The Palestine thread

[Ball DeBeaver]

3-year-old critically injured by stones near Ariel


Vehicle carrying woman, her three daughters, crashes into truck that veered off course due to stones hurled by Palestinians in West Bank road; 3-year-old critically injured; three others moderately wounded

Itamar Fleishman Latest Update:  03.15.13, 00:50 / Israel News 
 
A woman and her three daughters were injured on Thursday in a car accident caused by stones hurled by Palestinians on Route 5 connecting Tel Aviv and Ariel.

One of the girls, three-year-old Adele, was critically wounded, while the mother, Adva Biton, 40, and her two other daughters, Avigail and Naama - ages four and five - sustained moderate injuries.

A truck that veered off course crashed into the woman's car which also swerved as a result of stone throwing. The truck driver was lightly injured. 
Medics evacuated the four-year-old girl to the Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer and the additional victims were taken to the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
The four were on their way back from a visit to their grandmother, Martine Elmakayes. Biton's fourth daughter, eight-year-old Moriya, did not join them as she was visiting a friend.

The Shai District Police confirmed that stones had been hurled at vehicles traveling on Route 5. 
Doctors at the Rabin Medical Center said that Adele suffered a serious head injury and was taken straight into surgery upon her arrival. "We are doing everything to save her," said Dr. Oleg Kaminsky.   

In the meanwhile, the IDF and Shin Ben are still searching for the Palestinians that hurled the stones. It is believed they used a point overlooking Route 5, near Ariel, to hurl the stones and then fled to one of the nearby villages.

Several hours later it was reported that a man and a 10-year-old boy were lightly injured by stones hurled at them on the same road. They were taken to the Hasharon Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
The truck driver told police at the scene that he pulled over after he heard a thud, thinking it was the result of a flat tire.
"At that point I noticed the stones on the road," the driver said, "and when I came back to the truck I realized that the car had crashed into the truck and was basically buried under the truck."

A few hours after the accident, residents of the area started to arrive at the scene of the crash to pray for the health of the toddler, reading from the Book of Psalms and protesting stones hurling.

Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council, visited the Biton family at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva. "The entire Israeli people is with you, praying for the recovery of the injured," Mesika said. "The unjust policy that insists on categorizing stone hurling as disorderly conduct rather than as terror is completely irresponsible."

According to Mesika, "In the past couple of months, incidents of stone hurling have become more prevalent, but with no response – due to restrictions that politicians have imposed on the IDF. It's about time we come to terms with the fact that a stone can kill. We must view stone hurling as terror."

Rabbi Aharon Cohen of the Yakir settlement, in which the family resides, said that the family was inflicted by "terror that has been growing more frequent over the last few weeks – terror that some have been taking lightly." 
In November, Ziona Kalla, wife of singer Itzik Kalla, sustained serious injuries as a result of stones hurled at her car near Beitar Illit in the West Bank.

Defense officials said that stone attacks have increased in the past few months and are now a form of popular terrorism. The IDF has placed traps in key points and stepped up its patrols in the West Bank to combat the phenomenon.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4356683,00.html

[seafoid]

3-year-old critically injured by stones near Ariel


Vehicle carrying woman, her three daughters, crashes into truck that veered off course due to stones hurled by Palestinians in West Bank road; 3-year-old critically injured; three others moderately wounded

Itamar Fleishman Latest Update:  03.15.13, 00:50 / Israel News 
 
A woman and her three daughters were injured on Thursday in a car accident caused by stones hurled by Palestinians on Route 5 connecting Tel Aviv and Ariel.

One of the girls, three-year-old Adele, was critically wounded, while the mother, Adva Biton, 40, and her two other daughters, Avigail and Naama - ages four and five - sustained moderate injuries.

A truck that veered off course crashed into the woman's car which also swerved as a result of stone throwing. The truck driver was lightly injured. 
Medics evacuated the four-year-old girl to the Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer and the additional victims were taken to the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
The four were on their way back from a visit to their grandmother, Martine Elmakayes. Biton's fourth daughter, eight-year-old Moriya, did not join them as she was visiting a friend.

