Dagelijks archief: 25 augustus 2012

Hamas Says Egypt Will Reopen Crossing Into Gaza

Geplaatst door door
Reageer

GAZA CITY — Hamas officials said Saturday that Egypt had informed them it would fully reopen the Rafah crossing on Sunday for the first time since the Aug. 5 border attack that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers, signaling a defrosting of relations that had been chilly since the killings.

Though Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Egypt’s new president, Mohamed Morsi, share an ideology and political roots, the increasing closeness between the two governments had been interrupted by the attack.

Some in Egypt suggested that extremist groups in Gaza had supported the attackers, and Mr. Morsi not only shut down Rafah but also began destroying the hundreds of underground tunnels that supply the Gaza Strip with all manner of goods and Hamas with significant tax revenue.

On Saturday, Hamas also sent a delegation to Cairo to exchange information about the attack, according to a spokesman, who declined to provide further details. Previously, Egypt had sent Hamas a list of names of suspects, but Hamas had declined to make arrests, citing a lack of evidence.

The decision to reopen Rafah six days a week reverses an announcement on Thursday that the crossing would only be available three days a week and that travel would be restricted to humanitarian cases. The tighter restrictions had drawn a wave of condemnations from political leaders and human rights advocates. Rafah serves as Gazans’ lifeline to the world, since it is the only exit not controlled by Israel, which severely restricts residents’ travel.

But the move comes amid what witnesses described as intensified efforts by Egypt to curtail underground smuggling through the tunnels that connect Gaza to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Cranes, bulldozers and drilling machines were seen over the weekend on the Egyptian side of the tunnels, and smugglers said that the transport of construction materials had nearly stopped.

Even as Hamas seemed to be repairing its relationship with Egypt, its leadership further antagonized its Palestinian rivals, by announcing on Saturday that the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, planned to attend this week’s summit meeting of the Nonaligned Movement in Iran.

Iran is the main financial sponsor and arms provider for Hamas, the Islamic movement that took over Gaza in 2007.

Leaders of the rival Fatah organization had called on Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority and head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, not to attend the meeting if Mr. Haniya did.

The United States and much of the international community considers Hamas a terrorist organization, and recognizes Mr. Abbas as the leader of the Palestinian people. Hamas and Mr. Abbas’s Fatah faction have signed several reconciliation agreements, but they have found little traction.

Fatah leaders had called on Mr. Haniya not to attend the summit meeting, and said that they would boycott if the he attended. On Saturday, Fatah officials said they were pressing Iran’s leadership to withdraw the invitation to Mr. Haniya and asking other members of the Nonaligned Movement to stay away from the summit if Mr. Haniya attends.

“This is outside protocol, of course,” complained Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the P.L.O. executive committee, accusing the Iranian government of overstepping its role as host. “The whole movement recognizes the president as the head of the political system and institutions in Palestine. You cannot start inviting others at will.

“It’s like inviting a government and its opposition at the same time. It enforces the division, the rift, as if there are two governments, and parity between them both.”

The Nonaligned Movement is made up of 120 nations that were not allied with either the United States or the Soviet Union during the cold war, and it convenes a meeting every three years. Iran is hosting this year’s event and taking over leadership of the movement, and given the current international effort to isolate Iran because of its nuclear program, that has caused numerous problems. Israel and the United States have objected to the attendance of Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations.

Mr. Abbas’s plan to petition the United Nations General Assembly for observer state status this fall is on the meeting’s agenda. He had planned to host a mini-conference of nonaligned nations focused on this issue earlier this month in the West Bank, but was thwarted when Israel refused to allow the delegations from several countries to attend.

Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, issued a statement Saturday condemning Iran’s invitation to Mr. Haniya as “a dangerous escalation of the Iranian position” and calling his acceptance “a stab in the side of the Palestinian national project.” Mr. Fayyad appealed to Mr. Haniya “to make sure that his patriotism and Palestinian identity overcome all other considerations.”

