I auto-translated the Hebrew for the charges, which is why it sounds a little weird.
List of Prisoners Released by Israel 10-15-11 v1
It's quite something, the prisoner swap between Hamas and the Israeli government that returns Gilad Shalit to his family, and more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to theirs. The deal is widely viewed as a victory for Hamas, the radical Islamist group that gained power in Gaza after years of frustration at the intractability of the "peace process". Conversely, it is being seen by some as a sign of weakness in Israel's rightwing prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.I don't know, but I think that Israel would have accepted a deal where they only release one mid-level Hamas militant in exchange for Shalit, which would be a 1:1 exchange and might make Deborah Orr much happier that the lives of "chosen" aren't worth so much.
All this, I fear, is simply an indication of how inured the world has become to the obscene idea that Israeli lives are more important than Palestinian lives. Netanyahu argues that he acted because he values Shalit's life so greatly.
Yet who is surprised really, to learn that Netanyahu sees one Israeli's freedom as a fair exchange for the freedom of so many Palestinians? Likewise, Hamas wished to use their human bargaining chip to gain release for as many Palestinians as they could. They don't have much to bargain with.
At the same time, however, there is something abject in their eagerness to accept a transfer that tacitly acknowledges what so many Zionists believe – that the lives of the chosen are of hugely greater consequence than those of their unfortunate neighbours.
Palestinian Nasser Ziad explains why he thinks the [Shalit] deal was right.I don't know the specific attacks that al Ghoul participated in. A triple life sentence indicates that at least three Israelis were killed as a result of his attacks.
Among the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in the first stage of their exchange for Gilad Shalit, there was my close friend's father, Omar al-Ghoul.
I was very happy for all the prisoners and their families as they were reunited after years of unlawful separation and inhumane treatment, but especially for the al-Ghouls who live in Mughraga, central Gaza, close to the former Israeli settlement of Netzarim.
Omar al-Ghoul was a member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He received a triple life sentence from an Israeli court 24 years ago for his role in attacks on Israeli targets in Gaza and for joining a secret cell of fighters.
My friend, Ibrahim al-Ghoul, was born six months after his father was detained. Until this week, he had not seen him for 10 years, since a prison visit in 2001.
Since talk of a possible prisoner exchange with Israel began five years ago, following the capture of Cpl Shalit, I have seen his face light up with hope only to turn to sadness each time a deal appeared imminent but then fell through.
It has been difficult to grow up without getting to know his dad. "It's like you are told you have a father but you have never seen him," Ibrahim told me.
There is so much catching up to do that he still does not know what stories he and his father will be able to share. "Let's see if I will get used to him quickly," he says.
Ibrahim's mother, Suheir al-Ghoul, has done her best to raise her children and look after 18 grandchildren in her husband's absence. For a long time, she depended on intermittent visits to the prison to see him and allow him to assume some fatherly duties. However the Israelis suddenly blocked these for the whole family 10 years ago.
Suheir has always said that her husband Omar is not a murderer, but a hero. He was fighting for our freedom and our dignity. He never wanted to fight anyone but living under the Israeli occupation is very tough.
She turned up at Rafah to meet her husband with her two sons, both wearing the uniform of the al-Qassam brigade.
As a Palestinian, I also perceive Omar and all the Palestinian prisoners as national heroes. They have sacrificed themselves for the Palestinian struggle.
I also believe Gilad Shalit was a legitimate target for capture.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to honor Palestinian prisoners who were released in last week’s Gilad Schalit exchange deal by rewarding them financially, Prisoners Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqi announced over the weekend.And here they are at their luxury Gaza hotel in a photo series at Palestine Times:
Hamas representatives, meanwhile, called for kidnapping more IDF soldiers so they could be traded for the remaining Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Qaraqi said that all prisoners would benefit from the grants, including those who were deported to the Gaza Strip, a number of Arab countries or Turkey.
PA governors and some “national institutions” have begun distributing the money to the released prisoners in accordance with PA regulations and laws, he said.
Qaraqi did not say how much each prisoner would get from the PA government.
Abbas’s decision follows a similar move by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who decided to give each prisoner a $2,000 grant.
Meanwhile, the prisoners who were deported to the Gaza Strip are staying at a five-star hotel at the expense of the Hamas government.
The flow of natural gas from Egypt to Israel has resumed after a cut of several months due to repeated militant attacks, Israel's National Infrastructure Ministry said on Sunday.I think it is a safe bet that there will be more attacks on the pipeline in the near future.
