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Israel Attacks NGO's, Schools, Human Rights Offices Throughout W. Bank

Zionist Extremism Key IMpediment to Peace | 09.07.2008 23:56 | Anti-racism | World

Israel has always wanted an excuse to attack any institutions whose purpose is to help the Palestinians, or minimize their suffering, since Israel's ruling Extremists WANT the Palestinians to suffer, and abandon their legal and moral rights.

Israel's ruling Extremists have also planned a massive reinvasion of Gaza for over a year, and were on their way to achieving it, aided by the International Community's silence on their deliberately-engineered crisis in Gaza, when certain players demanded a cease-fire to halt Israeli aggression, and the Palestinians' responses.

Now, Israel is desperately attempting to goad the Palestinians into responding to its actions, in a fashion which will be big enough to hold out to the world as "proof" that the Palestinians don't want peace - in order to appear the victim, as it always does when it wants to attack the Palestinians.

It should be noted that several of the organizations affected were instrumental in the recording and reporting of several acts of racism and violence against Palestinian civilians - many of them children - by the IDF, Shin Bet, and Settler-Extremists.

Under the pretext of fighting Hamas:
Israel launches all-out war on Islamic institutions in the West Bank
From Khalid Amayreh in Nablus

Learning aids trashed at this Nablus school by IOF soldiers


July 9, 2008

Palestinian Islamic leaders have called on Arab and Muslim states as well as "all human beings who believe in justice" to strongly condemn an ongoing Israeli campaign against Islamic civilian institutions throughout the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army on Tuesday, 8 July rampaged through the northern town of Nablus, raiding schools, businesses, charities, sport clubs and a major medical center.

(Funny. I see no coverage of this in any of the major media.)

Eyewitnesses said as many as 130 Israeli military vehicles and armored personnel carriers stormed Nablus’s downtown shortly after forces loyal to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas were ordered by the town’s nominal governor Jamal Muhesen to return to their barracks and stay there until a further notice.

Thousands of American-trained Palestinian "national security forces" are stationed in Nablus, but their tasks are confined to fighting anti-Israeli activists, particularly members of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad organizations.

(In other words, they are the Colonial Auxiliary of the Israelis and their American collaborators.)

The targets of the latest Israeli rampage include a girl's school, which was thoroughly vandalized, an important medical center which offers free or semi-free health services to the poor and the unemployed, a commercial mall, a recreational center, and an insurance company and the offices of a number of NGOs.

One of these NGOs is the Nafha Society which monitors Israeli treatment of Palestinian political and resistance prisoners in Israeli jails and detention camps.

Local sources said crack soldiers and Shin Beth agents confiscated dozens of computers and other office equipment as well as undisclosed sums of cash. The soldiers also seized a large amount of furniture. The Shin Beth is Israel’s chief domestic intelligence agency (as the Gestapo was Germany's) which effectively controls all aspects of Palestinians in the West Bank. The operation which began shortly after midnight lasted for nearly four hours, witnesses said.

Before leaving the city, Shin Beth officers gave proprietors written statements informing them the ownership of their businesses and property had already been transferred to the Israeli army.

The statement also warned that any Palestinian venturing to enter the closed premises would be imprisoned for a minimum of five years.

The Israeli army claimed the targeted businesses and the medical facilities were part of Hamas’ civilian infrastructure and might have been involved in transferring money to the movement.

However, proprietors and PA officials vehemently deny the charges, saying they were ordinary businesses and institutions functioning within the confines of the law.

A co-owner of a commercial department-store the Israel army said it confiscated and ordered closed down told reporters that "they are punishing us for being religious."

"In any country in this world, people are innocent until proven guilty. Here, in the so-called only democracy in the Middle East, they arrest us, they destroy our homes, they confiscate our property and destroy our businesses, even without talking to us.

"So what is the difference between Israel and Nazi Germany," said the man who asked that his name remain anonymous lest he be arrested.

The man who was visibly angry said "we are a religious people, we pray and we give charity and fast during the month of Ramadan, but we have nothing to do with Hamas or any other organization. Destroying our businesses and ravaging our lives on the mere suspicion that we might be affiliated with Hamas is a dirty criminal act."

War on Islam

One officials at the Tadamun Medical Center, which was closed down and confiscated, accused the Israeli state of waging an all-out war on Islam similar to the war the Third Reich declared on Jews during the Second World War.

