From Occupied Palestine

Israel holding Hamas commander as 'bargaining chip'
Agence France Presse, 10 September 2007

A top Hamas commander snatched by Israeli commando troops last week will be used as a bargaining chip for the release of a soldier held by Gaza militants, a senior Israeli minister said on Monday.

"The ability to acquire new assets which are concretely relevant to the release of Gilad Shalit gives us a considerable advantage," Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter told army radio, referring to the Israeli soldier who was seized in June 2006.

Prison within a prison
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz Magazine, 31 August 2007

Synthetic grass symbolizes the good earth; red bathroom tiles represent the blood that has been shed; the six scarred concrete pillars stand for the walls and fences. It's naive to the point of being pathetic. But why six pillars? "Six is many," explains the director and curator, Fahed Abu al-Haj, a former prisoner himself, ignoring other possible associations Israelis might have in this part of the exhibit.

Peter MacKay in Israel and Palestine
JON ELMER
The Dominion, 25 January 2007

Gaza town shocked and battered by Israeli raid
NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI
Reuters, 4 November 2006

Beit Hanoun, Gaza -- Rasmiya Mahmoud has seen plenty of Israeli raids into the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. But nothing like this.

Dozens of Israeli tanks have encircled the town of 30,000 people since Wednesday. Heavily armed soldiers, trying to stop militant rocket fire at the nearby Jewish state, have fought running battles with militants.

Palestinian interior minister interviewed on Executive Force, other issues
BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 23 October 2006

Al-Jazeera Television at 1732 gmt on 22 October broadcasts a recorded 25-minute interview with Sa'id Siyam, interior minister in the Hamas government, by HUSAYN ABD-AL-GHANI in Cairo, from the "Today's Encounter" programme. The date of the interview is not given.

Talking with Marwan Barghouthi
Palestine-Israel Journal vol 13 no 2 (Autumn 2006)

The time has come to open the doors for a young generation of activists

Marwan Barghouthi is a member of the Revolutionary Council of Fateh. He is currently serving a life sentence in an Israeli jail, but is viewed by all observers, including Israelis, as a potential future Palestinian leader. His imprisonment is seen as a political act and his release will constitute a substantial part of any future political breakthrough.

The occupier defines justice
AMIRA HASS
Ha'aretz, 23 August 2006

On Jerusalem's Jabotinsky Street, opposite the President's Residence, a medium-sized plaque is fixed on a locked gate, enclosing a broad building and a lovely garden: "This building was the location of the British Mandate Government's High Military Court, which held the trials of the Hebrew resistance fighters from the Haganah, Etzel and Lehi." The sign bears the emblems of the Jerusalem municipality and the three resistance organizations. It further notes: "The resistance fighters refused to acknowledge the authority of the court to judge them, and asked to be recognized as prisoners of war."

Freeing prisoners key goal in fight against Israel
CRAIG S. SMITH
New York Times, 4 August 2006, p. A1

JERUSALEM, Aug. 2

Apocalypse near
MERAV YUDILOVITCH
Ynetnews, 4 August 2006 [Yediot Aharonoth]

Last week, a group of renowned intellectuals published an open letter blaming Israel for escalating the conflict in the Middle East. The letter, which mainly referred to the alignment of forces between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, caused a lot of anger among Ynet and Ynetnews readers, particularly due to its claim that the Israeli policy's political aim is to eliminate the Palestinian nation.

Aggression under false pretenses
ISMAIL HANIYEH
Washington Post, 11 July 2006

GAZA, Palestine -- As Americans commemorated their annual celebration of independence from colonial occupation, rejoicing in their democratic institutions, we Palestinians were yet again besieged by our occupiers, who destroy our roads and buildings, our power stations and water plants, and who attack our very means of civil administration. Our homes and government offices are shelled, our parliamentarians taken prisoner and threatened with prosecution.