(www.nytimes.com / 25.08.2012)

Prijzen in Gaza dreigen de pan uit te rijzen doordat Egypte de smokkeltunnels onklaar maakt

Geplaatst door door
Reageer


Een bulldozer vernielt de ingang van een tunnel aan de Egyptische kant van de grens bij Rafah. 

Persbureau AFP meldt dat Egyptische militaire technici sinds 5 augustus, de dag waarop Egypte en massale schoonmaakoperatie in de Sinaï begon, 120 smokkeltunnels van en naar Gaza onklaar heeft gemaakt of heeft geblokkeerd. Een militaire woordvoerder vertelde dat de operatie door zal gaan tot alle tunnels dicht zijn. In de afgelopen twee dagen, zei hij, werden niet minder dan 12 tunnels onklaar gemaakt.

De meeste tunnels liggen in een strook van vier kilometer bij de grens, en sommige ervan liggen in woonwijken. Zeven huizen waarin tunnels uitmondden werden eveneens gesloopt en twee grote ondergrondse passages die werden gebruikt om auto’s te smokkelen werden dichtgemaakt.
De Egyptische militaire operatie begon nadat op 5 augustus 16 Egyptische politiemannen bij een overval werden gedood. Egypte heeft sindsdien helikopters en tanks ingezet bij de jacht op islamistische militanten. Volgens het officiële Egyptische persbureau MEA zouden zich zo’n 1600 extremisten, onder wie ook buitenlanders, schuilhouden in de Sinaï.
Israel heeft bezwaar gemaakt tegen het feit dat Egypte tanks heeft ingezet bij de operatie, omdat dit tegen de bepalingen ingaat van het vredesverdrag van 1979, waarin staat dat in het gedeelte van de Sinaï die het dichtst bij Israel ligt, geen zware wapens mogen worden gelegerd of gebruikt. Egypte zegt echter dat alle troepenbewegingen met Israel worden gecoördineerd.

Door de Egyptische actie tegen de tunnels zijn de import van brandstof zoals benzine en diesel en van bouwmaterialen sinds 5 augustus met respectievelijke 30 en 70 percent gedaald volgens het Bureau van de VN voor de  Coördinatie van Humanitaire Zaken (OCHA). En de prijzen dreigen intussen de pan uit te rijzen.
‘Een derde van alle kaas gaat door de tunnels, aldus de eigenaar van een kruidenierszaak. ‘Een kilo uit Egypte kost acht shekel (1,6 euro), een kilo die uit Israel komt drie keer zoveel. Bepaalde merken chips en biscuits zijn al uit de schappen verdwenen en de prijs van suiker en melkpoeder is gestegen. Als dit doorgaat, gaan de prijzen door het dak,’ aldus de kruidenier.

Gaza is voor een groot deel van zijn economie afhankelijk van de tunnels. Schattingen gaan ervan uit dat per jaar goederen ter waarde van zo’n 500-700 miljoen dollar op deze wijze de Strook binnenkomen.  Ook de regering prikt daarvan een graantje mee. Hamas belast die goederen sinds begin 2012 met douanerechten van zo’n 14,5% volgens een recent rapport van de International Crisis Group (ICG). Het tunnelwezen wordt beheerst door een klein aantal families die intussen fabelachtig rijk zijn geworden omdat zij van elk item dat passeert een deel krijgen. Een persoon die door de tunnels gaat zou $25 moeten betalen, voor een auto zou het bedrag zo $ 500 zijn. Geschat wordt dat er 2011 zo’n 13.000 auto’s door de tunnels gingen.  Ook zijn de tunnels verantwoordelijk voor een recente opleving van de bouw van moskeeën, appartementen en openbare gelegenheden, met behulp van Saudische investeerders, meldt IRIN. 
Zonder tunnels dreigt de situatie in Gaza economisch nog ingewikkelder te worden, tenzij  Egypte zou besluiten de grensovergang bij Rafah te openen. Maar hoewel president Morsi, die afkomstig is uit de Moslim Broederschap daar wellicht wel voor zou voelen, is het nog te vroeg om daarop vooruit te lopen, gezien de verwachte tegenstand van Israel en de VS.

