"Israeli soldiers man a checkpoint at the village entrance and search all vehicles.... Virtually all residents have taken Israeli citizenship.... "I shouldn't have to need an ID card to pass through my own village to see my sister"
"During talks, Israel sold land to settlers at low rates" by Diaa Hadid, Associated Press / November 8, 2010
JERUSALEM — In a separate development yesterday, officials said Israel is ready to give the UN a plan to withdraw from the northern half of a divided village along the Lebanese border that it has occupied since 2006. The pullout could resolve a key dispute between the neighboring countries.
When they actually do get back to me.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will formally present the plan today during a meeting in New York with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Officials refused to release most details, including the timing and mechanics of the withdrawal, before the meeting.
Israel recaptured the northern half of the village of Ghajar during the 2006 war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. A UN-brokered cease-fire that ended the fighting called on Israel to withdraw, but the Jewish state has so far refused to do so because of concerns that Hezbollah could move back into the village.
And not only that:
“Every day we have Israeli warplanes entering Lebanese airspace"
And NOT a PEEP from the U.N. Security Council!
Imagine the SHOE on the OTHER FOOT!
The world would come to a stop and the media would be full of breaking news!
Hezbollah, one of Israel’s most bitter enemies, fired some 4,000 rockets into Israel during the 34-day war.
Nothing about Israel's littering of the place with cluster bombs after a cease fire was agreed upon, or their use of white phosphorous.
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"Israel pullout stirs fear in Lebanon border hamlet" by Diaa Hadid Associated Press / November 17, 2010
GHAJAR, Golan Heights—Israel agreed Wednesday to pull its troops from the northern half of a village that straddles the border with Lebanon, defusing a long-standing political dispute but frightening villagers who don't want their community divided.
Yeah, they don't want Israeli occupation forces leaving. They must be the only people on earth that feel that way.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said senior government ministers had approved the withdrawal from northern Ghajar "in principle."
Uh-oh.
Within the next few weeks, Israeli diplomats are to work out a detailed agreement with the U.N. peacekeeping force that patrols the border zone in southern Lebanon.
They gonna "haggle" with them like they did with Obama?
The centerpiece of that deal would be a plan to keep Lebanese Hezbollah militants, who warred with Israel in 2006, out of the village.
Yeah, Israel didn't attack or nuthin'.
Israel took control of northern Ghajar during that war.
Israeli officials said the village would not be divided after the withdrawal, but that did not allay residents' fears of being left stranded in Lebanon, if not by Israel then by the U.N. peacekeepers.
Unreal.
Palestinians have been living in refugee camps for generations!
"People are scared it will separate children from their families and brothers from brothers and from our land," said Najib Khatib, a village spokesman. "How can they come today and divide a small village like this? We hope that this decision won't be carried out."
That is one hope that will probably be fulfilled.
The village of Ghajar, flanked by rolling green plains, is virtually inaccessible to all but its residents. Only military roads lead to the village of concrete, boxy homes. Israeli soldiers man a checkpoint at the village entrance and search all vehicles....
Virtually all residents have taken Israeli citizenship, further complicating the village's future. Residents said they were upset that they had not been consulted by the government and learned of the decision through the media.
Get used to it.
Several hundred villagers protested Israel's decision, claiming they were Syrian and so should not be made to live in Lebanon.
Then go back to Syria!
And why wouldn't they want to live in Lebanon?
They held English-language signs that read, "Our village and our land and our farms are Syrian."
That STINKS OF controlled western propaganda.
Wouldn't the signs be in Arabic (or Hebrew at least)?
Some displayed old Syrian ID cards and documents from before 1967.
Villagers are members of Islam's Alawite sect, whose followers include many members of Syria's ruling elite.
?????
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel had "no intention" of dividing the village and that residents would continue to have free movement throughout Ghajar and in and out of Israel, as they do now.
With checkpoints and vehicle searches, of course.
Such assurances were of little comfort to 44-year-old Tawfik Khatib.
"I shouldn't have to need an ID card to pass through my own village to see my sister," he said....
