More Threats to Cemetery in al-Quds

Israel's "desecration" policy continues as it plans to build a courthouse complex on a large historic Muslim cemetery in al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The Mamilla cemetery, which lies just outside the Old City walls, dates back 1,000 years and, according to Islamic tradition, includes the resting places of companions of Prophet Mohammad.'

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Donkey, Horse and Cat in Israeli Jail

Abbas Zaki, who took part in the Christian celebration of Palm Sunday said: “When we arrived at the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, the Israeli metal gate in the middle of the Street in Bethlehem was open, we all passed through the gate. We walked about 700 meters until we reach the Israeli checkpoint 300. There was a military personnel ready to shoot and to clash with the Christians celebrators. We decided to return, the donkey and the horse were among us. Upon arrival at the gate of the Bilal bin Rabah mosque we went out while the Israeli occupation soldiers were watching us through cameras. They closed the gate trying to stop me and some others from entering the city of Bethlehem. We found ourselves between high walls and closed gates, and here the Israeli soldiers arrested the donkey and the horse, myself and 10 other Christian and foreigners”.

“They laid the donkey and the horse down by use of force, and then they cuffed their legs and put them on a military vehicle. The scene was disgusting; especially when they tied up the four legs of these animals and transferred them to jail on charges of having entered a military zone”.'

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Israeli Tourism Advert Banned in UK

Britain has banned an Israeli tourist office press campaign in which pictures of Noble Sanctuary and the al-Aqsa Mosque have been displayed as part of Israel.

The British Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that the UK advertising regulator imposed a ban on the advertisement over display of the sites, both of which are in East Jerusalem (al-Quds) and part of the Palestinian occupied territories.

The Advertising Standards Authority said that readers of the ad would assume that all the places featured in the ad were part of Israel.'

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Gaza in Blackout as Israeli Blockade Continues

The only power plant in the blockaded Gaza Strip has shut down as a crippling Israeli closure keeps the impoverished region stripped of much needed fuel.

The facility was forces to close on Friday, following a week of limited fuel imports and Israeli authorities' refusal to open any border-crossings.

Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh confirmed the closure of all crossings and that they were expected to remain closed for Saturday as well.

That would mean the populated enclave will dip in a blackout for the next three days until fuel supplies are allowed and transported to the power plant.'

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Israel Seizing Hundreds of Millions of Shekels Meant For Palestinian Services

For the past 15 years, Israel has been channeling hundreds of millions of shekels it had collected in the West Bank into its state coffers. The move is considered illegal, since international law prohibits an occupying power from appropriating the fruit of economic activity in an occupied territory.

Following protests by military lawyers, the deputy attorney general has ruled that the practice should be stopped and ordered an inquiry into whether the Civil Administration in the West Bank should be compensated retroactively.'

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Israelis Don't Even Spare Palestinian Trees

Israeli forces have uprooted thousands of trees in their raids on Palestinian territories to inflict still another blow at the nation's crashing economy.

Palestinian sources accuse the Israeli regime of destroying some 400,000 trees during their incursions into territories under the Palestinian Authority's rule in the last two years.

They describe the damage as a systematic move aimed at mounting financial pressure on Palestinian families, especially those living off their farms and orchards.'

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UK Tabloid: Israel 'Forged Thousands of IDs'

The British secret intelligence service (MI6) suspects that airline staff working for the Israeli secret service Mossad may have copied thousands of British passports, some of which were used in the assassination of senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, the News of the World tabloid reported Sunday.

According to the report, British authorities are also concerned about security searches carried out on British officials attending a terrorism conference in Israel last September.

MI6 believe that Britons flying to Israel have been targeted for months and their documents have been cloned, the newspaper said, adding that the Foreign Office held top level talks last week on whether to issue a warning against travelling with certain airlines.'

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Palestinian Families Expelled From Their Homes,Then Get Billed For It!

If you thought getting kicked out of your home was bad enough, think again.

In “Israel”, if you are expelled, do not be surprised if you get billed for it.

