Israel threatens to cut Gaza water, power

Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212323.html

Israel has threatened to cut the supply of water and electricity to the Gaza Strip if rival Palestinian movements, Fatah and Hamas, establish a unity government.

"The foreign ministry is examining the possibility of Israel pulling out of the Gaza Strip in terms of infrastructure," AFP quoted Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon as telling the daily Yediot Aharonot's website on Saturday.

Ayalon, a Knesset (Israeli parliament) deputy for the leftist Yisrael Beitenu party, said a Palestinian unity government “would put an end to any hope for a peace agreement" with Tel Aviv.

On Thursday, acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas (leader of Fatah party) held talks with Hamas Political Bureau Chief , Khaled Meshaal, in the Egyptian capital Cairo, where they announced a new era of partnership between the rival Palestinian factions.

The talks seriously irked Israeli leaders who decided to maintain a freeze on the transfer of tens of millions of dollars in tax monies to the PA, to further increase the strain on Ramallah-based authority.

The transfer of funds, which make up a large percentage of the PA's monthly budget, was frozen in November by Tel Aviv, after the Palestine won full membership of the UN cultural organization, UNESCO.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had in January threatened to cut off water and power to the long-blockaded Gaza Strip.

Israel continues to control the supply of water to Gaza and 70 percent of the territory's electrical power. The rest of Gaza's electricity needs are supplied by neighboring Egypt and local power plants, which rarely receive enough fuel to operate under Israel's blockade.

Israel has tightened its crippling closure on the Gaza Strip since 2007, defying international calls to lift the blockade.

Spain's pro-Palestine hint irks Israel

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195273.html

The Israeli regime expresses shock and despair over the Spanish foreign minister's call for a pan-European push towards the UN's recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

Tel Aviv formally protested on Monday Trinidad Jimenez's recent expression of optimism that the next month's meeting of EU foreign ministers in Poland would yield progress towards the issue, Reuters reported.

Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, announced Monday that the Spanish ambassador to Tel Aviv, Alvaro Iranzo, was summoned to the foreign ministry and that the Israeli regime was in a state of 'amazement and disappointment' over the remarks.

Israel has expressed its serious concerns to Iranzo over the possibility of UN recognition of Palestine as an independent state.

The Spanish ambassador has reportedly responded by alleging that Jimenez's comments were 'misunderstood.'

Jimenez stated in an interview with El Pais newspaper on Sunday that "there's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become [a] reality."

"We have to give them some signal, because if we don't, it could generate great frustration for the Palestinian people," she added.

The Palestinian Authority is to formally submit a request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for membership in the world body on September 20, when the UN General Assembly will commence its 66th session.

Israel's ministry of military affairs has reportedly paid nearly USD 22 million to purchase what has been described as 'crowd dispersal' weaponry to confront protest rallies that are expected to erupt in support of Palestine's UN recognition around the time the formal plea is submitted at the world body.

'Palestinians agree on truce with Israel'

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike in the north of the Gaza Strip on August 19, 2011. The 'informal' agreement came after recent attacks by Israel killed at least 16 Palestinians.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195099.html

Palestinian resistance movements based in the Gaza Strip reach an 'informal' agreement to strike a ceasefire deal with Israel after Tel Aviv escalated its attacks against the enclave.

The unofficial accord was brokered by the Egyptian authorities on Sunday, AFP reported.

"We have reached an informal agreement to establish a ceasefire from tonight on condition that Israel halts its attacks," said an official with the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas on condition of anonymity.

The development followed Thursday attacks by the Israeli military, which killed at least 16 Palestinians and injured more than 45 others across Gaza.

The regional grouping of the Arab League has condemned the attacks and called for United Nations intervention to stop Israeli aggression.

Keeping up their crackdown on the Palestinians, Israeli military forces also arrested at least 120 Palestinians, including Hamas members, in the city of al-Khalil [Hebron] in the south of the Tel Aviv-occupied West Bank earlier in the day.

Spain encourages Palestinian state

The Palestinians are seeking to obtain recognition of their state when the UN General Assembly meets in September.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195075.html

Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs hopes that the European Union foreign ministers meeting in early September will bring progress along the road toward the recognition of a Palestinian state.

