1. Judenrein in Jerusalemby Hillel Fendel  Wednesday night: Police arrested seven Jews, evicted 30 others, and uprooted 30 fruit trees from Jewish property in eastern Jerusalem - while allowing an Arab squatter to remain there. The would-be residents have named the area Shaar HaMizrach, Gate of the East. "The property is registered in the land registry (tabu) as belonging to a Jew," King said afterwards, "just like any other Jewish property in any other part of Jerusalem. It is defined as agricultural property, on which it is permitted to live. Yet this morning, Border Guard police and regular police arrived and threw us off the property, and also uprooted the fruit trees that we planted - while at the same time, they allow an Arab squatter to remain on the property." [video:123419]  2. Olmert to Introduce Disengagement II on Sundayby Hana Levi Julian  Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to introduce an embryonic strategy for the next Disengagement, this one from Judea and Samaria , at the Cabinet meeting on Sunday.
A statement issued by Olmert's office Wednesday night said he will present a plan "that has been coordinated by Vice Premier Chaim Ramon on the issue of voluntary relocation and compensation from Judea and Samaria ."
According to the statement, "The issue will be discussed but will not voted upon at this stage." Olmert said he "intends to hear comments on the initiative; continued treatment of this issue will proceed accordingly."
The exact same language was used prior to the expulsion of some 8,000 Jews from their homes in the Gush Katif region of Gaza and northern Samaria in the summer of 2005.
Outraged Response by MKs In and Out of Gov't The Shas party said bluntly that its ministers would oppose any discussion of Ramon's initiative in the cabinet session on Sunday.
"This move lacks public, legal and human legitimacy," declared Shas party leader and Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Eli Yishai. He vowed to block it, adding, "These delusional ideas present us not just as people with no backbone, but as actual invertebrates."
Likud faction whip MK Gideon Saar was equally outraged, commenting, "Olmert continues his attempts to create facts on the ground in the spirit of the extreme Left, in his last days in office. Olmert did not have a majority in the Knesset to pass this delusional law before he resigned, and he will not have a majority now either."
Even Olmert's fellow Kadima party member, MK Otniel Schneller, said that "if the 'expulsion compensation law' passes, the government should be disbanded."
Schneller, who lives in Maaleh Michmas in southern Shomron and is thus a potential candidate for expulsion, said "In a democratic country, boundaries are not drawn through government-sponsored bribery."
Time is Running Out for the Prime Minister Prime Minister Olmert may have lost his race to put some form of final status agreement into place with the Palestinian Authority and create the groundwork for an expulsion from Judea and Samaria , however.
Channel 10 television reported Wednesday evening that the prime minister might be indicted for suspected criminal offenses as early as Sunday, possibly pre-empting the Cabinet's planned meeting on the nascent plan for Disengagement II.
Top police investigators were slated to meet Thursday to discuss whether to recommend indicting Olmert. According to the report, there is a general consensus among the investigators in favor of filing charges against the prime minister on at least three matters, known as the "cash-stuffed envelopes," Rishon Tours and the Center for Investment.
