Doc's Talk: Open air Prison-look into the mirror and see the responsible party

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Open air Prison-look into the mirror and see the responsible party

Passports are the latest weapon in the struggle between Fatah and Hamas

Though Egypt opened the Rafah crossing after the flotilla incident, many still can't leave Gaza because they lack a passport.
By Amira Hass

Over the course of six days - between the 4th and 10th of July - 2,120 people left the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing. Another 396 who wanted to cross the border were turned away by the Egyptian authorities. And another small but significant number of people could not even reach the border, due to the struggle between Fatah and Hamas - even over the dubious authority to restrict their people's freedom of movement. The competition between the two Palestinian factions is nothing new, but in recent months it has been felt more acutely - ever since Egypt opened its border with the Strip following Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla at the end of May. Since early June, over 2,000 people leave Gaza every week and about 3,000 enter.
A Hamas policeman checks passports at Rafah

A Hamas policeman checks passports at the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, June 2010
Photo by: AP

In contrast to the crossing into the West Bank (via the Erez checkpoint ), which is almost hermetically sealed, the Egyptian authorities restrict the type and number of the people passing through Rafah. They primarily permit the passage of students, as well as the entry of sick people who need treatment outside Gaza (and are not permitted to go to the West Bank ) and those with visas to other countries.

As of mid-May, according to data compiled by Oxfam, only 45 people were permitted to leave Gaza through Rafah, 748 were allowed to enter Gaza and two were turned away.

In some cases, one document separates people from their ability to leave the Strip - a passport. For about 30 of these individuals, the reason is clear: They are members of the Fatah movement whose passports the Hamas authorities have simply confiscated. There are also Fatah members who occasionally receive transit permits to the West Bank from Israel, on the basis of their special connections with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, but the Hamas government prevents them from leaving.

Independent sources in Gaza believe these practices are a reaction to the policy of the Interior Ministry in Ramallah, which neglected to issue passports to dozens of Gazans in recent months who sent in applications. Since January, the Interior Ministry in Gaza holds, the Palestinian General Intelligence service (the Mukhabarat ) has been checking every passport application before it is approved or refused.

At the human rights organizations in Gaza, which confirm this claim, complaints are piling up from residents whose requests have been denied. Some of the people who have been denied passports are associated with the Hamas government, like Fiza Za'anin, a member of the elected council in Beit Hanoun, a midwife who won a United Nations prize for her work with women and children during the IDF offensive in Gaza in the winter of 2008-9. Although she received a permit to take a course in East Jerusalem, she told Haaretz by telephone, her request for a passport so she could attend the prize ceremony in October in the United States was denied.

Some of those being denied passports are actually Fatah members, the apparent victims of false reports alleging they have connections to Hamas. One such person, from the Khan Yunis area, told Haaretz that after his request for a passport was denied he used all of his connections with Gazans now living in Ramallah - members of the PA security services - whose intervention finally brought him a passport, six months later.

After the takeover

Until 2007, the Palestinian population registry was concentrated in the Interior Ministry in Gaza, where the passports were printed (including those of West Bank residents ). But after the Hamas takeover of the Strip in June of that year, Ramallah managed to transfer the population registry to its jurisdiction. It also made sure that no blank passports, which are produced in France, would reach Gaza.

In November 2007, there were still about 10,000 blank passports in Gaza. At the time, the two halves of the Palestinian Interior Ministry - in Ramallah and in Gaza - worked in some coordination. With a shortage of blank passports in Ramallah, Gaza sent over 5,000. But when over 300,000 blank passports arrived in the West Bank from France, Ramallah sent only 2,000 to Gaza, in two batches. The last 1,000 arrived in the summer of 2008, and since then Ramallah has refused to include Gaza in its quota of blank passports.

For some time, the authorities in Gaza renewed residents' old passports. But in April 2009, the Palestinian Authority changed the color of its passport from green to black, began using a different kind of paper and changed the document's validity from three to five years.

The Gazans, as usual, found solutions. The minority, which is identified with the Palestine Liberation Organization in general and Fatah in particular, managed to send forms to Ramallah and receive passports through friends, acquaintances and relatives permitted to leave the Strip. Others sent their requests via various express mail services, which demand very high prices. At the Hamas checkpoint in the Beit Hanoun area, security people sometimes confiscated passports returnees were bringing back to friends.

The Gazan authorities reconciled themselves to the situation and began allowing dozens of special agencies in the Strip to become overt intermediaries between the Interior Ministry in Ramallah and residents. The move caused a drop in the exaggerated prices (up to NIS 1,000 for a passport for which the Interior Ministry charges NIS 210 ).

"We used to be a travel, tourism and pilgrimage agency," the owner of one such company told Haaretz. "Now there's no travel and no tourism, so we've become a passport agency."

He says he charges about NIS 300, with the difference covering express delivery, phone calls, notary public stamps and agents in Ramallah. His agency receives several dozen requests per day, which they then submit to the Interior Ministry. Based on the information that has made its way to Gaza, the passports are first sent for perusal by a special Palestinian General Intelligence officer.

One such agent told Haaretz contradictory stories: that there were attempts to forge details (mainly in order to obtain passports for Hamas members under other names ); that it's not true that the Palestinian General Intelligence interferes in issuing passports; and that the government in Ramallah promised that from now on it will not deny anyone their right to a passport.

The owner of another travel agency in Gaza said that every month he sends approximately 500 requests for passports. In June, he estimates, 10 requests that had been sent through him were denied.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry in the Strip, Ihab al-Ghussein, told Haaretz that every month 10,000 new passports are needed in Gaza and that about 100,000 residents are in urgent need of a passport. According to Al-Ghussein, since the summer of 2008 Ramallah has issued only 18,000 passports for Gazans. He is confident about that figure because the Interior Ministry in Gaza instructed every resident who receives a new passport from Ramallah to register its details with the ministry in Gaza.

According to data obtained by Mustafa Ibrahim, a researcher at the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights - Palestine, over 100,000 new passports from Ramallah have arrived in Gaza since 2007, including 22,000 in the first five months of 2010 alone.

'A natural right'

Haaretz sent a list of questions to the Interior Ministry in Ramallah via the Palestinian Government Media Center there, but did not receive any direct answers or data. Instead, Haaretz was referred to a press release from the interior minister in Ramallah, Sa'id abu Ali.

While this press release does not directly mention the complaints about the involvement of Palestinian intelligence in issuing passports, it implies the existence of irregularities and problems, and in general announces its commitment to transparency, serving the population and its view that "the Palestinian passport is a natural right for every citizen."

The number of applicants who have not received passports because of the Palestinian Intelligence interference is not known. But the very fact that there are Gazan residents denied passports from the ministry in Ramallah merely adds to the sense of imprisonment in the Strip. .

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk