continue reading…

Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa

A society dedicated to resisting the normalization of ties with Israel has urged the upper chamber of the bicameral parliament to endorse a draft law to criminalize contacts with Israelis.

“With the end of the current parliamentary term weeks away, we urge the Shura Council to take up the draft law submitted by the lower chamber on criminalizing cooperation with the Zionist entity,” Abdullah Abdulmalik, the spokesman of the Bahrain Society for Resisting Relations with the Zionist Enemy, said. “Failure to address the issue now means that the draft law will be dropped since it cannot be transferred to the next parliament term,” he said in a statement.

The lower chamber in October approved legislation penalizing contacts with Israel.

According to the bill, “whoever holds any communication or official talks with Israeli officials or travels to Israel will face a fine and/or a jail sentence of up to five years.”

The MPs said that the move aimed at blocking possible steps to hold talks with Israeli officials or delegates who take part in events in Arab countries.

In an unprecedented and far reaching op-ed in the Washington Post in July, Crown Prince Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa wrote that Arabs should convey their points of view and explain their peace initiatives by communicating directly with the Israeli media, the main source of information for Israelis. continue reading…

Hagai Ben-Artzi -Ynews

Hagai Ben-Artzi, the brother–in-law of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called US President Barack Obama an anti-Semite

“It’s not that Obama doesn’t like Bibi,” he said, referring to Netanyahu using his nickname. “He doesn’t like the people of Israel,” he said in an interview with Army Radio.

Ben-Artzi said that Obama’s anti-Semitism stems from years of indoctrination by controversial preacher Rev. Jeremiah Wright, from whom Obama distanced himself during the election campaign.

“For 20 years Obama sat with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who is anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli, and anti-Jewish,” he said. “Think about it. If you had heard of someone who for 20 years sat in church and heard anti-Semitic sermons and didn’t get up to leave after two weeks, wouldn’t you think he identifies with it? As a politician running for presidency he had to hide it, but it comes out every time and I think we just have to say it plainly: There is an anti-Semitic president in America,” he said.

The situation creates a difficult situation for Israel, he added.

“When there is an anti-Semitic president in the United States, it is a test for us and we have to say: We will not concede. We are a nation dating back 4,000 years, and you in a year or two will be long forgotten. Who will remember you? But Jerusalem will dwell on forever.” continue reading…

Yotam Feldman - Haaretz

Israel is planning to complete a 240-kilomter barrier along its Egyptian border in three years.

The cabinet said that the $365 million wall was “a response to attempts to infiltrate Israel along its Egyptian border, which has security and demographic consequences.”

The barrier is designed to prevent “hostile terrorist activity, drug smuggling, the smuggling of goods, illegal infiltrations and human trafficking,” the cabinet said.

The announcement comes as Egypt nears completion of a subterranean metal wall along the Egypt-Gaza border, Israeli Maan news agency said.

According to the report, the fence will be outfitted with “warning measures” to ward off potential migrants. continue reading…

George Mitchell

A US State Department official has denied as “rumours” media reports that Special US Mideast envoy George Mitchell had offered his resignation.

“There appears to be a monthly rumour, story that George Mitchell is resigning. He is not, and he is on the job,” Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary, said at the Daily Press Briefing on Friday. “George Mitchell is determined. He is engaged in discussions with the Palestinians, with the Israelis, with others around the region. And we’re all looking for that formula that can open the door for talks to begin.”

Hadith An-Nass, a Nazareth-based daily, reported on Friday that Mitchell wanted to quit in frustration with the way the US administration has been handling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The paper, quoting an unnamed Arab political source, said that his decision stemmed partly from a perception of biased favour towards Israel by some US officials within the State Department and also from his own failure to advance the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

According to the report, the White House had turned down Mitchell’s request.

However, in the briefing, Crowley said that the US was frustrated because of the lack of progress. continue reading…

George Mitchell ... Time to say farewell?

 Special US Mideast envoy George Mitchell has requested to resign in frustration with the biased favour towards Israel by some US officials within the State Department, Hadith An-Nass, a Nazareth-based daily, reported on Friday.

The newspaper, quoting an unnamed Arab political source, said that Mitchell’s request was partly based on the way the US administration has been handling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

His decision also stemmed from his own failure to advance the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the paper said, adding that the White House turned down the request.

Peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis were halted more than a year ago over the war in the Gaza Strip and have not resumed.

Israel’s Ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, has been summoned to explain on Thursday the use of passports in the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai, an Israeli daily has reported.

The summoning seemed as part of the full investigation pledged on Wednesday by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown into the use of the forged passports by a hit squad that murdered Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh on January 20.

“We are looking into this at this very moment; we have got to carry out a full investigation into this. The British passport is an important document that has got to be held with care,” Brown said in a radio interview, according to Haaretz.

Brown said the British government would seek to accumulate evidence about “what actually happened” before making any official statements on the matter.

Anticipating wider diplomatic developments involving Tel Aviv, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said also on Wednesday that there was no proof Israel’s Mossad spy agency was behind the assassination.

Lieberman shrugged off any prospect of diplomatic problems with Britain over suspicions a Mossad team had used counterfeit British passports.

“I think Britain recognizes that Israel is a responsible country and that our security activity is conducted according to very clear, cautious and responsible rules of the game. Therefore we have no cause for concern,” he said. continue reading…

Israel has failed to demonstrate that it will conduct “thorough and impartial investigations” into alleged violations by its forces during the Gaza conflict, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday.  

“Israel claims it is conducting credible and impartial investigations, but it has so far failed to make that case,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch in a press statement.  “An independent investigation is crucial to understand why so many civilians died and to bring justice for the victims of unlawful attacks.”

The New-York based watchdog said that it met military lawyers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on February 4 to discuss the investigations, but learned that while the military is conducting investigations, “officials did not provide information showing that they will be thorough and impartial or that they will address the broader policy and command decisions that led to unlawful civilian deaths.”

In one case, HRW said, a military investigation apparently missed an important piece of evidence: remains of an aerial bomb found in the al-Badr flour mill outside Jabalya.  Israel denied targeting the mill from the air, as alleged by the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.  However, video footage obtained by Human Rights Watch and released today shows the apparent remains of an Israeli MK-82 500-pound aerial bomb in the damaged mill, and UN de-miners say they defused the bomb.

HRW said that it had documented 53 civilian deaths in 19 incide continue reading…

 International human rights watchdog Amnesty International has accused United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of “missing a crucial opportunity by failing to make an assessment of the credibility of Israeli and Palestinian investigations into violations during the three week attacks in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel in December 2008.

“This is deeply disappointing and a missed opportunity to help secure accountability for the conflict’s hundreds of victims,” Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement posted by the watchdog on Friday.

Ban Ki-moon indicated on Thursday that “no determination can be made” on whether either the Israelis or Palestinians are complying with a UN General Assembly resolution of November 2009 that urged both sides to carry out investigations “that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards”. continue reading…