(abu-pessoptimist.blogspot.nl / 25.08.2012)

Libya Islamists destroy Sufi shrines, library – military

Geplaatst door door
Reageer

Conservative Islamists blew up the tomb of a 15th century Sufi scholar and burned down a library in the Libyan city of Zlitan, a military official said on Saturday, the latest attacks on sites in the region branded idolatrous by some sects.

The attackers used bombs and a bulldozer to destroy a complex of shrines that included the tomb of Abdel Salam al-Asmar on Friday and ruined thousands of books at the Asmari Mosque library, said witnesses and Zlitan military council official Omar Ali.

Hardliners, many of them emboldened by the Arab Spring revolts, have targeted a number of sites belonging to Islam’s mystical Sufi tradition in Libya, Egypt and Mali over the past year.

The assaults have also recalled the 2001 dynamiting by the Taliban of two 6th-century statues of Buddha carved into a cliff in Bamiyan in centralAfghanistan.

Friday’s attacks followed two days of clashes between tribal factions in Zlitan which killed two people and injured 18, according to military council counts.

“The extremist Salafis took advantage (of the fact) that security officials were busy calming down the clashes and they desecrated the shrine,” Ali told Reuters, referring to conservative Muslims who see many Sufi sites as idolatrous.

(www.reuters.com / 25.08.2012)

Activists report ‘execution style’ killings near Damascus

Geplaatst door door
Reageer
A man cries in front of houses destroyed during a recent Syrian Air Force air strike in Azaz, north of Aleppo on Aug. 15.

AMMAN (Reuters) — The bodies of at least 79 people were found in a town close to Damascus on Saturday, according to activists who said many were young men who appeared to have been killed by Syrian troops “execution style”.

The deaths would bring the toll from an offensive by President Bashar Assad forces on Daraya, south-west of Damascus, to 149, according to a tally by opposition activists in the capital.

Due to restrictions on non-state media, it was impossible to independently verify the accounts.

The Daraya Coordination Committee activists’ group said in a statement that among those found with shots to the head were eight members of the al-Qassaa family: three children, their father and mother and three other relatives.

Their bodies were found in a residential building near Mussab bin Umeir mosque in Daraya, the group said.

Mohammad Hur, an activist in Daraya, said 36 bodies of young men were found in one building along with several badly wounded people who could not be transferred to hospitals in the area because the army had occupied them. A further 12 bodies were found in the basement of another building, he said.

“We are in the process of identifying the bodies and documenting how they died. Initial evidence shows that they were mostly shot at close range in the face, neck and head, execution style,” Hur said by telephone.

“Female members from at least two families say that soldiers shot their brothers in front of them,” he added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and headed by dissident Rami Abdelrahman, said it had received reports of dozens of bodies found in Daraya, but it had not yet ascertained how they were killed.

Abdelrahman said at least 300 people had been killed by the army’s offensive on Daraya and the nearby suburb of Mouadamiya in recent days.

The army overran Daraya, one of a series of large Sunni Muslim shanty towns that surround Damascus, on Saturday after three days of shelling and rocket and helicopter bombardment that killed 70 people, according to opposition sources and residents who said most of the dead were civilians.

The attack on Daraya was part of an army campaign to regain control of the outskirts of the capital, a mixture of built up areas and farmland where rebels had regrouped and relaunched guerrilla attacks on Assad’s force.

(www.maannews.net / 25.08.2012)

Abbas Threatens Iran Summit Boycott over Hamas

Geplaatst door door
Reageer

W460

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas will boycott the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Iran if his Islamist rival Ismail Haniya of Hamas attends, a minister told Agence France Presse on Saturday.

“President Abbas will not take part in the Non-Aligned summit if Haniya is present, no matter what form his attendance takes,” foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said in Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.

A Hamas spokesman earlier on Saturday said Haniya would attend the August 30-31 conference in Tehran “in accordance with the invitation from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

The statement from Taher al-Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, did not say when Haniya would leave the Palestinian enclave for the conference or give any further details.

In Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Rahmin Mehmanparast said Haniya had been invited to the gathering as a “special guest.”