The Shai District Police confirmed that stones had been hurled at vehicles traveling on Route 5. 
Doctors at the Rabin Medical Center said that Adele suffered a serious head injury and was taken straight into surgery upon her arrival. "We are doing everything to save her," said Dr. Oleg Kaminsky.   

In the meanwhile, the IDF and Shin Ben are still searching for the Palestinians that hurled the stones. It is believed they used a point overlooking Route 5, near Ariel, to hurl the stones and then fled to one of the nearby villages.

Several hours later it was reported that a man and a 10-year-old boy were lightly injured by stones hurled at them on the same road. They were taken to the Hasharon Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
The truck driver told police at the scene that he pulled over after he heard a thud, thinking it was the result of a flat tire.
"At that point I noticed the stones on the road," the driver said, "and when I came back to the truck I realized that the car had crashed into the truck and was basically buried under the truck."

A few hours after the accident, residents of the area started to arrive at the scene of the crash to pray for the health of the toddler, reading from the Book of Psalms and protesting stones hurling.

Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council, visited the Biton family at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva. "The entire Israeli people is with you, praying for the recovery of the injured," Mesika said. "The unjust policy that insists on categorizing stone hurling as disorderly conduct rather than as terror is completely irresponsible."

According to Mesika, "In the past couple of months, incidents of stone hurling have become more prevalent, but with no response – due to restrictions that politicians have imposed on the IDF. It's about time we come to terms with the fact that a stone can kill. We must view stone hurling as terror."

Rabbi Aharon Cohen of the Yakir settlement, in which the family resides, said that the family was inflicted by "terror that has been growing more frequent over the last few weeks – terror that some have been taking lightly." 
In November, Ziona Kalla, wife of singer Itzik Kalla, sustained serious injuries as a result of stones hurled at her car near Beitar Illit in the West Bank.

Defense officials said that stone attacks have increased in the past few months and are now a form of popular terrorism. The IDF has placed traps in key points and stepped up its patrols in the West Bank to combat the phenomenon.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4356683,00.html

why is there a Jew only city in the West Bank ?
why do Jews have a monopoly on violence in the West Bank? 
How many Jews would live in the West Bank without their army? 

[give her dixie]

Ten years on I want answers for my daughter Rachel Corrie

By Craig Corrie, co-founder, Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice


On March 16, 2003, my daughter Rachel Corrie was crushed to death under a bulldozer driven by an Israel Defense Forces soldier. The bulldozer was manufactured in the United States by Caterpillar, Inc. and paid for by U.S. foreign military financing aid. My tax dollars paid for the machine used to kill my daughter.

In a telephone conversation the next day, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon promised President Bush a "thorough, credible, and transparent" investigation into Rachel's killing with a report to the U.S. Government. In response, April 24, 2003, our family received a printed PowerPoint presentation circulating in Congress purporting to explain the death of our daughter. This report, created by officers in command of the IDF unit that killed Rachel, concluded, "Ms. Corrie was not run over by a bulldozer, but sustained injuries caused by earth and debris which fell on her during bulldozer operation."

Not only was this statement not supported by accounts from Rachel's friends and their photographs, it was subsequently contradicted by Captain R.S., the highest ranking IDF officer on the scene. In Haifa District Court in April 2011, he pointed to the blade marks on the ground in one of the photos, and swore he knew in the first minute that the bulldozer had run over Rachel.

On May 23, 2003, our family was informed by the U.S. Department of State that the Israelis had closed Rachel's case, that no charges would be brought, and that they declined to release the promised report to our government. Members of the State Department, U.S. embassy, and our family were subsequently permitted to read the report. It remains the U.S. position, restated as recently as August 2012 by U.S. Ambassador Daniel Shapiro, that the Israeli investigation did not meet the standard of "thorough, credible, and transparent."

