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An aid convoy carrying food and medical supplies for the besieged Palestinians, as part of an Asian aid mission, has arrived in the Gaza Strip. The Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan, (Asia 1) entered the coastal strip through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Monday.

Some 105 human rights activists gathered at the crossing. Most of them flew to Egypt from Syria. And eight activists arrived at the Egyptian port of El Arish onboard a ship.
Egyptian authorities had prevented Iranian activists with the convoy from entering Egypt Read the rest of this entry »

Survivors of the Holocaust have warned of the first stirrings of neo-fascism in Israel following the emergence of a Right-wing campaign to cleanse Arabs from predominantly Jewish parts of the country.

By Adrian Blomfield, Jerusalem: Until this month, the shadowy Lehava organisation was best known for issuing an eccentric demand in March urging Bar Refaeli, an Israeli model, not to marry Leonardo DiCaprio, the American actor, because he is a gentile

But in recent weeks it has taken on a more sinister hue by spearheading a series of actions that included a rally in the coastal city of Bat Yam to denounce Jews who rent their homes to Arabs Read the rest of this entry »

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– A study issued by the Israeli public committee against torture and the Palestinian prisoner society revealed that the Shin Bet security apparatus prevents 70 to 90 percent of Palestinian detainees from having access to an attorney.

According to this study that was published by Haaretz newspaper, out of 11,970 Palestinian prisoners the Shin Bet interrogated between 2000 and 2007, the numbers of those who were deprived of seeing lawyers ranged between 8, 379 to 10, 773 Read the rest of this entry »

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Israel has been on alert since early Saturday as it anticipates that a convoy of ships which departed from Syria Sunday could change course from its destination in the port of El Arish in Egypt and head straight for the Gaza Strip in an attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade.

Reports received by Tel Aviv imply that Turkish activists who were aboard the Mavi Marmara ship and arrested in wake of the clashes with Israeli forces have joined the naval vessel that will leave Lattakia today, said Israeli daily Yediot Ahranot Read the rest of this entry »

New Delhi: Wrongly implicated and held over a botched in UK terror attack, Indian doctor Mohammad Haneef will receive “substantial” compensation from the Australian government, a report claimed on Tuesday.

According to a leading Australian newspaper, the development has been confirmed by Haneef in Brisbane this afternoon. As per the deal, all court action over the matter, including against former Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, who cancelled the Indian-born doctor’s visa will stand terminated Read the rest of this entry »

GAZA, (PIC)– Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, has urged the Arab countries to support other options after failure of the peace talks in restoring any of the Palestinian rights. He told the PIC on Thursday that the Arab committee’s decision reflected a cover of the stalemated settlement process.

The spokesman called instead for a clear announcement on halting negotiations with Israel and not supporting anyone conducting such talks in addition to adopting new strategy based on Arab and Palestinian rights and backing the Palestinian people and their resistance Read the rest of this entry »

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli foreign ministry has refused to offer an apology to Turkey for the country’s May 31 naval attack on the Freedom Flotilla, which was on its way to the besieged Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid.

“Israel does not intend to make an apology to Turkey concerning the fleet of ships,” Deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon told the media Thursday. Turkey has insisted on demanding an apology and compensation to the victims’ families from Israel as a basic condition before announcing the agreement to end the diplomatic relations crisis between the states Read the rest of this entry »

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – Argentina and Uruguay said Monday they were joining Brazil in recognizing an independent Palestinian state, earning praise from Palestinian officials. Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas, on a visit to Turkey, expressed his pride over the decision by Buenos Aires, according to an official statement.

His foreign minister, Riad al-Malki, told AFP the Palestinians had expected that Paraguay and other Latin American countries will make “similar decisions.”  “The Argentine government recognizes Palestine as a free and independent state within the borders defined in 1967,” Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said, reading a letter sent by President Cristina Kirchner to Abbas Read the rest of this entry »

NABLUS, (PIC)– The international Tadamun (solidarity) foundation for human rights said that the Israeli military court of Salem issued a few days ago a 20-month imprisonment sentence against Palestinian female prisoner from Nablus city Nelly Al-Safadi, 34, and ordered her to pay a fine of 2, 000 shekels.

The foundation said that Nelly was kidnapped from her home on November 12, 2009 and her husband has been also in Israeli jails for more than seven years serving a sentence of more than 11 years Read the rest of this entry »

Embarrassing, damaging or actually helpful? Israeli reactions to the explosive Wikileaks revelations run the full gamut.

After a worried prelude to the disclosures of the diplomatic to-and-fro between Israel and its greatest ally the US, and fears that the leaks would expose US antagonism to the Israeli leadership’s character and policies, there was an audible sigh of relief when the leaks finally came out overnight Sunday.

“There is no disparity between the public discourse between us and Washington, and the mutual understanding of each other’s positions,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told reporters, not concerned about concealing his satisfaction Read the rest of this entry »

Secretary General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Mohammad Javad Larijani says the recent documents released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks were aimed at saving the face of the United States.

“The WikiLeaks documents are a kind of public opinion engineering to save the catastrophic situation that the US has in the eyes of world nations,” IRIB website quoted Larijani as saying on Saturday Read the rest of this entry »

Turkish President Abdullah Gul called the release of the U.S. State Deparment cables by Wikileaks a trap, calling on the Turkish Public not to fall into it.

Appearing at a press conference Thursday upon his return from Kazakhstan, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the secret cables released by Wikileaks should not occupy Turkish politics and consume the country’s energy in vain Read the rest of this entry »

QOM – A number of people involved in the recent attacks on two nuclear scientists in Tehran have been arrested, Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi announced in Qom on Friday. On Monday, two prominent physicists were targeted by terrorists in two separate bombings.