The police are expected to recommend to the Attorney General to file the charges against Prime Minister Olmert on Sunday. Olmert has said that he would resign if he is indicted. 3. 2nd Temple-Era Wall Found on Mt. Zion by Ze'ev Ben-Yechiel 
Aerial photograph of the excavation, Mount Zion Valley Photo: Klara Amit, I.A.A. The new findings, described by the Antiquities Authority as “exciting” and “extraordinary,” were announced during a press conference held at the excavation site on Mount Zion. In addition to the Hasmonean wall dating to the second century B.C.E., archeologists discovered remains of a later wall, built on top of the older wall in Byzantine times (342-640 C.E.), after the older wall was mostly destroyed during the Great Revolt of the Jews against Rome in 66-70 C.E. Together, the two walls offered a rare glimpse into the boundaries of an enlarged Jerusalem, which was bigger than the Old City is today, as delineated by the Ottoman walls still standing. The original Hasmonean wall reached at height of over 3 meters (10.5 feet) and was part of a 3.5 mile-long fortified perimeter - much longer than the 2.5 miles of today’s wall. Like many monumental structures from that period, it was built without mortar or any other adhesive. The newly unearthed wall predates the structures of Herod, including the Western Wall and the other walls surrounding the Temple Mount. Bowl shard from the Late Roman Period (3-4 CE) Klara Amit, I.A.A. The extensive excavation has been in progress for the past year and a half, under the direction of archaeologist Yechiel Zelinger of the Israel Antiquities Authority (I.A.A.), in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority and with financial support provided by the Ir David (City of David) Foundation. According to an I.A.A. press release, the project is part of the master plan for the Jerusalem City Walls National Park, aimed at preserving and exhibiting the region around the Old City of Jerusalem as an open area for tourism. The National Parks Authority plans for the remains of the ancient city walls to be incorporated into a promenade that will encircle the southern side of Mount Zion, continue along the northern bank of Gai Ben Hinnom (Valley of Hinnom), and terminate in the City of David to the south of the present-day Old City walls. The lines of the wall that delineate Mount Zion from the west and the south were first discovered and excavated at the end of the 19th century (1894-1897) by the Palestine Exploration Fund, under the direction of the archaeologist Frederick Jones Bliss and his assistant, architect Archibald Dickie. For the excavation, the team excavated vertical shafts linked by subterranean tunnels running along the outer face of the city walls. In the years that passed since the century-old excavations, the shafts and tunnels had filled up with soil; a year and a half ago when archaeologists were asked to determine the location of the areas that were excavated, they were unsuccessful in doing so. However, by cross-referencing the plans of the old excavations with current updated maps of the area, Yehiel Zelinger was able to locate the tunnels which the British expedition had dug. Beer bottle, from the late 19th Century, marked ‘Jerusalem’, from Bliss & Dickie expedition Klara Amit, I.A.A.
Among the items discovered in the recent excavation were “souvenirs” left behind by the British excavators, including one of the laborer’s shoes, the top of a gas light which was used to illuminate the tunnels, and fragments of beer and wine bottles from 120 years ago. One of the beer bottle fragments was marked with the word “Jerusalem,” and, in addition to the artifacts from the British, a bowl shard was found dating from the 3rd-4th century C.E. Yechiel Zelinger commented on the recent findings at the conference. “Having located the two city walls on Mount Zion corroborates our theory regarding the expansion of the city toward the south during these two periods, when Jerusalem reached its largest size. “In the Second Temple period the city, with the Temple at its center, was a focal point for Jewish pilgrimage from all over the ancient world, and in the Byzantine period it attracted Christian pilgrims who came in the footsteps of the story of the life and death of their messiah. The exposure of the Hasmonean city wall and the line of fortifications from the Byzantine period, which is dated 400 years later and is right on top of the former, prove that this is the most advantageous topographic location for the defense of the city. “The artifacts indicate that in spite of the fact that the builders of the Byzantine wall were unaware of the existence of the wall from the time of the Second Temple, they constructed their wall precisely along the same route.” Zelinger added, “the fact that after 2,100 years the remains of the first city wall were preserved to a height of three meters is amazing. This is one of the most beautiful and complete sections of construction in the Hasmonean building style to be found in Jerusalem.” When asked about the implications of the findings for Jewish historians, Zelinger said that it was more evidence of what he considers to be an undisputable fact: "We were here. There should be no question about it." 4. Police Violence Precedes Protestby Hillel Fendel  Dozens of concerned citizens who wished to protest against the banning of three young men from their homes in Yesha for 3-4 months were detained - and some were beaten - before they could start protesting. In addition to accusing them of "planning to take part in an illegal demonstration," the police used violence on several occasions against youths and adults before and after the protest rally. Police and Border Guard officers Complaints have been filed with the police against some of the officers involved in the arrests and violence (see below). Protestor "sitting in"