Our family has always believed that our government, through diplomatic means, should resolve the matter and hold the Israeli government accountable for a U.S. citizen killed with a U.S.- funded weapon. Indeed, the U.S. has tried. As Ambassador Designate James B. Cunningham noted in his 2008 confirmation, in addition to President Bush "then-Secretary Powell, Ambassador Kurtzer, Deputy Chief of Mission LeBaron, Assistant Secretary William Burns, and Deputy Assistant Secretary David Satterfield, among others, raised this issue with their counterparts and other appropriate authorities in the Israeli Government."

But in the words of Michelle Bernier-Toth, U.S. Department of State's Managing Director of Overseas Citizens Services in 2008, "We have consistently requested that the government of Israel conduct a full and transparent investigation into Rachel's death. Our requests have gone unanswered or ignored."  This is the response from a government that last year received four billion dollars of aid from American citizens – aid U.S. law prohibits being used in human rights violations!

What then would I ask President Obama to do as he makes his way to Israel and Palestine this month? Assure Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas alike that we will stand with them for the just aspirations of all their citizens, including the equal recognition to their right to be free of threats to their homes, families, farmland, and future. Explain that the U.S. will no longer support financially or diplomatically the apartheid system embodied in the occupation of Palestine and in the treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Remind them that security cannot come at the expense of the other, but only with the participation of both. Rather than giving license to a government's most violent instincts by repeating endlessly that Israel has a right to defend itself – ignoring that Palestinians also have that right – call instead for the courage of each side to live by the ceasefires negotiated but left unsigned or ignored.

President Obama should refuse to continue U.S. military and diplomatic support until Israel gives truthful answers to our questions, not just for U.S. citizens like Rachel and Furkan Dogan, but for all the civilians killed or maimed using U.S.-funded weapons. Use this trip to a deeply troubled and divided place to remind the world that Americans believe all people "are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Then, make this first principle of America's existence the foundation of his foreign policy for the next four years.




Corrie is the father of human rights activist Rachel Corrie and cofounder of the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/288443-ten-years-on-i-want-answers-for-my-daughter-rachel-corrie

[give her dixie]

Footage from Rachel's interview conducted by Middle East Broadcasting Company on March 14th, 2003, two days before she was murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3JI-axaRF4&feature=youtu.be

[muppet]

Why doesn't Hamas allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Why doesn't Egypt allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Do you think this is funny?

That is as intelligent as: why doesn't someone stop me beating him?

[Ball DeBeaver]

I think it's hilarious that you try to deflect away from the fact that Egypt has closed it's border to Gaza and that Hamas closed the crossing into Israel after it seized control of it from PA. so yes, I do think its funny.

[muppet]

I think it's hilarious that you try to deflect away from the fact that Egypt has closed it's border to Gaza and that Hamas closed the crossing into Israel after it seized control of it from PA. so yes, I do think its funny.

This is what you are saying:

Please stop me punching the quadriplegic. Look that fellow didn't stop me.

[Ball DeBeaver]

I think it's hilarious that you try to deflect away from the fact that Egypt has closed it's border to Gaza and that Hamas closed the crossing into Israel after it seized control of it from PA. so yes, I do think its funny.

This is what you are saying:

Please stop me punching the quadriplegic. Look that fellow didn't stop me.

[muppet]

I accept your concession.

[cadence]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XfTJ3Njk5o

[seafoid]

The only people to "have tightened its grip by further restricting crossings and by reducing the flow of desperately needed goods into this territory" was Hamas. There were over 100 trucks at one crossing alone with food that was rapidly rotting. But don't let that get in the way of a good rant.

Why doesn't Israel allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Why doesn't Hamas allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Why doesn't Egypt allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Why is there a humanitarian crisis in Gaza? Israel wants it.

[seafoid]

Ten years on I want answers for my daughter Rachel Corrie

By Craig Corrie, co-founder, Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice


On March 16, 2003, my daughter Rachel Corrie was crushed to death under a bulldozer driven by an Israel Defense Forces soldier. The bulldozer was manufactured in the United States by Caterpillar, Inc. and paid for by U.S. foreign military financing aid. My tax dollars paid for the machine used to kill my daughter.