The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economical Rights (JCCER) reported that the Zionist police handed a Palestinian family from Eastern Jerusalem an order on Wednesday to pay 13.000 NIS, demanding family members to pay the expenses of their expulsion from their home.

Members of Majed Hannoun family, from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, were forced out of their home last year and were replaced by fundamentalist Jewish settlers.

But now, the settler-run Jerusalem Municipality is asking the family to pay 13.000 NIS for the expenses of the workers who removed them from their homes, and for equipment the municipality used during the evacuation, IMEMC reported.'

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New FBI Files Alleging AIPAC Theft of Government Property and Israeli Espionage Released

Declassified files detailing an FBI investigation targeting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are now available on the Internet. AIPAC was investigated after it acquired and circulated classified government information provided in strict confidence by US industry and worker groups opposed to AIPAC sponsored economic legislation.

The 50 pages now available as portable document files (PDF) include:

FBI reports of Israelis circulating classified documents in the US Congress, "compromising" the authority of the U.S. President.

US Trade Representative concerns that AIPAC was tactically "divulging" classified information supplied by US industries opposed to AIPAC lobbying initiatives.'

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Rachel Corrie Family Finally Puts Israel in Dock

Seven years after Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist, was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, her family was to put the Israeli government in the dock today.

A judge in the northern Israeli city of Haifa was due to be presented with evidence that 23-year-old Corrie was killed unlawfully as she stood in the path of the bulldozer, trying to prevent it from demolishing Palestinian homes in Rafah.

Corrie’s parents, Craig and Cindy, who arrived in Israel on Saturday, said they hoped their civil action would shed new light on their daughter’s killing and finally lead to Israel’s being held responsible for her death. They are also seeking damages that could amount to millions of dollars if the court finds in their favour.'

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Israeli Forces Raid Al-Aqsa Mosque

Israeli forces have raided Al-Aqsa holy compound in Jerusalem Al-Quds to crackdown on a number of Palestinian protesters in the area.

Clashes erupted in the holy complex after the Israeli forces raided the area to push out dozens of Palestinian protestors in the mosque ground on Sunday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Police also closed the roads into the Old City of Al-Quds in the occupied part of the city, preventing entry to all Palestinians under the age of 50.'

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New Israeli Law Forbids Palestinians From Mourning Or 'Showing Signs Of Sadness'

A new law in Israel makes it a crime to commemorate what Palestinians call the “Nakba”, the “catastrophe” of their dispossession by the creation of the Zionist state in 1948. The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, has passed “The Nakba Draft Law” after just one reading. Penalties will be imposed on anyone showing signs of sadness and mourning within the (undefined) borders of Israel on 15 May; Palestinians remember on that day the creation of the refugee crisis that remains after 62 years.'

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UN, Russia Slam Israel Heritage Scheme

The UN and Russia join world symphony slamming Israel's decision to include the West Bank holly sites in its national heritage list.

"We have repeatedly said that we are categorically against any steps and actions that foreshadow the outcome of negotiations on a final Palestinian-Israeli settlement, and which cannot but hamper efforts contributing to the resumption of dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Friday.

Israel's decision to include the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil and the Bilal Mosque on its list of around 150 so -called Jewish heritage site has provoked widespread condemnation.'

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Bachmann: America ‘Cursed’ by God ‘if We Reject Israel’

At a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Los Angeles last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann offered a candid view of her positions on Israel: Support for Israel is handed down by God and if the United States pulls back its support, America will cease to exist.

" I am convinced in my heart and in my mind that if the United States fails to stand with Israel, that is the end of the United States . . . [W]e have to show that we are inextricably entwined, that as a nation we have been blessed because of our relationship with Israel, and if we reject Israel, then there is a curse that comes into play. And my husband and I are both Christians, and we believe very strongly the verse from Genesis [Genesis 12:3], we believe very strongly that nations also receive blessings as they bless Israel. It is a strong and beautiful principle".'

