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Tag: palestinian

  • Gaza Strip: Israel And Hamas Trade Rocket Fire Amid Truce Break Down

    The latest round of cease-fire talks between the Israelis and the Palestinian militants ended brusquely on Tuesday after a round of Hamas rockets rained in Southern Israel.

    According to reports, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told his cease-fire negotiators to go home after a total of 10 rockets launched from Gaza had fallen on Tuesday. This is in violation of an existing truce that Cairo was hoping to extend through the cease-fire talks.

    Israeli F-16s responded by firing up to six of their own missiles in the Sheikh Radwan, the neighborhood of the Gaza City home of Mohammed Yassin Dalu, late Tuesday. Dalu is reportedly the head of the Hamas rocket division.

    The Palestinians said Israel believed that Muhammad Deif, the commander in chief of Hamas’s military, was inside the home and was the bombing’s primary target. It is not clear whether Mr. Deif had been in the house at the time. Neither Hamas nor Israel has provided evidence of his survival or demise. Instead, Hamas accounts claim that one of Deif’s wives and their infant son died in the attack. Three other residents were also killed.

    Reports state that this is probably the fifth Israeli attempt to assassinate Deif.  He has been No.1 on Israel’s most wanted list for over twenty years. The fact that he eluded Israel by living underground for decades, and that he survived previous assassination attempts, has made him a symbol of Hamas’s staying power.

    In the 24 hours since the truce fell apart, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 150 rockets at Israel. Israel had also fired at dozens of sites in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry said 22 people were killed by Israel.

    “We remain very concerned about developments in Gaza,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Wednesday, as reported by Washington Post. “We call for an immediate end to rocket fire and hostilities and a return to cease-fire talks.”

    Harf continued to say that Secretary of State John Kerry talked to Netanyahu to discuss Gaza and efforts toward a cease-fire but that she could not provide further details. She repeated that the United States supports Israel’s right to defend itself.

  • Jerusalem Riot At Holy Site Broken Up By Israeli Police

    A confrontation broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at a holy site in Jerusalem.

    The building is revered as the Noble Sanctuary by Palestinian Muslims and as the Temple Mount by Jews. Both groups value the location highly and there are often violent confrontations as a result of existing tensions.

    The confrontation was said to have occurred after the site was occupied by a group of Palestinians who refused to let any Jewish individuals into the site to complete religious rituals. They would throw rocks at those who attempted to enter the site.

    Israeli police attempted to provide an armed escort for about 20 people who were trying to enter the site to pray. The effort seemed to make Palestinian protesters even more angry.

    Because Muslims feel that the holy site is where Muhammad ascended to heaven, it is one of the most important religious sites in all of Islam. They strongly resent Jews holding prayers at the location despite it being sacred to both religious groups.

    A website called on Palestinians to “stop the Zionists” from attempting to visit the holy site in Jerusalem during the Passover.

    Palestinian protesters occupying the site were alleged to have emerged from the building and thrown rocks at the approaching visitors and their Israeli police escorts.

    With the safety of the visiting group reportedly threatened, Israeli police chose to march into the building and force out the rioting protesters.

    Outside of the holy site, police were said to have used tear gas to drive away the Palestinian protesters.

    Despite calm being restored, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, said that the area was temporarily closed to visitors. Rosenfeld said that no arrests have been made following the incident.

    Violent clashes like this are common during Jewish holidays as the ancient religious significance of the location is said to be at the heart of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.

    Image via YouTube

  • Yasser Arafat: Forensics Show He May Have Been Poisoned

    A report published by a team of experts from Lausanne University Hospital’s Institute of radiation now concludes that Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned. Arafat’s remains are being studied by three teams from Switzerland, France and Russia following the request of his widow, Suha. Suha had given Al Jazeera permission to access his medical records and other personal effects with the aim of determining the cause of his death. The other teams from Russia and France have not yet published their reports.

    The results show that the former leader might have died of Polonium-210 poisoning.  According to the same report, “polonium is normally deposited in soft tissue rather than the bone”. When the bones were examined for polonium, the scientist discovered traces of the poison in various parts like the rib, the sternum, and in the crest of the skull. In total, there were about 900 milibecquerels of polonium in Arafat’s remains, a level that is between 18-36 times the averages according to Dave Barclay, a U.K. forensic scientist.

    Following the news, Arafat’s widow said on Wednesday that the report has confirmed all doubts and that “We are revealing a real crime, a political assassination,”

    However, according to wired, polonium-210 has half-life of 138 days, meaning that the possibility of still finding any trace of polonium after 8 years is negligible. Therefore, what was discovered might have been a by-product of the body’s decay rather than polonium itself.

    Arafat died in 2004 at the age of 74, but there was no autopsy performed at the time, and the cause of his death has never been conclusively determined. This had been made difficult because immediately after Arafat’s death, evidence of his death were poorly documented, and samples destroyed.

    Following the reports, many Palestinians began speculating who might have poisoned Arafat, with many pointing fingers to Israel. However, Israel has strongly denied the charges through former Israel Spokesman, Raanan Gissin  who told the associated press that “if anyone poisoned him, it could have been someone from his close circle.”

    (image via Wikipedia)