There were already arrests at the entrance to Reut Click here for a Hebrew-language video of the events. Walter Bingham in cuffs
"They had me follow them to the police station, where they actually had an investigator test my car like they do on the annual inspection. Within a few minutes, a whole bunch of people werer brought in, on the same charges; they had been in the bus in front of me, from the Kiryat Arba-Gush Etzion area. Later, we heard that the other bus, from Jerusalem, was also stopped, and the passengers taken to the police station in Ramle." The police detained at least one of the buses with the excuse that the tires were suspected of being low on air. Before the arrests in front of the house
15 Remain Under Arrest Shmuel Medad, head of the Honenu legal rights organization which helps nationalist-camp members who are arrested during the course of their activities, told IsraelNationalNews.com at around 5 PM, "The last of the 15, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is having his hour in court right now. He is demanding to know why he was arrested in the first place." Ben-Gvir is a veteran of legal struggles in these matters, and is said to know his way around the court system better than many lawyers. Other complaints were filed against the officer commanding the Modiin Police Station on Tuesday night, under whose watch the citizens were beaten inside the station, and against the police officer who ordered the whistling demonstrators to disperse - but gave them no time to do so before ordering his men to swoop down on them and beat them with clubs. 5. Police to Recommend Indicting Olmertby Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu  Police negotiators will meet Thursday and Sunday to wrap up recommendations that the government indict Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for crimes in three different cases, police sources said. The suggested indictments cover alleged fraud and breach of trust in the probes involving American businessman Morris Talansky, Rishon Tours and private investments. Comment on This StoryChief investigators and the head of the fraud squad also will decide whether to question him again. The Hebrew website NFC, which has been in the forefront in exposing the probes against him, said that police planned to question Prime Minister Olmert again on Friday, but that he refused because he does not feel well and has a heavy work load. Amir Dan, spokesman for the Prime Minister, dismissed the reports of the recommendation of charges as "superfluous," as the police have already made it known they want to recommend indicting him. The timing of the police recommendations is significant because Prime Minister Olmert intends to bring to the Cabinet on Sunday the issue of compensation for Jewish residents in Judea and Samaria who agree to leave their homes. Ministers from the entire political spectrum have denounced the planned discussions as poorly timed, and the Prime Minister said he will not ask the Cabinet to vote on the proposal. The possible indictments involve some $150,000 in cash that Talansky transferred to Olmert, to be used simultaneously for Likud campaigns and for his own campaign in the mayoral race in Jerusalem. The Rishon Tours probe centers on allegations of double billing for trips Olmert took abroad. The system earned Olmert an extra $110,000 that his family is suspected of having used for private trips. The police may also recommend indicting the Prime Minister for interfering in investment projects in order to help his close friend and former personal attorney, Uri Messer. 6. Supreme Court: Let Nationalists March in Um el-Fahmby Hillel Fendel  The Supreme Court handed down a surprising ruling on Thursday, ordering the police to allow nationalist activists to march with Israeli flags in an Israeli-Arab city. 7. "One Stop Shop" for Jewish Immigrationby IsraelNN Staff  Following success in revitalizing Jewish immigration (aliyah) from North America, the private Nefesh B'Nefesh organization has been given control of immigration from the continent. Yael Katsman, Nefesh B’Nefesh Director of Comunications, says in the interview below, "The Jewish Agency and Nefesh B’Nefesh have reached an historic agreement. Nefesh B’Nefesh is going to become the primary operational vehicle for promotion in North America, and the Jewish Agency is going to be continuing its responsibility on the immigration eligibility process." [video:123414] Katsman says, "We’ve formulated the agreement in order to make a 'one stop shop' for new immigrants from North America." She explained that until now, new immigrants would go to the Jewish Agency and begin a long process of opening an immigration file. After that, they would have to approach Nefesh B’Nefesh and repeat much of the procedure. The two-prong process is now united into one track. 8. PA TV: A World Without Israelby IsraelNN TV  Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) presents a new video which shows how the PA TV educates the children regarding the state of Israel. PMW monitors the Palestinian Arabic language media and schoolbooks and documents the contradictions between the image the Palestinians present to the world in English and the messages to their own people in Arabic. As can be seen in the following video, the children are taught to see a world in which the state of "Palestine" exists and replaces all of Israel. The video shows a children's quiz broadcast this week on Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority television. [video:123418] In their bulletin, PMW’s Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook note that the children on the TV program routinely identified every Israeli city and landmark as part of the State of "Palestine." Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat are described as Palestinian ports, the Sea of Galilee is said to be a Palestinian lake, and the area of the Palestinian state is said to be 27,000 square kilometers. In fact, the total area of Gaza and the West Bank totals 6,200 square kilometers, so the only way to come up with the larger measurement is to include undisputed Israeli territory in the calculation. The "State of Palestine" is said to border Lebanon and the Red Sea, which are Israel's borders. 9. Knesset C'tee: Banks to Provide Debtors' Housingby Hillel Fendel 