"There's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become [a] reality," Trinidad Jimenez said, Reuters reported.

"We have to give them some signal, because if we don't it could generate great frustration for the Palestinian people," she added.

The meeting of EU foreign ministers in Sopot, Poland comes ahead of a United Nations General Assembly meeting later in September.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will attend a United Nations General Assembly meeting to upgrade the Palestinian status and gain full UN membership for his country.

Washington and Tel Aviv remain opposed to the move.

Palestinians have been campaigning to win UN recognition for a state that encompasses the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and illegally annexed East al-Quds (Jerusalem) -- the territories Israel captured in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Over 100 countries have endorsed the Palestinian 1988 declaration of independent statehood.

UN membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council and approval by two-thirds of the General Assembly, or 128 countries.

PA calls for UN meeting on Gaza

Acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194877.html

Acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas has called for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to discuss the ongoing Israeli air attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Abbas has instructed the Palestinian representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, to call for the meeting, Ma'an News Agency reported on Saturday.

The developments come as continuous Israeli air raids targeting the impoverished Gaza Strip in the past three days have killed at least 16 Palestinians and injured a further 45 others so far.

Earlier, Abbas also called on the Arab League (AL) to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza.

The AL Deputy Secretary General Ahmad Bin Helli announced on Saturday that the 22-member organization would hold an urgent meeting on the level of the permanent delegates on Sunday to discuss the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Israel began launching its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip late Thursday.

Moreover, Israel has claimed it launched the attacks in response to assaults that targeted two buses and a military vehicle near the Red Sea resort of Eilat in southern Israel, which left eight Israelis dead.

Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Ehud Barak quickly accused resistance groups in Gaza for the attacks and vowed a “full response.”

Hamas has said that it had nothing to do with the assault and warned against any act of aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Israel has also imposed a blockade on Gaza since the Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007.

The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the impoverished territory.

Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

PA sets date for UN statehood bid

Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/193742.html

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has declared September 20 as the date when it will apply for the United Nations' recognition of Palestine as an independent state.

"[Acting PA Chief] Mahmud Abbas will personally present the request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon... at the opening of the 66th session [on September 20]," PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told reporters on Saturday in his office in Ramallah, AFP reported.

Abbas "will insist on this historic initiative and Ban Ki-moon will present the request to the Security Council," he added.

Maliki further added that the leadership of the PA had chosen September to submit their bid as it coincides with Lebanon's presidency of the UN Security Council.

"We chose to submit it in September because the Lebanese envoy will be president of the Security Council and plays a pivotal role," Maliki said.

Ban will pass it on to the president of the Council after the bid has been handed to him.

The Palestinian resistance movements of Hamas and Fatah agreed to make the application after signing a unity deal in May.

However, the plan has been opposed by the United States, Israel and some of their Western allies. Washington has promised to veto any vote for the recognition.

More than 100 countries have so far officially recognized Palestine as a sovereign state based on the 1967 borders, the boundaries that existed before Israel captured and annexed East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Gaza-bound aid convoy to depart Greece

The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186428.html

Hundreds of activists at Greek ports prepare to board Gaza-bound ships, carrying humanitarian aid to the besieged coastal enclave in defiance of the Israeli blockade.

Around 350 pro-Palestinian activists from 22 countries are set to join the Freedom Flotilla II, seeking to break the Israeli naval siege, AFP reported on Sunday.

Vaggelis Pissias, head organizer of the Ship to Gaza mission, said the boats will leave from various ports in Greece or meet off the coast.

Greece is being used as a departure point due to its geographic position and its “historical, cultural relations with Arab countries,” said Pissias.

In a recent development, the Israeli Navy announced that it would confront the Freedom Flotilla II convoy, which is scheduled to set sail towards Gaza on Tuesday. The convoy will comprise of 15 ships, 22 organizations and around 1,500 activists.

Two cargo boats of the flotilla will carry medicines, a fully-equipped ambulance car and cement to the impoverished Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010, killing nine Turkish nationals aboard the Turkish-flagged MV Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other activists that were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

“What happened last year caused us grave concern ... but we are determined to go to Gaza,” Pissias further explained.

