Palestine Today 061609
Audio Dept. | 16.06.2009 15:00 | Palestine | World
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org for Monday June 15th, 2009.
As former US President, Jimmy Carter, visited the Gaza Strip, the military injured one civilian and kidnapped others in the West Bank, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
News Cast
A Palestinian youth was shot and injured by Israeli military fire on Monday at night in the village of Beit Ummar in the southern West Bank.
Kifah Bahar, 24, sustained light wounds and was moved to a hospital in the nearby city of Hebron for treatment, local sources said.
Witnesses reported that soldiers opened fire at the young man while he was driving his motorbike near his home. Soldiers also beat up both of his parents after shooting him the witnesses added. The Israeli military issued no statement regarding the incident.
Two Palestinian families were given orders on Tuesday by the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem to demolish part of their homes located inside the walls of the old city.
The municipality says the structures added to the houses lack the needed building permission. Israel allows settlers inside the old city to expand and add to their homes but make it very difficult for Palestinian families to do so.
Earlier on Tuesday at dawn Ten Palestinian men were taken by the Israeli army during military invasions in the West Bank. As always the army stated that the men were wanted and that it took them for questioning.
In other news former US President, Jimmy Carter, crossed into the Gaza Strip in a visit that aims at observing the destruction inflicted during the Cast lead Israeli military offensive earlier this year. Carter met with the ruling Hamas leader. He held the U.S responsible for the bad situation in Gaza and called Hamas to renounce violence.
Isma'el Hanyiah, Hamas' deposed Prime Minister, told Carter that establishing a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders may lead to a long-term truce and a prisoner exchange with Israel.
It is thought that Carter is carrying a letter for the Israeli corporal who was captured in Gaza by armed Palestinian resistance groups in the summer of 2006. Israel are currently holding 11, 000 Palestinians, including women and children, in military detention camps.
Conclusion
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This is the issue
16.06.2009 15:44
OK so Israel goes back to the 67 boarders and a Palestinian state is created. What happens next?
'long term truce" This is exactly the point that is stopping the Israelis from a 2 state solution. In their eyes (right or wrong) they pulled out of Gaza and got bombs lobbed at them, better to live in the status quo than getting bombs lobbed at them from the west as well.
Hamas Charter: Article 11
The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Muslim generations until Judgement Day.
Hamas Charter: Article 13
Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion
Something needs to be done. Israel exists. A Palestinian State needs to exist - the sooner the better however a long term truce is meaningless as as the Hamas charter states: Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.
So what next?
Captain Kirk
Terrorists try to blow up Carter
16.06.2009 16:45
According to the report, a range of explosive devices had been stashed near a road he was scheduled to travel on during his trip.
The Jerusalem Post could not verify the report. But later Tuesday the IDF assessment also said the cluster of explosives was aimed at Carter. Earlier, Carter had been quoted as saying he was holding back tears when surveying the "deliberate destruction" in Gaza following Israel's Operation Cast Lead earlier this year, Israel Radio reported.
Carter said that it was distressing to see the devastation in Gaza but also to see Kassams falling on Sderot.
The way to stop this is through dialogue and peace, Carter told reporters.
Carter met with Hamas leaders including Ismail Haniyeh. Prior to the meeting, he said he would try to persuade them to accept the international community's conditions for ending its boycott of the group. Carter added that after his talks in Gaza, he will meet with officials in the Obama administration.
Carter moved onto Tel Aviv to meet with the parents of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit. He is expected to deliver a letter by them to Hamas.
On Tuesday morning, top Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said his movement would consider giving Schalit a letter delivered by Carter.
Zahar told Israel Radio on Tuesday that if Israel wanted to end the Schalit saga, it should free all the prisoners Hamas was demanding.
Zahar said that Egypt was yet to invite the group to resume indirect talks over securing Schalit's release, adding that the previous negotiations were halted due to Israel's insistence on not freeing prisoners from east Jerusalem and the Arab-Israeli sector.
He claimed Israel was not interested in reaching a prisoner swap deal, but rather wanted to get information on Schalit's whereabouts in order to try and free him in a military operation.
Zahar criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policy speech delivered Sunday, saying that he set impossible conditions for the Palestinians - to give up on the right of return and Jerusalem.
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