In a telephone conversation the next day, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon promised President Bush a "thorough, credible, and transparent" investigation into Rachel's killing with a report to the U.S. Government. In response, April 24, 2003, our family received a printed PowerPoint presentation circulating in Congress purporting to explain the death of our daughter. This report, created by officers in command of the IDF unit that killed Rachel, concluded, "Ms. Corrie was not run over by a bulldozer, but sustained injuries caused by earth and debris which fell on her during bulldozer operation."

Not only was this statement not supported by accounts from Rachel's friends and their photographs, it was subsequently contradicted by Captain R.S., the highest ranking IDF officer on the scene. In Haifa District Court in April 2011, he pointed to the blade marks on the ground in one of the photos, and swore he knew in the first minute that the bulldozer had run over Rachel.

On May 23, 2003, our family was informed by the U.S. Department of State that the Israelis had closed Rachel's case, that no charges would be brought, and that they declined to release the promised report to our government. Members of the State Department, U.S. embassy, and our family were subsequently permitted to read the report. It remains the U.S. position, restated as recently as August 2012 by U.S. Ambassador Daniel Shapiro, that the Israeli investigation did not meet the standard of "thorough, credible, and transparent."

Our family has always believed that our government, through diplomatic means, should resolve the matter and hold the Israeli government accountable for a U.S. citizen killed with a U.S.- funded weapon. Indeed, the U.S. has tried. As Ambassador Designate James B. Cunningham noted in his 2008 confirmation, in addition to President Bush "then-Secretary Powell, Ambassador Kurtzer, Deputy Chief of Mission LeBaron, Assistant Secretary William Burns, and Deputy Assistant Secretary David Satterfield, among others, raised this issue with their counterparts and other appropriate authorities in the Israeli Government."

But in the words of Michelle Bernier-Toth, U.S. Department of State's Managing Director of Overseas Citizens Services in 2008, "We have consistently requested that the government of Israel conduct a full and transparent investigation into Rachel's death. Our requests have gone unanswered or ignored."  This is the response from a government that last year received four billion dollars of aid from American citizens – aid U.S. law prohibits being used in human rights violations!

What then would I ask President Obama to do as he makes his way to Israel and Palestine this month? Assure Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas alike that we will stand with them for the just aspirations of all their citizens, including the equal recognition to their right to be free of threats to their homes, families, farmland, and future. Explain that the U.S. will no longer support financially or diplomatically the apartheid system embodied in the occupation of Palestine and in the treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Remind them that security cannot come at the expense of the other, but only with the participation of both. Rather than giving license to a government's most violent instincts by repeating endlessly that Israel has a right to defend itself – ignoring that Palestinians also have that right – call instead for the courage of each side to live by the ceasefires negotiated but left unsigned or ignored.

President Obama should refuse to continue U.S. military and diplomatic support until Israel gives truthful answers to our questions, not just for U.S. citizens like Rachel and Furkan Dogan, but for all the civilians killed or maimed using U.S.-funded weapons. Use this trip to a deeply troubled and divided place to remind the world that Americans believe all people "are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Then, make this first principle of America's existence the foundation of his foreign policy for the next four years.




Corrie is the father of human rights activist Rachel Corrie and cofounder of the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/288443-ten-years-on-i-want-answers-for-my-daughter-rachel-corrie

It must be very hard to lose a child. And even harder to read the lies about how the child was killed.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/i-think-about-her-all-the-time-i-worry-that-when-i-get-home-i-m-going-to-fall-apart-1.1327940

[Ball DeBeaver]

The only people to "have tightened its grip by further restricting crossings and by reducing the flow of desperately needed goods into this territory" was Hamas. There were over 100 trucks at one crossing alone with food that was rapidly rotting. But don't let that get in the way of a good rant.

Why doesn't Israel allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Why doesn't Hamas allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Why doesn't Egypt allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Why is there a humanitarian crisis in Gaza? Israel wants it.

Egypt perpetuates it. Why doesn't Egypt just open their border and end this so called suffering? Palestinians want to be seen as victims.

[Denn Forever]

Why doesn't Hamas allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Why doesn't Egypt allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Do you think this is funny?