"I call upon all Muslims and Arabs in the world to respond to this naked aggression on Islam and Muslims. Israel is simply seeking to destroy Islam. They want to destroy our mosques, they want to destroy our life, they want to obliterate the Islamic religion from Palestine," said Munir S. Hanbali.

"The terrorist state claims that Hamas is the target. Don’t you believe these lies. Their target is the very religion of Islam, because Islam is the last-remaining obstacle impeding the liquidation of the Palestinian cause by Israel."

Hanbali called on the governments of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Mauritania and Turkey as well as other states that value justice and humanity to immediately sever ties with "this criminal entity which murders children and starves them to death and then claims to do this on behalf of western civilization."

"I tell these Arab and Muslims countries ' shame on you.’ You are watching these vile criminals destroy the Palestinian community slowly and step by step while you are looking on as if what is happening in Nablus and Hebron were happening on a distant planet.

"Wake up! Kick their ambassadors out of your country. Show them that you care about Palestine."

Provoking Hamas

Hani al Masri, a prominent journalist and columnist from Nablus, opined that the Israeli rampage in the city was aimed at provoking Hamas to "break the truce in Gaza."

"Israel wants to show that the relative calm in Gaza doesn’t mean that Israel’s hands will be tied up in the West Bank. Israel simply doesn’t want the Palestinians to have a moment of peace."

Al-Masri said while the Israeli crackdown on Islamic institutions would undermine the "public service sector," in the city, it would also increase public sympathy and support for Hamas.

"And it would also hurt the image of the PA because the very same institutions targeted by Israel last night have also been targeted by the Palestinian Authority.

"This would make people think that the PA and Israel are colluding and collaborating against Hamas in broad daylight."

Hamas itself accused the western-baked regime in Ramallah of conniving with Israel to destroy the Palestinian society in order to enable Israel to impose capitulation on Palestinians and liquidate the Palestinian cause.

"Hamas strongly condemns the unprecedented Zionist crimes against the Palestinian society and its economic interests and civilian constitutions," said a statement distributed by Hamas Tuesday.

The statement accused the PA of collaborating and closely coordinating with the occupation forces.

"Even their food will be confiscated"

On Monday, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz quoted an Israeli army spokesman as saying that the occupation army will target Islamic charitable and educational institutions in the West Bank.

The spokesman said the purpose of the occupation army campaign against Islamic institutions was to strengthen the American-backed PA and weaken the Palestinian Islamic opposition.

"We are talking about strengthening the moderate elements, that is the Palestinian Authority, but actually the PA has little control over the area. The Palestinian public prefers Hamas, because they are less corrupt and more efficient."

The spokesman bragged about targeting boarding schools, health care centers, charities "and even soup kitchens and orphanages.."

"Dozens of associations were shut down and food confiscated."

Earlier this year, the Israeli occupation army carried out a particularly draconian campaign against orphanages and boarding schools in Hebron, closing several institutions and leaving thousands of orphans and poor children un-catered for.

The confiscated objects included several buildings, school buses, office furniture, educational aids, classroom seats, sewing machines, clothes and shoes.

Many of the items seized by the Israeli army from the Hebron institutions, including children clothes, kitchen appliances, refrigerators, food and dairy products and computers, were later found at a waste dump outside the settlement of Kiryat Arba’a.

The campaign was widely condemned by human rights organizations. However, Israel’s guardian-ally, the United States, supported the Israeli measures.

However, as usual in such circumstances, Israeli flew in the face of the world, saying that "no country can tell Israel what to do. We do what we want."

The visibly vindictive campaign against Palestinian institutions such as schools, hospitals, orphanages and businesses is generating a lot of hatred for Israel and Jews among a people who already have been through more than 41 years of a Nazi-like military occupation.

Nael Salameh is a Palestinian businessman from Nablus. He says that Israel is behaving like a mad bull.

"An army that targets soup kitchens and orphanages and ordinary businesses doesn’t differ much from gangsters and common criminals. A state that behaves like gangsters and criminals will not live for long."

Salameh said Israel was pushing the Palestinian people to the edge.

"Besides, who says that the suicide bomber is the product of the Palestinian society and culture? It is not.

"The suicide bomber is first and foremost an inevitable by-product of Israel’s Nazi-like terror and cruelty against the Palestinian society. This is what the world ought to understand."