Professor Majid Shahriari was killed and Professor Fereydoun Abbasi Davani was injured in the attacks. The two academics were both on their way to work at Shahid Beheshti University in northern Tehran when they were attacked. The police say that in both incidents, terrorists riding motorcycles attached magnetic bombs to the physicists’ cars Read the rest of this entry »

NAZARETH, (PIC)– The death toll from the massive bushfire in the heavily-forested Carmel hill, southeast of Haifa, rose to 43 on Saturday morning, while Israeli official sources said that the fire reached a minefield in the far north.

The sources said that the northernmost fires, which erupted Saturday at Manara and Margaliot areas near Kiryat Shemona and the Galilee Panhandle settlement, set off explosions in a nearby minefield Read the rest of this entry »

PARIS, (PIC)– 21 international human rights organizations have called for fresh international moves to lift the siege on Gaza immediately and without any conditions attached.

The organizations in a report to be published on Tuesday said that Israel’s measures to “ease” the siege on Gaza under international pressures did not change anything in the lives of the civilian population of the Strip Read the rest of this entry »

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– Relatives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails have expressed surprise at the visit by German President Christian Wulff to the tent pitched by family of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in occupied Jerusalem.

The relatives said they were dismayed at the fact that Wulff did not visit even one family of the 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. They asked the German head of state to express some kind of feelings toward the suffering of those prisoners who were held captive for resisting occupation while Shalit was captured while firing shells at Gaza children Read the rest of this entry »

NABLUS, (PIC)– The United Nations Commission on Human Rights describes the right to life as the “ultimate human right,” and it is in turn considered the most important and basic human right.

In spite of that, the Zionist occupation forces persist in violating the Palestinian civilians’ right to life through the use of fatal and excessive force and killing in all forms in clear contravention of the provisions of Article III of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the provisions of the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War Read the rest of this entry »

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Hebrew radio on Monday disclosed that 130 new housing units would be built in the Gilo settlement south of occupied Jerusalem. The organization and construction committee of the municipality of the occupied holy city is to discuss later on Monday the construction of tens of buildings, it added. The plan envisages the construction over land previously allocated for the building of hotels and falls in line with the Israeli plan to Judaize the holy city and change its demographic nature-palestine-info

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Rights groups in Jerusalem are warning that Israel has discovered new ways to circumvent US and international pressure to hamper Jewish settlement activity in the holy city by utilizing the judicial system to legally back the confiscation of homes and eviction of their residents.

Less than 24 hours ago on Tuesday a group of Israeli settlers under Israeli police protection were able to legally take over a three-storey home in the city’s Al-Farouq district, after it slipped into their paws about five years back Read the rest of this entry »

BEIRUT, (PIC)– Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a visit to the Lebanese city of Akkar that if war broke out in the region the loser will not only be the region’s people, but Israeli citizens will share losses as well.

Erdogan, speaking before thousands in its neighboring state, called on Israel to quit acting provocatively, recant on its blunders, and apologize to the region’s people.

“We in the region will unite and grow for what’s right and for the rule of law, and we will stand in the face of the wrongdoers and in the face of the wrongdoing.” Read the rest of this entry »

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– A squad of more than 50 armed Israeli soldiers abused and abducted a 52-year-old Palestinian woman in Al-Khalil Tuesday morning after carrying out a fierce raid on her home.

The victim Shahira Hafidh Burqan suffers from a number of illnesses in her old age and requires urgent medical attention. Four of her sons were previously detained by Israeli authorities and are currently under investigation for allegedly aiding and abetting Nash’at Al-Karmi and Ma’moun An-Natsha, who police shot down a few weeks back while in pursuit of the attackers of a group of illegal Jewish settlers Read the rest of this entry »

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Observers say the situation in Jerusalem is likely to explode in light of a decision by Israeli occupation authorities to demolish hundreds of Palestinian homes in the city. Israeli legal consultant Yahuda Feinstein, during a meeting Thursday between Israel’s planning and construction committee attended by the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem and police force representatives, gave directives to partially close down a settlement outpost in the Arab district of Silwan and demolish hundreds of nearby Palestinian homes.

Silwan defense committee member Fakhri Abu Dhiab told Al-Jazeera that hundreds of residents have already received demolition notices. Referring to sources inside Israel’s Jerusalem municipality, he added that Jerusalem mayor Nir Barakat received the green light from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to carry out the demolitions. The committee said 340 homes are threatened to be demolished in Silwan for allegedly being built without a permit Read the rest of this entry »

The secretary general of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights has told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the most recent Western-sponsored UN resolution against Iran is illegal.

During a meeting with Ban Ki-moon in New York on Friday, Mohammad Javad Larijani criticized the West for pushing through a resolution at the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee that accuses Iran of human rights violations, saying the move is unjustified. He noted that the resolution is part of a plot by the United States meant to derail Iran’s constructive interaction with the United Nations, adding that it puts the status of the UN Human Rights Council into question Read the rest of this entry »

Tehran, The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged the Islamic world to sympathise and provide assistance to the Kashmiris who are engaged in freedom struggle.

“Today the major duties of the elite of the Islamic Ummah is to provide help to the Palestinian nation and the besieged people of Gaza, to sympathise and provide assistance to the nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Kashmir, to engage in struggle and resistance against the aggressions, to safeguard the solidarity of Muslims and stop tainted hands and mercenary voices that try to damage this unity, to spread awakening and the sense of responsibility and commitment among Muslim youth throughout Islamic communities,” Khamenei said in his message to the Haj pilgrims.