Israel to shut down Hamas charities

Israelis are to step up operations against civilian infrastructure belonging to Hamas in West Bank in breach of a truce already agreed on.

According to Ha’aretz, Israeli forces will soon shut down a large number of Hamas-affiliated charities, confiscate their property, and search computers and documents that detail their activity.

The forces have been carrying out similar raids in the al-Khalil, Qalqilyah and Ramallah areas since the beginning of the year, but the operations will now be expanded to additional parts of the West Bank.

Israeli authorities including prime minister Ehud Olmert and war minister Ehud Barak have approved the plan to target Hamas civilian infrastructure.

Hamas-affiliated institutions that were targeted so far include schools, health centers, charities, and even soup kitchens and orphanages. Dozens of associations were shut down and the food confiscated.

An Egypt mediated truce between Israel and Gaza fighters came into effect on June 19, under which Israel promised to stop attacks on Gaza and ease the blockade in exchange for an end to the retaliatory homemade rocket attacks on Israelis.

But Palestinians say the Israeli regime has broken the Gaza truce more than 28 times since it went into force two weeks ago.

MSH/BGH

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Israel abuses Palestinian prisoners

An Israeli rights group has said that the military regularly abuses Palestinian prisoners, including children, after their arrest.

In its annual report, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel mentions 90 cases of detainees said to have been mistreated by soldiers, AFP reported.

“On certain occasions, the ill treatment of Palestinian detainees is highly violent, resulting in serious injuries,” the report said.

“At other times, abuse manifests itself in a routine of beating, degradation and additional abuse.”

“Minors, who must be granted special protection under both Israeli and international law, are also victims of abuse,” the group said.

The report, which covers the period from June 2006 to October 2007, lists numerous cases of Palestinian prisoners who were abused “after they had been arrested, bound and no longer posing a threat to soldiers.”

It criticized what it called “the absolute indifference” shown by the military hierarchy, the defense ministry and the parliament.

More than 11,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are suffering under harsh conditions in Israeli prisons.

MSH/GM

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Israeli troops kill 2 Palestinian fighters

Israeli troops have killed two Palestinian fighters in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical officials and the Israeli military say.

The Israeli military says troops opened fire on a group of armed Palestinians, who approached the soldiers near a major crossing.

Local Palestinian media reports said the two were killed as they tried to reach what they described as an army “post” in the town of Beit Lahiya in the northern strip.

The fatalities belong to the armed wing of the Fatah movement and to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

MSH/MMN

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Hezbollah rejects UN control of Shebaa

Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammad Raad has rejected an initiative that would put the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms under the control of the UN.

In an interview with al-Manar TV, Raad said that Hezbollah would not reach its goal of liberating the occupied territories if it put the Shebaa Farms under the control of the United Nations.

The initiative to place the territory under the control of the United Nations was reportedly put forward by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy visited Lebanon earlier this month to become the first Western head of state to meet with newly-elected President Michel Suleiman, who was elected into office May 25.

Suleiman announced during a meeting on Monday with visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband that he would provide the UN with documents ‘that will prove the Shebaa Farms belong to Lebanon’.

Israel occupied Shebaa Farms in the 1967 war. Syria has insisted the territory belongs to Lebanon but Israel has so far declined to return the land under the pretext of continued ambiguity over its status.

According to the plan proposed to the UN, the Shebaa Farms would be demarcated and returned to Lebanon in future stages of the initiative.

In another development, Raad referred to the delay in forming a Lebanese government cabinet, saying that no ‘serious problems’ have occurred in the formation of a new cabinet and that the process simply needed to be managed ‘logically’.

“We have not received any responses about our suggestions” for cabinet ministers, Raad said.

Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese government has requested that the opposition choose a Sunni minister and a Druze minister for cabinet positions, a move that would reduce Hezbollah’s Shia representation in the government.

Hezbollah, however, has also requested that it take control of the Communication Ministry in exchange.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has been in consultations with various parliamentary blocs for more than 10 days in a bid to form a new national unity government but internal disputes between members of the ruling bloc have so far prevented that from happening.

MSH/MR/BGH

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