 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m45557&hd=&size=1&l=e

Israel Throws Hundreds of Palestinian Students onto the Streets: The Tragedy of Hebron Schools and Orphanages Affiliated with the Islamic Charitable Society
Ahmad Jaradat and Sara Venturini, Alternative Information Center (AIC)

The Islamic Charitable Society sewing workshop in Hebron was among the buildings raided by the Israeli military, causing losses amounting altogether to US$418,000.

July 8, 2008

The international campaign to save the
schools and orphanages in the city of Hebron which are affiliated with the
Islamic Charitable Society (ICS) has had a strong impact, forcing Israeli
embassies around the world to respond to requests for information and answers.

Relying on information obtained from the Israeli military, embassies are working to
create a climate of terror against the ICS, thereby justifying Israel’s actions
(For more on the ICS, click" target="_new">www.hebronorphans.blogspot.com/">click
here).

Israeli embassies claim that the military never closed any school or institute operated by what they referred to as "the Hamas movement," even though, according to the Israeli authorities, these schools were used by Hamas to promote its goals and strengthen its power through force and terrorism. Embassies noted that the Israeli military indeed closed schools built for the children of Hebron, but that the schools had not yet been functional. However, the schools had been fully equipped and supplied, such that this distinction is meaningless, as there are also a closure orders for the remaining fully functioning schools and orphanages, orders that may be executed at any moment.

Only last week, the Israeli military raided
and closed two additional branches of the ICS, in the Shyukh and Beit Ula
villages near Hebron. The military confiscated almost everything in the buildings,
which hosted a school, kitchen, kindergarten and administrative offices. The
estimated cost of the confiscated material is US$18,000, which is in addition to
the previous US$400,000 lost from the confiscation of equipment and damages
from the last month.

According to the Israeli embassies, the Israeli
military has proof that the ICS in Hebron is involved in recruiting activists
for the organization and in collecting funds for terrorist activities, all
undertaken under the cover of civilian networks. In this way, the Israeli
embassies contend, the ICS is trying to increase support for Hamas and
disseminate its radical ideology, which includes encouragement of Islamic Jihad
against the "Zionism enemy."

Israel believes that the ICS educates youth
with the extremist doctrine of Jihad, supports martyrdom and provides financial
aid in Hebron to families of terrorists. The Israeli embassies noted that
Israel has confiscated documents which contain severe incitement against Jews,
Israel and the United States.

Because of this, it is stated, the Israeli
military operates against the economic resources of the Islamic charity
associations. These resources, they believe, serve as an income source for the Hamas terrorist movement, which uses this money to support its terrorist activities.

To date, absolutely no proof has been
offered by Israel to the ICS, the local and international media or the numerous
non-governmental agencies involved in protecting the orphans to back up its
most serious claims. The fact that, however, that no evidence has been offered
to the public—and likely will never be—points to the likelihood that no such
documents have ever been confiscated and no such activities have ever been
conducted by the ICS in these schools and orphanages. Under the cover of
"security needs" the Israeli authorities are committing grave human rights
violations and throwing thousands of Palestinian students and orphans onto the
street.

According to the ICS lawyer, Mr. Jawad
Bulos, the Israeli High Court has refused to issue an order nisiwww.alternativenews.org/news/english/israel-throws-hundreds-
of-palestinian-students-onto-the-streets-the-tragedy-of-hebr ... title="_ednref1" name="_ednref1">[i],
as he requested, and has scheduled a hearing on the case in October. The Israeli
military is now offering to negotiate if a management system acceptable to it
can be found. On the one hand this is good news, as it signals that the Israeli
military has noted the international interest and does not possess any credible
proof. On the other, however, without the order nisi to halt the closures
pending the court hearing, the military can close the schools and orphanages
any time it wishes if the Israelis believe that international interest has
faded.


Accordingly, international support is most
needed. Following an
appeal from the Christian Peacemaker Team, we are inviting all concerned to
visit the orphanages, to spend a night so that the buildings don’t remain
empty, to tour the buildings of the ICS, the one closed and seized and the one
still functioning and to tour the city of Hebron, where poverty and closures
are destroying a once thriving economy. Hebron’s old city has become a ghost
town, and, with all the buildings the Israeli military is now trying to close,
it will become increasingly so. Hebron’s al-Huda Mall, a very large building of
the ICS that once hosted several shops, a student library, offices for
therapists, dentists and lawyers, in addition to the administrative office for the
orphanages, has now been made empty. Only the library, which is also under
threat, and one clothing shop, which managed to escape the closure order, are
still open in a climate of fear and desolation.

