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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Tuesday November 8, 2011
The U.S. authorizes frozen funds to be transferred to Palestine, and the French and U.S. Presidents are caught discussing the Israeli Prime Minister off microphone, these stories and more coming up; so stay tuned.
The Obama Administration has authorized the transfer of aid to the Palestinian Authority, with $50 million in security assistance to the P.A., along with $148 million in direct financial aid. The US Congress held the funds since August 18, when the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, decided to submit its bid for full membership at the United Nations.
According to the British Newspaper, the Independent, Obama has not spoken recently regarding punishing the P.A. over their UN bid, but pro-Israeli lobby groups are still calling for the sanctioning of the P.A.
The US sent nearly $600 million in aid last year to the P.A. to use in the sectors of health, education and security for the Palestinians, and $50 million to help within the P.A. governmental budget; such as services and salaries.
The fundamentalist National Union Party in Israel has threatened to quit the coalition, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Their statements came after Netanyahu told Likud officials that the government should remove some random outposts in the West Bank, and prevent constructions on privately owned Palestinian lands.
Netanyahu said that “Israel will continue the construction of settlements, but will also abide by the law.”
Under International Law and the Fourth Geneva Convention (GC), all settlements built within the 1967 borders, are classed as within the occupied Palestinian Territories. Under the articles of the fourth GC, it is illegal to transfer citizens from the occupying country, onto said land.
In other news, extremist Israeli settlers uprooted thirty olive trees belonging to the Palestinian residents of Madama village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Head of the Madama Village Council, Ehab Tahseen has called on international human rights groups and legal organizations to intervene and stop the sharply increasing attacks carried out by the settlers against the Palestinians in the occupied territories.
In other attacks, Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that three Palestinians were injured, one of them seriously, after Israeli soldiers fired artillery shells into Al-Shujaeyya neighbourhood, east of Gaza city.
The Israeli army also arrested a young man on Tuesday morning en-route to Nablus, after having first searched him. The young man’s uncle, stated that Israeli soldiers detained Ayyoub Abu Radeya, age 25, near the village of Huwwarah, at an irregular flying-checkpoint.
Various checkpoints were set up around Nablus, at the entrance to Beta village, south of the city, with another at the eastern entrance to the city. Cars and I.D.’s were checked, but no further arrests were reported.
At a conference, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and U.S. President Barack Obama were caught of microphone at a G20 conference discussing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
After briefly discussing the U.S.’s annoyance at France supporting Palestine’s UNESCO bid, Sarkozy declared, quote: ‘I cannot stand him. He is a liar,’ referring to the Israeli Premier. President Obama replied, quote: “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!’
That’s all for today from the IMEMC News, this was the Tuesday November 8th daily roundup of news from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We hope you will join us again tomorrow. This was brought to you by George Rishmawi and me, William Gibson.