Hezbollah fired some 4,000 rockets into Israel during the 34-day war in 2006. Israel believes the group has restocked its arsenal with more powerful weapons.
Again, no mention of the Israeli war crimes, it's violations of U.N. resolutions, or the amount of military hardware they have received from the U.S. in the interim.
This one-sided s*** is really getting old; I guess that's why AmeriKan newspapers are tanking.
Hezbollah is the strongest armed force in Lebanon, and as a member of the government, wields heavy influence over official decision-making....
And they were the only group to protect the Lebanese people from murderous Israel.
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Related: Israel to pull out of half of village on border with Lebanon (by Isabel Kershner, New York Times)
"Isabel Kershner.... is an Israeli citizen.... possible family ties to the Israeli military"
Oh, one of the tough guys of the AmeriKan MSM.
Gives me two reasons not to read it.
And talk about gall:
"Israel asks for aid as worst forest fire in its history rages" by Dan Balilty, Associated Press / December 3, 2010
MEGADIM, Israel — The worst forest fire in Israel’s history devastated one of the country’s few forested areas yesterday, killing at least 36 guards on their way to rescue inmates at a prison in the fire zone, destroying homes, and forcing the evacuation of thousands.
Look, I NEVER WISH FIRE UPON ANYONE; however, what POETIC JUSTICE considering ALL the OLIVE FIELDS and FARMS Israel's Zionist zettlers have torched and then seized!
The fire ripped through the Carmel forest in Israel’s Galilee, reaching the coastal city of Haifa by crossing a forest left tinder-dry by lack of rain and unseasonably hot weather.
Israel appealed for international assistance, a measure of the severity of the disaster, and Turkey put aside recent tensions to pledge aid.
Turkey just showed how much better they are than Israel.
Investigators speculated that the fire could have been started accidentally, or it might have been a criminal act. They have all but ruled out some sort of attack by a Palestinian group.
“This is a disaster of unprecedented proportions,’’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. The fire was still burning out of control as midnight approached.
Ummm, NO!
The SITUATION in HAITI is such a thing!
The FLOODS of PAKISTAN are such a thing.
The 60-year assault on Palestinians by Israel is such a thing.
Yes, this is bad, all fires are, but far worse things have happened in this world over the months and years.
Most of the dead were Prison Service guards racing through the fire toward a prison to evacuate the inmates, mostly Palestinians....
Now if they died going to save prisoners what happened to the prisoners?
At least one village was destroyed....
Mother Nature made them feel like Palestinians, not I.
President Obama offered condolences to families in Israel who lost loved ones, and he pledged US help.
Netanyahu’s office said Greece, Spain, and Cyprus agreed to send firefighting helicopters, and additional aid was coming from Britain, Russia, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Romania, Jordan, and Bulgaria.
His office also said Turkey was offering assistance, a positive gesture after months of tensions. Israel-Turkish relations, once amicable, have been in a crisis since Israel’s bloody May 31 attack on a Turkish flotilla trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
Wow, the ISRAELI ACT of MURDEROUS PIRACY got a MENTION!
Related: Gaza Forgotten
Also unmentioned regarding Turkey was Israel's attempt at a coup.
That usually doesn't go over well with people.
Israel’s appeal was a rare call for international aid.
Like they aren't getting enough billions from the U.S.
Oh, right, that was all spent on weapons of war, bulldozers to knock down Palestinian homes, and building material for Zionist zettlers.
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Also see: Giving Israel a Taste of Its Own Medicine
Doesn't taste too good, does it?
You know what happens when you are persecuted, right?
"Palestinian stowaways found on freighter
Two Palestinian men were found stowing away on a New Bedford-bound freighter, authorities said yesterday. Crewmembers found the two late last week and notified authorities. The ship was kept offshore, and state and local police as well as Coast Guard officials boarded it to take custody of the two men. Federal agents searched the ship before it was allowed to enter New Bedford, said Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Feinstein said the men were trying to get to Canada, and that authorities believe it may be a case of human smuggling. Authorities said the men posed no threat to national security.
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