The ICS provides schools, orphanages and a
network of support for thousands of people in Hebron while the Palestinian
Authority, which bears responsibility in the area, fails to protect its people.
Removing one of the most important safety nets from the thousands of families
and children who depend upon the charities will increase devastation for Palestinian
residents of Hebron.

The Israeli actions against the ICS will
affect the lives of thousands of people from Hebron and its surroundings, such
that they can be considered collective punishment, done to intimidate and crush
the local population.

Attorney Bulos believes that a major part
of the solution to this crisis is political. There is an explicit Israeli plan to
target all Palestinian infrastructures that can be related in any way to
Islamic organizations and movements. Yet, in a situation where the PA doesn’t
have either ability or willpower to secure a livelihood for the Palestinian
population, these Islamic charities represent some of the only institutions
that have demonstrated the capacity to support the social needs of the people
in the area.

When the official government fails to take
care of the needs of the Palestinians, we ask all of you to help in taking an urgent
action.

You can find the schedule by clicking on this" target="_new">www.cpt.org/cptnet/2008/06/02/hebron-action-alert-act-week-s
top-israeli-military-closing-orphanages-and-schools-">this
link.

 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m45553&hd=&size=1&l=e

Warnings Pour in For Israel to Cease Collective Punishment
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10555S

Red Cross Condemns Gaza Collective Punishment (the First Round)
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8994S

As Predicted: Gaza Reoccupation Planned
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388658.html

Probe: At Least Half of Palestinians Killed by IDF Were Civilians
 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/944276.html

Israeli Attacks on Palestinians, Killings, Doubled Since Annapolis
 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m40008&hd=&size=1&l=e

UN Condemns Collective Punishment of Gaza
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/389757.html?c=on#c187937

It's All Right, I'm Only Bleeding
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10557S

Israel, World Jewry Drift Apart
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10554S

Jewish Groups Condemn Collective Punishment of Gaza
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10877S

Poll Reveals Neo-Con Zionist Groups Unrepresentative
 http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/12/ajc_poll/index.html

An invention called 'the Jewish people'
 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959229.html

Zionism's Support Faltering
 http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7472/index.php

Western Jews Revolt Against Zionist Bully Tactics
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/world/2007/03/364749.html

1650 Illegal Settlement Spots Approved This Week Alone
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15847S

As Predicted: Israel Rejects Truce, Calls Offer 'Failure'
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/397226.html

Real Diplomacy: Carter Meets Hamas
 http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8877/index.php

No Peace Without Hamas
 http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8876/index.php

Hamas ready to accept Israel as its neighbour: Carter
 http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8874/index.php

Hamas Offers Gaza Truce
 http://www.www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/397459.html

Calling Israel's Bluff: Hamas Offers Truce, Negotiations
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?13920S

Israelis open fire on Gazan protesters
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15849S

As Predicted: Israel Delays Vote on Gaza Strip Cease-fire
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15846S

When Will Israel Quit Pretending It Wants Peace?
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15845S

Divide & Rule: Palestinians Stuck at a Crossroads
 http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15854S

Israel Storms SE Gaza, Razes More Farms
 http://www.news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/05/content_8317222.htm

As Predicted: Gaza Reoccupation Planned
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388658.html llll

Israel's Goals: Regime Change, Reoccupation
 http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/8687/index.php

Attack on Gaza Looking More Likely
 http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?16447S

Israeli officials: We will invade Gaza before truce deal takes effect
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/400696.html

Israeli Settlers Bind Palestinian Teacher to Pole and Club Him
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/07/402837.html

When You Shoot the Messenger: Israel Brutalizes Palestinian Journalist
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/07/402564.html

Award-Winning Palestinian Journalist Brutalized by Israeli Shin Bet
 https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/07/402401.html

Israel shaken by troops' tales of brutality against Palestinians
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/21/israel

10-year-old subjected to torture by Israeli soldiers
 http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m45397&hd=&size=1&l=e

Palestinians Catch Settler-Extremist Attack On Film
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/400996.html

In Bid to Provoke Gaza War, Settler-Extremists Fake Kidnapping
 https://israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9236/index.php

Israeli Settler-Extremists Fire Mortars into W. Bank Village
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/07/402398.html

Cross Your Fingers: Israel Says It's 'Decided Against' Gaza Strip Invasion
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/400894.html

Truce or Dare: Israel Issues Ultimatum
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401482.html

Zionist Extremism Key IMpediment to Peace

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