Ankara said the Mavi Marmara had been withdrawn this year. There would be no Turkish vessels involved in the operation as boats from several countries, including Greece, France, Italy and Spain, will join the Freedom Flotilla II.

The Israeli regime laid an economic siege on Gaza in June 2007 after an elected Hamas government took control of the strip.

Some 1.5 million people in Gaza are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and the right to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

Israel, US declare war on flotilla

File photo shows a relative reacting during the funeral of a victim of the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla on May 31, 2010

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186351.html

Israel and the United States have threatened journalists and human rights campaigners against taking part in a Gaza Strip-bound aid mission.

On Sunday, Oren Helman, director of Israel's Government Press Office, said joining the Freedom Flotilla II convoy could "lead to participants being denied entry into…Israel for ten years, to the impoundment of their equipment and to additional sanctions,” Reuters reported.

The fleet, which includes some 500 activists on board of 10 vessels, would depart for the impoverished enclave on Tuesday.

Tel Aviv claims the fleet would be violating its 2007-present siege of Gaza. The blockade has been depriving the enclave's 1.5-million Palestinians of food, fuel and other necessities.

Helman called the mission a "provocative and dangerous event, the purpose of which is to undermine Israel's right to defend itself and to knowingly violate Israeli law."

The activists are accompanied by at least one reporter for the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz named Amira Hass, who is to arrive in Gaza onboard a Canadian vessel known as Tahrir (Liberation).

The Foreign Press Association responded to Tel Aviv's warning, saying, "The government's threat to punish journalists covering the Gaza flotilla sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel's commitment to freedom of the press.”

The United Nations and a number of governments have also warned the flotilla not to set sail.

Washington has called on its nationals to not take part in the protest move.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has branded the move as a 'provoking act.' "We do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza," she has said.

Israel military ordered to stop flotilla

Israeli naval commandos

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186343.html

Israel reportedly orders its military to prevent an incoming convoy of vessels known as Freedom Flotilla II from taking humanitarian aid to the Tel Aviv-blockaded Gaza Strip.

The Israeli regime has instructed its forces “to stop a Gaza-bound flotilla from reaching its goal,” Xinhua reported on Sunday, citing official sources.

The fleet, which includes some 500 activists on board of 10 vessels, would depart for the impoverished enclave on Tuesday.

The mission is named after the Freedom Flotilla convoy, which lost nine of its Turkish activists to a violent Israeli attack on May 31, 2010.

Tel Aviv has also warned foreign journalists against joining the cause in an apparent attempt to cover up potential bloodshed by the forces.

The stubborn attitude comes while the siege has been depriving the 1.5-million Palestinians in Gaza of food, fuel and other necessities since its imposition in June 2007.

French ship sets sail to join Flotilla 2

A ship, Dignité, flying the French flag with six people onboard sails off the coast of the French Mediterranean island of Corsica on June 25, 2011 to join the new pro-Palestinian aid flotilla

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186300.html

A French ship carrying humanitarian aid and six people on board has set sail from the port city of Corsica to join a Gaza-bound flotilla.

The ship flying the French flag named Dignité (Dignity) headed for the coastal waters of Greece on Saturday to join up with the rest of the participants in the flotilla.

The entire fleet will sail for Gaza next week from various Mediterranean ports, French coordinator Julien Rivoire told AFP.

Ships, including two freighters carrying medical supplies "should reach the port of Gaza at the end of next week," he added.

Activists from more than 30 countries plan to sail aboard the ships to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza in the near future.

The Israeli Navy has already declared that it will not allow the new flotilla to break the blockade on the impoverished Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed her strong opposition to the second Freedom Flotilla, claiming that it is both a 'provoking act' and 'unnecessary.'

"We do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza," Clinton said.

Israeli Navy head Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom had earlier called on world leaders to "impose all their authority to prevent the departure of this needless, provocative flotilla."

On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos attacked the first Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, killing nine Turkish citizens on board the Turkish-flagged M.V. Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.

Erdogan supports Palestinian statehood

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and the Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas attend a news briefing after their meeting in Ankara June 24, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186206.html

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the only solution for lasting peace in the Middle East is the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Erdogan made the remarks after meeting with acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, AFP reported.

"The founding of an independent and viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital is the basic condition for the solution to the (Israeli-Palestinian) issue," Erdogan said.

Abbas travelled to Turkey on Tuesday, on a four-day visit, in a bid to rally support for a possible yes-vote at the United Nations.

Hamas and Fatah have agreed, after signing a unity deal in May, to seek UN recognition as an independent state in the next General Assembly meeting in September.

More than 100 countries have so far officially recognized Palestine as a state based on the 1967 borders, the boundaries that existed before Israel captured and annexed East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this month, leaked cables revealed that Israel's Foreign Ministry had launched a global campaign to thwart the Palestinian move to seek statehood recognition.

Israeli diplomats have been instructed to lobby the highest possible officials in their respective countries and muster their support to vote against the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Moreover, Israel's closest ally, the United States, has promised to veto any vote for the recognition of the Palestinian statehood.

'West must support Palestinian unity'

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184107.html

Twenty-four former heads of government, foreign ministers, and peace negotiators have written an open letter calling on the international community to support Palestinian unity.

“In particular, we urge the United States and the European Union to constructively engage with the transitional government as well as with the Palestinian leadership that results from the elections next year,” the 24 high-profile figures said in the letter, Der Spiegel reported on Friday.

In early May, the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a deal in Cairo to establish a unity government and agreed to form an interim cabinet of technocrats and non-partisan figures to lay the ground for national elections to be held within a year.

“Asking Fatah to choose between making peace with Hamas and making peace with Israel presents a false choice: a lasting peace with Israel is only possible if Hamas is on board,” the letter added.

The writers of the letter described the establishment of political and institutional unity between Gaza and the West Bank as “an obvious pre-condition for the establishment of a unified and viable Palestinian state.”

In conclusion, they said, “By supporting Palestinian unity at this vital juncture, the US and the EU have an opportunity to show their commitment to the two-state solution as well as to the democratic aspirations currently being voiced throughout the broader Middle East. The alternative is hard to contemplate. If Palestinian reconciliation is undermined, it will throw the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into an even deeper impasse, with dramatic consequences for all parties and the international community at large.”

Former French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine, former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt, and former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami were among the signatories.

Peace activists have hailed the reconciliation deal between the two Palestinian groups as essential for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and have condemned the Zionist regime's efforts to undermine the initiative.

Pro-Palestine song hits ethersphere

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182818.html

Freedom for Palestine – Song & Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V28HnPTYz-I

The British band Coldplay has endorsed promotion of the song "Freedom for Palestine" released jointly by the pro-Palestinian organizations OneWorld and War on Want.

"Some of our friends are involved in One World's new 'Freedom for Palestine' single - find out more at www.waronwant.org a statement on the band's Facebook page said, Ynet reported.

The single, which has been supported as a collaboration by pro-Palestine groups including Jews for Justice for Palestine, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and Just Peace for Palestine, features famous British musicians such as Dave Randall and Maxi Jazz of Faithless and Jamie Catto of 1 Giant Leap.

The Coldplay invitation has attracted thousands of fans to the song and is expected to boost the popular welcome it will potentially receive after official release in early July.

"Freedom for Palestine" calls, among other things, for Israel to tear down the apartheid wall in the West Bank and to begin respecting the fundamental human rights of the Palestinians.

Over the past few months, a heated international debate over the imposition of academic and cultural sanctions on Israel has raged on. Elvis Costello, the Pixies, Leftfield, Santana, the Klaxons, and a number of other artists and art groups have refused to perform in Israel, and the boycott is gaining steam day by day.

Flotilla II to sail for Gaza in June

The Mavi Marmara led the first Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in 2010

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182477.html

International activists say the second Freedom Flotilla will set sail for Gaza in late June, challenging Israel's deadly blockade of the Palestinian enclave.

In a news conference held in Istanbul on the deck of the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in the first flotilla, a coalition of 22 activist groups said on Monday that 15 ships with some 1,500 activists from about 100 countries onboard will leave for Gaza from various Mediterranean ports around June 20.

"While we wholeheartedly welcome the decision of the Egyptian government to regularly operate the Rafah crossing... Israel's unlawful blockade remains in effect," Vangelis Pisias, the Greek coordinator of the initiative, told reporters.

