Activists respond to cellular phone campaign

Anat Shalev | YNet News

21 July 2009

Palestinians protestors and left-wing activists came up with an original response to a television ad for a local cellular phone company that angered and offended many in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

At television commercial by Cellcom showed Israelis soldiers playing soccer with unseen Palestinians over the separation wall. Critics claimed that the ad reflected Israel’s total disregard for harsh reality in West Bank.

Last Friday, during their weekly demonstration in Bilin, the protestors passed soccer balls to the soldiers, in an attempt to reenact the highly controversial ad. However, instead of getting the balls back, the soldiers responded with tear gas and high-pressure water hoses.

One of the activists, Abdullah told Ynet: “We wanted to show everyone how the soldiers really behave, contrary to what was shown in the ad. This is a message from the protestors on what really goes on at the separation fence – this is what we get from the soldiers, tear gas.”

Hagai Matar, an Israeli activist, said that the violent atmosphere near the fence was far from resembling the pastoral, pleasant atmosphere reflected in the Cellcom advert.

“While the people of Bilin suffer from frequent and repeated harassments by the army, while the residents are subjected to nightly arrests, violence and tear gas, not only during rallies but also in their yards, the people of Bilin continue to use amusing and creative ways to protest the separation fence,” he said.

Degrading treatment of an arrested 16 year old boy in Hebron

14 July 2009

On Monday the 13th of July around 4:30 pm Jamil (age 16) was stopped by four soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Forces approximately 150 meter from his house. The soldiers commanded him to show his identity papers and confirmed that everything was in order, but still refused to let him go. Jamil believes that his detention was the result of his family’s activities with B’tselem. After 15 minutes, Jamil’s mother and cousin came to see what was happening to him. When he explained his mistreatment, one of the soldiers told him, that he should ‘shut up’ or they would ‘fuck him’. In the same degrading manner, they prevented the mother from asking for the reason of her son’s detention.

After some time the soldiers took Jamil away without explaining where he was being taken. His intuition led him to the conclusion that it was into the direction of the military camp of Tel Rumeida. In order to further degrade him, they took through the settlement of Ramaryashai, even though they could have chosen the direct route around it. The soldiers pushed and kicked Jamil while forcing him to walk really slow through the settlement. Meanwhile, the settlers threw stones, tomatoes and eggs at him. Several also attacked him from behind. Jamil remembers a big group of settlers – kids, men and women – attacking him while the soldiers didn’t even try to stop them.

By this time,the mother had informed the whole family and some neighbors came to film the situation. The soldiers reacted by placing themselves between the two groups of people and making it difficult to see and to tape what happened to Jamil. Then some soldiers who just had come down from the military camp began blindfolding Jamil and placed him in handcuffs. Though he was bound and blindfolded, the soldiers continued to kick and beat him with a hard object that Jamil believed to be a rifle butt.

After some time the captain of the Tel Rumeida military outpost came down and ordered the soldiers to pull back so that the people with cameras were able to film him while he scolded the soldiers about what they had been doing. He then announced, that Jamil didn’t do anything wrong and his ID was in order; so there has been no reason to punish him.

Next, the commander turned around to Jamil and said really low that he better not tell about this incident or he would kill him. After his warning, he allowed his relatives to help Jamil walk back to his house, as he could not do so on his own. Jamil finally arrived home around 6:45 pm.

Back home the father was calling the police, but only one police man showed up to tell them, that they have to come to the police station to make a formal complaint. They decided first to go to the hospital to take care of Jamil’s injuries. Around 10 pm they arrived at the Kiryat Arba police station and there they were told that there was not enough police present to deal with the complain and that they should come again the next day at 9 am.

When they returned the next day they had to wait outside the police station for three hours. When a police man was available he barely assisted other than taking down the story. He didn’t even bother to ask if Jamil could identify the soldiers or settlers who attacked him. The police received the full hospital report and the video tapes.

