| The Palestine Monitor, A PNGO Information Clearinghouse Last week in Palestine The creation of a new Israeli "Berlin" Wall The construction of the "separation wall" - or the Israeli "Berlin wall" -- quietly continued apace, with Palestinians facing the prospect of the annexation of their villages and farmland in many areas around the West Bank near the "Green Line". This is combined with the continuing effects of violent Israeli settler attacks on the Palestinian olive harvest, with large-scale thefts of olives and uprooting or burning of trees continuing - despite the presence of international monitors. Although the curfew in Ramallah has now been lifted for the Ramadan period, the curfew regime continues in most parts of the West Bank - with episodes of violent imposition on the part of the Israeli army. Humanitarian conditions are worsening, with people unable to visit family and friends during the holiday period. Eleven Palestinians were killed this week, including a disabled man from Khan Younis. Ismail al Masri, 19, was shot in the stomach by Israeli forces during his early morning walk at the Sofa crossing between Rafah city and Khan Younis in Gaza for no reason except that he was walking in an area close to an illegal Israeli settlement. According to the General Union of Disabled Palestinians, at least 22 disabled Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since the beginning of the current Intifada - with 15 other cases still under investigation. Palestinians killed this week: 11 Total number of Palestinians killed since September 2000: 1,999 For more information contact The Palestine Monitor +972 2 2985372 or +972 (0)59 387087 and see www.palestinemonitor.org |
Britain criticises Israel over settlements, fence http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L05419194 By Dominic Evans LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Britain criticised Israel on Tuesday for expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and for routing a planned security fence so as to annex land on which Palestinians want to set up a state. In a marked shift of tone towards the Jewish state, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told parliament Britain would complain to Israel over the route of the fence, which he said was effectively annexing a significant area of the West Bank. "Whilst I fully understand the need for security for the state of Israel... It looks as though the route taken by this fence is partly on a basis of security and partly on a basis of what land is available," he said. "That is unacceptable". "Conjoined with a fence around Jerusalem, another seven percent of the West Bank will be annexed by this fence," he said. Around 70,000 Palestinians would be trapped between the new barrier and the 1967 "green line" border between Israel and the West Bank, putting pressure on them to leave their homes, he said. "It is unacceptable and we shall be making representations to the government of Israel about it," Straw said. Officials said junior Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien met Israel's ambassador to London shortly after Straw's comments, and might have raised the issue with him then. Israel says the fence is designed to prevent infiltration by Palestinian suicide bombers into Israel. Straw's sharp criticism came just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called early elections, heralding three months of political turmoil in Israel and deepening uncertainty in the Middle East ahead of a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq. Officials said Britain wanted to head off perceptions that efforts to end two years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be put on hold until a new Israeli government emerged. "There remains a sense of urgency to break the logjam," one official told Reuters. Straw said the possibility of military action in Iraq -- likely to inflame Arab opinion -- made the need for an Israeli-Palestinian deal all the greater. Condemning the expansion of Israeli settlements across the West Bank, Straw said they now covered 41 percent of the territory and encircled Arab East Jerusalem. "These are illegal settlements. It is wholly wrong that the government of Israel should have continued to extend them," he said. "This is unlawful." By making it more difficult to set up a viable Palestinian state, they were also undermining Israeli security, he said. The international community regards the Israeli settlements as illegal under international law. Israel disputes this. |
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| Checkpoints: Frustration and Anger VIDEO -FSTV For the first time on American television: vivid footage of the reality of life for Palestinians subjected to Israeli checkpoints inside the West Bank. . FSTV's news anchor Shannon Service and cameraman Andy Dieringer provide rough cuts of footage they just brought back from the Middle East.. |
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| Map of Destroyed Palestinian Villages: A Reign of Terror & Systematic Expulsion |
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