"Israel still prevents Palestinians from using their sea, and controls and severely restricts all goods entering and exiting Gaza. As such, we must continue to challenge this blockade," he added.

The vessels will carry humanitarian aid, medical equipment, school supplies and construction materials, including up to 700 tons of cement, said Hussein Oruc, a senior member of the Turkish Islamist charity the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), adding that the ships would meet in international waters south of Cyprus before heading to Gaza.

The activists made the remarks during a gathering on board the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara to mark the first anniversary of the deadly ending to the ship's first mission to break Gaza's blockade.

At least nine Turkish activists were killed and many others wounded after Israeli commandos attacked the aid flotilla in international waters on May 31 last year.

Hundreds of Palestinians also gathered at the port in Gaza city on Monday to commemorate the anniversary of the attack on the Freedom Flotilla.

The activists have also called on government to ensure that the deadly incident would not happen again.

IHH has said it expects the convoy to be at least twice as big as the previous one.

Israeli military officials, however, have confirmed that preparations are under way to stop any new flotilla.

Abbas to push for UN recognition

Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182252.html

Acting Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas has told the Arab League (AL) that he seeks the UN recognition of an independent Palestine as his only option.

Addressing an AL meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Saturday, Abbas said there were “no shared foundations” for negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestine's “only option” was to go to the United Nations, Reuters reported on Saturday.

“We see from the conditions that Netanyahu laid out that there are no shared foundations ... for negotiations. Our fundamental option is to go to the United Nations,” Abbas said in his opening remarks.

“This is no secret, we have said it to the Americans and the Europeans and the Israelis, our only option is to go to the United Nations,” he emphasized.

Abbas' comments referred to Netanyahu's last week speech at US Congress, during which he refused to accept US President Barack Obama's proposal that Israel return to borders set before 1967 Israeli-Arab war.

Netanyahu pledged to keep under control key parts of the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds (Jerusalem) -- which is widely regarded as the future capital of an independent Palestinian state.

Abbas touched upon a recently sealed reconciliation treaty between his Fatah party and rival Hamas, expressing fear that the recent diplomatic step could lead to financial sanctions on Fatah, which is already dependent on international donors, including the United States and the European Union.

The Fatah movement came under severe attack in the wake of signing the unity deal with Hamas. The US threatened to cut aid to the party and Israel said Fatah must choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas.

Currently more than 100 countries have so far officially recognized Palestine as a state based on the 1967 borders, the boundaries that existed before Israel captured East al-Quds, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

'Hamas, Fatah to stand firm on unity'

Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Meshaal (File photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180332.html

Hamas' Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad says major Palestinian factions will hold firm in implementing their recent unity agreement.

“We will try to seriously implement the agreement. We are facing a lot of challenges and obstacles but I think there is a strong will inside Hamas and inside Fatah in order to go forward and to implement, honestly, the agreement of reconciliation,” Hamad told Press TV.

He was making a reference to the April 27 agreement between the two Palestinian main factions, Hamas and Fatah, in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to set up a transitional unity government and hold elections.

To that end, Hamad said, Hamas and Fatah “will form committees regarding the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), security and other issues.”

The senior Hamas official expressed optimism that “in the future we will see more unity between Palestinian factions in order to work together against the [Israeli] occupation.”

Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah, which rules the West Bank, have been at odds since the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006.

Differences between the rival groups peaked in June 2007 when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a bid to "foil a coup plot" by some Fatah elements.

Fatah in response sacked the Hamas government and set up a parallel cabinet in Ramallah.

Lebanese to hold rallies on Nakba Day

Israeli military forces have tightened security measures near Palestinian cities ahead of the Nakba Day (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179967.html

Thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are set to march towards the borders of occupied Palestinian territories to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of Nakba Day.

Nakba Day, or the day of catastrophe, marks the 63rd anniversary of the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli army and the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their land in 1948.

The Israeli soldiers wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map during the offensive, leaving the Palestinian refugees dreaming of an eventual return to their homeland more than six decades later.

Organizers of the rally expected 50,000 protesters to march towards the villages of Bint Jbail and Maroun al-Ras on Sunday, where intense fighting broke out between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters during the 2006 summer war, Jerusalem Post reported.