After members of the ISM met with Jamil he told them that he is now afraid to leave his housebe cause of the threat from the captain of the IOF. He is in a lot of pain and can barely walk because of the injuries. He also said that he doesn’t believe that this incident will bring any consequences for the soldiers or the settlers. Lastly he said this is only one instance of hardship at the expense of the soldiers who had detained him 3 times in the two days before the incident.

‘No difference to U.S. between outpost, East Jerusalem construction’

Akiva Eldar, Barak Ravid & Jack Khoury | Ha’aretz

20 July 2009

The United States views East Jerusalem as no different than an illegal West Bank outpost with regard to its demand for a freeze on settlement construction, American sources have informed both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

This clarification came in the context of a growing crisis in U.S.-Israel relations over the planned construction of some 20 apartments for Jews in the Shepherd Hotel, in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The U.S. has demanded that the project be halted, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the cabinet meeting Sunday that “Israel will not agree to edicts of this kind in East Jerusalem.”

“United Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people in the State of Israel, and our sovereignty over the city is not subject to appeal,” he continued. “Our policy is that Jerusalem residents can purchase apartments anywhere in the city. This has been the policy of all Israeli governments. There is no ban on Arabs buying apartments in the west of the city, and there is no ban on Jews building or buying in the city’s east. This is the policy of an open city.”

Saying that Israel could not accept Jews being forbidden to live in anywhere in Jerusalem, Netanyahu added: “I can imagine what would happen if someone proposed that Jews could not live or buy in certain neighborhoods of London, New York, Paris or Rome. A huge international outcry would surely ensue. It is even more impossible to agree to such an edict in East Jerusalem.”

Asked to comment on these remarks, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in New Delhi, said the administration is trying to reach an agreement with Israel on settlements, and “the negotiations are intense,” the Associated Press reported.

Later Sunday, Netanyahu met with his advisors to discuss Israel’s response to Washington’s demand.

“I was surprised by the American demand,” a source present at the meeting quoted him as saying. “In my conversation with [U.S. President Barack] Obama in Washington, I told him I could not accept any restrictions on our sovereignty in Jerusalem. I told him Jerusalem is not a settlement, and there is nothing to discuss about a freeze there.”

“In my previous term [as premier], I built thousands of apartments in the Har Homa neighborhood of Jerusalem, defying the entire world,” Netanyahu added. “Therefore, it is clear that I will not capitulate in this case – especially when we are talking about a mere 20 apartments.”

Other ministers also criticized the American stance at the cabinet meeting. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, for instance, termed it “puzzling,” while Interior Minister and Shas Chairman Eli Yishai declared that “no agency in the world can stop construction in Jerusalem.”

And Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin told the ministers that the PA and its security services are engaged in widespread efforts to keep Palestinians from selling land in Jerusalem to Jews. He also said that Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi of Qatar has allocated $21 million to Hamas activists to buy buildings and establish infrastructure in Jerusalem.

Washington’s objections to the Shepherd Hotel project were first voiced by senior State Department officials at a meeting with Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren last Thursday, in response to a request by PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The officials complained that the construction would change the neighborhood’s demographic balance and harm its Palestinian residents.

Oren responded that the land in question was privately owned, having been purchased in 1985 by American Jewish tycoon Irving Moskowitz, and the project has received all the necessary permits from the Jerusalem municipality.

Also Sunday, Abbas’ bureau chief, Rafiq Husseini, said he hoped the U.S. would not back down on its demand for a complete settlement freeze, including in East Jerusalem.

In an interview with the Nazareth-based radio station A-Shams, Husseini said, “from our standpoint, there is no room for a compromise [on this issue], and we expect the American administration to stick to the determined stance that envoy [George] Mitchell expressed as far back as 2001. Any compromise that enables continued construction … will do nothing whatsoever to advance the diplomatic process.”

IMORB: End the siege on Gaza, open the Rafah border

Dear friends,

Please take a few minutes on Monday to call the Egyptian embassy in your country to demand the Rafah border be opened!

Since June 13, when International Movement to Open the Rafah Border members set their sit-in at the Rafah Gate, we witnessed the Egyptian authorities’ collaboration in the Gaza siege enforced by the Israeli government with the US an international community support.