Abbas heads a rival West Bank-based administration, and said last month that he had accepted an invitation to attend the NAM summit and make his first visit to the Islamic republic.

“At a time when (Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor) Lieberman is waging an aggressive political campaign, the invitation to Haniya to attend the NAM summit indicates that Tehran has joined the hostile Israeli chorus,” the Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee said in a statement.

On Thursday, Lieberman said Abbas was waging a form of “diplomatic terror” against Israel that was as dangerous as the violent threat posed by Hamas.

It was his second personal attack on Abbas in as many days and came after he called for world powers to force Palestinian elections in a bid to replace him.

“The aim of all this is to strike a blow against the Palestinian national struggle by encouraging division and giving him recognition and legitimacy,” the PLO statement added in reference to Iranian policies on Hamas.

Iran is a backer of Hamas which has long been in conflict with Abbas’s secular Fatah, and the Palestinian president has accused Tehran of trying to stymie attempts between the factions to reconcile.

In April 2011, Abbas’s Fatah and Hamas announced a surprise reconciliation and agreed on the creation of an interim cabinet of independents selected by the two factions, to prepare for elections to take place by May 2012.

But the deal has largely stalled, leaving presidential and legislative elections indefinitely postponed, although the Abbas administration has called for local authority polls in the West Bank in October.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad also criticized Iran’s invitation to Haniya, calling it a “serious escalation” against Palestinian unity.

Tehran has sparked a fresh wave of outrage in Israel after Ahmadinejad and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei both described the Jewish state as a “cancerous tumor.”

Mehmanparast has called the NAM meeting “the greatest political summit in Iran’s history.”

The United Nations has said Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend the summit, despite protests by Israel and calls from the United States to stay away, and will be in Tehran from August 29 to August 31.

(www.naharnet.com /25.08.2012)

#1101 Rampzalig Raadsrapport

Geplaatst door door
Reageer

De hier al veelbesproken gescheiden vader uit Eindhoven kreeg vandaag weer een nieuwe klap te verwerken. De Raad voor de Kinderbescherming had in juli 2012 besloten om nog eens een keer (nu al voor de derde keer) onderzoek te doen, vandaag werd het conceptrapport ontvangen.

Was de Raad voor de Kinderbescherming de eerste twee keer nog positief, deze keer had de Raad een bocht van 180 graden gemaakt om het rapport naadloos te laten aansluiten op de (met leugens en laster doorspekte) rapporten van Bureau Jeugdzorg Eindhoven. Ettelijke pagina’s zijn besteed aan de visie van de moeder en BJZ (de trouwe lezer weet inmiddels dat die beide visies identiek zijn), de visie van vader is nauwelijks te vinden en bestaat enkel uit wat losse opmerkingen verspreid door het document.

Nog minder aanwezig dan de visie van de man is de waarheid: het hele document hangt van de tegen de man gerichte leugens en laster aan elkaar. Allerlei meningen worden als vaststaand feit gepresenteerd, talloze beweringen over de man zijn door de raadsonderzoeker mevrouw van der H. klakkeloos overgenomen zonder ook maar één kritische vraag te stellen. Aan één van de incidenten is zelfs een halve pagina besteed: de man zou autobanden lek gestoken hebben maar uit het politierapport van het incident blijkt onomstotelijk dat hij dit niet gedaan heeft. Desondanks wordt het wel als waarheid gepresenteerd.

Bij deugdelijk onderzoek hoort bij iedere bewering gevraagd te worden naar de onderbouwing; wordt die onderbouwing niet geleverd dan mag de bewering niet in het rapport worden opgenomen. Door alles echter kritiekloos over te nemen heeft mevrouw Van der H. zich dan ook niet als een onderzoeker gedragen maar als een kopieerapparaat.

Niet alleen bij Bureau Jeugdzorg maar kennelijk ook bij de Raad voor de Kinderbescherming wordt dus kennelijk gewerkt volgens het principe: “Wij doen niet aan waarheidsvinding”.