That is as intelligent as: why doesn't someone stop me beating him?

Are the statements above true?  Source?

[Ball DeBeaver]

Why doesn't Hamas allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Why doesn't Egypt allow the free flow of food into Gaza?

Do you think this is funny?

That is as intelligent as: why doesn't someone stop me beating him?

Are the statements above true?  Source?

Both are true.

Gaza Supplies Locked Out with Hamas Border ClosureMore than 70 flatbed trucks of foodstuffs and other goods are sitting at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, locked out by Hamas.


AAFont Size
By Chana Ya'ar
First Publish: 3/5/2013, 4:46 AM




Trucks bring food to Gaza from Israel

Courtesy of CoGAT


More than 70 flatbed trucks of foodstuffs and other goods are sitting at the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza, locked out by Hamas.

The crossing was closed last week following a rocket attack aimed at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon by terrorists in the Hamas-ruled area, but was to re-open Monday.

However, the terrorist government has attempted to replace the current crossing operator – hired by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority government -- with a contractor of its own.

This has prompted the current contractor to close down the crossing altogether and simply go home.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (CoGAT), Maj.-Gen. Eitan Dangot, spoke this morning with senior PA officials in Ramallah regarding the unfolding events, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dangot emphasized that "Israel cannot allow the operation of the crossing under such circumstances given the security risks," according to the Foreign Ministry.

Hamas has been actively trying to push the Ramallah government out and take charge of the management of the Kerem Shalom crossing so the terror organization may collect revenue from goods that enter Gaza, ministry officials explained.

Kerem Shalom Crossing is the primary commercial goods crossing into Gaza and as such, serves a vital function for the region's civilian population.

Located on the southern border between Israel and Gaza, Kerem Shalom sees an average of 300 trucks transporting food and other essentials into the region every day.

The crossing has been the site of numerous terror attacks in the past, each of which has forced it to close temporarily. 

"Today's events, however, are the first time that Hamas has closed Kerem Shalom in this manner," the ministry said in its statement.

Hamas: Egypt destroying Gaza smuggling tunnels by flooding them

On its website, Hamas quotes both the owner of a tunnel and an Egyptian security official as saying that Egypt is reinforcing its troops on the border with the Gaza Strip, and that it has halted smuggling through most of the tunnels.

By Jack Khoury | Feb.11, 2013 | 1:10 AM | 20

Egyptian flooding washes away Gaza tunnel busi
By Jack Khoury | Feb.11,2013 | 1:10 AM | 1


The Egyptian army has been destroying smuggling tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Sinai, said Palestinians who build them. The Egyptians have been flooding them, they said.

On its website, Hamas quotes both the owner of a tunnel and an Egyptian security official as saying that Egypt is reinforcing its troops on the border with the Gaza Strip, and that it has halted smuggling through most of the tunnels.

The Egyptian army also has begun flooding the tunnels that were rebuilt after Israel destroyed them during Operation Pillar of Defense, the sources quoted by Hamas said.

Water is considered a particularly effective and relatively inexpensive way to shut down the tunnels.

Unlike using explosives, this method does not involve weapons or endanger surrounding areas.

Flooded tunnels collapse, as happened when tunnels flooded amid the stormy weather earlier last month.

Three men were killed while working in a tunnel when it flooded due to the weather.

According to information given to the Hamas website, Egypt's army destroyed tunnels leading to the Rafah neighborhoods of al-Barazil and al-Salam on the Palestinian side, reported Hamas on its site.

The Egyptian soldiers are not allowing farmers to approach the area, it added.

The Egyptian army has increased its deployment along its border with the Gaza Strip and has been targeting smugglers since August 5, 2012, when 16 Egyptian border police were killed in a terror attack on the border.

A Palestinian official told Haaretz that Egypt's destruction of the tunnels is in keeping with the agreement to maintain calm reached between Hamas and Israel after Operation Pillar of Defense.

The Egyptians has become a party to the agreement, not just intermediaries, the official said.

Although only Israel gets the blame for the blockade.