It said gas began to flow in reduced quantities on Thursday night to test the system, before a resumption of full levels.
Egypt's Sinai desert pipeline which connects to Israel has been attacked by militants six times this year, and an Israeli official said the state has not received gas through the pipeline since a bombing in July.
Egypt supplies 43 percent of Israel's natural gas, which generates 40 percent of Israeli electricity.
National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said in April that his country would have to find alternatives if the Egyptian gas exports did not resume.
Turkey declined an offer of aid from its former strategic ally Israel Sunday after a powerful earthquake struck southeast Turkey, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.This is stupid, of course. When lives are in the balance it is ridiculous to act macho at the expense of human lives. But if Turkey decided that it can do it alone, that is their right.
"I am under the impression the Turks do not want our help," Barak told Channel 2 News. "Right now (their answer) is negative but if they see they need more aid and don't have it, or if they rethink it, we have made the offer and remain prepared (to help)," he said.
A Turkish foreign ministry official said later that Turkey had received offers of help from dozens of countries after the magnitude 7.2 quake, and had so far declined assistance from all of them.
Iran’s Red Crescent has sent rescue teams, ambulances and a field hospital to Turkey to help out in the wake of a devastating quake there, the state news agency IRNA reported Monday.
Mahmoud Mozafar, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, was quoted as saying that “Turkish officials have defined an area in the Van region for Iranian rescuers to bring medical assistance to the injured.”
Iran has sent 20 rescuers, 20 ambulances, a field hospital, food supplies and 50 tents for emergency shelter to the quake-hit region in Turkey, which lies just over the border with Iran, Mozafar said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi telephoned his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, to express his condolences over the loss of life suffered in the disaster.
After visiting the quake zone, Erdogan returned to Ankara, where he is expected to chair a cabinet meeting to discuss the response to the disaster.
He said Turkey was able to meet the challenge itself, but thanked countries that had offered help, including Armenia and Israel, two governments that have strained relations with Ankara, Reuters reported.
Tents and rescue teams have come from as far away as Iran and Azerbaijan.
Fifty-five of the detainees were required to sign documents promising not to return to terrorist activities and to obey the security conditions of their release. The security restrictions vary based on a risk assessment completed by the Israel Prison System, with some barred from leaving their village or city.Today's Maariv also confirms that most prisoners refused to sign the release form. The story is that one of the prisoners told Israeli security that he has no problem scuttling the entire Shalit deal by refusing to sign, and word got around to the other prisoners about his refusal, so they followed suit, some saying "we will free ourselves anyway." The Prime Minister's office, somewhat defensively, said that signing the form was never part of the agreement.
Those Israel is less concerned about will only be required to present themselves every two or three months at the nearest office of the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, says spokesman Maj. Guy Inbar.
For Nael Barghouti – who served 34 years in an Israeli prison, making him the longest held Palestinian detainee – that will mean visiting the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
Mr. Barghouti returned to his village of Kobar, near Ramallah, on Tuesday, and will not be allowed to leave the area again for three years. If he violates these conditions, Barghouti will have to return to jail to finish the life sentence he was given for his role in the death of an Israeli soldier in the West Bank in 1978.
Some say the restrictions are unfair, and that if the prisoners are truly freed, they should not be so tightly controlled.
“It’s not fair to make special conditions for some prisoners,” says Ziad Abu Ein, Palestinian Authority Deputy Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, pointing out that many prisoners will not even be able to travel to neighboring cities for work. “You released him, so you should give him all the opportunity to live like other people, to be married and have a house.”
Those with special security arrangements will essentially remain under direct monitoring of Israeli authorities, says Mr. Abu Ein. Israeli forces, who patrol the West Bank, will decide if prisoners broke the conditions of their release, he says.
But Israel says these restrictions are necessary to protect its citizens because, left alone, some of the former prisoners may soon begin plotting attacks again.
President Obama already lent American prestige to Assad when he decided to recess appoint Ambassador Ford. Awarding normal diplomatic relations with a superpower to a rogue regime is a legitimating act on its own. If the Obama administration is serious about ratcheting up the pressure against Assad, it should first state publicly that it is done dealing with the Syrian dictator, then follow that with a declaration that it is withdrawing the US ambassador from Damascus.