Even after the Viva Palestina folks and some aid got into Gaza, the plight of the people waiting to get out or into Gaza has not changed,

Please call the Egyptian embassy Monday, July 20. Please spread this call far and wide. It will make a difference to so many Palestinians, And for those who can, come and join us at the Rafah Gate. Come and witness these tragedies at the border.

Below details of Egyptian embassies in 40 countries

Ambassade d’Egypte à Alger, Algérie
Tél: (213) 21 69 16 73
Fax: (213) 21 69 29 52

Egyptian Consulate in Sydney, Australia
Phone: (61 2) 9281-4844
Fax: (61 2) 9281-4344
Web Site: http://www.egypt.org.au
Email: consular@egypt.org.au,visa@egypt.org.au
Office Hours: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm Open to public: 9:30 am – 2:00 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Canberra, Australia
Phone: (00612) 6273 4437 – 6273 4438
Fax: (00612) 6273 4279
Email: egyembassy@bigpond.com
Office Hours: Monday – Friday: 9.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m.

Egyptian Consulate in Melbourne, Australia
Phone: (00613) 9654 8869
Fax: (00613) 9654 8634
Office Hours: Monday-Friday: 9.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.

Ambassade d’Egypte à Bruxelles, Belgique
Tél : (02) 663.5800
Fax : (02) 675.5888

Egyptian Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil
Phone: +55.61.3323.8800
Fax: +55.61.3323.1039
Email: embegito@opengate.com.br, eg.emb_brasilia@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Mo Fr: 9:00 17:00

Egyptian Embassy in Ottawa, Canada
Phone: (613)234-4931, (613)234-4935
Fax: (613)234-4398
Email: egyptemb@sympatico.ca
Office Hours: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm.

Egyptian Embassy in Beijing, China
Phone: (8610) 6532 1825
Fax: (8610) 6532 5365
Email: eg_emb_bj@yahoo.com

Egyptian Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus
Phone: 00357 22449050/1
Fax: 00357 22449081
Email: info@egyptianembassy.org.cy

Egyptian Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic
Phone: +420 224 311 506
Fax: +420 224 311 157
Email: embassyegypt@centrum.cz
Office Hours: Monday through Friday from 09.00 to 16.00

Sr. Embajador de la República Árabe de Egipto en Madrid, España
TEL: (0034) 915776308 – 915776309 – 915776310
FAX: (00.34) 915781732
egyptemb@teleline.es, embegipto.alicia@gmail.com

Ambassade d’Egypte à Paris, France
Tel : 01 53678830-32
Fax: 01 47230643

Consulat d’Egypte à Marseille, France
Tel : 04 91 25 04 04
Fax: 04 91 73 79 31

Consulat d’Egypte à Paris, France
Tel : 0145009989 – 0145007427 – 0145007710
Fax: 0145003528
Email: Paris_Con@mfa.gov.eg

Egyptian Embassy in Berlin, Germany
Phone: 030 477 54 70
Fax: 030 477 10 49
Web Site: http://www.egyptian-embassy.de/
Email: Embassy@egyptian-embassy.de

Egyptian Consulate in Hamburg, Germany
Phone: 0049 – 40-413326 0
Fax: 0049 – 40-413326 19
Email: gen-kons-et-hh@gmx.de, eg.con_hamburg@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Application: Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 12:00

Egyptian Embassy in Athens, Greece
Phone: 210 36 18 612 13
Fax: 210 36 03 538
Email: emb.egypt@yahoo.gr, eg.emb_athens@mfa.gov.eg

Egyptian Embassy in Budapest, Hungary
Phone: (+361) 225-2150
Fax: (+361) 225-8596
Email: egyemb@pronet.hu, eg.emb_budapest@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Mo Fr: 9:00 17:00

Egyptian Embassy in New Delhi, India
Phone: 26114096/7
Fax: 26885355
Email: egyptdel@spectranet.com
Office Hours: Monday till Friday 9am till 4 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia
Phone: (+6221) 3143440, 31935350, 31931141
Fax: (+6221) 3145073
Email: egypt@indosat.net.id
Office Hours: Office hours: 8:30 am 4:00 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Dublin, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-6606718
Fax: +353-1-6683745
Email: info@embegyptireland.ie