Law Committe Chairman MK Menachem Ben-Sasson (Kadima) said, "We have taken a big and important step towards protecting debtors and making sure they are not thrown to the streets... A person's apartment is not only his domicile, but also his self-respect and his security. We must protect these values, and ensure that even financial bodies act in accordance with norms that respect a person's fundamental rights." 10. Home of Yeshiva Killer to Standby Ze'ev Ben-Yechiel  Justice Salim Jubran handed down the temporary injunction in response to a petition filed by the terrorist’s father, against the stated intention of various government and law enforcement officials, including the Prime Minister, to at least partially demolish the home in which the terrorist’s family lives. MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad (NU-NRP) had harsh remarks for the High Court on its decision. “I’m really surprised that this information has reached the headlines of news sites and channels," he said, "because there’s nothing new in the fact that the Israeli Supreme Court is helping the enemies of Israel and the families of terrorists." “The day that the Supreme Court will decide to destroy the 65,000 illegal houses built in Israel by Arabs, this will be news,” he said. Prof. Eldad had no comment on the fact that the judge who issued the halt order was an Arab. Justice Salim Jubran, a Christian from Haifa and the descendant of Lebanese Maronites, is the Supreme Court’s sole Arab member. In early August, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered that proceedings begin to demolish the home. The decision came after consultations with senior IDF officers, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and police. The demolition order was supported by earlier statements from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in which he joined Barak in calling for the demolition of the homes of eastern Jerusalem terrorists. The statements came on the heels of a spate of terror attacks this year in the Israeli capital, all committed by Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem, which left a total of 11 Jews dead and many more injured. The government’s statements in favor of the demolitions are seen as a response to a public outcry by Israeli citizens, but the State currently has no authority to carry them out without the consent of the High Court. Hisam Abu Dhaim, the father of the Mercaz HaRav terrorist, was given until Thursday to file a petition to halt the demolition order, which he did with the help of his Jewish attorney Andre Rosental and an Israeli civil liberties group. In the petition, Rosental argued that the Home Front Command, which was to oversee the demolition of the second and third stories of the house, failed to give the family estimates on the strength of the remaining structure, which the father claims would be uninhabitable. Rosental, speaking on behalf of the terrorist’s family, also claimed that the demolition has no basis, as the defense establishment has failed to prove that the attack was politically motivated and thus a true act of terrorism. Although Israel has acted on the right to demolish the homes of terrorists as a form of deterrent in the past, it has not done so with respect to houses in eastern Jerusalem. Although Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has admitted that Israel has a right to demolish terrorists' homes, he claims that there are many legal difficulties, both domestic and international, that complicate the matter. In addition, some security officials say that home demolitions have not proven to be an effective deterrent against terror. 11. PA Human Rights Group Wants Change in PAby Hana Levi Julian  A powerful Palestinian Authority (PA) human rights group is recommending that Western donors force the Arab entity to change its political ways. The Al-Haq organization expressed outrage Thursday at the Palestinian Authority's system of injustice and called on Western nations to help persuade PA politicians to correct the situation. Al-Haq director Shahwan Jabbarin particularly focused on the issue of judiciary independence, saying that security services in both the Fatah-run areas of Judea and Samaria and in Hamas-controlled Gaza are operating illegally. In a statement Thursday, Al-Haq firmly denounced the "negligence of the Palestinian Executive and Judicial authorities in putting an end to such illegal practices" as arrest warrants being issued against civilians and their detention by military courts. "Palestinian security forces are totally disregarding any attempt made by the civil judiciary to exercise any form of control over their actions, capitalizing on the unconditional support provided by the military judiciary to their misconduct," read the statement. Jabbarin told reporters that the best way to ensure a change in PA policies is by hitting it in its pocket. "I tell the donors it's high time they pressured the Authority to