Het uiteindelijke advies van de Raad: geef de moeder eenhoofdig gezag en stel geen omgangsregeling op. In de vorige rapporten was het advies juist omgekeerd: geen gezagswijziging omdat dit niet in het belang van de kinderen was, en heel snel omgang omdat de kinderen in de knel raakten. De hele situatie is in wezen niet veranderd maar op mysterieuze wijze zitten de kinderen nu opeens niet meer in de knel.

Zo zijn er nog meer zaken in het rapport die duidelijk aangeven dat de hele situatie volledig uit de klauwen aan het lopen is. Maar volgens de Raad voor de Kinderbescherming gaat het uitstekend met de kinderen…

(zwartboekoverheid.nl / 25.08.2012)

3 Hamas prisoners in PA jails ‘launch hunger strike’

Geplaatst door door
Reageer
Three members of Hamas being held in Palestinian Authority jails went on hunger strike this week.

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Three members of Hamas being held in Palestinian Authority jails went on hunger strike this week to demand their release, a statement from the Islamist group said Saturday.

Osama Shahine, 28, has been on hunger strike for 3 days to protest his detention, having been arrested by PA security forces on Wednesday.

Loay Mazin Awad and Muhammad Saed Zamara from Hebron had earlier launched a hunger strike on August 20 to protest their detention, the statement added.

Awad was arrested on June 3 and Zamara on June 4.

Their families have paid fines exceeding 5,000 Jordanian Dinars ($7,000) to have the men released, but a judge informed them that the prosecution has refused to comply.

(www.maannews.net / 25.08.2012)

Occupied Palestinian Territory

Geplaatst door door
Reageer

Qalandia

Medical Aid for Palestinians has been working in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) for over 20 years. Palestinians in the oPt face regular threats to life, liberty and security, as a result of conflict-related and settler violence, restrictions on the movement of people and goods, and the acceleration of demolition orders on homes and infrastructure.

A widespread protection crisis pervades the oPt, as disregard for human dignity, persistent violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, limited access to essential services, and entrenched food insecurity, continue to characterise day-to-day life for Palestinians.

Although MAP has one overarching programme for the oPt, we have offices in both the West Bank and Gaza to ensure that we are able to respond and work effectively across the territory despite movement and access restrictions. MAP is commited to providing consistent and impartial support to communities in need.

The depleting resilience of Palestinian communities due to the long, drawn-out nature of the crisis in the oPt, coupled with the inadequate disaster preparedness of health systems is rendering people particularly vulnerable to hazards, high casualties and economic loss. Working in partnership with local health providers and hospitals, we aim to ensure equitable access to essential health and nutrition services for the most vulnerable groups, such as children, older people and those with disabilities.

With a diversified portfolio of health and emergency care partners, our work in the oPt focuses on Health Devlopment and Emergency Preparedness and Response:

In Health Development, MAP works in partnership with local providers to promote community participation in health initiatives. In particular, we focus on the key areas of child health, primary health care, disability, rehabilitation and psychosocial health, while working towards an integrated approach to primary health care and public health.

In Emergency Preparedness and Response, MAP responds rapidly and effectively to humanitarian crises and conflict situations that frequently arise, striving to reinforce the resilience of communities. Our capacity to respond is based not only on the presence of our field staff, but strong links with our partner organisations, local health providers and hospitals.

MAP has also invested in strengthening coordination, information flow and research to better underpin health policy, planning and practice within the oPt. MAP has increased support to key research areas, and also re-established the Health Committee of the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA). This Health Committee works to increase information sharing and coordination between health stakeholders, and promotes accountability at all levels. In 2009, MAP was elected to the executive committee of AIDA.

MAP works with local partner organisations to provide a range of community health services, both emergency and longer term. Therefore, we do not provide direct support for individual medical cases.

