Madison Rafah Journal

Victoria Brittain, Guardian Unlimited, January 30, 2007

Mona el-Farra, a Palestinian doctor working in Gaza should have been in London this evening, launching a campaign for peace between Israelis and Palestinians based on recognition of international law.

The campaign, simply called "Enough", is backed by various aid organisations, trade unions, faith and other campaign groups.

Dr Farra was invited before Christmas, and planned to leave Gaza around January 15 to allow plenty of time to get through the difficult Rafah border with Egypt. But she is not in London today because – along with hundreds of other Palestinians – she was refused the right to cross the border. For a week, with her suitcase packed, she thought she would be able to come. But in the end the border was only opened one way – into Gaza from Egypt, not out of it.

Last week, in an attempt to get an exemption for Dr Farra, two eminent British doctors – Derek Summerfield and David Halpin – faxed new invitations to her to come to London. But these health professionals' invitations also cut no ice with the Israelis.

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United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 30 Jan 2007

Ceasefire between Palestinian factions enters into force after five days of intense inter-factional fighting

Overview

The ceasefire between Palestinian factions announced by Palestinian Foreign Minister, Mohammed al Zahar in the early hours of this morning is holding. The ceasefire follows the heaviest loss of life from interfactional fighting recorded by OCHA with at least 34 deaths and 133 injuries (Palestinian Ministry of Health) between the evening of 25 January and the evening of 29 January.

Field reports at 7.15am today from UN area staff indicate that all fighting has ceased, Palestinian gunmen have withdrawn from the streets and unofficial checkpoints are no longer present. Negotiations are currently underway to secure the release of hostages that were seized by both sides over the previous five days. A number of roads remain closed in Gaza city notably around military installations including the Sarayia and Preventive Security Force Head Quarters in Tal al Hawa. Checkpoints are still in place under the control of the National Security Forces however traffic is moving freely.

Recent internal violence

On the evening of 25 January, Palestinian gunmen detonated a roadside bomb targeting a jeep carrying members of the Hamas-affiliated Executive Support Force (ESF) in Jabalia (northern Gaza Strip). Two ESF members were killed, triggering an escalation in internal violence which saw attacks and counterattacks by members of Hamas and Fatah throughout the Gaza Strip with the exception of Rafah.

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Reuters, 31 Jan 2007

The United States is considering expanding assistance beyond Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Presidential Guard to members of the largest
force under his command, Western and Palestinian officials said.

Providing U.S. funds to train elements of Abbas's National Security Forces (NSF), in addition to the Presidential Guard, could increase U.S. involvement in the violent power struggle between Abbas's Fatah faction and the governing Hamas movement.

Officials said members of the NSF would undergo a review process to ensure they are qualified and have no ties to militant groups before undergoing the training.

The nearly 4,000-man Presidential Guard is far better armed and trained but tiny in comparison to the NSF, the closest thing the Palestinians have to an army.

Palestinian officials estimate that the NSF have as many as 40,000 members. Western diplomats involved in the matter say the number of "active" members is closer to 20,000 and that a portion of those would be eligible to participate in the U.S.-funded training.

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Amira Hass, Haaretz, 31 January 2007

For years Gaza has been identified with rifles held aloft, with mothers expressing joy at the fact that their sons have committed suicide in an attack against Israelis, and with pleading looks by people who have nothing to eat at home. Not only Israelis see these television scenes as representing reality in its entirety, so do those Palestinians living in the West Bank who have never entered Gaza – certainly not during the past 16 years, since Israel began to prevent free entry and exit from this impoverished and crowded strip of land.

Only a prolonged stay among the residents of Gaza can add other nuances to the televised version. The jokes and the rumors, the talent for self-mockery, the power of endurance that alternates with fatalism, the frankness, the generosity, the ability to be both emotional and tough at once, the common sense acquired over 60 years of exile and loss, the shouting and the silence, the pain over the fact that education was once the highest priority. These are only some of the character traits that endear the residents of Gaza to those who know them well.

And these are the nuances that have been erased in recent weeks, as Gaza has come to be identified first and foremost with lethal internecine battles between armed men from two hostile political movements, with mutual killing that everyone says is insane but which they are unable to stop.

To the point that two days ago, after the terror attack in Eilat, residents of Gaza were hoping that the Israel Defense Forces would invade the Strip and detain some of the armed men and chase others out of the streets. The clear signals that the IDF does not intend to do so are additional proof for them that Israel wants this internal war to continue.

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Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent, and the Associated Press, 31 January 2007

The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday condemned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to approve moving the separation barrier near Modi'in Ilit away from the Green Line in order to take in two settlements, as was first revealed by security sources and a brief submitted by the state to the High Court of Justice.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel, said the Israeli move "undermines everything we're doing to revive the peace process."

"The wall is the continuation of unilateralism and dictation, and destroys the prospects of any real negotiations," he added.

According to the sources, Olmert approving the moving of the barrier at least five kilometers eastward from the Green Line in the area of Modi'in Ilit, in order to take in the settlements of Nili and Na'aleh.

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Patrick Seale, Agence Global, 27 Jan 2007

The world rightly celebrates those Gentiles who, at the risk of their lives, saved Jews from extermination by the Nazis during the Second World War. In much the same way, Jimmy Carter deserves a monument for his brave efforts to save the Palestinians from Israel’s cruel and determined attempt to destroy them as a people.

In daring to criticise Israel in his new book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, Jimmy Carter has not risked death. But he has faced character assassination by Jewish groups, wounding attacks by fellow Democrats, such as Nancy Pelosi, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, and vilification by former associates of his Carter Center at Atlanta, Georgia, which he set up to promote conflict resolution, monitor elections and keep alive the faltering Arab-Israeli peace process.

Carter’s fate demonstrates yet again the perils for a public figure in the United States to arouse the fury of the Jewish lobby and its many supporters. The use of the word apartheid in his book’s title, and its repeated use in the text, has outraged Israel’s most fervent supporters. But Jimmy Carter, the very archetype of an honest politician, believes in calling a spade a spade.

He bluntly describes "the policy now being followed" by the Israeli government as "[A] system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights."

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