implement its commitments towards the independence of the judiciary." PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad acknowledged that there have been violations and said authorities had made mistakes, but said he remains committed to building security and judicial reform in Judea and Samaria . Hamas denied any wrongdoing, saying there was no political significance to arrests made by its security forces. Al-Haq: Political Power on an International Scale Although Al-Haq appears to be a simple non-profit non-governmental organization, in reality the group, which was founded in 1979 to "protect and promote human rights and the rule of law" is very powerful. Based in Ramallah, it was one of the first human rights organizations established in the Arab world. Al-Haq initially focused primarily on Israel "as an Occupying Power… and the structures imposed by its military and governmental authorities in the OPT ( Occupied Palestinian Territory , as the PA refers to Yesha –ed.)" but slowly turned its attention inward. By 1986 it was examining human rights issues within the context of the PLO's treatment of its own Arabs, particularly women and workers' rights. Eventually the group broadened its scope, winning generous financial support from numerous international organizations and acting as their representative in Judea and Samaria . Al-Haq has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and documents violations of the individual and collective rights of PA Arabs "irrespective of the identity of the perpetrator." In 2004, the group launched a campaign against what it called "Israeli measures of collective punishment and intimidation in the OPT." In addition to the campaign, Al-Haq marked its 25th anniversary with "Waiting for Justice, a report that provided in-depth legal analysis of violations of human rights by the Israeli authorities, based on first hand information gathered by its fieldworkers." It is affiliated with a number of other international entities, including the International Commission of Jurists - Geneva , and is a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (E.M.H.R.N.), the World Organization Against Torture (O.M.C.T.), the International Federation for Human Rights (F.I.D.H.), Habitat International Coalition (H.I.C.), and the Palestinian N.G.O. Network (P.N.G.O.). 12. Feiglin Blasts Netanyahu's Celeb Trickby Ze'ev Ben-Yechiel 
“If someone joins the party and wants to become a Knesset Member, he should become elected by all the members of the party,” Feiglin said. “The whole concept of open primaries, for which Netanyahu himself pushed very hard in the past, is based exactly on that principle - the common knowledge and understanding of 20,000 people who will create the best list of Likud Knesset members.” Bibi's Strategy Among the Israeli public figures Netanyahu is said to be considering inviting into the Knesset are former basketball star Tal Brody; businessman Yair Shamir, the son of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir; the grandson of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, of the same name as his revisionist-Zionist grandfather; former generals Moshe (‘Bogie’) Ya’alon and Yossi Peled; and former Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Education Yechiel Leiter. Gen. (ret.) Uzi Dayan and former Police Commissioner Assaf Chefetz have recently joined the Likud; neither has strong right-wing views. Current members of Netanyahu’s party lashed out at the chairman in reaction to news of this strategy, which would decrease the chances of many of the current members from receiving Cabinet positions if the Likud wins the next general election. In addition, according to some sources in the party, one of the methods Netanyahu is considering is to give every other spot on the list to a newcomer - meaning that half of the Knesset Members in the Likud would be effectively appointed by him rather than chosen by the Likud membership. Another Attempt to Oust Feiglin? “I really hope that is not true. To think that Netanyahu, who did everything he could to open elections to the authority of the [Likud] Central Committee and Likud members… to think that he is going to go backwards,180 degrees against the party’s interest, against the party’s members, all that just to go against me, is hard to believe.” An Open Door for a Leftist Likud Takeover: 'Scary' “The [Likud] charter talks in a very specific way about being loyal to the land of Israel, to the heritage of Israel,” said Feiglin in an interview with IsraelNationalNews. Feiglin pointed out that most of the newcomers Netanyahu wants to place into the new party list are from the political Left. “Having new names and public figures to join Likud is a good idea,” he said. However, he added, “it seems like Netanyahu is trying to bring into the Likud, and into the government that he will create, people that either are from the extreme Left or people that were in favor of the Disengagement, even people who are still in favor of that act." Feiglin pointed out that Netanyahu is “trying to bring in a guy like Uzi Dayan, who was one of the major founders of the Oslo agreements, and who did everything he could to bring about the Disengagement,” as well as Dan Meridor from the Israel Democracy Institute, “who ran from one place to another to convince Sharon to do the Disengagement.” Feiglin also described one Netanyahu's pick, Yechiel Leiter, as a “so-called settler who came out with plans to destroy communities in Judea and Samaria” and uproot 11,000 more people as one of the figures Netanyahu is courting. “So you see where this direction is leading us, and it’s scary. It’s very, very scary. I think everyone who sees these names should be very worried.” |
Posts