Egyptian Embassy in Roma, Italy
Phone: +39-6-8440192 – +39-6-8440191
Fax: +39-6-8554424
Email: amb.egi@pronet.it

Egypt Consulate General , Milano, Italy
Phone: +39-2-9516360 – +39-2-9526482
Fax: +39-2-9518194

Egyptian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan
Phone: 03-3770-8022(3)
Fax: 03-3770-8021
Web Site: http://www.embassy-avenue.jp/egypt/
Email: egyptemb@mc.kcom.ne.jp

Egyptian Embassy in Amman, Jordan
Phone: 5605175 / 5605176 / 5605202 /5605203
Fax: 5604082
Email: egypt@tedata.net.jo, embegypt@tedata.net.jo
Office Hours: Sunday to Thursday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m

Egyptian Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya
Phone: 3870298-3870278-3870360
Fax: 3870383
Email: egypt@wananchi.com
Office Hours: Embassy Working Hours: From 09:00 till 16:30

Egyptian Embassy in Benghazi, Libya
Phone: 00218612232522
Fax: 00218612232523
Email: Egyptian_Consulate_Ben@yahoo.com
Office Hours: Working Hours Daily from 8:30 am till 3:00 pm

Ambassade d’Egypte à Rabat, Maroc
Tél: (212) 37 73 18 33
Fax: (212) 37 70 68 21

Ambassade d’Egypte en Mauritanie
Tél: (222) 25 21 92

Egyptian Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands
Phone: +31 (0) 70-354 20 00, +31 (0) 70-354 45 35
Fax: +31 (0) 70-354 33 04
Office Hours: From 8.30 a.m. To 15.30 p.m.

Egyptian Embassy in Oslo, Norway
Phone: +47 22 44 77 67 or +47 23 08 42 00
Fax: +47 22 56 22 68
Web Site: http://www.egypt-embassy.no/
Email: Counsellor@egypt-embassy.no
Office Hours: 09.00-15.00

Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan
Phone: +92 (51) 2209072 or 2209082
Fax: (+92) 51 2279552
Office Hours: Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 12:00 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal
Phone: +351-1-213018301
Fax: +351-213017909
Email: egiptembassy@ip.pt

Egyptian Embassy in Bucharest, Romania
Phone: (4021) 2110938 – 2110939
Fax: (4021) 2100337
Email: Embassyofegypt@gmail.com
Office Hours: The Chancellery Monday to Friday; from 0900 to 1700

Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Phone: 009661)4810159 – 4831275
4810427 – 4831367 – 4810464
Fax: (009661)4810463
Web Site: http://www.mfa.gov.eg/missions/ksa/riyadh/embassy/en-gb/
Email: Riyadh_emb@mfa.gov.eg

Egyptian Embassy in Singapore, Singapore
Phone: (+65) 67371587 / (+65) 67371811
Fax: (+65) 67323422
Email: eg.emb_singapore@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Mon – Fri: 9.00 am – 3.00 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Seoul, South Korea
Phone: 00 822/ 749-0787, 749-0788, 749-0789
Fax: 00 822/ 795-2588
Email: embassyegyptkorea@yahoo.com

Egyptian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: (46 8) 662 9687 or 662 9603 or 660 3145
Fax: (46 8) 661 2664

Egyptian Embassy in Bern, Switzerland
Phone: 031 352 80 12 / 13
Fax: 031 352 06 25
Office Hours: Opening hours: Monday Friday 09.00 14.00

Egyptian Consulate in Geneva, Switzerland
Phone: 022 347 62 55
Fax: 022 346 05 71
Office Hours: 09.00 15.00

Ambassade d’Egypte en Tunisie
Tél: +216 71 792 233 / 841 192
Fax: +216 71 794 389

Egyptian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey
Phone: 09003124261026 / 00903124682240 / 00903124266132
Fax: 0090312- 4270099
Email: egyembassyankara@yahoo.com, eg.emb_ankara@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Working Hours of the embassy:- 9 am -4 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine
Phone: 272-13-27 / 486-65-30
Fax: 4869428
Email: eg.emb_kiev@mfa.gov.eg

Egyptian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Phone: 4445656 4445566
Fax: 4449878
Office Hours: 9 am till 4 pm.

