Israel passes 'citizenship loyalty' bill

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/172151.html

Israeli lawmakers have approved a law that will allow the revocation of the citizenship of anyone convicted of threatening Tel Aviv's security.

The Israeli parliament (Knesset) passed the law on Monday, enabling Israel's Supreme Court to strip anyone convicted of espionage, treason or aiding the enemy during war of their citizenship, Ha'aretz reported.

The so-called citizenship loyalty law also authorizes the court to revoke the status of any permanent resident convicted of assisting what Tel Aviv deems as a terrorist organization.

"Anyone who betrays the state and carries out acts of terror must know - citizenship and loyalty go together," said Yisrael Beiteinu MP David Rotem, who initiated the bill that passed in its second and third reading.

"There is no citizenship without loyalty," he insisted.

Hawkish foreign minister and Yisrael Beiteinu chairman, Avigdor Lieberman, welcomed Knesset's decision as serving to overcome “the phenomenon of exploiting democracy in order to subvert it."

Under the new law, people with dual citizenship would be stripped of their Israeli citizenship entirely. Others could still lose his Israeli citizenship, but would be given a status equivalent to foreign workers.

The bill also states that someone convicted of posing threats to Israel's security would lose their rights to all allowances, including child allowances or welfare.

On Monday, Israeli MPs also voted 29 to 8 for a bill to block the stipend of fellow lawmaker Azmi Bishara, who fled Israel amid allegations accusing him of a series of crimes against Israel's security.

Tons of cement awaits entry to Gaza

Palestinians arrive in the Gaza Strip from Egypt after passing through the Rafah border terminal

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171912.html

A number of prominent Egyptian civil activists have pledged to deliver ten tons of cement to the besieged Gaza strip through the Rafah border crossing.

A group called 'Egyptian-International Coalition for lifting the siege and rebuilding Gaza' says trucks carrying cement from Egypt are parked close to the border, a Press TV correspondent reported on Sunday.

A 15-member delegation is expected to accompany the shipment. The delegation consists of prominent lawyers, engineers, politicians and several civil activists.

The development comes weeks after a historic revolution ousted President Hosni Mubarak from power

Egypt has imposed a blockade on Gaza since the democratically elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007. Since then Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the territory triggering what a humanitarian crisis.

A major Egyptian political party, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), has recently demanded that the country's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces takes action in breaking the siege of Gaza.

In a separate development, an Israeli airstrike has killed at least two Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip. Three other Palestinians were injured in the attack which took place east of Jabaliya.

Reports say the Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile into the region.

Israeli warplanes have repeatedly targeted the coastal strip during the past week. At least 10 Palestinians including a number of children were killed in the air raids.

Israel has frequently attacked Gaza from air, land and sea since the end of its 22-day war at the turn of 2009.

2 Gazans killed in Israel air strike

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171834.html

At least two Palestinians have been killed during a fresh Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics say.

"Two Palestinians were killed and another wounded Sunday morning in an Israeli air raid on targets east of Jabaliya," Adham Abu Senmya, a spokesman for the Gaza emergency services, told AFP.

The attack came a day after several Palestinian factions, including the Hamas resistance movement, expressed commitment to a national agreement to restore calm with Tel Aviv.

After a week of deadly bombardments of the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tel Aviv was ready to act with "great force" against Palestinians.

Hamas announced on Saturday that it was committed like other factions to calm and that it would not give Israel "any pretext to launch another war against Gaza."

"Palestinian factions have discussed the recent surge in Israeli attacks on Gaza. They are all committed to remaining calm in order to prevent the occupation [Israeli] forces from committing any more crimes against humanity," said Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas official.

The Islamic Jihad movement, however, said it would not allow Israel to use the Gaza Strip for "target practice."

"We will not accept the situation that Gaza is used for target practice by Israeli forces to show the military skills. We have stated it clearly that any attack will be met with strong response from the Islamic Jihad," a prominent Islamic Jihad official Khalid al-Batsh said.

The meeting between Palestinian factions came amid fears that Israel might wage another war against the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have carried out large numbers of ground and air attacks on Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead against the Gaza Strip at the turn of 2009.

More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished coastal sliver. The offensive also inflicted USD 1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.

Israel laid an economic siege on the Gaza Strip in June 2007, after Hamas took control of the enclave.

The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.

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

Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80 percent and 60 percent, respectively, in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas urges global move to halt Israel

Yousef Rizqa, a political advisor to the democratically elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171156.html

The Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas has called upon international organizations to intervene as Israel intensifies its attacks on the blockaded Gaza Strip.

”In urgent messages conveyed to the United Nations, Arab League and a number of European Union nations, Hamas has disclosed the scope of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. The government in the Gaza Strip [Hamas] has asked for their immediate intervention to stop Israel's aerial attacks on the enclave,” the Palestine Information Center quoted Yousef Rizqa, a political advisor to the democratically elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, as saying on Monday.

Rizqa underlined that the recent surge in Israeli assaults on Gaza come in the wake of revolutions and popular uprisings in the Middle East. Such developments have seriously challenged Tel Aviv's expansionist policies in the region.

Israeli forces have carried out large numbers of ground and air attacks on Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead against the enclave.

More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished coastal sliver during the winter of 2008-2009. The offensive also inflicted USD 1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.

A United Nations inquiry led by former South African judge Richard Goldstone, detailed what investigators had described as Israeli actions "amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during their offensive against the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli regime laid an economic siege on the Gaza Strip in June 2007, after Hamas took control of the enclave.

The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.

Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education. Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80 percent and 60 percent, respectively, in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli airstrikes injure 17 Palestinians

A destroyed building after an Israeli strike in Gaza City on March 21, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171113.html

The strikes occurred late on Monday night in the east of Gaza City.

Witnesses said the target of the raid was a car repair workshop, AFP reported.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon issued a death threat against Hamas leaders.

Israel regularly carries out attacks on Gaza, killing and injuring Palestinians. Tel Aviv launched a deadly war on the strip at the turn of 2009.

More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished coastal enclave. The offensive also inflicted $1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.

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

Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80 percent and 60 percent in the Gaza Strip respectively, reports say