(www.map-uk.org / 25.08.2012)

Bloodshed between Myanmar Muslim and Buddhist communities leaves deep scars

Geplaatst door door
Reageer

A man walks through a neighborhood that was burnt in recent violence in Sittwe in mid-June. Deep-seated anger and fear smolder between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in the aftermath of the worst sectarian clashes in Myanmar in years, raising concerns that a fragile peace may not last long. (Reuters)

A man walks through a neighborhood that was burnt in recent violence in Sittwe in mid-June. Deep-seated anger and fear smolder between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in the aftermath of the worst sectarian clashes in Myanmar in years, raising concerns that a fragile peace may not last long.

Charred stumps and scattered rubbish are all that remain of a once-bustling community in strife-torn western Myanmar, just one of many razed to the ground in recent communal violence.

The clashes which broke out in June between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have left dozens of people dead and torn apart communities, forcing tens of thousands on both sides to seek refuge in dusty camps and shelters.

Nawseema Har Tu Fa said she fled her village after it was torched during the wave of violence that turned longtime neighbors into bitter enemies.

“We had no problem with the Buddhist people before. We never quarreled with them before. We lived together, we used to speak. We went to the market every day together,” she told AFP in a village near the Rakhine state capital Sittwe where many Rohingya have sought sanctuary.

“The main reason we came here is to protect our children, otherwise they might have died there.”

An estimated 70,000 people — 50,000 Rohingya and 20,000 Buddhists — are in emergency accommodation in the Sittwe area, police told an AFP reporter who visited the remote region near the border with Bangladesh.

They languish in camps or cramped monasteries, dependent on food handouts.

“There are no houses or shelter in their own villages, they were all burned down, so that’s why they are here,” said Soe Myint, manager of the Kaung Dokar refugee camp, one of six Rohingya camps in Sittwe.

Almost 90 people, both Buddhists and Rohingya, were killed during the violence in June, according to official figures which rights groups fear grossly underestimate the real toll.

The riots broke out after a Buddhist woman was allegedly raped and murdered by a group of Rohingya men.

Access to affected areas is restricted by the authorities, which say that the situation has been relatively calm in recent weeks.

But officials reported that renewed clashes left several people dead earlier this month, underscoring the tinderbox atmosphere.

Rohingya driven from their homes are not allowed to leave the camps — ostensibly for their own safety. But the restriction has left the Rohingya community out of work and reliant on World Food Program supplies.

“We do not have enough food, as we do not have the possibility to go to Sittwe downtown to buy everything we need,” said displaced Rohingya Abu Shukur.

Faced with heavy criticism from rights groups and outcry from the Muslim world after the unrest, Myanmar’s government has denied accusations of abuse of Rohingya villagers by security forces in Rakhine.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya during the June outbreak of unrest, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.

Speaking a dialect similar to one in neighboring Bangladesh, the Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants by the Myanmar government and many Burmese, who describe them as “Bengalis” or “kalar” — a derogatory term for Muslims.

“Successive governments and regimes have taken in the Muslim kalar, illegally allowing them in” in return for bribes, said senior monk Oo Ku Maar Ka, the head of Gade Chay Monastery.

Myanmar recently announced it had established a new commission to establish the cause of the sectarian clashes and recommend measures to ease tensions and find “ways for peaceful coexistence”.

For now that appears a distant goal as deep mistrust poisons relations between the segregated communities.

“We knew the ones who burned down our houses,” said Saw Saw, one of thousands of displaced Rakhine Buddhists sheltering in local monasteries. “If Rohingya from outside come in then it will be even worse.”

(english.alarabiya.net / 25.08.2012)

Locals: Settlers destroy crops in Ramallah villages

Geplaatst door door
Reageer
Settlers pictured in the Jordan Valley

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Settlers destroyed agricultural crops in two Ramallah villages on Saturday, locals said.

Farmer Ramadan Sabri Abu Kamish told Ma’an that settlers from Hallamish uprooted trees and destroyed crops belonging to Jammala and Deir Ammar villages, northwest of Ramallah.

The settlers damaged the land using sharp tools, Abu Kamish said, adding that he pleaded with the settlers to stop but that they didn’t listen and said he should complain to the police.

Around a dunam and a half of land was damaged, representing a financial loss of 60,000 shekels ($15,000), he added.

(www.maannews.net / 25.08.2012)