Egyptian Consulate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Phone: 3971122
Fax: 2971033

Egyptian Embassy in London, United Kingdom
Phone: 020 7235 9777
Fax: 020 7235 6562
Email: info@egyptianconsulate.co.uk

Egyptian Consulate in London, United Kingdom
Phone: 020 7235 9777
Fax: 09065 540 833
Email: consulate.london@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Opening Hours: Monday-

Egyptian Embassy in Washington D.C., United States
Phone: (+1) (202) 8955400
Fax: (+1) (202) 2444319
Email: embassy@egyptembdc.org

Egyptian Consulate in Chicago, United States
Phone: (312) 828-9162-3-4
Fax: (312) 828-9167
Email: egyptianembassy@cantv.com.ve
Office Hours: 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Egyptian Consulate in Houston, United States
Phone: (713)961 4915 (713)9614916 (713)9614407
Fax: (713) 9613868
Office Hours: = From 9:00 AM Till 3:00 PM

Egyptian Consulate in New York, United States
Phone: +212-759-7120/1/2
Fax: +1212-308-7643
Web Site: http://www.egyptnyc.net/
Email: info@egyptnyc.net

Egyptian Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela
Phone: 0058212 9926259
Fax: 0058212 9931555
Email: egyptianembassy@cantv.com.ve
Office Hours: From 9 am till 3:30 pm

In solidarity,
International Movement to Open Rafah Border

Dozens protest east Jerusalem eviction plans

Ronen Medzini | YNet News

19 July 2009

Maher Hanoun, a resident of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in east Jerusalem, has been ordered by court to vacate his home. Dozens of the neighborhood’s residents, as well as Jewish and Arab politicians and human rights activists arrived at Hanoun’s house on Sunday to protest the court’s decision.

Earlier Sunday it was reported that the US is pressuring Israel to halt the development of a planned hotel in Sheikh Jarrah.

The protestors held up a poster carrying US President Barack Obama’s image and the caption in English, “President Obama, yes you can – stop the evictions and house demolitions in east Jerusalem.”

“My responsibility is to protect my house, in which I was born in 1956, and to protect my children who were also born here,” said Hanoun. “Should they evacuate us, we have no place else to go. We ask everybody to help the families of Sheikh Jarrah.”

Hatem Abdel-Qader, who several weeks ago resigned from his post as Palestinian Authority minister for Jerusalem affairs, told Ynet: “The Americans are pressuring Israel to suspend all changes in the status quo and not to build a settlement at the Sheppard Hotel. The area in question is Palestinian and is under Israeli occupation. We hope that the American pressure will yield results.”

Abdel-Qader added: “We are here to support the Hanoun family and send a message to the whole world – the decision to raze houses and build a settlement is illegal.”

‘Attempt to Judaize east Jerusalem’

The former minister believes that the US can have tremendous influence on the issue. “Who else can do it but Obama? However, we need more than speeches; we need real pressure that would stop the Israelis actions in east Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem City Council member for Meretz Meir Margalit also attended the rally Sunday. “The Sheppard Hotel is another part of a larger effort of the Israeli government to promote the Judaization of the eastern city, sometimes directly and sometimes through settlers,” he said.

According to Margalit, “The goal is to take over as many properties in the eastern city as possible, in a bid to create a situation in which most of the area could be claimed as Jewish according to the Clinton outline (under which in the event of a peace agreement and land exchange, areas where there is a Jewish majority will remain in Jewish hands, and vice versa).

“The Americans understand that there is a broad strategic plan here, whose purpose is to change the demographic balance in the area. They therefore ant to stop it before it’s too late,” he concluded.