On the 4^th of July, BBC reporter Alan Johnston was released by his kidnapers after nearly four months in captivity. Johnston met with the dismissed Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh shortly after being released. The same kidnappers have also released 10 Hamas affiliates, kidnapped two days ago in Gaza. The so-called Army of Islam group kidnapped Johnston on March 12 in Gaza Strip. That was great news for the family of Alan, but despite the efforts of Hamas to release him, the US and the UK claimed that what happened won’t change their policies towards Hamas.

Let’s talk about Israeli terrorism:

• 5^th July: Israel invaded Gaza killing 7 (5 resistance fighters and 2 civilians) Note-it
• 5^th July: Israel starts to build illegal wall near Beit Jalla town in Bethlehem area stealing 6000 dunams (1500 acres) of the West Bank. Israeli bulldozers have also demolished land and uprooted olive trees that date back one thousand years, according to local farmers. http://www.imemc.org/article/49338
• 9^th July: Troops kidnap two residents in Hebron (in the West Bank). Sources stated that soldiers broke into several homes in the Al Hawouz area, searched them, and kidnapped two Hebron residents identified as Mohammad Abu Aisha, 22, and Mowaffaq Abu Aisha, 24. The two residents were taken to an unknown destination. Note-it
• 9^th July: Israeli army assassinates a senior fighter in Jenin (West Bank), despite the truce.
• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), based in Gaza, published its weekly report on the Israeli violations in the occupied Palestinian territories in the period between June 28 and July 4. During the reported period ten Palestinian were killed and 27 were injured. Note-it
• 6^th July: Children were banned from entering al-Aqsa mosque as part of an activity in their trip. http://www.imemc.org/article/49348
• 6^th July: Israeli attacks in the area of the al-Mughazi and al-Barij refugee camps in central Gaza yesterday killed 11 Palestinians and wounded more than 25. The wounded included children and a cameraman for Al-Aqsa television, a Hamas-affiliated satellite channel, who was shot numerous times by Israeli troops and later had to have both of his legs amputated. Note-it
• 6^th July: According to a report published in the weekly supplement of Israeli daily Haaretz, Israel has admitted to the destruction of tens of Mosques in the destroyed villages of 1948 during the first years of Palestinian Nakba “catastrophe", a policy implemented by Israel to demolish Arab and Islamic history in Palestine. The orders were given directly by senior officials of the Israeli army and totally were supported by David Ben Gurion.
• 6^th July, the village of Bil’in conducted its weekly demonstration against the illegal Israeli wall near the village. As is the case each week, the villagers were joined by Israeli and international peace activists. Note-it

Peaceful work:

In addition to the Bil’in demonstration that I’ve mentioned above, there were more demonstrations:

• Approximately 100 Palestinian villagers from Wad el-Neiss, located to the south of Bethlehem in the southern part of the West Bank, side-by side with Israeli and international supporters, protested today against the illegal confiscation to land to for the construction of the illegal Israeli wall. Note-it
• Despite the repeated threats and actual punishments against Arab Druze refuseniks in Israel, more Druze youngmen are rejecting military service in the Israel army and confirmed their belonging to their Arab nationality, and to the Palestinian people. Note-it
• Major British workers' union joins moves to boycott Israel, Britain's Transport and General Workers' Union has called upon its 800,000 members to boycott Israeli-made products based on what they term Israel's criminal policies in Palestinian territories.
• The Dutch foreign minister, Maxime Verhagen, recently warned a construction company from the Rotterdam area to terminate its involvement in work on the separation fence in the West Bank.

There were also news that the Arab League plans to meet on Thursday (tomorrow) in Israel for the first time ever, sources report.

There were also shameful news, Jordanian prisoners in Israel are going to be transferred to Jordan, to continue their life-time jail. The only accuses were that they killed two Israelis soldiers while Israeli soldiers kill children, women, civilians daily without even being questioned… I don’t know when are we going to be ruled by ourselves..

Currently, Israel illegally holds around 12,000 Palestinian prisoners in detention camps across Israel, the majority of which have been held for years without any charges laid against them.

And I’ll end this report with this good will from Turkey that  pledged $250,000 for Palestinian refugees of the Nahr el-Bared camp in north Lebanon, announced the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA.)

Ironically, Israel and US gave Fatah arms, then Israel “discover” them in raids and kills Fatah’s fighters!

This is how it works:

First: The Bush administration has spent most of its tens (if not hundreds) of million dollars in aid to Palestinians to train an elite corps of Fatah-loyal fighters and supplied them with arms (probably bought -defiantly not donated- from Israel). For some details, read:

• WorldNetDaily: More U.S. weapons transferred to Palestinians (Feb 2007);
• The Christian Science Monitor report (May 2007);

Second: Israel all of a sudden uncovers arms in Nablus operation and kills Fatah figters, what a surprise:

Israel Defense Forces troops shot and killed an armed Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades operative in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus early Friday during an operation involving searches for wanted militants, weapons and ammunition.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad slammed the IDF operation.

“We view this aggression as a way to undermine our efforts to provide security and end the chaos,” he said Thursday at a conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, (recall the saccharine sweet, soft spoken pathos of her voice?) said the government is committed to working with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, but would not risk the safety of its own citizens.

“Israel will always fight terror,” she said. “We will go forward with full strength to strengthen Abbas, and full strength to stop the terror.

May Fatah (not Abbas; I gave up on him long time ago) learn from the lesson! It is “war business”, which Bush and Israel can’t live without…

Source: http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2007/06/29/war-business-how-this-works/