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Israel to Raze 200 Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

Israeli authorities plan to seal 200 Palestinians homes in East Jerusalem Al-Quds to counter what they call "discriminatory enforcement" against Israeli settlers.

The East Jerusalem Al-Quds Mayor Nir Barkat announced the decision after the State Prosecutor Moshe Lador criticized the municipality's refusal to carry out a Supreme Court order to seal the Jewish-owned Beit Yehonatan building in East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

The building, which houses Israeli settlers, was illegally built in the city's neighborhood of Silwan in 2004.

In a letter written to the prosecutor on Wednesday, Barkat agreed to implement the sealing order but added that he would also act to tear down 200 "illegal" Palestinian homes in the area.'

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Israeli Government Stole Over One Billion Shekels From Palestinian Workers 'Insurance Payments'

The government of Israel has siphoned over a billion shekels in money taken from Palestinian laborers for national insurance between 1970-1994, a report released on Wednesday states.

According to the report, compiled by the workers’ rights organization Kav LaOved, between the years 1970-1994 over NIS 1 billion was withheld from Palestinian workers’ salaries in order to pay their national insurance, but in practice, the report states, the money was instead funneled to the Finance Ministry and used to pay National Labor Union fees, even while the workers were not given membership in the union.'

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Researcher: Israel Destroyed Palestinian Books

Nazi Book Burning may 10th 1933

Israel plundered and destroyed tens of thousands of Palestinian books in the years after the State’s establishment, according to a doctoral thesis to be submitted next month by a Ben-Gurion University researcher.

In an interview with the researcher published on al-Jazeera’s website Thursday, he claimed that Israel destroyed the Palestinian books in the framework of its plan to “Judaize the country” and cut off its Arab residents from their nation and culture.

According to the doctoral dissertation, Israeli authorities collected tens of thousands of Arab books in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, Safed, and other towns that were home to Arabs. Israeli officials proceeded to hand out about half the books, while destroying the second half, characterizing them as a “security threat,” the researcher said.'

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Israeli Mind-Scanner May Take Over US Airports

As part of stringent measures to beef up airport security, US authorities may use an Israeli-made mind-reading scanner that allegedly predicts whether a passenger is a potential threat or not.

The Transportation and Safety Administration (TSA) and the Homeland Security are considering the installment of a controversial mind-reading system, that was recently developed by the Israeli-based WeCU Technologies, in all American airports, AP reported on Thursday.

The device, which functions by blending high computer technology and behavioral psychology, is essentially designed to "get inside the evildoers head" without the subject's knowledge and prevent him or her from placing the lives of fellow travelers in jeopardy.'

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Agha: Israel Created Gaza Valley Flood to Cause Environmental Disaster

Palestinian minister of agriculture Dr. Ramadan Agha, said Wednesday that the flooding in Gaza valley was deliberately created by Israel in order to cause an environmental catastrophe and destroy the agricultural life in the areas of the valley, Johr Al-Deek and AL-Maghraqa.

During a symposium on Gaza valley flood organized by the ministry, Dr. Agha noted that Israel used to dump chemical waste in the eastern side of the valley and when it opened the floodgates of one of its dams, all this is swept throughout the flooded areas leading to the contamination of soil and water.'

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Israelis Impose 'Financial Punishments' on Palestinian Prisoners

Israeli prison staff impose financial punishments on Palestinian prisoners. A human rights organisation has claimed that Israeli prison staff are imposing financial punishments on Palestinian prisoners. In a statement, the Prisoners' Centre for Studies said that guards and administrators in Israeli prisons force Palestinian detainees to pay for the water and electricity that they consume as a form of additional punishment.

According to the centre, prisoners are also "fined" for trivial reasons, such as reading the Qur'an or praying during the prison's daily roll call (if officers enter when it is the time for prayer); if the imam, while giving the Friday sermon, utters a word that the guards don't like; when a prisoner doesn't manage to get out of the bathroom in the time specified by the guards; and for other similar reasons when the guards abuse their positions and use any excuse to penalise prisoners.'

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