Weekly Briefings 2008: No. 1 (January 11, 2008) NOTE: Sorry for the gap in the weekly briefings. This week, I'm passing on selections from "Today in Palestine" postings for 1-11-08, focusing particularly on the visit of Bush to Israel. Barb O. THE SEIGE OF GAZA Haaretz editorial: The evil decree The scene shown Tuesday night on television was one of the most harsh and shameful seen here in recent times: a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, Ahmed Samut from Khan Yunis, and a nine-and-a-half-year-old girl, Sausan Jaafari, of Rafah, as they entered the Erez crossing alone, after being torn from the arms of their weeping parents. The two children have heart conditions and need urgent surgery to save their lives. Wolfson Medical Center in Holon agreed to care for them, as part of their Save a Child's Heart program that saves the lives of children around the world. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/943343.html Gaza suffering severe fuel shortages The Gaza Strip continues to witness a dramatic decline in the fuel and power supplies since 16 October 2007. The Israeli high court upheld the decision of Israeli authorities to reduce the amount of fuel, including industrial fuel that is used for electricity generation, into the Strip on 13 November 2007. Under this decision, the Israeli Occupation Forces reduced the amount of fuel necessary for operating the power station to 250,000 liters per day. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9217.shtml Israeli medical delegation condemns Israel's siege of Gaza A delegation of four Israeli members of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel), including three doctors and PHR-Israel's Clinic Manager, entered Gaza Wednesday as part of an emergency medical caravan. http://www.imemc.org/article/52266 Food insecurity continues to rise in Gaza Geneva_(dpa) _ The number of people requiring food aid has risen sharply in the Gaza Strip since the closure of the main Karni border crossing point in June, according to figures published Friday by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Geneva. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LSGZ-7ARGML?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR WEST BANK AND GENERAL PCHR Weekly Report: 22 Palestinians killed, 117 injured by Israeli forces According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)'s Weekly Report, during the week of January 3rd - 9th, 2008, 22 Palestinians were killed and 117 injured by the Israeli military. http://www.imemc.org/article/52268 Report: Wall construction, settlement expansion and nonviolent resistance in 2007 According to a new report released by the Popular Campaign Against the Wall, during the past year, the Israeli government has continued its construction of the illegal annexation Wall in the occupied West Bank, and confiscated thousands of Dunams in addition to uprooting hundreds of trees and demolishing dozens of houses, especially in the Jerusalem area. http://www.imemc.org/article/52270 BUSH VISIT TO ISRAEL: Reporter offers Bush a Gaza, West Bank misery tour Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. Air Force One touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. President Bush has come to the Holy Land for the first time as president of the U.S. But he's trapped inside his security bubble, his every step mapped out in great and precise detail by teams of security experts and heldners. In the end he'll see a side of this unhappy land that bears as much resemblance to reality as Hollywood does to real life. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/01/09/btsc.wedeman.bush/ Welcome, Mr President, to the misery you've created In eight years Palestinians have seen the bald eagle of enlightened US power degenerate into a phoney, biased, cynical lame duck.".....Bush's engagement in the world's most intractable dispute is late, piecemeal and phoney. Above all, it is one-sided. As Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian minister, remarked this week: "Palestinians agree that in the history of the United States, Bush is more biased toward Israel than any other American president." In any conflict, responsibility for making the largest concessions always rests on the stronger party, especially when most of the wrong is on its side. But, despite his rhetoric yesterday, Bush has not used Washington's enormous leverage over Israel to end the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem......" http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2239039,00.html Bush prays in Bethlehem amid sea of barricades Security forces flooded Bethlehem on Thursday as US President George W. Bush prayed at the traditional birthplace of Jesus at the start of a pilgrimage to some of Christianity's holiest sites. The president -- a fervent Christian -- landed by helicopter and then was whisked to the Church of the Nativity in a motorcade through streets largely deserted as part of a massive security operation aimed at protecting him. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080110162608.ngb016gw&show_article=1 Palestinians in Ramallah protest Bush's visit (pictures) http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2008/01/palestinian-police-officers-hit-out-at.html Demonstrators tell Bush their Freedom is not for Sale despite police repression Despite attempts by the Palestinian authority to silence any appearance of dissent, around a thousand people peacefully took to the streets all over Ramallah to protest the ongoing siege of Gaza, and to protest what they said was an attempt to strengthen Apartheid with U.S. President Bush's visit. Dozens of people were arrested and assaulted by PA police. The demonstration began at the Manara, later moving towards the Orthodox Club. http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/01/10/demonstrators-tell-bush-their-freedom-is-not-for-sale-despite-police-repression/ The Charade Goes On Political commentators in this region and beyond are nearly unanimous in their estimates that President Bush's highlighted visit to Palestine-Israel is going to fail to achieve substantive results in terms of peace-making. Many observers point out that Bush's understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is very superficial. For example, he said Israel should remain a "Jewish state," but wouldn't say what that meant in real terms and what he thought the fate of nearly 1.5 million Israeli Muslim and Christian citizens, who constitute nearly a quarter of Israel's population, would be, especially in the long run. http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7uW7NGZU4tZdzfniMIGoOMwUJXca2MJSZeePBgAy3q1OxB%2bwRsEvsSGQIbYOdFL34EbCHgcwIpIMLO0u5fvPPUIjakgdCIT%2fwD1fmm3BgVJQ%3d In exclusion, Hamas counts As US President George W. Bush began talks Thursday with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas supporters in Gaza were determined to make their absence count. Leaders from the Palstinian party Hamas that won the elections in Gaza two years back have inevitably not been invited to meet Bush. The U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9221.shtml Palestinians little moved by Bush visit JERUSALEM; and Ramallah, West Bank - While President Bush stood in Ramallah Thursday speaking of plans for a way out of the conflict that defines daily life for millions of Palestinians, many of the people he hoped to convince that a peace deal with Israel is on the horizon simply dismissed his promises as kalam fadi – empty words. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0111/p01s04-wome.html US beats a Middle East policy retreat "CAIRO - Recent months have witnessed severable notable political reorientations in the Middle East, involveing Iran, the Gulf States, Egypt and Lebanon. Several experts say the changes reflect a shift in Washington's regional strategy following recent policy setbacks. "U.S. policies in the region are either in retreat or undergoing re-examination," Ayman Aabelaziz Salaama, international law professor at Caior University, told Inter Press Service. "Washington's project for a new Middle East - launched in 2001with the aim of redrawing the region to suit US interests - has failed."....." http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA12Ak02.html A 'helping' hand Israel's way of supporting its negotiating partner leaves something to be desired, observes Khaled Amayreh. Just ahead of George Bush's visit to the region, Israel was helping Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in its own peculiar way. Last week, thousands of Israeli occupation soldiers, backed by an armada of military vehicles and armoured personnel carriers, stormed Nablus, which the PA regime had just declared a "safe and secure city". http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/879/re1.htm AUDIO: Ali Abunimah and Jonathan Cook discuss Israel's "generous offers" on Flashpoints EI co-founder Ali Abunimah and EI contributor and author Jonathan Cook were interviewed on Flashpoints radio out of Berkeley, California on Monday, 7 December 2007. The two were invited on just days before US President George W. Bush's first ever presidential visit to the Middle East and discussed past Israeli "generous offers" including Camp David in 2000, and Ehud Olmert's continued policy of ethnic cleansing. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9220.shtml TAKEN FROM: Today in Palestine Friday, 11 January 2008 Always posted on: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi/ You don't have to be a member to read the messages.