Thousands of Israeli troops are on high alert across the occupied lands due to the protests in the run-up to Sunday's commemoration of the Nakba Day.

Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians gathered in Jabaliya and Nuseirat refugee camps in the northern and central parts of the Gaza strip on Friday to commemorate the Nakba Day.

On the same day, thousands of demonstrators held Palestinian flags and a giant key symbolic of their optimism to return home in the West Bank town of Beit Lahm (Bethlehem).

In Jordan, hundreds of protesters, heeding a call from Palestinian Facebook organizers, took to the streets in the capital Amman and called for the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state on Friday.

Israel to limit access to al-Aqsa

A view of the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179657.html

Israel says it will restrict access to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound ahead of the 63rd anniversary of the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli army, also known as the Day of Nakba (Catastrophe).

Shmulik Ben Rubi, an Israeli police spokesman, says only men over 45 and women holding Israeli-issued identity cards will be allowed to enter the mosque compound on Friday, AFP reported on Thursday.

He added that Israeli police will be deployed around the site in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) to reinforce the restriction.

The latest development comes as Palestinians have begun ceremonies marking the major grievance and aim to hold a series of other demonstrations in the run-up to the Day of Nakba on Sunday.

The event marks the anniversary of a 1948 event, when Israeli forces displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries.

The soldiers wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million refugees dreaming of an eventual return to their homeland more than six decades later.

Meanwhile, thousands of Egyptians also plan to cross into the blockaded Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing on Sunday.

The Egyptians intend to hold a major protest rally against the years-long Israeli siege of Gaza as well.

The Israeli regime laid an economic siege on the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after the democratically-elected Hamas lawmakers took over the administration of the enclave.

The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the impoverished territory.

Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

Nakba Day commemorations begin

Palestinians shout slogans as they take part in a rally to mark .Nakba' in the occupied West Bank city of Beit Lahm (Bethlehem) May 12, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179645.html

Thousands of Palestinians have marched in West Bank towns ahead of the “Nakba Day” which marks the 63rd anniversary of evicting Palestinians from their homes by Israelis.

Marchers in Beit Lahm (Bethlehem) held Palestinian flags and a giant key symbolic of their optimism to return home.

Meanwhile, in Gaza City, hundreds of children took part in a march while holding placards with the names of the villages and towns forcefully taken over by Israeli occuppiers in 1948.

Palestinians refer to May 15, 1948 as the “Nakba Day” or catastrophe. In that year, Israeli forces displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries.

The soldiers wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees dreaming of an eventual return to their homeland more than six decades later.

Meanwhile, organizers have urged mass street presence on Friday and Saturday and have said that “peaceful marches will be held to demand our natural right of return” to the Palestinian homeland.

However, Israel's Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said on Thursday that some Muslims would be denied entry to Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday when Palestinians begin mourning the fabrication of Israel, Ynetnews reported.

Al-Quds (Jerusalem) district police spokesman Shmulik Ben Rubi said that access would be restricted to blue Israeli identity paper-holders, men aged over 45 and women.

Egyptians to join Gazans on Nakba Day

Palestinians mark the anniversary of the Nakba (Catastrophe) inside the Balata refugee camp, in the West Bank city of Nablus, May 13, 2010.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179614.html

Egyptians are preparing to cross into the blockaded Gaza Strip on the 63rd anniversary of the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli army.

Thousands of Egyptians plan to go to the besieged Palestinian enclave through the Rafah border crossing on May 15 to mark the Day of Nakba (Catastrophe).

In 1948, Israeli forces displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries.

The soldiers wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million refugees dreaming of an eventual return to their homeland more than six decades later.

The Egyptians are also planning to hold a protest against the years-long siege of Gaza by Israel.

The move indicates the popular stance in Egypt on the occupation of Palestine which had been suppressed for years under the rule of former President Hosni Mubarak -- Israel's closest ally in the region.

Mubarak collaborated with Tel Aviv in tightening the siege of Gaza, literally cutting off the populated coastal sliver from the outside world by refusing to open up the Rafah crossing -- the only gateway in Gaza not controlled by Israel.

Mubarak's ouster in late January has chilled relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv, and paved the way for a change in Egypt's foreign policy towards other regional countries and also its position toward the siege of Gaza.