Since the Syrian people began their uprising against the rule of Bashar al-Assad, Americans have been told repeatedly that there is little they can do about the situation. Experts in think tanks, universities, and the halls of U.S. government have been eager to remind us that the conditions in Syria—with its fractured opposition, brutal and loyal military forces, and fragile regional neighborhood—simply didn’t leave much room for Americans to make a difference.Certainly Ford has not been shy about speaking out against the Assad regime in social media, but that is not the job of an ambassador. An ambassador is supposed to communicate US policy directly to the leaders of his or her host country, and Ford has been unable to meet with anyone important for months.
But Robert Ford, our ambassador in Damascus, never seemed to accept this simplistic line of thinking. By bearing witness and speaking out relentlessly from inside the country, Ford has, at great personal risk, kept world attention focused on the crimes of the Syrian government. More so than either President Obama or Secretary of State Clinton, both of whom have been far too tepid in their public pronouncements, Ford has been an exemplary spokesman for liberal values and human rights.
US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford was hit with eggs and tomatoes Friday while he was going to a mosque in the central al-Midan neighbourhood here, Xinhua reported.Well, it looks like that may have been the last straw, as Al Arabiya is reporting:
The al-Midan neighborhood has witnessed anti-government protests over the past seven months.
Ford has visited many restive areas in Syria in a show of support to anti-government protesters. But the visits have angered many residents as well as the government.
On earlier occasions too, eggs and potatoes have been hurled at Ford.
The United States has pulled its ambassador out of Syria over security concerns that have arisen during a seven-month-old popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, Western diplomats said on Monday.
Robert Ford left Syria over the weekend, they told Reuters.
As many as 22 people were killed by the fire of security and military forces across Syria on Sunday, Al Arabiya reported on Monday citing the Syrian Local Coordination Committee, as Damascus welcomed to host national dialogue conference under the sponsorship of the Arab League.
US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford was brought back to Washington because of "credible threats against his personal safety in Syria," the State Department announced Monday.
"At this point, we can't say when he will return to Syria," deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said.
"It will depend on our assessment of Syrian regime-led incitement and the security situation on the ground."
Because he was named to his post via recess appointment, Ford will have to give up his ambassadorship if the Senate does not confirm him by December. The GOP line coming from senators like Marco Rubio and Tom Coburn is that we should punish the Assad regime by removing Ford from Damascus.If this is Obama's plan on how to get Ford out of Damascus permanently - by citing "security concerns" and then relying on him not being confirmed by the end of the year - it is an example of passive-aggressive politics rather than leadership.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de fact president, had already declared that Libyan laws in future would have Sharia, the Islamic code, as its "basic source".Well, that was fast.
But that formulation can be interpreted in many ways - it was also the basis of Egypt's largely secular constitution under President Hosni Mubarak, and remains so after his fall.
Mr Abdul-Jalil went further, specifically lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi's era that he said was in conflict with Sharia - that banning polygamy.
In a blow to those who hoped to see Libya's economy integrate further into the western world, he announced that in future bank regulations would ban the charging of interest, in line with Sharia. "Interest creates disease and hatred among people," he said.
Libya is already the most conservative state in north Africa, banning the sale of alcohol. Mr Abdul-Jalil's decision - made in advance of the introduction of any democratic process - will please the Islamists who have played a strong role in opposition to Col Gaddafi's rule and in the uprising but worry the many young liberal Libyans who, while usually observant Muslims, take their political cues from the West.
A plastered building, probably a ritual bath (miqve), dating to the Second Temple period (first century BCE-first century CE) was exposed in an archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority conducted prior to the installation of a water line by the Mekorot Company at an antiquities site, about two kilometers north of Kibbutz Zor'a.
The excavation revealed a square structure that has three walls treated with a thin layer of plaster that facilitated the storage of water. A channel used to drain water into the ritual bath was installed in a corner. In addition, a plaster floor and three stairs that descend from it to the west (toward the hewn openings in the bedrock) were exposed.
According to archaeologist Pablo Betzer, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "This is the first time that any remains dating to the Second Temple period have been exposed in this region. We knew from the Talmud and from non-Jewish sources that on this ridge, as in most of the Judean Shephelah, there was an extensive Jewish community 2,000 years ago that existed until the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Yet despite the many surveys and excavations that have been carried out to date no remains from this period have been discovered so far." According to Betzer the name of the Jewish settlement that the ritual bath belonged to is still unknown.
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